Saints‘ Hill Church Podcast

Pentecost: The Spirit’s Freedom

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. 

Pentecost: The Spirit’s War

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.

Pentecost: The Spirit’s Mission

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. 

Life of the Church: Love That Restores

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.

Life of the Church: The Definer

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. 

Easter 2023 - The Simple Message of Jesus

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.

Life of the Church: An Upside Down Kingdom

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.

The Way of the Disciple: Reigning in Life

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. 

The Way of the Disciple: Doors of Discipline

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. 

The Way of the Disciple: Change Your Mind

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.