Rolling Hills Community Church Bloghttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/Rolling Hills Community Church BlogSpringboard Feed Generatoren-usWed, 10 Mar 2010 18:10:53 -0500Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:10:53 -0500The Art of…Sharing, Speaking and Living Your Faithhttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/the-art-ofsharing-speaking-and-living-your-faith/

For most Christ-followers, one of the most challenging aspects to the Christian life is this call to share our faith. We love Community, Bible Study and other aspects of spiritual growth, but when it comes to sharing and speaking about Jesus to other people, many Christians think (and maybe you have had some of these thoughts):

  • “My faith is private; I don’t really want to talk about it with anyone else.”
  • “Why can’t we believe what we want to believe and other people can believe what they want to believe? Why do we need to share our faith?”
  • “Don’t all roads lead to heaven? As long as people are sincere, it will all work out in the end.”

Join us on this journey Sunday mornings at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. as well as in our Community Groups, as we explore these questions and more. In this series, we will focus on two chapters of Scripture, Acts 3-4, and witness the transformation of two of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and John, as they shared their faith. Just like these early disciples, we will discover the art and the joy of sharing, speaking and living our faith in our day and in our generation.

Essentially, all of us come to Jesus for what He can do for us – eternal life, peace, hope, purpose, and the list goes on. These are all great reasons to come to Christ, and He certainly meets and exceeds all our needs and expectations. However, Jesus’ call to His first disciples and to us as His disciples today, is, “Come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” In essence, Jesus says, “I will make you something you are not. You are selfish, but I want to transform you to be selfless. You come to Me for what I can do for you, and I will take care of you, but I also want to work through you.” This transformation process is the most invigorating, life-changing, faith-growing and world-impacting part of the Christian life as we allow Christ to use us! Let’s dig in and explore this incredible call of Christ together as we endeavor to live our lives for His glory! See you on Sunday!

]]>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:10:53 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/the-art-ofsharing-speaking-and-living-your-faith/40 Days of Prayer and Fastinghttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/40-days-of-prayer-and-fasting/We encourage you to join us in "40 Days of Prayer and Fasting." This is a perfect way to begin to prepare our hearts for the Easter season. Our challenge is to pick one day a week, and between now and Easter, "fast" on that day. Our "fast" lasts from sunup to sundown, and you can choose what to "fast" from - food, tv, internet or something else so that when you experience the desire, it will trigger a response in you to pray. Our five prayer points include: 

  • God's continued favor and blessing of His church
  • God to bring more and more people to experience His love and grace
  • God to grow us and His church deeper in our walk with Him
  • God to use us to radiate His light to our community and to the world
  • God to place people on our heart that we can intentionally invite to church and to Him

Let’s pour all our energies during this special season to fuel the fire of impacting lives in our community and maturing in our faith.  All glory to our great God!

]]>Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:23:35 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/40-days-of-prayer-and-fasting/Blessed Are The Mercifulhttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are-the-merciful/

Everyone has broken relationships. In our pain and our woundedness we can build walls to keep the pain out, to keep ourselves from being hurt again. When we do that we end up locking ourselves in a prison and locking other people out. To rebuild relationships you have to tear down walls.

That’s what we’ve been talking about in the last six weeks – the ways to tear down the walls between us and God, and between us and other people. We talked about choices and how the choices that we make can either create or keep us in our hurts, our habits and our hang-ups. We talked about how making different choices, better choices, can open up the possibilities that life can be radically different.  

This week we look at the sixth choice of Life's Healing Choices, the Relationship Choice. We are concentrating on what Jesus says to us in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

]]>Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:29:19 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are-the-merciful/Blessed are the Hungry/Thirstyhttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are-the-hungry-thirsty/Worship Arts Pastor, Chad Jarnagin, recaps our teaching series from this past Sunday. Click Here to see the full sermon.

Blessed are the Hungry/Thirsty from Rolling Hills on Vimeo.

]]>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:32:18 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are-the-hungry-thirsty/Hungry?http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/hungry/This coming Sunday, February 7, is a Big Day at Rolling Hills!
 
Sunday Morning Worship at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. is going to be powerful as we enter into the Presence of Almighty God and encounter His Love! Don’t miss this opportunity as we dig into Jesus words in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” What do we really “hunger” and “thirst” for in our lives?  So many of us hunger and thirst for the things of this world and we are never filled. Only through desiring God and His righteousness are we truly filled! Come find out more as we explore this amazing truth and hear incredible stories of lives that have been changed! This is a great week to invite someone to come with you.
 
