Saints‘ Hill Church Podcast

Vision 2022: The Social Contract of Saints’ Hill

What can you expect to give from church and what can you expect to get from church? Alex spent some time this last Sunday laying out the social contract of Saints’ Hill.

Churches gather for many different reasons, most of church in the West is a combination of personality preference mixed with a “shining image” of church. Taking time to define your why & how for church will inform what kind of social contract you’re after.

Our take on the biblical narrative is that the point of church is to help embodied souls live in love instead of fear through oneness with Yahweh for the sake of heaven on earth.

Every church has a liturgy, a list of actions they perform in worship that accomplish what they think church is supposed to accomplish.

We believe that liturgy is only as successful as it is delivering people to the Father’s Presence. Our conviction at Saints’ Hill is that corporate renewal begins with personal renewal, and personal renewal begins with Father encounter.

Go back and listen to this teaching if you want to hear more in-depth about the social contract of Saints’ Hill and where we feel like we’re headed this year.

Vision 2022: To the Saints

This last Sunday, one of our elders, Andoni, gave a teaching on the foundation for the prophetic culture at Saints’ Hill. We’ve seen the first fruits of the prophetic in our town as many of us have begun to give away what the Lord has blessed us with. This is amazing. Equally as important will it be to remember & return to our foundation for the prophetic - Jesus. Our perfect model of living a prophetic life from love and with freedom. The only way you can begin to walk in authority out of love, is if you understand and receive your righteous identity in Christ.

Jesus - the perfect sacrifice, God’s triumphant, once and for all declaration of His unconditional love for us, is what allows us to live from love. It’s what we were made for. When we try to operate from a place of lack, we end up manipulating others to earn God’s love. This is not the way Jesus modeled for us.

Go find out just exactly how much the Father loves you, and watch your authority in the Spirit begin to grow.

Vision 2022: Forgiveness

This last Sunday we had the privilege of hearing from one of our elders, Jim Traut. Jim spoke to us from the Scriptures about forgiveness.

Doing forgiveness well is like heart maintenance — it’s like keeping air in the tires of your bike or changing the oil in your car. Fortunately for us, the Scriptures are full of wisdom on how to do maintenance on our hearts and sustain the joy that is promised to us, even when the road gets bumpy.

According to Jesus, how well we exercise forgiveness is directly related to how well we function in our relationships, our marriages, our church family, and ultimately in the kingdom of heaven. Unforgiveness can hold you hostage, but stepping into obedience and choosing to forgive with a heart of compassion, sets us free! We get our joy back, our strength back.

We look to Jesus as the ultimate example of forgiveness lived out. And it is only when we gaze upon Jesus as our perfect gift from the Father, and receive Him, that we are able to extend forgiveness to others.

This is how the kingdom will break out in our town, and earth will begin to look more like heaven.

Vision 2022: The Joy of Surrender

We talk a lot about surrender at Saints’ Hill, but what do we mean by that? Better yet, what do the Scriptures say about the concept of surrender?

This last Sunday Bria walked us through a biblical definition of surrender.

To be surrendered to God is to give our “yes” to Him, not just to a set of beliefs or behaviors. Our surrender is unto a person, King Jesus. Surrendering unto a set of beliefs or behaviors will not produce laid down lovers with childlike faith, but putting your trust in Jesus will. This relational aspect is key to understanding how we view surrender.

Our initial surrender to Jesus is a beautiful thing, but if we view surrender as a one-time act, we are missing out on a life of increasing intimacy with God. Our continual surrender is not passive or apathetic, rather, it’s about learning how to live life in a posture of receiving. We were designed to receive love from Him, and live our lives out of the overflow of His love.

Surrendering is easy when you’ve seen His face, and know His heart. May we continue to look to Him for everything that we need as we lay down our lives before Him. 

Vision 2022: A People Strengthened by Joy

Has the mood of your life changed as a result of the gospel?

