Kyle Mercer

Either the tomb is empty or Christianity is… Thank God He is Risen! Happy Easter to you and your family!

My Easter Message this weekend is focused on the first question asked at Easter… “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5) The empty tomb confronts us with a question about where we are trying to find life!

Has anyone else been using ChatGPT in sermon prep? If so, how do you utilize it? I have found it helpful in summarizing doctrines, passages & creating helpful categories for topics. Been surprised how orthodox and evangelical all the answers are.

Let’s go @WakeMBB !!

So pumped about our FUTURE HOME & HUB -It’s a home b/c we are family -It’s hub b/c we are missionaries By God’s grace we are making a generational & geographical move to cement ourselves in the center of downtown for a century I pray it will be a place of worship & witness

@howertonjosh @jdgreear @SummitRDU Thanks @howertonjosh ! We need to get you up here to preach once we get in the new building.

So excited to preach here again this morning at @summitrdu church plant, 2 Cities Church in Winston-Salem. God’s hand is all over this church, experiencing revival. Packed to gills. Old friends. Amazing, under leadership of @kylewmercer Give God praise, @SummitRDU!

Thanks @jdgreear! Grateful to have you in town!

Working on sermon for Joshua 2 The hope is to call our church to take risks like the spies and Rahab did. There are 2 types of risk: - Going Risk - Spies - Welcoming Risk - Rahab We want to create a church where people take personal risks to bring Christ to every relationship

@ErikReed Agree! I’ve been doing a Vision Weekend at Two Cities Church at the beginning of the year the last few years & have seen much fruit from it.

“Pastors that talk about vision are just copying business principles for the church!” Wrong. 🧵5 arguments for leading your church with vision:

@JonathanLeeman Yes, I have heard it said that many leadership structures work or don't work b/c of the godly or ungodly men that are in them. Sometimes okay leadership structures work because the men in them are godly. And the best don't work b/c of the lack of godliness of the men in them.

The New Testament spends far more ink on elder qualifications than on a job description, because those qualifications are the job description. His job is to live out the Christian life before the church in word and deed so they can follow.

Preaching thru Joshua I am reminded of the importance of land in the Bible. Five types of land: 1. Eden - Where we long to be 2. Egypt - Where we are slaves 3. Wilderness - Where you get stuck 4. Canaan - Where you fight battles 5. Babylon - Where you get sent in rebellion

@nathanafinn @nathanafinn great to hear from you Appreciate your & kind & helpful feedback. Yes, I agree w/ you I am thinking about what pastors do & I think we need a good mixture of teaching & preaching. What I think Whitfield called light & fire. Too many settle for only light or fire

Thoughts on the difference btwn teaching & preaching… TEACHING - I want you to know this (information) PREACHING - I want you to do something w/ this (transformation) The key to good preaching is the constant call to respond to all that God has said w/ all that we are.

Luther’s view on preaching in a painting. One finger on the Bible and other pointing to Jesus. Everyone is fixated on Christ crucified and not the preacher.

Working on Joshua 1 sermon this week… Big Idea: We need to welcome & walk in the promises of God. Joshua is picture of what it means to take God at His Word & take our next step!

The past 2 weekends we launched our ministry plan & prayer emphasis We want to be a church that is strategic & sensitive to the Spirit. We are focused & flexible. We want our people to know our plan & the part they play. We believe in God’s sovereignty & man’s responsibility

Off to preach on what it looks like to pass on the faith to next generation. Succession is never easy but also never optional. Everyone’s life & leadership is temporary. Hoping to build a church where we pass on our Christian values & vision of God to the coming generation!

My time w/ @JonTyson showed me the importance of art & its power in communicating Christian truth. The painting below summarizes Martin Luther’s view on preaching. Notice his 1 finger is on the Bible & 1 finger is pointing to Jesus. Christ is who everybody is looking at!

This picture is from an ordination ceremony I led last night where we ordained 2 men to gospel ministry Ordination is how we say to these men “we believe you are called to full-time vocational ministry & we want to publicly recognize that” The charge came from 1 Tim. 4:6-16

It’s stories like this that fill me w/ righteous anger toward those who advocate for gender reassignment surgery for kids… heartbreaking story… When you go against God’s design it only leads to death & destruction.