Saints‘ Hill Church Podcast

There is only one way to see God, and it’s through Jesus.

This last Sunday, one of our elders, Andoni Montaño, spoke on what it means to live by faith.

Jesus was never afraid to call out lies, and as Christians we have the responsibility to judge any idea that sets itself up against the way of Jesus. Seasons of life and cultural ideas, whether inherently good or bad, can offer you an identity that is not yours. This is why it’s so important to be formed by the written word of God and the voice of the Holy Spirit. We were made to depend on God and receive our identity from Him. This is how the life of Christ is formed in you and how His kingdom is released around you. 

This last Sunday we celebrated the Resurrection and spent time reflecting on the message of Jesus’ kingdom.

The simple message of the kingdom of Jesus begins with the repentance of sin. We have a designer who gave us purpose, function, and meaning when he created us. When we decide that we can play god in our lives, we participate in our own un-design, or de-forming - sin. We all need the Real Designer to tell us who we are & what our life is for. This is repentance - turning away in your mind, heart, and body from the ways you used to find purpose and fulfillment outside of God, and turning to find it all in God.

The second part of Jesus’ message is baptism. Baptism is being united with Christ in His death, so that we can be united with him in his resurrection. A physical act that participates in a spiritual reality.

Lastly, living resurrected. When you come into Christ you don’t just change, you die. You die and then you get a whole new life and identity - seated in heavenly places with Christ. His Spirit in us makes the impossible in our world, possible.

In January, we felt like God was inviting us into a year of radical dependence on Him. This last Sunday Jake Vigil brought us a word from the book of Proverbs that really breaks down how to depend on God.

The first thing we realize is that this kingdom we’re invited to participate in doesn’t operate the way the world around us does. The world’s keys to a good life are to accumulate knowledge, earthly wisdom, wealth, and independence. Each of these things promise something they cannot deliver. In Proverbs 3v5-12 we read that our understanding is limited, we must also connect with God on a heart level in order to grow. When we acknowledge that we are not the masters of our own lives, and allow Him to lead, the path to life becomes straight. When we view our finances as a gift given to us by a Good Father, intended to advance the kingdom, we unlock the storehouses of heaven. We accept the discipline of the Lord as a sign of our legitimacy as His children. He is a perfect Father, and His correction leads to greater trust and love.

All of this dependence on God will benefit you and your personal life, but it is meant to go beyond you — to give your family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors a taste of their future with God.

This last Sunday we ended our series on Discipleship with a teaching from Romans 5, and asked the question: what does it look like to reign in life as a disciple?

The disciple who reigns in life is unafraid to die, lives as a powerful child, and doesn’t need to control others to be okay.

All of this matters to us because we are here to be the fruit of Newberg’s future - that they would get a taste of what’s possible in Christ. 

Every church needs a working definition on how people become more like Jesus. If this family defines discipleship as the relational invitation to make your identity visible, we must: see God correctly - as a Father-partner and a Father-pruner, steward our mental worlds by agreeing with truth, and lastly - offer our bodies as living sacrifices. 

 

When we do things with our bodies we do things with our souls.

Everything you participate in has a set of values attached to it…you will become what you participate in. The life of the disciple is about walking through doors of discipline in order to encounter God in new ways. However, if these doors of discipline become a means of working for your identity and value, you’ve missed it. The engine of all spiritual formation is the love of the Father. We are not our own shepherds. In everything, may we be led by the love of the Father, the friendship of the Holy Spirit, and the intimacy of Jesus, our bridegroom. 

If seeing God correctly is the first step to lasting change in the life of the disciple, then the second step is stewarding your mind — changing what you allow to be believed.

Simply put: we are in bondage when we believe lies. We are set free when we believe truth. Our behavior reveals our feelings, our feelings reveal our fears, and our fears reveal our beliefs. We can’t change how we feel, but we can change what we believe, which changes everything else.

This renewed mind, in Paul’s language, is the mind that thinks about life the way Jesus thinks about life. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray - on earth as it is in heaven - He was giving them insight to his mind. Thinking heaven to earth will keep you from becoming conformed to the patterns of the world and produce the kingdom in and around you.

How do you change? How does someone become more like Christ?

This question is key to understanding the journey of the disciple as we move from fear to love.

The first step in changing, in becoming more like Jesus, is seeing God correctly. The primary way we see Jesus interacting with God, is as a Father. Even further, there are two specific ways we get fathered by God that produce lasting change in us: His partnership and His correction.

God is a good dad who has always been interested in partnering with you to see heaven come to earth. When you see the partnership He desires, you will begin to change out of the love He has for you. This is a powerful motivation.

God is also interested in you bearing fruit that will last. He is a Father Gardener and he walks through the garden of your life and looks for things with eternal value. He cuts, or prunes, anything that isn’t producing eternally valuable fruit. This is how He shows us that we are His children and demonstrates His jealous love for us. It’s for our flourishing and for His glory.

This last Sunday we continued in our series on discipleship, exploring the idea of what it means to be unafraid sons and daughters who are able to rule in love alongside Christ for the renewal of the world.

The vision statement over every human being is to rule alongside God (Gen 1v26) — to be the royal representation of God here on earth. What you believe, or who you trust, will determine whether you rule correctly. We often fail at this, but there was a man who didn’t, and He showed us how to be disciples.

Jesus had to trust the Father that He would raise Him from the dead. In this Jesus defined discipleship: our job is the dying, God’s job is the raising.

Paul says that we are not civilians - we say “no” to some things that others say “yes”to so we can give our big yes to God. The vision God has for the earth has become ours, so we don’t have a personal project we are building outside of His project. This is the vision of discipleship!

This last Sunday we began a new series on discipleship. Alex taught us through Colossians 3v1-17 and posed the question, what is the life of the disciple supposed to look like?

Our working definition of discipleship is - the relational invitation to make your identity visible. It requires effort, intentionality, and thoughtfulness, but its foundation is love. You can only change to the degree that you understand God’s radical love for you.

What does this look like practically? You begin dismantling the lies and fear that once formed your identity through choices you make with God, not apart from Him. Choices that reflect moving away from fear and moving towards trust.

The vision of God from the very beginning of time is that humans would enter such a trust-filled relationship with Him, that they become unafraid sons and daughters - able to rule in love alongside Christ for the renewal of the world. 

What is the relationship between faith and works?

This last Sunday, Chris presented us with the variety of perspectives that the authors of the Scriptures give on this relationship. How do we live within the tension that what we do doesn’t matter at all, yet what we do matters a lot?

If our faith is a living thing, which the biblical authors seem to suggest, then perhaps the solution is to get as close to the source of “life” as possible. We know that this source is none other than Jesus himself — being in His presence, cultivating intimacy, and building trust with Him. This is what makes a fruitful life of love and obedience to God.

We trust the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin, and assure us of our righteous identity in Christ. This is how God turns our weaknesses into our weapons!