Sunday Morning Sermons- MRCC

Phil brings a message about fanning the flame in our spiritual life, especially in seasons where we feel stuck. With many of our students back in school and college students returning to campus, we will also take a moment to pray over our students and educational staff.

Phil will walk us through viewing baptism on its own terms by looking at history, theology, and Jesus. We will also take time to celebrate those who have been baptized in the last year.

How important is it to gather with other believers each Sunday? This morning, Mitch will take us to the first century using Luke 24 and give us a glimpse of their answer in the midst of the crucifixion and resurrection.

As Christians, we desire to imitate Jesus, but what does that look like and how can we do it? Jesus describes himself for us in Matthew 11 as gentle and humble in heart. This morning, Jeff will navigate us through scripture to show us how to take on the traits of Jesus to exemplify his humble and gentle spirit.

This week we close out our missions theme with a lesson on why is it important to be proactive in passing the baton to future generations.

This week is Missions Sunday! Phil will bring a message about the unbroken chain of Christian practice, always passing and receiving. 

Phil will bring our second message in the Pass the Baton series, called Tunnel Vision. Here Phil will look at a narrative from Acts 16 in which Paul changes direction several times before intersecting with God's will. Phil will explain that passing on faith must carry with it a flexibility and openness to all kinds of possibilities, or else we will become victims of evangelistic “tunnel vision” and spend our time pounding on closed doors.

Phil will begin our series leading up to Missions Sunday. The theme this year is Pass the Baton, and in Phil's first message, entitled Don't Forget, he will explore how the past influences the pass. If we want to be effective at passing on our faith to the next generation, we must first acknowledge where we received our faith in the first place.

Phil will conclude our series on Moses with a sermon called Name Claim. In this message, Phil will explore the breathtaking self-description of God in Exodus 34, where he proclaims his own nature in terms of compassion and justice.

Phil will continue our series on Moses with a sermon on the golden calf scene. Phil will walk us through this complicated and somewhat troubling interchange between God, Moses, and Israel. He will offer some insights into how to interpret the story as well as some practical ways to apply it.

Phil will continue our series on Moses. In this message, Phil will focus on the Passover and how, in its original world, it would have been seen as revolutionary in what it communicated both about Yahweh and Yahweh's people.

Phil will start a new series on the life of Moses. In this first lesson, Phil will explore the scene of the burning bush and reflect on what it might have to say about the nature of God's calling on Moses, and on ourselves.

Phil will conclude our school year theme, Love One Another, with a final message on God's eternal love from 1 John 4.

Phil will continue our Love Your Neighbor series with a message about prayer. Phil will examine 2 Corinthians 1:10-11 and talk about how the prayers of the people affected Paul's life as a missionary. He will offer some practical ways to lift our neighbors and each other up to the Lord.

Phil will continue our series Love Your Neighbor with a look at hospitality. The idea of hospitality has changed over time, but when we look at the Bible, it is a central part of God's plan for salvation. Phil will show us the importance of hospitality today and how we can be an extension of the perfect Host.

We will celebrate our high school senior class as they anticipate graduation and the next chapter in life. Phil will preach a sermon within our Love Your Neighbor series called Critiquing the Critic and talk about how we are called to love the church, not judge her.

Brian Plumb will continue our study in Luke chapter 10 by looking at the Good Samaritan. We will focus on four truths from the familiar text that we should apply to our lives.

Phil will deliver an Easter message called But Now. In this message, Phil will talk about how the resurrection of Jesus enabled people in scripture to navigate their pain and suffering with a completely new outlook.

Phil will continue our series Love Your Neighbor with a message called Sharing 101. Phil will pick up where he left off last week in Luke 10 and share a few practical ideas about how to share faith with others.

Phil will start a new series called Love Your Neighbor. This series will serve as the final part of our Love One Another school year theme. This final series will take a closer look at how we extend the love of Jesus beyond the walls of the church to the wider world. In this first message, Phil will focus on the importance of sharing our faith.

