Every sermon I heard on sex growing up was pretty much: Don’t do it. That seemed to be targeted at teenagers and single folks. Those sermons seemed to center around the dangers of sex to our society. But I remember the day that our youth pastor said that sex was a good thing, a beautiful thing meant to be enjoyed by a husband and wife. Sex was not …

While there’s not a ‘marriage’ book in the Bible, God’s Word says a lot about marriage, sex, relationships, commitment, and God’s design for marriage. Marriage is God’s idea. Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com

Sometimes it can feel like our situation on earth reveals our sitting in eternity. If life is good, then God must be good with us. But our situation has nothing to do with our eternity. Our fortune has nothing to do with our eternity. Our luck has nothing to do with our eternity. How blessed we feel has nothing to do with our eternity. Our DECISION…

Today we will lean into one of the most famous stories from the Gospel of Luke, and it's about a young man who was seeing green – greener pastures and dollar signs! But it turns out that when he got what he wanted, it wasn't what he had hoped for… Download the Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/events/jesus-a-research-project/ Messages from…

I think we all need a reminder to be humble from time to time. Jesus says that our reflex should be to put others first, to practice humility and selflessness. And I need that reminder because I am really good at putting ME first. But humility and hospitality capture the heart of God. So how do we live that out on a day-to-day basis? This series, J…

In this series, JESUS: A Research Project, we’re studying teachings, miracles and parables of Jesus that are found only in the book of Luke, and it’s amazing how many of them have to do with material possessions and money. I think those stories resonated with Luke, who was a well-to-do Greek Physician. He didn’t know Jesus personally, but he thorou…

What is love, really? People seem to have different definitions of love. People seem to say it and not show it, or they have funny ways of showing it… And who gets to decide what love is? That’s a really important question if love is one of the fundamental traits of following Jesus and being his witnesses in the world.This series, JESUS, is part of…

Have you ever had dinner turn into a disaster? A date that was an absolute dud? An friendly gathering that turned into a political debate? A nice night that turns into an awkward evening? In this message, we'll look at a dinner at a Pharisee's house that absolutely did not go to plan. And I think the host had high hopes for this dinner because it w…

Luke wasn’t a disciple of Jesus, but he was a disciple of someone who was: Peter. So, when you read Mark, you’re hearing the stories Peter told him. Mark was written first, which makes some sense given Peter’s prominence in the early church. Most scholars believe the other gospel writers had access to Mark as they were writing their accounts. When …

You are not the only one who struggles. We all struggle. And when we begin to follow Jesus, we grow and mature, but we'll continue to have a nature that steers us in the wrong direction. But there is hope. The heart of our faith is that we believe in a savior who came to Square One to take us to the finish line through His grace, mercy, and forgive…

What is a thing worth? Well… the market decides. It's worth whatever someone will pay for it. The price tag doesn't really matter if someone won't pay that price. So what does God say that YOU are worth? What's your true value? What price is God willing to pay to make you an heir to His Kingdom? Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mounta…

We are not Born Christian. Jesus came that we might be Born Again. And that takes a realization about ourselves that can be easy to miss, especially in the Southern United States, where Christian ethics still permeate everyday public life. But our good deeds do not give us access to God. Our rule following does not give us access to God. There is n…

The New Year is a time that many of us feel like we are “Back at square one.” Many of us start over with good habits, regular exercise or new resolutions that we hope will give us a fresh start. Maybe you've even approached your faith the same way. You know you could do better, but with every step forward, you seem to follow it with two steps back,…

We make New Year's resolutions because we want to see a change in our lives. We want to start a new hobby, say yes more, say no more, start a habit, stop a habit… All for the purpose of experiencing a more full life. But over time, we often find ourselves falling short. The same thing happens when we first decide to follow Jesus.We might not think …

If you want God to do something amazing in your life, it might require a leap of faith that doesn’t make logical sense. In fact, I guarantee it. There is an assumption that obeying God will make your life better, but it’s possible that it will make life more complicated. That's certainly how it happened for Joseph... Learn more about Mountaintop Ch…

History is full of heroes and legendary risk takers who did what seemed impossible. But, whether it’s generational social change, an athletic feat or a musical anomaly, when we say the word ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ what we really often mean is ‘IMPROBABLE.’ In other words, the math can make sense. There’s a path to possible, and even if it’s astronomical, it’s…

What if your purpose is not about you? What if it's not about your success, family, portfolio, retirement, recognition… What if your life is not actually about your life at all? This is especially hard in the Holiday season because sometimes, we make the season all about ourselves. But what if it's not about me? “He must become greater, I must beco…

