Northwest Hills Community Church

Associate Pastor Ron King continues our series on Mark. What do you do when you realize your plans and God's plans aren't the same thing? Because that's exactly where Peter lands in Mark 8. He finally gets it right by calling Jesus the Messiah. And then Jesus tells him what that actually means: suffering, rejection, and death. Peter can't handle it, so he pulls Jesus aside and basi...

Worship Director Justin Jackson continues our series on Mark. There's something uncomfortably familiar about the Pharisees. It's not the robes or the rituals, but their impulse to believe that if I just follow the right rules and look like I'm doing it right, then maybe I don't have to actually change anything on the inside. Jesus calls this out directly in Mark 7. He's sitting...

Young Adult Pastor Gary Jones continues our series on Mark. Have you ever felt like you’re just too inadequate to be used by God for anything significant? We often disqualify ourselves before we even begin. But what if our focus is in the wrong place? As followers of Jesus, he calls all of us to step out in faith to boldly proclaim his urgent message to a broken world. But our confidence is not in...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series on Mark. Two people come to Jesus in Mark 5. A synagogue ruler whose daughter is dying. And a woman who's been sick for twelve years, who's tried everything, spent everything, and is getting worse. They couldn't be more different. One is powerful and named. The other is anonymous and desperate. But they both end up at the same place: on...

Adult Pastor Ron King continues our series on Mark. Have you ever read a passage of Scripture, or listened to a sermon and walked away feeling unchanged? It’s easy to blame the communicator or the environment, but today, Jesus challenges us to look somewhere more uncomfortable: the soil of our own hearts. We often pray for God to change our circumstances, our families, or our financial stress. But...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series on Mark. From the very first chapter, Jesus offends everyone: the religious leaders, his own family, and strangers at lunch tables in rural Uganda. And that's because Jesus doesn't soften his claims or make his message easier for us to digest. And honestly? Part of us gets offended by that. And then there's another darker, stranger threa...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series on Mark. In Mark chapter 2, Jesus walks past a tax collector — one of the most despised men in town — and says two words: Follow me. No conditions. No get-his-act-together required. Just an invitation. Then Jesus goes to his house for dinner. And the religious leaders lose it. Jesus gravitates toward exactly the people everyone else avoids, which re...

Worship Director Justin Jackson kicks off our new 15-week journey through the Gospel of Mark. While all of the gospels are clear about who Jesus is, each one also has a unique perspective to offer. Mark puts emphasis on two massive pillars throughout the book: that Jesus is the authoritative Son of God, and that he is the ultimate servant king. Mark gives us a profound look at what it means to mov...

Today, we have three guest preachers bringing us the final word on our series through Jeremiah. This is the end of one of the heaviest books in the Bible. Forty years of warnings. Chance after chance. And a people who kept choosing Egypt over God — over and over — right up until there was nothing left. But here's the thing: we all have an Egypt. It's that place we run to when we think we k...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series on Jeremiah. There's a king, Zedekiah, who keeps showing up at God's door. Keeps asking the right questions. Keeps getting the right answers. But keeps walking away while doing nothing. Like Zedekiah, most of us know what we should do. We've gotten the advice, we've listened to the sermon, and we've felt the conviction. But there's a gap — a painful...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series in the book of Jeremiah. Have you ever felt like there's a voice in your ear whispering that you’re just not good enough? Most of us spend our lives under a contract we can’t keep, haunted by the feeling that we’re one mistake away from falling short. But what happens when the contract changes? Today, we’re exploring the massive shift from perfo...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series in the book of Jeremiah. Arguably, one of the most famous verses in the entire Bible is Jeremiah 29:11. We love it on coffee mugs, graduation cards, and tattoos, but the real story behind this verse is very sobering. It was written to a people whose whole world had just burned down, and the 'hope' God offered them came with a 70-year waiting...

