Mountaintop Church: Recent Episodes
Mountaintop Church
Humanity bears the image of God. Not just one of us, but all of us. You have never looked into the eyes of someone who did not bear the image of God. Every nation in creation shares this image-bearing mark. This is a core, foundational belief for people of faith. However, this understanding creates some complexity. When it comes to disagreements, politics and even military conflict and war, we easily forget the people on the other side are made in the image of God. So, let’s look at what the scriptures say, and then take a look at five postures that are necessary and Godly as people of faith.Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Hkd1kq7LocA
Lead Pastor, Carter McInnis
You’ve probably got some strong opinions about these complex issues: RACE, HOMOSEXUALITY, ABORTION, GENDER IDENTITY AND POLITICS. That's OK. This series, Complex Conversations, is not about what to think but about how to think, especially about the Bible and our mission as Christians. We aim to present a faithful and honest interpretation of God’s Word and ask you to consider how your opinions are being shaped by it. This series will focus on how to engage with these issues, and maybe how to think about them in a way you haven’t considered before.Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/zJnhHlvHtYM
Lead Pastor, Carter McInnis
The resurrection is the reason that we can experience the joy of the presence of God through the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t mean life will always be easy or feel like a party; it just means that God will always be with us. The resurrection launched a New Life that is available to all who believe. And it’s available to you. So, the question, kids (and all of us) is: Will you join the party Jesus started?This Sunday will look a little different from a typical Sunday at Mountaintop. That's because it's VBS Kickoff Sunday! We're starting a kid-centered week of fun and learning at Mountaintop with a huge party in the Auditorium! Watch the full Live recording to experience the rest of the service!FULL SERVICE: https://youtube.com/live/wE86uT-MEFsLearn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
How many times in your life, have you ended up somewhere for the 100th time and you don’t even remember getting there. You don’t even know why you are there at that same empty well, confused about why it’s not fulfilling you… Maybe, right now, you can feel a fresh wind blowing or a new fire burning… Maybe you're wondering, “What's next? Where do I go now? Because I can't go back to the status quo. I can't go back to something missing."
Jake Davis
Creative and Digital Pastor
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Today, we’re going to see Paul experience a different world than every other town he’d visited. Paul had a strategy with every town he visited. He would go to the Synagogue & talk to Jews first, and then to God-fearing Greeks. He was speaking in a religious setting to religious people who respected the Hebrew God. But when Paul arrived in Athens, he saw a city unlike any city he had been to before…
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
There are no promises that the opposition will quit. There are no promises that there won’t be adversity. There are no promises that problems won’t chase you down. There are no promises that it will ever be EASY. In fact, it won’t be easy. And that is a lesson Paul learns. Paul is sent away from the town where he's preaching the Gospel for his own safety and the believers think Paul’s work is done. Paul surely wanted to help the believers become more established, but he discovered such an important lesson that every believer has to realize: Sometimes, you’ve got to leave it in God’s hands.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Au0Z_aNWnmY
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis, Lead Pastor
More than ever, as a society, we are really good at drawing lines in the sand. After all, a distinctive trait of the modern world is that WE ARE DIVIDED. It's us versus them. It's the way we do it versus the way they do it. It's what seems right to us versus what seems right to them. We draw lines about behaviors, political platforms, cultural ideologies… And we Christians have a tendency to draw the wrong line in the sand. No one understood this better or could see through this better than the Apostle Paul, because this problem has been around since the church began 2,000 years ago.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/suIV4ZMz59I
About 2,000 years ago, the Apostle Paul ventured out on a road trip, and it changed the world. It is not hyperbole to say that The Apostle Paul changed the world more than any other human besides Jesus. In fact, you could say Paul amplified Jesus’ impact on the world. He let the world outside Jerusalem know who Jesus was.Paul is doing what he’s been called to do, led by the Holy Spirit, confirmed by those that have joined him, and he faced heavy opposition.Don’t think that just because you’re being obedient to God that it’s going to be easy street. In fact, if you’re in leadership, you know that if you’re not facing some kind of opposition, you’re probably not trying to make a real difference. In this series, we'll follow Paul along his Road Trip to Change the World!Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Do we really want God in our marriage? Or do we only want God in our marriage if it's comfortable? Because God's design for winning in marriage is a lifelong exercise in losing… Marriage, at its best, is a picture of Christ and His church. Jesus died for the Church, surrendered, deferred, put us above himself. And our response in loving him back is to die to ourselves, to yield authority in our lives to him, even if it’s unnatural and difficult. Marriage gives us a glimpse of that.