When it comes to diet and exercise, everyone understands and accepts that: Unhealthy behaviors lead to an unhealthy me. But is it possible that the unseen you is similar? Is it possible that your outward behavior impacts your inward spiritual health?Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com…

Self talk. The things that we tell ourselves that, though they may not BE true, they FEEL true. And we believe ourselves more than we believe anyone else, even when that self talk is self destructive. We wouldn’t purposely lie to ourselves, would we? This kind of self-talk is creating real problems. But today we're going to give you a strategy the …

All of us have a gravitational pull toward conforming to this world. And I’m not an anti-this world guy, but listen, this world can make a lot of money off of you if you will be conformed to it. I mean, the algorithm is designed to conform you. “People who bought this also bought” or “suggested for you” or “you might also like.” The problem with it…

The you everyone sees is not the real you. You are not your physical traits, skin tone, hair color or hairstyle. You’re not tall, short, young or older. You’re not even how your voice sounds. The real you is unseen. It’s the conversation you’ve had with yourself in your head and heart. In this series, we want to start a much-needed conversation in …

How do you measure trust? Trust is often intangible, especially when it comes to God and faith. And our trust is often hard to quantify. We're going to finish this series called Trusting God by looking at one of the final challenges Moses gives to the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. And their trust will be measured with time and money. Learn more…

Trusting God can be difficult. It's easy to do the right thing when we know the why and we know the how. It's much harder when we don't understand the path forward. But it's in the unknown that we encounter God. Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Z-x1ywVeL4Q?si=Kp6-yMre8wJW-CId Study Guide: …

Trusting God won’t always make sense. There will be times you’ll wonder if God is on your side. There will be times you doubt. REMEMBER, God is faithful. He has been good to you. He’ll be faithful again. God can make a way when it doesn’t make sense.Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com Carter McInnis Lead Pastor…

God’s plan doesn’t always go according to our plan. It's an uncomfortable truth. But you can embrace it. Embrace the messiness, the brokenness, the zig-zagging roller-coaster of emotions. Because our God is a God of purpose, and who you stand with is greater than what you stand against. VIDEO: https://youtu.be/pk1Zic0MOtQDownload the series Study G…

There is a God. He has called you. He will go with you. This is going to be the message to Moses and the people of Israel. But these statements of truth leave us with a choice that lands one what this series and Moses’ story seems to be all about: Will you believe in God? Will you obey God? Will you trust God? Those statements don’t do much good wi…

Am I going to trust God? Every single one of us has to decide what we’re going to do with this question. At some point, what God says takes precedence in our lives or something else does, and I believe the decisions we make over and over again are what shape our character and create our destiny. Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/wp-content…

People think that they don’t belong with Jesus because of their behavior. They don’t look, talk or act like a Christian, and that stops people from coming to church because they don’t consider themselves church people. They can’t get over what they see when they look in the mirror. We have a hard time believing that we could ever be anything other …

Jesus wants a seat at your table. Your past, history, name, occupation, reputation, or character does not intimidate him. You belong here. And you belong with Jesus. Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com Carter McInnis Lead Pastor

You don’t have to be who you’ve always been. You have no idea how God wants to redefine your life in this Kingdom in which he has invited you and me to belong. Even the you who think you could never belong with God. You don’t have be who you’ve always been. You can be who God meant for you to be. You can belong in Spirit and truth. Carter McInnis, …

Our expectation of home doesn’t always match our experience of home. What you were hoping would bring comfort, peace and serenity ends up bringing tension and division and stress. You just wanted grandma’s cooking, but you got grandad’s opinion of your haircut. Have you ever asked yourself, “What is that?” Why does my experience often not measure u…

Give yourself FOR a mission greater than yourself. Become a part of the mission to invite and equip people to follow Jesus. Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com Carter McInnis Lead Pastor

Life in the Spirit is an invitation to abundant life - Life full of fruit, pleasant to the taste. In this series, we've been examining the fruits of the Spirit, and today we get to explore both Kindness and Goodness. But what does it mean to be good? And in a world where kindness is interpreted as weakness, how does God flip that script? Learn more…

We often view Peace as something you GET not necessarily something you HAVE. You go for a walk to get some peace, or you go sit on a beach to get some peace. But is that real peace? You need peace when the arrows are flying. You need peace in traffic and in the drama. You need peace when there is tension. So true peace must not come from an exterio…

