John Piper’s powerful Sunday sermon on Romans 8:13, Be Killing Sin or It Will Be Killing You, is now available in the media library. You can watch, listen, or download it from the sermon page. You can also get all of our sermon content by subscribing to the Mars Hill iTunes podcast here.
For more sermons, books, and resources from John Piper, please visit Desiring God.
Greetings from the bottom of the world!
I am writing to thank you all for the hard work and dedication you put forth for the sake of furthering the gospel.
Your efforts are noticed all over the world.
I am an Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighter working for the National Science foundation and the United States Antarctic Program. I am currently stationed down at a research base here in Antarctica.
My good friend Irina is a regular attendee of your Ballard Campus. Early in my deployment to Antarctica, she recommended that I check out your online sermons and other web content to encourage me spiritually in lieu of the church and support network that I am blessed with at home.
Being that we are in the most remote place on earth down here, it is an extreme blessing to have such easy and free access to such solid, scripture-saturated teachings.
Thanks again for the work you all are doing for the expansion of the kingdom!
Blessings and Peace from a brother in the far south, and praise the Lord for His hand of blessing: Mars Hill on all 7 Continents!
All For the Sake of the Gospel,
F.F. Joshua W.
P.S. The penguins and seals say hello as well!
I’m consistently amazed at the apostle Paul’s ability to hold in such great tension these two truths:
1. Everything is because of and about God’s grace and mercy, and
2. Man should respond in worship and hard work.
Romans 12 is one example where this tension is evident. Here’s how it plays out:
God’s mercy (12:1)
leads to…
Worship of God—sacrifice and service (12:1)
done in…
Humility and sober self-assessment (12:3)
because of…
God’s grace—and all of his gifts (12:6)
therefore…
We work harder than anyone else (12:11)
resting our identity in…
Jesus’ work and not our own (12:12).
Amen.
Find Pastor Jamie on Facebook and Twitter.
Dear Mars Hill,
Right now I’m sitting on a plane flying from Durban to Cape Town in South Africa. I had a wonderful few days with Pastor Rory Dyer and a number of other pastors and churches in Durban, preaching at a men’s conference, a church, and a citywide celebration. It’s a beautiful city on the water and our hosts were very gracious, booking us a nice room with a magnificent view of the ocean from our deck.
In Cape Town I’ll be preaching a number of sessions at the Urban Force Conference as well as at a citywide worship event and a men’s gathering. Then, we fly to Johannesburg for another Urban Force Conference, men’s event, and Sunday services at GodFirst Church, along with another citywide worship event.
Trips like this are incredibly strategic. By seeing other cultures, churches, church planting networks, and movements, I learn a great deal that helps me improve as a leader for Mars Hill, Acts 29, and Resurgence. On this trip I am spending time with movement leaders from New Covenant Ministries International and Newfrontiers. These are wonderful global church planting movements that have planted over fifteen hundred churches, and their leaders have become good friends of ours. Each movement blends a deep commitment to the same Reformed doctrine we hold dear with mature and biblical exercise of all the spiritual gifts and an enthusiastic commitment to worship, prayer, evangelism, and church planting. I am very glad to serve them through preaching, teaching, and consulting, while also learning a great deal that I simply could not learn without getting on a plane to go see and feel things experientially.
Before leaving Seattle I pre-recorded one sermon for our study of Luke and I am deeply thankful for the flexibility that technology provides. On the other Sunday while I am gone, the campus pastors will be preaching live at every campus. They will continue in our study of Luke so that our Community Groups can continue marching forward as they have been. Please do be in prayer for the men preaching in my absence. We are blessed with some very gifted men who are humble enough to be on our team, and gifted enough to lead well. Most churches that have video preaching do not have live preachers when the primary preaching pastor is gone. When I am gone, we are very blessed to have capable and competent men to preach the Word so do encourage them and thank them for loving and leading well. Come ready to learn, not to criticize or nitpick, and pray for them as they preach so that the Holy Spirit would enable them to preach well.
