Lake Merced Church of Christ

Lake Merced Church of Christ http://www.lakemercedchurch.com

06/11/2026

Examining the Evidence for Jesus — John Mulligan kicks off the series "The Case for Christ" with a simple question: who else do you ask to reign in your life? Only one person has that place, and it's Jesus Christ — trusted with the driving wheel of a life in a way no friend or spouse could be.

The core of faith is a person unlike any who has ever lived. His claims are unique and audacious: He claimed to forgive sin (the most needed claim, because the terminal condition is not cancer but sin), to be sinless (His enemies chased Him relentlessly and could find nothing), to be judge of the world, to give eternal life, to be the object of our trust, to answer prayer, and to be the way, the truth, and the life — not one who knows the way, but who is the way. And finally, He claimed to be equal with God: "I and My Father are one." Anyone making that claim today would be dismissed, but Jesus made it and remains the most recognized figure in history because He had the power to back it up.

Three challenges follow. First, no one ever offered what He offered — not wealth or health, but living water and eternal life. Second, no one has ever claimed what He claimed — "I am the resurrection and the life." Third, neutrality is not an option. He never said you would be fine either way. The question is not whether to have an opinion about Jesus; it is what to do with Him, and that decision has no middle ground. In the weeks to come, the proof for these claims will be examined. The faith rests on solid rock.

06/04/2026

The Final Beatitude — Jay Mijares takes John 20 and the story of Thomas to make a distinction that changes how the passage reads. What Thomas shows is not doubt but unbelief, and the last beatitude Jesus speaks lands on everyone who will come after.

The week after the resurrection, ten disciples saw Jesus and Thomas did not. The nickname Doubting Thomas doesn't fit the man who said "Let us go also, that we may die with him" and who pressed Jesus about where he was going because he wanted to follow. He was pessimistic, courageous, and deeply attached. The other disciples fared no better with the first reports. What Thomas actually says — "Unless I see ... I will never believe" — is not a wavering but a willful conclusion. Doubt questions what it believes; unbelief decides. The word never is the tell. And he goes further: he sets conditions, the kind anyone puts on someone else to test whether they really care.

Maybe Thomas was alone that first night because he had seen the body taken down — the holes, the dried blood, the spear wound — and the trauma of it drove him away. Eight days later he is in the room, and Jesus walks through locked doors, turns to him, and meets conditions Thomas had no right to set. Not scolding but condescending. The Creator meets a broken man on his own terms. Thomas doesn't need to touch; the sight is enough. What comes out of him is My Lord and my God — personal, not theological. The greatest confession in Scripture.

Then the final beatitude: blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. Not a rebuke. An encouragement for everyone reading John's Gospel. Blessed does not mean happy; it means accepted by God. Three questions close: Are you isolating yourself on the very day you need the gathered church? Doubt is intellectual; unbelief is moral. What is your confession — whole-hearted or something less? Can you leave today saying what Thomas said? Yahweh is a personal God from Genesis to Revelation, and the only response that fits is that one.

Everyone lives by faith. Christians place theirs in God. We are not saved by seeing. We are saved by believing.

05/29/2026

"Does Scripture Support Alien Life?" — John Mulligan takes on a question you probably won't hear preached anywhere else. From childhood TV Martians to Star Wars and the Mandalorian, from Roswell's museum and Area 51 to the recently declassified government files and Apollo astronauts describing strange lights, humanity has always wondered whether there's life beyond our own. Behind the fun lies a more serious question for believers: has God revealed anything about life outside this life, and how should we think about it?

The answer comes in three turns. First, Scripture plainly affirms extraterrestrial and supernatural life — though not little green men. God Himself, Father, Son, and Spirit, is not human and not of this planet; and Ephesians 6 and 3 describe rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms arrayed against believers, while Satan roams the earth unseen. This life is already here, often unrecognized: Hebrews 13 warns that some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it, so no stranger should be discarded. Second, for all our reaching into space, Scripture fixes God's attention squarely on this planet. Hebrews 1 piles up the grandest language in all of Scripture — the Son who made the universe, the radiance of God's glory — only to land it on us; John 3:16 says God so loved the world, not the worlds. Even space exploration, finding planets we can reach but cannot return from, quietly confirms how uniquely Earth was made for life.

Then the surprise of the third point: the real aliens are us. Philippians 3:20 declares our citizenship is in heaven, and 1 Peter calls believers foreigners and exiles, urged to abstain from the sinful desires that war against the soul. This world is not home; nothing here — entertainment, relationships, money, vacations — finally satisfies, because we were made for somewhere else. The challenge is to live like it: not blending in with everyone around us, but living visibly for another world, so that others are drawn toward the God whose endless attention and love rest on this planet, and on you.

