City on a Hill Teaching Center

06/09/2026

We are taking a break for the rest of the summer. We will see you again on Tuesday, September 1st. Enjoy your summer!

06/09/2026

Sunday, June 7, 2026, sermon video link, Appointed and Sent - part 1” by J. Todd Hostetler

Jesus called to Himself the 12 that He wanted to be with Him. He th...

06/09/2026

Searching The Deep Things Of God

“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” 1 Corinthians 2:10 NKJV

Many of us believe that we cannot understand the Word of God unless someone teaches us. We become frustrated with our inability to glean anything from the Word ourselves. This is important for you to know; you can understand the Word yourself. You can gain revelation into the things hidden from the minds of men but revealed to us as believers in Jesus. If the only time you pick up the Bible is for church on Sunday and think that you will not understand it unless you are taught, I have some great news. Change your expectation because you can know the Word as you read it!

Do not misunderstand; I am so thankful to the Lord for the great teachers in my life. They have taught me so much. I will always learn from my teachers with a grateful heart. But I also need to learn to be taught by the Holy Spirit Himself, the greatest teacher.

The word “revealed” in the verse above is interesting. It means (in all its usage and forms) to disclose or bring to light. In the natural, when light fills something, it fills it entirely. Light does not enter a room and just illuminates a portion while leaving another portion in utter darkness. In the spiritual sense, The Holy Spirit brings this illumination and understanding of the Word to every part of your being. The Word becomes you!

But there is a specific meaning to the word used in this verse. In the Greek it means: “Things revealed by God, taught, communicated, made known by His Spirit and influences.” How did Paul learn the insights and truths of God? He did not learn them from men but from the Holy Spirit Himself. Listen to Paul in Galatians 1:11 “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which I preached is not according to man.” NKJV

Where did Paul get his revelation of the Gospel message? From the Holy Spirit who searches all the things of God that we would otherwise not know or understand. We have this same access to revelation. No one had a better revelation of the new covenant than Paul. He got this insight, not from man, but from the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit that is in you and will teach you the things of God because He is searching the deep things of God for you!

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org

06/08/2026

Please join us tonight for a Bible study of "A Journey Through the Psalms," led by Jeff Millslagle!

06/08/2026

06/08/2026

Is It Time?

2 “Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.”’” 3 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple 5 Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!” Haggai 1:2-5 NKJV

In these verses, God is speaking through the prophet Haggai because the people had determined that it was not yet time to build the Temple. They determined that because it was not easy and they had not yet seen the provision of the Lord to accomplish the work, it meant it was not yet time for them to do the work of building the Temple, even though the Lord had told them to build the Temple 18 years earlier.

We often feel it is not yet time to do things for the Lord because we can’t see how it could ever be done in the natural. Usually, we wait to move, telling ourselves that when we see God make the provision, then we will begin to do what we are to do. This is backward thinking and not of faith at all. In fact, it is contrary to faith. We are to obey and move out in faith, taking action before we see the provision, and then God will provide.

William Carey is known as a father of missions. He had a desire to take the Good News to other nations that had never heard the Word or the love of Jesus. When Carey desired to prepare for a missionary work out of the country, he was chastised severely by his mentor, who told Cary, “Sit down, young man. When the Lord pleases to save the heathen, He will do so without consulting you or me”! At the time, the Church did not believe that the great commission Jesus gave extended beyond the time of the disciples. Carey felt differently and believed it was time to take the Gospel around the world. The Church waited for God to move, but Carey moved in obedience to the Lord, and he effectively changed the church culture’s mindset towards missions for centuries to come.

In essence, Haggai told the people, “Now is the time” to obey the instructions of the Lord. He told the people that they had planted and were disappointed with the yield. They ate and yet were hungry. They would save money but put it in a bag with a hole in it. Do you ever work hard and feel like you never can seem to get ahead? Perhaps the reason is that as the people of Haggai’s day, we take care of our house but not His. They justified serving their temporal needs first because they did not see God making provision for what He instructed them to do.

