Saints‘ Hill Church Podcast

On Sunday, we continued our Pentecost series with a teaching from one of our elders, Pete Donor.   In Acts 1v6-8, the disciples ask Jesus when He will restore the kingdom, but He redirects them away from control and speculation toward surrender and mission.   Instead of giving them timelines, He promises the Holy Spirit, who will empower them to live as witnesses of His Kingdom everywhere they go.   Holy alignment happens when we stop centering our own plans and start trusting the Father’s timing, allowing the Spirit to shape both our lives and our purpose around Jesus.

On Sunday we began our annual series on the Holy Spirit during Pentecost.  Acts 1v1-5 highlights a crucial command for the disciple: wait.  Even after all the disciples had seen, their memories of Jesus and their hopes for the future were not enough to sustain faithful living.   The Christian life requires daily dependence on the living presence of God through the Holy Spirit. He is not an abstract force, but a person, who teaches truth, shapes hope, transforms character and sustains intimacy with God.   There is no life worth living outside of His presence. We cling to you, Jesus!

On Sunday we looked at 1 Peter 2v4-10 and what it means to trust Jesus.   Peter, though he stumbled, recognized that communion with the Lord is what would hold his faith in place. We too must strengthen ourselves in the Lord by spending time with Jesus.   This is how He becomes our foundation. We take Him at His word that He did what He said He would do and we can trust Him.    When we stand on Christ’s finished work we will become temples that host Him and display His glory to the world. 

On Sunday we looked at John 15v1-17 and what it means to be friends with God.   Throughout the entire Bible, we read about God coming close and drawing near in friendship to those who desire Him. This is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus who offers himself as our way to be in right relationship with God.   Through this passage we see that friendship with God is about remaining in His love, and doing what He commands. This is the means by which Jesus frees you from lesser loves and attaches you to His love. This eternal friendship is for our joy and for His.

On Sunday we concluded our Luke series after four years.   After His resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples to help them understand that the whole Jewish story finds its fulfillment in Him. He then commissions them with a message and a method.   The message that the Resurrection gives us is repentance and forgiveness. These are the two miraculous roads that bring heaven to earth.    The method Jesus gives us, is to wait for the Holy Spirit. He said it was better for Him to go to the Father so He could send his Spirit to be our advocate and our helper. Our posture in all of life is to wait on and be led by the Holy Spirit.    The Resurrection of Jesus makes all of this possible and it’s our privilege to live a life of union with Him.

This last Sunday, Alex spoke about the Resurrection of Jesus being historically plausible, existentially hopeful, and emotionally satisfying.   The story that the Bible tells is all about love. Love is threatened by death, and that is why the Resurrection is the answer for humanity. Love that lasts is God’s aim, and that becomes possible with the Resurrection of Jesus.    It’s a powerful idea, but faith only comes when you actually encounter the risen Jesus. He is ready to show himself to anyone who desires to see Him. We are welcomed not into a set of theological beliefs, but into the mystery of His love and the greatest story ever told. 

As we enter into Holy Week, our Luke series has brought us to the passage of Jesus’ crucifixion.   As we read through this passage we are rightfully shocked to remember that the symbol of our Christian faith, the cross, is indeed a torture device intended to assert dominance and to put fear into the hearts of all who witnessed it.   So what did Jesus’ death on a cross actually mean?   He did not die on a cross to atone for something He did, but for the sins of the world. Christ hanging on the cross becomes the symbol of divine power and the way of discipleship.  The cross is the great eyesore of humanity because it says your power, your money and your enjoyment won’t save you. There’s only one way through and it is to choose to give up your life for the sake of the kingdom.

Luke 22v66-23v25 plays out like a trial in a courtroom. Truth himself stands before the Law and the people responsible for upholding the Law refuse to recognize the Truth. The trials of Jesus show us the deepest injustice ever committed, and at the same time, the greatest act of divine mercy ever offered. The Innocent One condemned so that the guilty may go free, this is the heart of the gospel. Because we are set free by the sacrifice of Jesus, we live with courage, conviction and confidence as righteous sons and daughters of the King!

On Sunday, Bria taught from Luke 22v47-65.    Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial both reveal the tendency of humanity, to deny what is true for the sake of our own preservation. The life and death of Jesus confronts all of us, and invites us to trust in Him and His purposes above our own.  His life and death also extends more grace than we think possible, even in our failure. In his great mercy, Jesus is always gazing at us - inviting repentance, restoring relationship, and freeing us from the disillusionment of denial. 

