Mcf Sermon Podcast

We all have a calling.  We all tend to run from that calling at time?  Why do we run?  Pastor Kevin explores this topic as we continue in the series, "Grace Trek: Jonah's Journey, Our Journey."  You may also see the readings and follow the sermon notes as you listen with our new E-BULLETIN. This song was also sung in our service before the sermon this week. Check it out! Come Out of Hiding by Steffany Gretzinger and Amanda Cook. 

In this second week of this series (Grace Trek: Jonah's Journey, Our Journey), Pastor Kevin contrasts the ordinary shame based world with an extraordinary world of grace using one of the most amazing stories Jesus ever told.  You can find that story (Luke 15:11-32) along with the sermon notes for this sermon in our E-Bulletin. The E-bulletin is a great way to follow along with this podcast!

Pastor Kevin opens a new 11 week sermon series called Grace Trek: Jonah's Journey, Our Journey.  When did your life ever go as planned?  When did your day ever go as planned?  The journey of life is filled with all kinds of unexpected roadblocks and detours, yet the lay of the land and the overall pattern is the the same for everyone.  Grace Trek is a roadmap for the journey of life.  This road map is introduced in this sermon.  Find SERMON NOTES HERE!  Here is a LINK TO JONAH VIDEO to which Pastor Kevin refers.

Pastor Kevin tackles the Elephant (and Donkey) in the room for American Christians. How are we being informed, and thus formed? We live in an age with 24/7 cable news and social media all trying to shape our opinions.  Are we as followers of Christ spending more time tuned into Fox, CNN, Rush Limbaugh, or Bill Maher than we are listing to the voice of Christ in prayer and searching scripture? Tuning into Christ will free us from our polarizing echo chambers.

In these polarized political times where division and hate crimes are on the rise, the cross of Jesus attacks our collective sin problem and can heal our sad divisions. 

Pastor Kevin begins a new sermon series on how to maintain our Christian witness in an environment of political division. This first sermon focuses on how Jesus saw things differently than we tend to. He did not fall into the trap of either/or thinking and we can live in response to this good news.

It can be so easy to get caught up in projects which have no lasting value. How can we shift our focus toward building what Christ showed us was most important?

Pastor Kevin teaches from his own experience on prayer.

Pastor Kevin reminds us that in order to love, we often have to cut the strings and let go.

Pastor Ruben talks about what it means to really love the way Christ loves us. How does Christ's love become something more than head knowledge?

What is the simple way of Jesus and how does it work in our lives?

Pastor Kevin contrasts the difference between fundamentalism and freedom and how that applies to our lives and MCF.

Pastor Kevin wove his own story with surprise tributes and a focus on the "grace in which we stand" when we stand in the relationship between the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit.

Humans have, it seems, from the beginning of time, tried to find ways to come together and live in harmony. This human unity project always seems to fail. However, there is hope. The Spirit of God is able to accomplish what we, on our own, can't.

This week's sermon is about one of the weirdest stories in the Bible in which Jesus ascended into heaven. That story begs the question. Where is he now? The answer may surprise you.

Do you ever play the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game in which you replay and regret the past. Do you play the "what if?" game in which you constantly try to preview and prevent imagined catastrophes in the future?  Both of those games rob us of peace. But when we get back into the present moment, we can tap the peace of the Holy Spirit at the center of our being. We can begin to live with texture where joy coexists with turmoil and peace coexists with suffering. 

Jesus is the vulnerable shepherd who shows us how to live with courage and vulnerability. 

Love God and love people?  That is an often used slogan.  But it can be slightly misleading as if you can choose one or the other.  Pastor Kevin shows us from scripture that the only way to love God is by loving people.  

Pastor Al Johnson speaks on the power of praise to change our perspective.

Often our relationship with The Christ starts with a personal relationship with Jesus.  The problem with that is we tend to personalize Jesus.  On this Easter Sunday pastor Kevin challenges us to let go of our personalized Jesus's so we can wake up to the reality that we are already IN a universe of loving relationship many know as the Risen Christ.