Northwest Gospel Church - Eastside

Acts 8:4-25 | Noah Soistmann | It is in the shadow of the stoning of Stephen that we resume our journey through the book of the Acts of the Apostles. As Stephen is buried and the Church is ruthlessly oppressed, one naturally wonders how these Christians will move forward. And to make matters worse, Acts 8 fully introduces us to a new character: Saul, the ravager of the Church. Here, we see that Go...

1 Samuel 12:1-25 | Andrew Murch | A crotchety old man stands in front of all of Israel, reminds them of their past, and warns them of their future. Have we read this before? The way this book is going, we may see it again. Now, what is it about this message that seems similar? God is good and mighty to save? Check. The people have the promise of a blessing if they obey the Lord’s laws and commands...

1 Samuel 10:17-11:15 | Will Anderson | Where the farmer king fights his transformation, the Lord of All remains sovereign. The bleating of His sheep Israel when Ammonite wolves threaten them stirs the Father to raise a savior for his people. The Lord would not suffer disgrace upon Himself or His people. Saul cannot help but listen to the Spirit and unite the people as a king should. The Lord does...

1 Samuel 9:1-10:16 | Andrew Murch | Imagine scouring the county for your missing dog only to be told by a smelly, scraggly fortune teller that you’ll one day be President. “You’re going to rule the nation. Don’t worry about your doggy; he’s a good boy. Have a leg of lamb. Mazel tov!” That scenario is similar to what Saul thought happened up until he realized he was talking to the prophet of the Li...

1 Samuel 8:1-22 | Andrew Murch | Do you have a pivotal moment in your life? What season or event in your life do you look back on and say, “now that changed everything!” First Samuel 8 is a pivotal moment in the life of Israel. This is a moment that generations would look back on in the life of Israel and recognize when things changed. Life was never the same. Israel was never the same. History wa...

1 Samuel 7:1-17 | Andrew Murch | Though the Ark of the Covenant has returned from enemy lines and is back in the hands of the Israelites, a couple of decades pass with no progress. The people of Israel are still living in fear of their Philistine neighbors and seem to have no interest in serving Yahweh. Behind the scenes, in these decades since Samuel had been called by the Lord, Samuel is growing...

1 Samuel 5:1-6:21 | Andrew Murch | Israel has already experienced that they cannot use God like their personal genie in a box and the Philistines are about to experience the same as well. At first, the Philistines are feeling pretty good. You see, these battles were not about the strength of one army versus another, but rather, was a show-down of the ‘gods’. The nation with the stronger god would...

1 Samuel 4:1-22 | Josh Lane | This passage is a humbling reminder to all who read it of the weight of God’s holiness. As we walk through the story of the Old Testament we have a few flashbacks to the book of Judges as this specific story in 1 Samuel seems to go from bad to worse quickly. This passage shows us how seriously God views sin, how separate He is from sin, and how much we need a savior f...

1 Samuel 3:1-21 | Andrew Murch | 1 Samuel continues to put the reader’s head on a swivel. We look to Eli’s family and see that their end is coming, then turn and look at Samuel. This young boy is learning to hear the voice of the Lord. Something that Eli’s family had seemed to forget. We’ve seen this theme continually in Scripture, that when darkness seems to be winning, and all hope seems lost; G...

1 Samuel 2:12-36 | Andrew Murch | Last week, our narrative opened with the backstory of Samuel and his miraculous birth. As Samuel is dedicated to service in the temple, we turn to the priesthood and to Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. In our passage this week, the focus shifts from the faith of Hannah to the folly of Eli’s son and the failing of Eli to properly address and correct his sons...

1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 | Andrew Murch | As we crack open the book of 1 Samuel, none other than the namesake of the book will appear in these first chapters. However, much like the iconic stories of the Scriptures, we begin with a barren woman. Here we see that in seasons of barrenness and in seasons of plenty, the Lord’s plan is never thwarted and he is always good.