The Scripture reading this week from Luke 22v39-46 kicks off what is known as “the passion,” or, the suffering of Christ. Jesus, being the true man, shows us how to suffer well. He is honest with the Father about his fear, but ultimately chooses to trust God that the Cross will not be the end.  The New Testament speaks at great length to suffering. We learn that suffering is about knowing Jesus. When life brings a test, let it disillusion you to every other lesser love so that your capacity for knowing and loving Jesus, may increase. 

In Luke 22v31-38 Jesus warns his disciples that a sifting is coming. Their trust in Him will be tested in the coming days.   Jesus points out that it is Satan, or, “The Accuser” whose aim it is to expose & inspire faithlessness in His followers. Satan’s accusation is that the disciples only love Jesus for what they think He can do for them.    The New Testament refers to Satan as the ruler of this age. So it’s safe to say that we too can expect to be sifted in this life. The beautiful thing about Jesus is that no matter how humiliated or hopeless you may have become in the sifting, His heart remains open to you. The sifting at its best creates an opportunity for mercy you didn’t know existed.    The path of the disciple, like Peter, is the path of having all your images of God fail you, so that you can truly know and love Him as He is.

On Sunday, one of our elders, Austin Smith, explored Jesus’ radical definition on greatness found in Luke 22v24-30.    While the disciples argue about status, Jesus teaches that true greatness in His kingdom is found in humble service—becoming useful rather than trying to get ahead.   Worldly self-centeredness will keep us from loving others well, but in Jesus’ life we see another way to live. He is so certain of His identity as a beloved son, that he is able to go low, to be grateful and generous in every situation.   As we grow in gratitude to God, may our lives become acts of worship and may we be found useful to his kingdom. 

On Sunday we got to hear from Bria on the Last Supper passage in Luke 22v1-23.   The Last Supper is not just a famous scene, but an intentional fulfillment of the Jewish Passover. Jesus transforms the Seder’s promises of sanctification, deliverance, redemption, and praise into a new covenant centered on Himself.   As the true Passover Lamb, He invites His disciples—and us—not just to remember the Exodus, but to remember Him: His body broken, His blood poured out, and the fullness found only in union with Him.

Luke 21v5-38 has been interpreted by many modern Protestants as an end times prediction. On Sunday, Alex gave us some helpful tools to aid in our interpretation of Jesus' words in this passage.   There is both prophetic and apocalyptic language in this passage, and it is important to distinguish which is happening when. Jesus does describe an actual event in the future of Israel where Rome takes Jerusalem by siege and destroys the temple (70 AD). He also uses apocalyptic imagery to describe patterns we can expect to see in the world until His return.    Amid the tumult of living in this world, Jesus calls our attention to what matters most - the Holy Spirit with us and the mission God has given us to advance the kingdom.   We pray that this message encourages you in your walk with Jesus!

The overarching idea of this series is that we live in this world, we don’t live in heaven fully yet. God designed it this way, and it means we have a role to play.  Your labor will likely be one of the largest roles you play in bringing heaven to earth. While toil is a result of the fall, labor is not. Humans were made to labor with God - made to build, to act upon created things in order to make them more than they would have been on their own. In God’s economy, labor leads to ownership and ownership leads to offering. This is a life of worship.  We pray that through this series, God will be speaking to you about your gifts, your limitations, and the opportunities He's given you. These will inform how you take ownership and serve wherever He has placed you.

In this series we have been talking about how we experience our faith in the world around us. This week, Alex aimed to answer the question, what sort of world should Christians seek to build with our politics? We cannot avoid politics because our faith is incarnational, shaping culture, institutions, and everyday decisions. However, history warns us against using power or theocracy to impose belief.  There is a tension between what we believe to be universal morals, and the particular realities of our day and age. We must be slow, humble and thoughtful in forming political views. We believe Christians should advocate for governments that protect God-given freedoms; however, the heart of our witness is not policy but a life shaped by the cross, where mercy and self-sacrifice speak louder than power.

Is Christianity mainly about the Spirit catching people up into the progression of heaven on earth? Or is Christianity mainly about building institutions, societies, and laws that benefit the individual conscience and familial aims? We see both in the Scriptures. Spirit and structure.  As Christians, we engage in politics because of the Incarnation. Because Jesus is both God and man, heaven and earth are coming together. The earthly king is not God, but humans have the ability in partnership with God to bring His rule into ours.  The messy part is how that happens and with what sort of methods. Many Christians disagree on these things, and we must guard our hearts against resentment. May God bring us to repentance, extend His grace towards us, and show us how to love one another so that we can receive His vision for heaven on earth in all its nuance and beauty. 

