Idle speech is an important theme in this letter. Words have power. What comes out of our mouth, our speech is critical. With words, we are to encourage and build each other up. 1 Thess 5 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing. How are we to […]
unity
Phil 1 – Just One Thing (pt3 of 3)
2) The gospel leads to Fellowship Phil 1 27 Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind… Let’s follow Paul’s argument. He […]
Eph 4: The Truthful Church (pt2 of 3)
To diligently keep the unity, the people of God have to live lives worthy of our salvation. In other words, they have to be true Christians who are humble and gentle and patient and accepting of one another in love. How is unity broken? By taking the completely opposite attitude and behavior that true believers […]
Eph 4: The Truthful Church (pt1 of 3)
Today, I want to talk about Christian maturity. Individual maturity is important, but equally important is the maturity of our church. We have some mature or maturing members of this church, but in my opinion, as a church, we are still immature. How do we become mature corporately as members of Hill Community Church? That’s […]
Eph 2-3: The Multi-faceted Mystery of the Messiah (pt3 of 3)
This mystery of the Messiah is revealed to Paul and for the first time to his generation. It doesn’t stop there, though. Interestingly, a second audience is mentioned. Eph 3:8-10– Eph 3 8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah, 9 […]
Vision for the Church: Fellowship (pt4 of 4)
Elements of a Biblical Culture What is biblical culture? What are the non-negotiables? I’ve identified several elements of a biblical culture: 1) truth, 2) love and 3) unity. First, truth. Without truth, there is no true fellowship. Christianity begins with the truth that we are sinners. This is our starting point. We can’t have the […]