What do we want? Our desires determine how we live our lives. It doesn’t matter, however, who we are or what we want. It matters who Jesus is and what He wants. When Jesus says go, we must go decisively. When Jesus says say it, we must say it decisively. Minister Aaron Hill reminds us that Jesus knows us inside out, better than we know ourselves, as He explores Jesus’ first encounters with some of those who became His disciples in John 1:37-51. Jesus knows us; He knows our hearts. What we want is so small compared to what Jesus can offer.

Who are you? When we answer this question, we typically respond with our name, where we live, and what we do. Minister Aaron Hill tells us that John the Baptist gave a very different answer when he was asked this by the Jews. Instead of telling them who he was, he tells them who he is not. He says, “I’m not the Christ.” John recognized that his own ministry wasn’t about him. It was about Jesus. He puts the emphasis on Christ rather than himself. John came to baptize in order to prepare people for the presence of God.

Minister Aaron Hill leads listeners through John 1 to show us a picture of the source of all grace, a picture of Jesus Christ. “In Him [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus was in the beginning. John’s focus is on spiritual life, not our flawed, mortal lives. Without Jesus, we are in darkness. Jesus is light, and some will embrace His light while others will flee from it. Darkness doesn’t understand light; it is foolishness to the darkness. In the light there is life. The light shines, but all don’t understand it. Receiving Jesus gives us access to the light, but the word John uses to indicate receiving is more than a passive action. It is more of a snatching up, a grabbing onto. Jesus is so good that we can’t help but snatch Him up and be created anew through Him. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John bore witness of Jesus, saying, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” If we want grace and truth, then we much go to the source, receive Jesus, and be born of God.

In the beginning . . .

As we enter the new year, we may think of a time of new beginnings. In today’s lesson, minister Aaron Hill explores Jesus’ role in the beginning as recorded in the book of John. John records, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3). Jesus wasn’t just some human who obtained divinity. He has been with God as part of the Godhead from the beginning. Nothing has ever happened without Christ. The Father, Son, and Spirit are three necessary members of One, of the triune Godhead. 

We are currently in the season of giving gifts. Some gifts will be practical ones, some not so much, but even practical gifts are of no benefit to us if we set them aside and don't use them. Gifts of the Spirit are much the same way. If we don't make use of the gifts of the Spirit, we will not benefit from them. Scripture tells us that there are varieties of gifts. Nothing special about any of us makes us deserving of any gift. The gifts the Spirit gives us are to benefit the whole body, but they are not for our glory. They are for the common good. The gifts don't come to us through our own means; God empowers each and gives us the ability to use the gifts given us. "All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills." 1 Corinthians 12:11

How is it that we can go from a season of Thanksgiving to fighting over flat screens the next day? It seems we are creatures who are inherently discontent. Guest speaker Scott Dutile asserts that many, if not most, of us don't even know what contentment is. We turn contentment into a lot of things that it is not. Contentment is being satisfied to the point where we are not disturbed, to the point where we are trusting and patient with how God is leading our lives. To get to this place, we must allow God to lead our lives, our decisions. We can have peace in our decisions when God is the One leading us to them. Walking us through Philippians 4:4-13, Dutile reveals the path to contentment as we learn to rejoice, pray, think, and practice.

It is one thing to be led by our own wisdom but another to be led by the Spirit. In his second in a series about the Spirit, minister Aaron Hill builds on the first sermon, noting that if we are not sanctified by the Spirit, we cannot be guided by Him. The Spirit's guidance should touch every aspect of our lives, and yet, as Americans, we cling to a mindset of self-reliance and independence. We tend to think we are autonomous, yet we can't claim autonomy if we believe in an all-powerful God. As autonomous creatures, we are ruled by our desires, and consequently, we are not free; we are slaves to sin. We have a will, but before we have Christ, that will is enslaved to sin. To have free will, we must walk by the Spirit. The Spirit guides our words, our actions, and our lives. When we are led by the Spirit, we will run in the direction He guides us, much as Philip ran to the eunuch's chariot in Acts 8. We must surrender to Christ and surrender to the guidance of the Spirit.

People often underestimate who the Spirit is and what the Spirit does. Minister Aaron Hill tells listeners that the Spirit is a person, a member of the Godhead! His work is much more amazing that what we think. When we see the Spirit work, it is amazing, not limited to a tiny box. God's work is always outside the box we tend to put Him in. Sanctification is the most important job of the Spirit, and in 2 Thess. 2:13-14, we find that sanctification is linked to salvation. In Heb. 10, we learn that the goal of animal sacrifice was to take away the consciousness of sins, to change the conscience and turn it to good, but animal sacrifices did not last. They had to be made over and over. Heb. 10:10 reveals that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross did what animal sacrifices could not do: we are "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." God doesn't want to just cleanse us; he wants to change us. If we reject the change, we reject the cleansing. It is an insult to Christ to neglect the change he offers.

Grace. Paul uses this word in every one of his letters. The Greek word εὐχαριστί (efcharistí) means grace. It is where we get our word Eucharist. Another Greek word translated grace is χάρις (charis) from which we get our word thanks. The root of thanks is grace! Minister Aaron Hill asks listeners to ponder these words as we are in a season of thanksgiving. He reminds us that while God shows His grace to all people, some choose to reject the grace shown through Christ. In Romans 1:16-23, Paul says there are people who suppress the truth though God has offered salvation to all. Although they knew God, they didn’t honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. Rather they choose to exchange the glory of God for something that is perishable. One cannot say thanks without saying grace, the grace of God that promises resurrection, victory over death. God is the God who give us victory through Jesus Christ. At the center of thanksgiving, what makes being thankful even possible is the GRACE of GOD. In the Greek, one literally cannot say thanks without saying grace.

Blessed are the persecuted. In the last of the #Blessed series, minister Aaron Hill focuses on Matt. 5:10-12. Our circumstances as Americans protect us in most cases from severe persecution, but that is not so for many Christians in the world. We have freedom of worship; many do not. Our persecution typically comes in the form of mocking, ridicule, or hating, and although persecution is not a prerequisite for entering the Kingdom of God, we must ask ourselves if we would be willing to suffer persecution for righteousness sake. Righteousness, not because we are righteous or ever can be on our own, but righteousness through Christ, who suffered for us and lives in us. Are we willing to endure persecution for Christ? Our biggest motivation should be Christ. Be blessed because you are in Christ, a part of the kingdom.