Mercy Commons Podcast

God in His wisdom invites His creation into meaningful participation that has an impact! God is deeply concerned with the treatment of those who are lowly, orphans, poor, destitute, or needy. Through the incarnation, we see the ultimate act of participation in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

How does one encounter God in a way that causes them to proclaim His love and faithfulness to people within and outside the body of Christ? Individuals who have been transformed long to speak of their transformation. Altered people love to build altars that speak of what has led to their alteration. Psalm 40:5 – "Lord my God, no one can compare with You. You have done many wonderful things. You ha...

The way we pursue and offer forgiveness is a powerful demonstration of the mercy of God. This week we are looking at Psalm 51:1-19. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions."

Psalm 23 invites us to revel in God by reveling in His name, in His care for us, and in His house. In the Lord, we have all that we need, He restores our souls, and guides us on the right path. As sheep, our only job is to stay close to the Good Shepherd.

What is important about the book of Psalms? The psalms point to Jesus, were sung by Jesus, and help us connect to Jesus. Why should we pay attention to the psalms? They are a powerful devotional and prayer tool, they validate our human experience, and they connect our present to our past.

"Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." The problem is we don’t love, nourish, attend to, and protect our body. When we don’t, it’s not neutral - it is opposite.

The Blessed: Abraham and Sarah show us that we inherit a relationship with a faithful God and access to the power of life. The Bondservant: Through Hagar the bondservant, we see that we inherit a relationship with a present King and access to the well of life. The Bridegroom: Ultimately, it is through relationship with the bridegroom that we inherit our true identity as blessed bondservants.

“For the natural man is wholly occupied about the things of this world, and he seeks felicity here … but Christ, by the preaching of the gospel … reforms all our earthly affections, and so having striped us out of the vices of our flesh, he separates us from the world.” - John Calvin

“In the biblical view, a miracle is a signal that God is, for a moment and for a special purpose, walking down paths he does not usually walk. A miracle is not a sign that a God who is usually absent is, for the moment, present. It is only a sign that God who is always present in creative power is working here and now in an unfamiliar style.” – Lewis Smedes

The ability to be truly patient is connected with who you believe has the power in the situation. If you believe you do – you can’t exercise true patience. James calls that arrogant. If you believe that a person, government, or boss does then you aren’t really exercising patience you are just submitting to a power relationship. But if you believe that God is in control you are able to exercise a S...

Hoarding vs. Saving – Jesus helps us to see where our hearts are drawn away from God. What am I doing with the resources God has placed in my hands? God rescues, redeems, and invites His people to do the same.

Everyone has a war internally. It is our fanatical pursuit of “what I want and believe I deserve” that amplifies the war in our souls. Only God gives the grace and the ability to fight the battle. When we surrender to Him we resist the devil and the devil will flee. Imagine the freedom of no anxiety, competition, fights and quarrels. Imagine a stable and joyful soul, a deep satisfaction and certai...

James says that we all stumble in what we say, and that no human being can tame the tongue. Why is that? Because a tongue issue is really a heart issue. It is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. We cannot fix our hearts, but God can create in us a new heart. From the overflow of this new heart, the mouth will speak new things. The exceedingly great resurrection power of God is in...

"My BROTHERS and SISTERS, show NO PARTIALITY as YOU HOLD the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of GLORY. " Where do we go wrong? We allow cultural pressure to dictate our actions. We all have blind spots. We treat people as an IT rather than a THOU. Remember John 15:7-12, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is...

James warns against DEAD faith, DEMONIC faith and calls us to a DEMONSTRATIVE faith. Claiming belief in Jesus Christ without affection and submission is demonic. Your faith is alive, spiritual, and active when it is exercised on behalf of others.

Don’t place too much of your identity on the things of this world. Ephesians 2:6-7 (ESV) “made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

How do we have a life of impact during our time on earth? It starts with the Father – as we sit in His presence and spend time with Him we will understand more and more who He is and who we are in Him. A life of impact is also shaped by the character of God, it is fixated on the Perfect Law [Jesus Christ] and is not satisfied with empty religion!

Our joy rests on the willing sufferings of Christ. Jesus has rescued us from the foulest form of suffering, that we could be cast away from and separated from God, that we would have no way to atone for our sin, that we have no way of being healed of the abuse and shame we suffered. It was His joy to endure the cross, pain, suffering trial and shame so that He can bring us everlasting joy in the m...

Brad Sarian leads Restored LA in Northridge and inspired us and equipped us to fulfill our evangelical mandate: to love Jesus and make Him known.

The word “empty” is a complicated word. It is not associated with positive things. In that moment, when Jesus’ followers found the empty tomb – it was not good news, it was confusing, mystifying even frightening. Jesus appeared in His resurrected body to His followers and taught by word and tactile touch, that He was King over the natural and spiritual world they did not understand immediately but...

Mercy Commons is part of a global network of churches called Advance, a movement of churches partnering together to advance the gospel by planting and strengthening churches. PJ Smyth (together in team) leads Advance and we had the privilege of having him come and teach at Mercy Commons and strengthen us as we desire to make much of Jesus.

The Church that Jesus is building is a beacon of the Good News. That there is Someone who can free you completely from the bondage self and sin, from the idols of autonomy, from the oppression of self centred and selfish living and invite you into a story full of risk, adventure joy and meaning.

What does it mean to take up your cross like Jesus asked us to do? We are not aimlessly carrying a heavy weight – we are following Jesus. We are modeling His way of life. Taking up yourself Jesus’ character and mission.

God has called His Church to play offense not defense. As we spread the hope and message of the Gospel, the Church will spread to the ends of the earth. Remember: The gates of death won't hold us back or hold us in, Our offense will look different than the world's, and The Church is not dependent on human religious performance. The Church is not dependent on human religious performance because Jes...

In Jonah, God challenged the idea that you can’t be MERCIFUL if you are JUST. What love looks like to our enemy. Loving our neighbor is a way that we DEMONSTRATE and PARTICIPATE IN the mercies of God.