Full Worship Experience | September 5 | Mercy Hill Church

[Music] foreign hey mercy hill we are excited that you've chosen to join us this weekend if you're newer to mercy hill or maybe it's just been a while we are so glad you're here we'd love to say hello or answer any questions you may have so just stop by the tent on your way out we even have a gift for you just for being here today here at mercy hill we strongly believe that discipleship happens in community when we are intentional to surround ourselves with other people who are pursuing a relationship with god we will experience the life-changing power of the gospel we have groups of all ages locations and times so you can find one that's right for you our groups will start meeting next week through mid-november and they tend to fill up fast so don't delay sign up and learn more online you may have heard us mention it already but next week we'll be celebrating baptisms across all campuses and services at mercy hill we believe that baptism is the biblical way for you to publicly express that you believe jesus has done everything necessary for your salvation by getting baptized you are letting others know that jesus has changed your life and you now live for him if you know you're ready or if you have questions about getting baptized you can sign up online or talk to someone on our prayer team after the service you'll hear more about this from pastor andrew later lastly for our christmas services this year we're going to be holding choir and orchestra auditions on september 11th so if you're interested in being a part of this head over to the events page on our website where you can find all the resources you'll need for the audition and how to sign up at this time let's stand together and worship hey welcome mercedes church with worship together this evening we serve a god who has done wonderful things in our midst so let's worship him for that [Music] sin come let us worship our king come let's worship our king come let us bow at his feet he has done great things see what our savior has done see how his love overcomes he has done great things he has done great things [Music] you have done great [Music] [Music] a great [Music] storm [Music] and i know you will do it again for your promises yes and amen you will do great things [Music] you break every chain oh god [Music] [Music] three raps are great hallelujah [Music] yes [Music] you've done great things [Music] and break every chain oh god you have done great things we dancing your freedom awaken alive oh jesus [Music] me [Music] god let's praise god together right now [Music] one more time let's sing together hallelujah hallelujah [Music] it all [Music] unshakeable [Music] hallelujah [Music] you have done great things you've done great things [Music] and break every tree [Music] oh jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i remember who i was i was lost i was blind i was running out of time and sin separated the breach was far too wide but from the far side of the chasm you held me in your sight and you you made a way across the great divide left behind heaven's throne to build it here inside [Music] broke my chains freed my soul for the first time i had hope come on thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus it has washed me thank you jesus you have saved my life brought me from the darkness into glorious [Music] you were buried for three days [Music] thank you jesus [Music] oh thank you jesus [Music] thank you jesus you have saved my life [Music] there is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there is nothing strong power up [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] we thank you [Applause] [Music] brought me from the darkness into glorious [Music] glory to his name [Music] there to my heart was [Music] his names in glory glory to his name glory to me [Music] [Music] amen church now something we want to do every single week of this uh sermon series that we're in right now is just read acts chapter 2 verses 42 through 47 y'all when we are looking at what the community of faith looks like what the church looks like there's no better place to look than right here the church in acts chapter 2. so i want to have us all do something maybe a little bit different for us right now i want us to read this passage out loud together it's going to be on the screen but just let these words just wash over you this description of what the church is and just let it let it encourage you let's read it together this is acts 2 42-47 here we go and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received their food with glad and generous hearts praising god and having faith favor with all the people and the lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved amen y'all let's pray together god we thank you lord for this just beautiful example of what your body looks like in action lord i just pray for us lord that as we read those words that we would just long to be a community like that lord that we would be a community like that and lord even thinking back on the song we just sang lord we know that that is all possible because of your blood because of your sacrifice because you have washed us white because you have made us new because you have formed us into a people for you a people of your possession lord god we thank you for that we thank you for your blood thank you for your mercy all for your glory in jesus name we pray amen you guys can have a seat [Music] all right hey guys welcome to mercy hill welcome all of our campuses hey before we do anything today uh i want you guys to locate this card right here it says i want to get baptized you were sitting on it it's in front of you seat back right in front of you wherever you're at one of our campuses uh this is going to be somewhere and what i want is for us to use this card as a reminder either to pray for those who are going to be baptized next weekend so you can take it home or maybe you actually need to fill this out and at the end of our service drop it uh in the lobby with somebody that's going to have a bucket to pick them up because it's your time to get baptized guys next weekend is a huge week in the life of our church all right we're joining with 600 other churches in the state of north carolina praying that god is going to give the single greatest baptism day that we've ever seen in this state and we're just praying that god will do magnificent things okay that as i come i'm just gonna as guys are gonna be doing all over the state as we just preach jesus and call people to salvation that the spirit is going to move and he's going to draw and we're going to see an incredible harvest okay so for all of us i think there's a bit of a kind of a you know something we need to consider and that is man who needs to be here next week that you know okay uh who needs to be here i mean who in your life who is your one the one you pray for the one you think about the one you're driving down the road and the lord puts on your heart who is that person maybe it's a family member a friend you're a student maybe it's friends you're a coach maybe it's your players your business person it's your team it's your office it's some of your family who needs to be here man let's pray them in the doors next week okay uh and like i said man