Northridge Free Will Baptist

One of the greatest dangers for any organization, like the Church, is for it to lose sight of its mission. This lost focus will be seen in many ways. It's seen when churches continue to do what they've always done, regardless of if it's effective anymore, because they've always done it. It's seen when a church refuses to try to do anything new because, "We've never done that before." It's seen whe...

People around us need hope. God is a God of hope who fills us with all joy and peace in believing so that we can abound in hope (Rom 15:13). God intends for us to be a people of hope. God intends for His Church to be a place of hope.

What has your pursuit of Jesus been like? Would you say that while you're pursuing Jesus, you'd love to go deeper with Jesus? Many want to go deeper with Jesus but many just don't seem to be able to accomplish this. The deeper life seems almost mythical. Yet in Scripture the deeper life is a reality. Not only is it a reality, it is God's will. What does deeper look like? How do we get there? That'...

The truths of Discipleship 101 are the very basics about being a disciple of Jesus Christ. These are truths we will use every day of our lives as disciples of Jesus. It is doing these basic truths over and over again that enable us to go deeper with Jesus.

By and large we don't expect Christians who have been Christians a while to be able to take a newer Christian and give tips and pointers on how to be a successful Christian. The reason for this lack of expectation is that we have settled for shallow, low expectation Christianity. To go deeper with Jesus we need to move beyond shallow Christianity to deep discipleship. That's what this message is a...

There are certain basics in Christianity that we need to get right from the very beginning of our journey with Jesus. Despite the fact that these are basic things, we never outgrow them. If we want to go deeper with Jesus, we must get these basic things right.

We all make choices every day of our lives. Each choice leaves a lasting impact on our lives. None so much as our choice about Jesus. What does choosing Jesus look like? That's what this message is about

Today we are going to talk about the One who has a name above all names, Jesus. I want to show you from Scripture why Jesus' name is the name above all names. When we finish, I hope we will be in awe of the greatness and majesty of Jesus.

Have you ever really looked forward to getting to see something or someone? I have, but my greatest desire is to see Jesus. Scripture promises that we can see Him but there is a qualifier, and it's a heart issue.

Baptist Pastor Charles Spurgeon that illustrates this truth. “The same sun which melts wax, hardens clay. And the same Gospel which melts some persons to repentance, hardens others in their sins” This is very true. You respond to God's Word every time you hear it or read it. This response either hardens your heart and pushes you away from God, or tenderizes your heart and brings you closer to God....

How is your heart today? Is it beating with strong regular intervals? Does it deliver an adequate supply of oxygen throughout your body? No matter how healthy our hearts are, Scripture tells us that we all need heart transplants. Receiving this heart transplant is so important that it's a matter of eternal life, and eternal death.

Have you ever lost hope? If so, then you know the deep the hole of discouragement can get and how difficult it can be to climb out. Take heart! God is a God of Hope who wants you to abound in hope and you can regain hope. That's what this message is all about.

In times of discouragement we need help, and we need hope. The hope that we need is often something we have to fight for and today's message will give us some ways to do this.

A temptation that we can face as we wait on God is to lower Scripture to our circumstances. We start trying to find reasons why God doesn't fully do what this promise we've been holding on to says He does. We lower Scripture till it fits with our circumstances and experiences and then say, "Hooray!" But what if we're not supposed to do that? What if, despite the wait, we are meant to maintain the...

Our world desperately needs hope, and hopeful people. Today we are going to start a series called Hope that I believe will help us be the hopeful people that the world needs.

God has given us everything we need so that we can finish our race. He has given us the Holy Spirit. There is grace to help in our time of need. He places within us the desire to finish and the power to finish (Philippians 2:12-13). Through all of this, God has, in essence, said to us “Stay in the race”.However before any of this can really benefit us, we must determine that we are going to finish...

One of metaphors used in Scripture to describe the Christian life is that of a race. There are times when the running is easy and there are times when the running hurts. When the pain starts the greatest temptation is to quit to ease the pain. However, we have to recognize that quitting when it hurts will always prevent us from finishing the race. We have to be able to deal with the problem of pai...

Chances are we all know what is to be discouraged. But imagine for a second that you were a part of a group of people that were there to pick you up when you were feeling down. Imagine being a part of a group of people that remind you of what God has said about you when you've listened to what the enemy has said about you. Imagine being a part of a group of people where everyone went out of their...

It's rare for someone in our culture to go to believers who are wondering from the truth and try to bring them back. We just aren't that involved in one another's personal or spiritual lives. The very thought of this makes most of us uncomfortable. We are afraid of coming across as judgmental. We are afraid of coming across as unloving. Really, we kinda think it's not really any of our business. B...

Many today read what Scripture says about Jesus setting us free and conclude that freedom means that we really don't have to do anything we don't want to do. If someone says there are things we are to do, or are not to do, they are told they are infringing on the freedom Christ has given us. But is this sort of absolute, personal autonomy what Jesus meant when said that those the Son sets free are...

There are so many times as Christians we seek to be an army of one. Americans are a very individualistic culture. In this culture of individuality, we have developed a sort of rugged individualistic mindset about Christianity. This mindset gives the idea that we really don't need one another, and that we have no real responsibility to one another. This mindset is terribly wrong. Believers are all...

Families are intended to be places of encouragement, acceptance and love. This should be the way the church functions as well. What would it look like for the church to function as family that loved one another and was devoted to one another?

When we are first saved, it is right and necessary for the focus to be on ourselves. We focus on our salvation. Improving our relationship with Jesus. Our spiritual growth. All of that is good, and right. However, if we are truly improving our relationship with Jesus, and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, there will come a time in our relationship with Jesus when the focus goes f...

We are all capable, and likely experts, at convincing ourselves that something untrue is true. Today we'll see why this is such a dangerous thing to do.

What do we need to be a witness.