Mercy Hill Church Sermons

There's a model for change and renewal put forward in the Bible that stands behind and informs the way Discovering, Nurturing, and Applying Christ really work. It's been called the Three Trees.

Before the good Samaritan is a picture of what we are to be, he is first a picture of what Jesus already is for us. We are there with the man on the ground in desperate need of God's mercy and compassion and love. And, in Christ, such things are freely given!

“DNA Groups are smaller groups of committed people who meet on a consistent basis to Discover, Nurture, and Apply Christ together until He is all in all.”

Disciples of Jesus are to be busy making disciples of Jesus. But do we even know what this means? Do we even know what discipleship is? When we consider the idea in light of the whole of Scripture we come to see that discipleship to Jesus has as its end conformity to His image. It is the God-ordained process by which we are renewed in the very image we had long since marred.

The younger and older sons in this parable are more alike than we realize. They both want the Father's stuff without the Father Himself. They just have different ways of getting at it. The younger packs up and heads for the brothel. The older puts on his Sunday best and heads for the church. But both are lost. And both need the grace that only the third Son, Jesus, can offer.

We often think fulfillment is found in places far off from the Father. In our wandering, we enjoy moments of freedom but soon find ourselves enslaved. When we come to ourselves and return home, we find God more merciful and kind than we could ever have dared to hope!

God loves us and want to establish an abundant life in us through Him, now and for eternity. While we may respond in any one of 4 ways to the Gospel message at different times in our lives, God is consistently patient and faithful.

All of our activity-busy as we are, diverse as it is-has these same basic goals at the bottom: I want to be valued; I want to be pursued; and I want to be celebrated. Our attempts to get these things apart from God lead us into all manner of sin and heartbreak.The surprise of the gospel is that such things are freely given to us by God in Christ.

Following Christ will cost us everything and nothing at the same time. We have to let the world go but we become heirs of it in Him. We take up our cross, but therein find our life. His grace is free, but it is not cheap. Jesus calls us to count the cost, find Him worthy, and follow hard after!