we're just gonna preach a very simple gospel message we're gonna call people to salvation and to be baptized right there okay it's the that next step uh that's that first step after salvation is to put that on display the second group though are those of you that that actually need to fill this card out okay and it might not be the first one you filled out this summer all right so maybe god has moved in your life maybe you're a high school student a college student uh maybe maybe when one of our guest speakers was here when i was on sabbatical uh maybe it is the last couple of weeks god has been cultivating something great in your heart you've become a christian this summer you have gotten saved the holy spirit has snatched you inside out you put your faith in christ then the next step for you is to get baptized this is what baptism is baptism after conversion is a declaration of faith okay that's what it is it is declaring to the world it's putting on the uniform it's like putting on a wedding ring okay you don't uh it doesn't make you marry but when you're married you wear it with joy and you're excited to show the world okay so uh if that's you and you need to get baptized fill that card out our campus pastors all of our locations are going to mention it again right as you're on your way out and i think there needs to be dozens of those okay so i hope that you guys will let us know what the lord's been doing in your life let's just pray over next weekend and then we'll dive into the sermon for today father we come before you lord and uh and we humbly submit god we just pray right now we just ask that you would move god we're begging for your spirit to move um god we say this with humility but from our vantage point we cannot see why it wouldn't be the right thing for your glory your fame and your renown for you to show up in a magnificent way to take the gloves off father to move in the hearts and minds of children and students a lot of people that have been coming around for months maybe people that have been believers for years but know they've never been baptized god we just pray there will be a great great harvest of people who not only accept you god but also go public with their declaration and no longer hide father but get in the water god i just pray you would do it in our midst and i pray you would put somebody on every one of our hearts that we would pray for and invite and god i just pray that all the glory would go to you that you would receive all fame and honor uh for this great weekend next weekend in christ then we pray amen amen well you guys can look forward to that i know i'm looking forward to it uh like crazy uh man we gotta go at this church to send out 500 missionaries this is a little bit crazy but i'm telling you to send out 500 missionaries we probably need to baptize about 5 000 people out of this church that's kind of the trajectory that we have been on all right that's about the right numbers and so what i'm hoping man is that we will see tons of people come and accept christ and out of that harvest we will end up seeing those scents so you guys be praying for that with us if you have a copy of scripture you can take it out it turns me to romans chapter 12. you guys know we started a brand new sermon series last week called made for more here was the big tagline if you weren't here this will get catch you up uh but if you were here it'll be a good a quick reminder the path to christian growth isn't easy but it is simple okay uh it's not i'm not saying that it's easy but it is not complicated you know many times humans have a way of taking what actually is simple and making it very complex and thereby we're able to sort of you know release ourselves from kind of the burden of it you know i'll give you another quick example of this uh sleeping well at night is not easy but it is also not complicated there are a few things that people can do to sleep well at night all right you know you take a cold shower at night make sure you got a pitch black room at night exercise during the day okay and to watch no screens one hour before you go to bed now i'm not saying okay that those things are easy i mean not watching screens before you go to bed during college football season i need help okay i mean to not be able to do that but my point is i'm not saying it's easy but it is simple all right it's not that complex if we will do those things we will go far down the road of health and sleep i'm not saying that's all there is to be done either okay i'm not saying there's not other things that you can do but what i am saying is those four things will take you a long way down the road of being able to sleep well and that's very similar to what we've been looking at last week and this week in the next two when it comes to our christian growth okay i am not saying that these are the only things in the world that will make you grow in your faith are the only things in the world that you ever need to do what i am saying is that when we lean into these four we will go way down the road of christian growth and maturity here's the four this is the acts 2 flywheel that mercy hill has been leaning into for about nine years now gather groups give go when we gather on the weekend we hear the word taught when we get in groups we get the life caught part of discipleship hey it's not just a theory now we're working out on our life and talking to each other about what's going on and how we can you know do better and where we need to be shaped if we want to grow in our spiritual life if we want to get deep not just wide but deep if we want a spiritual base not saying this is all we ever need to do but i am saying that man and this is a bold statement okay if you never did anything else but you leaned all the way into these four you would grow you would move now god's got to bring the growth he's got to bring the desire okay we're not going and checking boxes and all that i'm talking about getting all the way in the pool if you get all the way in the stream you'll move in the current of christian growth and maturity today we're going to talk about the second part of this flywheel and that is groups okay we're going to talk about relationships friendships i want to show you today that christian fellowship big idea is about more than friendship okay there is something about christian fellowship being part of the body spiritually speaking there is something about loving one another and practicing hospitality with you know with with the stranger there is something about outdoing one another in honor that goes way beyond friendship i don't know that i got to convince anybody that we need friends okay i mean we all sort of know that we look for friends at work we look for friends at the gym all right every high school kid in the world before they walk in they want to know who they're going to sit with at the lunchroom table i mean we know that we need friends uh in our life i think a year and a half of kind of social distance and and saying hey you actually have to get away from each other has has has done uh you know gone a long way improving i think emotionally and spiritually and and relationally that no we actually are meant to be together like we it's a loss when we're not together we know that relationship is something that we need i