Our new site!

Now, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth....


Hill Country Church now has a new website, AND a new place to blog!!!!


Follow us there at:
http://hillcountrychurch.ca/ 


Our right to the blog at:
http://www.hillcountrychurch.ca/pastor-chris 

Church planter challenge (Darrin Patrick)

AS a church planter of a young church (only 6 months old) and with a relatively small congregation, this clip really hits home for me.  I pray that I have a vision and goal for my town of Cochrane that is bigger than most, rivaled only by other pastors who love God and preach the Word faithfully.  Have a look.

How do you think about your husband - the wife's perspective

My husband just posted a great post about Mark Driscoll's latest session in the Real Marriage course we are hosting.  He posted up a 5 minute clip, here's the link to the entire session, it's an hour long, but it's a good hour.

Let's be honest, this is a touchy issue.  There are histories of abuses against women, or hard handed men, and the newer (relatively speaking) movements of feminism to try to balance things out.  He speaks hard about women.

Guess what.  Last week he spoke hard about the men.

He told the men they must love their wives, as Christ loved the chuch.  A "never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love"(pg 54).  It doesn't say to love your wife when she's sweet, or kind, or lovable.  It says LOVE HER.  And guess who is the referee to say if you are loving her?  She is.  She decides if you are loving her, cherishing her, always and forever loving her.  She decides.

You can hear women all over the world cheering at that.

Oh, but wait.  We (as wives) are called to respect our husband.  Respect him with our thoughts, with our words, with our actions.  Not respect him when he's respectable, when he's what we want, not a respect based on him meeting our expectations.  Respect.  AND, guess who's the referee to say if we are respecting him?  He is.  He decides if you are respecting him.  He decides.

Where did all that cheering go?  Suddenly we aren't as happy.

I know, I know.  There are histories of abuse.  Guess what - there are histories of abuse of men suffered at the hands of women.  Emotional abuse, more often than anything else.  The psychological threat of "I'm going to leave and take the kids and you will never see them again.".  "You aren't providing for us, why can't you be a real man?!?!".

We can find a thousand examples to heap on each side.  History will always back up the pain inflicted on one gender by another, and we, as woman, have suffered and continue to suffer horribly at the hands of many men.  It's terrible, it's awful, and it's wrong.  If you are being abused, get help.  I repeat, get help.  This is not okay.

Most marriages, though, aren't like that.  There aren't horrible abuses, but there is a laundry list of annoyances, bitterness, and small hurts.  We want better from our marriages, from our husbands, for our children.

We have to be willing to make that change too.  We can't cheer them on about loving us more, and then make our respect conditional.  We have to repent of what we are doing wrong, and work towards being the wives we are called to be, regardless of if they are loving us the way we want yet.  It's a goal to work towards together, and we can't hold back our end until they have their end figured out.

Can you imagine how it would feel if that shoe was on the other foot?  "I will love you when you are respecting me enough, and not a moment before."  That doesn't sit well, does it?

It's hard.  Marriage is hard.  Life is hard.  It's all going to continue to be hard, at least in this life.  The best things in life are the things we work the hardest for.  Wouldn't you like to at least be working for your marriage to be one of the best things?

How Do You Think about Your Husband? (Mark Driscoll)

This last week our Marriage Course covered Chapter 4 which dealt with women and their roles and responsibilities.  Mark was more blunt than I've heard him in the past when dealing with the ladies.  The other thing I noticed was that he treated women's issues and personalities much like he has done in the past with the guys, and I've never heard anyone, from any pulpit in the thousands of hours I've listened to from various preachers, put things as bluntly as Mark did.  Mark had many great points (or should I say Grace had the great points which Mark simply preached upon).

Here's a clip.

How can we rescue the family? (John MacArthur)

The following article was posted on www.gty.org, the website of Grace To You, John MacArthur's ministry.  It is what we at Hill Country strive to encourage in our people.  Have a read.

How Can We Rescue the Family?

John MacArthur
Soccer, dance lessons, school activities—involvement options for families today seem to have no end. But how do all those “family” commitments affect local church ministry? Is it possible to put too much emphasis on the family?

