Mountain Christian Church | Sermons

Christmas Playlist | The First Noel

"The First Noel". What is this song doing? What is it communicating? If you were going to drop the stylus into the groove of this record, where is it going to take you? How is it going to move you? Why does it belong on your Christmas Playlist?

Christmas Playlist | O Little Town of Bethlehem

Bethlehem was little. It was an insignificant little town. It was small. 5 miles north of Bethlehem is Jerusalem. God could have used the popular and well-known city of Jerusalem to bring Jesus to earth for the first time, but instead God chose the small, insignificant town of Bethlehem...

What Are You Gonna Do Now? | The Elephant in the Room

We all want to be less stressed and more blessed. In this final message in The Elephant in the Room Series, let's make a declaration together: To take God at His word and commit to understand, then attain and put into practice the Biblical principles when it comes to our finances. We all have a decision to make when it comes to our finances. Are you going to trust God with your money?

How Do You Pay it Forward? | The Elephant in the Room

Maybe we should be rethinking about the principles that we live by. What we all need to decide is if we’re going to latch onto the principles that are in God’s word about money or not. We’ve already decided that by how we live. These Biblical principles about money are true, they work and they are wise. When you have principles that you trust, that you actually believe, then you live by them when things are easy and you live by them when things are hard. So, are we going to trust God to put these principles in your life?

Why is Everything Like Nachos? | The Elephant in the Room

We can’t ignore the elephant in the room when our finances get out of control. The resulting stress impacts every other area of life, stealing our joy, snatching our peace, and locking us into a prison that makes us believe there’s no way out. It’s hard enough to talk about money when things are going well, but regret and anxiety over financial mistakes makes it even harder. No matter how well or poorly we’ve handled money, the good news is we CAN take control and manage our resources in a purposeful, God-honoring way. It is possible to live free from financial stress, burdens, and debt so that we can say YES to God and live life to the fullest. But it means we’ve got to talk about The Elephant in the Room.

Can We Find Contentment? | The Elephant in the Room

It can be uncomfortable to talk about finances in church. Is there anything more cliche than that? But when there are dynamics at play that are sucking the joy out of life and imprisoning us in debt and worry and creating stress in relationships—all because of something that can be a great gift and literal enrichment to life. Money! It can be such a force for good and a means by which we can flourish and bless others and help them flourish. Money is NOT the root of all evil—that’s not what the Bible says. Often, if you have money problems, it’s not really money that’s the problem. It doesn’t have as much to do with what’s in your wallet, but rather in our heart and head. Money goes and stays where you tell it to go and stay. Like when you train a dog to obey your commands. So, can you obey? Can you stay, can you heel, rather than chase everything you see? Can you have a relationship with money that is marked by contentment?

How Do You Eat an Elephant? | The Elephant in the Room

We can’t ignore the elephant in the room when our finances get out of control. The resulting stress impacts every other area of life, stealing our joy, snatching our peace, and locking us into a prison that makes us believe there’s no way out. It’s hard enough to talk about money when things are going well, but regret and anxiety over financial mistakes makes it even harder. No matter how well or poorly we’ve handled money, the good news is we CAN take control and manage our resources in a purposeful, God-honoring way. It is possible to live free from financial stress, burdens, and debt so that we can say YES to God and live life to the fullest. But it means we’ve got to talk about The Elephant in the Room.

Force of Habit | Worrying + Complaining

We are living in a time when there is an epidemic of worrying and complaining that is crippling all of us. When you look at the life of Jesus it looks like He knew something about this--the worry and complaining. Jesus was fully human. He encountered all the things that we encounter. Scripture shows Him in very tough situations where He has these same impulses and He has to make choices. We see Jesus interacting in His thought life with the potential of ideas that would be harmful to Him and instead we see Him choose not to go in the direction of that idea. Jesus had an idea that was planted there by the enemy of our soul. He entertained an idea and did a different thing and that’s what is available to you too. Jesus invited scripture into those moments and so can you. Guest speaker Mindy Caliguire, co-founder+president of Soul Care Ministries and executive leader at the tech startup Gloo, shares her expertise in how modern brain science confirms the principles that Jesus modeled. Through inviting God's guidance in caring for our minds, we can care for our souls. Through caring for our souls, we experience the supernatural power needed to kick the habits of worrying and complaining once and for all.

Brian ‘Head‘ Welch | Force of Habit

We are what we repeatedly do. Habits shape us. They form our future. It may not seem like a big deal if we have a habit of biting our nails or licking our lips, as annoying as that can be. But outbursts of anger, incessant worrying, lusting at pornography, patterns of lying, running to unhealthy escapes or working so much it messes with your health and relationships -- that’s something else. These and other bad habits can unravel our joy, damage relationships, and block us from God. Jesus invites us to a beautiful life free of destructive habits. But first we have to be willing to go deep. Learning to look beneath the surface of the symptoms to the root cause of our bad habits unlocks the key to change. Jesus can heal and change us from the inside out as we surrender our spirit of “flesh” to the Spirit of God. Are you ready to break and replace the bad habits that are holding you back from God’s best?

Force of Habit | Lust

We were all created for love. But what happens when that human desire for connection and acceptance goes unmet? How does it so easily distort our sexuality and drive us to dark places? What should we do with these fantasies and temptations- Even if it's just in our minds?
 
Lust. Porn, one night stands, wandering eyes... Our culture says that this is normal.
"Get what's yours- It's not hurting anyone!"
But we are called to another standard that holds love as the highest truth. Lust changes the way that we view people and causes us to be “ruler” over others... that's not love. Love is giving, lust is taking. Love honors the other person, lust diminishes the person and turns them into an “object."
We are called to be people that LIVE DIFFERENTLY, to love and to serve others. Together, there is hope to escape lust's grip as a force of habit.