thought about this because i saw an article uh about soul cycle or crossfit okay or one of these kind of kind of things like this where you get a group together and you kind of do the workout and all that and what the article was saying was a lot of people we know this i mean the western church a lot of people have left the church and there's a decline uh sort of in church attendances be nationwide but a lot of people have what they used to rely on for relationship they've kind of gone and now try to find somewhere else so what do you see in crossfit or what do you see in soulcycle it's a group of friends trying to accomplish a mission together with a pastor i mean soul cycle coach that is there right and that person is kind of coaching them along and it's sort of become a substitute my point is you still need the building block we understand we're made to be relational one of these soul cycle coaches by the way said man they didn't prepare me when i was getting my soul cycle certificate that i would get text messages at four in the morning that asked if this person in my class should divorce their husband or wife like they didn't cover that part it's like people are my point is you've left the church but you're still looking for a group that's on a mission with a shepherd you know you can't get away from that we are built to be in a group that's on a mission that is guided okay hey this is where we're trying to go we can't get away from that what i want to talk to you about today is that man the actual thing that we're looking for maybe you're looking for it today is that we need fellowship not just friendship if the goal of your life is comfort and have a little bit of fun while we're going around the sun before it's all over then go get some golfing buddies or a running club but if the goal of your life is to not waste it if the goal of your life is to not live your entire life having never known the very purpose for which god created you and to step into it now that's what you're trying to get and that's what you're accomplishing if that's the goal of your life now you need more than golfing buddies okay you know why because you were made for more than that if you were made for more you need more you need christian fellowship to grow to practice out doing honor to practice the love that we have been seen that we have seen you know and that's what we're going to get into today all right the gospel pushes us to that i'm going to push us to that i'm gonna push you to get in a small group getting a community group at mercy hill this is gonna be our time together let's dive in romans chapter 12 starting in verse one here's what he says i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of god what is good and acceptable and perfect now quick quick note here okay the the community part of this sermon is going to start in verse 9. and so i'm going to do that just a second okay but before i do that we've got to talk about romans 12 1 and 2 and orient ourselves in the bible and this is where we're at in the bible okay in the bible the book of romans greatest theological treaties in the world by the time you get to romans chapter 12 here's what you learn righteous uh living it kind of flows from the gospel the truth in our life of god's grace and mercy breaks through into the practical a very theological way of saying this would say orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy okay if you got the gospel right it will end up getting your life right the mercies of god will break through into your actions if you get your heart right it'll end up messing with what you do with your hands okay that that's the idea here and when you get to the book of romans he preaches the gospel chapter after chapter and lays out this incredible argument for the gospel and for what jesus has done in god's grace by the mercies of god but then he says this because of the mercies of god every day of your life should be a sacrifice to god every day of your life should be handed over to god the summary here i think you could say it like this is that this is the response to god's grace if you understand what jesus did man because of my sin i deserve the wrath of god jesus took the wrath of god on my behalf in his resurrection i get the chance to live the newness of life if i put my faith in him once you understand that it's it's like this because jesus lived and died for me now i want to live and die for him the right response to jesus laying his life down for you is that you would be willing to lay your life down for him that nothing would be held back now this is important okay because when he gets in the sacrifice here i don't want anybody to get the thought that you're sacrificing yourself because of your own sin jesus was sacrificed for our sin okay he went to the cross for our sin the only hope we have to be right before god is that the blood the song we sing the blood is applied to us but the imagery here of sacrifice is not you sacrificing and making atonement for your sin it's just the simple fact that the point of a living sacrifice is that nothing is held back my heart is so alive with love for god man look what god has done for me in the face of his son jesus christ on the cross that now i am bursting with desire i want to hand my life over to him and hold nothing back jesus stood in our place on the cross he sacrificed his life for our sins so we live as a sacrifice to him that's the idea right so everything is handed over the point is this after the gospel we have a new orientation in our life you know comfort and safety can't be the goal anymore if it was golf and buddies and running club there's a new orientation that orientation is i want everything over to be handed over and i want god to use me and i want god to have his way in my life look at verse two do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind we could preach multiple sermons on that okay here's what i'll show you that by testing you may discern what is the will of god what is good and acceptable and perfect don't be conformed be transformed maybe we can talk about that preach the standalone sermon on that but what i want you guys to talk here for just a minute is this idea of okay after the gospel after you're handing yourself over to god what is this perfect will for your life that you are supposed to test and discern okay actually if you get back into the original language this idea of test and discern it it's it's it's more like this i'm testing and discerning to see if it's worth it i want to know the value of my life lived out in the middle of god's will and what he's saying is you test and discern what is god's will for your life and and here's the deal i think many times and i've preached on this before many times christians man we get this weird idea of god's will like it's this kind of you know like you need a spiritual decoder ring to figure out god's will for your life okay and uh people are looking around and they're thinking man where you know god am i supposed to do this job or that job are supposed to go to this college or that college and you're looking for all these answers for god's will in your life and you're looking in a bowl of cheerios and asking god to spell it out and all he ever says is ooh okay and it's it's kind of like man i you know