City on a Hill Teaching Center

09/08/2026

Sunday, September 6, 2026, sermon audio clip, “Entering His Rest -part 1” by J. Todd Hostetler

Entering His Rest Part 1 September 6, 2026 | Service Audio Entering His Rest Part 1September 6, 2026Service Audio Entering His Rest Part 1 https://cityonahilltc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-09-06-Entering-His-Rest-Part-1.mp3 To download this mp3, right-click here and select “Save Link As”...

09/08/2026

From Mountains To A Level Terrain

6 “So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. 7 ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’ Zechariah 4:6-7 NKJV

As we walk through our daily life’s issues will always arise that seem to us to be insurmountable. Perhaps your finances have become such bo***ge that it feels hopeless. It looks like a mountain in front of you that is so high you can’t even imagine how you could begin to scale that mountain. In defeat, you remain where you are. Because the mountain is so intimidating, we remain at the base. Then every day we have to start the day by only seeing the mountain. Every day that mountain just reminds us of our failure and frustration, leaving us with a foreboding sense of hopelessness.

Maybe your mountain is a physical impediment that has hindered you, or a disappointment, or an emotional problem that has left you depressed and defeated. The mountain could be anything, and the enemy of your soul wants you to see that mountain as you start each new day. He wants you to face what appears to be insurmountable. The thing you need to realize the next time you look at that mountain is that you have a Savior who is not intimidated by any mountain that life has put before you. You have Jesus, who can remove that mountain from before you and make your path flat and level!

You may see that mountain and see it as impossible to ever scale. Well, then don’t worry about having to climb it. He will make your way flat and easy to traverse. All you need to do is move forward in faith. Once you start to walk towards that mountain, it may not appear that anything has changed. You will be tempted to stop and say the mountain is still there. Just keep moving forward in faith and watch what Jesus does to that insurmountable obstacle that has kept you stuck at one place in your life. He will flatten it as you move towards it in faith. Keep moving forward, and He will do the rest.

If you feel like you have become stagnant because you can’t move forward because there is a mountain in front of you, don’t just remain there. Move! You don’t have to destroy the mountain yourself or overcome it yourself. That would be impossible. All you have to do is move forward in faith because the flattening of the mountain to a level plain is not done by you or your strength. It is His power that does it. The pressure is not on you; it is on Jesus and the Word. The mountain is made flat and level, not by your might or power but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Have you been stuck in one place by a mountain? Pack up and start moving forward. As you move in faith, He will level the mountain before you get there. I might not be able to scale a mountain, but I can easily walk over flat, level terrain. That is what He does for us. Move first and watch Him move supernaturally.

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org

09/07/2026

09/07/2026

The Scapegoat

“Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat.” Leviticus 16:8 NKJV

This Old Testament ritual was a beautiful shadow of what Jesus would do and, from our perspective, what Jesus has already done for us. Aaron was the High Priest, and he was instructed to have two goats brought to him for the sacrifice for the people’s sins. He handled the two goats differently, and in what Aaron did with both goats, we get to see exactly what Jesus did for us by His sacrifice for our sins.

The first goat was killed as a sin offering for all the people. The blood of the sacrificed goat was brought into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The second goat remained alive and was then brought to Aaron, the High Priest.

21 “Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:20-22 NKJV

This second goat [the live goat] was referred to as the “scapegoat.” Aaron laid his hands and placed all the sins of the people upon the goat. This was a vision of what Jesus would do for all mankind as the sins of all people were placed on Him. As the sins of the people were laid upon the head of the goat, so the sins of all mankind were placed on the head of Jesus. It symbolized the crown of thorns He wore on His head.

That live goat was then sent into the wilderness by a “suitable man.” Jesus was the only suitable man, and He willingly took upon Himself your sins and mine.
The goat was then taken from the temple and Jerusalem. It was led out into the wilderness, to the place of forgetfulness. There, the goat was released. Jesus took all your sins and paid the price for them with His own blood, just like the first goat. He took all memory of your sins, which He paid for, to the wilderness of forgetfulness. As believers, we have all failed and come up short, but we are not to dwell on sin. If you have accepted the sacrifice Jesus made for you, then your sins are removed and forgotten. If he has forgotten them, then why should you dwell upon them? Jesus has done this for you, so put the sins behind you and move forward in His freedom and favor with a thankful heart, not a heart oppressed with guilt. He has set you free.

