Calvary: the Hill Sermons

As we close out the year, how can we find true comfort in the midst of life's challenges? We reflect on 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, discovering how the God of all comfort meets us in our struggles, reshapes our view of suffering, and calls us to share His comfort as we step into a new year.

This week we dive into the breathtaking reality of how Jesus' incarnation reveals the fullness of God's grace and truth. From the Christmas story to baptisms and communion, we celebrate the transformative power of the word made flesh, who lights up the darkness and changes everything.

We dive into the uniqueness of Jesus, the revelation of God's glory, and the transformative power of eyewitness testimony, showing how the Christian story is not just good and beautiful but profoundly true.

We unpack John 1:14, specifically the phrase "he dwelt among us" - revealing how God’s ultimate desire to dwell with us is fulfilled in Jesus. We are invited to live out His love as we await the day He makes all things new and dwells with us forever.

This Advent, we reflect on John 1:14, beginning with “The Word became flesh.” The eternal God took on human form, uniting with us to rescue and reconcile. The incarnation is the heart of Christmas, calling us to wonder and worship.

Why did Jesus come? This week we unpack how His mission to save us from sin, call sinners into His Kingdom, and become the priority of our l ives changes everything.

If we learned the posture of Jesus' mission last week, this week we learn the power of his mission. He sets out to boldly show just who he is - the Son of Man and the Son of God - in being Lord of heaven and earth.

Coming off the mountain top where he gave the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins to practice what he just preached, and in doing so he shows us the posture of his mission - unequivocally toward the other of society.

As Jesus concludes his famous Sermon on the Mount, he wraps up with a series of ultimatums. His core question is, "What are you going to do with my words?"

People don't like judgmental Christians. Jesus doesn't either. He makes the case that if we can lay aside unrighteous judgmentalism, we can then take up the mantle and walk in the Golden Rule, for God's glory.

Jesus addresses anxiety head on in our passage today. As we seek to orient our lives around God and others, Jesus anticipates our "What about this?" and our "What about that?". Our anxiety creeps in and tell us that we should prioritize many things, not one.

Jesus dives into the practices of fasting and simplicity, and ultimately wants us to experience life as it was designed: simple and completely directed toward God and others.

When was the last time you really pondered the implications of these seemingly simple words? We're gonna dip our toes into the vast ocean of the Lord's Prayer.

It's not just the what of Jesus commands that are important. It's the how and the why. In our passage Jesus prescribes the spiritual discipline of secrecy, in which we "do not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing."

Last week we looked at the Greatest Commandment to love God with all of ourselves, and how our church walks in it. But what about the Second Greatest Commandment? Hear from Pastor Nick and other ministry leaders on how we walk this command out in the life of our church.

As Fall hits, we are looking at our Church rhythms. What is this church all about? Taking our cue from Jesus, we zoom out to rediscover that life is all about Love for God and others. You'll hear from Pastor Nick and several other ministry leaders.

The climax of Jesus' Old Testament precedent-busting commands is his command for Christians to love their enemies. The most beautiful part of this command is the motivation behind it. We love our enemies, because God is an enemy-loving God. We love our enemies to be close to him, and to be like him.

Jesus' show-stopping Sermon on the Mount continues with his most challenging command yet: His injunction against retaliation. As his followers, we are to illustrate God's missional heart by responding to evil, not with more evil, but with creative, surprising, and relational love.

Once again Jesus wades into a contemporary debate, this time on the making of oaths. Jesus sees through the practice as a loophole for truth-telling, and calls his disciples to a much simpler way of living: letting our Yes be a Yes, and our No be a No.

Jesus wades into a contemporary debate about the legitimacy and grounds for divorce. This is a challenging topic, and one that can feel distant from the grace of God. But what we see is that although King James' standard is high, his mercy is always standing ready.

Jesus has a high calling for us sexually. How can we possibly attain his intense standard? We both can't, and can. We can't, and therefore need his saving and empowering grace. We can with his Spirit's help.

Jesus dives into the deep end, calling out interpersonal conflict as an issue near and dear to God's heart. If we want to prioritize our vertical relationship with God, then Jesus prescribes making right our horizontal relationships as well.

Too often we get into this mindset that to have a better life, we must be a better person to please God such that he'll improve our circumstances. However, God is much more interested in simply being with us. Our Lord doesn't promise a life with no problems - he promises a life where he is always present. This is the very essence of the good news of the gospel.

The Apostle Peter makes clear that we are called to holiness, but what is it? Holiness requires three dimensions: that we act according to God's character, that we are different from the world we are part of, and that we are together as a loving community. Without all three, our view of holiness is deficient and deformed.

What was Jesus' opinion on the Old Testament? Does he stand over it? Does he sit under it? In his introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, he gives us his posture toward all of Scripture.