god's will god's will god's will y'all you don't need to find god's will for your life because it was never lost it's not a lost and found okay god what he's saying here is it's not go find god's will it's are you gonna test it and discern if you're willing to give everything over to it if it's worth it to you all right so what it says you know what the bible says in first thessalonians 4 is that for this is the will of god the will of god in your life is your sanctification it is your christian growth it is not about which job it's about the type of character you're going to have in whatever job you are all right it's not about which college to go to it's about how are you going to rock that campus for god's will you know for god's glory whenever it is that you get there that's the idea of god's will it's his growing you are we testing and discerning it's worth it to be grown god's way you could say it like this what is god's will for your life god's will is that you would grow in your faith and make an impact for the kingdom that's what his will is that's first thessalonians 4 3 that is sanctification now why do i bring all that up and why do we lay all that groundwork before i've ever said anything about community here's why because part of testing god's will part of deciding to throw yourself into god's vision for your life is totally bound up in the relationships that are around you if you're gonna live a life that is totally given over if you're gonna live a life that is sacrificial to god if you're gonna live a life that is in the very center of his will it is going to be done with a lot of other people around you where they are pouring into you and you are pouring into them and they are seeing blind spots in you and pointing them out and you are are seeing blind spots in them and pointing them out and spurring them on and stirring them and rubbing them and irritating them a little bit and we're all going to end up going in the right direction if we will get together and that's what we're going to see now right part of god's will for your life is to practice christian love to practice hospitality okay to practice outdoing each other and showing honor and it's gonna happen in a group it's gonna happen in a smaller group of people all right who are loving one another in this way okay it's like the old hymn that many of us may have sung growing up have thine own way lord have thine own way though i am thou art the potter and i am the clay mold me and make me after thy will that's not about which college or or or you know what job you're supposed to take this is about who god is making you to be that's his will for your life and if you want god to mold you according to his will what i'm going to argue now for the rest of this sermon is you can't do that alone all right and and none of us have to there's a church right now with a website called regroup okay that is saying hey we have organized environments to get to organic relationships that you can jump into and not have to do this christian life alone skip down to verse 9 with me all right i don't have time guys to comment on every single thing in this in this rich passage in romans but i want to point some things out about the christian community about love about honor all right about hospitality let's point some of those things out i think we're going to be able to see pretty easily man we can't do this stuff alone let love be genuine abort what is evil hold fast to what is good love one another with brotherly affection out do one another in showing honor let your love be genuine all right now when he says let your love be genuine i think that goes to show us pretty quick that if he's calling our love to be genuine love can be fake okay it can be fake it can be self it can be selfish instead of selfless it can be sentimental it can be pretentious it can be showy and what paul is calling us here in romans he's saying hey let your love be the real thing void of deception void of hypocrisy let it be the real thing let it be a selfless act you say what is love well jesus got at it pretty good when he said greater love had no man than this then somebody would lay their life down for their friend in john 15. it's a serving love it is a selfless love our student pastor tanner hogue last week when he was preaching to the student said it like this love is a passionate pursuit of someone else's good with no strings attached church you better get your students in a small group you better get them over there to hear him preach okay with the student ministry because it's on fire and with preaching like that the idea is a selfless love okay now love that is genuine is easily detected harvard did a study consequently right after kovid and surprise surprise what they're saying is that loneliness in our nation is up 40-something percent okay deep loneliness and what they said was that uh these these groups that are really affected by loneliness they went and they kind of interviewed them and one of the people said this they said about half of the lonely people in a survey reported that not a single person in the last few weeks had taken more than just a few minutes to ask them how they were doing listen in a genuine way that really caught me because we all say to each other how you doing but what these lonely people were able to articulate is there was something that had nothing to do with the selfless love that should be found in the fellowship of faith all right it wasn't genuine man now we and we can man we can see it even unbelievers can see it i mean i know there's a i know there are sociopaths out there that can fake this stuff pretty good okay but generally speaking you know when somebody is self-serving or when the love is genuine what the bible is calling us to is love in a genuine way man how can you love how can you command somebody to love how can the bible just say love in a genuine way because we have been loved in a genuine way we have been loved in a selfless way i mean jesus selflessly went all the way to the cross because of our sin in order to bring us into a relationship with him and if we stare before that it helps us to be able to love in this way look at verse 10. i can't comment on every single thing here okay love one another with brotherly affection out do one another in showing honor a genuine love is an affectionate love there is words there are thoughts there is even physical touch okay that goes into being affectionate with one another within the body of christ you could say it like this christian love isn't stoic we should treat each other in the way that a good family an affectionate family treats each other you know we have hey i want us to celebrate this across all of our campuses 30 new people came through the weekender and are plugging into groups and serving can we praise god for that just last weekend all right so we praise god for that excited to have you guys jumping in and figuring out how to use your gifts and all of that every time we're at the weekend or pastor bobby use the same metaphor or use the use the same kind of uh kind of teaching point where he says hey the greatest metaphor by in terms of numerically in the new testament for the church is the metaphor of family it's this idea of us being a family that the world would look in and they