Church on the Hill Sermons

The 5th word is the first and only time the term 'honor' appears in the ten commandments, and it's also the first one that comes with a promise. When we truly honor our elders, we assure them they will not be forsaken in their old age.

As God was forming his new community, he foresaw the sinful tendency for people to worship the work of their hands and their own self-sufficiency. So he points them back to His own example of stopping to rest. In this command, God gives dignity and worth to all that He has created. Everyone is worthy of restoration and everyone can imitate their creator.

Whenever God’s people lost the sense of who they were dealing with, they also lost their moral capacity to obey Him. Our ability to honor God's name goes far deeper than we ever dared imagine.

What makes counterfeits so dangerous? Because they masquerade as the real thing. They promise life on the outside but on the inside they are hollow. The second Timeless Word zeros in on the danger of trying to create anything that steals God’s glory or worth, regardless of how good it looks.

God begins these Ten Words by reminding this first generation of free people who He is and what He has done. He promises that doing life together with Him will be all they will ever need in this new land. He is like no other. Because of that, He alone is worthy of worship.

A new study on the Ten Commandments. We hear warnings of how impossible it is to try and follow the Old Testament law and to beware of the legalism that produces Pharisees. But what did Jesus have to say about these Ten Words given to His descendants?

We are thankful to live in a country that values the pursuit of happiness, but we should also ask the question of what actually brings happiness? According to Psalm 1, attaining God's blessing is something that is attainable but not necessarily by pursuing it.

Christmas is more than a Hallmark card. It is the magnificent wisdom of God sneaking into the world as the centerpiece of all of human history. And for those who would believe it is also the turning point of every individual's life.

Have you ever found yourself wishing for peace? When you see a broken world and you wish we could live together and appreciate one another’s differences instead of fighting about them? When you are in a family conflict and you wish that people would simply forgive one another and move on? Or maybe when you struggle to find some relief from guilt or shame and you wish you could start over again?

While Joy runs deep in the Christmas theme, it is also at this time of the year that depression rises, expectations fluctuate, and tensions run high. We should be happy but we still struggle. Why does joy feel so elusive and so hard to maintain?