Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

This is the first in the Fear of the Lord series which explores how being aware of God's incredible power and holiness is the beginning of ordering all of life rightly. Moses and Israel truly experienced just how holy God is; a God who is good and in control but who isn't "safe."

So often we go to God in prayer to ask Him to change the world to be the way we want it to be. But if we learn to pray the Kingdom Prayer like Jesus taught his disciples then we will go to God in prayer so that we can begin shaping the world to look like God wants it to be.

So many churches are hierarchical in their organizational structure. But the church is called to be a "pnuematocracy," that is, governed by the Spirit. People should be leading and serving as they are gifted. This sermon explores how we are gifted and for what purpose. Are you using your gift or burying it?

After God created family he declared his creation to be "very good." When the disciples pushed the children away because Jesus had more important things to do Jesus welcomed them. We must now recognize that in our church, homes, and world we need to make sure we aren't doing "more important things" than welcoming kids so they can be blessed by Jesus. We also introduce a great new ministry to bless...

This week we focused on the good news of the Kingdom is incredible news, but it doesn't matter much if we only have belief without putting our faith into action. This sermon considers James 2 and other examples of faithful people changing the world through faithful action.

Jesus told his disciples that if they wanted to become the greatest they must become a servant of all. If they clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and served the least of these, they would in turn be providing those blessings and services to Jesus himself. Alton also shared how he encounters these blessings along the Highways and Byways every week.

One of the important ways we practice experiencing and being the faithful presence of God in the church, at home, and in the world is by proclaiming the Gospel to others. If we don't speak it the world can't hear it.

This sermon explores how we experience the faithful presence of Christ when we become conflict resolvers and peace makers at church, at home, and in the world. Reconciliation is a core spiritual discipline for those who truly wish to follow Jesus Christ, deeply rooted in his own birth, life, death, and resurrection. 

Last week one of our special Shepherds, Henry, passed away. This sermon celebrates his legacy at Northwest and challenges all of us to consider how we are living and what legacy we will leave.

This week is our first week studying one of the spiritual disciplines that Christians can practice together in the three circles of the church, their homes, and the world. The Lord's Supper or Lord's Table is designed to be a place where we come together to experience the presence of Christ in a way that helps us reflect on our relationship with Jesus and our relationship with others around the ta...

God is present everywhere. And we are called to embody and become the presence of God by joining in God's redemptive mission everywhere. But we do that differently in different contexts. How we experience and embody the presence of God is different in the church, our homes and neighborhoods, and in the world. In this sermon we consider David Fitch's description of these contexts as the "close circ...

This sermon takes a lengthy look at John 14-17 and how important the ideas of God's presence and the Holy Spirit shaping us into the embodiment of God's presence in the world are to Jesus and his understanding of his role and the role of his disciples.

Jesus, Peter, John, and Paul all provide different insights into how we can be the presence of God in the world. Once we realize our job isn't to force the world into God's image, we can instead focus on becoming people transformed by God's presence who then begin transforming the world around his as the embodiment of God's presence. That does mean we need to trust God more and politicians, compan...

This series is going to explore how God's presence is the greatest promise in Scripture and that if we can learn how to become God's faithful presence in our chaotic world, we can help the world to truly experience and perhaps open themselves to God's presence in their life. 

What do you want to be when you grow up? If your answer was a job then perhaps that's too much of your identity. Christians should think first and foremost about being a transformed disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything else is a side-job.

This year at Camp Rock Creek our theme is "True Story." This sermon on the same topic discusses how Christians should know that God's story is true, be able to simply communicate it to others, and understand their own part in God's ongoing story.

Our minds and souls were not created to bear the weight of the stories we consume. This reality requires us find ways to process, heal, and pursue lives of wholeness and not overwhelmed anxiety and anger.

Jesus says that it matters more what's on the inside than outside appearances or actions. The true heart of worship is making sure that you clean out the junk and make room for love of God and love of others. If your heart is right everything else will follow. 

James wrote in his epistle that faith without action is dead. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that anybody who wants to build their house on a solid foundation must put his teachings into action. Too often we think about Christianity being an exercise of faith. But over and over again we see that discipleship requires action. This sermon describes a way to use Scripture and experiments to e...

Once you become a Christian, it isn't enough to just believe or think like Jesus. We are called to be real disciples who put the teachings of Jesus into action. When we put our faith into action it helps us survive life's storms and share our faith.

On a special Easter Sunday worship service we changed the order of worship to include more praise and worship, bilingual Scripture readings, and several short devotional lessons. The service highlighted the brokenness of our world and the healing that the cross and resurrection offers to those who are willing to receive it. 

When we think about serving others we think about how we are being Jesus to them and how fortunate they are to have us helping them. But when we look at the Gospels, Jesus often shows up as the guest, the one served, the one blessed by another's generosity. We must make sure as Christians that when we serve others we remember we should seek to find Jesus in them too.

Why did Jesus die on the cross? To save us from our sins of course. But what about defeating death, tearing down the dividing wall of hostility, fulfilling prophecies, and so many other reasons. If we are going to be the people who take up our cross and follow Jesus we need a much fuller understanding of what the cross is really all about.

In the middle of the Lord's prayer are two lines that sound like requests to receive, but in reality they can call us to truly give and join God is his redemptive work in this world. Give us this day our daily bread reminds us to depend on God and share our blessings. The invitation for God's Kingdom to come is a call to action for disciples of Jesus to bring our hope of Heaven into our present re...

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray during the Sermon on the Mount, he gave them a short little prayer that has world changing implications. Christ-like prayer should seek to honor God and not ourselves. It should recognize the wonder of being able to call the Creator our Father. It should invite us to begin shaping our lives around the Kingdom of God so the Kingdom might truly break into and...