05/21/2026

In "Making Sure You Stay Saved," John Mulligan opens 2 Peter 1:10–11, read within the fuller picture of 2 Peter 1:1–11, to press a question every believer carries: how do we keep walking with Jesus all the way to the end? Peter's answer begins and ends in the same place — with Jesus — and in between it calls us to "make every effort" to confirm our calling and election. We start with Jesus, we change and grow along the way, and we are meant to end up right where we began.

Think of a class of high school students turned loose at Fisherman's Wharf, free to wander and explore, but told to come back to the very spot where they started. The Christian life works the same way. Salvation starts with Jesus, by grace through faith and not by works. We cannot rescue ourselves, we cannot pay for our past, and we cannot earn what only God can give. But grace does not leave us standing still. After baptism we do not camp out at the baptistry; we step into a life of character development, a life of progress, a life under construction.

That construction is the adding Peter describes — goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. Keep adding these, and "you will never stumble." That promise does not mean you will never commit a sin. It means you will not stumble in the sense of falling away, of turning your back on Jesus and walking off. A believer may sin, confess it, get back up, and keep walking. Peter himself is the proof: he denied the Lord, and yet he got back up, and later it was Peter who preached the first gospel sermon.

So make every effort, and then trust God to take care of the rest. There is no numeric score to reach, no tally of how much goodness or self-control is finally enough. Those who stay the course receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Remember both of those names. He is Lord, not merely a suggester or a counselor, and where He leads, we follow. He is also Savior, faithful to forgive when we confess and get back up. There is nothing in this world worth giving up your soul for. Stay the course, come back to the place you started — with Jesus — and the rich welcome will be yours.

05/15/2026

John Mulligan opens 2 Peter 1:5–9 with a serious question: are we growing in Christ, or have we become content simply attending? Peter’s list — goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love — is not a set of nice religious sentiments. These qualities are the difference between a faith that is productive and a faith that has become impaired.

Baptism is not the finish line. Being cleansed from sin means being called into a new life, and that new life is meant to grow “in increasing measure.” Church attendance, singing, giving, and years in the pew do not automatically produce character. The question is whether the life of Christ is actually taking shape in us.

Growth is expected in ordinary work; Peter says it is expected in Christ as well. If these qualities are present and increasing, they keep us from being ineffective and unproductive. If they are missing, Peter is blunt: we are nearsighted, blind, and forgetful of the cleansing we received. To stop growing is not a harmless pause — it is spiritual danger.

A person who is not growing does not simply stay in place. 2 Peter 2 warns of those who escape the corruption of the world only to become entangled in it again — like a dog returning to its vomit, or a washed sow returning to the mud. Inactivity becomes the first step backward.

God has plenty of churchgoing somebodies. He is calling for new creations — people who keep becoming more faithful, more self-controlled, more loving, more patient, and more useful in His hands. Be a new creation every day, a blessing to the world around you and to the God who sent His Son to die for you.

05/07/2026

John Mulligan continues through 2 Peter, picking up at verse 5 with a truth every believer needs to hear: the same God who saved you by grace is now calling you to grow. After laying out everything God has done for us — forgiveness, divine power, escape from the corruption of sin — Peter pivots and says, in effect, now here's what we do with it. "Make every effort," he writes, "to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love." God's promises are not meant to leave us where we were. They provoke personal growth.

What follows is a picture of the Christian life not as a checklist to complete but as a set of qualities to keep working on, like a professional athlete who never stops practicing. Goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and finally love — not the sentimental kind, but the sacrificial kind, the same word used for how Christ loved the church. These seven things will keep a believer busy for a lifetime, at work, at home, at church, in the car, at the grocery store. You will stumble at them. You will recognize your own weak spots. The goal is not perfection but persistence. Keep getting back up, Peter says. Keep working on your game. And through God's grace to forgive when we fail, He will one day say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

04/30/2026

John Mulligan walks through 2 Peter 1:3–4 and draws our attention to a question that matters for every believer: when so many voices compete for our trust, where do we turn for what is true? This passage points us back to Christ, who in His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, and whose promises are sure.

In these verses, we are reminded that God has not left His people without help, direction, or hope. He has called us by His own glory and goodness, and He continues to sustain us by grace. What He gives is not shallow encouragement or temporary comfort, but the deep assurance that His promises are enough for every season of life. When faith feels weak, when the future feels uncertain, and when the world offers countless distractions, the believer is invited to rest again in what God has spoken.

