Story Church Mayfield Heights

Because Jesus is coming back, we as Christians need to live our lives full of love. The message we send to others should be that those who follow Jesus are people who have received mercy and grace and want to share that freedom with others. Because of this, Peter commands us to be hospitable to others and to serve one another with the gifts that God has given us. 

This week, we look at the instructions Peter gives to husbands and wives and see how Jesus exemplifies what husbands and wives ought to do by coming "to serve... not to be served." We also see that while husbands and wives serve each other in marriage, the way they serve each other looks different, but both ways reflect the character of Christ who continually sacrificed Himself for us, ultimately...

In this section of Peter's letter, he addresses the moral responsibility that the slaves who were members of the early church had to be obedient to their masters, whether their masters were just or unjust. Although it is not easy for us to suffer with patience during times of injustice, Peter reminds us that Jesus lead as an example of this through his life by entrusting himself to the One who jud...

In this passage, Peter calls us to submit to our governing authorities, honor our neighbors, and fear God. Part of being resident aliens (as Peter spoke of in the previous passage) is living not only in accordance to God's law, but the laws of man as well. By doing good works in this way, we will be better witnesses of God's truth and kindness to our neighbors. 

As Christians, we are resident aliens here on earth, called to live side-by-side with the people who do not share the same faith as us. Our belief in the gospel makes us strangers among our neighbors, but Peter encourages us to wage war against our former, sinful selves so that we might be a light to our neighbors. 

In order to live faithfully and on mission in our world, Peter writes to encourage his readers to live holy lives. What does Peter mean when he uses the word Holy? In this week's sermon, Pastor Jeremy unpacks that word, and teaches us that holiness is primarily about our love - our love for God and for our neighbor. We should live lives of Holy Love because we already are holy in Christ, because G...

This week we continue on in our study of 1 Peter. As Peter addresses the suffering his audience in Asia Minor is experiencing, he offers hope in the inheritance given to us through the resurrection in the person of Christ. 

In the opening of Peter's letter, he addresses those who are "elect exiles," and in this sermon, we learn that Christians are still exiles because our faith is counter-cultural. But there is joy in knowing that we are also God's elect, and that He has chosen us, not because of anything He expects us to do, but because He wanted to set us aside and redeem us. No matter what we face in life, we can...

In our final message from the life of David, we look at David's response to his sin. We learn from his example that we need to deeply examine ourselves and feel the weight of our own sin. But we also see from David that even though we carry the evidence of sin in our lives, the penalty of sin has been removed, and there is joy in the restoration that God has given us. He is able to give us a new h...

It is difficult when Christian leaders fail, especially when it is someone who we admire and look up to. But in this week's message, we learn that we shouldn't be shocked when Christians do bad things. Using King David as an example, we see that even he, who loved God more than any of us ever could, also had the seeds of sin planted in his heart that we share in our own hearts. And just like Natha...

Continuing in our series on the life of David, this week we learn about how David showed kindness to the last of Saul's descendants. This kindness reminds us of God's steadfast love, and that even while we were dead in our sin, God still offered us a seat at His table. 

This week in our series on the life of David we see his dream of building a temple for God, but God through Nathan tells David that it will not be he who fulfills this dream. God reminds David that is was God himself that has orchestrated events in his sovereignty and is continuing to do so for David's life. 

Continuing in this series studying the life of David, this week we look at David's desire to be close to God through the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark gave God's people hope in that they could know God and be known by Him, but it also reminded His people that He is holy and that our sin separates us from Him. But the good news is still that through Jesus, God has forgiven our sins and welcomed us t...

Looking at Jesus's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we reminded of the different ways in which we can respond to Christ as King. We can see Jesus as someone who stands in the way of what we want to do in our lives, we can see Him as someone who stands up for the causes we believe in, or we can see Him as the one who sets the standard for how we ought to live. When we see Jesus as the...

Continuing in this series centered around the life of David, we see another connection to Christ. In this story, we encounter David in a cave, thirsting for water to drink. What is it that you thirst for? Safety? Wholeness? Peace? Restoration? God is faithful to provide, and He has given us living water that can satisfy our deepest needs.

In this week's sermon, we look at the curse of the law. Paul tells us here in Galatians that obeying the law is not what will make us find God's favor, because we can never obey the law completely. Christ, however, has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse himself, and those who accept his sacrifice through faith will be freed from the law and the condemnation it brings.&nbsp...

Very few stories in the Bible encapsulate what true Christian friendship looks like as well as the example given to us in David and Jonathan. In these chapters of 1 Samuel we see the devoted friendship they have for one another, and in this sermon, Pastor Jeremy illustrates how this kind of deep, covenantal devotion is not only something we should seek from our close Christian friends, but also is...

In Psalm 18, David teaches us that we can trust the Lord in the midst of the battle and in 1 Samuel 17, David shows us what it looks like to trust the Lord in the midst of the battle. In this week's message, Pastor Jeremy shows us how this famous story of David and Goliath reveals our tendency to fight our battles on our own, or run away from the battles in fear. Instead, we should see David as an...

We begin our study in the life of David by following Samuel in search of a new King for Israel, but soon learn that what God sees in a King is not what man sees. Whereas man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. Although we can't look upon the heart, we do see in David a man after God's own heart, and can learn from him as a model Israelite what it means to be faithful to the Lo...

We finish this series with our Glorification, where we will be raised to a new life like Christ and sin will be defeated in us. We have hope that God's work in our lives will remove our sins and give us freedom. We also have hope that even as we seek to help those in need here on Earth that ultimately God will bring justice in the world. Lastly, we have hope for those that we love, that they might...

This week we continue in our series "From Death to Life" by looking at Romans 5. Here we see three reasons why as Christians we can rejoice in our suffering: we have peace with God, it helps us grow in maturity, and it produces a hope that does not put us to shame. Paul reassures us that even as we encounter suffering in our lives, we can approach it with joy, knowing that it is part of God's proc...

In this week's message, we learn about the doctrine of sanctification. After we are adopted into God's family, He begins the process of making us more like His Son, Jesus Christ. This process of sanctification, however, does not happen overnight, but rather is a lifelong journey that God guides us through. 

Pastor Jeremy continues our sermon series looking at God's grace in our redemption by showing us what we receive upon being adopted as children of God. First, we experience a new family, belonging to one another as brothers and sisters. Second, we have access to the Father as one of His sons. And finally, we are given freedom from our captivity to the law through our brother Jesus who fulfilled th...

This week, we look at justification, which Paul tells us is the gift that God gives as a result of our faith. When God looks at us, He no longer sees all of our sin, and He doesn't give us the judgment we deserve, but instead He sees Christ in our place. We are not justified in God's sight because of the good that we have done, but rather we are justified because Jesus, knowing that we could never...

So far in this series, we have learned about God's calling, election, and regeneration - and this week we learn about saving faith, which is the result of those three key aspects and the beginning of God's justification, adoption, sanctification, preservation, and glorification of His people. In order to better understand this important aspect of redemption, we turn Hebrews 11 and see that saving...