Next time you visit your Christian bookstore, notice how many books are available on the family. What you’ll see is graphic evidence of the explosion of evangelicals’ interest in the family. You could say we’re obsessed with the family.

You might think people would be tired of hearing about the family, but that’s not the case. People regularly tell me they wish we would offer more material on the family. My series of messages on The Fulfilled Family is consistently one of the most popular topics on our radio broadcast.

With all the material available to help families, why are so many Christian families in trouble?

May I suggest that our preoccupation may be part of the problem? We have become so engrossed in the family itself that we are losing our perspective on why the family is important to God and where it really fits in His kingdom plan.

I don’t mean this as criticism of any of the valuable ministries that exist to help the family. Many of them fill a much-needed role, articulating biblical principles for family life. I thank God for them.

But not all teaching that claims to be pro-family is genuinely biblical. In fact, some of the popular ideas that have attached themselves to Christian pro-family movements are clearly a threat to the true purpose God designed for families.

It’s amazing how many Christians believe, for example, that the family is always a priority over ministry. I know parents who have bailed out of any form of Christian service, thinking extracurricular church activity is an automatic threat to the sanctity of the home. They have become so absorbed in family activities that they don’t have time to exercise their spiritual gifts. Several people have told me they don’t attend Sunday evening church services because they set that night aside for “family time.”

Those are revealing attitudes. Have we lost our sense of the family’s real mission? Could it be that our infatuation with the family has actually fostered a kind of self-indulgent diffidence toward our spiritual responsibilities?

The family is high on God’s list of priorities. The sheer volume of biblical teaching about family relationships demonstrates that. God wants children to honor their parents (Ex. 20:12), husbands to love their wives (Col. 3:19), wives to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22), and parents to train their children properly (Prov. 22:6). But Scripture never suggests that we should elevate the temporal family at the expense of God’s family. We dare not turn our backs on the kingdom for the sake of our families (Luke 9:61-62).

Christian families are not an end in themselves. They exist to further the work of the kingdom. They do this by being a testimony to the unredeemed and by showing hospitality and service to all, especially those who are of the household of faith (cf. Gal. 6:10).

Too many today see the family as a shelter exclusively for family members, a retreat from the world. They wall themselves in, even from the church. They concentrate on temporal, self-focused, self-gratifying concerns.

Study, for example, the trends in “Christian” family therapy. Today’s counselors seem to major on the externals—having date nights, affirming one another’s dignity, participating in a sport or a hobby together, or better sexual techniques. They make children the center of the family, stressing the importance of stability and privacy, well-organized and exciting family activities, and on and on.

There’s nothing wrong with most of those things—in their proper place. But we have emphasized them to the point of overkill, producing an almost narcissistic perspective. We assume that a mutual obsession with family members’ needs will hold the unit together.

All those things are external props; they will not rescue a falling family. They may even deflect a successful family to the path of failure.

Real help comes when we see that the family exists for a purpose outside itself. Our families are healthy only to the degree that they understand their primary function in this world is not to be fulfilled within themselves. True family solidarity is a by-product of together exalting Christ, obeying His word, and being spiritually vigorous.

The family that knows its spiritual and redemptive purpose does not need external props. It has a supernatural cohesion. Its members have no option but to stay together and build meaningful relationships, not for their own sakes, but because they are compelled by the highest of goals.

Put another way, people who understand that their family’s chief aim is to testify of Christ and His life-changing power have no option to get divorced, commit adultery, abuse one another, or otherwise self-destruct. Do you want to keep your children from rebelling? Begin by teaching them from the earliest age that the family’s most important calling is to exalt the name of Christ in the community by living in obedience to Him.

It is right that we strengthen our families. But let’s not attempt to do it with gimmicks or self-centered efforts. Let’s live not only for each other, but for the Lord. In living for Him, we will end up fulfilling one another. May God give our families a supernatural sense of their purpose, and may we be a testimony for Him in the midst of a hostile world and a needy church.
 

