NP Berean Sermons Podcast

We've finished the major movements of the God Story, so the remaining question is, "Now What?" What should be our response to this series? We'll explore the implications and applications of the God Story for our own lives as we observe how two men in the early church were affected by their encounter with the Living and Ruling King Jesus.

In the first century, the believers were rumored to be cannibals ("they eat flesh and drink blood"), atheists ("they don't believe in the gods"), and traitors ("they deny Caesar is Lord"). They were under immense societal pressure to recant their belief in the Jesus as Lord. Into that pressure and difficulty, the Lord met the apostle John in a vision designed to remind the Church that the King was...

Those who have chosen to follow the King and who desire his will and ways to be realized have now been "called out" from this world. We remain in the world, but we're no longer "of" the world – we belong to God's kingdom and are under the rule of our marvelous, self-sacrificing King Jesus. the name of this group of people is the Church (from the Greek word meaning "called out ones"). What is our m...

Just as we concluded last week that entrance into Jesus' kingdom doesn't come without our death (to ourselves and to sin), so this week we'll look at the events leading up to Jesus' Passion (suffering). Did you know that all four gospels each devote at least a third of their account to the final week of Jesus' early ministry? There is no kingdom entrance for us without his Cross. While most kings...

For livestream go to https:// www.youtube.com/live/xnJg-a_tgCk We saw last week that the Son was God's beloved Word and Deliverer after the 400 years of "silence." Today, we'll see how he was the perfect King that Israel needed. Unlike the kingdom in the Old Testament, where many kings merely did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, Jesus was the perfect King who announced, demonstrated, and de...

God's relentless love for Israel, rooted in his covenant-keeping faithfulness, has never wavered. But for 400 years, God's silence must have been deafening in the hearts and minds of Israel. Has God finally rejected us? Have we strayed too far and he has abandoned us? But at a moment, in a setting, and in a manner that almost nobody expected, God invaded our sin-darkened world in the person of The...

As the kingdom of Israel fell into greater and greater levels of decline, God did not leave them without witnesses to his goodness and love! Join in this week as we explore the role of Israel's prophets in revealing God's heart for his people and his plan to bring them back to himself no matter how far they would run.

This week we are back to The God Story where to date we've seen Creation, Fall, Promise, Israel, and now Kingdom. Remember that God's kingdom is one of the major themes running through the God Story, as humans experience a constant wrestling to honor the true King (God) rather than descend into enthroning anything else in opposition to him. We'll see how Israel was designed to practice the truth o...

This week Pastor Bryan Clark of Lincoln Berean will be preaching out of Psalm 143. It starts with one bad choice that leads to another then another. We wake up one morning and realize we’ve made a mess of our lives, and we wonder, how did this happen? Will the sun ever shine again?

As we continue our journey, we see that God's Promise to the one man (Abraham) has its fulfillment in the birth of a nation - Israel! This nation is the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and the way in which he is planning to bless all the nations of the world to restore what was lost through humanity's sin. This is a people that God chose, covenanted with, and revealed himself to in amazing...

At creation, God generously shared himself and all his dominion with humans, but in pride and rebellion we threw off his rule in order to proclaim ourselves kings and queens. In so doing we despised his family and presence. Yet into our brokenness and sin, God approached one man to begin an epic rescue mission of all nations. God starts with a promise that will flow through all the pages of The Go...

If everything got off to such an amazing start, how do we explain the state the world is in today? Turns out, it all depends on what humanity chooses – trusting God and doing things his way, or turning our backs and going our own…

Have you ever sat down to read the Bible and felt a bit like, "I'm not quite sure what to make of this"? Maybe some things seem to apply, but then other passages just seem weird, confusing, or even shocking ("That's in the Bible?!"…for instance, search "Ehud Judges"). The way forward is learning to read the Bible in context and according to its storyline. You see, the entire Bible – from Genesis t...

How many people make promises or predictions that never come to pass? Plenty. We’ve all been disappointed at one time or another by someone who told us something and then failed to deliver. But what if there was someone who never failed to deliver on his promises? And what if he proved his faithfulness by accomplishing the most outlandish prediction ever made – that he would die and then be raised...

On Palm Sunday, a huge crowd excitedly welcomed Jesus as king and rescuer. But within days, they abandoned him to die a shameful, torturous death – crucifixion. Even seeing their Messiah right there in the flesh, they’d missed him. What about us? Are we fully devoted to Jesus as our King and Rescuer? Or will we miss him too?

The final section of Romans! What better way could Paul end his rich treatise to the Roman church than to forever ascribe glory (significance) to the only wise God through Jesus Christ? He gives strength to the weary, draws in people from all nations, and empowers us to live lives of obedient faith. What an amazing and glorious God!

We're coming to the end of Paul's letter where he typically asks for greetings to be given to some brothers and sisters in the church (you know, well-known people such as Phoebe, Philologus, Herodion, and Apelles. Sometimes we get to these name lists and it's easy to quickly breeze through (we've all done it!). But isn't all Scripture God-breathed and useful for us? Indeed it is, and this week we'...

Whose job is it to do the ministry NP Berean? Pastor John? The Staff? The Elders? Actually, we all have a part to play and if the staff is doing their role well, then they'll be equipping you, as a saint, to do the work of the ministry. Every believer in Christ has a ministry that he has assigned to them and nobody is excepted. Let's partner together and strive in prayer as we fulfill the ministry...

Paul concludes his discussion of believers who have "strong" and "weak" faith, charging the strong (with whom he identifies) to please the weak and not themselves! He ultimately calls for unity within the church between all believers who are designed to glorify God together!

Paul exhorts the Roman believers to love all in truth and remember the time is short so believers must walk in a worthy way. As we explore what it looks like to love truly and walk worthy, we'll be challenged to throw off deeds of darkness and run toward the light!

Do we live our lives as if God is near or far away? Psalm 46 shows us that for the believer in Jesus, God is available every day and every moment to help and guide His people. How would we live differently if we believed and lived in daily relationship with the available God? Tyce Jensen (President of our Berean Fellowship) will be joining us to preach.

The Christian's relationship to the government can certainly be fraught with tension. What does it mean to submit to the governing authorities? When is it permissible to stand against the government? What should be our attitude toward those in authority? Paul addresses this to the Roman church and we can receive instruction for our own context today in this next section of Romans.

What does it look like practically to live out our faith in Christ? Having explored Gospel Foundations (Romans 1-4), Gospel Fruit (5-8), and Gospel Faithfulness (9-11), Paul makes a radical shift as he draws his letter to a close. The first 11 chapters were full of indicatives (statements of truth) about us, God, and how Christ restores our broken relationship with God. But from chapter 12 onward,...

The beginning of a growing relationship with Jesus Christ is Treasuring God, and as we treasure God we find that we are being transformed to look like him in our character! We will love every other person we encounter (as we love ourselves) - all others. To conclude our series, we'll explore how there is a unique call even within Loving Others to especially Pursue Unity with other believers in Jes...

The beginning of a growing relationship with Jesus Christ is Treasuring God, and as we treasure God we find that we are being transformed to look like him in our character! As this transformation unfolds in us, we find the third vision component becomes more pronounced - we'll be a people who are Loving Others (every "Other" in our lives). People inside the church certainly, but also (and perhaps...