Full Worship Experience | August 8 | Mercy Hill Church

[Music] hey mercy hill we're so glad that you're joining us in worship today if you're new at mercy hill or maybe it's just been a while we're so glad that you are here we'd love to say hello and answer any questions that you may have so if you'll stop by the tent on your way out we even have a gift for you just for being here today if you're new to mercy hill or it's been a while you may be wondering what happens next how do i get involved how do i get connected here at mercy hill the next step at mercy hill is event that we call the weekender this is a one-stop shop in finding out all about mercy hill and how you can be meaningfully involved here at the church it's coming up on august 27 through the 29th and will take place at our regional campus visit our website today to register we can't wait to see you there parents we know you may not be ready to think about it but school is just around the corner so if you're a part of mercy hill kids or mh students mark your calendars now to join us for back to school weekend celebrations across all of our campuses the weekend of august 22nd all of our school-aged kids will be moving up to their next class within mercy hill kids along with receiving a fun back-to-school gift to prepare them for an incredible school year we'll also celebrate with a kindergarten commissioning during our weekend services and for more fun we want to invite you to join us for a back to school party at the brand new student center anytime between 11 30 a.m and 2 p.m on august 22nd we'll have food trucks for you to purchase lunch from balanced houses and even free sunset slush you can go now to find out more information and rsvp online today for the back to school party this is going to be a weekend full of traditions and milestones that your family is not going to want to miss well at this time let's all stand and worship together welcome mercy hill we're so glad you guys are here today let's sing to him [Music] today [Music] to keep me from striking [Music] but i just keep climbing [Music] to draw me in closet nothing compares to your love [Music] hope nothing is better [Music] you keep pursuing your love keeps chasing me down [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] chasing me still fights for me you won't give up on me you're waiting patiently your love is changing me my eyes are starting to see you won't give up on me you're waiting patiently your love is changing me my eyes are starting to see you won't give up on me you're waiting patiently your love is changing me my eyes are starting [Music] [Music] keep chasing me down same love that calvary still fights for me now [Applause] you keep pursuing [Music] your love keeps chasing me down the same [Music] [Applause] your love keeps chasing me down [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh we thank you um your love god come on you keep pursuing [Music] your love keeps chasing me down same love that calvary still fights for me now [Music] seeing what gift of grace what gifts of grace is jesus my redeemer there is no more for heaven now to give he is my joy he's my righteousness and freedom my steadfast love my deep and boundless to this hour my hope is only jesus for my life is only bound to his oh how strange and divine i can sing all [Music] you is thank you lord [Music] the night is dark but i am not forsaken [Music] through foreign deepest [Music] sing there's no fate i dread this [Music] [Music] and he was raised [Music] [Applause] is are released [Music] jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day i know he will renew me until i stand with joy before the throne come on sing this to this [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not i but through christmas [Music] yet but through christ in me jesus we thank you lord that we can say that it's not through through us it's not through anything that we've done but it's it's only through christ ah we thank you for that we thank you for what you have earned for us though we didn't deserve it or we gladly accept it today we send it all to you right now god i just pray as we dive into your word lord as we listen um to your word being preached lord that you would just that you would just mold us that you would just shape us that you would just make us look more like you all for your glory it's in jesus name we pray amen you guys can have a seat what a powerful time of worship before i introduce our guest speaker for today which i am so excited about we're going to continue to worship through a time of giving throughout the summer your generosity has been fueling the mission in some really cool ways both inside and outside the walls of the church one of the ways your generosity has fueled the mission is in our local community through our no more spectators ministry just last week we had the opportunity to take kids week outside the walls of mercy hill and what an awesome week it was we're able to bring kids week to a local apartment complex in our community that has a large refugee population every day 20 to 30 mercy hill people showed up to bring the gospel to these kids and across the week there were tons of gospel conversations that will likely leave a gospel impact for years to come church it's your generosity that provided the supplies to make the week possible in addition to the generosity of your time and your talent and it's your generosity that allows us to have our no more spectators ministry in the first place generosity really does fuel the mission imagine the gospel movement we could continue to see in the future as we continue to be generous if you don't currently give at mercy hill i'd like to invite you to consider joining the mission in this way giving is super simple just follow the giving instructions on the screen so however you choose to give online in person or by text thank you so much your generosity is making a huge impact as we move into our sermon for today i am so excited that pastor