Hillside Foursquare Church

Ephesians 5: On a Mission from God

I didn't play organized sports until I was about 10 years old - I can still remember the butterflies from my first trip onto the baseball diamond for tryouts for a REAL league. I'd played catch with my dad, but I'd never been a part of a baseball team, & I didn't really know what I should do when I made my way out onto the field... so I looked for someone who looked like they knew what they were doing. And I followed him. His name was Robert, & this wasn't his first rodeo. I imitated his confident demeanor. Went where he did on the field. Circled the fly balls like he did, & hit the cut-off man with my throws. Like he did. He never knew that I was looking to him as my example, but my tryout was a success largely because I'd had him to copy, & for that I am eternally grateful. Having someone to imitate, someone WORTH imitating is priceless - & in Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul tells the church at Ephesus (& us!) to imitate God in all of our behaviors  - just like a little kid would imitate someone they looked up to... like I did with Robert on the baseball diamond. Imitating God gives us an example to follow that helps us in the words we speak with others, with holiness & sexuality, & in our interactions/relationships with others. God never intended that we would have to just figure stuff out on our own - rather, He sent Christ so we would have an example to follow & we would know what it looks like for a person to live a life submitted to God, obeying Him in every area of life, navigating through the myriad 'grey areas' that life is full of. The goal is that each of us would be able to say, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ," & serve as living, breathing examples of Christ-followers...

Ephesians 4: On a Mission from God - Be Like Jesus

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working through the first 3 chapters of the letter to the Ephesians – there are a few recurring themes Paul touches on that jump out at me:

• We are each called to live for the praise of His glory – namely, to make Him famous
• God, in His mercy has saved us by His grace through our faith in Christ, not by our works, so no one can boast about it
• We are God’s handiwork (His masterpiece), created new in Him to do good in His Name wherever we go
• We are ALL on a mission from God – to do what Jesus would be doing if He was walking in our shoes

In Ephesians 4, Paul reveals that a key element necessary for us is that we would grow up to full maturity – & the standard God uses for full maturity is Christ Himself (Eph. 4:13). In effect, he’s stating that in order to fulfill our “mission from God,” we have to be Christ-like in our attitudes, thoughts, actions, & interactions with others. We can’t do this by simply trying harder or having good will-power to ‘do good.’ Rather, we are to put off our pre-Christ self (with its deceit, hardness of hearts, selfishness, & pursuit of sensuality,) & be renewed in the spirit of our minds (v.22), looking for ways that we can be like Christ in every area (vv.23-24).  Practically speaking, it’s a day to day growing process where we submit ourselves to God, & then begin to live our lives following Christ’s example. For our mission to be a success, we gotta grow to be like Jesus.

Ephesians 3: On A Mission From God - Fuel for the Mission

In Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul proclaims what he calls “the mystery of Christ.” This mystery, revealed at just the right time, is that ALL people (not just those of Hebrew descent) can become part of God’s family because of the gospel good news of salvation by grace in Christ (Ephesians 3:1-6). The mission from God Paul is pursuing is directed by this good news & God’s desire that all would see & know the hope available in Christ Jesus. In that context, what really jumps out at me from Chapter 3 is Paul’s prayer for his readers; it’s a prayer that describes what he sees as the essential “fuel” for the mission which God has given to us. He prays the following: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV You get that? Central to living out our mission from God & our being filled with everything we need from Him requires that we:

• -Be strengthened by the Holy Spirit
• -Have Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith
• -Be rooted & grounded in His love
• -Come to an ever increasing awareness, comprehension, & experience of the BIG-ness of Christ’s love

Bringing this home & personalizing it – the more we ‘get’ Christ’s love, the more effective, empowered, & fueled we will be for our mission from God. I’m praying this same prayer for us today!

Ephesians 2: On A Mission From God - Embracing Grace

There’s a section of Ephesians 2 that has been bouncing around my head: God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith... Ephesians 2:4-8 ESV God brought us out of sin & death & into wholeness & life in Christ by the gift of His grace. This grace isn’t something we could ever earn or deserve; God’s grace not only provides our salvation (vv.5&8 - by grace you’ve been saved!), it is also an ever present reminder that it is THROUGH His grace & BY His grace God promises to always interact with us. Think about it: there is no amount we have ever (or could ever) sin that would be too much for God’s grace to cover. It is big, wide, & deep enough to cover a multitude of wrongs that we have done.  That isn’t an invitation to sin with reckless abandon (Romans 5:20-6:4); rather, it gives us confidence & security that our standing with God isn’t dependent upon us! God’s grace frees us to have & exercise living faith in Christ, & to persevere in this faith for as long as we have breath. Grace to you!

Ephesians 1: On A Mission From God

Today, we're beginning a 7 week series through Paul's letter to the Ephesian church. Truly, this is one of my most favorite books in the Bible as it highlights the lived out mission that Christ has given to every one of His followers - to live our lives on purpose - whether we're at work or play, with friends & others, to intentionally live for the praise of God's glory. Our text for today is Ephesians 1

Blessings in Times of Famine - Redigging the Wells...