Go, Your son shall live (John 4:43-54)

Jesus spends two days in Sychar, a Samaritan town where Jesus was welcomed and many came to faith by simply listening to Him.  From there, He continues on to His destination of Galilee, back to the town of Cana, where He performed His first miracle.  This is where we're introduced to Herod's official from Capernaum who has a son on his death bed.

In desperation he seeks out Jesus to come back to Capernaum with him to heal his son.  We see that as Jesus arrives at Cana, He is not received with honor, yet the text tells us He is 'welcomed'.  This would be the equivalent of a modern-day rock-star coming home.  While all appearances are that everyone loves Him, the reality of the situation is that they are using Him for His popularity, His miracles, or some other selfish reason.  We will see this later on as Jesus doesn't become what the people want, and they turn on Him.  We also see from chapter 2 "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name ewhen they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus fon his part did not entrust himself to them, because ghe knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for ghe himself knew what was in man.

When we see the desperation of the official, Jesus has some harsh words for not just him, but for all those in Galilee.  He uses the plural form of 'you' when saying "You will not believe unless signs and miracles are given."  This is in sharp contrast to Samaria.  Jesus, in His graciousness and mercy, tells the official that his son will live.  The next day as the official arrives back home, he is told his son's fever had broke.  When asked, they confirmed that his fever broke the same time that Jesus said that he would live.  This miracle allowed the official to believe in Jesus as the savior and we read that his entire family came to faith as well.

This scripture allows us the opportunity to review how we approach our Savior.  Do we come to Him with selfish reasons? or do we revere Him?  Often we can fall into one of the two ditches, namely if we have reverence only, God is isn't One we can relate and approach easily.  If we are too far in the other direction (Jesus is my home-boy), we make Christ just like us (which He is not).  There needs to be a line drawn and followed.  Question is: How do you approach Jesus?

The Will of God (John 4:27-42)

This week's scripture was from John 4:27-42.  This section of text (along with every other section of the Gospel of John) is absolutely full of lessons and truths that could easily overwhelm you.  It starts off with the sovereignty of God through His timing with everything.  He meets the woman at the well, He has a good conversation with her, and then declares Himself to be Messiah just as His disciples return from getting lunch in Sychar.  This of course would have been quite the wake-up call for His disciples as Jews and Samaritans don't have anything to do with one another.  On top of this, she was a woman.  Rabbi's don't talk to women, especially Samaritan ones.  To make matters worse, she was about as popular as a prostitute by the social norms of the day.  Yet, there was Jesus, sharing the gospel message with her, and His disciples were able to hear the exchange.
Her next move was to take off into town to share with everyone her testimony (a good indication that she was saved), and even encouraged people to check out this Guy by the well that might be the Messiah.  And they do.
Meanwhile, back at the well, His disciples are trying to get Him to eat something, but He declares He's not hungry, for He has food that they are not aware of.  They don't get it.  This would be the fourth time in this gospel that Jesus speaks on a spiritual level while those that He's speaking to are thinking on a physical level.  Jesus says that His food is to do the will of him who sent Him (v. 34).  His mission from God was to give eternal life, to save His people (v. 36).  How this relates to us is that we too are fed spiritually by doing God's will.  This can be summed up in three verses.  First, get saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4).  Second, be wise and full of the Spirit (Eph. 5:17-18).  Finally, be sanctified (1 Thess. 4:3).  We get ourselves into all kinds of trouble when we try to figure out God's private will.  To quote R.C. Sproul: Many Christians become preoccupied or even obsessed with finding the "will" of God for their lives. If the will we are seeking is His secret, hidden, or decretive will, then our quest is a fool's errand. The secret counsel of God is His secret. He has not been pleased to make it known to us. Far from being a mark of spirituality,the quest for God's secret will is an unwarranted invasion of God's privacy. God's secret counsel is none of our business. This is partly why the Bible takes such a negative view of fortune-telling, necromancy, and other forms of prohibited practices.

We would be wise to follow the counsel of John Calvin when he said, "When God closes His holy mouth, I will desist from inquiry." The true mark of spirituality is seen in those seeking to know the will of God that is revealed in His preceptive will. It is the godly person who meditates on God's law day and night. While we seek to be "led" by the Holy Spirit, it is vital to remember that the Holy Spirit is primarily leading us into righteousness. We are called to live our lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is His revealed will that is our business, indeed, the chief business of our lives.