ryan brooks is bringing the word pastor ryan's a friend of mine and a long time friend of mercy hill he's the lead pastor of vertical church in hillsborough north carolina a sister church to mercy hill and fellow summit network church the last time pastor ryan spoke at mercy hill it was a huge blessing and i can't wait to hear what he has for us today church let's give a warm welcome to pastor ryan brooks it is such a pleasure to be in the house of the lord today with my mercy hill family again my name is ryan brooks and i bring you greetings from the metropolitan area of hillsboro north carolina i don't know why people laugh every time i say that it's a whopping 7 000 people in everyone's home we are growing though let's get into the word of god today so thankful to be here let me pray before we get into our time together heavenly father we thank you lord this day for your word we believe it is rich we believe it is for us god i pray now as always that you will humble your servant now make me as this microphone that i would simply magnify the things you have said into me god open our ears our hearts and our minds to not just be hearers of your word but god also doers of your word lord today i pray that you would make this word good seed that is sown into our hearts that is good soil that will produce a harvest in our lives for your glory father we love you we bless you and we thank you in jesus name we pray amen amen well since today this is not my first time with you all here at mercy hill i'm going to be very transparent i hope you don't judge me but i'm gonna tell you today uh uh i still got a lot of work to do with me and one of the things that i'm constantly praying about i'm constantly asking god to help me about is is my my heart now now i i don't know if you can tell uh but i'm a chocolate preacher and what this means is that i enjoy a little interaction so if i ask you a question it's okay to say yes me too if you come from a churchy background you can say amen but i sometimes have problems with my heart okay i'm not by myself so glad you guys would admit that it's very big of you to to honestly say that it can be honest one of the things that i've had to wrestle with early in my life especially in my relationship jesus christ when i got saved and i gave my life to jesus christ i sometimes struggled with people that did not also believe in jesus christ thank you brother i i sometimes see people do things that i would sometimes see people say that i would see behavior and i would just sometimes get frustrated thank you i would sometimes get angry i couldn't believe how could you do this how could you say this why would you believe this and something was really wrong with my my heart because oftentimes before i would jump to pray for them i would do this other like very very very very small thing before i got to praying for them i would i would judge them the lord had to start dealing with me with my heart because here it is that if i'm gonna be a follower of christ and i'm gonna live on his mission i'm gonna have to deal with my heart i'm reading a book right now by paul david tripp entitled lead it talks about 12 gospel principles and leadership and one of the early things he mentions i think in chapter number two he says that the battlefield for every believer is starts with the place of your heart i think a lot of times we think we need to change our behavior you know we need god to change our heart because when we change our heart our behavior will change hear what i'm saying changing your behavior will never change your heart but changing your heart will always change your behavior i will submit to you the greatest battlefield that you will ever battle on will be in the place of your heart and today i want to lift this up to you that we would look at our heart when it comes to living on mission it reminds me of a story that i want to share with you that i that i think really captures kind of where i want to go today is so it's a story uh it says on january 13 2012 the massive coaster cruise ship with more than 4 200 passengers and crew on board was sailing off the coast of italy on a tour of the mediterranean sea story says that the captain deviated from his plane course and and the ship struck a reef near the shore after taking on water for a while the ship began to sink abandoning his duty to the passengers and the crew a man by the name of captain francesco scottino left the ship instead of remaining to make sure everyone could be rescued in a phone conversation the local coast guard commander repeatedly pressed preston for an update on the situation tell me if there are women and children and people in need there failing to receive a satisfactory reply he ordered the captain to return to the ship the captain responded you realize it's dark and we can't see anything the coast guard says back to him you've been telling me that for an hour now get back on board the captain who abandoned the ship was later arrested for his failure to do his duty resulting in the death of more than 30 people ryan why do you share that with us today every day mercedes we are surrounded by people who will spend eternity in either heaven or hell the fact that there are people that are lost and seeking deep in sin should disturb us it should compel us to be a part of the rescue and what i would suggest to you today is if you're struggling with living on mission being others focused pursuing people that are lost we got to deal with your heart and i believe in jonah chapter number 4 verse 11 i believe we find something so powerful to help us lean in and address our heart let's go to the scriptures pick me up in jonah chapter number four verse number 11. because my heart hasn't always been in the right place jonah four verse 11 says this it says and should not i pity nineveh that great city in which there are more than 120 000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle this has to be in my opinion one of the the wildest endings to any book