Mount Hope Podcast

Who do you choose to follow? From the time in the garden to today, God has given humanity the ability to choose life and to pursue Him outside of pursuing our own righteous deeds. Follow along with Pastor Joe as he expounds on the two trees in the garden as we continue through the book of Romans.

If we don't understand what sin does, and what grace does, we spend our whole lives going up and down a ladder. Like a hamster on a hamster wheel —we spend lots of energy, but we don't go anywhere! We don't have time to go nowhere —You have a calling and a destiny! We are here to saturate this world with the hope that only Jesus brings!

Many of us try to live our lives trying to climb a ladder to God, thinking we can get closer—but then sin knocks us off and we have to start all over. What if God made an easier way? He did! Listen as Pastor Kevin continues in Romans 5, and shares on the great contrast between sin and grace and how Jesus on the cross repaired what one man, Adam, did in the garden.

What an honor it is to celebrate the amazing women in our lives, and everything they have done for us. Join Pastor Kevin, along with his mom and daughter as they continue the Romans series with a special thought for Mothers.

Whether you're single, married, or dating, unity is vital to long lasting relationship. Listen as our friends Harry & Cheryl Salem share on the power of unity and how to rely on God as your source of love. About the Salems Harry and Cheryl Salem are ministers of the gospel. Restoration has come full circle with the miracle birth of Roman and Stephanie’s girl, Mia Gabrielle. She is named for their daughter, Gabrielle Christian, who is in heaven since 1999. Their latest joy arrived the spring of this year. Roman Jr. is Roman and Stephanie’s second miracle baby of restoration for the Salem Family! The Salems have seen the altars flooded with people receiving salvation, with countless re-dedications, with miraculous healings and with bodies, lives, marriages and souls being restored because of His mighty anointing! Miss America Cheryl was crowned Miss America 1980, but tremendous adversities nearly ended that dream before it began. As a young girl, she survived a horrific car crash that cracked her back and

Sermon Series: Romans | Week 11: The Possibility in Problems Sunday, April 28, 2019 | Kevin Berry Romans 5:1-2 ESV Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. There is a part of your journey with God that includes: Past, Present, and Future. Why is it so important that we see this for what it really is? Justification – we have been made right in God’s sight: You are not justified over and over again... it’s a completed work. Some of you have been “saved” 50 times. That all works against peace. If you don’t know God has changed you, you will never try and change the world. Others miss out! If you think that God will take salvation from you because you sinned, then you forgot that the reason He gave it to you is because you sinned. We have peace with God – this speaks of the Father’s outstretched arms toward you. He wants t

Matt. 28:1-3,5-6 Early Sunday morning, as a new day was dawning, suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow! Then the angel spoke to the women, “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.” The Easter story is surrounded with looking. Soldiers looked at God’s Son hanging on the cross; Mary looked at an empty tomb with holy awe; forty days later, the disciples looked up into the sky watching Jesus ascend to Heaven. The Christian faith has always been a “looking” faith. We look at our past long enough to be thankful for what has been done for us; we look at our present with hope and the experience of God’s love cascading over our lives; and we look to the future with expectation and urgency. It seems like I’ve seen ducks all over the place lately, and t

Sermon Series: Romans | Week 9: The Picture That Keeps You Hoping Sunday, April 14, 2019 | Kevin Berry A picture is worth more than 1,000 words... and in the heart of every person there is a picture. It’s a picture of better... for some it’s a picture of: - What a marriage/family could look like: peace, love, joy in your home to replace all baggage and drama - Being accepted, healed, free - Success, fruitfulness, better future financially, relationally - Ultimately, it’s a picture of what it looks like to be loved and to love. Two guys were involved in a head-on collision in Germany. Severe fog made visibility horrible. Each car was driving at a snail’s pace with one guy heading north the other heading south. The fog was so bad, both drivers stuck their heads out their windows. It was only a matter of time before their heads smacked together... a real head-on collision. Both men were hospitalized with severe head injuries, though neither of their cars were scratched. Why? They could not see! This is the prob

Sermon Series: Romans | Week 8: Faith and God’s Transfer Sunday, April 7, 2019 | Kevin Berry Everything we have read in Romans so far has all been leading up to where we are today. Nobody is righteous, no, not one (Rom. 3:10) and then... we are all in the same boat... all have sinned (Rom. 3:23)! Romans 3:24, 26b TPT Yet, through his powerful declaration of acquittal, God freely gives away his righteousness. His gift of love and favor now cascades over us, all because Jesus, the Anointed One, has liberated us from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin! So now, because we stand on the faithfulness of Jesus, God declares us righteous in his eyes. What? He freely gives away his righteousness? How can this be? Have you noticed something about little kids? They really want you to watch them! They say nonstop, “Look! Look what I can do! Watch me!” as they jump up and down on a trampoline, ride a bike, or do something new. The truth is even though adults don’t say it anymore, inside we are often still looking for

Series Title: Romans: Good News for You Peter Reeves | March 31, 2019 – Jesus, I’m Convinced You Love Me Romans 3:21-31 CEV Background: -Paul is writing to people he never expects will agree. -Jews vs Gentiles -The argument is about how we get God to accept us. -This portion of scripture is Paul screaming, “Stop! Would you just listen?” Let’s look at verses 21-22: “Now we see how God does make us acceptable to him. The Law and the Prophets tell how we become acceptable, and it isn't by obeying the Law of Moses. God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ.” -Trust Jesus, and Jesus alone. -Everything that will truly satisfy you in life is on the other side of trusting Jesus. -“If we follow the rules we will be in right standing with God.” -Here’s the sad truth: You could be so busy following the rules, you forget to follow Jesus. -Jesus never said to follow rules; He said to follow Him. -Because He never wanted us to listen His orders without understanding His hear

