Northview Church

You knew better. You meant it. And you lost again. You've tried harder. You've made promises. And the same fight keeps winning. In Galatians 5:16–26, Paul says the answer isn't more willpower, and it isn't giving up. It's following the Spirit so close that the flesh can't keep up. Part of "Turned Loose," our series through the book of Galatians at Northview Church in Kodak, Tennessee. Follow the f...

Paul looks at a church that's getting more serious about God and tells them they're walking backward. Not sideways. Backward — toward the same slavery they came out of. In Galatians 4:8–5:1, he flattens a distinction we assume is obvious. Rules and ruin end up in the same column, because both of them are the flesh trying to manage what only God can produce. And the charge against religious perform...

You're doing everything right and it still feels like a job. Serving. Giving. Showing up. And somewhere around 3 a.m. there's a quiet tally running — am I up or down with God this week. Paul has a word for that, and it isn't "faithful." It's "minor." In Galatians 3:15–4:7, Paul says the law was a guardian with an expiration date. Not a failure. A finished job. And when the date came, you didn't ge...

You've been paying a debt that was already cleared. Paul asks the Galatians a question that lands just as hard today: if you didn't start this by your own effort, why are you trying to finish it that way? In week 4 of Turned Loose, Pastor Greg Rains walks through Galatians 3:1-14 — the sign nobody's looking at anymore, the number every one of us secretly checks, and the curse that was read out lou...

Peter got it wrong. Paul told him to his face. One of the most respected leaders in the early church stopped walking in step with the gospel — not because he stopped believing it, but because he was afraid of what people would think. And it took a friend with enough grit to say something. In week 3 of Turned Loose, Pastor Greg Rains walks through Galatians 2:11-21 and asks a question most of us ha...

Could this verse be written about you? Week 2 of Turned Loose, an eight-week series through Galatians. Paul spent his life advancing beyond his peers — and then the churches who knew him only as their persecutor had exactly one thing to say about him. Seven words that had nothing to do with Paul. When God gets the glory, you get the freedom. Galatians 1:11–2:10 (NLT) Northview Church · Kodak, TN ·...

Is God making you wait too long, or is He working in ways you can't see yet? In this message from James 5:7-11, Pastor Greg Rains looks at what it actually means to wait on God — not gritting your teeth until the answer comes, but trusting the character of the One who's holding the timeline. Using the farmer's patience and Job's unshakable confidence in the middle of unimaginable loss, this messag...

Your bank statement might be more honest than your testimony. In this message from James 5:1-6, Pastor Greg Rains asks the question most of us avoid: what does your wallet actually say about your heart? Part of the "Point Blank: Faith That Doesn't Flinch" series through the book of James, this message unpacks a hard warning to anyone living comfortably while losing sight of Kingdom purpose — landi...

You think you've got time. You think you've got your sin managed, your relationships fine, your future planned out. James says otherwise. In this message, we walk through James 4:7-17 and ask the question every one of us needs to answer honestly: What is your life? Not the version you'd post about — the real one. The one that either dies in the grave with you, or carries on to eternity with Christ...

Joel Osteen sold 30 million copies telling people God wants to give them their best life now. James chapter 4 has something to say about that. This week in our Point Blank series, Pastor Greg Rains takes on one of the most uncomfortable passages in the entire book of James — and shows us why chasing the world's version of the good life doesn't just disappoint us. It destroys us. And it makes us en...

You're not failing. You're not in some obvious spiral. You're showing up, taking care of your family, staying out of trouble — and somehow a whole week goes by and your faith didn't come up once. James 3 calls that earthly wisdom. And he says it has a source. In this message from James 3:13-18, we look at two kinds of wisdom — one that contracts your life down to surviving, and one that produces a...

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” James says otherwise. In this message from James 3:1–12, we confront the power of the tongue — how words can destroy relationships, wound people made in God’s image, and reveal what’s really happening in the heart. But the gospel doesn’t just diagnose the problem. It offers transformation. This sermon explores: The hidden damage...