of the bible this is the last verse of the last chapter the book of jonah and god leaves this book ending with a question and i'm gonna read it one more time it says and should not i pity nineveh the great city in which there are more than 120 000 persons who do not know their right hand from the left and also much cattle god's concerned about the ground beef here it is today that i believe in this text we're going to see that we have to have i want to title this message a heart for the mission a heart for the mission if i would give you a a main idea main thought that i would think you would would like to write down because i believe good students take notes i would say this our call to god's mission for the lost should not be absent of god's heart for the lost our call to god's mission for the loss cannot be absent of god's heart for the loss the story of jonah this this story is is an interesting one and specifically the turn of events that we see happen especially in chapters number three and four if you don't know the story of jonah it is a story of a prophet uh considered to be a minor prophet of god who is called to go preach to the ninevites and instead much like i probably would have done jonah says i don't even want to do that i want to go do something else the story says that he goes in the opposite direction and boards a ship and joppa and the story says that god sends a storm he's on the storm the sailors throw them over god throws them into the water god sends a what a fish a great whale swallows him whole it actually happened story says that he was in the fish what three days the fish spit him spit him out on land the bible says that jonah eventually goes to nineveh preaches a what some believe is a five word sermon i'm so jealous of jonah and after this the story says that these ninevites they actually do and respond to jonah's sermon the right way they respond with repentance and the truth be told if the story of jonah ended at chapter three it would be a great story but it does not it moves to chapter number four and it reveals some of the issues in jonah's heart and so in this i believe there are a couple things that i want us to know about if we're going to live on mission we're going to have god's heart there are a couple of things we got to do good students take those so number one i want you to write this down if you can number one we have to go on mission with sympathy not duty sympathy not duty let's go here to verse number one of chapter number four let's get some context here he said it but it displeased jonah exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the lord and said oh lord is not this what i said when i was yet in my country that is why i made haste to flee to tarshish for i knew that you are gracious and merciful slow to anger abounding and steadfast love and relenting from disaster therefore now o lord please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live wait a minute wait wait wait wait wait jonah you mean to tell me you're upset with god because he showed grace to the ninevites you're so upset that you want to die so we see one heart problem here's our first heart problem jonah has no sympathy he was obedient to god out of duty not out of sympathy jonah is upset he is angry he is vexed because the people actually repented and god relented his wrath here it is that god and jonah here see the same thing watch this yet they have a different response okay let me see if i can say this another way have you ever thought in your anger and frustration and disappointment disappointment with the broken world that maybe the way you feel about people is not the way god feels about them you you let me not say you we we see them as bad and god sees them as broken there's a difference this world is so jacked up no no it's lost and when you start asking yourself the question about do i see them the way that god sees them is there something going on in my heart jonah responds to the people completely different than god does god relents his wrath and watches jonas praying for his wrath something's wrong with the heart let me ask you this question what is your motive when you call out to people that are unrighteous are you trying to introduce them to the savior or are you trying to point out how wrong they are or are you trying to point out how right you are what's going on in your heart are you sharing the love of god despite their wrongs or are you trying to uncover their wrongs i'm glad you're on mission i'm glad you're you're you're not missing the moment but i want to deal with your heart what's what's your your motivation behind what you do jonah clearly here has a problem with the people of nineveh now if you don't understand this these uh these are syrians these ninevites they were uh diabolical enemies of the children of israel they were very very very bad people they were the worst people and the truth be told i could understand why jonah didn't like them but here it is that god still showed them grace and if god still showed them grace shouldn't i i know a lot of times we like to think about people in the us and them category but here is the reality jesus christ died for us and them his love was for us and them he he groans desiring us and them god deal with my heart it reminds me of a familiar teaching parable of christ many people call this the story of the prodigal son i believe it as tim keller would say is the prodigal god because the story is about two sons and there is something interesting about this second son let's go to luke chapter number 15 verse 25-32 it says now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant and he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fetid calf because he has received him back safe and sound but he was angry and refused to go in his father came out and entreated him but he answered his father look these many years i've served you and i've never disobeyed your command yet you never gave me a young goat that i might celebrate with