Jesus then talks about missions, pointing to the harvest, namely, the Samaritans that were on their way to see Him.  Missions will and should be a celebration by those that sow and reap.  The sower in today's evangelism is largely ignored as most of the accolades goes to the "reapers" in the loaded question "How many people have you lead to Christ?"  Both sower and reaper will rejoice in the harvest.

Many Samaritans believed in Jesus during that two day visit, and understood the truth that He is the Savior of the world.

Thanks be to God.

The Essence of Masculinity Is Taking Responsibility

Our marriage course begins tomorrow night, and we're very excited.  Our course is full, but if any others would like to join us, I'm sure we'd find you the room.  Here's a clip from session #3.

Real Marriage Course begins Friday!

 We are super excited about the upcoming marriage course we're hosting at Seniors on the Bow @ Spray Lakes Sawmills Rec. Centre beginning this Friday night.  We have 16 people signed up with room for one more couple (or two singles), so if you're in the area and are interested in doing a great marriage course, please drop us a line.  This course is sponsored by Hill Country Church, the cost to you is nothing!  Show up, pick up your books, and start your marriage anew (or build a solid foundation for your upcoming marriage).  Here's a clip from session #2.  Enjoy.

You can reach us by phone at 403-932-0519, or email us at hillcountryreformed@gmail.com.  We are also excited by our relaunch of our website.  It will be highly interactive and easily navigated.  We'll let you know when we launch it!

What are you trying to hide? (John 4:16-26)

One of God's attributes is that of omniscience.  While we like to give a nod of our heads to this attribute, most of us don't live life according to a proper understanding of this attribute.  What do I mean?  If you've been to a church longer than 5 minutes, you'll notice something that is quite bothersome.  Our churches tend to be full of people that "have it all together."  As one of my new friends has pointed out, one of the most frustrating things about church is that time and again he feels like he's the only one in the place that is a mess!  I can feel his pain as I often have experienced the same thing.  I once even cried aloud in a public place during a men's group meeting "Am I the ONLY ONE who's screwed up here?!"  I wasn't trying to be a drama queen, I was just sick and tired of the shiny-plastic faces and the shallowness of the whole thing.  Everything felt so superficial.  I didn't want that, I wanted real, warts and all!  What we can see from the woman at the well in John's gospel in chapter 4, real is the very thing Jesus wants from us.

Jesus asks the woman to go and fetch her husband, knowing full well she wasn't married.  What was her response?  "I have no husband." (John 4:17).  Interesting.  I guess we can say it's only natural that a person in her position wouldn't exactly open up to a stranger (especially a Jew) about her life story, but she certainly didn't disclose the whole truth here, did she?  She was hiding the fact that she is shacking up with a guy that's not her husband and this isn't her first boyfriend.  She was trying to hide her shame from Jesus, but being God incarnate, she couldn't hide anything.

Isn't this precisely what we often do?  We walk a certain way, we talk a certain way, but our reality can be quite different from what we want to show others.  Maybe it's due to the fact we haven't addressed our issues yet, or even more telling, we don't know how!  So the solution is to cover them up and pretend that our world is all good.  We don't like to think of ourselves as sinners, so we deny our issues, or downplay their importance.  

The problem with this of course is that God can see everything.  We cannot hide anything from Him, and anyone who tries to deny or cover up sin is unable to come to God.  The first step in coming to Christ is having the acute understanding of our issues and that we need His help.  This is called repentance.  If we don't repent, if we can't admit to ourselves and to others of our shortcomings, then we are also unable to come to Him.

So the question is "What are you trying to hide?"  God can see everything, just like He showed the woman at the well.  He strips away your self-righteousness and lays bare your life (Heb. 4:13).  You can do this now unto the path of salvation, or you can do so after death, unto eternal damnation.  One way or another, the day is coming where you will give an account.  Best to do so now.