John 4:27-42 | Mike Clarensau | Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well is well known. Less well-known is the scene that follows between Jesus and his disciples. The Samaritan woman's actions are contrasted with the disciples' confusion. Here, we see that we must see what Jesus sees if we will do what He would have us do.

Philippians 1:6 | Todd Miles | "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." In a verse so seemingly straightforward, there is a message of great hope and promise. Here, we see that God intends to fulfill his work in his people.

Isaiah 35:1-10 | Andrew Murch | "They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God." As we continue in our journey in Isaiah, we come to a passage saturated with hope. The Lord has promised that Israel's impending exile will come to an end. Only after exile would Israel be called back to the Lord. God himself reveals through the prophet Isaiah a glorious promise of restoration and redem...

Isaiah 42:1-12 | Noah Soistmann | "I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations." Who will the promised Savior be? What will he do as he establishes his kingdom? We turn this week to the first half of Isaiah 42, and we see that long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, his advent was promised as Israel looked forward to the coming of the Lord's servant.

Isaiah 12:1-6 | Andrew Murch | “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” This week, we look back as the ancient Israelites are looking forward. God is the one who promised to provide salvation for his people. This salvation is realized in a special way in the birth of Christ, the God-man, who wo...

Isaiah 9:1-7 | Tim Smith | "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given." This popular Advent passage is one that gets directly to the center of our hope as Christians. God promised, long before the first century that a savior was coming. Who will this savior be? What will he be like? As we turn back to this prophecy, we encounter a glimpse of the one who would come to save God's people.

Acts 8:1-4 | Andrew Murch | This section of Acts comes to a close with a person who is going to play an important role throughout the rest of the book. In the shadow of Stephen's execution, we are introduced to Saul, who "approved of [Stephen's] execution" (Acts 8:1 ESV). By the hand of Saul, the Church enters a brutal season of persecution. However, God has not finished his work of establishing h...

Acts 6:8-7:60 | Andrew Murch | In this moment, the Christian movement receives its first martyr in history, and it launches an all-out “witch hunt” for anyone who would believe the same way as Stephen. We are introduced to Saul who is the primary mover in this persecution, and the church is launched into a new era of being hunted. This pivotal moment in the story of Acts continues two of the theme...

Acts 6:1-7 | Gavin Hesse | As the gospel spread throughout the Jewish world, many Hellenists responded to the good news. The Hellenists were Jews who spoke Greek (instead of Hebrew), so the obvious language barrier in the church was likely the cause of this oversight. But as we see in this week’s text, a need in the church is an opportunity for the church to respond. While the word “deacon” is nev...

Acts 5:12-42 | Andrew Murch | The ongoing mission of the Spirit-filled church simply cannot be stopped. In this passage we see that following and obeying God is always worth it, no matter the consequences we will face. The high priest and the Sadducees are corrupt leaders who are now jealous of a genuine move of God. These spiritual leaders would have worked their whole lives only to gain a false...

Acts 4:32-5:11 | Andrew Murch | The story of the Apostles and the early Church continues... We are reminded this week that we, as Christians, must always value and pursue truth and be known as people of truth. We also cannot ever elevate anything (or any person) above the holiness of God—no possession, no status, no position, nothing. God is a loving, caring, merciful, gracious, and jealous God!

Acts 4:23-31 | Andrew Murch | In these early days of the church, we learn that the church is both a supernatural and ordinary thing. It is supernatural in that it cannot exist without the Spirit uniting and saving believers in Christ. The Spirit brings together people and puts them on mission together. In a world of broken people, it takes a supernatural work of the Spirit to fill and change heart...

Acts 4:1-22 | Shai Linne | The truth is that the gospel could not be thwarted even with this opposition, but rather, “many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about five thousand.” Wherever the gospel has faced opposition, growth of the gospel movement has inevitably followed.

Acts 3:1-4:4 | Andrew Murch | In these early chapters of Acts, we are given a picture of the life of the early church in Jerusalem, and the popular support for it that continued to increase despite the simultaneously growing opposition to it on the part of the Jewish officials. As we turn to chapter three, we see a mighty work and the mighty word. Peter and John perform a healing which prompts pre...