National Community Church Audio Podcast

Have you ever gone through a season of life that has broken you? A season that drained your energy, that tested your resolve, that wore you out? Today, we want to talk about a place called “Baka.” It literally means weeping. It was a point on the journey of pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the ancient middle east. We’ll unpack Psalm 84:5-7 to learn how to not just go TO Baka, but to go THROUGH it. We have something to learn in that place. We have strength to gain. We have something to give. Don’t discount God’s purposes at work, even in the hard places! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you want to REPEAT HISTORY, keep doing it the way it’s always been done. If you want to CHANGE HISTORY, dare to be different. What you perceive to be your biggest disadvantage may prove to be your greatest advantage. In Christ, you are nobody’s underdog! Your brave is someone else’s breakthrough. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Valley of Crisis is where we discover who we are, and more importantly, who God is. It’s the place where faith is forged, vision is birthed, and character is cultivated. How do you get to the other side? You’ve got to PRAY YOUR WAY THROUGH and WORSHIP YOUR WAY OUT of the crisis. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Like the disciples two thousand years ago, we find ourselves sheltered-in-place this Easter. Fear is in the air. Uncertainty is everywhere. The good news? The tomb is still empty! When Jesus walked out of the tomb, death was no longer undefeated. When it seems like all is lost, we go back to the empty tomb. That is where our faith is found. That is where our hope is anchored. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We find ourselves in a season of isolation, chaos, frustration, grief, readjustment. We are adjusting to a completely new normal all the while facing weeks and months of new pressures and challenges. In our text today, Jesus found himself facing pressure, pain, and challenge in the moments before He would face the cross. As He entered the garden, He grappled with all that was to come and shared honestly about His desire for a different path. In fact, He shared his agony and anguish to the point of sweating blood. He was desperate! It might be Christ’ greatest show of humanity as He wrestled with God. In His wrestle, He ultimately came to an incredible statement of sacrifice, relenting with, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” In one statement, He accepts and finds resolve for the difficulty to come. Jesus shows us that we can be honest in our emotions with God. Yet we still have to move forward in His will. He shows us we can lean into grief, but we must ultimately come to a place of acceptance. Emotions have to have motion. Just as we are going through the stages of grief, we’ve got to keep moving. The garden was a place of pressure, a place of anguish, a place to grapple, and ultimately a place so submit and resolve to God’s will. We pray that this scripture ministers to your soul in an intense and crazy season! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The table is one of the most ubiquitous yet overlooked settings in the Scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, the table is where people encountered the power, provision, promise, and presence of God. In the New Testament, the table is where the powerful were confronted, the oppressed were uplifted, the outcasts were invited, the self-righteous were ridiculed, and the seekers were given a glimpse of the kingdom of God. He encouraged his followers to remember him when they came to the table together in a ritual that has been practiced by the church for 2,000 years. Whether we call it Communion, The Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, it is the place where we ground ourselves in our common faith and are united in Jesus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In a season of social isolation and anxiety, this weekend we’re taking a team approach to our message. You’ll see a show of unity in isolation with all seven of our Campus Pastors taking a part in the sermon via ted talk. On a daily basis we find ourselves inundated with new data and further pushed into isolation from one another. Questions are consistently swirling. What if I get the virus? Am I going to survive financially through this? How can I do my job and home school my kids? What if someone I love who is health vulnerable gets sick? The questions can be endless. And worry can be overwhelming. Our text is Matthew 6:25-34 where Jesus exhorts us to do what seems impossible: Do not worry. He was saying that to an audience who actually had more to be anxious about than we do. Yet, he called back to the very basics of faith: Trust. We pray today that you find faith deep within your soul, to reach out and re-center yourself in Christ and find trust in Him. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As we age, pieces of our personality are held hostage by painful moments in our past. Jesus came to set the captive free—the inner child within each one of us. It’s never too late to be who you might have been. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Success and outcomes seem to constantly dominate our focus. All of our decisions seem to hinge on them. Jesus was also concerned about success and outcomes for his disciples. But in John 15, he uses the metaphor of the vine to explain to them that their success (or rather fulfillment of their purpose as his disciples) hinged upon one particular input; remaining in him. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As we explore The Jesus Way, today’s passage leads us to Jesus turning the social structure of the day upside down in the way he leads. Jesus lays down his position and instead picks up a towel. It wasn’t a singular commendation of service or an isolated call to humility…it was the combination of both. We’ll spend our time today unpacking this beautiful story in the form of five values: Humility, identity, filling of the Spirit, obedience, and love. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.