Calvary: the Hill Sermons

We begin our study through Philippians where Paul's primary focus is on the gospel and its effect on the world, and on this small church. Paul loves this church dearly and exhorts it tenderly. We also examine the story behind the origin of the Philippine church in Acts 16. We discover three themes that immediately emerge: Humility in Christ, Unity in Christ, and a Gospel Priority.

Week one we laid out our mission, which is to be about what God is doing in renewing all things in Jesus Christ. Week two we laid out our vision - forming a family of Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus who are committed to Capitol Hill in truth and love. But how do we do that? That's where our values come in. At Calvary: The Hill our values are to be 1) Grounded in God's Word, 2) Attuned to God's Sp...

Last week we saw what God is doing, which is to renew all things in Jesus Christ. Now we look at what we are doing. Following the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his first followers, we are forming a family of Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus Christ who are committed to Capitol Hill in truth and love. This is our vision for our church; this is what we want to see God do in us this year and bey...

In our first installment looking at Calvary: The Hill's Mission, Vision, and Values, we align our mission with God's mission. In asking, "What is our mission?" we are also asking "What is God's mission?" God is renewing all things through his Son Jesus Christ, and we are seeking to be a church that engages in that mission with him.

Our final Installment of Advent focuses on the Love that came on Christmas. It came, and it never left. Readings brought to you by members of the Calvary: The Hill community. Merry Christmas!

We all want joy, especially around Christmas time. But do we realize that it is God who shares His joy with us? Joy is not a self-conjured reality, it is a gift that is shared with our Creator. And there is no circumstance that can steal our joy when it is founded upon Jesus.

The Advent (or coming) of Jesus provides us with many things, including an opportunity for peace with God and with neighbors. We examine the truly wonderful reality of peace that Jesus unlocks for us.

We all need hope. The season of Advent is the perfect time to fine tune our dependence on God for hope. We walk through our longing for hope, God's promise of hope, Jesus's fulfillment of hope, and our worship in response to being given this hope.

God has given us a spiritual family to fight the battles of the Christian life. It's not our chosen family, It's the family he has forged. The key to any healthy family relationship is communication, and Paul sets an incredible example of how to communicate with one another, about one another, and also how to pray God's blessings over one another.

Paul has already laid out the armor that God provides for the battles we fight. Now he exhorts us to invite God into the battle and provides the Who, What, When, and Where, and How to do that: PRAYER.

Paul commands us to stand firm in Jesus, and he gives us six how-tos in order to do that. These how-tos make up the "full armor of God" that we receive from Him. If we take up these weapons, then nothing the enemy throws at us will ultimately succeed.

Believe it or not, we have a whole army of spiritual enemies that are seeking to derail our faith in Christ. The most important part of preparing for this spiritual warfare is understanding where we get our strength. It's not in our own strength that we stand. It is, in Paul's words, "in the Lord and in the power of his might." The only way we can successfully withstand the enemy's tactics is by d...

In our final installment of our Redeemed Vocation series, we look at slaves and masters. After wading through the fact that Paul assumes the reality of slavery, we find on the other side a countercultural and wonderful perspective on authority. The reality is that God is the ultimate authority, and every authority structure here on earth needs to remember that, including our employment structures.

God, in his grace and power, has offered us the opportunity to be in His redeemed family. This informs our involvement in any and every family we are involved with from now on. Pastor Richard and his wife Debbie walk us through their story of being a redeemed family, despite all their brokenness.

Paul is swept away with the profound and deeply mysterious reality that marriage itself has always been the picture of God's love for us, made perfect in how much Jesus loves his bride, the church.

Jesus has redeemed a community of disciples to live life in a new way. How does that affect our most important relationships, like in marriage? Paul splits the cultural extremes for marriage and calls for a completely new, Christ-centered, and Spirit-filled life of mutual submission and love between husbands and wives.

As we hit Day 1 of a new season at Calvary: The Hill, it's important to remember who is really in charge here. And not only remembering who's in charge, but what is he like? Can we trust him to guide us into the unknown? David's famous Psalm assures us that yes, he can, and he will.

A Jesus community by nature exists for those who are not yet its members. As the church, we are called to be a community of ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, bearing witness in both word and works.

The way Christians grow is when the people of God use the word of God in prayerful dependance on the Spirit of God for the growth of the whole body. Discipleship is that process in action.

The first thing membership means, and what Jesus has purchased through his gospel, is connection to an already-created community of love. It's the particular community of believers that Jesus has for you in this present season.

Even if we are exiles in Babylon, God is in control, life is possible and we are called to seek the welfare of our city. Whatever transition we have faced, these three things are true. We are called to lean in to whatever season we find ourselves because God is at work.

Openness to God doing a new thing doesn't come naturally. We have to learn to perceive what God is doing and trust the new work. This often requires us to surrender what God did and listen to what he wants to do now.

Throughout the scripture God's words and God's leaders have only one message to those in transition. God is with you. When all around us is in flux, God's presence is a constant that we can rely on.

We, like Paul, have been called to join God in his work of making all things new in Jesus Christ. God has given us his Spirit, and unique gifts to cultivate human flourishing in our own context, as a foretaste of what he will do completely and finally when Jesus returns.

Christians should be a people of thanks because God has done so much for us in Jesus Christ. He has invited us to know the living God, to grow by his word, and to enjoy a perfect inheritance as his children.