Thankfully, this trip marks the end of my major travel season. I have had an amazing few months in which I’ve been to Haiti and seen nearly $2 million raised to help suffering people there; done Loveline with Dr. Drew; gotten time with Pastors Rick Warren and Greg Laurie, who have churches much larger than ours and things to teach us; and preached at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown LA, in addition to my two weeks in South Africa. I’ve got a few very short trips between now and the summer and then will be home for lots of Little League games (between my three boys we’ve got over a hundred games) and track meets for my oldest daughter.
During these travel seasons I know that some at the church may question why I am gone. The reasons are many but three are primary. First, there are some places that God has called me to help serve, thereby opening up opportunities for strategic partnerships in pastoral training and church planting and I want to serve in strategic ways. Second, in building these friendships we learn a great deal to make us a better church and network of churches, as the truth is we have a lot to learn and need wise friends to help us. Third, Grace and I are committed to devoting our entire life of ministry to Mars Hill Church. Unless God should some day say otherwise, my plan is to have only ever been the member of or pastor in one church—Mars Hill. With so many years left and so much remaining to do, I want to keep repenting, learning, changing, and growing by God’s grace, rather than getting comfortable and settling into a life and ministry that cease to press forward. My goal is Christ, not comfort or convenience.
The good news is that I am quite healthy. I have a wonderful Christian doctor who has made a world of difference in my wellness. My assistant deacon, Nathan Burke, has done a great job of taking a lot of work off my plate and being a good travel partner. The elders and deacons at Mars Hill are working very hard and in the senior leadership positions of the church we have the most competent, trustworthy, and fruitful leaders we have ever had. With Pastor Jamie leading Mars Hill, Pastor Scott leading Acts 29, Pastor Rick leading The Resurgence, Pastor Tim leading Central Operations, and the Campus Pastors leading the mission of each campus, the workload is distributed well. That is a great joy and relief to my family and me.
For the remaining portion of the trip you can pray for a few things. Since I’m preaching/teaching about twenty-five times in South Africa, you can pray for my voice; it’s a bit dried out after twenty-seven hours of travel and being in air conditioned dry spaces most of the time. You can pray for my stamina, as there’s a ten-hour time change (although the jet lag has been minimal thanks to No-Jet-Lag, which is a really helpful travel supplement). You can pray for my health. I’m not sick yet, but with shaking sometimes hundreds of hands a day and praying for people each day over the course of two weeks, there is always a likelihood of getting sick. You can pray for conversions, as among the more than twenty-five thousand people I’m preaching to, there are hopefully many who come to meet Jesus as God and Savior. You can also pray for the churches and pastors we are connecting with in South Africa. There are some amazing leaders here filled with the Spirit and devoted to the Word whom God is using for some wonderful ministry. They are a tremendous source of insight and encouragement.
With Jesus’ love for Jesus’ fame,
Pastor Mark
You have a Bible. Do you know how to use it?
There’s no denying that reading Scripture is an essential part of the Christian walk, but what makes the difference between merely looking at words on the page and being transformed by the Word of God?
In this post from the Resurgence, Dr. David Wells, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, writes about the futility of approaching Scripture with a focus on self, rather than submitting to what God has to say.
Cinema is a modern-day pulpit. Movie theaters are modern day pulpits; people flock to their local multiplexes, group together, and find themselves moved by a worldview revealed in story form, allowing themselves to be emotionally led by directors and screenwriters who influence how we feel, think, and even act. Film & Theology features monthly film viewings at the MHC | Lake City Campus, followed by an expository exploration of narrative themes and spiritual parallels.
The popular Film & Theology series heads to the Mars Hill Downtown campus this Friday, March 5th at 7 pm, for an encore screening and commentary by Pastor James Harleman on Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino (2008).