Lead Pastor, Carter McInnis
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/EBEqvdagbZY
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 a dirty thing; it was part of the created order of us humans that God has made in His image. He designed us with sex in mind. It’s so important that an entire book of the Bible seems to be dedicated to it. It’s called the Song of Songs.
Lead Pastor
Carter McInnisLearn More about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/TaFW47N0Tzw
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 DECISIONS are what count… Download the Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/events/jesus-a-research-project/ Messages from the previous two years of this series can be found at https://mountaintopchurch.com/watch/
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/yloXXFwkr5ALearn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 the previous two years of this series can be found at https://mountaintopchurch.com/watch/
Videos: https://youtu.be/LRMXtDqtXGE Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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, JESUS, is part of a Five Year Journey we're on as a church, where we'll take a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of each of the Gospel writers and stories that are unique to those gospels. Then in year five, we'll hear the crossover stories. Each year, this series will lead us up to Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his promise of eternal life through him.
Download the Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/events/jesus-a-research-project/
Messages from the previous two years of this series can be found at https://mountaintopchurch.com/watch/
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 thoroughly investigated Jesus's life by talking with numerous eyewitnesses. Maybe he’s the only one who had access to wealthy followers who resonated with these stories. Or perhaps he included them because that’s precisely the kind of people he planned to teach about Jesus. Whatever the case, Luke was listening…This series, JESUS, is part of a Five Year Journey we're on as a church, where we'll take a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of each of the Gospel writers and stories that are unique to those gospels. Then in year five, we'll hear the crossover stories. Each year, this series will lead us up to Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his promise of eternal life through him.Download the Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/events/jesus-a-research-project/ Messages from the previous two years can be found at https://mountaintopchurch.com/watch/ Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 a Five Year Journey we're on as a church, where we'll take a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of each of the Gospel writers and stories that are unique to those gospels. Then in year five, we'll hear the crossover stories. Each year, this series will lead us up to Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his promise of eternal life through him.Download the Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/events/jesus-a-research-project/ Messages from the previous two years can be found at https://mountaintopchurch.com/watch/ Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/3NmvEdnAm-Y
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 was a dinner to which he had invited Jesus… It's a story that's only found in the gospel of Luke.This series, JESUS, is part of a Five Year Journey we're on as a church, where we'll take a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of each of the Gospel writers and stories that are unique to those gospels. Then in year five, we'll hear the crossover stories. Each year, this series will lead us up to Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his promise of eternal life through him. Download the Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/events/jesus-a-research-project/ Messages from the previous two years can be found at https://mountaintopchurch.com/watch/ Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 Luke was writing his account, he had to do some research, and that is the story of JESUS: A Research Project.
This series, JESUS, is part of a Five Year Journey we're on as a church, where we'll take a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of each of the Gospel writers and stories that are unique to those gospels. Then in year five, we'll hear the crossover stories. Each year, this series will lead us up to Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his promise of eternal life through him.
Get the Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/events/jesus-a-research-project/
Messages from the previous two years can be found at https://mountaintopchurch.com/watch/
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 forgiveness. Your destiny is determined by the One who delivered you, not the things you do.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/2fBrsGH7aCI
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://mountaintopchurch.com
Video: https://youtu.be/H3rX1UATHIE
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 no such thing as someone born on third base when it comes to relationship to God. We all start at Square One. This is what Jesus defines as Great Faith.
