Hill Country Bible Church Dripping Springs Sermons

In Scripture we see faith and faithfulness translated interchangeably because faith is more a belief. Faith manifests itself in faithfulness, which is obedience and action in accordance with the Lord’s will. We know how to do that through daily devotion to the Lord remembering who He is and what He has done.

Jesus described Himself as "..gently and lowly in heart" (ESV), a remarkable claim to a world that values bolder qualities. Yet throughout His earthly ministry, time and again, He showed that gentleness led to unlikely relationships with unlikely people in unlikely places.

Daily we observe acts of kindness and goodness or generosity. As Jesus' disciples, these acts should have depth. Our attitude should be to act in a way that we are affirming the infinite value in people with our time, money, talents and other things God has put at our disposal.

Patience is more than just waiting. Biblical patience often calls for “stamina and grit” in the face of hostility and persecution. It is grounded in love and modeled after Jesus’ love for us.

Rather than just respite from a hectic, stressful world, Biblical peace offers the promise of the unity of God’s Kingdom. Rather than feeding the contempt of others that can come from amplifying our differences, it shows us that we have oneness in Christ.

Sorrow and grief were an undeniable part of the life of Jesus. Yet, He was joyful as well.  One does not preclude the other. As His disciples, we can find joy by abiding in Him; both as individuals and as a community of believers.

God’s plan is for us is to dwell in His eternal presence. That is our aim and where we are meant to be. As experience Biblical love, we are drawn closer to the perfection Jesus prayed for us (John 17) when He prayed for union with Him and with each other.

Love is not an abstract list of traits. Paul gives us a personification of love. It is a description of Jesus, the One who loved perfectly. In following Him, we experience His love. That changes our hearts and we show ourselves to be His disciples by the way it is reproduced in our lives.   

Scripture shows us that love is different than the world defines it. Good things can happen through anyone. Exercising gifts with Christ-like love, produces spiritual fruit, eternal in nature. As a people with hearts given to God, this love is a hallmark of Jesus’ disciples.  

Confession is an act of declaring truths of our faith. When we confess our sinfulness, it is the step we take in affirming God’s grace through Jesus. Confession leads to our repentance. Repentance leads to God’s forgiveness. Forgiveness demonstrates our restored relationship with God.  

Sunday services are a glimpse of the worship that takes place, throughout eternity, in heaven. God brings together intrinsically different people, praising Him. We make a harmonious sound; something we can only do among a company of believers.

Sunday morning sermons are not enough. We share personal application of God's word in our lives through intimate, Bible-based small group relationships. As interdependent members of one body, we grow as disciples of Jesus together by fulfilling ministry in small groups.

Reading Scripture with a right motive shows us God’s desires for righteous living by bringing us face-to-face with Jesus.  We read His Word, to both learn something and meet Someone.  

There are over 300 mentions of Jesus’ return in the New Testament. The early church had a conviction that Jesus had been resurrected and that He would return to usher in the new heaven and new earth. His return will complete the reconciliation of people to God and mark the end of history as we know it.

There is extensive historical evidence affirming the resurrection of Jesus. He was raised through the power of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit is at work in His church today and shows us the life changing transformation only He can bring.

Sin is rejection of a God-ruled life; engaging in a self-ruled life instead. The Bible teaches this is a problemtrue of everyone, handed down to us from Adam and Eve. Ultimately sin is a heart problem and the explanation for the world’s brokenness. In Jesus, we have the only effective answer.

The creation story gives Jesus’ disciples the world view for understanding the purpose of our lives. We must recognize someone who is not Jesus’ disciple has a different perspective, sometimes even hostile to ours. We can lovingly question their perspective on life as an opening to share the Good News.

It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can find the power and boldness to share the gospel. When we have a right view of reality, walk in the Spirit and commit to prayer in evangelism we will see great things happen.

We can feel inadequate when sharing our faith. Our reasons are varied; we lack training, we feel intellectually inferior or we do not handle opposition well. Yet, sharing our faith is a Biblical mandate. More than once Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will work within us to let God's glory be displayed through our imperfection.

Grace without truth leads to tolerance of sin. Truth without grace leads to legalism. In describing the incarnation, John tells us that Jesus was “full of grace and truth”. These traits dwelt in Him inseparably, not paradoxically. We are to be the same.

Our words bear witness to our inner character; our spiritual maturity, our thoughts, and our feelings. They have power to destroy or build up. Ultimately the motivation for our words should be to honor God.

A tree produces its own type of fruit. Jesus uses this metaphor show that our words, like fruit, tell us the state of our hearts, the tree. To tame the tongue our need is different than merely filtering our speech. We must depend on God’s grace to transform our hearts and make us the right type of fruit-bearer.

Words, both online and spoken, play a crucial role in our witness. As Jesus' disciples we must let our changed hearts shape the way we communicate.

The appeal of a “false gospel” was as strong in the Corinthian church as it is in the western church today. Are we Christian or counterfeit? The ultimate test is to examine and confirm the presence of Jesus Christ in us, individually and communally. His presence confirms we are, indeed, His disciples.

Paul was the spiritual father of the Corinthian church. However, he was forced to defend the faith in Corinth because he was not as smooth and appealing as that of the false teachers. In doing so, he shows how a true servant of Christ carries out ministry.