One of our values at Saints’ Hill is that we are people filled with hope and joy. Our strength and protection in life is directly tied to the degree that we understand God’s disposition towards us. When you see the gap in your life between what you are and what you could be, get happy. Remember that it was the blood of Jesus that made a life of intimacy with the rejoicing Father possible. It is His joy that is your strength.

When we live strengthened by the joy of His Presence, our lives will invite the people around us to come and taste the fruit of their future. How beautiful!

Vision 2022: The Fathered Life

This last Sunday we began our annual vision series - where we take some time to revisit the vision of Saints’ Hill, why we exist. If we go all the way back to the basics, we need to know what it means to be fathered by God.

We see this framework throughout all the Scriptures: the goal of life is to become unafraid sons and daughters, able to rule in love alongside Christ for the renewal of the world.

Many believers have good theology, or even have a working idea of what it means to be a disciple, but still are unable to really rule because their inner world is a wreck. All external conflict comes from internal conflict, and all internal conflict comes from fear. If you don’t think you have a good Father, you won’t bring things to Him, depend on Him, or love Him.

As a believer with the Holy Spirit, your spirit cries out “Abba, Father.” Jesus made a way for you to have what He had, and what you were made for - intimate connection to a good Father. This is where the Christian life begins. Your joy, your growth, and your fruit, are all tied to your ability to receive His love like a child.

The King is Here: How we Hear

What Jesus’ light can do in your life is tied to your perception.

With this parable in Luke 8v16-18 Jesus again is getting at the condition of the heart.

The light of Jesus exposes our need. His light leads to one of two options, to recognize our need and surrender, or to recognize our need and walk away offended.

If Jesus is light then He will see you. But to those who receive, this is not something to fear but a promise that what He exposes He will purify.

Your need got you into the kingdom and your surrender got Him into you. So may we lay down our need to perform for Him, and let Him in the door of our heart that He’s been knocking on. That He might see us, love us, purify us, and make us like Him.

 

The King is Here: Good Soil

Jesus’ message, the kingdom of God, has to do with your heart. More than the mind or will, Jesus is concerned with what you love.

In Luke 8v1-15 Jesus diagnoses what can get in the way of receiving and loving His word, His Presence, and His activity. He gives examples of three different types of hearts: the path heart, the rocky heart, and the thorny heart. None of which are able to fully live into the kingdom life Jesus has in mind.

These are contrasted with the good soil heart. When you take the seeds of God and push them down deep into your life, when they begin to touch your cares and your worries, when they are treasured and valued to the point that they become your riches and your riches and pleasures…the kingdom will burst out of you.

Jesus was crowned with the curse, with our lack, so abundance could now begin to crown us. There is only one way to real life and it is trust. May we put Him in His rightful place in our hearts, that we may bear fruit and bring Him glory.

The King is Here: A Tale of Two Realms

Do you feel saved? What do your emotions about Jesus reveal?

This passage in Luke 7 challenges us by asking what we feel about Jesus. When you gaze upon Him, is your response abandon, or management? These two emotional responses testify to two different realms — the realm of abundance and the realm of lack.

Following Jesus means losing control. And it’s the most beautifully liberating thing that could ever happen to you. Nobody who has experienced the fullness of His love for them will ever want to hold anything back from Him. His precious blood spilled out like perfume anointing us.

May we spend our days moving His heart with the type of sacrifice we’ll only be able to give Him on this side of heaven

The King is Here: Jesus’ Mission is our Mission

Who does Jesus think He is? Who do you think He is?

The story in Luke 7v18-35 provokes these questions, and the way you answer them will inform the way you live and what you expect in this life.

Jesus is the Messiah, the healer, the son of man who comes to take away sin. His kingdom is an invisible rule and reign in people that produces tangible heavenly results through them in our world today. The life of Jesus didn’t just save you, it empowered you. It set a standard for what is possible for disciples connected to the Father.

The vision of Saints’ Hill is wrapped up in the mission of Jesus — to see people come back to the life they were designed to live. This type of revival is possible when we stay radically in tune with the Spirit. Going wherever He’s going, saying whatever He’s saying. So we say Holy Spirit come, play your tune.