my friends but when this son of yours came i don't know if you got a sibling in here but sometimes i have to tell my mom that's your daughter that's not my sister do you hear his heart this son of yours came who has devoured your property property with prostitutes you killed the fatted calf for him and he said to him son you are always with me and all that is mine is yours it was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this your brother was dead and is alive he was lost and it's found to properly understand this you got to think about who jesus is talking to he's talking to two groups of people this second son he's actually talking to those those religious leaders those sadducees those pharisees those individuals he's he's comparing them to their second son that when other people come to christ and they they come they're not they're not good and they're not right in their heart i want you to think about this for a second just be honest with yourself how do you really feel when the person that you honestly as a christian you can say i don't like everybody and this person i don't really like but what happens when they show up to church they make a decision for christ and then you see him on a servant team and you're like i know we just let anybody serve here now what's going on in your heart i know i'm not the only one i got family members that they told me they were serving their church and i'm surprised really what kind of church is it instead of me celebrating that this lost son has come home there's something going on in my heart as jesus is preaching this he is talking to those that would quote unquote think that they were righteous before god see the reality of it is that many of us when we read this story we think about us being the lost son but the problem is many of us if we're not careful will be the son that stayed home you have to understand the great battlefield for the believer it's the battlefield in the heart this brother think about this for a second was angry that his brother got saved and as you read later we can see is for selfish motives and intentions he said i never got the fatted calf i never got the robe i never got the ring i never got the new pair of shoes what's going on in your heart here it is we see this in jonah chapter number three verse four watch what jonah does again he says he preaches this message his message was very simple says jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey and he called out yet forty days and nineveh shall be overthrown the second heart problem we see with jonah he's self-serving now i told you a minute ago that they were arch enemies they they hear that he he is wanting god to bring his wrath down on nineveh okay i just want us to be honest i told y'all i was gonna be transparent because we're family now there have been some people in my life that if god had brought his wrath down on them i wouldn't have been upset okay i got two people over here that said they with me on this one i feel you pastor and here it is that jonah says listen it would be to my advantage it would be to the advantage of the children of israel god if you would like you just said in 40 days that you're going to bring your wrath down on them it would have been his pleasure let me ask you this for a question real quick have you ever thought of someone else's destruction being your pleasure i know this is a tough message and i know we're not going to get a lot of amens here because i'm digging deep here but i want you to think about it maybe that co-worker you're like i really hope they don't get the promotion i hope they don't get it i hope they don't get it i hope they don't get it what's going on in your heart jonah watch this warning the voice of their destruction not the voice of salvation something going on in your heart and this happens watch this when you're serving out of duty but you lack the heart that god has for the people watch this he has sent you to god i'm not just going out of compliance god i'm going out of submitted surrendered obedience because when you're serving out of duty and not sympathy your agenda will rise to the top because here if it were me i would have did this if i were joan i said hey lord i did what you told me to do okay all right i know i know i'm not the only one hey i invited them it's not my fault they didn't come but you had an attitude when you invited them you were looking down on them when you invited them you invited them after you told them how bad they were there's something going on with your heart our prayer as the church should be for the repentance of all those that are lost we should pray watch this for people's repentance not for god's wrath one of the things that has disturbed me over the last year and a half is seeing christians praying and hoping for the wrath of god to come down on lost and broken people no we pray for salvation we pray to the lord of the harvest we pray that the church would be on mission as christians we do not rejoice in god's wrath watch this on any of his creations when our heart is for god we actually will weep for them as we understand they are lost if you are rejoicing in what appears to be justified destruction of another person you have a heart problem sharing the gospel is our responsibility but it should also be done with sympathy so number one we have to grow go sympathy not duty number two good students take notes number two we have to grow gotta grow your grief grow your grief let's go to john 4 verse 5 through 10. this is the part i really struggle with guys can i be honest i really struggle with this verse 5-10 let's read this for a second jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there he sat under under it in the shade until he should see what would become of the city now the lord god appointed a plant and made it to come up over jonah that it might be shade over his head to save him from his discomfort so jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant but when don came up the