Hillcrest College Blog

Archive for 2010

// What is “missional?”

by on December 30, 2010

If you run in certain circles these days you hear lots of words thrown around as to what the church should be. One of those words in “missional.” It used to be mission-minded, but now people use missional a lot more. But what does that even mean? A good question to ask when so much is being made over whether we are missional or not.

Ed Stetzer recently posted a couple of videos on his blog with some discussion about what missional actually means. We’ve linked one of them here, and it’s a really good, short start at getting to a useable definition of “missional.” Learning to live in a way that this video describes will be vital if we hope to continue to impact people with the gospel of grace.

Check it out. Let us know what you think.



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// Colossians 3:5-11

by on December 12, 2010

Aaron Clayton continues our series in Colossians, talking about putting sin to death.

 

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// Colossians 2:16-23

by on November 28, 2010

Aaron Clayton continues our series in the book of Colossians. What do you draw value and identity from other than Jesus?

 

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// Colossians 2:11-15

by on November 21, 2010

Aaron Clayton continues our series in Colossians as he talks about living as people rescued by grace & committed to covenant community.

 

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// Who are you making perfect in Christ?

by on November 2, 2010

Last week at tenthirty we talked about Paul’s intense labor to present everyone perfect in Christ. Paul’s heart primarily in this passage was for maturity in Christ followers.

So much of our emphasis in church life can get wrapped up in programming, busyness, or even in sharing the gospel. Those things are not necessarily bad in themselves, but our purpose is not to be busy, to have lots of good programs, or even to share the gospel with as many people as possible. Our purpose is to glorify the Lord by making disciples, leading people to faith and maturity in Jesus (Eph. 1, Matt. 28:19-20, 2 Cor. 5:18-21, Rom. 10:14-15, and many, many other passages).

So our purpose is not simply evangelism or to get people saved from hell and into heaven. Our purpose is the glory of God through making disciples, which includes evangelism and salvation, but definitely does not find its end there. And this is where Paul makes his statement at the end of Colossians 1: “to present everyone mature (or perfect or complete) in Christ.” His labor for the church was to be able to present them as faith-filled, mature followers of Jesus.

So who are you investing your life in for the purpose of making them mature in Jesus? What communities are you living in and giving yourself openly and whole-heartedly to? How are you about this purpose of discipleship for the glory of God?



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// Colossians 2:1-6

by on October 31, 2010

Justin Gandy continues our series in Colossians. The passage for today is Colossians 2:1-6. The topic is wisdom, and that all wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ.

Justin had some group discussion and other things at the beginning that did not record well, so this podcast picks up after that portion of his teaching.

 

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// Colossians 1:26-29

by on October 24, 2010

Justin Gandy  continues our series through the book of Colossians, talking about suffering for the gospel and working toward maturity in Christ.

 

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// Luke 10:25-37

by on October 17, 2010

Aaron Clayton preaches from Luke 10 on the Good Samaritan and showing gospel-focused mercy to those around us when we have the ability to do so. This was an emphasis on Love Loud.

 

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// Colossians 1:24-25

by on October 10, 2010

Aaron Clayton continues our series in the book of Colossians. The scripture passage for this week is Colossians 1:24-25. Today’s topic is what it actually means to rejoice in suffering.

 



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// Podcasts should be back this week

by on October 5, 2010

The podcast has not been up the last few weeks, and we apologize for that. We have had some technical difficulty with the recording equipment, but it should be resolved now, and the podcast should be back up and running this week as we continue our series in Colossians.



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