You don't have to constantly doubt if you're getting it right as a parent. Start here and feel confident about raising a healthy and happy family. Please welcome Sandra Stanley to Mountaintop! Whether you're sleep deprived with a colicky newborn or navigating the emotional roller coaster of a teenager, parenting has its ups and downs, its confusion…

We have all fallen for something that looked good, seemed good, tasted good, felt good – and it, indeed, was NOT good. We lacked self-control. And it’s no surprise. It’s not a value in our culture. We’re taught: Discover yourself. Indulge self. Embrace yourself. Satisfy yourself. Be yourself. Accept yourself. But life isn't all about me, and what I…

Love is the most important visible by-product of a life of faith in Jesus and that’s why I don’t think it’s an accident that it’s the first Fruit of the Spirit listed by Paul. There are so many places in the Bible that talk about love, and it is one of our Marks of a Follower here at Mountaintop: to LOVE RADICALLY. But somehow, we've separated and …

This Sunday, we're beginning a Summer series about how the Holy Spirit produces fruitfulness in our lives, and we're starting with the spiritual fruit of Faithfulness. By the end of today's message, we hope you can see that when we lean into God's faithfulness, we receive faithfulness in return! Spiritual fruit comes only from the Holy Spirit, and …

It's VBS week at Mountaintop! This Sunday we're gearing up to "Follow Jesus Here, There and Everywhere!"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. • Hebrews 12:1b-2aFocus determines direction.Direction shapes decisions.Decisions create destiny.If you don't fix your eyes on …

If you can’t move or go forward, if you can’t take the step you know you need to take in faith – it’s usually because something is broken. So, What’s stopping you? Shame? In what you’ve done or what others have done to you? Guilt? Over what you didn’t do that you should have done? Baggage? Relational, spiritual, physical, emotional? Barriers? Socie…

You don’t have to have an enormous online following to influence people. In fact, I’m not even sure it’s the best way. Here’s what I know, no matter how many followers you have, you have influence: Over a group of friends, coworkers at the office, your kids, your parents, at school, on the team, inside your organization. You have influence. What if…

John 3 is the story of a man who is certain he knows who Jesus is. But in his encounter with Jesus, his certainty keeps him from seeing that Jesus is more than he could have ever expected. Through this story, we will discover together that when we trade certainty for curiosity, we can find clarity about the good news of Jesus.Learn more about Mount…

Fast and Faith usually don’t go together. Fast is often the opposite of faith. In fact, if God were fast, you wouldn’t need faith. Faith entails waiting. Faith means you are trusting for something to happen, for God to come through, for the spirit to move even when you have no tangible evidence that it will happen. But the waiting IS our faith. It …

Sometimes you just need to start over. Sometimes there are so many mistakes that the best thing to do is start over. Like a kitchen renovation. We look at those 80s cabinets and try to figure out how to make them cool, then we decide: Nah, gut it and start over. Or a career. We hit a mid-life crisis and realize we’re not doing what we were created …

We lay down our lives FOR others because Jesus laid down his FOR us. We ought to be the best at it. We know what it looks like. We know what it feels like to be on the other side of Jesus’ life-laying-down kind of love. It’s the least we can do. I could never repay Jesus for laying down his life for me… ever. But I can do what he asked me to do. I …

Money. It's real and tangible. It's a limited resource. None of us feel like we have enough of it. And none of us would turn down a raise from our boss. The truth is, money can be a very real source of stress and pain. But it's also inextricably linked to our faith. So... how do we move from pain to privilege in our giving? For more information abo…

The most important thing we do for the city outside our walls doesn’t even happen outside our walls. It’s actually what happens inside these walls. Because people’s lives are changed inside these walls. And it’s people -- not churches, not organizations, nor ministries -- people can change the world. So when God changes people in here, they have th…

We know about God is because somebody told somebody who told us. You may have been raised in a Christian home and it was your family who told you. It might have been a friend who invited you to youth group. Maybe it was a youth pastor, a Sunday school teacher or a preacher. Somebody told you who had been told by someone else. The bible says we have…

What is ONE person worth? One is worth Jesus leaving the glory seat of Heaven for the gory scene of the cross. One is worth the light of the world going into the darkness of a borrowed tomb. One is worth the Prince of Peace suffering the pain of crucifixion. Here at Mountaintop, we are FOR ONE. One more changed life. For ONE. For FAMILIES. For BHM.…

Love is more than a singular feeling and certainly more than a phrase. We’re going to see Paul say in the Bible that love needs multiple actions behind it if we want to "Win at Love." And this love that Paul describes is the kind of love that can only be found in the character of God. So, here's the ending before we really start the beginning: Sinc…