next day god appointed a worm and attacked the plant so that it withered when the sun rose god appointed a scorching east wind whoa and the sun beat down on the head of jonah so that he was faint and he asked that he might die and said it is better for me to die than to live y'all i don't know if y'all notice yet jonah is real emotional but god said to jonah do you do well to be angry for the plant he said yes i do well to be angry and angry enough to die and the lord said you pity the plant for which you did not labor nor did you make it grow which came into being in a night and perished in a night here it is we see jonah's third heart problem jonah had a hidden idol pastor who where's jonah's hidden item jonah's hidden idol was right in front of him he was his idol okay jonah goes out of the city upset and i would dare say embarrassed because the last thing you want to do is say hey y'all in 40 days god's wrath is coming and god's wrath doesn't come he goes out and says for 40 days had elapsed and not yet had god's posture of destruction come towards the ninevites no his posture of repentance he see response to the repentance and they don't go back to their evil ways and here's what's crazy he goes out and makes this booth and he he says i want to watch the destruction of the ninevites and all he sees is grace he doesn't realize that this now has become a class on humility for jonah we all wish it's into the chapter three but chapter four jonah you got to learn the lesson he had no idea that god was going to show that kind of grace and while out there god points a plant a gourd it's considered to be a castor oil plant it is known as the palm christ plant it is known this way because it is said that this plant has a very broad leaf and it grows like the hand of god over you as a shade so it's called this palm christ plan and here it is that jonah is given grace he's given something watch this that he didn't sow into he didn't grow it yet he received it it is a reminder of the hand of god going over and watch this jonah is happy for his plant stay with me he's happy that he has this covering he's happy that he has this grace the graciousness of god to provide such a plant for the life of jonah but what happens the plant goes away and here it is by the by the instruction of god here it is that he's angry he's frustrated that god sends this beautiful reminder of his love and then takes it away god's not done with his lesson with jonah this worm eats that plant away the sun scorches it then god has the the audacity to make the situation even worse so i'mma send a scorching wind and here emotional prophet jonah says lord i would rather die and in that moment he reveals watch this that his idol is his comfort here's my question to you jonah grieves his comfort what do you grieve think about this for a second what is it that grieves you is it your personal preference what grieves you is it your comfort is it your stability when you lose it what what what grieves you my my son wesley is eight he got into the car the other day in the back seat and he gets he says oh dad i turned around and panicked as a son what's wrong are you all right he says i lost wifi that's what grieves him some of y'all can say man because you get weirded out when you don't have access to this we're not judges judgment free zone here here's what i'm saying that if you want to know what you worship look at what you grieve if you want to know what's most important to you look at what you grieve his comfort was what he grieved i want y'all to see this he was more concerned about the loss of his comfort that he was the loss of a group of people some of us are more concerned about our losses in our life than we are about people who are lost i'm just asking the question what do you grieve do you agree that there are people that live on your street that don't know the beauty and the majesty of jesus christ do you grieve that there are people in your school that don't know the incredible overwhelming love of god what do you grieve i had a mentor of mine bobby asked me this question one time said ryan if god answered all of your prayers how many people would get saved he was trying to tell me around i can tell what you grieve by what you pray for and you haven't been praying for the lost there's something going on in your heart if god answered your prayers i'm the only people that would be blessed were the people that lived in your house and had your last name i gotta ask some questions about your heart see one of the things we gotta do church we gotta grow our grief we have to grieve beyond our comfort we have to grieve beyond our personal preferences we have to grieve beyond the things that we like we have to grieve beyond the things that we are used to no our heart should grieve for the same things that god hearts grief for our hearts should grieve for the same thing that sent jesus to the cross our heart should grieve for the same thing that sent the holy spirit to send us out into the world to share the gospel our hearts should grieve for the lost the loss that you won't grieve is a loss you won't pursue jonah that's the issue in his heart i want you to think about this this week what do i really grieve jonah grieved the loss of provision instead of being grateful for the grace of the provider what do you grieve salvation will only be your greatest joy when also salvation is your greatest grief i always believe that when someone gives their life to christ when we celebrate baptism the church should be flipping chairs all the way over you know why because our greatest grief is that people are lost third john chapter 4 verse 4 says this i have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in truth this would imply that the greatest grief is for people to not be walking in truth i want you to think about it please what do you grieve we don't want to look at people as just bad we want to see them as broken we don't want to just see them as sinners we want to see them