New Culture Church

James 5 opens with a hard word. Now listen, you rich people. Weep and wail. Your wealth has rotted. The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. It reads like a tonal break from the rest of the letter, and Nathan sat in that tension out loud. This is a prophetic warning against oppressive wealth, and the word that kept rising off the page was the first...

You are a mist. James does not ease into the back half of chapter 4. He looks at our five-year plans, our savings accounts, our carefully mapped futures, and he says it plainly. You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. The problem is not planning. Work hard. Make the plan. The problem is assuming we are the ones in control of...

James doesn’t open chapter 4 by pointing at your enemies. He points at you. What causes the fights? The quarrels? The resentment that won’t leave? James says it starts with the desires battling within you. Not your coworker. Not the person in your family who keeps showing up in your head. Within you. That is the harder answer. It is easier to name an enemy outside. But James presses us to look at...

Pastor Abbie was on a staff retreat in Tennessee when a snake showed up on the balcony. She ran inside and jumped on the couch. Then she watched a teammate calmly lift the snake onto a broomstick and carry it off into the bushes. How did you do that? That is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge knows a snake is poisonous. Wisdom knows what to do with it. James has spent his whole...

A few years ago, a stranger fell onto the train tracks in Minneapolis. Pastor Abbie remembers watching the moment unfold. Her friend looked away. She herself ran toward the train with her arms in the air, praying out loud. And then a few other people did the only thing that saved the life on the tracks. They jumped down. That story is the whole sermon in miniature. James is in chapter 2 today, and...

We drift toward what is familiar. We sit with the people we know. Order from the part of the menu we trust. Walk past the ones who feel uncomfortable to be near. James writes to a scattered church and names this drift for what it is. Favoritism. And he tells us not to dress it up as preference or comfort. It is sin. It is a divided heart trying to follow Jesus while still ranking people by the wor...

You can hear a message and still walk out unchanged. James knows this. He writes to scattered believers who are listening well and living sideways. And he hands them a mirror. Do not just look at yourself and walk away, he says. Do not just hear the word and forget it. Be a doer. James moves from the vague to the specific. He does not explain everything. He homes in on a few things that make the w...

You signed up for something hard. And now the morning comes and every part of you wants to stay in bed. To avoid it. To draft the email that says you are not coming. James opens his letter with words that hit like a cold splash of water. Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds. Not if. When. The assumption is that the pain is coming. The question is what you do with it. The early C...

Palm Sunday. Jesus rides into the city on a donkey while the crowds wave palm branches and shout Hosanna — save us now. They expected a warrior king. They wanted someone to overthrow Rome. And Jesus came low, humble, riding on a borrowed animal. But this was not a disappointment. This was an invitation to trust something bigger. The story had been told for generations. Isaiah prophesied a Messiah...

You are surrounded. The threat is real. Every solution you can think of falls short. And the people who should be helping are telling you to give up. Hezekiah faced this exact moment. The most powerful empire in the ancient world had already conquered every city around him. Their king sent letters mocking God, taunting Jerusalem, listing every nation that had tried to resist and failed. The eviden...

You planted the seeds. You did the work. You showed up. And still, nothing seems to be growing. That space between planting and harvest is one of the hardest places to live. Isaiah paints a picture of ancient farmers who plow, plant, and cultivate, each crop with different care, each season with different instructions. The farmer does everything in their power. And then they wait. Because only God...

Plans unravel. Anxiety creeps in. We reach for control, achievement, distraction, anything to feel steady. But what if stability was never ours to build? In this week's message, Pastor Abbie Sawczak walks us through Isaiah 25 and 27, where two surprising images sit side by side: a lavish feast in the middle of famine and a vineyard being pruned in the dead of winter. Both point to the same God...

We all complain. About traffic, bad food, smoke alarms placed way too close to the stove. But what if our complaints are actually an invitation to something deeper? In this first message of our Lent series through the book of Isaiah, Pastor Abbie walks us through Isaiah 10, 11, and 12, where God does something surprising. He names injustice, confronts it, and then paints a picture of hope that no...