The entire Bible is about the mission of God. God wants to restore trust with humans, which will lead to the restoration of all creation.   In the Scriptures, we are given the creational mandate in Genesis and the Great Commission in Matthew. This means that discipleship is important in this life, but so is your work, your family, and your time.  If we can get a bigger picture of evangelism, one that includes the breadth of God’s mission, we can begin to announce the gospel with our lives. 

On Sunday we began a new series by reading Colossians 1v15-23 and asking the question, “What is our message to the world?” Our conviction is that the gospel is not just personal, it’s also cosmic. This is a far cry from the personal, private, gnostic American gospel that we were born into.  Because of the incarnation, salvation is neither an escape from this world or a perfection of it. It seems that the authors of the Scriptures want us to see ourselves as a part of the cosmos that is being reconciled through Christ - to love this world enough to want to participate in its restoration.  The hope of resurrection changes the way we live. We can live without fear and build with God things that will last forever. 

Advent has brought us to the birth of Christ, the celebration of Christ with us, but even after his arrival the Scriptures tell us that all is still not as it should be.   Christ has come, and He will come again, but we still live with the reality of suffering. The Scriptures call us to usher in the kingdom of God with our beautiful, suffering Savior. We don’t live for an ideal experience, we live for a person - in joy and in suffering. We know that faith pleases God so we do not shrink back when suffering comes. Our true joy comes from communion with him.  There is always beauty to be found, because Christ has made himself available to us.

During our Christmas Eve gathering this year we looked at the story of Jesus in John 1.  Because Jesus came we have hope in the midst of a troubled world and we get to carry that hope to the world.  We reflect on the fact that Christmas is a time to have hope even if the world seems dark.   We pray that as your family gathers you would remember all that Jesus did for us on the Cross, and the miracle that we serve a God who came to us.   Merry Christmas Saints' Hill

On Sunday, Pete read the Angels’ Song from Luke 2. The Angels’ Song is one of hope realized.  The angels come to the lowly shepherds to announce the good news of Christ’s birth. The Messiah is finally here, peace is available to all people. The angel chorus glorifies God for this great gift, and gives an important key for how this peace is actually obtained.  It is by our faith that God is pleased. When we entrust all of ourselves to Christ, we receive all that he is. This life of peace with God pours over into all of life, making the same gift that we received, available to all those we encounter. 

On Sunday we continued in our Advent series looking at the songs of Advent. This week we turned our attention to Mary. Luke 1v46-55 is Mary’s song. She sings because God has included her in His promise to bless the nations. She gives her yes, her surrender, so that she may participate in the fulfillment of this hope. The promise given to Mary is a part of a very old promise to Israel. God will send a Messiah to redeem his people from the curse.   The promise is unique in that it does not offer to heal the world with a political system, but with the incarnation - God inside of you, making you new. This reordering of humanity itself is what will lead to heaven on earth.

The prophecy of Zechariah in Luke 1v67-79 reframes our reality by showing us what the coming of Jesus really means, so that we can orient our lives appropriately.  The gospel is not our escape from this life nor our license to live for this world. The gospel of Jesus Christ means that eternal life begins right now.   We get to serve God without fear in righteousness and holiness through the union you have with God by the Spirit. This was God’s plan when He called Abraham and this is the hope we carry as we reflect on what the Advent season means.   We pray that you would continue to know and experience the wonderful union you have with God in Christ. 

On Sunday, Andoni reminded us of why it’s so important to keep the gospel as our North Star.   In an age of endless information, knowledge and influence we must remain aware of our need for Jesus.   In the battle for the mind, we must be conscious of what we are consuming. The only thing that will truly feed and sustain us is the Word.   We are designed to live with integrity and a single mind so that anywhere we go, our presence may suggest His.

On Sunday, we reflected on the journey Saints’ Hill has been on over the past seven years, and where we feel like God is taking us. The current shift we are feeling has led us to update our mission language, and to prepare to add a second gathering.   Our updated mission statement - friendship with God for the renewal of all things - reflects the core of our philosophy of ministry as well as what we are actually doing.  The decision to add a second gathering comes from a sense that we should be prepared to accommodate the growth that God is bringing to our town and to our family.   We are deeply grateful to God for what He has built in us over the last several years, and we are believing that He desires to give Newberg the same friendship He has so graciously given us.

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

On Sunday we wrapped up our vision series, Join the Family, with a message on the identity of a child.  God’s answer to a world filled with lack, is the establishment of a family. Abraham and his family were to trust God unto blessing the nations. This was ultimately fulfilled in Christ’s life, death and resurrection, where we now are invited to join the family of God through the blood of Jesus.  Our new identity as God’s child changes everything. We now have the security, access, and abundance of our Father. Being a part of God’s family means that you are so secure in His love that you don’t need to manipulate or control other family members to address lack. This frees you up to truly love and serve your brothers and sisters, and is the foundation of Christian community.