people suffering from sin what do you grieve and number three we're closing right here if you're going to be on mission with a heart for god's mission you have to realign your priorities realign your priorities when god is at the center of your life the mission will be at the center of your life let me say it again when god is at the center of your life the mission will be at the center of your life we're back in verse number 11 where we started god asked the question and should i not pity nineveh that great city in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who did not know their right hand from the left and also much cattle heart problem number four for jonah god wasn't his priority i'm closing right here here's my question to you what's your priority the bible says seeking first the kingdom of god what does that mean that i'm about what god's about i pursue the things that god pursues doesn't mean i'm pursuing my blessings though whatever god is about i'm about whatever he's he's after i'm after if he's after reconciliation that's what i'm after if he's after unity that's what i'm after if he's after healing that's what i'm after he says should i not pity should i not pity them 120 000. some theologians believe that they're talking about babies that are not old enough to know their right hand from the left some people think it's those that don't know god either way it's 120 000. should i not pity them then he takes it a step further should have not pity the cattle the cattle deserve a chance you don't believe me go to the ten commandments when god calls for rest he doesn't just call for rest for the people he calls for us for the servants and the cattle and the livestock everybody deserves a day off god calls us to reach the loss god calls us to reach them with his love but we must make his mission our priority people will not hear the message that we don't share people will not show up for church if we don't invite them people will not meet jesus if we don't introduce them people will not become disciples if we don't make them first timothy 1 15-16 says this this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance christ jesus came into the world to save sinners this is what we're here for church not for your comfort not for your preference we're here to save sinners sinners are not our obstacle they're our object that's who we're trying to reach paul says and i am the worst of them but i receive mercy for this reason so that in me the worst of them for told me the worst of them christ jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe for him eternal here it is that i am an example of the patience of god i wish somebody will say amen that's me too bastard here's the question do you stand back and watch people singing on the ship rachel can you help me with that thank you you can start playing brother that it'll help me slow down i get excited about the mission yo this this is this is what we look like y'all see this here's what's crazy the lord had to really deal with me because i'm sitting here with a life vest on it's so fashionable but i see other people drowning and i'm telling them hey swim harder i'm wearing a life vest that was given to me through the grace of god and yet i see people living in sin and all i say is look at how much you're drowning i'm sitting here with the life vests that is only because jesus christ died for my sins and yet i see other people on a sinking ship and i instead of extending i fold my arms and say how dare they i went my life vest on given to me have the nerve to say what is our country coming to [Music] the grace that i have on was given to me [Music] the beauty of the life vest is that it keeps me up so even in my own effort i can't god help me i don't even have to keep myself on it's grace around my neck and there are others drowning in the church we have to have a heart for them stop holding on to your life vest judging others stop holding on to your life that's not sharing the gospel because they might say no stop holding on to your life that's not sharing the gospel because it makes you uncomfortable stop holding on to your life vest because you don't want to offend somebody the world is drowning and we have jesus [Music] here's here's my favorite part is bobby it's one size fits all [Music] oh god i wonder how in the world if i fell in the water how this little bitty life vest could hold up 250 pounds i don't know how it does it i'm just glad that it does that's the way grace works for me i don't know about you i don't know how jesus dying on the cross saves me i don't know how his love redeems me i don't know how his grace reconciles me i'm just glad that it does mercy he'll live on mission by having a heart for the lost heavenly father we thank you because as the hymn writer once said i was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore very deeply stained within sinking to rise no more but the master of the sea he heard my despairing cry and from the waters he lifted me now saved am i god break our hearts for the loss lord help our hearts to have the right posture and motive that we are walking in sympathy yes lord that we are walking in sympathy that we weep for those that don't know you [Music] lord that we spend more time praying for others than ourselves then instead of pointing the finger in judgment lord we just live lives that point to you help us to not be so self-centered and selfish or break our hearts for the lost because god wants we were the lost and you saw us and you showed up you stepped out of divinity into humanity because your heart was for the lost let that be the culture of this church that this will be a church with a heart for the lost father god we love you and bless you in jesus name we pray yes god yes god amen amen mercy let's stand and continue worshiping i just want to take a moment to encourage you as we sing this next song in order for us to be able to have a heart that's on mission in order for us to pray for the lost we have to