What if fasting is about more than just skipping a meal? In this message, Pastor Abbie Sawczak walks us through Matthew 4 one more time as New Culture Church prepares to enter the season of Lent together. She unpacks how fasting amplifies our prayers, grows our compassion, and forms us into people who can stand in the gap for others. Drawing from the courage of Esther, the faith of leaders through...

What happens when you stop reaching for what's comfortable and start paying attention to what you actually hunger for? In week two of our series on fasting, Nathan Hanna gets honest about his own experience, the surprising moments of God's presence, the pull of distraction, and a picture Jesus gave him that changed how he sees his own struggles. This message will challenge you to rethink w...

What if fasting is about more than just going without? In this message, Pastor Abbie challenges us to rethink what it means to fast. Fasting reveals what we depend on, what controls us, and where we turn for comfort. But true fasting goes beyond personal discipline. It aligns us with God's kingdom and moves us toward justice, generosity, and sacrificial love. As we prepare for the season of Le...

Ever faced a major decision and wondered what God wants you to do? Pastor Joe Oby from Northside Christian Assembly shares a powerful message on discerning God's will. Through personal stories and practical teaching, he reveals that discovering God's direction isn't a one-time prayer—it's a lifestyle of relationship. You'll discover why God leads you from His known will to His...

What if the chaos of your daily life isn't something to escape, but something to reshape? Pastor Nick Ertz returns to New Culture Church with a practical challenge: craft a rule of life before life crafts one for you. Drawing from John 15, Nick explores how Jesus invites us to "remain" in him—not as a quick visit, but as a way of dwelling. The word "rule" isn't about ri...

What if spiritual growth isn’t about trying harder, but practicing the ways of Jesus with a steady pace? In this message, Pastor Abbie opens our Rule of Life series in Luke 10, where Jesus sends out the 72 with simple, Spirit-led strategy. You’re invited to travel light, stay present, go together, and trust God with the outcomes. Along the way, Abbie contrasts a performance mindset with a practice...

What's the real shift from Advent to Christmas? In this message, Pastor Sean takes us from childhood memories of believing in Santa to the profound truth that God incarnated His Word in human flesh. Discover why the early church fought so hard to preserve the truth about who Jesus really is, and how the same Spirit that filled Christ now indwells believers today. This final Advent message prep...

What happens when life applies pressure? Guest Speaker John Hunter invites us to slow down and notice what God is shaping beneath the surface. Using the image of clay on a potter’s wheel, John reflects on how God forms us with care, patience, and purpose. Pressure does not exist to crush us. In God’s hands, it becomes a tool for growth. Even the trimming, the setbacks, and the moments we wish we c...

Pastor Abbie Sawczak invites us into the heart of Advent—not as passive waiting, but as active participation in preparing the way for Jesus. Drawing from Isaiah 40 and the story of John the Baptist, she explores how repentance, humility, and daily formation clear space for Christ to move in us and through us. This message calls us to lift what’s low, lay down our pride, smooth the rough places in...

We live between two great hopes. One who came thousands of years ago. One who is coming again. And a present hope that meets us right where we are. In this first week of Advent, Nathan Hanna walks us through the original blueprint of creation, the fracture that followed, and the promise that carried God's people through centuries of waiting. Hope came down in a manger. Hope is coming again in...

In this final message from our Colossians series, Pastor Abbie Sawczak walks through Colossians 4:2–18 and Paul’s closing instructions to the church. Together we explore what it means to devote ourselves to prayer as a daily posture, to ask God for open doors for the gospel instead of just comfort, and to let our conversations be “full of grace, seasoned with salt.” Abbie also names the cost of fo...

What does it mean to live like Jesus when cultural expectations and power dynamics complicate our relationships? Pastor Abbie Sawczak walks through one of Paul's most challenging passages in Colossians 3, exploring household codes that addressed wives, husbands, children, parents, slaves, and masters. She unpacks the historical context of these instructions and reveals how Jesus came to redeem...