Watch Here: https://youtu.be/xNaileW5qSU
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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, so you begin again. The truth is, we all start at Square One, and we all end up back at Square One along the way. Thankfully, we have a Square One faith, and Jesus meets us where we are with grace.
Video: https://youtu.be/Tl2l0-PfzBY
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 everything will change immediately, but we do think at least some of it will. Then as time goes on, we find ourselves still doing the same things we did before becoming a Christian, and asking whether or not this stuff really works…But here's the key: Spiritual Disciplines are not the end goal! We're after Godliness, not just a new routine. Read: 1 Timothy 4:7-10Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 not impossible. Impossible implies another force outside this world will have to override math or physics or gravity or reality. Impossible only becomes possible through the supernatural. So what happens when you surrender to God's power in your life?
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 become less.” John 3:30
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 Apostle Paul says is critical in dealing with these thoughts and in maintaining our mental and emotional health.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 all isn’t if you buy something else on Amazon. The problem is that some of the messages of the world are not healthy – spiritually, mentally or emotionally.
Conforming to the world will convince you that you’ve got to do something, wear something, drive something, be something in order to be somebody. And you can get in some really dark places because of this. But we don’t arrive at who we are by mistake. Our patterns form us. And if we aren’t careful, conforming to the world’s patterns can damage our spiritual health. Conforming our minds to a repetition of behaviors or input or relationships that constantly reinforce the world’s sense of reality, might have you thinking that there’s not really an unseen world or a spiritual element to the unseen you.
But there is another way.
God wants to renew your mind. And you have a role to play. You can create patterns that produce spiritual health. You just have to decide if you think your spiritual reality will make a difference in everything else.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 the church about mental, spiritual and emotional health, and dig into scripture for insights we might not have thought about before. Luke 10:38-41
Carter McInnis, Lead PastorLearn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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: https://mountaintopchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Trusting-God-Moses-Group-Study-FINAL-VERSION.pdf
Josh Power
Student Pastor
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 Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Trusting-God-Moses-Group-Study-FINAL-VERSION.pdf Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 without our actions. When we act on those truths, God’s purposes on earth come to life, and that’s never been seen more vividly than with Moses.
Study Guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Trusting-God-Moses-Group-Study-FINAL-VERSION.pdf Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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/uploads/2023/09/Trusting-God-Moses-Group-Study-FINAL-VERSION.pdf Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 than what we’ve always been. But belonging to the Kingdom of God does not look like belonging to the Kingdoms of this world. Behavior modification isn’t a requirement for belonging to Jesus. You can belong before you become.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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, Lead PastorLearn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 want isn't always what I need. Jesus didn't just teach self-control, he modeled it.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 up to my expectations and yet, again and again, my soul longs for this elusive thing called HOME... God has provided a solution for this, and this series called beLONGING, is going to tackle this longing for belonging that is universal to us all.
Learn more about Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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
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 exterior stimulus. It must be something you have when you can’t get it.
Download the review guide: https://mountaintopchurch.com/peace/
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 and clarity, its big blowups and small victories. And no matter our family makeup or our children's personalities, many of us experience anxiety over our children's futures and often fear making a mistake.
Andy and Sandra Stanley are no strangers to this feeling. As parents of three grown children and cofounders of North Point Ministries, they are seasoned experts on faith and parenting. Together they have spent decades counseling countless families, mentoring others, and learning from mentors of their own, all while leading one of the largest churches in the country.
In Parenting: Getting It Right, Andy and Sandra combine their experience and wisdom into a guide that helps readers understand and live by essential parenting principles.
Learn more about Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 split apart our love for God and our love for others. We've somehow convinced ourselves that we can love God and be mean to people. Here’s a better way to think about it: Are Christians known as the most loving people on earth? No, we’re not. But John, who was in the inner circle of Jesus’s three closest disciples, says we should be.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 that we can't replace the work of the Spirit with our own effort.
"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no loaw against these things." - Galatians 5:22-23
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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-2a
Focus determines direction. Direction shapes decisions. Decisions create destiny. If you don't fix your eyes on Jesus, you can lose focus on your faith!
