Grace Hill Church - Collierville, TN

THIS EPISODE: The struggle of power. It's clear that there are powerful forces all around us constantly competing for preeminence and authority over each other. From macro political & cultural ideologies to struggling friendships and marriages, these opposing forces seem stuck in cycles of constantly grappling with each other for greater influence, control, and ultimately power. In this episode we...

THIS EPISODE: Have you ever felt deeply wounded by disappointment? Chances are we all have at some point for one reason or another. But have you ever found yourself feeling disappointed with God? Being completely honest, it's only human at times when facing our own unmet  expectations or when circumstances suddenly seem changed against us. It seems an enduring truth that we can never seem to escap...

THIS EPISODE: In today's text we look at the end of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church in which he makes “deep truth” proclamations about the resurrection of King Jesus that are actually the foundation for our faith. Yes, the resurrection of King Jesus is GOOD NEWS, but it was also intentionally a very public, highly visible event. Jesus’ death and resurrection wasn’t God just trying to make t...

THIS EPISODE: In today's text, Jesus publicly signals a change unlike anything the world has yet experienced: Jesus openly reveals that “the time has arrived”—that he is the one they’ve been waiting for. But also, with unprecedented grace, this shocking proclamation from Jesus also reveals a change that his audience wasn’t remotely expecting. Israel had been waiting, longing, expecting the Messiah...

THIS EPISODE: Jesus' vision of God’s kingdom differed radically from ours. On this second Sunday in Epiphany, we are looking at the true King, and considering what his vision is for his Kingdom. We look first at John the Baptist's sudden announcement of Jesus as the Messiah, immediately followed by Jesus' baptism, which points us to the cross. And from this we can see that the true king has a radi...

God has revealed himself to the world. And in this season, we will not only ponder, but wrestle at times with the realities of what this means, and consider how it informs our lives and shapes our hearts. Today we begin a new series teaching through the season of “Epiphany” in the church calendar.  We hope to deeply focus our minds & hearts on the significance of Jesus’s resurrection for our churc...

THIS EPISODE: How is “hope” defined? In one sense, hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. But hope is also defined as a sense of deep, knowing trust. As Christ followers, our deep sense of hope anticipates a future God has already written for us. A new heaven, a new earth, God being with his people, living among his people. Our future is no more tears, no more d...

THIS EPISODE: Hopelessness breeds despair, and despair often disguises itself as passivity... Have you ever seen someone in the midst of immense hardship, and yet wandering through the circumstances of each day seemingly indifferent to it all? Perhaps you've even been there. But, when hiding in the desert on the run for his life, how did not-yet-king David not lose all sense of hope? And to now on...

THIS EPISODE: Many of us have endured seasons of life when hope seemed thin or failing altogether. Seasons filled with such sorrow, loss, doubt or suffering that it seems the forces of evil might actually be greater than the forces for good. But they are not. And there is a truer, deeper hope to be found in the middle of the suffering. Advent embraces the mess, the pain, the uncertainty of sufferi...

THIS EPISODE: Today we follow James into even more difficult territory as we candidly consider two uncomfortable realities:  ➊ No matter how long you've been following Jesus, you can still stray from the truth. ➋ When others stray from the truth, we must try to bring them back. Hard truths to be sure, but very important for us to understand more deeply. So, today we spend some time marinating in t...

THIS EPISODE: Patience and endurance—two key words in today’s text that we will spend a few minutes exploring as we hear James speaking affectionately to his fellow believers, offering hope and encouragement in their suffering. He reminds them that their God is faithful, they are not forgotten and he will deliver them.  What’s the secret to facing the hardest of times with patience and endurance?...

THIS EPISODE: Who's in charge of your life? This is the nucleus of today's conversation. James begins to open the door to some very challenging issues to all of us in the neverending war in our hearts and minds between independence & dependence. James contends with the two most important questions we could ever ask: ➊ Who is Jesus?, and ➋ Who are we to him? Spoiler: Jesus is not who we think he is...