Daniel Roberts will bring us the next lesson in our series. One of the purposes of marriage is to help us become like Jesus. Join us as Daniel teaches us the importance of this commitment.

Mitch East will continue our Love, Where You Are series. Why love someone if it's possible your relationship will fail? Why love anyone if it will cause you pain? Today's sermon is about Abraham, hope, and God who helps us love despite the suffering we'll face.

Phil will continue our Love, Where You Are series with a message on dating. Given that both singleness and marriage are God-honoring positions in life, how do disciples of Jesus navigate the in-between stage? Though scripture does not address dating directly, Phil will explore some principles in Proverbs that can help guide Christians as they navigate these tricky waters.

Phil will continue our Love, Where You Are series with a message on marriage. Phil will talk about how the institution of marriage is in some ways being critiqued by culture at large today, but that both from a scriptural and even social science perspective, it is one of the most critical building blocks to civilization and one of the greatest ways to display the faithful love of God to the world.

Phil will begin a new series called Love, Where You Are: Reflections on Singlehood, Dating, and Marriage. This will serve as our next series in the Love One Another school year theme and will tackle the various stages of relationships we find ourselves in. In this first message, Phil will lay out a theology of singlehood. Though our modern world often portrays singleness as lonely or incomplete, this was not always the case throughout history, or even in scripture itself.

Many folks have heard the story that Jesus turned water into wine. Many Christians believe the story but move along unimpressed. But John says that Jesus “revealed his glory” through this first sign. This Sunday, we'll see how this miracle reveals the glory of Jesus.

On Sunday morning, Phil will deliver our next message in the Missions Statement series by focusing on Good News. Phil will talk about how neither good deeds nor good lives can truly enact lasting change in the world if they are not empowered by good news. He will look at the foundational text of 1 Corinthians 15 to make this case.

On Sunday morning, Phil will continue our sermon series on the mission statement with a message focused on Good Works. Phil will look at the episode late in John the Baptist's life and how Jesus explained his identity through the good works he was doing in the world.

Phil will continue our series looking into our new mission statement. Why are good lives critical to the mission of the church? Through the Ten Commandments, we will take a deeper dive into what God has called his people to do to show the world His goodness.

Last Sunday, we introduced our new mission statement and the core values that serve as its foundation. But for any mission to be successful, there has to be a plan of action. This Sunday we will examine Five Commitments we can all make as part of the MRCC body – tangible actions that will lead us towards living good lives, doing good works, and sharing good news.

Phil will kick off a new series called On Mission. This series will unveil our new mission statement and talk about why mission statements matter. Phil will discuss the background of how we arrived at our new statement and the biblical foundations behind it.

Phil will present a message recasting our school year theme of Love One Another. In this message, entitled Measure of Maturity, Phil will explore the famous foot-washing scene of John 13 and reflect on both the theological implications of the text, as this is a portrait of who God is, and also the missional aspects of the passage, which calls disciples to emulate this same kind of self-emptying posture for one another.

Phil will preach a sermon called Choosing Trust. In this message, Phil will explore the role trust plays both in the nativity story and in our everyday lives. He will explore the contrast between Gabriel's conversation with Mary and Zechariah and provide us with a helpful definition of trust that we can take with us this week.

Phil will begin a short series called Christmas Simplified. In this first message, entitled Unwrapping Presence, we will explore how to find God in the mundane parts of life. Using two biblical examples, Anna and Timothy, Phil will encourage us to live even our ordinary moments with eyes wide open to the spiritual blessings God will place before us.

Phil will preach a sermon called A Willing Spirit to help us kick off our elder selection process. This message will be based out of 1 Peter 5, where the apostle gives instructions on the kinds of hearts that shepherds are to have as they lead the flock.

While the Bible speaks often about the need for Christians to have a healthy relationship with money, it also reveals a profound connection between joy and generosity. Not only is joy a powerful motivator for sacrificial giving, it is also a product of it. In the second message of our Charitable Heart series, we'll see how God's design for his followers takes us From Joy to Generosity (and Back Again).