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
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? Societal, structural, and mental? Hurt? Church hurt, family hurt, friendship hurt, dating hurt?You’re a believer, but there are some barriers before you see yourself as in influencer. Let's talk about that. Learn more about Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 we all used our influence for the Kingdom of God, for His purposes, for His good? By the end of today, here's what I hope you realize: If we are open to the work of God in us, we’ll be amazed to see the work of God through us. But God might need to change me and you in order to change the world. Learn more about Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
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 Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Jake Davis
College & Creative Pastor
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 is the heartbeat of following Jesus. The waiting makes us question if God is trustworthy, if God will come through. The waiting is the point. The message of the parable we'll study today is plain: Do what only you can do so God can do what only He can do. Obey and wait.This series, JESUS, is part of a Five Year Journey we're on as a church, where we'll take a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of each of the Gospel writers and stories that are unique to those gospels. Then in year five, we'll hear the crossover stories. Each year, this series will lead us up to Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his promise of eternal life through him.Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
March 26, 2023
VIDEO Here: https://youtu.be/P88WvVrLdVM
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 to do, so we scrap it all and go back to school; or get a real estate license; or finally start our own business and start all over. Because sometimes you just need to start over. Do you need to start over? Does it feel like what is written on the pages of your past is unredeemable or unfixable? Like you’ve made such a mess that it would be best to gut your life for a complete renovation? By the time we wrap our heads around this passage today, I hope to show you that not only is it possible for you to start over but that the renovation has already begun, and it all starts with Jesus.
This series, JESUS, is part of a Five Year Journey we're on as a church, where we'll take a look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of each of the Gospel writers and stories that are unique to those gospels. Then in year five, we'll hear the crossover stories. Each year, this series will lead us up to Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his promise of eternal life through him.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
March 12, 2023
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 can love others as he loved me. I can lay down my life FOR others the way he laid down his life FOR me. And I’m asking you to take some tangible steps this week, on commitment Sunday. Learn more about the FOR Campaign at https://mountaintopchurch.com/FOR
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/6BYeqRiYvmE
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
March 5, 2023
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 about Mountaintop Church and the FOR Campaign, visit: https://mountaintopchurch.com/for
CarterMcInnis
Lead Pastor
Ben Cathey
Executive Pastor
February 26, 2023
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 the potential to change the world for God out there. That’s why: The most important thing we do FOR Birmingham is change more lives IN Birmingham.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
February 19, 2023
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 a responsibility to do something with this faith that's been handed down to us.
At Mountaintop, we're unapologetically FOR families because we believe that one more changed home can shape a generation. If we are serious about our mission to Invite and equip people to follow Jesus, it is imperative that we invite and equip young people -- and their parents -- to follow Jesus.
FOR One. FOR Families. FOR Birmingham.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at: https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
February 12, 2023
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.
Find out more about Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
February 5, 2023
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: Since God is love, we need to know God to know how to love.
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
Part of our mission at Mountaintop is to equip people to follow Jesus, including equipping people to follow Jesus in their marriages and dating relationships. We want you to win at love. And that's what this series is all about. The stakes of losing are too high. And if marriage isn't for you, we want to equip you to walk through life with your friends and family who are struggling in committed relationships.
Find out more about Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
January 15, 2023
Life can be painful, and often that pain is disorienting and confusing. But pain also has the ability to clarify what's most important.
In this episode, we're blessed to host pastor James Savage from Cross Point Church in Tennessee. Join us as he explains how in Christ we find out who we are and what we are living for.
Find out more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
James Savage
Guest Speaker
January 8, 2023
Happy New Year! Start 2023 with a Kingdom First focus with Mountaintop Church.