What is the difference between believing in Jesus and surrendering to Jesus? In this message from James 2:14–26, we look at the kind of faith James says is dead, useless, and unable to save. The demons believe the truth about God — but they are not disciples. Judas had proximity to Jesus, ministry experience, and religious knowledge — but he never truly surrendered. Real faith is not perfection. A...

In James 2:1–13, we’re confronted with a difficult question: who really belongs in your church? This message exposes the subtle ways favoritism shows up in the church—not always through policies, but through reflexes. We move toward people who impress us, overlook people who make us uncomfortable, and sometimes forget that the Lord of glory made room for us when we had nothing to offer. James call...

What if the problem isn't that you haven't heard enough?  What if you've heard plenty — and just keep walking away? James 1:19-27 is one of the most confrontational passages in  the New Testament. James doesn't call out pagans or skeptics.  He calls out church people — people who show up, hear the Word, nod along, and go home unchanged. He has one word for that: self-deception. In this message fro...

You know the list. The culture is too sexualized. The season is too busy. The cost of living is too high. The enemy is too active. There's always a reason why you can't seem to break the cycle — and it always points somewhere other than you. James 1:9–18 doesn't let that stand. This week in our series through the book of James, we get into the anatomy of temptation — how it actually works, where i...

Nobody told you following Jesus would feel like this. You believed. You trusted. And life didn't get easier — it got harder. Now you're sitting in the middle of a trial you didn't choose, wondering if any of this is actually worth it. James wrote this letter to people asking that exact question. Scattered. Suffering. Holding onto faith with both hands and losing their grip. His answer wasn't what...

The tomb is empty. So why do so many of us live like it doesn't change anything? In this Easter Sunday message from John 20, Pastor Greg Rains walks through one of the most important chapters in all of Scripture — the resurrection of Jesus Christ. From the empty tomb to Mary in the garden, from the locked upper room to Thomas's confession, this message confronts the most dangerous kind of unbelief...

There’s a name you won’t say out loud. Maybe not even to God. A person you’ve cut off, gone silent on, decided no longer deserves your awareness. You call it moving on. But the wound is still there — and silence never healed anything. In this message from the series Behold the Lamb, we look at what Jesus does while He’s dying. He prays for His enemies. He welcomes the criminal beside Him. He tears...

On the night Jesus was betrayed, He did something that would have stopped every Jewish person in that room cold. He left the Passover unfinished. The fourth cup — the cup of completion, the cup that closed the Passover for fifteen hundred years — was still on the table when He walked out into the night. Where did that cup go? In this message from Mark 14:32–50, we follow Jesus into the garden of G...

With the Triumphal Entry, the crowd got it right and wrong at the same time. They called Him King — and He was. But they wanted a general, and God sent a Lamb. In Luke 19, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the exact day every Jewish household was selecting their Passover lamb — and He weeps over a city that can't see what's right in front of them. This isn't just their story. It's ours. We've learned...

The enemy doesn't need to take you out. He just needs to keep you distracted. In this message from John 10, Pastor Greg Rains unpacks the thief's real strategy — and reveals the one weapon most believers aren't using. If you've been feeling spiritually exhausted, numb, or like God feels distant, this message is for you.

What if your biggest problem with Jesus isn't that you've rejected him — it's that you've underestimated him?  In John 11, we meet a Jesus who delays on purpose, weeps at a grave, and shouts a dead man back to life. He is not tame. He is not manageable. And apathy toward him isn't a devotion problem — it's a vision problem.  This message will challenge the way you see Jesus and why it changes ever...

Everyone has a response to Jesus. The minimizer calls Him a good teacher. The skeptic says He doesn't add up. The hostile man wants Him silenced. The curious man circles from a safe distance. And the respectful man walks away impressed — but unchanged. In John 7, temple guards were sent to arrest Jesus. They came back empty-handed. Not because they couldn't grab Him. Because they couldn't stop lis...

Fear Him, Fear NothingMost of us have our fear in the wrong place. We're terrified of our circumstances—the storm that's threatening to sink us—but Jesus? He's comfortable. Manageable. Safe. But here's the problem: A Jesus you don't fear can't save you from the storms you do fear. In Mark 4:35-41, the disciples thought they were going to drown in a storm. But when Jesus stood up and commanded the...