A guy I was talking with last week was lamenting the state of the economy, the pitiful job market, & the general doom & gloom that he (& many others) have been living under since the crash of 2008. He lamented, "I guess we'll just be going through a lot more of these difficulties until there is some kind of turnaround. And that is IF it even happens..." At that moment, I felt a strong 'nudge' from the Holy Spirit which directed me to re-read Genesis 26. It tells the story of God's faithfulness & blessing to Isaac (the son of Abraham.) The story takes place near a Philistine village called Gerar, (it is located in modern south-central Israel.) The whole region was suffering a famine of epic proportions, & hordes of humanity were relocating in an attempt to find a place on the earth where the famine wasn't as bad. It is in this context that God addresses Isaac & informs him of His plans for him:

Sojourn in this land, and I will BE WITH YOU and WILL BLESS YOU, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 26:3,4 (See Genesis 12 for more on God's promise to Abraham).

Genesis 26:12 & 13 recount that Isaac took God at His word & he planted his crops in SPITE of the famine. As a result, God did bless Isaac, & He didn't do it just a little bit - He blessed Isaac a hundred-fold, which is Hebrew slang for "beyond description & beyond measure." The Lord used the reminder of this story as a way of jogging me out of the 'realities' of a struggling economy, reports of doom & gloom, & the like, & He turned my eyes to the fact that He calls us, His kids to look to Him for provision, no matter what the days & times might hold. Further, God wants to bless us so that we can be a source of His blessing to others. Think on that - & I'm praying that God turns our eyes to Him, & fills our hearts with faith to believe He is actively at work in & around us! I'm praying for you! Louie

Waiting... for the Promise #5

Right before Christ ascended into heaven, He told His disciples to do two things:

• -Go back into Jerusalem (the city where, a few weeks prior, Jesus Christ was crucified)
• -WAIT for the empowerment that comes with the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus knew the significance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christ-follower - the mission He gave them in Matthew 28:18-20 wasn't one that could (or can) be accomplished merely by training, education, zeal, will-power or perseverance. Rather, He knew that we all need the promise of the Holy Spirit to give us the fuel, the power, & the ability to be witnesses for Him in our neighborhoods, our communities, & to the ends of the earth. Literally, wherever on this planet we go/end up, the Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to accomplish God's purposes & mission in our lives: this means He gives us the strength, power, boldness, gifts insight, wisdom, & favor in our time of need. As we conclude our "Waiting for the promise" series today, my hope is that each of us continues to wait expectantly for God’s promise to be worked in our lives - that we would be filled/refilled with the Holy Spirit so that we would actively & intentionally engage the world around us with the love of Christ.

Godly Womanhood: Revisited

In this Mothers Day message, Hillside's own Danae Lear teaches on what it means to be a woman dedicated to pursuing God with her whole heart - the message is titled "Godly Womanhood: Revisited." Take a listen - you'll be glad you did.

Waiting for the Promise #4 - Finding Rest

One of the most significant aspects of waiting for the Lord can involve ceasing from our activities & work - a.k.a. regularly disengaging from the demands of life, our never-ending to-do lists, & the constant input of media, music, & noise so that we can come to rest in our body, soul, & mind, thereby recharging, refocusing, & renewing our relationship with God. A great way to do this on regular basis is to celebrate a weekly Sabbath rest where we buck the busyness trends of our culture, lay aside the “tyranny of the urgent” & let the Holy Spirit remind us of who (& WHOSE) we are by affirming our identity as human BE-ings, (not human DO-ings,)  created in the IMAGE of God to live for the GLORY of God. The Sabbath rest involves four steps:

• -CEASING
• -RESTING
• -CELEBRATING
• -REFLECTING

This week as we explore waiting in the context of Sabbath rest, our texts begin in Matthew 11:28-12:8 as well as Luke 10:38-42.

Waiting For The Promise #3 - Active Waiting

The phrase, “wait for the Lord” can sound like a call to passivity, a challenge to sit, bored & doing nothing, (a la a visit to the doctor’s office or sitting at DMV), until such a time as the Lord God is finally ready to act on our behalf, & give us insights & instructions for who/what/where/how He wants us to engage our world around us. This doesn’t give us a picture of what Biblical ‘waiting for the Lord’ is - in Scripture, we are called to “wait for the Lord” & while we are depending on Him & listening to Him for the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are also challenged to engage with our families, friends, co-workers, & community, to be involved in the day-to-day “taking care of business” of being a Christ-follower. What this looks like in each of our lives might be best discovered by answering the following questions:

• What is it that God has already spoken to me to be being & doing in the past? Keep doing this.
• Lord Jesus, what do you have for me to be & do today? Do this.
• What does it look like, lived out, to love God with all of my heart & love others like I love myself? Do this.

Our text for today is Luke 12:25-38.