"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." - Matthew 6:33
CarterMcInnis
Lead Pastor
January 1, 2023
Christmas is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. But, it’s also the most PRESSURE-filled time of the year. Family expectations, end of the year at work, all those communal things we feel every December... And that's on top of the pressure we feel the rest of the year: Parental pressure, family pressure, financial pressure, social pressure... Pressure has weight and odds are that you are carrying some of that around. And it’s very possible that the Christmas season has only made it worse. BUT the first Christmas actually announced an end to the weight of that pressure. There is freedom in the promise of forever through Jesus.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
December 18, 2022
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? We are our own worst critics. We know all our shortcomings. We see obstacles. We see a million reasons why God CAN’T do something in us and through us. BUT where we see obstacles, God sees opportunities. If there were no obstacles there would be no opportunity for Him to show his omnipotence through our obedience.
Find out more about Mountaintop at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
December 11, 2022
When life is good, it’s not hard to be grateful. And you probably don’t need reminders about how good God is in those times. But we all know life is fragile, and not all of us are going through seasons of gratitude. Some of us are going through the grind. Life is hard right now. But one of the great promises of Christmas is that even when the deck seems stacked against us, God is WITH us.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
December 4, 2022
In Genesis, God makes a promise to Abram - who later became Abraham - that He would make Abram's family into a nation, so that his family could bless all the nations. By the end of the message today, I hope you can see that God is not only a Promise Keeper, but that His promises are continuing to be kept through each of us.
Josh Power
Student Pastor
November 27, 2022
What if there isn’t a prescription or formula for prayer? What if it’s different depending on the season you’re in or how you’re feeling? Sometimes prayer’s a lot of things, and the main way to do it wrong is to not do it at all. So I want to take a model of prayer from Jesus himself. Who better to learn from?
As kids, we all eventually outgrow our shoes, but many of us never outgrew our prayers. In fact, we still pray the same way we did as kids! And maybe that’s a problem. What if there’s a better way? In this series, we’re going to talk about why we pray, how we pray, and what it means to pray as an adult.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
November 20, 2022
As kids, we all eventually outgrow our shoes, but many of us never outgrew our prayers. In fact, we still pray the same way we did as kids! And maybe that’s a problem. What if there’s a better way? In this series, we’re going to talk about why we pray, how we pray, and what it means to pray as an adult.
In this message, Pastor Jake Davis walks us through the way Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6.
Jake Davis
College Pastor
November 13, 2022
As kids, we all eventually outgrow our shoes, but many of us never outgrew our prayers. In fact, we still pray the same way we did as kids! And maybe that’s a problem. What if there’s a better way? In this series, we’re going to talk about why we pray, how we pray, and what it means to pray as an adult.
This week, Toni Collier visits with us at Mountaintop Church and talks about grown up prayers along with her new book, "Brave Enough to Be Broken: How to embrace your pain and discover hope and healing."
Learn more about Mountaintop Church at https://mountaintopchurch.com
Toni Collier
Guest Speaker
November 6, 2023
When you pull out your phone and use a maps app to get directions, you often get two or three options. They're all a little different, but eventually, they all get you to the same destination. But is religion like that? Aren’t all religions different roads to the same destination? Aren’t they just telling you different ways to end up on the good side of eternity? Well... no. And Christianity is distinct because Christianity is taking a different road in a different vehicle to an entirely different kind of destination.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
October 23, 2022
Don’t good people from all religions go to heaven? Don’t all religions tell you about how to be good and have a good afterlife? Well, the answer to that is, "No." They don’t all even have an afterlife as part of their doctrine and many of them have different definitions of good. Some aren’t even concerned with good and evil. This series is NOT about is picking apart other religions. It is about clarifying the unique truths about Christianity because what makes Christianity different makes all the difference.
If you would like to talk to someone about putting your faith in Jesus, follow this link: https://mountaintopchurch.com/digital-next-steps
In this series, called "Aren't They All the Same?" we want to equip Christians to do what Peter said we should do: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." - 1 Peter 3:15b-16.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
October 16, 2022
There's a certain dilemma that tempts us all, and it has the ability threaten our relationship with every person we know, every dream we have and every dollar we make. Greed is relentless. But we have a powerful weapon against it: Generosity.
