This podcast is the message archives of the Lake Merced Church of Christ in San Francisco.
Reading the feed…
Jesus gathered a small, close group around Him, but unlike any other inner circle, He prepared them for a time when the leader would no longer be there. An inner circle is a small group with special access and influence: a president's cabinet, a coach's assistants, the two real friends out of eight hundred. Jesus had His own. As He began preaching that the kingdom of heaven had come near, He picked people out of the crowd, calling Simon Peter and Andrew, then James and John, then Matthew the tax collector, by name. He did not draft them; they left their nets and followed at once. Inside that c
In Matthew 16, Jesus refused every compliment about who He was. He left only three options: Lord, liar, or lunatic, and neutrality was never one of them. People call Him a good moral teacher, a great man, one of many religious teachers. Jesus accepted none of it. He pressed His inner circle past the compliments until Peter confessed, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Anything less was not enough. He claimed to be God. "I and the Father are one." To see Him was to see God (John 12:44-45; 14:9). He claimed powers no mere teacher could touch: to forgive sin, judge the world, give
Respect and Boundaries — John Mulligan and Brian Campos — The Golden Rule sounds simple until the hard person is right in front of you. Luke 6 presses past politeness and asks for something deeper: love that stays firm without becoming harsh. Jesus does not call His people to the iron rule of getting there first or the silver rule of treating others only as they treat them. He calls them to love enemies, do good to those who hate them, bless those who curse them, and pray for those who mistreat them. That is why respect and boundaries belong together. Love is not weakness, and refusing revenge
The Miracles of Jesus, Part 3 — John Mulligan — The evidence for Jesus' miracles is not thin, vague, or borrowed from other religions. The real obstacle is not lack of proof, but what His authority demands. The familiar objection that all religions claim miracle-workers falls apart quickly. Buddhism and Confucianism offer no such claims. Islam and Hinduism may describe supernatural activity, but not public, historically grounded miracles that establish a leader's authority the way Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John do. The world already knew fable, myth, and legend, and the New Testament openly dis
The Miracles of Jesus, Part 2 — John Mulligan — Hard commands like loving enemies and greeting those who mistreat you only carry weight if the one giving them has proven authority. Jesus' miracles are that proof. The Gospels are historical documents, not collections of fables. Luke 3 anchors John's ministry in the reign of Tiberius Caesar and the governorship of Pontius Pilate — real rulers in real history. The miracles recorded across Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John number at least 35 to 37, a body of evidence too large to dismiss as isolated legend. They happen with ease, instantaneously, with
Works, Fear and Trembling — Jay Mijares opens Philippians 2:12-13 with a question: what does it mean to work out salvation without turning obedience into self-salvation? From Paul's prison letter to Philippi comes a call not to passivity or panic, but to persevering obedience under God's presence. Paul writes from a Roman prison to the first church he founded in Europe, likely knowing death is near. Against that backdrop, two distortions come into view. Quietism treats salvation as passive trust with no movement toward obedience. Pietism drives moral seriousness so far that it hardens into leg
Jesus and Miracles — Are Jesus' miracles fact or fiction, and what do they prove about who He is? Drawing from Luke, John, Acts, and Hebrews, the evidence mounts that miracles were never about spectacle — they were God's way of accrediting His Son. The word "miracle" often gets used too loosely, from product names and songs to any surprising escape from danger or positive answer to prayer. Biblically, a miracle is a willful act of God, explainable only by His existence and power. It is perceivable by believers and unbelievers, interrupts the ordinary course of nature, and is given for validati
“Free Indeed” — John Mulligan traces the freedom Jesus offers from Luke 4 through John 19 to Galatians 5, arguing that the greatest liberation is not political but spiritual: freedom from sin and death, purchased at the cross, and lived out through the Spirit. In Luke 4, Jesus begins His public teaching by announcing good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, and release for the oppressed. His healings and casting out of demons showed real mercy, but His mission reached deeper than physical affliction. In Luke 5, when a paralyzed man is lowered through a roof, Jesus fir
"Can We Trust the New Testament?" — John Mulligan anchors the reliability of the gospel accounts in Luke 1:1-4 and historical tests used for any ancient document. Christian faith is not meant to rest on wishful thinking. Jesus claimed to forgive sin, judge the world, give eternal life, and be one with the Father. If His life is a fraud, He cannot be the truth. Luke does not write like someone passing along legend. He says the account was handed down by eyewitnesses, investigated from the beginning, and written in an orderly way so readers may know "the certainty" of what they were taught. The
"Did Jesus Really Live?" — John Mulligan surveys the historical evidence for Jesus's existence across biblical testimony, non-Christian sources, and the consensus of modern historians. Christianity stands or falls on the identity of Jesus. If He is not who He claimed to be, Paul said we believe in vain; if He is the Son of God, He is everything. The question deserves attention — not just whether Jesus was divine, but whether He lived at all. First, the Bible treats Jesus as a real person, never as myth or legend. Luke roots his Gospel in eyewitness testimony and Roman history — naming Caesar A
In "The Case Study," Dane Franchi reads the Gospels while skipping every word printed in red and asks a question most Bible studies overlook: what did Jesus teach not by what He said, but by how He walked? Three patterns surface that do not need a sermon to land. First, Jesus healed before He opened His mouth. Physical restoration came before spiritual instruction — not as a warm-up act but as the message itself. We are not self-sufficient; with God we are. The practical implication is sharp: before speaking, do something for someone they cannot do for themselves. In a society starved of unhur
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,
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 th
"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 extrater
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 ba
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
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,
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
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 forgive
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
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
Jay Mijares’ lesson “In the Days of Noah” points us to Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24 and reminds us that the question is not whether Christ will return, but whether we will be ready when He does. Jay begins by showing that throughout history many have tried to predict the exact day of Jesus’ coming, but Scripture leaves no room for that kind of certainty. The Father alone knows the day and hour. Rather than chasing predictions, believers are called to live with watchfulness, faithfulness, and hope. Using the days of Noah as the pattern, the lesson explains that the danger is not merely war, dis
In “Only One Was Saved,” Jay Mijares reflects on the account of Jesus healing the ten lepers and centers the lesson on one searching theme: gratitude. All ten men cried out for mercy, all ten obeyed Jesus by going to the priests, and all ten were physically cleansed along the way. Yet only one returned. That one man—a Samaritan, the least expected of the group—came back praising God, fell at Jesus’ feet, and gave thanks. The lesson presses us to see that this story is about more than physical healing; it is about the kind of heart that truly recognizes who Jesus is. The nine lepers received wh
In this lesson, John Mulligan focuses on Colossians 4:2–6 and the connection between prayer and daily living. The Christian life is not meant to be lived in pieces—one part devoted to God and another to everyday responsibilities—but as a unified walk. Each new day becomes an opportunity to take life to God through prayer and then carry God into life through action. Rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, believers are called to live faithfully in the present, making the most of each day God provides. The passage begins with a call to be devoted to prayer—continual, inten
In this lesson, John Mulligan turns to the short New Testament letter of Philemon to explore how the gospel transforms difficult relationships. The letter centers on a conflict between Philemon, a Christian who owned a servant, and Onesimus, the servant who had run away and later became a believer after meeting the apostle Paul. Rather than commanding Philemon to act in a certain way, Paul carefully appeals to the faith they share in Christ. By reminding Philemon of his love for the Lord and for other believers, Paul lays the groundwork for addressing the broken relationship in a way that refl
