Midtown Presbyterian Church

Live In Love | How Much Do You Love Mercy? - Luke 7:36-50 - Luke Parker

It is week 6 of our Live In Love sermon series, as Luke Parker asks us how much we love Mercy. This morning, Luke 7:31-50 confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: we are all masters at rigging the game of righteousness in our favor. Through the vivid story of a woman known as a sinner anointing Jesus at a Pharisee's dinner party, we discover that our scorekeeping mentality prevents us from experiencing true mercy. The message challenges our tendency to judge others while justifying ourselves, whether we lean toward religious conservatism or progressive inclusivity. We see how Simon the Pharisee treated Jesus as important but not most important, staffing out hospitality rather than offering it personally. In contrast, the woman brought everything she had, using her own hair and expensive perfume to honor Christ. The central revelation is staggering: God forgave us long before we ever asked, and those who recognize how much they've been forgiven love most deeply. This isn't about earning mercy through good works or maintaining a spiritual scorecard. It's about drawing close to the Son of righteousness and being radiated with His warmth and light until mercy flows naturally from our lives. The story of Saint Pelagia reminds us that no one is beyond the transforming power of encountering someone who truly loves mercy.

Live In Love | Responding to Evil with Good/Love - Romans 12:9-21 - Clint Leavitt

Our Western culture likes to throw the word "Love" around constantly, but when conflict arises, our definitions quickly crumble. Week five of Live in Love dives into Paul's thoughts about love in Romans 12:9-21, challenging us to move beyond love as a fleeting feeling and embrace it as a consistent, costly action. Drawing from psychiatrist M. Scott Peck's insight that love is the will to extend oneself for another's spiritual growth, we're confronted with a radical truth: genuine love is tested not when things are easy, but precisely when we face disappointment, betrayal, and opposition. Paul's letter to the Romans isn't a rulebook for earning God's approval—it's a description of family values for those who already know they're loved by Christ. The passage walks us through the house of love, opening door after door: hating evil while holding fast to good, showing mutual affection as brothers and sisters, maintaining passionate zeal, rejoicing in hope amid suffering, practicing radical generosity and hospitality. Most challenging of all, we're called to stay open-hearted even when others hurt us, refusing to let evil reproduce itself through our vengeful responses. The burning coals we heap on our enemies' heads aren't instruments of revenge but life-giving fire that might spark transformation. This kind of love only becomes possible when we stop sitting in God's judgment seat and instead gaze at Jesus, who had every right to condemn us but chose only to forgive. When we truly see how Christ loved us first, our icy hearts melt, and we become free to love others—not through willpower, but through transformation.

Live In Love | Love Your Enemy-Pray for Those Who Persecute You - Matthew 5.38-48

Live In Love | Love Your Enemy-Pray for Those Who Persecute You - Matthew 5.38-48 by Midtown Presbyterian Church

Live In Love | Be Angry But Do Not Sin - Ephesians 4:25-29 - Clint Leavitt

This week's teaching takes us deep into one of the more misunderstood aspects of Christian living: how we handle anger in a world full of conflict. Drawing from Ephesians 4:25-29, we're confronted with Paul's paradoxical command to 'be angry, but do not sin.' The message challenges our cultural assumptions about anger, revealing that emotions themselves are often God-given responses to injustice and harm. Like nuclear power, anger can either heal or destroy depending on how we handle it. The teaching walks us through Jesus' own expressions of anger, showing us that He became angry when the vulnerable were dismissed, when children were turned away, when religious systems failed to bring healing. His anger always moved toward compassion and restoration, never toward vengeance or destruction. We're given practical diagnostics to distinguish between righteous anger and destructive wrath, examining whether we're angry about genuine harm or simply disrupted preferences, whether our words heal or wound, and whether we move toward repair or replay offenses. The call is clear: conflict delayed becomes conflict deepened. We're invited to become field hospitals for those wounded by the culture wars, not contributors to the casualty count. This means learning to pause and reflect, take responsibility first, build appreciation even in disagreement, and pursue curiosity over criticism. The foundation for all of this is the cross, where Jesus absorbed the full force of humanity's wrath and rose again, proving that the power of destructive anger can be left in the grave.

Live In Love | Change Your Dirty Clothes - Colossians 3:5-17 - Tom Parker

In our second week of learning to Live In Love, Tom Parker brings us a message from Colossians 3 challenging us to examine what we're truly wearing in our spiritual lives. Just as we wouldn't want to wear an orange jumpsuit that represents imprisonment, we're called to strip off the old self and clothe ourselves with something far more beautiful. The text confronts us with uncomfortable truths about behaviors that fragment community: fornication, greed, anger, and dishonesty. These aren't just moral prohibitions, they're warnings like being told not to touch a 220-volt wire. God's warnings aren't judgmental but protective, meant to save us from wreckage. The stunning truth at the heart of this passage is our identity: we are chosen, holy, and beloved. This reality should take a lifetime to absorb into our souls. From this secure identity, we're invited to put on new clothing: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. These aren't arbitrary virtues but reflections of God's own character, seen perfectly in Jesus Christ. The message culminates in a beautiful vision of Christian community where peace rules our hearts, gratitude overflows, and everything we do in word or deed is done in the name of Jesus. This isn't about external appearances but internal transformation that the Holy Spirit works in us, making us look more and more like our Creator.