Saints‘ Hill Church Podcast

In Luke 8v26-39 Jesus exhibits another aspect of His authority as the Creator, this time over the demonic. This story certainly validates Jesus’ divinity, but the story itself is also a kingdom description, with beliefs attached to it that we are supposed to acquire through reading.

 

On Sunday, we focused in on what the demonic does to a person, and what Jesus will do about it.

 

The Bible recognizes that we live in a spiritual world with gods and demons whose primary aim is to uncreate and reverse the order and design that God intended from the beginning. The truth is that these lesser gods are nothing compared to Yahweh, but people have the ability to make them something through worship and sacrifice.

 

The level of agreement and worship given to these gods or demons, will determine their influence in our lives. Whether it’s the demonized man in the story we read or it’s a parent who sacrifices time with their family on the altar of money…both of these people are under the influence of demonic ways of seeing themselves, God, and the world. 

 

The good news of Jesus is that He will heal you of your demons and use you to do the same. In our repentance from lies we are set free and we get infused with hope!

This last Sunday, Alex taught on the famous passage in Luke 8v22-25 where Jesus calms the storm on the boat.

 

There’s so many ways one can draw meaning from this passage, and you’ve probably heard most of them. On Sunday, we focused in on Jesus’ question to the disciples after He calms the storm, “Where is your faith?” When Jesus asks this question, He isn’t asking what sort of ideas you believe, He is asking, who do you trust?

 

If you had to boil the entire message of the Bible down to one idea, it could very well be trust God. Practically, this looks like viewing the issues of this life through the lens of God’s ability, not viewing God through the lens of trials in this life.

 

So how do we grow in trust? We experience the face of the trustworthy one. Encountering His Presence and hearing His Voice is how you build trust. The peace and the victory that come with knowing Him and loving Him is the only thing that enables you to weather the storms of life. 

 

God is raising a people to carry the next renewal, and great trust is required.

This last Sunday we jumped back into our Luke series. Alex taught on Luke 8v19-21 and what it means to be a disciple in God’s family.

 

From Jesus’ words in this passage we glean that we are not disciples in mind only, rather, what we believe will be seen by what we do. The only way to really know if the words of God have been heard is if they are acted upon. Someone whose actions are in congruence with their professed beliefs is a real-deal disciple.

 

So why do we experience a gap between what we hear and what we do?

 

We misunderstand the gospel, we get lulled into neutral living, and we begin to play God. These things inevitably lead to a powerless life full of fear. The truth is that we need God. Living with Him as our source is the only way to really live. May God make us courageous hearers and doers of His Word!

How much of your life do spend living out of insecurity? Think of how you’d be freed up to live for the kingdom if you weren’t constantly stumbling over who you’re not...

 

On Sunday we got to hear from our Worship Director, Jake Vigil, on the love of the Father. 

 

God is looking for a church that is free because He has things He wants to do and release on the earth through us - and the love of the Father is the only thing that can truly set you free and provide a secure identity.

 

We cannot afford to graduate from being God’s children. Dependence on Him is what you were made for. Only the Father can tell you why you were designed, He will correct you and encourage you as you go.

 

Our flesh will try to find love and security in the things of this world, but everything you’re looking for is found in HIm. There’s one cup and if you drink from it you will never be thirsty again. 

 

Jesus came to reveal the Father, that we might be reconciled to Him, restoring intimacy that we were designed for. The love of the Father changes everything!

This last Sunday we wrapped up our Pentecost series with a teaching on prophecy. In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul says that we should eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. So what is prophecy?

Prophecy is speaking saved. It’s looking at a world full of mess and choosing to see it the way God sees it.

We are made in the image of someone who spoke and a whole world came into existence…when we speak, worlds come into being. Our words have the power to either speak life and re-create or speak death and uncreate. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 2v16 that we have the mind of Christ, His Spirit lives in us and allows us to discern His thoughts! That’s in your Bible!

