Kristin Hileman kicked off a practical session on “Can I trust the Bible?”—framing it as the foundation for the whole "Defending Your Faith" series. After a playful fact-or-fiction opener, she shared Sean McDowell’s story to underline this: if we ask people to stake their lives on an ancient book, we need reasons, not circular claims. She defined what Christians mean by “the Bible,” noted its own claims and fulfilled prophecy, and then offered three simple lenses we can remember: the charact...

There are times when the challenges ahead of us feel overwhelming. As a person, a family, or a church, there are times when we feel like we don’t have what it takes to keep moving forward, to stay faithful to God in the face of the temptations and challenges ahead of us. Here’s something we need to know: We’re right! We can’t handle it. This morning, we’ll look at a story that reminds us that it doesn’t matter if we can’t handle things. It’s not about us. - Pastor Ron Kool Support...

It doesn’t take long for things to go bad for Israel. Up to this point in the book of Numbers, the people have been listening to and obeying God. But almost as soon as they hit the road, the complaining starts. God hears their complaints, and this morning, we’ll look at how God responded to their crabbiness. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

Pastor Ron Kool introduced a new season of adult discipleship focused on apologetics—defending the Christian faith. He emphasizes that apologetics is about offering reasons for belief in Christianity and exposing weaknesses in alternatives, with the goal of strengthening believers and encouraging non-believers. He stresses that living out faith with love comes first, and explanations follow when people ask. There is encouragement to use clear logic, avoid fallacies, and keep discussions ...

God knows that when we’re in the wilderness, it can be hard for us to trust Him. When things aren’t going well and the problems seem overwhelming, God knows that we will be tempted to believe that He forgot us. This morning, we’ll look at some of the gifts God gives His people to help us stay faithful to Him in the wilderness. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

As we journey through the wilderness of our lives, we need to know that we are not on our own. This morning we’ll see how God tells Aaron to “put His name” on the people through blessing them. This is perhaps the most important thing we need as we go out into our world. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

As Israel gets ready for the journey through the wilderness, there is another matter they must take care of: how are they going to be organized? Who is going to go first? Second? Third? And who is going to camp where? And who is going to do what? These may seem like mundane details for us, but they have some extremely important lessons for us. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

You don’t just leave on a long trip. You’ve got to have some organization. You need to know who is sitting where and where you’ll be stopping for breaks. You need to be prepared for problems that may come up on the road. God’s people are the same way. God’s people are at Mount Sinai and getting ready to go to the Promised Land. But God has some final instructions for them before they go. They need to get organized. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

As followers of Jesus, we want to tell others about Him. We want to bear witness to Him in our neighborhoods and school and with our friends. We also want to tell others about Him at work, but that can be a little tricky. This morning, we’ll look at how we might grow in our effectiveness in witnessing while we work. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

So often we equate loving “the least of these” with doing something to or for them. However, the way Jesus interacts with “the least of these” in the Gospel shows that the most empowering way to love “the least of these” is to do life with them, helping them no longer see themselves as “least.” - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

Last week we saw that all of scripture testifies to the unique love, care, and relationship God has for “the least of these.” This week, we take a real, practical look at the passage and explore ways we can love “the least of these” here at Hillside and in our daily lives. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

This week, we start a new 3-week series on what it means to love “the least of these” as Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 25. But before we do anything to or for “the least of these,” we need to understand that we’re called to love “the least” because God loves them and identifies with them. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

How do we end our prayers? Do we just stop? Do we say “Talk to you later?” Throughout the ages, the church has said that it is good to end our prayers by focusing on God and declaring that everything—the kingdom, the power and the glory—everything belongs to Him. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

We can be so foolish. We say we shouldn’t do something that’s wrong (Eat or drink too much, gossip, lie). We really don't want to do that thing. Yet we keep doing it. And one of the main reasons we do is because of what we call temptation—it looks SOOOOO good! This morning, we’ll learn about asking God to help us resist temptation. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

Sometimes we do things without really thinking about them. We go through the motions, but we’re not really focused on what we’re doing. For many of us, that can happen when it comes to confessing our sins. We just say the words but don’t think about what we’re actually asking God to do. This morning, we’ll think about what we’re doing when we confess our sins. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread in the Lord's Prayer, yet it’s not only bread we’re asking for. We’re asking for God to provide for our basic needs and our neighbors. We’re asking God to help us continue to live and to remember how dependent on God we and everyone else ultimately are. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

One of the most radical, life-changing things Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer is “your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” It is radical and life-changing because the first thing we do when we offer this prayer is leave our plans at the door. When we offer this prayer, we are telling God to do His work and to have His way in our hearts and in the world. - Pastor Arek O'Connell Support the show

Of all the things we say in the Lord’s Prayer, this might be the one that sound strangest to our ears. We don’t talk that often about hallowing things today. This morning, we’ll think about what it means to hallow God’s name and why it’s so important for us to do this. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

Many of us struggle with prayer. We’re not sure what to say, we stumble over our words, and sometimes we even forget to pray. Jesus knew this would happen. And that’s why He spent time teaching His followers how to pray. This morning, we’ll start to look at what Jesus taught us about praying. - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show

We finish up our series on the characteristics of God by talking about what, for many of us, is His most important characteristic—He is full of grace. It’s wonderful to know that God is powerful and all-knowing and unchangeable and just, but what we need is a God who is full of grace. We need a God who saves and restores His broken people—that’s grace! - Pastor Ron Kool Support the show