The film follows Korean War vet Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), dealing with the death of his wife, a persistent priest, distant adult children, and grandchildren who only seem interested in inheriting his prized 1972 Gran Torino coupe. Paint in a declining neighborhood in present-day Detroit outskirts, Hmong neighbors Kowalski initially resents, plus violent gangs, and you have a striking canvas for a film. The film is rated R for language and some violence.
The film was nominated as one of the ten best of 2008 by the American Film Festival and it won Best Foreign Film at the Caesar Awards in France.
Watch the film’s official preview:
The Downtown campus is located at 2333 Western Avenue. The event, as always, is free.
On March 19, Pastor James will bring the series back to the Lake City campus for a screening of last year’s sci-fi thriller, District 9.
Pastor James has been Mars Hill Church’s resident film reviewer for eight years. He hosts Film & Theology events on the third Friday of every month at the Lake City Campus, where he is the campus pastor. For more of Pastor James, check out the Film & Theology video archives here. He publishes additional film commentary on his blog, cinemagogue.
The “Changed by Jesus” series features stories about how Jesus is working through the ministry of Mars Hill Church to change lives. If God has used Mars Hill to transform your life, email your story to testimony[at]marshillchurch.org.
By Libby
Downtown Seattle Campus
Just over two years ago my whole life was consumed with the question, “What if…?”
What if _________ happened? What if I fail? What if I’m not good enough?
With this worry came the sin of self-sufficiency. I didn’t believe Jesus was bigger than any issue I had in my life. I felt that I was the only one who could fix things and take care of things even though I fell flat on my face every single time.
After moving here from the mid-west (a second time), God brought me a challenge that would show me that only He was sufficient. I moved here knowing two people in the whole city, with no job and no place to live. But by God’s grace, I reconnected with two friends from college, and within two months of being here, I had a job and a place to live.
God used these friends to introduce me to Mars Hill because he knew I was likely to fall into old patterns of sin. I had never heard the Gospel like this before! I grew up very religious in a non-Christian home. I loved Jesus from the time I was little, but I received conflicting views about him.
It was the series Pastor Mark taught on the book of Philippians that first drew me in. This is also where God began to break me down and utterly destroy me. I learned that there was nothing I could do to earn His love for me, and there was nothing I could do that would take it away either. God also used my community group, who kept pushing me towards the light and away from old patterns of sin.
Redemption groups helped me to let go of the depression and self-infliction that had replaced Jesus in my teens and early twenties. The leaders showed me my own sin, and I was able to lay my sin and bitterness at Jesus’ feet without picking it back up again.
Three months later, I was laid off from work.
My flesh instantly wanted to go through all the motions it had used to “survive” in the past. Instead, by God’s grace, I started praying. I didn’t understand why it had happened, but I knew that it was for my good and His glory.
I meditated a lot on Philippians 4:6-7. In the last eight months I have learned to trust in him completely. I no longer worry how I’m going to pay rent, how I’m going to afford food, or if I’m going to be able to afford to ride the bus for the next month. God has provided all of these things and more.
He has surrounded me with a family here at Mars Hill that loves, encourages, and helps me in ways I never imagined possible. He has called me to serve full-time at the Downtown Campus, and it has been humbling to be a part of all that he is doing here and all over the world.
We’re in the middle of Lent. Or at least, per the Catholic Church’s calendar we are. In truth, we should be examining our idols, the things that take our eyes off Christ, all year round.
In case you missed it–and you shouldn’t–here’s the Downtown Campus’ Cam Huxford’s video on idols and the block of wood he used to worship: his guitar.
The heart of man is proud. We find created things to worship rather than the Creator God.
We make good things into god things. We build idols for ourselves that prove to be ridiculous. Here’s my story of such foolishness. Check out the video below.
I’ve had some amazing dinners recently.
By God’s grace (I certainly don’t deserve the privilege), in the past two weeks I’ve enjoyed the mealtime company of Pastor Rick Warren, Pastor John Piper, Dr. Ed Stetzer, Pastor Greg Laurie, and a bunch of other pastors like myself who no one has ever heard of—men like Dave Lomas who is slugging it out in the trenches of a San Francisco church plant.
