Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

We read in James 5 that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. But we rarely pray with expectation or anticipation. If we really take God at his word, we trust that he is a righteous and loving judge, a good father, and that he truly has gifts waiting for us if we will only ask in faith. 

Evangelism is different, and often harder, than it used to be. People who don't go to church today often went to church in the past and chose to leave God and leave Church. So it's not enough for us to invite them, to wait until they have kids, or wait until their lives bottom out. Because for many of them, they are quite comfortable away from Christianity. And yet Peter warns us that Satan wants...

On the day Jesus was crucified there were three crosses for three guilty criminals. One died still mocking Jesus even though he was guilty. The other stopped mocking and suddenly realized he was not watching a crucifixion but was watching a coronation for a Kingdom he wanted to be a part of. The third criminal was pardoned while Jesus died on his cross. Today we can learn from and experience much...

Ryan talked about how God can use all kinds of people to become missionaries if they are only willing to share their story and the difference God has made in their lives. Are you willing to let God bless you and send you so that He can bless others. 

As we continue to move to our March for Missions Giving Sunday Jim Baird challenged us to taste and see that the Lord is good. The world is waiting for the Kingdom of God. Are we willing to share the Kingdom with them?

Its that time of year where people really clean their house and yard. But Christians also need to spend time evaluating their spiritual health. This sermon is a checkup and call to let God work in you and through you. 

Pancho preached about how David and Jonathan had such a special friendship that connected them to one another and to God. Today Christians can build such special relationships that strengthen their relationship with God.

Today we finished our series on being a peacemaker. This lesson begins by focusing on Jesus' teaching that we love our enemies and then begins giving the practical details about peacemaking, confession, and forgiveness. It recognizes that we need God's Spirit to come into us and transform us if we are going to really do this hard work of making peace with everybody. Are you willing to make the pea...

Jesus told the crowd, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God." Peacemaking is more than being passive. It is actively resolving conflict and bringing peace into chaos. This week we look at how our fight or flight instincts cause us to respond to conflict and how there are twelve types of responses that are either healthy or unhealthy. How will you choose to respond to confl...

While God desires for us to work together as Christians, the truth is that being in community will always eventually end in conflict. People sin, argue, hurt one another, and have different ideas about what should happen. When that happens, how do we repair the relationship? How do we heal and forgive? What does real forgiveness look like? Are you willing to do the work like Paul, Barnabas, Peter...

This week we talked about how God designed us to be the Kingdom of God as a collection of connected people with different circumstances and gifts that work best together. Then we practiced it by actually writing our names and favorite Bible verses on quilt squares and tying them together. (The recording of the group activity is edited out because it sounded like a mumbling crowd.)

On this MLK Day Weekend we remember Martin Luther King's leadership, but even more so the story of his favorite song, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." This song was written by Thomas Dorsey and his story is an inspirational example of how God can weave together circumstances, giftedness, and unexpected paths to bring his glory to the world. 

Psalm 139 celebrates how God knows us so intimately that he even knits us together in our mother's womb. He gives us gifts, personalities, and all of the abilities we need to accomplish the purposes he has in store for us. This is powerfully demonstrated in the life of Moses and particularly the conversation with God through the burning bush. Are you willing to trust God's gifts, and God's sending...

When Joseph's brothers fear his revenge he told them that what they wove for him as harm God had instead re-wove to save the lives of many. In all of our lives, we suffer like Joseph and yet God is always there weaving his goodness and glory into the masterpiece of our lives. 

History began when God created the world to have a relationship with us. Then he did something incredible...he gave us a choice. And people have been rejecting God and choosing temptation and idols over God ever sense. So God sent his Son, Jesus, to live among us so that we might have a new way to choose God eternally and have God dwell within us through the Holy Spirit.

In the Bible, joy is not just deep happiness. Joy is the opposite of anxiety and faithlessness and it can become the foundation for a deeply rooted life of faith. It's something the Holy Spirit produces in us. It also can lead us out of grouchiness and into a light that demonstrates our confidence in God to answer our prayers and take care of us.

Jesus was born into a world with many powerful rulers and kings who so often increased their own power and influence by violence and military strength. Caesar Augustus came to power through a bloody civil war. Herod famously killed anybody who threatened his hold on the throne, even if it was his own children. But Jesus was born in a manger, proclaimed savior, Messiah, and the one who would bring...

The birth of Jesus is more than a cute children's story in a barn a long time ago. It is the beginning of a revolution of good over evil. Light is breaking into the world and pushing back the darkness. And Jesus' own genealogy reveals the need for light and hope. Today we must choose whether or not to receive the gift of hope offered to us by Jesus.

In Leviticus 23-25 and other passages, God gives instructions to Israel about when, how, and why they should celebrate special holidays to help them remember God and pass on their values and faith to a new generation. Today, the church can reclaim the blessings of celebrating holidays to celebrate and pass on faith and values in our families. 

Moses tells Israel on several occasions to ask their elders to tell them the stories of all God has done for them. Judges warns about all the evil that can happen when a generation forgets God and his great works. Job says that those without memory of the past are like plants without roots. This holiday season spend time learning and sharing the stories of your past to build relationships and brid...

This sermon focuses on the Sabbath and how God desires for some special days be set aside so we can remember what He has done in the past so we can have confidence and peace in the present and faith and hope for the future.

Last week focused on how the Bible came to be, what it claims to be and what difference it should make in our lives. This week focuses on who has authority to interpret Scripture and what it means for us as Christians and as a community of Christians living the life of faith together.

The Bible is God's Word. But what does that mean, and how do we read it and apply it to our lives? This sermon explores how the Bible works in the lives of believers and how we live it out personally and in Christian communities. 

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But how exactly does fearing God help us to rightly order things in our lives so we live wisely? A right understanding of how awesome God is helps us to have wise values, priorities, goals, ambitions, and anxieties.

There are so many people in our world today who are struggling with loneliness and depression. When we read the Bible we learn they are not alone. In this sermon, Dante shares with us how Stephen could have felt alone but realized God knows how he feels, and recognizes and honors what he is going through. If God can see Stephen in his moment of trial then he can see us in our moment of trial as we...