The passage also lifts our eyes beyond the pressures of the present moment. Through His promises, God is shaping His people for something greater than the fading desires of this world. He is calling us to holiness, teaching us to turn away from corruption, and leading us into a life marked by trust, obedience, and hope. This is not a call to self-made strength, but to a life transformed by the power of Christ at work within us.

There is real comfort here for anyone who feels worn down by sin, disappointment, or the weight of daily life. The Lord does not simply tell His people to do better; He meets them with mercy, gives what they need, and holds out the hope of sharing in His life forever. His promises steady us, His truth guards us, and His grace teaches us to keep walking faithfully until the day we see Him face to face.

04/24/2026

In “Is He Worthy?” (4/19/26), Jay Mijares takes us to Revelation 5, where heaven asks one question: Who is worthy? The answer is clear—only Jesus. Surrounded by elders, living creatures, and countless angels, the Lamb is praised not just for His authority, but because He was slain and redeemed people from every tribe, language, and nation by His blood.

This scene reveals why Jesus alone is worthy. Where humanity failed—from Adam to Israel—He succeeded, conquering not just earthly enemies but sin, death, and the spiritual forces behind them. Through His sacrifice, believers are not only forgiven but brought into His kingdom, given direct access to God, and promised a future reign with Him. Even the prayers of God’s people are pictured as precious before His throne, showing that heaven is not distant, but deeply engaged in the lives of the faithful.

The focus of heaven’s worship is not on blessings received, but on the worth of Christ Himself—His power, wisdom, glory, and the redemption He accomplished on the cross. Every voice points to Him, declaring that He alone is worthy of all honor, blessing, and praise. His worth is not based on what He gives us in the moment, but on who He is and what He has already done.

The question then becomes personal: Is He worthy to you? Worship is more than words—it reflects the value we place on Christ. When we truly recognize His worth, it reshapes how we pray, how we live, and how we respond to Him daily. One day every knee will bow, but the call now is to willingly live in that truth, letting His worthiness drive our worship, our obedience, and our love for others.

04/16/2026

In “God’s Work and Your Faith,” John Mulligan begins in 2 Peter 1 by showing how much is already true because of Jesus. Peter writes not as a distant thinker, but as a servant and apostle who knows the Lord personally and speaks with God-given authority. The message reminds us that faith is not something we invented or earned for ourselves. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, believers have been given a faith that is precious, secure, and shared by all who belong to Him. What God has done for us is the foundation for everything that follows.

From there, the focus turns to the assurance believers have in Christ. Grace and peace are described as overflowing realities that come through truly knowing God—not just knowing about Him, but having a deep, personal relationship with Him. This kind of knowledge transforms how a person lives. Faith is not meant to remain stagnant, but to grow and deepen as that relationship with God becomes more real and more central in everyday life.

The message ultimately calls for a response. God’s work in salvation is complete and powerful, but it leads to a life of active faith. Growth in character, discipline, love, and godliness is not optional—it is the natural result of a life rooted in Christ. Believers are reminded that they come to God just as they are, but they are not meant to stay the same. Instead, they are called to keep moving forward, allowing God’s grace to shape them into the people He has called them to be.

04/09/2026

John Mulligan’s lesson “The Resurrection” centers on the one truth that changes everything: Jesus did not remain in the tomb. Drawing from the Gospel accounts and passages like 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Peter 1, he reminds us that the resurrection is not a religious sentiment or seasonal theme, but the very heart of the Christian faith. It is the event that confirms who Jesus is, what His death accomplished, and why believers can face the future with confidence.

The message shows that the resurrection is a real, historical event supported by eyewitness testimony. Jesus was crucified, buried, and then raised on the third day just as the Scriptures foretold. His followers were not expecting it, yet they saw Him, heard Him, and touched Him. That matters because the resurrection proves that Jesus is not merely a good teacher or moral example, but the Son of God. His victory over death validates everything He claimed and places the full weight of our faith on something solid and true.

Most of all, the resurrection gives believers a living hope. Because Jesus rose and will never die again, those who belong to Him have the promise that death will not be the end of their story either. The resurrection is not only about what happened to Christ, but about what will one day happen to all who trust Him. That means Christians can live with courage, worship with joy, and walk forward with confidence, knowing that sin, sorrow, and death will not have the final word.

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777 Brotherhood Way
San Francisco, CA
94132

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Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm
6:30pm - 9pm
Sunday 10:45am - 12:15pm

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