Hillside Community Church

What if the stories you tell your kids reveal more about your values than you realize? In Psalm 145, David — a king with real power — does something surprising. He refuses to take credit. Instead, he points upward and says: you are the real King. And then he passes that posture on. Pastor Aaron unpacks what it looks like to build a life of praise — not as a Sunday activity, but as a daily practice that shapes perspective, forms gratitude, and leaves something worth inheriting. Because what w...

What Actually Happens When You Get Baptized? Most of us have watched a baptism. The water, the moment, the applause. But what if there's something happening beneath the surface that most people never stop to think about? Here's something worth sitting with: repentance is the first word of the gospel. The first word out of John the Baptist's mouth. The first word of Jesus' public ministry. The first instruction after the resurrection. The first word of the first Christian sermon. Baptism is wh...

What you believe about Jesus doesn’t stay theoretical—it shapes how you live, how you respond to suffering, and how you love people who are difficult to love. In Week 1 of What We Believe: Part 2, Pastor Aaron McRae walks through John 1 and explores the doctrine of the incarnation—what it means that Jesus is fully God and fully human, and why that truth still matters in everyday life. Through both Scripture and real-life examples, this message addresses questions many people wrestle with: &nb...

In this message, Pastor Woody Morwood shares a powerful teaching from 2 Corinthians 9:6–8, exploring the biblical heart behind generosity, stewardship, and joyful giving. Through a moving personal story from 1991—when he lived with a Christian family in the former Soviet Union—Pastor Woody illustrates what sacrificial generosity truly looks like. Despite living with very little, this family demonstrated deep joy and faith by giving generously out of what they had. Their example becomes a livi...

What do you do while you’re waiting on God? In James Week 7, Pastor Aaron walks through James 4–5 to uncover a counter-cultural wisdom for planning, handling wealth, and waiting on the Lord. James confronts arrogant assumptions about tomorrow, exposes the danger of wealth without surrender, and reminds us that our lives are like a mist—temporary, fragile, and fully dependent on God. This message challenges us to ask: Are my plans shaped by God’s will—or my own gain?Am I storing up treasures o...

In James Week 5, Pastor Aaron McRae tackles one of the most challenging and relevant issues in our everyday lives: our words. From trained animals and massive ships to raging wildfires, James uses vivid imagery to show that while humans can tame almost anything, no one can tame the tongue. Walking through James 3, this teaching reveals the sobering truth that uncontrolled speech can wound deeply, divide communities, and even shape the direction of our lives. Words are never words “just slippi...

Playing favorites may feel like a phase we outgrow, but James confronts how deeply partiality still shapes our lives—and our faith. In James 2:1–13, we are warned that favoritism based on status, appearance, wealth, or ideology is incompatible with faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. This teaching by Pastor Aaron McRae exposes how easily we absorb the world’s habits of ranking, judging, and dividing others, often without realizing it. James reminds us that true faith is not merely held...

In James Week 1, Pastor Aaron McRae opens the Book of James by addressing one of life’s hardest questions: How do we trust God in the middle of real suffering? James does not deny the reality of trials—he names them plainly—and invites believers into a new, Jesus-centered way of viewing hardship, vulnerability, and perseverance. Drawing from James 1, the sermon reframes trials as places where God forms resilience, maturity, and hope. Rather than offering clichés or quick fixes, Scripture call...