Northplace Church Podcast

If, like many American Christians, you see God as a divine bellhop that can be ordered around at your whim, or a genie that’s simply supposed to grant your wishes or some type of Santa Claus that’s just there to fulfill your requests, you’re going to have a hard time processing the God revealed in the scriptures today. But, if you can learn to trust the character, the goodness, the sovereignty, an...

Our culture is absolutely obsessed with appearance. There are even companies you can hire to help you manage your image. But God is not impressed by our image management. He couldn’t care less. He doesn’t judge a person by appearance, achievements, accomplishments, acquisitions, education, or wealth. He’s more concerned about the authentic internal you--the purity and integrity of your heart. If y...

Far too many people come to church on the weekends, raise their hands in worship, give, pray, even get emotional when they sense the presence of God, and yet walk out of here and be someone totally different at work, or at home, or with the girls on that night out, or with boys out on the town because they’ve compartmentalized their life to rationalize two sets of behaviors, and people who do that...

He is the God who sees our tears, but do we see His tears for us? This week we are looking at one of God’s most forgotten aspects found in the book of Ezekiel … God as a lover. God comes and says I want to be the husband and lover of the church. God is a Smitten Lover, a Wounded Lover, and a Faithful Lover. This is why we need to understand that our sin is more than just breaking God’s law; our si...

The writer of Hebrews makes a unique statement about the shed blood of Christ. He says the blood of Christ “speaks” better things than the blood of Abel. The blood of Jesus has a voice and it speaks mercy, grace, pardon, and forgiveness over our lives. In the same way, your tears have a voice. Your tears speak. They are a language all their own. And it’s a language God intimately understands. They...

Pastor Scotty Gibbons, one of Northplace's teaching pastors, joins us this week to discuss the importance of the next generation and our responsibility to pass on our 'God Stories' and commit to praying for them.

For so many people in the world and unfortunately for so many followers of Jesus, the phrases "I still haven’t found what I’m looking for," or "I still haven’t seen or experienced what I thought I should by now," or "I’ve looked everywhere and there still seems to be something missing in my work, in my family in my relationships in my emotional and inner life," seem t...

Words create worlds. Your words create the culture in your home. Your words create the perception people have of you. Your words either strengthen or destroy your relationships. So yes...your words create the world you live in. If you want to change your life, you have to change your words.

Proverbs has a lot to say about our speech patterns. And if you survey the entire book and examine everything it has to say about our words, it can be boiled down to this thesis or premise: If you want your words to reflect God’s heart, you need to know the “why”, “what” and “how” of words: 1. Why Words Have Power 2. What Differentiates Life-giving Words from Destructive Words 3. How to Align Your...

In week one, we saw how our relationships impact our destiny. In week two, we learned how to biblically respond to criticism and critical people. In week 3, we learned the importance of staying excited and hopeful about our future. Here’s the focus for week 4: Your attitude more than your aptitude will determine your altitude.

In week one, we saw how the bible teaches us that our relationships determine our destinies. (For the good or the bad). The company you keep is the best indicator of your future. Last week, we learned from the lives of Moses, Hezekiah, Nehemiah, and ultimately from Jesus...on how to respond to criticism (and critical people) in an emotionally and spiritually mature way. This week, we look at the w...

Last week we talked about relationships. And how the bible reveals that our relationships determine our destinies. (For the good or for the bad) We saw that over and over again in Scripture, from the Proverbs to Paul. Today, we’re going to look at: Dealing with Criticism in an Emotionally Mature, Christ-like Way. When we say criticism, we're not talking about the healthy kind of constructive...

The Bible has a lot to say about how to respond to critics and criticism in a Christ-like way, how our responses to things we can't control will determine the direction of our lives more than what actually happens to us, or about how staying excited about the future is a prerequisite to living a life of fulfillment, and how the people you associate yourself with will determine your success or...

Happy Mother's Day As we read through our bible reading plans together this year, something has stood out like never before. Over and over again, scripture uses the imagery of a Mother’s love to capture how tender, compassionate, and absolute God’s love is for us.

The only way to turn beliefs into character is through practices. Practices that we often call spiritual disciplines. Practices like prayer, worship, and the study of His word. There are many more Christian “practices” that produce character, but this week let's look to Psalm 119 to help us better understand the “practice” of engaging God’s word and how doing so is supposed to impact our ever...

Maybe you’re not all that religious and have never thought about God having some grand plan or vision for your life. In some way, you may have disqualified yourself, simply through your lack of awareness. But make no mistake about it, God has a bigger dream for your life than anything you could ever come up with on your own. You just need to discover it and develop it. You can’t change the past, b...

Anybody that has ever stepped out in faith and followed God on this adventurous journey toward His dream for their lives is familiar with these words: Delay, Denial, Detour, Distraction, Discouragement, Difficulty, and Dead Ends. The headwinds of struggle are inevitable when you’re pursuing God’s call, God’s dream, and God’s plans and purposes for your life. As we talk about the struggle, we all n...

Bonus Material from Week 2 of Dream - The Key to Living Life in Crescendo

Bonus Material from Week 1 of our new series Dream - The Key to Living a Life of Crescendo Check out the full message on Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTigCb_FvRA&t=1s

If any group of people ought to be able to live their lives with a "Crescendo Mentality" it ought to be followers of Jesus who believe in the hope of the Gospel. So this week, we are starting a series of messages called: Dream - The Key to Living a Life of Crescendo Because having a dream, pursuing a dream, and fighting for a dream is a major key to living. life with a crescendo mindset...

One of the reasons music is so emotionally powerful is the use of two dynamics known as Crescendo and Diminuendo. One of the most powerful moments in a song is it’s crescendo. A crescendo in music is the slow, gradual build in volume and intensity that brings everything to a powerful climatic peak. When done well, the listener actually feels and experiences that moment with the artist. Every cresc...

On this particular Sunday, the day we've come to call Palm Sunday. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a borrowed colt while people feverishly praise him waving palm branches and singing. But don't misunderstand this moment and don't misunderstand the reason for their praise. If you don't understand the motivation behind waving the palm branches and offering their praise, you'll...

The way we love and serve others is a litmus test of our own love for God, but also, if we're willing to inconvenience ourselves loving and serving others it will open the door for our neighbors to meet Jesus and experience eternal life for themselves.

Our modern understanding of war and conquest is this idea that the strong impose their will on the weak. And in many cases, the strong turn their conquest into a "holy war" using their god or god's as an excuse to justify their plundering of the weak. Last week, we zoomed out and looked at the big picture story of what's actually going on in the Bible when it comes to war and v...

As we read through the Bible together this year, it's easy to notice all the violence in the Old Testament. As the voices of God's critics are getting louder, one of the major criticisms we hear today is how God seems to condone "holy war" telling His people to occupy the land and kill anyone that tries to stop them. And then Jesus comes along in the New Testament telling peopl...