Hillside Community Church Podcast

Luke 23: 1-12 What do you want from Jesus? Both Pilate and Herod have things they want from Jesus - answers, miracle, signs. But Jesus does not give them what they want, because Jesus knows that what they want is not what they need. This morning we'll think about what we want from Jesus. Support the show

One of the saddest parts of the final 24 hours of the life of Jesus is that much of this was driven by people who should have done better. It was religious leaders and those who were most passionate about God who played a key role in putting Jesus on the cross. This morning we'll ask ourselves how this could happen. What made these good people do such a bad thing? Support the show

Matthew 26:36-46 What are your prayer habits? Do you usually pray before a meal with your family or do you prefer to pray alone? On Thursday evening Jesus finished the Lord's Supper in the Upper Room. Then he took his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. This morning we'll take a look at Jesus' prayer when he had less than 24 hours before he was crucified. Support the show

John 13:1-17 Does your family have any rituals? Do you always do the same things on Christmas or Thanksgiving? For Jewish people, celebrating the Passover was the most important ritual of the year. They would do the same things, say the same things and eat the same food every year to remember what God had done for them. This morning we'll think about the Passover that Jesus celebrated with Hi...

This morning we’re beginning a new sermon series. We’re going to take a 10 week look at the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life, 24 hours that changed the world. We start this morning in an upper room at sunset on a Thursday evening in Jerusalem. Support the show

Acts 15: 1-11 What does it take for one to belong to Christian community? We all have boundary markers, all have standards when deciding who is "in" and "out". This morning we'll take a look at what it takes to experience and build into genuine, life-giving Christian community. Support the show

2 Kings 7:3-16 We all go through times of crisis and challenges, life seasons when we feel threatened by life’s struggles. In these critical moments God speaks to us and we need to respond decisively. This morning we’ll look at an interesting story of four lepers used by God to bring a message that seems too good to be true. But that’s how our decisions are used by God’s sovereign plan to save his...

Isaiah 65:17-25 You’ve probably heard someone say, “It is what it is.” They’re saying that things just are the way they are. We may like the way things are or not like the way they are, but we can’t deny the way things are. It is what it is. But the Bible says that things will not always be what they are. The Bible says that someday everything is going to be different – everything is going to be j...

Most of the time the Bible tells us to remember—to remember what God has done, to remember who God is. But in Isaiah 43 God tells us to forget what He has done. This morning we’ll think about why God would tell us to forget the things of the past. Support the show

Isaiah 49: 1-6 One of the questions we ask ourselves as we close out this past year is: Did I make a difference? Did the things I did in 2014 make a difference? Will things I do in 2015 make a difference? This morning we have good news that God is a God who works through us to make a difference. Support the show

Isaiah 53:1-7 As we move along the Advent journey toward the climax of Christmas Eve, we're reminded not only that there is the paradox of having a child on whose shoulders rests the government of the world, but also that this child is going to experience pain and suffering. And before he experiences glory and honor, he is going to be acquainted with sickness. And he would experience one of t...

Among all the things Isaiah saw about God, the one we're looking at this morning might have been the most shocking to him. Ina world of power, Isaiah sees that God is a servant. It's pretty amazing. Support the show

Isaiah 36 - 40 Have you ever had a great success followed by a great failure? Have you ever "nailed it" but then failed it shortly after that? King Hezekiah was like the nation of Judah - a mixed bag. This morning we'll look at what God does with people like you and me. Support the show

We all have storms that enter our lives. We face a crisis with our health or our finances or our families. We lose a job or experience the loss of someone we love. And it feels like the bottom falls out. When the storms come, we have to ask ourselves-where can we find security? Who can take care of us? This morning we’ll think about what Isaiah calls us to do when it feels like our lives are falli...

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Isaiah 24 This morning we're going to deal with one of the most challenging of all the images of God - that He is a judge. For some of us this makes us scared. For some of us this seems old-fashioned. For some of us we're glad He's going to get rid of those sinners out there. How should we think of this? How do we picture God as the judge? Support the show

Isaiah 5 Last week we saw that one of the primary parts of Isaiah's vision of God was his vision of God's holiness - His otherness, His perfect purity. This week we're going to look at a very different but still powerful picture that Isaiah gives us of God - the picture of a farmer who has a broken heart. Support the show

Isaiah 6:1-8 Sometimes when people talk about what God is like, it can feel like, "yeah, that's true, but what difference does it make? I need practical help. I'm trying to figure out how to pay my bills!" That wasn't the case for Isaiah. When he saw God, it impacted every area of his life. It challenged him and changed him and comforted him and encouraged him. This mornin...

What do you think about abortion? What does the Bible saying about homosexuality? Do you think we should fight Islamic terrorism? What is God saying about poverty? Who are you supporting for the election? We all have questions and we like to discuss things with our family and friends. But when it comes to answering these questions, where do we go for guidance? An easier question to answer is &quot...

Matthew 5:27-30 As we finish up our series on the Seven Deadly Sins, we think about one of the most challenging of the fatal attractions - lust. God created sex and sexual desire to be a good gift for us. But because of sin, this gift can be a real challenge to deal with. This morning we'll try to understand the good and the bad of God's gifts of sex and sexual desire. Support the show

Joshua 7:1, 19-25 If anger is the deadliest of the seven sins – as it leads to violence, murder, and wars – gluttony is the most paradoxical: it is one of the most easy to commit and one of the hardest to overcome. It is a perverted obsession with things that we commonly need in order to exist, such as food and drink, but it certainly distorts other carnal desires. This Sunday morning we’re going...

I Timothy 6:6-10 For many of us, we know that we have all the “stuff” that we need. We know that we have more than most of the rest of the world and we know that we have every reason to be content with what we have. But we still struggle with the voice inside our heads that says, “Yeah, but wouldn’t it be great if you had just a little bit more? Not a lot—just a little bit more.” This morning we’l...

Ephesians 4: 22-24 Remember the old song from Sesame Street about One of these things is not like other, one of these things just doesn't belong? That seems to fit when we get to this point in our study of the seven deadly sins. We know envy is deadly. And we've all felt the string of anger. But sloth? Really? Is it that bad ti take it easy? Don't we all need to learn to relax more?...

Ephesians 4: 26-27 We all get angry! This is a reality we have to live with. But is there a difference between sinful and righteous anger? Our society has portrayed the God of the Bible as a very angry and raging God, who not only causes genocides but also encourages others to violence and ethnic cleansing. Is God angry? And what about God's children; can we be angry and not sin? Let's l...

Proverbs 14:30 The Bible tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. But that's not always easy. Sometimes we find ourselves rejoicing when others weep and weeping when others rejoice. We take a secret joy in someone who is put in her place and we secretly struggle when someone has a great success. And too often the culprit behind this is envy - our next fatal...