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

Our aim in this vision series has been to define what God is specifically doing with Saints’ Hill in this time and place, and how you can join that.   One identity we are committing to is the identity of a priest. What we learn from the Scriptures is that priests serve God on behalf of people, and serve people on behalf of God.   Therefore, the life that Jesus has for you is a life of service, rather than a personal project. We are praying that each of you, in the presence of God will learn how to leverage what he’s given you in this life, to serve and give - so that our world can taste and see Christ. 

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

This last week we continued in our vision series with a teaching on what the identity of Bride means for the people of Saints’ Hill. The Bible begins with a marriage and ends with a marriage, and everything in between is about marriage. It’s the central image of God’s desire for humanity and humanity’s need of God. We are the woman at the well in John 4, and Jesus is the groom offering us himself. He wants to detach us from our false loves so that we can experience Him as the ultimate most satisfying love. As His betrothed, our lives then ought to take the shape of longing. We pray and we worship to encounter Him, to let his love wash over us, and to pour out our devotion to Him. We pray that the identity of the bride would begin to shape how you use your time, your energy, and your attention. There is nothing more valuable than being with Him, knowing Him, and loving Him.

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

As a part of this vision series we want you to know what you can expect from us at Saints’ Hill and what we want to be able to expect from you, in other words, our social contract. Rather than a membership structure or specific requirements, our social contract is made up of a shared identity with an organizing principle.  According to the New Testament authors, there are many identities that we are afforded under Christ’s blood. We believe God has given us three to focus on as a church: child, priest, and bride. This means we do life together, we worship and pray, and we serve and give. Our organizing principle that empowers these identities is love - meaning, all of these actions are compelled by Christ’s love in us. Our prayer is that through our stewardship of these identities, we as a church would be able to serve God’s purposes for our time and place. 

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

What is Saints’ Hill trying to do to you? As we get more and more specific in this vision series, we want to talk about what our hope is for each person at Saints’ Hill.  Put simply - we want you, through friendship with God, to become completely secure in His love. When this happens, we believe that you will be filled to overflow, and that you’ll have something to give away. You’ll be able to actually do the good works He has prepared in advance for you to do.  God, make us willing to give up lesser loves and to walk the narrow road that leads to life. 

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

This last Sunday we talked about why Saints’ Hill exists. In a well-churched town, what is our unique purpose and how did we arrive there? Our founders had a conviction that Saints’ Hill needed to be a place where people could reliably encounter God. This comes from a belief that in His Presence all the right things grow and the wrong things die.  If you were made for union with God, a love encounter with Him is the greatest thing a church can provide.  Our strategy, from singing, to communion, to teaching and prayer is all aimed at seeing God face to face, being transformed by His love, and serving His purposes for our time and place.

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

Last week we began our vision series laying a foundation for what this life is, who God is, and what our purpose is as humans. This week we zoomed in a bit more and asked the question, Why the Church? From the very beginning, God’s answer to the trust broken in Eden, was a family. Abraham and his family, the nation of Israel, existed to restore trust between God and man, and to extend that blessing to the nations. This purpose was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, who redeemed us from our sin so that by the Spirit, we would promote and provide a meal between God and man.  God is after relationship, and the gathering of people who love one another because they have first been loved, becomes the greatest sign on earth pointing to Him. That is where the renewal of all things begins.

Thanks for joining us as Senior Leader Alex Rettmann sits down with leaders from our church family to reflect on last Sunday’s sermon and talk about life, community, and ministry. We are praying you’re blessed!

On Sunday we began a new series called Join The Family. This vision series is designed to show why we do what we do at Saints’ Hill and where we’re headed. Our goal for this series is that every person would find both the mission for their life and the energy for it, in the presence of God. - In order to get into the specifics, we first need to lay a foundation of agreement on what this life is. We believe that God is relationship, and that everything He made is a relational invitation to Him. Creation, our physical world, is designed to tell the truth about God. Creation was distorted by a break of relationship, and can only be recaptured by a healing of that relationship. This is what the entire story of the Bible is about. God has created every human with a purpose, and a specific role to play in the renewal of the world. When we get in God’s presence we see Him rightly. When we see Him rightly we respond rightly, choosing to die to ourselves so that we can walk in the works He has prepared for us. 

