Expositional Preaching (Why we're different, part 3)

Jesus said many interesting and wonderful things while He was here on earth. In St. John's Gospel in chapter 6, verse 35, He says "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." In chapter 21:15-17 Jesus tells Peter not once, but three times "Feed my sheep." Lastly, in Matthews Gospel (28:20), Jesus instructs His disciples to "teach them all that I have commanded you." It is unfortunate that in most churches today, our pastors think that the congregation would like to hear more about news stories, personal philosophies and other such nonsense instead of doing as Christ commanded, which is to "feed His sheep." In order for the sheep not to starve to death, this requires the full reading and exposition of the scriptures. We feed on the Word of God, not on anything else. All too often not only does the preaching lack any real scriptural reading or application, it is a time for evangelism. Evangelism is what is supposed to happen during the week, by the congregation to a lost world, not by the pastor on a Sunday sermon.

Expositional preaching involves going systematically through the Word of God, one verse at a time. This enables the entirety of the Gospel to be proclaimed, for the hard sayings of Christ to be read and understood in the context of the Gospel message. By doing this, pastors are forced to address all issues that the Bible speaks about, not being allowed to pick and choose topically those subjects which are much more politically correct or easier to preach due to less emails and hurtful comments. This allows the work of the Holy Spirit to convict the flock of their sin, for the flock to repent and return to Him. The Holy Spirit can help the sheep in worship and encourage the flock to keep following their Lord. If the sermons are centred around stories or philosophies rather than the Word of God, the sheep will starve, or never grow in their understanding of the Gospel. At best they will forever remain babes in Christ. This does not mean that there is no room for illustrations to help in our understanding of the message, but they need to remain illustrations, and not become the focus of the message. At Hill Country, expositional preaching will be the norm, every Sunday, every message.

Questions? Email us at hillcountryreformed@gmail.com or call us, 403-932-0519.

Why We're Different (part 2)

HCRBC is a Christ-centred, Family-integrated church. What this means is that everything we do from start to finish is centred around Christ and Him crucified. Our worship, our preaching, our fellowship will all be centred on Christ. By family-integrated we mean that we have a focus on keeping the family together as a unit. We do not split up our families when they walk in the door. Youth and children need to be present in the service for their own spiritual development and to see the parents in worship. We believe that Deuteronomy 6:4-9 makes it plain that it is the responsibility of the parents to teach and raise their children. By sending our children en masse to another area of the church to be 'taught' by volunteers not only takes away the feeding of the volunteers from hearing the Word preached, but it also puts the children into a situation where they will be more focussed on one another instead of focusing on Christ. The long-range plans of HCRBC is to be able to provide a place similar to a nursery that can house parents and children where they can still be a part of the congregation visibly, yet still hear the Word preached. It is the job of the church leadership to come alongside parents to assist them in the discipling of the children, it is not the job of the church to be the main discipler. Our churches today by-and-large have usurped the authority and teaching of the children away from the parents and therefore have created an extra burden on volunteers and ministry leaders that are to provide these services. At HCRBC we wish to give the responsibility back to the parents, and to come alongside them to help them in their walk as parents and leaders of the home.

Questions? Email us at hillcountryreformed@gmail.com, or call us at 403-932-0519.

What we're not (HCRBC)

Before we continue our series on what we are, Amy felt it imperative that we first describe what we're not. I agree, as we've already had setbacks and opposition from those that have seen or felt the wrath of reformers.

1) We're not legalists or Pharisees. This is the most popular opinion of those that are called 'reformed'. Pharisees were known to be elitists, they knew the Law of God by the letter, inside and out. What they were missing was compassion and love for their fellow human beings. If you did not follow the Law to the tee, as interpreted by them, they would persecute you. They added numerous laws to God's Law, just to make sure that there was no chance of breaking God's Law. Jesus was not a fan of Pharisees, and of all the people He was hardest on, it was the Pharisees. Does this mean that HCRBC are antinomian (lawlessness)? Absolutely not. Jesus said to both follow the law AND have compassion and love for people. We believe that out of our love for Jesus, we follow the moral law that is written on our hearts (loving God), and we are compassionate and loving to our neighbors (everyone).

2) Uncooperative. Reformers, out of our zeal for the truth, have alienated other Christians by our insistence of being correct in our doctrine. We have a tendency to look down our noses at those that disagree with us. At HCRBC we believe that there are open-handed issues, and close-handed issues. The doctrines of grace (reformed theology) are by-and-large secondary issues. We will proclaim the doctrines of grace from the pulpit without apology, but we desperately want to show compassion and brotherly love to those that feel differently. We will engage our community and the churches in Cochrane to serve others.

3) Arrogant. This one confuses me to tell you the truth. There are those that call themselves 'reformed' that come across as arrogant. I would argue that anyone who understands the doctrines of grace would have absolutely NO reason to be arrogant, as salvation is 100% of the Lord, 0% ourselves. Those that follow the theology of synergism (God and man take part in the salvation story) indeed WOULD have reason to boast as they wisely chose God. I have been called arrogant because I believe in unconditional election. I don't follow the logic. God chose me for His purpose and will, I had nothing to do with my salvation, therefore ALL glory goes to Him, no glory goes to me. If no glory goes to me, then I have no reason to be arrogant. It also changes how I look at others, for if salvation is of the Lord, and the Lord has commanded me to find His sheep, then I can proclaim the gospel to lost people and not get frustrated at them for not seeing the light, for that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Questions? Email us at hillcountryreformed@gmail.com, or call us at 403-932-0519.