The shortcut to humanizing any person—renowned or unknown—is to eat a meal together. You realize we’re all dependant on God to provide food for our sustenance, and the barriers of formality begin to crumble when you take turns in the buffet line, reach for a chocolate chip cookie, or wipe your face with a napkin.
These are small reminders that we’re more alike than not, just men united by Jesus and a shared mission to preach the Word and make disciples. I noticed another common and encouraging theme over the course of these interactions.
Each of these pastors could sit and teach for hours on end, dispensing wisdom they’ve accumulated over the years. But they didn’t. They took time to listen and ask questions—not just questions with simple, factual answers but deep questions that revealed a desire to humbly learn from the others at the table.
The last few weeks have been profound, and I’m deeply challenged to take every moment and every conversation as a learning opportunity. If these men ask a lot of questions then I’ve got no excuse.
Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” I saw this verse in action thanks to some very influential pastors. I was extremely encouraged by these meals that I’ll probably never forget.
And the sushi in LA was the best I’ve ever had.
Mars Hill Church is excited to announce that we’ve started to translate our resources into Spanish. 92% of our web traffic is from outside of Seattle and Spanish is one of the largest language groups that visit our site. More importantly, last year we opened a campus in Albuquerque and sent Acts 29 teams to South America.
We love resourcing and strengthening the global church so we want to make our downloadable resources available in as many languages as possible. We love local churches so we are raising up pastors in Mars Hill and Acts 29 with a passion to reach Spanish-speaking people with the Gospel.
We’ve started with the last few weeks of the Luke series and the Marriage & Men sermon from the 1 & 2 Peter Trial series. To view the subtitles push play, click on the “CC” tab in the video player, and select “ES”.
Jesus Calls Peter, James, & John
We’ll be translating more materials; including books and community group materials. If you work in translation and want to help with the translation review process, please let us know here.
Noventa y dos por ciento del tráfico de nuestro sitio web viene de afuera de la ciudad de Seattle, y mucho de esto viene de la comunidad hispanoparlante. Aún más importante, en el año pasado, abrimos un campus en Albuquerque en el estado de Nuevo México y mandamos equipos de la red Acts 29 (Hechos 29) en Sudamerica.
Nos encanta dar recursos y reforzar la iglesia global, así quisieramos hacer que nuestros recursos descargables estén disponibles en tantos idiomas como sea posible. Queremos a las iglesias locales, y por eso estamos elevando a los pastores de Mars Hill y la red Acts 29 con una pasión para traer el Evangelio al pueblo hispanoparlante.
Hemos empezado con los sermones de las últimas semanas de la serie Lucas y lo de Marriage & Men de la serie 1 y 2 Pedro Juicio. Para ver los subtítulos, haga click en “play”, luego en la lenguëta “CC” en el lector de video, y seleccione “ES.”
Marriage & Men (Matrimonio y Hombres)
Jesus The Prophet (Jesús el Profeta)
Jesus & Demons (Jesús y demonios)
Jesus Calls Peter, James, & John (Jesús llama a Pedro, Santiago, y Juan)
Estaremos trabajando para traducir más recursos, incluso libros y materials para los grupos comunitarios. Si usted trabaja en la traducción y quisiera ayudar en el proceso de revisar las traducciones, por favor avísenos AQUI.
John Piper’s powerful Sunday sermon on Romans 8:13, Be Killing Sin or It Will Be Killing You, is now available in the media library. You can watch, listen, or download it from the sermon page. You can also get all of our sermon content by subscribing to the Mars Hill iTunes podcast here.
For more sermons, [...]
The “Changed by Jesus” series features stories about how Jesus is working through the ministry of Mars Hill Church to change lives. If God has used Mars Hill to transform your life, email your story to testimony[at]marshillchurch.org.
By Libby
Downtown Seattle Campus
Just over two years ago my whole life was consumed with the question, “What if…?”
What if [...]