When you begin to think on earth as it is in heaven, and you share what you hear, you are prophesying. Prophecy isn’t a crystal ball, tarot cards, or end times speculating; prophecy at its core is sharing the heart of God into a world without hope. It strengthens, encourages and comforts. It recreates.

God made you, and He intends to use what He made. Create space to listen, ask God to mingle His thoughts with yours, interpret everything you hear through the gospel, then take a risk and humbly share it in faith. This is how we follow the way of love.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and it’s up to the same stuff that Jesus was up to: spiritually saving, physically healing, and demonically delivering.

This last Sunday Alex taught on the gifts of the Spirit, as primarily mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. In this passage Paul describes the many gifts that come from the Holy Spirit. These gifts will always lead to Jesus and His lordship, while the manifestations of other spirits will always lead to the worship of self and lesser things.

If the Bible is true and livable, we should encourage and foster a place for all the gifts. We should have intelligibility publicly. The Sunday gathering is a place we come to be used by the Spirit for unity, and to build up others. Your identity does not come from the gifts, but from the Spirit. We do not need people with power who do not love, and we will not chase the gifts. We will follow God wherever He may be going. If you want to move in the Holy Spirit’s power, then receive first, because love is what motivates all the gifts.

God wants you free from the influence of lesser gods. They uncreate you, forcing endless production and sacrifice while under-delivering identity and peace. The results of their un-creation are bondage, addiction, anxiety, and fear.

But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. You were called to be free.

This last Sunday Alex taught on the Spirit’s freedom. In Romans 7 Paul describes the war between the law of the flesh and the law of the Spirit.

The law of the flesh is about trying to use external means to solve internal issues, or, using earthly strategies for spiritual problems. The law of the Spirit is that you are no longer in the realm of the flesh! Jesus lived the life you could not. He declared that it is finished, the search for personal glory through a system is over. And He gave you His Spirit to birth you again so you don’t live through effort, but through the power of God.

If you want the freedom of the Holy Spirit, you must surrender to the Holy Spirit. It may be an unpredictable life, but the fruit of dependence is more than you could ask or imagine. 

Last week we began our Pentecost series talking about the mission of the Holy Spirit in our lives and how we depend on the Holy Spirit to see the works of the enemy destroyed. This week Alex walked us through a biblical theology of the Holy Spirit.

 

We see all throughout the Scriptures that we exist not just in the physical world but in the spiritual world. There are spiritual beings who do not serve Yahweh, and their influence in the world brings death and deformation. In contrast, the main work of the Spirit of God is creating and re-creating.

The Spirit exists to recreate the human heart around the things and voice of God. By speaking truth, the Spirit re-creates what the gods have un-created. This is why Jesus calls the Spirit of God the Spirit of Truth.

You were designed to depend on this Spirit of Truth, it brings peace and victory as it recreates you into the likeness of Christ.

These next few weeks leading up to Pentecost we’re going to spend time talking about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. 

On Sunday Alex shared with us some of his own journey, of going from quenching the Holy Spirit to complete surrender to the Holy Spirit. His point: you were not designed to live in theory…you were designed to live in power. 

When you have the Holy Spirit in your life, not just as a theological theory, but as a reality, you will find that the Holy Spirit has a mission.

You will need courage for this mission, but we see in the Scriptures that God gives courage by the Holy Spirit, so that we may conquer evil. We were designed to depend on Him and be filled with His life and power, to destroy the works of the enemy on earth. 

This last Sunday we had the privilege of hearing from one of our leaders, Laura Sharp. Laura spoke from John 18 about the restorative love of Jesus.

We learn a lot about Jesus from this text. We learn that Jesus knew the pain of betrayal, he even willingly chose it. He invested in people He knew were going to break His heart. What does that say about Him? It says that He knew what it was to be loved by His Father - that perfect love that casts out fear. He did not have to manipulate the people around Him because He was not afraid of them.

To love like this, we first have to let ourselves be loved like this. There is no loving others apart from loving and being loved by God. His love is powerful, not of this world but given to us freely - to restore us to Himself that we might become ambassadors of heavenly restoration on earth.