Ben Cathey
Executive Pastor
October 9, 2022
"But God." When life Goes wrong this is one of the most important phrases we cling to: But God. When Joseph sees his brothers again, he tells them "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." This doesn’t mean God causes bad things to happen to us. It means God can bring His good from your bad. Joseph chose integrity, character, faithfulness and trust when life went wrong.
Have you ever had a time when it just seems like everything is going wrong? We see pain and tragedy in the world around us, and we experience it in our own lives. In this series, we'll take a look at the life of Joseph, talk about the many different ways his life went wrong despite his faithfulness, and discover hope in the midst of the chaos. VISIT: https://mountaintopchurch.com
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
October 2, 2022
Will I trust God’s way when I can’t see God’s will? This is what really matters. Everyone would trust God if circumstances always played out the way you hoped and if every story had a happy ending and if there were never any unknowns. The rubber meets the road with faith in this question. When I can’t see what he’s doing, will I still walk in his way?
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
September 25, 2022
Sometimes when things go wrong, our ethics fly out the window. We don’t get to decide the results; we just get to decide our response. I wish I could tell you that bad people will get what’s coming to them and that everything will go well with you if you have integrity. But we don’t control the results; we just control our response. And the question that matters isn’t if we’ll come out on top. The question is: Will I be the kind of person God’s calling me to be when circumstances aren’t what I hoped they would be?
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
September 18, 2022
What are we supposed to do when life goes wrong? I wish I could tell you how to steer clear of everything that goes wrong in life, but I can't. What I hope is that you’ll be able to hold firm to the one thing you can control in a chaotic world and why it’s the most important thing anyway. By the end of this message, I want to give you some truth that can help you be ready for the next time life goes wrong. Because we all know it will.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
September 11, 2022
Everybody has opinions. And if you and I aren’t careful, we can let the opinions of others shape our identity. We can begin to believe that we are what others say about us. But that would be a LIE. The truth is, the only opinion that counts is your creator's.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
September 4, 2022
What shapes your image? What in the world is influencing your identity? Image is powerful, and the internet has only added to the image of being an influencer or having a platform. But here’s the LIE: Our outward image verified our inward value. The truth is: You were created in the image of God. So the only image that matters, is the one you already have.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
August 28, 2022
It's easy to get our identity wrapped up in who we are compared to others. But it never satisfies. That's because the comparison is a lie. God, who created you, never once wanted you to compare yourself to others. Comparison corrupts God's creativity.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
August 21, 2022
Who am I? Am I defined by my generation? My race? My background? My family history? My political party? What school I go to or went to? What team I cheer for? Am I a voting block? Am I just a statistic? What, exactly, defines me? Often, we have a LIE-dentity. What we have come to believe about ourselves actually isn’t true. It’s based on a lie. And the lie we often believe is: I am my past.
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
August 14, 2022
There's nothing moral or immoral about money. It's just money. We can buy stuff we don't need or shouldn't have, we can be selfish with it, we can hoard it... Or we can spend it in really beautiful ways. But let's be honest, most of us spend it on mindless stuff. The question I want us to wrestle with today is: Do you have money? Or does money have you?
Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor
July 31, 2022
There's a battle going on for your heart. Every day we encounter promises from the world that one thing or another will bring us the happiness for which we've been searching. But somehow, those promises always fall short. This is why...
In this baseball-themed series called Hardball, we're looking at the Tough Love offered by the Book of James. Join us each Sunday at 915a and 11a on campus or online!
Jake Davis
College Pastor
July 24, 2022
Words matter. You know it. You’ve felt their impact. You’ve been on both sides of words that have hurt. You’ve been in relationships in which words caused the riff that ended it. Words matter. They linger & last. They wound and heal. And we’re going see by the time we’re done today how Jesus’ brother, James, says that words don’t just matter, they’re not just important. He makes a bold claim: Words determine direction.
Lead Pastor | Carter McInnis
Sunday July 17, 2022
Chair of the Board of Directors Sandra Cleveland & Executive Pastor Ben Cathey
July 19, 2020