You Gotta Write Down the Lies (Mark Driscoll - Real Marriage)

This is a clip of the end of session #2 of Real Marriage.  We start our course here in Cochrane starting Feb. 3rd, and we have enough room for one or two more couples.  If anyone is interested in joining us for the study, the cost is free and we'd be more than happy to have you.  Enjoy.

Mark Driscoll responds to the critics of Real Marriage

Below is a copy of Mark Driscoll's response to the criticism that he and his wife have faced since the release of their new book and marital study called Real Marriage.  We at Hill Country Church are holding a marriage course using this material, and thusfar I haven't read anything that I have found offside.  Then again, I haven't read chapter 10 yet.  Here's the article.

You try to write a book on marriage and sex with your wife and next thing you know there are a lot of ants crashing your picnic.

My wife, Grace, and I recently published "Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together," which quickly became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller.

In it, we’re brutally honest about our past struggles, share the lessons we learned along the way and talk frankly about sex. Criticism has ensued.

If you wish to find that criticism, just do a Google search. You’ll find plenty. My intent here is not to name names and pick a fight with my critics, but to provide context on why there is criticism.

We knew before we wrote the book that we’d catch a lot of flak, especially on the chapters dealing with sex. We also knew the criticism would come from every direction, as some people would think we went too far and others would think we didn’t go far enough.

But we wrote it anyway. Why? Simply put, we want to help marriages — and single people aspiring to marry — and we wanted to do so in a way that is practical, biblical and applicable to the reality of today’s culture.

If the book accomplishes that, we’ll take the criticism in exchange for helping people. We don’t think our book is perfect and we tell folks upfront (literally in the preface) to take what is helpful and leave the rest.

The book identifies three ways people tend to view sex: as gross, as a god and as a gift.

Sex as gross

Some people are very uncomfortable talking about sex, even with their spouses.

Many Christians, because of upbringing and past church experiences, view sex as gross and something that should not be talked about in public.

Unfortunately, this view is pervasive in the church. Many couples have honest questions about sex and various sexual acts but struggle to find a pastor willing to teach on these topics.

With nowhere else to turn, these couples find wrong and damaging answers in magazines, television, movies, porn and more.

The practical result is that couples divorce their sex from their spirituality, talking to their pastors about “spiritual” issues and ordering their love life around advice from “secular” sources.

Next time you’re in line at the grocery store, read the headlines on the women’s magazines that are shouting at little kids standing in line with their parents. Our culture has made the wrong answers about sex far easier to find than the church has made the right answers to find.

Those who view sex as gross criticize our book because we speak too openly and frankly about sex for their taste. The accusation is that the private counsel that pastors give to people in the church isn’t suitable to give in a public context.

But many critics tend to want to debate nuances of theology rather than engage head-on the practical realities that many people are facing.

I’ve written systematic theology books with hundreds of footnotes. "Real Marriage" is not that kind of book. It’s a practical book rooted in the Bible.

We call everything a sin that the Bible does and we give directives for married couples to use wisdom and conscience in discussing what they do and do not want to do sexually on matters to which the Bible doesn’t speak.

Because we believe the Bible is God’s perfect and sufficient word, we don’t want to add to it what we want or the archconservative Christian culture wants.

Conversely, we don’t want to remove anything from it just because some people find it uncomfortable.

People in our churches are dealing with the issues discussed in "Real Marriage," and to pretend these aren’t real issues and to avoid talking about them is akin to closing your eyes and declaring that you don’t see the need we are serving. If ministry leaders don’t address these issues in some way, we’re religious cowards who do a disservice to our church.

Before we get to the trickiest sexual questions, based upon what many people are already doing, our book deals with marriage in the context of friendship, men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities and how to deal with sin so that marriage gets better rather than bitter.

When we do get around to evaluating sex acts, we ask three simple questions, based upon 1 Corinthians 6:12 in the Bible: 1. Is it lawful? 2. Is it helpful? 3. Is it enslaving?

Each of these questions leaves room for couples to be grownups and to determine what works for them sexually by allowing them to examine their hearts and the scriptures – and to act according to their consciences on whether they wish to participate in sexual activities that the Bible neither forbids nor condones.

