Rolling Hills Community Church // Franklin Campus

If you grew up in the church, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “God loves a cheerful giver.” In fact, if you’re EXTRA lucky, you might have even grown up with the Steve Green song “God Loves a Cheerful Giver.” Google it. It’ll get stuck in your head for days. It’s actually from 2 Corinthians 9:7 where it says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly o...

All of us are leaders. Maybe you don’t oversee a Fortune 500 company or have tens of thousands of followers on Twitter. But there’s no question that there are people you interact with on a regular basis who look up to you and are watching what you do and say. And one of the best things we can do as leaders, whether at home or at work, is to personally invest in whatever we do. That might mean sacr...

Let’s make a commitment together. For the next 50 days, let’s invest our lives in what will last. Together let’s “reach out, grow up, and give all” for the glory of our great God. As we enter into this new initiative at Rolling Hills called, “For the Kingdom,” let’s commit to pray, serve, and give our best. Our God used David and Solomon, and now it is our turn. We are God’s Church today. Let’s “b...

There is incredible power and potential in prayer. Through prayer, we invite the God of the Universe into a situation and into our lives. Prayer changes things, but even more prayer changes us. Through prayer, we have the opportunity to reach our full potential in Christ. The disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” As we grow in our prayer life, we become more alive and more engaged wit...

There is power in prayer. Prayer is inviting the God of the Universe into a situation and our lives. God has the power. So many times, we try to fix a situation ourselves, when all along God’s power is available. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to His disciples. God gave us His power and then sent us out to be His witnesses. We are called to pray, go, and serve. And we...

All too often we stumble into our prayer time without a plan, throw up a few requests and then quickly move on to the next thing. But Jesus taught that prayer should be more like a discipline — something we spend time on and take seriously. Something we practice and develop.

Prayer is an incredible gift from God. The ability to communicate with the Creator and Sustainer of this world and of our life is a joy and a privilege. Yet, so often in prayer, we move in the wrong direction. We start with us – we launch into our needs and what we want. Jesus teaches us through the Lord’s Prayer, or the Model Prayer, a new pattern – start with God first. Focus on your Heavenly Fa...

Every person prays. Whether it was the ancient Egyptians praying to the sun, religions praying to gods they built, or someone in desperation calling out for help, there is an innate response in all of us to pray to something or someone. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father,” and to call out to God. Addressing God as “Father” was a radical notion – and this is what separates Christianity...

Prayer is a great thing. Whether we want to say thanks for what God is doing in our lives or share our deepest fears and desires, we can do it directly to Him any time we want. So if prayer is such a great thing, why does it come with so many questions? Like, why do some prayers get answered and some don’t? What makes some prayers effective and others…not so much? And how, exactly, do we pray?

God did not call us to be successful but to be faithful to Him. But how do we live a faithful life?

It’s easy to identify with Joseph. Through every twist and turn in his journey, we’re always rooting for him to prevail. We cheer for him just as we would the protagonist of any great tale. But as we get closer to the end of Joseph’s story, a new hero begins to take shape. And it’s not who you’d expect. Because this hero doesn’t play a huge role. He’s not even mentioned by name. But as the journey...

Our faith is tested more in the good times than in the hard times. In the difficult times, we hold on to God. We recognize our utter dependence on Him when we are in the hospital, facing a financial struggle or in a crisis. Yet, in times of success, many people begin to drift away from God. We put our faith in ourselves and talk about what we have accomplished. Learning to hold on to God and being...

Things don’t always go our way, and that’s a fact. Instead of taking these moments as personal offense and wallowing in self-pity, what if we saw them as a chance to grow into Godly leaders? In our greatest struggles we have opportunities for greatest change. Godly leadership is not discovered but developed, and God has to forge His leaders before He can use them as agents of change in the world....

How do you stay ready for God’s timing? Staying ready means fighting the temptation to give up and bringing peace to the troubled hearts around you, even in the midst of your waiting. But it also means staying connected to Christ and pointing others to Him.

We all go through times of waiting. Maybe you are in that season right now – waiting on a dream to be fulfilled, waiting on a new job (the right job), waiting to get married, waiting for a child, waiting… What do you do in these times of waiting? Well, we learn from Joseph to be faithful to God and to be “active” in the waiting. God is preparing you for what God is preparing for you. God is writin...

We all face temptations in life. From sexual immorality to pride, “sin is crouching at the door” (​Genesis 4:7​).  However, temptation is not sin. In fact, temptation is an opportunity to choose what is right. There is a  difference between temptation and trials, but God uses both to forge us into the men and women He desires. Temptation is a test to see how we are growing in our relationship with...

God is working in all of us. Yet, through the journey of life, there will be conflict. Conflict is what God can use to forge us–refine us. Nonetheless, it is difficult when the conflict comes from our own family, like it was for Joseph. How we handle this conflict develops our character. This is the refining process as God is shaping us to be more like Jesus. By God’s grace, as we handle conflict...

Dreams are crazy. Think about it — your subconscious keeps working when you’re sleeping, revealing your true thoughts and feelings, but in bizarre ways that rarely make sense on the surface. You could be riding on a roller coaster or being chased by spiders or even flying (or worse, falling). It’s nuts! And yet God still speaks to us, even through our dreams. Maybe it’s because one of the only tim...

It is not how you start, but how you finish. We all get one shot at life. One opportunity. How will we finish? With his last letter, the apostle Paul challenges and encourages Timothy to finish well. And, through this letter in the Bible, God challenges and encourages us to do the same. How are you planning to finish well? Where will you invest your time, energy and resources in order to further G...

As followers of Christ, we have been charged with raising up the next generation of believers. To prepare them for the trials and difficult times that are coming, by being an example in what we say and do. For, “what we say most, communicates what should matter most.”

This is the apostle Paul’s last letter. Paul is in prison in Rome for being a Christ-follower, and he knows he is about to die for the Gospel. Therefore, Paul writes this letter to Timothy, his spiritual son in the faith, and he tells him how to finish his life well. Paul points Timothy to the importance of dedication, hard-work and focus in his Christian faith. Paul wants Timothy to leave a legac...

How many projects have you started, having no idea how you were going to finish? And how many of those projects did you abandon halfway through? There’s a reason for that! Not having the end goal in mind makes it much harder to finish. Yesterday, we started our new series, Finish Well, based on the book 2 Timothy and Paul’s final instructions at the end of his life. If anyone in history could clai...

God calls His people to be brave. There are times when we must stand up for what we believe. Christianity is not a passive faith. This is our time to truly be bold and to invest our lives in what matters. God uses men and women to accomplish His will, but, our faith is not simply in one another, but rather in God. He is Sovereign - He is in control - and that should give us amazing peace and confi...

God has called for us to be obedient. However, how can we be obedient when there isn’t a clear path to follow? It’s simple, just knock. We knock by making a plan for the things we care about and believe in. As Esther showed us, God opened a door for us but not before she went knocking. So first, make a plan that seeks to accomplish God’s revealed will in Scripture. Then execute the plan in communi...

It takes bravery to be a hero. We are followers Christ living in a pagan world. This world is not our home. Therefore, we will experience conflict and persecution, if we truly live our lives for Christ. Sometimes, the persecution is small - someone may not understand why we pray, go to church or invest in God’s work. Other times, the persecution is big - many Christ-followers around the world put...