THIS EPISODE: What is wisdom? Is it having a vast knowledge of a subject? Having the right answers or insights to the world's biggest problems?  What if the true essence of wisdom is a moral rather than intellectual quality? In this message we'll make the case that wisdom is less about the knowledge in our heads, and much more about what we demonstrate in life. We'll thoughtfully consider the two...

THIS EPISODE: Our words have more power than we give them credit for. The tongue is like a very small rudder that, with such small effort, can guide our lives (and others) to one place or another. The tongue can give life to ourselves and those around us. It can be used to keep us on course, to bless others… But it has the power to lead people astray, to destroy. lives, and relationships. James ha...

THIS EPISODE: Can you believe anything without acting upon it? It’s just part of the human psyche that faith in something causes and results in acting on that faith. Failure to act on what we say we believe indicates we don’t really believe.   In raising the question of faith that doesn’t save versus saving faith, it seems that James is making the case that it’s impossible to have faith without wo...

THIS EPISODE: Do you, with your acts of favoritism, really believe in Jesus? A hard question, I know—but exactly the hard truth that James challenges us to face today. How we treat one another is a gospel issue, and favoritism and faith in Jesus have no place together. “The world is always assessing people, sizing them up, putting them down, establishing a pecking order. And God, who sees and love...

THIS EPISODE: We all have an ache inside to belong, don't we? Whether with family or culture or a sports team or other shared interests, we're made to crave & enjoy community with each other.  But there's also a dangerous kind of 'tribalism' that's set into our society. A polarizing 'us-vs-them' mindset that's destroying relationships, and is imminently destructive rather than life-giving. But the...

THIS EPISODE: We all experience seasons of painful trial and suffering at some point in life. And what we think about God in walking through these seasons is immense in determining how these experiences will end up shaping us, for better or worse.  Whether we're led toward doubt, pride and fear or toward a much deeper, truer experience of God's profound and constant goodness in the midst of it all...

THIS EPISODE: This message kicks off our twelve part series marinating together in the book of James. From this we will take wisdom, insight, action, and a bigger vision—not only for our lives, but also for our church. When applied, the results will be r adical . We start considering the first four verses, and what it means to say that our trials and troubles are more than something we are meant s...

THIS EPISODE: We have far too much pulling on our time and attention today. From pandemic to politics, from ever-changing work/school dynamics to endless news cycles & social media distractions... Amid the ongoing inundation and mental/emotional roller coaster of it all, it's critical that we remember how to actually rest. Not just taking a physical/mental break, but experiencing a deep, lasting,...

THIS EPISODE: As a Christ follower you constantly encounter people who need your voice speaking Jesus’ hope into their lives & circumstances as they try to navigate these difficult times.  But why is it so hard for us to have meaningful spiritual conversations with people sometimes?  Maybe you're unsure of how they'll respond, or frozen by feelings of fear, insecurity or  embarrassment...  Mission...

THIS EPISODE: In this series we've been discussing what it means to live a “missional life.” Today we’ll consider what it might look like integrating our missional identity and calling, with what we do for work.  Most of us will spend ⅓ of our lives working—around 90,000 hours over the course of an average lifetime. And we all think about work in different ways don't we? Is a job just a job, or co...

THIS EPISODE: Why am I here? What’s gone wrong? What’s the solution? What will “restoration” look like?  These heavy questions stir consciously or unconsciously in every human heart. Our culture is teeming with narratives attempting to answer these questions for us. Followers of Jesus have the best, truest answers—and a great hope compelling us to order our lives in alignment with God’s character,...

THIS EPISODE: An “ambassador” is someone committed to representing the values, culture & stories of another place or people group. Most of us understand this best in a geopolitical sense, but it's also a factor of our everyday life.  The vast majority of us are an “ambassador” of something that we find deeply connected to, whether a sports team, political ideology, a movie series or even Apple pro...