would see stuff in our relationships and they would say man that's weird because you would think that would only happen with family so i'll give you an example i heard a story of one of our community groups just last week where there was a family that got connected to a community group in wahlberg even though they lived in mcleansville okay and they got so deeply involved in this group that just a few months ago they've moved from mcleansville to wahlberg to be in the immediate vicinity of their community group now a lot of people would look in at that and they would say that's weird you would think only family would do that the church is a family it's supposed to be a family all right it's supposed to have a brotherly affection that is to it now i know listen when i say brotherly affection there are some dudes in here that are immediately like man affection's a cuss word okay like i'm not affectionate i don't know how to you know words and i'm already feeling weird you're just talking about this well let me give a quick aside here i don't have time for this the church isn't immune to manhood misinformation okay you guys know this a lot of times in churches when we talk about manhood you get one of t depending on what church you go to you get one of two ideas that are probably equally wrong one of them is sort of this underplay the other is the overplay in the underplay scenario you've got manhood as being no passion anything that smacks of traditional manhood is misogyny all right it's getting after this get in touch with your feelings and get in touch with your feminine side and this this type of guy's favorite television and movie you know series is romantic comedies and and they're you know taking enneagram all the time and crying a lot okay and it's like that's sort of the picture over here and it's like man that's totally wrong like we get that from the world you don't get that from the bible of course the other side depending on what church you're in is just as bad where it's like well manhood means stoicism and no emotion and they're not going to sing and they can't talk about anything except football and nascar and they grunt a lot and affection is a cuss word and all this they can't they can the idea of words and thoughts and all that kind of stuff equally wrong it's overplayed it's like man this is not what we see in the scripture what we see in the scripture is an example of a man adam being formed and put in the garden and he's strong and he's a defender and he's a worker and he's affectionate and he's a lover and what you see in david okay you see david david kills a giant as a teenager and yet he's a poet and yeti and he writes and he worships and he dances i mean this is kind of uh don't ask me to dance okay so um but you know you understand what i'm saying all right bro brother so we got to get we got to get that out of our mind we've got to look at the word and we've got to realize what the word is saying is there is something in the church brotherly sisterly but it says brotherly brotherly affection that we would have for each other y'all that's in words that's in thoughts man don't don't get weird that's in physical touch okay it's being able to hug somebody all right i think about um i think about one of the guys one of our old elders keith okay uh keith has now moved on and he's he's uh he's at a he's at mercy church actually church that we planted years ago helped plant and uh he's there with them and knocking it out okay but he was an elder here for a long time before they moved and he got connected to mercy hill because they came to a christmas service at huggins auditorium okay uh down in greensboro and that was probably 2013 and he gets out of his car and the first thing he sees is two 20-something year old dudes run across the parking lot and massive embrace interlocking beards right in their face okay and uh and he just said like man he told that story he said man it it radically affected him you know he's in his late you know probably mid mid late mid 40s man from oxford north carolina and he's just like why are they acting like that like what like why do they love each other like that well he got involved in the church got into community group and probably formed some friendships that are lifelong right now still keep in touch with them it's like there's a brotherly love and affection that is supposed to be played out in the church all right so it's a genuine love it's a brotherly affectionate love you know it's a familial love look what it says in verse 10 outdoing one another and showing honor do not be slaughterful and zeal fervent in spirit serve the lord rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer guys don't have time to hit everything in here but i want you to hear this please hear this all of this stuff is in a context so community all of this stuff is in the context of relationships being pushed this way because of the community that is around you but look what it said very specifically in verse 10 outdo one another in showing honor what he's saying is give people more than they even deserve outdo them honoring is treating someone even better than they deserve maybe i should say outdoing and honor is treating even better than they deserve treating people with respect man deferring to each other praising the accomplishments of another philippians 2 3 consider one another consider somebody else better than you consider yourself right and you know it doesn't and that's what i love about the church a church should be this way it is becoming increasingly hard in our cultural climate to be this way but you know what in group churches should be able to practice saying i am going to outdo an honor even if we disagree on covet policies we should be able to outdo and honor even if we disagree with some of the cultural things that are going on and maybe we have different views on this stuff we should be able to outdo in showing honor even if maybe we have secondary not first tier but secondary and tertiary kind of uh kind of theological positions on end time stuff or maybe the exact nature of election or whatever it is like man i can still love you through that and show honor and outdo one another in showing honor this is indicative of the christian community look what it says in verse 13 contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality the word is actually fellowshipping with the saints in their needs okay it's the idea of entering in christian let me ask you something man i don't know if you have this view in your mind that christianity is like you and a bible and the latest christian bestseller okay and jesus and a starbucks and i've said that a bunch but if that's your idea of christianity you are doing american christianity not bible christianity okay bible christianity is participating in the needs of the saints and i don't know about you but i've thought about this i'm not sure the answer how can you know the needs of the saints if you don't even know the saints if it's you and jesus and a bible and panera and a christian bestseller how in the world can you participate and fellowship and the needs you know me and anna every month and it's not a ton okay it's not a ton of money but every single month we have a line item on our budget that is above the tithe okay and what is