Has the Lord told you to do something in service to Him, but you have been slow to move because you think it impossible until He first does something to pave the way? Move out in faith, then and only then will you see His provision. Move out in faith, and then watch how all other areas of your life will then experience fruitfulness as well. It is time to move in faith.

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org

06/07/2026

Where Is Noah’s Ark?

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJ

On July 5th of 2006, National Geographic released a story that suggested they may have found the evidence of Noah’s Ark. Most hunters of the remains of the Ark had been looking in Turkey on Mount Ararat. But National Geographic points to rock formations in the mountains of Northwestern Iran. The story’s photo display shows a rock formation that looks incredibly like petrified wood. Cross-sections of this were examined and appear to have wood cell structures. With other ancient artifacts and evidence, they made their case that this could be Noah’s Ark.

Others still believe it will be found on Mount Ararat, and another expedition will be planned. We all think it would be great if such an artifact from the Old Testament would be found. And it would be stunning if such was the case. The reality is that for believers, it does not matter if any of the Biblical artifacts so desperately hunted for (Noah’s Ark, the Holy Grail, Ark of the Covenant, Shroud of Turin, etc.) are ever found or proved to be true. We need no physical evidence to support our faith. By definition, that is not faith!

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is believing God’s Word, even when there is no natural evidence to support it. No matter what life’s experiences tell you, you believe the promises of God. Understand this; without faith, hope is nothing more than a wish. For the believer, “hopes” are the things we know should be true. Faith is the force that pushes that hope from a spiritual reality to a physical, substantive reality. Faith (based on the Word) gives strength and endurance to that hope and allows you to advance to victory, even through circumstances that appeared hopeless.

We would all rejoice if the secular realm confirmed Noah’s Ark's existence, for that would mean that they would have to give credence to the Word. But you and I don’t need such confirmations. We have faith from on high to sustain us and fashion our hopes into realities.

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org

06/06/2026

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!

06/06/2026

The Source Of The Jordan River

“Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and [even] the Spirit, he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5 Amplified Bible

On a recent trip to Israel, my wife and I were able to walk around Tel Dan, where we saw the spring that is the source of the Jordan River. The spring was a small pool of water that bubbled up from below, but that spring gave way to the Jordan River, which flowed with increasing power south through the entire nation of Israel. Jesus is the spring, the source of life, and from Him flows the river of the Holy Spirit. This spring of life is in contrast to the man-made wells that store water.

The verse above from John chapter 3 has Jesus talking with Nicodemus, explaining salvation and being born again. Jesus says that a man has to be born again of water. Remember that Jesus told the Samaritan woman that anyone who drank from the well (man’s efforts, the man-made well) would thirst again. But He had the water of life. Anyone who drank from His water, the spring, would never thirst again. The water Jesus was describing was the picture of the spring of Jesus that bubbles up and pools, just like the spring that is the source of the Jordan.

Even at this early moment in His ministry, Jesus speaks of the water as both the spring of salvation and also the water of the Holy Spirit [“…is born of water and [even] the spirit…”]. A man is born of the water through the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ. However, we can only know and understand this message of hope, this good news, through the insight from the Holy Spirit. That is the river which Jesus speaks of later in John 7.

As my wife and I walked in the Tel Dan Nature Preserve on the way to the spring that was the Jordan River source, we had to cross the Jordan several times. It was amazing how quickly the water that flowed from the spring had become a powerful current beneath us. It was stunning how fast the power of the Jordan exponentially increased in such a short time. That is how fast and powerfully the Holy Spirit builds within us as we allow Him to flow through us.

The ministry of John the Baptist was baptizing people when they came to repent of their sins. It was a ministry of cleansing and purification so that mankind would be ready to receive the work of Jesus. The water had a two-part effect and purpose. It was for the purifying effect and the power of the Holy Spirit, the two elements that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about. When we drink the water of Jesus, which is the water of life, from that spring within us will rush the powerful current of the Holy Spirit through our lives. It should be our expectation.

J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org