Hillside Evangelical Free Church

How do you wait for the Lord well? Sometimes it takes a long time for God to deliver on His promises. For David it likely took over a decade for him to become king of Israel after he had been anointed by the prophet Samuel. In your waiting do you cry out to the Lord? In your waiting do you remind yourself of the Lord's goodness and praise His name? Join us as we look at Psalm 57 and see how Da...

Where do you turn in times of trouble? In Psalm 56 David was facing a lot of difficulty and he cries out to the Lord. In this sermon we see God's tenderness towards His people and how He cares for them in their distress. If you're walking through difficult times, make sure to be walking them before God.

When you are hurt or wronged by someone it is difficult, but when you are betrayed by a friend that wound goes deep. In Psalm 55 David cries out to the Lord in the aftermath of having been betrayed by a close friend. Reading through you can sense the difficulty of the situation and can probably relate to aspects of the experience. But in such hardships we have a caring God who hears our cry. In wh...

How can hope be found in the midst of betrayal and lament? When experiencing seasons of deep pain and hurt it can be easy to turn inward and try to fix the problem ourselves. While David could have done this when he was betrayed by the Ziphites and hunted by Saul, he instead cried out to the Lord in his pain and suffering. If you are going through a really difficult season in your life, this sermo...

What you believe about sin changes how you read and understand the Bible. This collection of verses from Psalm 53 speaks to the topic of sin and helps us understand how to think about ourselves and others in light of this reality.

Jesus told His disciples that it was to their advantage that He went away, for then He would send the Helper. So how has Jesus equipped His people since the time that He ascended to be with the Father?

How can we trust the Lord with all our heart? Proverbs 3:5-6 makes it clear that we are to fully trust in the Lord, but what does that look like in a world that is increasingly anti-God? Listen as guest speaker John Quay opens the Scriptures and talks through this passage from Proverbs.

Peter declared that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He spoke with such clarity and accuracy in that moment, but mere breaths later he was being rebuked by Jesus for setting his mind on the things of man and not of God. Like Peter we have areas of great clarity but also blind spots. What needs to be our focus in order to see clearly? Join us as Pastor Jim Schultz expounds on this pa...

What is preventing you from placing your faith in Jesus? Sometimes there is a need for greater understanding, but other times there is a sense that people are trying to misunderstand or not comprehend who Jesus is. There has always been a temptation to reject Jesus when He doesn't conform to our image of Him. Has the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees crept into your thinking? Don't rej...

Jesus came for "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Mat 15:23), but what happened when a gentile woman came to Him in faith asking that He heal her daughter? What followed at first may seem confusing but later shows the hope that we can have because of Jesus. Finally, how should this passage from Matthew 15:21-39 instruct our lives and the way we think about others coming to faith i...

Good intentions can sometimes have disastrous consequences. For the Pharisees of Jesus' day, the traditions that once were instituted to help people follow God, turned out to be the very thing that kept them from recognizing their Messiah. Unfortunately this sort of thing isn't isolated to the past, we are in danger of doing the exact same thing with our good intentions. Listen as we explo...

When we hear of hardship, evil, and disaster in our own nation and around the world, it can be easy to fear. In Habakkuk's day the threat of Babylonian invasion was high and he accused God of sitting back and idly doing nothing. He was afraid and living in fear. What about you? When you see threats coming against the church or culture shifting in a way that is unsettling, what is your response...

Sometimes with familiar Bible stories we overlook the mundane but important details. When Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on water towards Jesus we see in a matter of moments great faith and also crippling doubt. Perhaps you can relate that your life is a mixture of triumph and failing. So how do you trust Jesus in each moment? How do you keep your eyes fixed on Him and not on the overwhe...

While God works in miraculous ways like in the story of the feeding of the 5,000, sometimes we miss recognizing that God regularly works in small ways. In fact, sometimes the smallness of something more clearly shows the greatness of God. Just because things in your life may seem small, don't give up on faithfully following the Lord in your daily life. Sometimes the smallest acts of obedience...

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? This week we take a look at Ephesians 5:18-21 and the outworking of being filled with the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.

It can be easy to want to speak the truth to those in authority but do so in a selfish way. In this sermon on Matthew 14:1-12 we look at the story of John the Baptist speaking the truth to King Herod. Contrary to many things we see in our world today, John was a good example of speaking boldly from Scripture with Herod's good in mind. He also wasn't afraid to speak up even though it meant...

If you're wondering where to find hope, you can find it in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This historical event testified by eyewitness accounts shares a glimpse of the hope that we are waiting for when all things are made new. Jesus rising from the dead is the first fruits of the resurrection and we eagerly await His return when He will wipe away every tear and death will be no more. Prais...

Why do we celebrate Palm Sunday each year? What is it about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem that is so special that we remember it with such detail? It may seem inconsequential at first but the small details of Jesus riding on a donkey and the actions of the crowd point to a very deliberate plan of God. On this side of the cross we celebrate the intentionality of our great God who had planned to s...

"A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.", these words rang true for Jesus when He came back and taught in his hometown. But like the people of Nazareth, we too have a propensity to shut our ears to those who are much younger than us or those we have known for some time. While the reasons these people give for not listening to Jesus are obviously s...

This week we look at the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price. They are simple parables that Jesus told his disciples to illustrate the vast worth of the kingdom of Heaven. Even though there is a cost to following Jesus, we can find encouragement that it is well worth it in the end!

In our world justice delayed is considered justice denied. But does that apply when it comes to Jesus and His promise to return and judge the world? Is there a good reason for Jesus taking a long time to return? What hope do people have who have placed their trust in Jesus? Explore these questions with us as we look at this passage from Matthew 13:24-43. The kingdom of Heaven may have small beginn...

When the word of God is preached there can be a variety of responses; some reject the truth right away, others show early zeal but fade quickly, still more follow for a time but are eventually led astray, and finally some endure, grow, and yield fruit. So how many soils are there? How can you follow Jesus faithfully without your faith being choked out by other things? In this life there are many t...

What if people meet you before they hear the good news of the Gospel? By knowing you, would they recognize a resemblance between you and the person of Christ that you claim to follow? Just as people may see a resemblance between family members, so we too are to resemble the character of the Father in our lives. 

"I will believe in Jesus if He gives me a sign that He is real"... this week we look at the temptation to ask for signs from God before putting our faith in Christ. As we will see in the passage from Matthew 12:38-40, there was plenty of evidence that Jesus was/is the Messiah, but the people of his day continually wanted more "signs" before they would follow Him. It can be tempting to do the same...

Does your life and words prove that you are a Christian or do they prove otherwise? In this week's sermon from Matthew 12:33-37, we look at the reality that your life and words demonstrate what kind of person you are. Just as an apple tree produces apples and a grape vine produces grapes, so our lives reflect what is in our hearts. This is a good message to help you examine your heart and life and...