The Mountain Church

This week as we continue in our study through the book of James, we consider James 2:14-26. James contrasts dead faith with living faith. Saving faith is demonstrated through love and good works. James argues that someone who claims to have faith but does not have works has a useless faith. Faith without works is a dead faith. Drawing from the Old Testament stories of Abraham and Rahab, James show...

This morning as we continue in our study through the book of James, we consider James 2:1-13. James calls followers of Jesus to not show favoritism/partiality as they hold on to the faith in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Favoritism is: 1) Contrary to the King's Court 2) Contrary to the King's Choice 3) Contrary to the King's Commandment If we discriminate or make distinctions, we're assuming a p...

This week we begin a new study through the book of James. James 1 shows us that wholeness comes from whole-hearted trust in God through trials. This trust in God looks like having joy in trials and troubles. It reveals itself in prayer to the God who generously gives without reproach. Trust in God looks like boasting in our status before God in comparison to the standards to the world that is. Who...

This morning as we finish out the year and look ahead to our study of James in the New Year, we consider the topic of wisdom. James is sometimes called the "Proverbs of the New Testament," so in preparation for our study we ponder the following questions: 1) What is wisdom? 2) Why do we need it? 3) How do we get it? Wisdom is living in accordance with reality. It's living in harmony with both the...

This morning we conclude our study through Advent looking at Revelation 21:1-6. Today we consider the promises of the second coming of Jesus. We get a glimpse of the new heaven and the new earth as God declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” First, Ben shows us from the text that the new heaven and new earth is beautiful, physical, and complete.  Then we see how our hope and belief in the...

As we enter the third week of our Advent study, we consider the teaching of Jesus; focusing on Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus declares that love for God with all of one’s being is the greatest commandment in Scripture, and He couples that with another commandment: love for our neighbors. Jesus describes that all of the law and prophets depend on these two commandments. We are given many commands in the B...

This week as we continue in our study through Advent, we consider the heart of Jesus. How does Jesus describe his heart? What does the heart of Jesus serve as an anchor for? In other words, what is it the foundation or grounds of? Finally, where does the heart of Jesus lead us? Jesus describes his heart as "gentle and lowly." His heart is the grounds for his invitation to come to him. "Come to me,...

This week as we begin our study through Advent we consider the need for the coming of Jesus from Genesis 3:1-24. From the text, Cary shows us how in Genesis 3 we see the following three things: 1) The context of sin 2) The consequences of sin 3) The cure for sin As we being Advent, it is good to be reminded of the gift of Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection. He is worthy of all our focus,...

This week as we conclude our three part study on The Church, we consider the topic of elders. From 1 Peter 5:1-4 we see that elders have been called to the following: 1) They are entrusted with caring for and teaching the flock of God 2) They are to exercise oversight, watching over the souls of the church, protecting and guarding the members 3) They serve as examples of Christ-like character, vir...

Today we consider one of the two offices of the church, the office of deacon. We want to be a church that seeks to model our structure and leadership after the New Testament. We believe this looks like a team of elders and deacons that serve alongside the saints in the work of ministry. Deacons could be described as doing the following three things: 1) They serve 2) They support the ministry of th...

How does the person and work of Jesus shape and frame marriage and parenting? How does the gospel apply to the family? Join us for a seminar on Marriage and Parenting where we’ll explore how the claims of Christianity affect and apply to family life. We’ll consider the meaning of marriage and how the teaching of Jesus frames how we think and engage with it. We’ll be providing a time for Q&A after...

Today we being a three part series on the church. This morning we consider the question of "What does it mean to be a member of the body of Christ?" We explore Roman 12:3-8 that describes the body of Christ. "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another" (Romans 12:4-5...

We want to see a movement of the gospel in our city, through the Puget Sound, for the flourishing of all people. By movement we mean the proliferation of gospel-centered churches, human flourishing, relational reconciliation, community formation, and spiritual renewal. We are a learning community of grace. We are community of servant learners and leaders. We are learning to be with Jesus, to becom...

Today as we conclude our study through the book of Acts, we consider Acts 28:1-31. Throughout the book of Acts we've seen the gospel increase and multiply from Jerusalem to Judea to the ends of the earth. The story of the book of Acts is finished in Acts 28, but the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ without hindrance is not over yet. In this way, th...

As we continue in our study through the book of Acts, this week we look at Paul's journey to Rome. Paul sets sail to Rome, but experiences a storm and shipwreck. After Paul receives a revelation from God that everyone will be safe, he encourages the crew to "take heart." All who are onboard are brought safely to land, just as God promised. The story shows that nothing can thwart God's purpose. God...

This week as we continue in our study through the book of Acts, we come to the story of Paul's defense before King Agrippa and his account of his conversion and commission. Paul was appointed to be a servant and witness of the gospel. Through the gospel Paul was called to, "open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgi...

As we continue in our study through the book of Acts, this week we consider the story of Paul's appeal to Caesar in Acts 25:1-27. As Justin Holcomb writes in the Gospel Transformation Study Bible notes, "It is unlikely that Paul ever imagined that his journey to Rome would occur in chains. But Paul was confident that God would fulfill his promise (23:11), and he knew that God's sovereignty works e...

As we continue in our study through the book of Acts, we come to the story of Paul before Felix at Caesarea. The high priest, Ananias, with the elders and a spokesman lay before the governor their case against Paul. Paul then cheerfully makes his defense. Felix adjourns the hearings until Lysias can come to Caesarea for a decision to be made. As Paul is kept in custody, he has a conversation with...

This morning as we continue in our study through the book of Acts, we consider a story about a plot made to kill Paul, his rescue from their conspiracy, and journey to Felix the Governor. Our passage this morning could be broken up into three sections, or headings - the resolve, the rescue, and the ride. In Acts 23:12-35 we see a picture of the gospel. Like Paul, we have an enemy, resolved to kill...

This week, as we continue in our study through the book of Acts, we consider the story of Paul before the Sanhedrin. Paul declares, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day" (Acts 23:1). Paul describes that he is on trial with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead. He has testified in Jerusalem that Jesus is the Messiah and will go on to testi...

Today as we continue in our journey through the story of Acts we consider Paul's defense to the crowd in the Jerusalem temple. Paul tells the story of his life before Jesus, his encounter with Jesus and conversion to Christianity, and his commission as a witness of Jesus. Paul is also protected by his Roman citizenship before he's interrogated with the scourge. It's a story that invites us to refl...

As we continue in our study through the book of Acts, this week we look at the riot in the temple in Jerusalem in Acts 21:27-36. In the text we see some Jews from the province of Asia supposed that Paul had brought a Gentile into the temple. They accuse Paul that he is against "our people, our law, and this place." The whole crowd is stirred up against Paul and he has to be escorted out of the tem...

This week as we continue in our study through the book of Acts we look at the story of Paul going to Jerusalem and visiting James in Acts 21:1-26. On the journey to Jerusalem, Paul is: 1) Resolved in the Spirit 2) Ready not only to suffer, but to die of rote name of the Lord Jesus 3) Recognizing God is the source and supply of his ministry Like Paul, we are all on the way to a type of Jerusalem. S...

As we continue in the story of the book of Acts, we come to Paul's farewell address to the Ephesians elders. Paul speaks to the elders and says, "And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value...

This morning as we continue in our study through the book of Acts we consider the story of Paul and his missionary team in Macedonia and Eutychus revived at Troas. Acts 20:1-16 is a story about the grace of God, the need for teamwork and encouragement, and the danger of spiritual sleepiness. The teachings of the Bible present a correlation between our need for encouragement and the call to encoura...