Hillside Community Church Podcast

For some of us, we were raised to think that burning incense was something that other religions did, not ours. But as we continue our journey through the Tabernacle we come to the Altar of Incense, a small table on which the priests would burn incense twice a day, every day.  This morning we’ll think about what this Altar has to say to us today. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

The furniture we have in our homes says something about us. If the entire family room is focused on an 80" TV screen, we have an idea of what is important to the homeowner. God's furniture says something about what is important to Him and this morning we'll look at two of those pieces of furniture - The Table and the Lampstand. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

We've seen that God had Moses build the Tabernacle so He could live with His people. In Exodus 26, God tells Moses about how He wants His "home" built. This morning we'll look at what we learn about God from the home Moses built for Him. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

Last week we talked about how God wants to be with us and we need to be with God, but we can't because of our sinfulness. This week we'll start to look at how God makes a way for us to be with Him, a way for us to come home. The first step is not an easy one for us. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

It sounds kind of crazy (especially for those of us who aren't wild about camping), but for a long time, God lived in a tent. For almost 500 years God lived in what was known as the Tabernacle - a tent that the Israelites carried with them in the wilderness and then into the Promised Land. This morning we're going to begin a series where we look at the Tabernacle and see what it was and...

Should the people I work with be able to tell that I am a Christian? Not just by my words, but by my actions, by the way I work?  Does following Jesus make a difference in the workplace? This morning we’ll think about these questions. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

Sometimes  life feels overwhelming. Everyone needs something from us and we don't have much to give. We feel pulled in a hundred different directions and there aren't enough hours in a day. People are frustrated with us but we've done the best we can. At those times, it can sound good to just run away. We want to escape to a place no one knows us and no one wants anything from us. D...

So often we are tempted to boil down our "giving" into money that we donate. But there is so much more that God asks us to "give to Him." As David ends his time and transfers his power and wisdom to Solomon, one lesson we learn is that God doesn't just want our money, He wants everything we have to offer Him. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

Gaining and having wisdom is an important thing. Equally important is how we use it and how we pass it on to others. David was a great king because he did the right thing the right way consistently. As David's time as king comes to an end, what continued to make him great was that he passed down the right things to the right people. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

David has been on an amazing role. He has moved the ark of God and conquered enemy after enemy. But his success contains the seeds of his fall and this morning we’ll look at the great king who blew it big time. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

We all face challenges and difficulties. Whether it’s an illness or an enemy, a pain or a sin that keeps getting at us, we all face problems.  We all have times when we feel like we don’t have the power to endure, much less win. This morning, the Chronicler reminds us that we don’t need to worry about how much power we have because it’s never been about our power. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the sho...

Did you ever feel like you were so thankful to God that you wanted to do something to show it? You wanted to give money or build something or volunteer somewhere. What if you wanted that and God said, “No, thank you”?  This morning we’ll look at a story in which David discovers what that’s like. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

One of the most powerful forces in our world is the power of hope.  Hope can give us energy and endurance.  The Bible calls us to hope, but we sometimes wonder how we can be people of hope in a broken world. We’ll consider one of the best ways to nurture and strengthen our hope—Worship! - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

One truth we've all maybe learned the hard way is that doing the 'right thing' the 'wrong way' ultimately results in us doing the 'wrong thing.' David learned this and experienced some heartbreak as well. Through David's lesson, we'll remind ourselves that the King we serve is good...but He isn't safe. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

Last week we saw an example of unfaithfulness in the life of Saul. This week we get to see, in the life of David and his mighty warriors, what true faithfulness looks like. And at the heart of what made David and his warriors mighty is that they always knew their highest level of devotion and loyalty belonged to God alone, even when they were thirst. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

Sometimes we can learn what we should do by looking at what we shouldn’t do—we call that a negative example. The Chronicler uses Saul as a negative example. He started out great, but he didn’t stay faithful.  Saul fell away, but God stayed faithful. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

How many generations of ancestors can you name? Grandparents? Great-grandparents? Great-great-grandparents? The Chronicler starts off with the longest genealogy in the Bible—nine chapters!  He goes from his own day all the way back to Adam (at least 3,500 years).  And most of us skip right over this. It doesn’t make sense to us. We’ll take a look at what we can learn from these long lists of names...

We’re going to begin a sermon series this morning on the book of I Chronicles. While this Old Testament book may not be really familiar to us, it has an important message in our day. This morning we’ll get an overview of the book and look at one key passage that will tell us what God really wants from us. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

Today is Pentecost Sunday—the day we remember that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to His people and the Church came alive. This morning we’ll talk about just how important (absolutely essential!!) the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

The Bible tells us over and over again that God is good.  He is loving and wants what’s best for us. But if that’s the case, why are there so many bad things and bad people in this world? Where do they come from and what do we do about them? Today we’ll look at a parable that Jesus told that helps us think about these things. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

We have such an easy time defining “us vs. them.” From a young age, we learn quickly how to define good guys and bad guys. But the parable Jesus tells us in Luke 18 forces us to stop for a second and wonder “what really makes someone righteous before God?” How does God define good guys and bad guys? Sinners and saints? - Pastor Arek O’Connell Support the show

In our world it can feel like there are people who matter and people who don’t. There are people who deserve our time and people who don’t. There are people who are of value and people who aren’t. Some of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day felt like Jesus spent too much time with people who didn’t really matter.  In response, Jesus tells them several parables. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

We’ve probably all had times when we felt like someone was listening to us but not really listening. They were hearing the words we were speaking but not really paying attention to them. In the parable we’re going to look at today, Jesus is going to tell us that sometimes we can do that with God’s Word—we can listen to it but not really take it in.  Join us as we think about  how we can hear God’s...

Sometimes we don’t understand why someone pays as much as they do for something. Why would someone pay $3 million dollars for a painting that sits on the wall? Why would someone pay $50,000 for an old car that doesn’t run? Sometimes things have a value that we don’t see. But for those who do see it, they have to act.  Jesus says that this is the way it is with the kingdom of heaven. When we see ho...

When we ask someone to do a job, one of the questions we have to think about is this: Do they have what it takes?  Can they get the job done? Do they have enough knowledge? Enough strength? Enough time? There were some people in Colossi who were teaching that Jesus was great but that He wasn’t quite enough on His own. They said that you needed Jesus plus some secret knowledge; Jesus plus some secr...