Mineral Springs Church of Christ Podcast

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.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called  children of God.  Minister Aaron Hill continues his #Blessed series by discussing peace.  We define peace as tranquility, harmony, unity, well-wishing. The Apostle Paul began every letter with the words "grace and peace to you." In our current political climate, peace is elusive. Our differences are divisive, but we don't have to look and act the same to be peacemakers. Ephesians 2:14 tells us that Jesus is our peace; he broke down the dividing wall of hostility. It is not our differences that destroy peace but our response to those differences. If we want to be a part of who Jesus is, we must be peacemakers. We are not sons and daughters of God if we don't offer peace. 

Is your heart pure? Do you want to see God? Minister Aaron Hill explores the concept of heart purity in his sixth lesson in the #Blessed series, focusing on Matthew 5:8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Being pure or clean in heart means having pure or clean desires, impulses, affections and feelings.  Hill uses the example of David to exemplify a desire for a clean heart before God. David sought mercy and forgiveness for his sin with Bathsheba and recorded his supplication to God in Psalm 51. He recognizes that God "delights in truth in the inward being" and teaches him "wisdom in the secret heart ." In vs. 10, he begs, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Becoming pure in heart is a lifelong journey. It will not happen in a day. We must seek to have a pure heart if we desire to see God.

In Part 5 of the sermon series #Blessed, minister Aaron Hill builds on the beatitude in Matt. 5:7 - "Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy."  God shows mercy or unmerited compassion on us. He chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to receive His mercy. He chose the nation of Israel to receive His mercy. And, he has chosen us to receive His mercy, mercy that is undeserved and unearned. The question arises; if mercy is something we can't earn, can we lose it? The parable of the talents is one that Jesus uses to illustrate undeserved mercy and how it can be lost. We must ask ourselves if we will respond to God's mercy in the way the servant who received forgiveness for a debt of 10,000 talents, $10.8 billion in today's terms, responded or if we will respond with the same mercy granted to us. We should look at our own sin debt that has been forgiven and extend that same mercy and forgiveness to others.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. When we are hungry or thirsty, we go in search of food or drink, but if we are hungering for righteousness, where do we go to find such sustenance? Minister Aaron Hill addresses that in this fourth of  the #Blessed series. First, what is righteousness? Biblically, it means what is fair or what is just; sometimes the word for righteousness is translated as “justice.” More simply put, righteousness is what is right in the eyes of God. God determines what is right; we do not. God is the standard. We are filled with righteousness by God. We are not righteous without God. We are only declared righteous because of God's mercy. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. As he continues his series #Blessed, minister Aaron Hill expounds on this portion of the Beatitudes. We don't often aspire to be meek, maybe because we equate meekness with weakness. Being meek, however, does not indicate that. To be meek is to be gentle; being meek doesn't mean being a doormat. Farther into Matthew in chapter 11 and 12, Jesus warns those who think they are wise, saying that it is to the children, the meek and the gentle, that God has chosen to reveal His Son. Jesus is gentle and meek, lowly in heart. He will take care of us. He values love over law. We are called to be meek because Jesus is meek. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matt. 11: 28-30. Meek people meet people's needs, and though it is hard to see now because the meek are not always treated with respect, God will raise them up to an inheritance.