it for directly it is directly for the needs of the saints it is when we get a chance to hear that somebody's having a hard time maybe they have a miscarriage going on maybe a parent is in the hospital whatever that we can send them a grub hub we want to plan for that like we want to have a little bit set aside to be able to do that or we or we see somebody that's like man they're they're raising money for an adoption like it may not be much but we're like man we want to be able to sow into that why because it's fellowshipping in the needs of the saints but you got to know the saints the fellowship and the needs of the saints then it talks about hospitality here and i don't have time to go into that y'all hospitality is so much bigger than the way we think about it hospitality is to strangers hospitality is the one thing you can do that cannot be reciprocated because it's about how you treat somebody you don't know they can't pay you back because then you know each other and it's not hospitality anymore okay it's the way that you treat the stranger man in the early christian church this was a big deal because there wasn't a lot of money and there was a lot of christians doing a lot of missions and people need to be able to stay in each other's homes and all that and we see a ton of that at mercy hill okay when people are doing that man we've got we've got training set up right now y'all there's 10 afghan families that are going to land in high point from all the mess that's going on and we've already been contacted and man we're starting to get training stuff together for that man how hospitable can we be okay all right here here's here's the deal let me give you let me give you the application point grow in your faith man i've just tried to preach this is what it looks like all right just describing it love and hospitality and showing honor to each other all right and affection grow in your faith through participation in the christian fellowship some of us are making christian growth too complicated okay let me go back to the illustration i gave there is somebody and it would be like this okay it would be like somebody saying man i can't sleep i've hired a sleep coach okay i'm taking medicine at night i've got a book on zen 2 000 year old tradition on sleeping and you got all this stuff and maybe that's maybe that's somebody's you know man i'm doing this i'm doing that and doing that and somebody just stops you and they say hey have you ever thought about exercising during the day so you'll be tired at night have you ever have you ever thought about you know getting off the screen and the person says oh no no like i'm reading the zen coach here and i've hired a sleep coach but oh no we lay in the bed and like we watch the tonight show every night together and then click try to go to sleep and it's like man this thing is getting way too complicated i'm not saying that this is all there ever is to sleep i am saying if you'll do these things you'll go way down the road i'm not saying that gather groups give go is the only thing in your christian life that you ever need what i am saying is that even if that's all you ever did and man and you went all the way in you would move in the current of christian growth and maturity i want to call you guys to be in a group you cannot do christianity alone all right you cannot be a lone ranger christian there's not 40 steps there's four steps so my questions are this y'all what's your group life like man are you convinced you can do christianity alone do you have your toes in the water and you've been kind of splashing around the edges at mercy hill for a long time i've never dove all the way in to a group well here's what you got to hear y'all discipleship is word taught but it's life caught all right you need the apprentice part of being a believer and that means yes man i'm going to preach as hard as i can every weekend you guys know it i'm going to fit two sermons into one okay every time i'm gonna do everything i can do but at the end of the day if all you get is the word but you never have anybody to help you work it out or watch what it's like in life you know that's what apprenticeship is like it's like man i learn it but then i've got to understand how to actually do it we get that part in group genuine love brotherly affection outdoing each other in honor contributing to the needs of the saints and showing hospitality all these things happen in relationship you cannot do them alone and they are how you grow hey i don't want to just tell you i want to show you hey you guys come up hey we all on all of our campuses welcome kyle and blair all right you guys come on [Applause] man thank you thank you all right all right hey guys man uh hey so i want to introduce you guys to kyle and blair um they are um nate and carson got two sons nate and carson um young son so hey i've asked these guys to come up here uh today because they have a pretty cool story about going from not in a group to being in a group to now you guys are about to lead a group right but there's a pretty cool story in how some of that went down and uh so man i just for the church i mean where what where were you guys at what was going on in your life before landing in a group yeah so blair and i both um started attending mercy hill a good while before we joined group so we wouldn't necessarily recommend that but we were probably coming around for legitimately like two years consistently before we jumped in we came from a tough background we both maybe had some scars from church growing up but we had both come to terms with the gospel is true and we need to start coming to church and so we showed up and we were trying to plug in and we kept learning we needed to be a part of this and to be obedient and so what actually happened was we we went to the weekender and on sunday night before my first monday night before my first home group on tuesday we actually found out we were pregnant with our first and so we came from crazy background we weren't yet married i showed up to small group on a tuesday and my whole life in church i probably put on a mask and i told myself i'm gonna be honest with these guys and i wept with total strangers and they loved me and loved me through it man they practiced hospitality they didn't even know you man praise god low affection too a little tough that's right little affection good i like that brotherly touch um man and and kyle we didn't know each other we still don't know each other that well but we've had a chance to interact some and it was crazy because with your brother and i was actually i got a chance to pray with your dad through that when it was um uh some things went down with you guys years ago yeah um and so to see how god weaves all this kind of stuff together you know it's just incredible so um hey another another question that we have for you guys is um especially in this sermon we're talking about some of the differences between just friendship golfing buddies or whatever and fellowship you know so like how have you all grown in and being a part of the fellowship like what is that done maybe more than just a running club or golfing buddies or whatever yeah it's a really good question and so i actually before the way i landed in greensboro is i actually came to a substance abuse