Introduction: The Benefit of Contrast We are going to talk about contrast. Contrast is necessary for understanding. For example you can’t understand a star’s light at noonday. But the contrast of dark space exposes it’s light. Romeo and Juliet, and classic literary example of contrasting love and hate Michiganders have a special appreciation for warm summers because we know the agony of a cold winters Photo Example: Girl with a doll in the ruins of her home after the bombing of London, 1940. (WWII, German’s bomb London in The Blitz) MAIN QUESTION: My question is can we truly appreciate salvation if we don’t understand judgment? Today, one of the greatest deceptions of the devil is to delude moral absolutes. His strategy is to twist black and white truth into a sea of gray opinions. If there is not absolute standard of morality then our conscious is free to give into our own selfish and fallen nature. Furthermore if there is no moral standard, then we cannot be held accountable. If there is no wrong t

Sermon Series: Romans | Wk 4: Getting YOU Out of The Way Sunday, March 17, 2019 | Kevin Berry The book of Romans – a book, a letter, in the Bible that has consistently changed people and changed the world. It’s a deep book; it’s like getting into the deep end of the pool. Together, we are getting our spiritual floaties off, and getting into the deep end of God’s love – the deep end of who Jesus is, and what He has made available to you today! Romans is GOOD NEWS for you! Let’s expect that God is going to do some transformation in our lives. Introduction: Getting YOU out of the way One of your biggest growth moments in life will be when you get YOU out of the way. The difficulty with the Jewish believers Paul addressed was that they were standing in the way of being right with God. They were relying on themselves, their Jewish status, smarts, and works, when they needed to rely on the Spirit’s work within them. Every person can get “themselves” out of the way. How? Paul moves from “they” – the corrupt, deprave

You Need to Hear This, Part 2 Sunday, March 10, 2019 | Kevin Berry Introduction – Life is full of good news and warnings… and the truth is, we need both of them. Luke 3:18 – speaking of John the Baptist: John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News. GOOD NEWS AND WARNINGS GO TOGETHER! There are certain things we want to hear – good news. Spring is coming! Warm weather is coming! We want to hear things like: You are going to get through what you are going through; I know it hurts, I’m so sorry; You might not see it now, but you are going to be okay. Then there are those things we need to hear – warnings. Renee and I will be heading to Florida soon, and on the plane we are going to hear these words, “In case of a water landing…” and very few will actually listen. I’ve heard it all before; I’ve actually plugged my ears because I didn’t want to hear it again. The problem is, it’s not just that we don’t want to hear warnings… we often ignore them. It seems like we used to give more attention to war

Romans: Good News for You Series Kevin Berry | March 3, 2019 Romans is a book that repeatedly changes the world by changing people. This study together is all about transformation for you, our church, and our community. Fortune Cookies... why do they give them out? Perhaps because everybody wants to be told that they are going to be okay, that things will work out; they want to hear some good news in their world that’s so full of bad news. Of course, we can’t and shouldn’t take fortune cookie seriously. But, Christians can and must take the Bible seriously. When you see a promise in God’s Word, your heart should leap for joy. • For example: Hannah’s deep grief and private prayer to the Lord found in 1 Sam 1 teaches us that God prepares to display publically, what you have prayed for privately. He starts making arrangements in response to what you prayed (1 Sam 1:19 MSG). We should take hold of a verse like that and allow our faith to rise as we expect the Lord to answer, as we keep on asking, seeking, and kno

“Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless. So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun. Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:1-4 NLT

Good News: Everybody could use some. How about you? In the headlines: “’One of my worst fears,’ says man who choked mountain lion.” On February 4, 2019, Travis Kauffman was running in the mountains of Colorado when a mountain lion lunged at him, latching onto his wrist and clawing his face and legs. As Travis tumbled to the ground, he grabbed sticks, rocks, anything to defend himself with, but nothing worked. At that moment, he said his fear response turned into a fight. Some things are worth fighting for! He fought for his life, his future, his family. Though the lion refused to let him go, he was able to get his foot on the lion’s neck and choke it to death. Twenty-eight stitches later and grateful to be alive, he said, "The story is bigger than my puny form." Some of you have been in a fight. I see it in some of your eyes... you’re tired of the fight. The bad news has been so fatiguing, and you could use some good news. Peace be to you! Good news: The story is bigger than you. The story of God’s grace—

"Every penny given, every prayer prayed, there is a life changed at the end of it." From the children in Iran, the single parents in Lansing, to the beggars in Argentina, people matter. Get ready for more, miracles, and multiplication as we live out the mission to declare the gospel to every nation, tribe, and tongue. Listen as Pastor Geoff Bassett shares the heart of the church and how you are impacting lives all across the nation. Will you help by praying for our 310 missionaries in 120 countries? Will pray change your prayer from "should I go on a mission trip?" to "which trip should I go on?" Will to pray "Lord, how can I be a missionary in my sphere you given me?"

When ever God is looking to do something on the earth, He looks for a someone. As we look at the last chapters of Jonah, we see God's compassion for the people and invites Jonah to bring a life-changing message. Open your heart to God as He wants to bring change into someone else's life and is inviting you to be a part.

Follow along with Pastor Kevin as we journey through the book of Jonah and how immediate obedience is vital in this upcoming year for a year of open doors!

Get your expectations up as we enter 2019! There's a blank canvas in front of us and we get to partner with the Holy Spirit to paint our future by opening our hearts and allowing the King of glory fo enter! Follow along with Pastor Kevin as he shares how to be prepared for more, miracles, and multiplication this year.