While it may be fun for bloggers and critics to discuss these things, our hope was that couples would instead be the ones having these conversations to build their marriages in ways that don’t pressure, abuse or use one another.

Sex as a god

There are some who think about almost nothing else but sex, treating it as a kind of god. This can happen in the form of addiction to sex or porn, severe promiscuity, adultery or participating in various sexual acts that the Bible speaks against, making personal preference and desire more important than what God says about sex.

This view of sex is pervasive, as many go to extraordinary lengths to fulfill their sexual desires, even when it’s not good for them physically, spiritually, mentally or emotionally.

Even worse, this view causes some to do unspeakable acts against others in the form of rape, assault, marital sexual assault, pedophilia, sex trafficking and more – making literal human sacrifices to their god of sex.

Those who view sex as a god criticize our book because it doesn’t go far enough for them. Because we teach that the Bible does call some sex acts sin, such as pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, adultery and more, we are criticized for being judgmental, prudish, antiquated and fundamentalist.

We understand that not everyone will believe what we believe, but as Christians who view the Bible as our highest authority in life, we don’t write the mail, we simply deliver it.

In the end, for conservatives we’re too liberal, and for liberals we’re too conservative. We can’t win.

Thankfully, we’re not concerned with winning. We’re concerned with helping others build healthy, happy and holy, God-glorifying marriages.

Sex as a gift

What Grace and I have found in nearly 20 years of marriage and more than 15 years of ministry is that both the church and culture often get sex wrong.

So we went back to the scriptures to see what they have to say.

The Bible gives us a different way to think of sex. Instead of seeing it as gross or slavishly worshiping it as a god, the Bible teaches that sex is a powerful and exhilarating gift that God gives to married couples.

It is also a deeply spiritual act, bringing together a husband and a wife to be one flesh (Genesis 2:24), binding them together on a spiritual, mental, emotional, physical and neurological level.

As a deeply spiritual act, it’s important for people to understand what the Bible teaches (and doesn’t teach) about sex, to be able to speak openly and honestly with their ministry leaders regarding sex, and to find solid, biblical teaching on sex.

God has a plan for sex: that it is to be enjoyed between one man and one woman in the context of marriage. This means that there are certain types of sex acts that abuse and misuse the good gift of sex that God gave, and that we are to honor God with our bodies by living our sexual lives in a way that glorifies him and honors the scriptures.

In our book, we blow up some common misconceptions about sex (like that the Bible prohibits stripteases or oral sex). We help people understand that it’s God’s intent that we steward and enjoy the gift of sex, like every gift he gives, in such a way that is glorious to him, good for our marriages and a lot of fun.

It is our prayer that you and your spouse would move past any misconceptions of how you’ve seen sex and understand it to be a gift from God. A gift to be stewarded. A gift to be guarded. A gift to be enjoyed. And a gift to be shared together for God’s glory and your good as friends.

We still have a couple of spots open for our marriage study beginning on Feb. 3rd.  We're holding our course at Seniors on the Bow @ Spray Lakes Sawmills Rec. Centre in Cochrane.  The course runs 11 weeks from 7-9pm.  If you're interested in coming, drop me an email.  Cost is covered by Hill Country Church.

From a prince to a pauper (John 4:1-15)

 It's quite the contrast of people that Jesus shares the gospel with from chapter 3 to chapter 4.  In chapter 3 Jesus has a quiet conversation with Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees, possibly a leader in the Sanhedrin.  Jesus points to Nicodemus' lack of salvation through his 'righteous' good works.  Nicodemus would equal a modern-day Bishop or some other high-ranking church official by today's standards.  Moral, upright, clean, educated, yet not saved.  In chapter 4 Jesus has a private conversation with the woman at the well.  Not only is she a woman (religious leaders don't talk to women), but she is a Samaritan (Jews don't talk to Samaritans).  Not only is she a Samaritan woman, she's an 'immoral' woman who has had 5 husbands and is not shacked up with a 6th.  Women weren't educated back then, so she is the antithesis to Nicodemus, yet both were in the same sorry state, namely, unsaved.