Also, this coming Sunday, we begin brand new Trail Guide classes.  What are Trail Guide classes?  These are short-term classes intended to help you grow deeper in your faith. We have four classes to choose from: 
- Discovery Class (realize your Spiritual Gifts and how God wired you to serve Him)
- Disciplines Class (learn in-depth spiritual practices as we walk through Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline)
- Sacred Roads (mature in your walk with God and see how His disciplines can grow you today) 
- Good Sense Financial (discover how God sees you're finances and how you can get your checkbook in line with His priorities)

In addition, we have a Partnership Information Class at 9:30 a.m. If you are not yet a partner of Rolling Hills, then plan to come to the Conference room and learn more about what God is doing in this place. Along with all of this, we have two Mission Trip Informational Meetings in the afternoon. Our Moldova Informational Meeting takes place at 12:30 p.m. in the Backstage.  If you have ever considered going to Moldova, come and learn more about some great opportunities to go and serve this summer. Our New Orleans Informational Meeting is at 1:00 p.m. in the Conference Room. Again, a great place to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus!
 
Godspeed, as we endeavor to live our lives for His glory as His Church today!
]]>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:34:56 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/hungry/Jan. 31 Worship Service (Streaming Video)http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/jan-31-worship-service-streaming-video/Good morning!

Thanks for joining us for worship today. If you're stranded at home we hope you're safe and look forward to seeing you in person next Sunday. 

To experience today's worship service via LIVE streaming video, please click on the link below. The player takes a moment to load, so please try to log on by 10:50 a.m., so you can be up and running for worship at 11 a.m.

We are so excited you're here, even if you can't physically be here. If you're new to Rolling Hills, take a moment after the service to learn more by browsing our Web site. 

Have a great day!

Click Here to access LIVE streaming video of our worship service. 

]]>Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:17:19 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/jan-31-worship-service-streaming-video/Jan. 31 - SUNDAY & Worship Service Updatehttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/jan-31-worship-service-update/

Rolling Hills Church Family,

In order to allow for the roads to be cleared from tonight’s freezing temperatures, we are combining our 9:30 and 11 a.m. worship times into one service at 11 a.m. Programming for our children, student and college ministries will run as scheduled during this hour.   

In the event you and your family are iced/snowed in and are unable to attend, we will be broadcasting our service LIVE this Sunday. Check back tomorrow morning for a link to streaming video.

In addition, our partnership information class will still meet at 12:30 pm in the gallery. In the event you are unable to attend, we are hosting a second partnership class next Sunday, February 7 at 9:30 a.m. Our Trail Guide classes have been rescheduled to start next week as well. 

Lastly, our “Draw Near” worship event for tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m is rescheduled to FEB 28th. Same time, same place. This will be an amazing night of music, prayer, inspiration and Worship. I hope you can make it in FEB!

Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook feeds, as well as this blog for additional news and updates.

In Christ,

Jeff Simmons

]]>Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:31:30 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/jan-31-worship-service-update/Blessed are the Meekhttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are-the-meek/

We grow up learning to be tough and strong…to win and avoid losing at all costs. Meekness translates to weakness and no one wants to wear that hat. So what do we do when the very characteristic we hope to avoid is the very thing that Jesus tells us to be. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says plainly, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” The earth? That’s a pretty big inheritance. What does meekness really mean? How does scripture’s definition differ from our human ideas and how can we adopt the character of Christ in our own lives even when it comes to meekness? That’s what this week’s message is about. May you be challenged by God this week.

- Nic Allen, Student Pastor

]]>Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:07:00 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are-the-meek/Blessed are…http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are/

Presently we are on an amazing journey here at Rolling Hills as we walk through Jesus’ teaching in the first part of His famous Sermon on the Mount known as the Beatitudes. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus draws people back to the inward spirituality since the law had degenerated into mere external observances. Jesus begins His earthly teaching ministry with these eight key phrases, “Blessed are…” The word “blessed” in the Greek means “Happy.”  In this, Jesus is essentially saying here are the eight keys to earthly fulfillment – happiness.  If you have missed either of the first two sermons in this series, I encourage you to go watch or listen to the podcast here on our website.  It is amazing what God is doing in people’s life through His Word and through His church!  Life-change!  Also, I encourage you not to miss this week as we explore Jesus’ third Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek…”  Overall, there is a subtle, but powerful, progression in these Beatitudes, and I hope you digest this insight as our series unfolds.  Let’s dig deep into Jesus’ Word to us, and let’s begin living a life of fulfillment today! 

]]>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:06:43 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/blessed-are/Haiti Relief Efforthttp://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/haiti-relief-effort/ In the wake of a catastrophic event, we often ask, “What can I do?”. The country of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, was rocked by one the strongest earthquakes to hit the Caribbean in decades. 

First, pray for all of these individuals and families affected by this devastation. Second, you may be interested in donating and giving to an organization on the ground working in relief efforts. If you have not already joined with another relief organization, check out Samaritans Purse and consider making a donation within the next couple of days. Samaritans Purse has already dispatched teams to Haiti and are in need of financial donations to increase their efforts. For more information about Samaritans Purse and the relief in Haiti, visit their Web site.  

We will keep you informed as other needs and ways to get involved become available, but would definitely ask you to pray and considering giving to the work of Samaritans Purse. 

- Rolling Hills Community Church

]]>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:46:50 -0500http://www.rollinghillscommunity.org/blog/haiti-relief-effort/