The Hill Church

James is writing to a group of Christ followers who are facing some challenging trials. He encourages them to count it as Joy when they go through. The question is why and in who do we do this? 

Galatians 6 reminds us that the best people can slip up. Paul redirects us so that, if people do slip, our duty is to get them on their feet again. We are called to share burdens. 

After addressing the works of the flesh, Paul now turns to the fruit the Spirit and what it produces in our lives as Christians. These are not things we do on our own, but through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. 

There is an epic battle happening inside of believers everyday. Walking in the flesh leads us into bondage and slavery. The Lord is continuously calling us to live by and to be lead by the Spirit. 

Paul is finally going to hit specifically on the issue of circumcision. We will take a deeper look as to why it’s of no use for us to look to any aspect of the law for our freedom. 

Malls have always been the place where you can see and get your hands on an actual version of the product you may be interested in. You can try them on, test the features and see what it would be like if you actually owned one yourself. In this passages, Jesus helps us and his disciples see how God enjoys doing a work in our lives to display His goodness. 

This episode in the life of Jonah the prophet teaches us that: God is not only faithful to “redeem” us; he also graciously restores us. This grace turned a rebellious prophet into an obedient prophet; and a rebellious people (Nineveh) into a repentant people. 

The Israelites are facing a tough task. Take down a heavily fortified city in Jericho. As Joshua is preparing he comes face to face with the “commander of the Lords Army”. This is an interesting and brief interaction sometimes forgotten about before the more famous story of Jericho but there is much to be learned from it. 

The special unique place that mothers fill in the shaping, nurturing and encouraging us should never be downplayed. In John 2 we find the first miracle that Jesus performed at the invitation of his strong mother. 

In Romans 1:16, Paul shares about being unashamed to declare the gospel. More importantly, this means our God loves and is unashamed of us.

Paul begins to challenge the maturity of the Galatian Church. This is a people who knew the truth but began to follow things that contradicted the knowledge they once stood firm in.

We’ve reached a point in Galatians where Paul is really turning the tables on the Judaizers. They would have seen themselves as children of Abraham and Sarah but according to Paul they are children of Hagar. We will look back to the Old Testament to see why this is so profound. 

Paul uses the example of a slave turned heir to describe the enormity of the riches, grace and love God placed upon the church. The church had begun turning to inferior works and idols to try and reach the God that had already met them in Jesus.

Jesus says "I have come that they may have life". In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul informs the church on the details of the "New New" life that has been given to all Jesus' followers.

When we struggle to believe God, we strain to make things work on our own. Paul reminds us of the danger of leaning on our flesh. 

We are doing an overview of all of chapter 2 of Galatians and the final verse talks about Grace versus the law. How do these things relate and do we have to make the right connections or be a certain type of person to receive this grace. I think what we will see is the answer is no. 

We are called to make disciples, but before we make disciples, we first need to consider our heart before the Lord. When we fail to give God all of our hearts we find that we give ourselves to things that distract us from our mission. But when we give our hearts to the Lord He transforms us, empowers us, and calls us to model the gospel in all of life. We know those around us are watching, but do...

One of Jesus’s most central teaching He hands-down to us has become known as the golden rule. It calls us to live with a moral imagination about the future and treat others in the way we wish to be treated. In doing so, He also calls us to walk in His way which at many times is misaligned with this present world. The crowd is often following a big highway that leads to destruction. We are to enter...

Paul begins to recite the details of his call to the faith, his special ministry to those outside of the Jewish community with the Gospel of grace. 

A frustrated Paul pushes back on the dangerous teaching finding it’s way into the churches in the Galatian region. 

The Galatian church has a problem. False teachers have crept in and Paul is writing to correct a serious issue. As we intro into the book we will begin to see that while there may be some differences between what they were facing and the problems we have today, there is a lot for us to learn. 

It seems easy enough to trust God on Sunday mornings or when life is going well. But what about when God seems distant? What about when it seems that His promises may never come true? What about in the long days of waiting? This Sunday we will look to Abram in Genesis 15 for encouragement to trust in God and His promises in the gray days of waiting. 

As we are nearing the end of Ephesians, Paul gives us some final things to keep in mind. He warns us of the true nature of the battle we are fighting, and encourages us to be prepared so that we can stand firm when we face the struggles of this life.

Parenting is powerful for many reasons, simply because of its impact on shaping the future.