treatment center in greensboro didn't plan on it put roots down here like android said back in raleigh my folks went to summit church my brother had passed away in a terrorist attack i was in a plane wreck and life went off the deep end and so i actually had um in substance abuse recovery a group of guys that loved on me and encouraged me and i had really quality friends from the way that the world would look at it and honestly they're great friends of mine they're best friends of mine but they couldn't point me back to the promises of god they couldn't grow me in my christian walk i had to plug in you know and i had to figure out how to be obedient to what god calls me to do to be a part of the church and they have carried me and allowed me um like let's talk about uh where i taught life caught and i learned this walk from the guys that are around me man praise god well hey one more question for you guys um and man we're so pumped for y'all y'all are gonna be so you come all the way full full circle now and now you're gonna lead a group blair um you want to talk about y'all's group that you're gonna lead are you excited about that or what yeah i'm really excited to be a part um to be a community group leader over the past few years you know the i've seen god show up in our lives through our community group leaders and the people in our community group and i'm really excited to be able to open our home up to people um you know i had been around the church growing up but who never never really was a part of the church and this time you know i stayed long enough for the miracle to happen you know to go from death to life and it seems selfish to not open my home up so that maybe god can use me to be a part of someone else's story and so um yeah we're really excited about it man praise god i know i know uh i know the whole bins and other leaders that have been around have got to just be overjoyed to see you guys come in plug in and now being sent out hey will you guys thank them for uh for for coming up thank you guys so much man thank y'all so much glare thank you [Applause] well hey guys let me uh man let me just kind of let me just kind of land the plane i mean this is what it's about all right man we praise god for their story and the hundreds others that are that way i mean i couldn't even get into all the stories you know i got stories of a community group um that at the host home not at the people's home but at the host home um built a ramp onto their house in order that one couple from the group would be able to actually get inside to be able uh to go you know to group on a weekly basis i mean this stuff happens just all over the place we have a group uh here at mercy hill that has raised money to be able to kind of do some of the caretaking for a shut-in member of their community group i mean these story we got stories like this from all over the church all right from all over uh you know the different areas of the triad man this is christian fellowship it's more than friendship man if you if you if your life is about fun and about man i'm just trying to have a good time and i'm just trying to have be be comfortable then get golfing buddies and get a running club but if you want your life to be about more you need more than friendship then you need christian fellowship and you can do that guys you can sign up uh for regroup all right so there's groups that are open right now regroup is going to launch just here in a couple of weeks and it's a 10 week session groups at mercy hill are sprint they're not a marathon clear on ramps clear off ramps man jump in okay man jump in go hard and then we'll all take a break around christmas and we'll jump back in towards the you know towards after the new year all right so you can sign up there hey and for others of us man that maybe you've been in a group for a while hey what about what about committing in a new and kind of radical and fresh way where you say man i'm going all the way in maybe you've been sort of toes around the edge of the pool but it's time to go all the way to the bottom and i pray that you guys will commit to a group and see that life change listen life change happens in relationships all right let's pray father we come before you and we ask right now lord that all across our church father of high point clifton god the northeast team that's getting ready to launch mercy hill and espanol regional father i pray that we would just have hearts that are convicted all through the church to jump into a group and give it a shot god to grow your way father we're asking you to grow us but we've got to do it your way and you've called us to not live the christian life alone so lord i pray that we would take your example of loving genuinely for us god and we would want to bring that to our group in christ and we pray amen amen amen amen this time church we're going to continue our time of worship with the time of communion and uh if you all didn't get a chance to get the the cup and that carries the elements uh we're gonna have volunteers coming down the aisles right now if you just raise your hand uh you're a believer here you want it you want to partake in communion those volunteers will be glad to bring you uh what is referred to as the bread and the cup and i just want to talk a little bit about communion before we before we partake as a family uh y'all communion is really a way for us as believers to to to really remember and be reminded of what jesus christ has done for us but also to proclaim that jesus is enough that everything that jesus christ has done is enough y'all we can trust and know that christ has finished the work and that because of the fact that he has been raised we have new life in him and it is this that we remember when we take communion together as a family i know that every single time we know that every single time that we gather together uh we're oftentimes in front of a group of people but but but it's also different different types of people in the room we've got believers that are in the room which communion is for but you also got some who are here who who haven't yet come to the reality of who jesus christ is and what what it is that he's done and you're just kind of checking things out and we're glad you're here we want to we want to welcome you want you to be here but but but communion isn't something for you to partake in at this time and we we would just encourage you to observe but know this christ jesus has done everything necessary and he's calling you to believe in him we just ask you to observe at this time or maybe you're here and you've been kind of coming around for some time and you've been hearing this word preaching you've been starting to recognize that there is something there's something going on in your heart and you're being moved and when when pastor andrew when when we have teachers get up and we preach when we preach your heart's burning because you know that that someone is calling you to respond to him that's the lord okay let me tell you you can you can actually you can take communion for the very first time it would be my honor and my privilege to be able to lead the very first time that you take communion together with us as a family because you know this jesus christ has done everything necessary to save you that's you