Because of what Jesus has done, our lives are no longer possessed by death, but we are on a journey towards union with God that Jesus has made possible for us. On Sunday, Bria shared from Matthew 5:13 what it means when Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.” To be salt is to receive the life and love of God, to be unified with Him again, and to journey with Him in the partnership you were created for. To be salt is to live in covenant communion with Christ. We were made for union with Him and we will never find a better aim for our lives than to live in trusting friendship with Jesus   Link to Sermon Guide & Activations: 09.21.25 Sermon Guide

On Sunday, we heard from one of our elders, Pete on the tension we are living in between the kingdom Jesus inaugurated with his death, burial and resurrection, and it’s fulfillment at his return.  Throughout the New Testament, we are exhorted to put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. The armor of light represents spiritual readiness, includes moral integrity, and protects & empowers us from compromise.  In Christ you have a new identity, you are called to reflect His nature and to live in union with Him. Practically, we do this through Scripture, prayer, community, and surrender.  The world is groaning and our King is returning. May He find us awake, repentant and ready.    Link to Sermon Guide & Activations: 09.14.25 Sermon Guide

On Sunday, we had the privilege of hearing from one of our missionaries, Mariah Fredericks.  Drawing from 2 Corinthians 3, Mariah spoke on how our lives are letters to the world.  Reflecting on her own experience being called to serve as a missionary abroad, she shared with us thoughts on incarnational mission, cultivating lives of worship, getting God’s vision for the lost, glory, and unity in the Church. We heard powerful testimonies of Jesus reaching into people’s lives and saving them, strangers seeing the glory of God in the face of Christians and asking questions, and young believers being discipled.   Link to Sermon Guide & Activations: 08.31.25 Sermon Guide

In Luke 20…Jesus continues his rebuke of the leaders of Israel. This time he points out how they are obsessed with elevating themselves, even at the expense of the most vulnerable in society.   This passage makes it very clear: the Lord tears down the house of the proud…even if it’s His own house.   Every human institution - government, school, family, church - all reflect the fears of those who lead them. That’s why the temple became so twisted then, and how the church has become twisted even now.  Jesus’ solution to this problem is taking people on a journey from fear to love. In this passage the teachers of the law reveal that they are afraid of people, but the poor widow reveals that she fears the Lord.   Our lives are an opportunity to trust Jesus, to give Him a sacrifice, and to look to Him for provision. This type of life moves His heart and is what we were made for.   Link to Sermon Guide & Activations: 08.24.25 Sermon Guide

On Sunday we continued in our Luke Series with a teaching from Alex on Luke 20v27-39. This time, it’s the Sadducees who try to lay a trap for Jesus by asking him about resurrection. Jesus responds to them by correcting their literalist interpretations of the Torah. He invites them to interpret the Scriptures instead through covenant & the heart of God.  The Scriptures are not an instruction manual to memorize, but an introduction to the Father - an invitation to have relationship with Yahweh the way Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did. In the midst of fear, unbelief and failure, they still hoped, and experienced the faithfulness of God.   Link to Sermon Guide & Activations: 08.17.25 Sermon Guide

In Luke 20v20-26, Jesus speaks to a profound issue that we all deal with. How do you live in the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of this Age? When the people want a straightforward answer, Jesus invites them to a lifestyle that requires trust. You live in this world, but you belong to God. As you grow in trust you will grow in wisdom of how to partner with God in the renewal of this world until He returns.   Link to Sermon Guide & Activations: 08.10.25 Sermon Guide

On Sunday, we got to hear from one of our elders, Pete, on the Parable of the Tenants in Luke 20. Jesus rebukes the priests through this parable for abusing the authority that they were given. They were supposed to love and steward God’s people, but they became entitled and chose to pursue their version of the kingdom without the King. They disregarded and killed God’s prophets, and ultimately the Messiah himself. Even after this strong rebuke, Jesus extends mercy by telling them that if they are willing to “fall” upon Christ the Cornerstone, they can be saved & be apart of the new family that brings His kingdom. The Lord disciplines those he loves (Proverbs 3:2). He only offers a rebuke out of mercy, for your good, so you can leave your flesh behind once again and follow Him.   Link to Sermon Guide & Activations: 08.03.25 Sermon Guide

This week’s passage from Luke 20v1-8 shows how Jesus uses his authority differently than the Pharisees, demonstrating the priorities of the kingdom of heaven. Out of fear, the Pharisees use their authority to control people. Out of love, Jesus uses his authority to invite people back into relationship with the Father. God always wanted relationship, and when we accept His love we are able to love Him back. From this place of relationship we are able to exercise our authority towards love, obedience and service.   Link to Sermon Guide & Activation: 07.27.25 Sermon Guide