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Weekly podcasts exploring the life of a Christ-follower in the context of community...
Episodes
Sunday Mar 01, 2015
Sunday Feb 22, 2015
Sunday Feb 15, 2015
Sunday Feb 08, 2015
Sunday Feb 08, 2015
Today's message is a farewell to Colby & Claire Stephens as they prepare to move to Oregon City, Oregon...
Sunday Feb 01, 2015
Sunday Feb 01, 2015
Our texts for today come from John 14, 15, 16, & also Acts 1 & 2.
Sunday Jan 25, 2015
Sunday Jan 25, 2015
Our texts for today are Acts 4:13, John 8:28-32, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, John 13 & John 17
Sunday Jan 18, 2015
Sunday Jan 18, 2015
Our text for today is Luke 9:18-26, & the title of the message is, "THIS IS THE LIFE!"
Sunday Jan 11, 2015
Sunday Jan 04, 2015
Sunday Jan 04, 2015
Acts 4:13 – Now when they (the religious leaders) saw the boldness of Peter & John, & perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. & they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
It’s human nature to disqualify ourselves &/or come up with reasons why we can’t respond to Christ’s invitation to follow Him as His disciple. The excuses run the gamut:
We’re ashamed of ourselves. Too sinful. Too broken. Unworthy. Insufficient & inadequate for the task.
2 great examples of this are Moses & Simon Peter. In Exodus 3-4:17, Moses responds to God’s call to bring freedom to the Israelites enslaved in Egypt, & to lead them to the Land of God’s promise using the excuses:
- I’m a nobody
- I don’t have the authority to do this on my own.
- They won’t listen to me.
- I can’t talk very good in public.
Then, in John 18 & 21, we see Peter, ashamed at his failures, short-comings, & denial of Christ, left behind the life of a disciple of Christ & returned to the life he’d known before the call of Christ: fishing.
In both of their situations, these men were looking at themselves to try to find something within that would enable them to be & do what God called them to be & do. And they couldn’t find it. Instead, God PROVIDED everything they needed in order to be able to do what He called them to BE & DO.
Because God doesn’t choose & call us because we’re awesome. Especially gifted. Extraordinary. He chooses & calls who He does to show what HE can do in & through normal, everyday, ordinary people. People who spend time with Him. And who will obey His words.
This coming Sunday, we’re starting a series called “Ordinary People” to explore what it looks like for us to be Jesus’ disciples, to BE with Him, & to follow wherever it is that He leads.
Blessings, grace, & peace to you
Sunday Dec 28, 2014
Sunday Dec 28, 2014
This last Sunday at Hillside we wrapped up our “Jesus REVOLUTION” series – it’s was also our last Sunday gathering of 2014. The normally hectic pace of life has significantly increased in this Christmas season, & in some ways, I feel like I’ve had to be more & more intentional about stopping, reflecting, & evaluating life, its happenings, my priorities, & what I give my time to. Specifically, over the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to take time to reflect on the questions:
- What could/would it look like if Jesus did a revolution in my life?
- What am I expecting/hoping for Jesus to do in me?
- What am I wiling to put on the table?
Don’t get me wrong. I love my life. The time spent with my family & friends. Watching my kids turn into great adults who love Jesus & are making strides forward in their own lives. The work I am privileged to do. The life & growth in Christ I’m seeing within our church family. And still…
I wonder what areas Jesus wants to cut away so that I can grow, develop, deepen. What thought patterns & meditations of my heart He wants to transform. What ways I interact with & respond to others. How I can better take care of myself (body, mind, & spirit.)
I guess what I am expecting is that He is doing something NEW in me. That He is in the process of awakening parts of my life, my soul, that have been dormant or stagnant. That He is going to be refining me – So can will continue to be growing more & more like Him.
So the answer to the last question, “What am I willing to put on the table?” is ME. It feels a little scary – which means that my prayer heading into 2015 & beyond is: “Increase my faith, Lord. Because “…we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” Hebrews 10:39
Blessings, grace, peace, & FAITH to you