Jesus shared the gospel message with Nicodemus, and the woman at the well.  From what we know, both ended up being saved, one from the true line of Israel, the other from an mixed race society.  Jesus didn't play favourites.  He preached the good news to both rich and poor, to both woman and man, to the religious right and the immoral.

The question I have asked my congregation to ponder is "What criteria do you have for those whom you decide to share the gospel with?"

I know we'd like to think we're above such questions.  I know that we'd like to think that we'd be open to sharing with all just like Jesus, but do we practice what we know is right?

Jesus came to save all kinds of people, not just the Israelites.  Both Jew and Gentile are saved through faith in Christ, and not by our works or bloodlines.

Death and Life Are in the Power of the Tongue (Mark Driscoll Real Marriage)

Our materials came today for our upcoming study.  This has raised the excitement level a little more, so I thought it appropriate to find another clip of week one.  This is about how our tongues can hurt or help.  Anyone married for longer than 5 minutes can understand this concept.  Enjoy.

Why Did Pastor Mark and Grace Write Real Marriage?

Here is a clip of Real Marriage session #1.  We are looking forward to the start of our marriage course on Feb. 3rd.  Enjoy.

What's holding you back? (John 3:22-36)

In the last service at Hill Country, we took a close look at John 3:22-36.  One of the overriding themes in this section of scripture is how selfish ambition and jealousy can blind us from what we are called to carry out in our walk with God.  I ask a couple questions at the end of each sermon for our people to contemplate and pray over, and this week one of those questions was "In what areas have we allowed jealousy (or any other unhealthy feeling) to hamper our growth in Christ?"
What I've discovered in my brief time as a pastor is that everyone struggles with this.  We are still sinful people that fight against sinful flesh, and one of the hardest things to overcome is feelings of anger, jealousy, resentment and hurt.  We tend to want to hold on to grudges, to slights real or perceived.  We tend to want justice for others and grace for ourselves.  This is a very difficult thing to deal with.

From a personal perspective, I was struggling with these same issues and what it took for me to get straightened out was the loving and kind but firm words of a fellow brother that I was in the wrong with my lack of forgiveness and for taking my focus off of what I was supposed to be doing, allowing these feelings to get in the way of me being a proper shepherd.  This was a difficult thing to hear, but I needed it desperately.  This is why church discipline is of vital importance.  Where would I be today without that brother's correction?  Bitterness continues to fester and effect every aspect of our lives, and without the heart of forgiveness, we cannot move forward.
John the Baptist's disciples were jealous of the success of Jesus' ministry, even though John himself continuously pointed out that his ministry was all about Jesus!  John rejoiced in the fact his ministry was decreasing and His was increasing, but his disciples were blind by selfish ambition.  John corrected them, then faded into the background gladly.  Are we willing to allow our ministry to run it's course and then fade into the background?  Are we the focus of our ministry or is He the focus?  We strive to make all things about Him, and carefully get rid of anything that takes that focus off of Him and puts it elsewhere.  If our goal is to make a big deal about Jesus, then our lives will reflect that reality.  It's when we allow ourselves to get puffed up and conceited that we become the hypocrites that Jesus loathed.

So the question is "What's holding you back?"  What do you have to repent for today?  What ill feelings are you harboring that is affecting your walk with Him?

We start chapter 4 this week.  Our new facility is beautiful and we're very blessed to be able to worship in such a place.  Our service starts at 10:30 with the message, coffee is served at 10.  Won't you come join us?

5 Evangelical Myths of Half Truths (RC Sproul Jr.)

RC Sproul Jr. has influenced much of my walk with Christ.  He is family-integrated, a church-planter, and a theologian.  The following is from his blog found here.

The Kingdom Notes

by RC Sproul Jr. 

Five Evangelical Myths or Half Truths

It can happen even in careful systematic theology. How much more so in popular parlance? We take what the Bible actually teaches, rephrase it so we can understand it, and end up believing our own phrasing, rather than the actual biblical truth.  It’s not malicious, but it is dangerous. What follows are five common thoughts, common expressions, within the evangelical church that just aren’t so.

