In the third installment of their "Theological Triage" series, Brian, Will and Thad engaged in a discussion to categorize various Christian beliefs and practices into three tiers of theological importance. The tiers were defined as: Tier 1 (essential to the gospel), Tier 2 (important enough to separate churches over), and Tier 3 (areas where Christians could disagree within the same church). The pastors analyzed a range of topics including church attendance and membership, diversity, social justice, the role of politics from the pulpit, the historical Adam, women's roles in teaching, worship styles, sermon length, Bible translations, and alcohol consumption. Throughout the conversation, they often distinguished between the purely theological importance of an issue and its practical, functional impact on the unity and culture of a specific church community.

After the Sermon: Deuteronomy 7:1-8:10 by West Hills Church

Why did God choose Israel to be His people?” This question has long troubled students of the Bible. After all, there were plenty of other nations around at the time God could have adopted instead. But He came only to Abram. In Deuteronomy 7, God answers the question by first explaining “It was not because you were more in number than any other people” (v7). Rather, God graciously chose Israel “because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers” (v8). Moreover, He chose them to be “a people holy to the Lord your God… a people for his treasured possession” (v6), that He might “bless [them] above all peoples” (v14). As the “true Israel of God” (Rom 9:6; Gal 6:16), the Church today is similarly called to be a people holy and blessed, “a chosen race… a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Pet 2:9). What might we learn about God’s calling to holiness and His promise of blessing from Israel’s example? Join us for this sermon to find out!

Ask the Pastors: S8 E5 - "Should Christians watch Game of Thrones + must a Christian believe in the inerrancy of the Bible?" by West Hills Church

After the Sermon: Deuteronomy 5:22-6:25 by West Hills Church

When we reflect upon the way in which we relate to God as His people, many different verbs come to mind for the Christian. We worship the Lord. We love the Lord. We trust the Lord. But arguably the most biblically-emphasized (by God) yet under-appreciated (by us) of all our responses is to fear the Lord. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10), “a fountain of life” (Pr 14:27), and “the whole duty of man” (Ecc 12:13). It tells us God’s “mercy” (Lk 1:50) and “friendship” (Ps 25:14) are only for those who fear him. Even Jesus warned us, “do not fear those who kill the body… Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell”, that is, God (Mt 10:28). In this sermon from Sunday in Deuteronomy, the Lord Himself exclaims of His people Israel, “Oh, that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me” (5:29), and He desires the same of us today. Listen now as we grow in our fear (and our worship, love and trust!) of the Lord.

After the Sermon: Deuteronomy 5:1-21 by West Hills Church

If you could write a “top 10” list of rules for governing human behavior, what would you include? Many have offered their suggestions:

Ted Turner’s list included a pledge of allegiance to the United Nations and a limit of 2 children per couple, to ration the planet’s resources. George Carlin reduced his list to just three commandments: “Thou shalt always be honest and faithful; Thou shalt try really hard not to kill anyone; and Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself”. Atheist apologist Christopher Hitchens’ list culminated in the command to “Renounce any god”! But try as we may to reshape morality, to “be a law unto ourselves”, there is only one Law and one Lawgiver: the Lord God. And He has not left us in the dark about how we ought to live. In this sermon, we examine God’s “Top Ten” list together from Deuteronomy 5:1-21.

The pastors of West Hills church—Brian, Thad, and Will—held a discussion on the concept of "theological triage," a method for categorizing theological doctrines based on their level of importance. They defined a three-tiered system: Tier 1 for issues essential to salvation (gospel issues); Tier 2 for urgent doctrines that are important enough to cause separation into different churches if disagreed upon; and Tier 3 for secondary issues where disagreement is permissible within the same church. The pastors then applied this framework to a series of theological topics, including baptism, same-sex marriage, justification by faith, and speaking in tongues, debating which tier each topic belonged to and discussing the practical implications for church unity, membership, and leadership.

As we settle in for Moses’s retelling of God’s Law in chapters 5-26 of Deuteronomy (lit. “second law”), we need to be aware of how prone we are to reduce the Law to just a list of “Do”s and “Don’t”s. But in his preface in chapter 4, Moses reminds us why the Law is so important and so personal: because of whose Law it is. Before we can fully appreciate God’s Law, we must first learn to appreciate the God of the Law.