Youth Pastor Cason Brownell continues our series on Jeremiah. We're all surrounded by voices telling us we're fine. That everything's going to work out. That God isn't really that concerned with what we're doing. Smooth words. Easy promises of peace when there is no peace. Jeremiah saw it. The false prophets were telling people exactly what they wanted to hear. And it was destr...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen shares an Easter message. Most of us want a clean ending. We want the story to wrap up, the questions to get answered, the credits to roll. But the oldest account of Easter — the one written by a guy named Peter — ends in the strangest way. No triumphant reunion. No big reveal. Just an empty tomb, a simple announcement, and three women running away in fear. That's i...

Adult Pastor Ron King continues our series on Jeremiah. What do you do when the call of God grows painful? When you said yes to following Jesus, but it cost you more than you expected? Jeremiah knew that place. He was a prophet who wept, raged, and prayed prayers with no amen. And he was a man who kept going despite the pain. If you've ever wondered if faithfulness is worth it. Or, if you'...

Worship Director Justin Jackson continues our series on Jeremiah. What if you've been doing all the right things, but none of it is working? You show up. You sing the songs. You go through the motions. But something still feels hollow. Still feels far. That was Israel. They had the temple. They had the rituals. They chanted the right words. And God looked at them and said, "you don't...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our new series on Jeremiah. Jeremiah is hard and uncomfortable. It shows us a God who judges sin and allows sometimes brutal consequences. And for many of us, that feels strange because we love the picture of Jesus as merciful, compassionate, and welcoming of children. But Jeremiah forces us to wrestle with the questions: Is that the same God? Or are we seeing...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen starts a new series on Jeremiah. Jeremiah begins in a world that feels painfully familiar. A world where life can feel unfair. Where some people seem to carry burdens they never chose. Where obedience to God doesn't always lead to comfort or visible success. Jeremiah was young. Insecure. Unqualified. And God still called him. Not to an easy life. Not to quick result...

Today, we finish our series on Philippians. Paul writes these final words from a prison cell — chained, uncertain, dependent on others — and yet somehow he speaks about joy, peace, and contentment. Not the kind that comes when life finally settles down, but the kind that holds steady when it doesn't. Because the truth is, most of us are still waiting for circumstances to change before our hear...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series on Philippians. Following Jesus is beautiful in theory. But in real life, it can feel crowded out by busyness, distractions, conflict we didn't ask for, responsibilities we can't ignore, anxiety that creeps in, and sometimes just feeling stuck. Philippians 4 meets us right there. Not with hype or vague inspiration. But with a steady voice th...

Worship Director Justin Jackson continues our series on Philippians. Paul has been calling us to humility, to work out our salvation, to count everything as loss compared to knowing Christ. And now he says something surprisingly honest: he's not there yet. That's encouraging. Because most of us know what it feels like to be in process. We love Jesus and belong to Him. But we're still b...

Associate Pastor Ron King continues our series in the book of Philippians. We’ve all felt the pressure to perform—to build the right resume, protect our reputation, or maintain a perfect spiritual track record. But what if all that 'gain' is actually getting in the way of what matters most? In today's message, we’re challenged to see that knowing Jesus is worth more than everything els...

Adult Pastor Ron King continues a series on Philippians. Paul writes from prison, but his focus isn't on suffering. It's on formation. On what it looks like for ordinary believers to live faithfully in the middle of a broken world. This section of Philippians confronts a tension every Christian feels: salvation is fully accomplished by Christ, and yet we are called to actively live it out...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen starts a series on Philippians. There are passages in Scripture that don't just challenge us, they expose us. This is one of them. It confronts how we naturally think about ourselves: our instincts toward pride, and our need to measure, compare, and protect. Paul doesn't offer a self-improvement plan here. Instead, he gives us a picture of Jesus. One who didn&#3...

Lead Pastor Josh Carstensen continues our series on Philippians. What do you do when the vision you had for your life doesn't match the reality you’re actually living? For the Apostle Paul, his dream of preaching in Rome didn't include chains and a prison guard. But where we might see a dead end, Paul saw an opportunity to be faithful. When Jesus is the common denominator, no season of lif...