Phil will start a new series called Charitable Heart, a short series focused on the discipline of giving. In this first sermon, Phil will look at the conversation between John the Baptist and the crowds of people coming out to be baptized in the gospel of Luke. There is important teaching in this passage about the responsibility of believers to steward their resources for the Lord.

Phil will conclude our Seek Ye First series with a message called Celebrate Our Stores. In this talk, Phil will take a look back at the fall and share some stories of how members at MRCC shined like stars in the sky.

Phil will deliver a sermon called Praying for Reign. In this message, he will take a deep dive into 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul's instructions to Timothy about how and why to pray for kings and those in authority. Phil will explore various principles in this passage and how they can inform us as we pray for leaders in our context.

Phil will continue our Seek Ye First series with a message titled, The Brilliance of the Church. In this message, Phil will explore the remarkable numbers behind the rise of the early church as well as the features of the church that made it so attractive to the outside world.

Phil will continue our Seek Ye First series with a message called Love Local. In this message, Phil will explore the dynamic between national events and local ones. While staying informed is important, it is equally important to engage in our immediate communal and church context and love our neighbor right where we are.

This Sunday, David Duncan, minister with the Memorial church in Houston, will bring us a message encouraging us to share our faith. Scripture reminds over and over the importance of sharing Jesus, and David will give us tips on how to do that well.

Phil will start a new series called Seek Ye First. Based on this important statement from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Phil will explore how easy it is for good things to become god things and how to recognize this human tendency towards idolatry before it entangles us.

Phil will finish up our Like Stars in the Sky series with a message called Unstuck. In this message, Phil will return to the instruction from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount to love our enemies and offer three questions that can help us get unstuck when we find ourselves in longstanding conflict with others.

Phil will continue our Like Stars in the Sky sermon series with a message entitled Grow with Interest. In Philippians 2, Paul paints a picture of what a mature disciple of Jesus looks like, and one of the key features is the ability to show and sustain interest in another person's interest. Far from being a matter of low importance, for Paul, this kind of practice is tied directly to the heart and ministry of Jesus.

Phil will continue our Like Stars in the Sky series with a message called The Story Behind the Stance. He will explore Saul's conversion in Acts 9 and the critical role Barnabas played in vouching for Saul when many others had written him off. Saul was not simply a man with abstract ideas detached from reality, he was a human being with a story and benefited from someone else taking the time to listen. We should follow suit.

Phil continued our Like Stars in the Sky series with a message called Confronting Contempt. Phil will argue that contempt is the root of much of the sin, evil, and violence we see in the world today. He will explore an important parable of Jesus in Luke 18 that confronts our propensity to take the spiritual elitist position towards others.

When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, what does He expect us to do? In this sermon, Mitch will explore two enemies from the first book of the Bible who happened to be brothers. Listen and find out how to find God near your enemies, especially when they're family.

Phil continued our Like Stars in the Sky series with a sermon called “Seven Pledges.” In this message, Phil talked about the importance of committing to principles before times of testing come. He then outlined seven pledges that we can make that will help us maintain our distinct identity as Christ followers, even as we engage in important issues facing the country over the next few months.

Phil delivered our second message within the Like Stars in the Sky series. This message, based on the division of Israel in 1 Kings 12, focused on the impact of outside parties in our lives that make us prone to unnecessary conflict. The path to peace begins with identifying these “conflict entrepreneurs” and distancing ourselves from their negative effects.

Sunday, Phil officially kicked off our Love One Another school year theme by introducing the first series, which will be called, Like Stars in the Sky. In this series, Phil will encourage us not to dread the upcoming political season in our country, which is likely to be fraught with hatred and discord, but rather to view it as an opportunity for the church to shine. This is the stance Paul takes in Philippians 2 when he encourages his readers to not complain or argue, and in doing so, they will shine like stars in the universe.