Hillside Foursquare Church - Reno

WALKING IN THE LIGHT As I was preparing for our next series, "Letters From John..." I was struck by the vivid imagery of LIGHT & DARK that John uses when describing our life with God: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in Him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with Him & continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not livi...

Here's a recording of this past Sunday's worship with our dear friend Chris Heifner. Enjoy!

God delivered the people of Israel from 430 years of slavery in Egypt. 430 years. (To put that in perspective on how long & significant a period of time 430 years is, the US Declaration of Independence was signed 238 years ago.)  Israel’s history, culture, beliefs, practices, & ways of relating to God & each other were largely shaped by their Egyptian captivity – they didn’t know how to live free,...

Jesus created quite a stir among His friends & neighbors in His adopted hometown of Nazareth one week at church when He read the following passage from the prophet Isaiah   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim Good News to the poor (the afflicted.) He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives, & recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who...

You know those AT&T commercials where a guy sits at a table with 4 or 5 little kids & asks them questions, then helps guide them on entertaining rambles? Those are among my favorites. New Years’ week, one came out with a kid going on & on about “New Year’s Revolutions…” I laughed. :) (You can watch it HERE .) Later, I was thinking about “New Year’s Revolutions” – in the context of the “Holy Night”...

This is the last message in our "O Holy Night" series - today, we're talking about the fulfillment of God's promises in Christ Jesus - our text for today is Matthew 2 & Luke 2.

This is our Christmas message - "A Child is Born." Our text for today is Luke 2.

Over the last few weeks of our “O Holy Night” series, I have really been enjoying spending time reviewing the revelation of God’s goodness & faithfulness to His people. First, in the accounts of the time between the book of Malachi & the Gospels – seeing God’s working in & through the ‘silent times.’ I have been encouraged with the promises of new hope given to Joseph, Mary, Zechariah, & Elizabeth...

It’s easy to forget that the great men & women of faith whose stories are recounted in Scripture were people just like us. It helps me to keep that in the forefront of my mind when I read about people like Joseph & Mary...  they were people going about their routine, normal, lives... looking to love, honor, & obey God to the best of their abilities. And then something miraculous happened. God’s pl...

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas story is the account of the birth of John the Baptist. His parents, Zechariah & Elizabeth, were childless; they’d been unable to have kids their entire married life together, & now they both were way, way beyond childbearing years (Luke 1:7) . At this point in their lives, the dream of having a child, an heir, had moved off of their collective radar, & now...

In preparation for our Christmas series, “O Holy Night,” I’ve been studying the Inter-Testamental period (a.k.a. the 400 years of time between the book of Malachi & the Gospels) leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ. Part of the reason I’m wrestling through this is that I love exploring the history & context of Scripture; another reason is that this time period is often referred to as “God’s Sil...

Today's message is the final part of our "Fear vs. Faith" series - our texts for today are Romans 1 & 2Timothy 1.

For 430 years, the people of Israel were enslaved under the tyrannical Pharaohs of Egypt. One of the things that kept them going was the promise that God gave to their forefather, Abraham – one day, the Land promised to Abraham would be theirs to inhabit, to cultivate, to raise families, to live in. And this land would be rich & fertile, a place where God’s blessings could be tangibly experienced...

Today, Danae Lear teaches from Ephesians 1 on "The Love of God."

Over the last several weeks, the phrases “Fear not” & “Don’t be afraid,” have really jumped out at me during my Bible reading. Most of the time, God is speaking them as a command to a person/people to whom He has promised a blessing, redemption, &/or a assurance of His favor. God says it to Abraham in the context of His promise to give him not only a son, but as many descendants as there are stars...

This is the 3rd message from our series, "Navigating Relationships," & it is called "Serving Relationships." Our starting text for the day is Matthew 20:20-28.

This week at our church we’re continuing in our series, “Navigating Relationships” with this week’s focus being “Mutual Relationships.” As I’ve been studying for this topic, I keep coming back to an encouragement found in the book of Ecclesiastes. It reads: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps,...

We're beginning a series called "Navigating Relationships" - we're starting with "Healing Relationships" & our text for today begins in Matthew 22:35-40 .

The Apostle Paul wraps up his letter to the Galatians with “the law of the harvest.” He doesn’t call it that, but it’s exactly what it is. Ultimately, whatever you plant in the ground, you will see grow. If you plant corn, you will grow corn. If you plant a peach tree, eventually, you will get peaches.   Using the same principle, he challenges the Galatians to keep in mind whatever they plant in t...

In John 8, Jesus declared that His disciples will remain in, live out, & apply His words... and as a result, they will know the TRUTH & the TRUTH will set them free... Further, whomever Christ sets free, is really, truly FREE. Paul emphasizes this fact in Galatians 5 when he reminds his readers that Jesus' purpose in bringing humanity FREEDOM from sin, condemnation, separation from God, & death wa...

As we’ve been going through our “Amazing Grace” series in the book of Galatians, I’ve been thinking a lot about the manner in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. He sent Jesus, the Word made flesh ( John 1:1, ) motivated by His infinite, unconditional love for us ( John 3:16 ). Further, the purpose Christ came into the world was not to condemn us or merely point out our sins, but rather...

Our text for today is Galatians 3... Check it out.

In the letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul discusses the revelation of relationship with God, by faith, through grace. He had lived the majority of his life zealously pursuing the traditions of his forefathers, and the attempted fulfillment of the Law of Moses. What God showed him on the road to Damascus ( Acts 9 ) & beyond was that the only way for a person to be justified (made right) in t...

The Apostle Paul begins his letter to the Galatian church with a greeting intended to remind his readers of the basis for their relationship & standing with God. He writes, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. A...

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing. Psalm 23:1 I was reading over Psalm 23 this morning… it’s familiar. I memorized it when I was small. I know that its good to know scripture – at the same time, I have found that I have to make sure not to just know it in my head but to also let it sink to my heart. There’s a difference. If it’s in my head, I can recall it, remember it, think about it....