remember that we were the lost just like pastor ryan said man we have to take a moment and ask the holy spirit to renew in us remind us who we were before he picked us up before jesus came and rescued us we were dying that that part gets me because it wasn't that we were just helpless and maybe drowning a little bit now we were dead in our sin and we needed jesus to rescue us the only way that we're going to be able to care for the lost and tell the lost is if we are reminded of how we were lost that really got me today and i pray that it would get you as we sing this song we're calling and we're asking for jesus the holy spirit to just give us a fresh wind of his holy spirit to blow us over again with the news that we that we got the good news that we got that allowed us to come and be reconciled into him for believers in here today so i pray that you would sing this song maybe ask the lord to recommit your heart to the desire to pray for the lost to tell the lost man that that would be so sweet to you the gospel that you can't help but tell it let's sing this today [Music] holy ghost breathe on us as we repent and turn from sin revival smothering the breath of god finish into [Music] your spirit [Music] faith indeed [Music] flames [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] the power of your presences [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] we can hear the way [Music] see [Music] oh [Music] the fragrance of heaven [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh guys this song has been kind of an anthem for us as a church for uh for sure for this year 2021 i remember when we began singing this song and the the intensity that we had like kids who were in need desperate need of food and clothing we would gather together and we would raise our hands in worship and we would pray and we would beg god please [Music] please pour your spirit out you know it's so like us we get busy we allow the busyness of our lives and even our church lives to kind of swell and i think that this this e this this message today has probably got us right exactly where god wants us to be once again saying god please pour your spirit out you know we could make all kinds of plans and we have and we're so excited about the plans that have been made about our kids and our students and college launch and the northeast campus and baptism sunday and mercy hill in espanola we're so excited about all these things but guys listen we could make all these plans but if we do it absent the holy spirit what is it really doing we need the spirit of god to pour out in our midst we want to prepare the jars but let's also fall on our faces and pray that the holy spirit is poured out among us this whole thing preparing to launch seeking calling a hundred people to come to join the ranks of volunteering and using our gifts you may have you may walk around your campus and go man it looks like they're pretty good look we're preparing the jars to see to say god go ahead and bring the hurting bring the helpless bring the lost and we're prepared for them to come that's what this is all about we're going to give you a chance in just a few moments to fill this out and to drop it off when we're done but right now guys i think we need to pray i think we just need to bow our heads and we need to pray that god would pour his spirit out would you pray with me holy spirit we ask you to please be in our midst god we are expectant that you want to move lord we know if the last 18 months has taught us anything lord we know this it has taught us that we are not in control but god you are and god you will pour out your spirit on your time but god we so badly want to see you move would you move in our midst god we pray in jesus name hey guys when we sing we are corporately praying together when we sing a song like we need we're just like those those little you remember maybe you remember when you were a kid and you kind of had that you your hands raised up to the sky to maybe mom and dad because you needed something man that's why we raise our hands is because we need you god and there's no better song i could think of right now than to say we need the spirit of god to be poured out guys if you feel comfortable right now would you raise up your hands and would you say god we need you as we sing this next part a fragrance of heaven lord pour your spirit out oh pour your spirit out oh holy yes the power of your presence oh boy your spirit out boy your spirit how come i'll sing it again we need a freshman oh love [Music] oh [Music] your spirit [Music] lord we can hear the [Music] we can hear [Music] we can hear [Music] the fragrance of heaven [Music] of your is is [Music] [Music] is [Music] lord well we need you lord oh how we need you we're nothing without you lord we need we need [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] hey guys i i've enjoyed and i hope that you guys have enjoyed worshiping together tonight but i wonder maybe some of us we still have a little bit of work to do and uh i don't know maybe if you're a little bit like me you might be going man i need to repent over some things that i heard during the sermon and maybe we just need to come down here in the front and pray with him of our prayer team for others maybe you just need to take a moment even right now to fill out this card and you say i've been delaying it next sunday is the on ramp for for serving and volunteering maybe you could fill this out and drop it in a bucket on your way out so that somebody can contact you this week but guys let's go in the power of the holy spirit mercy hill church you are sent out [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Mercy Hill Church

Views: 442

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, Scriptures, Mercy Hill, Mercy Hill Church, Ryan Brooks, Jonah, A Heart for the Lost, God’s Heart For the Lost, Repentance, Christian Priorities

Id: DgfbwkTqZlI

Length: 79min 9sec (4749 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021