“All sins are equal in the sight of God.” Well, no. It is true enough that every sin is worthy of God’s eternal wrath. It is true enough that if we have broken part of the law we have broken the law (James actually says this.) It is true enough that unjust anger is a violation of the commandment against murder (Jesus actually says this.) None of this, however, means all sins are equal in the sight of God. To say that because all sins deserve eternal wrath means they are all equal is like saying that all numbers over 100 are equal. The truth is that Jesus said of the Pharisees that while they rightly tithed their mint and their cumin, they neglected the weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23). No sin is weightless, but some weigh more than others.

“Hell is the absence of God.” Well, no. If God is omnipresent, and He is, is there anywhere He can not be? David understood this, and thus affirmed, “If I make my bed in Sheol, Thou art there” (Psalm 139:8). Hell isn’t the absence of God, but the presence of His wrath.  God is there, but His grace, His kindness, His peace are not. God is the great horror of hell.

“Jesus saves us from our sins.” Well, no. It is absolutely true that Jesus saves us. When we face trouble, He is the one we should be crying out to for deliverance. But the great problem with our sins isn’t our sins, but the wrath of God. The trouble I need to be delivered from is the wrath of God. Hell is not my sins, but the wrath of God. We don’t need to be saved from our sins. We need to be saved from the wrath due for our sins.

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” Well, not if your name is Esau. Okay, there certainly is a kind of universal love that God has for all mankind. And certainly all those who repent and believe will be blessed. And certainly God calls all men everywhere to repent. But it is also true that God has prepared vessels for destruction (Romans 9:22). Being prepared for destruction likely wouldn’t be considered “wonderful” by anyone. We don’t know God’s hidden plans, and thus should preach the gospel to all the world. But we shouldn’t, in so preaching, promise what He hasn’t promised.

“Money is the root of all evil.” Well, no. Actually this one is wrong on two counts. First, the text (I Timothy 6:10) tells us that it is the love of money, not money, and that it is all sorts of evil, not all evil. If money were the root of all evil, all we would need to do to bring paradise on earth would be to have no more money. If money were the root of all evil, the problem would be out there, rather than in our hearts. Sin is not an it problem, but an us problem.

The devil isn’t lazy. He will take the breaks we give him. Myths and half-truths are perfect opportunities for us to miss who we are, who God is, and how He reconciles His own to Himself.  Perhaps were we more faithful to His Word, we might just be more faithful.

We are almost set to launch our new and upgraded website.  It will still be at the same address, but way more bells and whistles.  Our church is encouraged in this new year as more and more people are asking very good questions and are searching for something more than the status quo.  We at Hill Country live by the Word of God, and the motto of "semper reformanda", Latin for "always reforming".  We strive to offer the best biblical teaching we can, to come along side fellow followers of Christ, and to preach the Word to the lost so that they might have salvation in Him.

Wretched: Christianity vs. Every Other Religion

One of these days I'll be writing something all on my own.  But after spending 2 hours going over Hooke's law with my Physics 20 student, I'm really tired and feeling rather...unintelligent.  Here you go, another Wretched segment.  Enjoy.

Join us this Sunday at Seniors on the Bow in Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Recreation Centre as we finish chapter 3 of John's gospel.  We serve coffee at 10, service at 10:30.  Hope to see you then.

Wretched: A Modern Tragedy (Human Trafficking)

While I don't necessarily think that this should be preached on from the pulpit, especially in graphic detail, we do need to educate ourselves about the tragedy of human trafficking and just how prevalent it really is.  Of course the only answer to this is the gospel.  Have a look.  This is the trailer to the documentary that is forthcoming.

Go share the gospel today.

Wretched: Schori vs. Lawson

After preaching through John 3:14-21 this past Sunday, this clip hits surprisingly close to what we learned from the text.  Have a listen.

Orthodoxy has been attacked from many sides, including the Catholics and now other liturgical churches such as the Episcopalians (U.S. Anglicans).  There have been many meetings in the Lutheran tradition and United church of Canada and many others that are turning away from the 'narrow way' and openly declaring that the way to salvation is indeed 'wide'.  How tragic.