We know what often happens when people gain power: sooner or later, they start asking how it can benefit them. Ephesians 1:22–23 says everything is under Jesus’ feet and presents Him as head of the church, but he’s not seeking to use power the same way as those others. Just what kind of King is He? What does His reign mean for those who belong to Him?
Most of us have something we'd rather not put on the table before God—something we're holding just tightly enough that we hope He won't notice. In Luke 18, a ruler who has kept the commandments since his youth comes to Jesus asking what he still must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus names exactly the one thing he isn't ready to hear.
We keep reaching for more—a better version of the Christian life, a deeper secret, some upgrade that will finally make everything click—when Ephesians 1 says God has already lavished wisdom and insight on us and made known the mystery of His will. What does it look like to actually live in that, rather than keep reaching past it?
We want hope, but we want to know it isn’t empty—especially when other powers seem to have the final say over our lives. In Ephesians 1:20–21, Paul points to God raising Jesus from the dead and seating him above every rule and authority, but do we live as if we believe that?
We've all known that strange, off feeling when something of ours is stolen. That instinctive certainty it is wrong is precisely where Exodus 20:15 begins—”You shall not steal”—yet the command reaches the many ways we take from God without ever feeling the sting ourselves.
We live in an information age, bombarded with worldly wisdom, theological wisdom, biblical wisdom, and endless “pratical” wisdom for Christian living—and much of it may actually be wise. Yet Paul’s words encourage us to ask: “Does all this knowledge lead us to know God, or have we mistaken knowing things about Him for knowing Him?”
You can confess Jesus as Lord, cast out demons, do mighty works—and still hear him say, “I never knew you.” Matthew 7:21–23 cuts past everything we think proves we’re his followers, asking instead the question that actually matters: Does he know you?
We’ve all held something we couldn’t restore—a plan, a relationship, a season of life that’s gone dry—and kept clenching it anyway, as if sheer will might put flesh back on the bone. Naomi knew that feeling: she went away full and came back empty, and the Book of Ruth shows what God does with that kind of emptiness.
Clear words can still sail right past us when they aren’t the news we want. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the Twelve exactly what’s about to happen to Him, yet they were just like us: they didn’t want to hear.
What is required to be a Christian? We believe that trusting in Jesus for salvation, confessing him to be your Lord and Savior, is the necessary step for being a Christian. At the same time, there is much more the Bible has to say that it is important for Christians to know and to grow in the truth of and what follows gives you an understanding of how we understand different key Biblical teachings at Little Hills.