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org

09/06/2026

Handle Me

36 ”Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” Luke 24:36-39 NKJV

On the third day, Jesus appears to the disciples, who struggle to believe that what they see before them is the resurrected Jesus. They think that Jesus is merely a spirit and not flesh as He was in the life He had with them. Jesus sees that they are stuck looking at life from a physical perspective and not seeing the greater spiritual realities and what they represent. How does Jesus get them to look away from the world, from the natural truth, and see with expectancy the greater realities of the spiritual realm? He accomplishes this when Jesus tells His unbelieving disciples to touch Him. Jesus’ very words to them are, “Handle me.”

Jesus says the same thing to you and me in the struggles we face in this life. When we live something contrary to the promises of Jesus, when life is at odds with the promises of Jesus, it is easy for us only to see the physical and miss the spiritual truth and reality. Jesus is telling you today that when you cannot see beyond your problem, to handle Him, to touch Him. How do we handle Him? We handle Him by handling the Word. We need to pick it up, read, and grow in our knowing Him as we “handle Him” by handling the Word itself.

Picture the disciples at this moment. They are still in the misery of having lost Jesus and watched Him die on the cross and be buried in the tomb. In their discouragement and gloom, Jesus appeared to them and said to them, “Peace be unto you.” In their misery, Jesus appeared in their midst, and He will do so for you and me today as well. Jesus is with you today, even if you feel discouraged and broken-hearted.

The disciples did not believe that it was Jesus. Their rational minds could not receive that. All too often, in our own discouragement, we rationalize Jesus and His promises away, even though He is actually standing right there in our midst, representing our victory. Jesus questions why they would allow such thoughts of doubt to enter their minds. Jesus is also asking you why you are allowing thoughts of doubt. He expects us to put away and dispel the doubts that come in life. How do we do that? He told the disciples, as He tells you today, to touch Him, to handle Him.

As you handle the Word, you are handling Him. The only result of that will be the ability to see His victory even in the appearance of defeat. Handle the Word, and you will see that He is present in your situation with His victory for you right now. Handle Him, and see truth instead of the uncertainty that leads to doubt and fear.

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org

09/05/2026

Please join us for Sunday Morning Service!
When: This Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Where: 2180 Preston Parkway, Perrysburg, Ohio 43551

We are a non-denominational body of believers in Jesus Christ and His Word. Worship and Biblical teaching are every Sunday Morning at 9:30 a.m. All are welcome, and please bring your Bible!

09/05/2026

Faith Versus Unbelief

19 “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” Matthew 17:19-21 NKJV

In the story from the verses above, the disciples are asking Jesus why they could not cast a demon out of a boy. I was always taught that these verses meant they did not have enough faith and that this kind of demon only comes out through prayer and fasting. I think most people accept this as the meaning of Jesus’ words, but is that correct?

Jesus tells the disciples they could not cast out the demon because of their unbelief. Think about it. Unbelief is different than the lack of faith. Yes, we have to have faith, but we also have to be careful not to become filled with unbelief. You can have both faith and unbelief. For example, I have known people with great faith in one area and cumbersome unbelief in another. We can believe God’s Word is true, but be in unbelief that it can really work through us. We always have faith, but we must always battle unbelief. There has to be a strengthening of one and a purging of the other if we are to see the power of Jesus manifest in our lives and manifest through our prayers for others. That is what Jesus was teaching the disciples. We can’t just have faith and disregard our responsibility to control and remove our unbelief.

I read an author from the 1800s speaking on this, and he summed up what many of us have been incorrectly taught over the years, “If we want to know where and how our faith is to grow…It is in prayer, in the exercise of the faith I have, in fellowship with the living God that faith can increase.”

While that sounds good, it is not scriptural. The Bible tells us how our faith will grow, and it is not through prayer and fasting. Romans 10:17 says (my paraphrase), “that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God.” Spending time in prayer will benefit you in countless ways. In fact, one of the ways is what Jesus is explaining here to the disciples. Prayer and fasting will minimize your unbelief, but they will not increase your faith. That is because you already have the faith of Jesus within you. You don’t need more faith.

Jesus was not saying to the disciples, “Increase your faith by praying and fasting.” When you read the verse, you can see He was referring to “unbelief,” not demons, when He said, “this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” It is not a means of getting more faith; it is a means of minimizing your unbelief. When unbelief is removed, what remains is faith. We strengthen our faith through the Word, but we also work to reduce or eliminate unbelief through prayer and fasting. It requires diligence in both areas to see the supernatural in this present life.

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org