Mercy Hill

What comes to mind when you hear the word “blessing?” For some, perhaps you immediately think of praying before meal time. For others, maybe you think of ways God has provided for you in a time of need. And still others, may think of a lists of possessions or accomplishments that lead to prosperity. In Genesis 12, we meet a new character, Abram. God initiates a relationship with Abram and promises...

Genesis 2 leaves us with a compelling picture of a good world created by a good God who is in a relationship with his good people. But, that is not our current experience with our world. We experience hardship, pain, suffering, and sorrow. We interact with people who are not all that good, and, if we’re honest, we have to admit that we’re not that great either. We struggle with anger, jealously, p...

The story of the Bible begins with the origin story of our world. The author is answering the question that has intrigued people for generations: How did it all begin? The answer is that our world began with God,  who is the main character of the story of Scripture.  Genesis 1 also contains our origin story. People were created by God in his image and likeness.  John Calvin explains...

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Why is Christmas a wonderful time of year? Well, as Andy Williams croons, there are “kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer.” Plus, we’ll be going to parties, roasting marshmallows, caroling Christmas tunes, and, of course, “much mistltoeing.” It truly is wonderful. But doesn’t it seem like the...

A good neighbor is irreplaceable. Knowing that there is someone nearby who can be trusted to take care of our homes and pets when we travel, or who can help us put up a fence in the yard, or who will loan us a cup of flour when we're baking brings security to our lives. Conversely, many of us know what it can be like to have a difficult neighbor. Who we live with can deeply impacts our everyday li...

This Sunday we’re celebrating the third week of Advent, by examining John 1:9-14. In verse fourteen, John tells us that Jesus is the “only Son from the Father.” We often called Jesus the Son of God, but we can easily miss that the phrase is packed with meaning. Join us Sunday as we discover what it means when we say that Jesus is the only Son of God.

This Sunday we’re celebrating the second week of Advent, by examining John 1:4-13. Last Sunday, Jason did a masterful job explaining that John is stretching the human language as far as it can go to teach us that “the Word” is a person, Jesus, who was born to a Galilean virgin in Bethlehem.   This week we’ll see that Jesus came as the light of men, or he came to illuminate for us who God is a...

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “It’s just another Christmas.” Lights, trees, toy commercials, and planning for family travel can be such a focus that we miss the wonder of what happened in Bethlehem in the Roman province of Judea over 2000 years ago. We’ll take a fresh look at Christmas through the words of John, Jesus’ best friend, to see something we don’t often think about in our Santa-...

Having turn by turn directions on our phones is an amazing blessing - no more pulling out the Rand McNally map in the middle of traffic to figure out where you are! But, have you ever had the experience of following the turn by turn directions and thinking, “I’m not really sure where I am?” In Matthew 7:13-23, Jesus address the importance of knowing what path we are on and where we are heading. Th...

Jesus begins Matthew 7 with the emphatic statement, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  In Jesus’ day, there was a lot of self-righteousness, one-upsmanship, and finger-pointing going on.  Today it’s no different.  This week we will be exploring how the Gospel informs our interpersonal relationships.  The way we navigate these relationships says a great deal about our core be...

In 1987, the world famous rock band, U2, released “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The song continues to resonate with people in part because being a human is searching. We strive for goals, and when we reach them we find they aren’t enough. We look for love, and when we find it, we realize it doesn’t solve all of our problems. The problem is that our endless seeking can easily turn i...

What motivates you? Could it be family, money, success, or maybe just attention? We seem to live in a culture where increasingly more and more value is placed on how much attention you can garner. The dangers of this type of living can also spill over into our religious life. If we are not careful the motives behind our faith can become more about being seen and less about God. This week, Pastor M...

Our friends from Comunidad de Fe are joining us this Sunday for a joint service. I love when our churches get together to make much of Jesus in English and Spanish. It is a beautiful picture of how Jesus unites all sorts of people from all sorts of places into one multiethnic family of faith. You don’t want to miss it! We are continuing studying the Sermon on the Mount this week by examining Matth...

I was a terrible student in high school. I made decent grades, but I had the tendency to only do the minimum that was required. Perhaps you’ve had times in your life when you were just looking to ‘skate by.’ In Matthew 5:27-32, Jesus continues to show us that just ‘skating by’ is not what God had in mind when He gave us His commandments. The purpose of knowing what God requires isn’t so we can do...

I love a good origin story movie, don’t you? There is something fascinating about understanding why and how famous characters became who they are. How did Captain America become so incredibly strong? Why did Anakin become Darth Vadar? What lead Bruce Wayne to become Batman? In Matthew 5:21-26, begins reframing God’s commandments for his listeners. He asks us to consider the origin of one of the mo...

Do you remember in your freshman English class learning about the importance of a thesis statement? In case you forgot, a thesis statement is a short, but clear explanation of the purpose and direction of a paper. Matthew 5:16-20 is Jesus’s thesis statement in the Sermon on the Mount; it tells us his purpose and his direction. His purpose is two fold. He is going to explain who He is in relation t...

John Stott said, “The greatest hindrance to the advance of the gospel worldwide is the failure of the lives of God’s people.” Last week pastor Brandon laid out what it looked like to be a citizen of God’s kingdom by embracing the invitation of the beatitudes. Join us this week as we continue our new series through the sermon on the mount, and embrace the call of Jesus to be salt and light to a dyi...

In a world full of Ted Talks, inspirational addresses, academic lectures, viral videos, brand messaging, political speeches, and, yes, Sunday sermons, the Sermon on the Mount still stands out as one of the most intriguing and challenging teachings of all time. Why does this one sermon delivered two thousands years ago, still capture our attention? First, because of who delivered it: Jesus. When yo...

Join us as we finish out our series "Fragile Identities"

Join us as Pastor Brandon Nichols continues us through our series on Fragile Identities.

Join us as we begin our mini-series, "Fragile Identities"

Join us as we wrap up our series through Ephesians!

Join us as we near the end of our series through Ephesians

Join us as Pastor Brandon continues us through our series in Ephesians.

Join us as our Associate Pastor, Mike Childs, continues to preach through our series on Ephesians!