here today we would encourage you take communion for the first time here with us y'all the elements aren't aren't anything this is too special but what they represent is powerful see this little this little piece of piece of film it looks like a piece of crack or whatever it's actually meant to refer to to to the bread which we actually we actually refer to as the body of jesus christ meant to point us through the body of jesus which is broken for us then you also got this this cup of juice and cup of juice is actually meant to refer to the blood which is the blood that we sang about earlier that was applied to us that was poured out that we would know and remember him and right here at this time we want to take communion together so what i'm going to do is i'm going to lead us in this time we encourage you all to go ahead and peel that peel that back grab that grab that uh that little wafer or whatever we're going to we're going to get into i'm getting to to to a time of just just just trusting the lord right now first corinthians chapter 11 verse 23 it says this on the night when he was betrayed jesus he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me church let's take the bread together continuing on and says in the same way he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me church let's take the cup together amen and amen i encourage each and every one of you all to stand at this time we are about to sing a song that is referring to the reality that we get a chance to live out it's talking about surrendering surrendering to the holy spirit to know that jesus christ has done everything necessary and because of that he's given us the holy spirit that we can surrender to and that we can say have your way lord lord we can trust and know that it is your good and perfect will that you are equipping us by the power of your spirit to discern so therefore have your way with our lives we offer our sacrifice y'all let's sing this song with worship and praise y'all our very own mercy hill worship team actually wrote this song let's sing this song with worship and praise that is worthy of the honor of our great king let's sing it this time [Music] [Music] you stepped into my grave [Music] you breathed your life inside my spirit came to life hallelujah [Music] i'm no longer bound by my failure no longer to fight by my past i am the clay you are the potter take me i'm yours just as i am come on sing this out together [Music] today [Music] i surrender i surrender [Music] you've seen what i've done but you know what i'll become hallelujah [Music] for my sin was crucified hallelujah [Music] i will go [Music] is spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] i surrender [Music] my [Music] then i can trust you with my whole [Music] that i'm oh back [Music] [Music] with all my strengths [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] my [Music] [Music] holy spirit [Music] holy spirit [Music] holy [Music] i sing with all my heart with all [Music] my [Music] holy spirit holy spirit [Music] yes yes yes say holy spirit to sing holy spirit have your way in me all is to pray to the lord to give yourself over to him and y'all that's a bold prayer to make it's a bold prayer to make because because he in our culture in our day and our minds at times and even in our hearts surrendering is about loss and loss to us is scary we don't want to lose we don't want to lose but think about it in god's kingdom loss is gain and this is the god that we sing to this is the god that we ask to have his way he's the one that's the giver of all good things so we can worship him we can praise him at this time y'all can be seated and we're going to continue our time of worship right now with the time of giving and y'all we oftentimes say that generosity fuels the mission here at mercy hill church and we talk about ways in which the mission is fueled and one of the big ways we saw that here recently was through our college fall launch y'all we really really could say a ton of things i could say a ton of things but man check out this video from our college director brandon new check this out mercy hill hey my name is brandon newton i'm the college pastor here and i just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your generosity uh because it's because of your generosity that we were able to have just an incredible night this past sunday uh here at our regional campus for our college fall launch it was just a blast we had so many college students here just having fun eating food connecting with one another building community and it's your generosity that fuels that in our college ministry so we just again just thank you so much for your generosity church it was a blast last sunday i'm telling man it was going down out there in the fields they was doing some things that i myself can no longer do they was doing a whole bunch of stuff and it was just so great but look here none of that happens all that grilling all that fun all that stuff none of that happens apart from the generosity of god's people if you are giving here at mercy hill church you got to recognize your giving to the mission of god to be advanced in the hearts of people that will eventually be sent out to go and to take the gospel to the nations to the workplaces to the places where it needs to be seen and look at we we thank you for your partnership we're grateful for your generosity but maybe you're here and you haven't yet jumped on board with what god is doing here man and generosity we would encourage you and give for the first time here today man it's real easy for you to give up gonna put the instructions up on the screen you can follow those instructions and given give in person here today at one of our gift stations you can text online you can uh you can uh text or give online we encourage you jump on board with what god is doing here and we can certainly see that man god's generosity will be fueling the mission here i also want to point you all back to the the cards that were that were mentioned earlier uh uh uh today man just know this like like we are looking forward to god doing something amazing across all of our gatherings on the weekend of september 9th and 12th and look you can know this man we want to see god do some amazing things but look if you're here sitting on that card it's real simple for you to just fill it out to leave it with one of the volunteers in the buckets as you leave today and we would love to be able to follow up with you to talk about what it means to take the next step into baptism look here we certainly do hope that this gathering has encouraged you has challenged you has led you to to see how god has equipped you to to to be on mission of making disciples and multiplying churches we encourage you to go in the power of the spirit because we truly do believe that our going people are growing people mercy hill church you are sent out [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Mercy Hill Church

Views: 380

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, Scriptures, Mercy Hill, Mercy Hill Church, Andrew Hopper, online church, prayer, individualism, christian growth, spiritual growth, community groups, discipleship, group

Id: PA3ODNuo5QU

Length: 73min 33sec (4413 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021