National Community Church Audio Podcast

He calls, commissions, empowers... and SENDS!

Many of us have had an experience or a revelation of God, whether through a church, in relationship, or out in nature. But most of us get discouraged when we don’t know where to go after that experience. So we allow it to be an isolated experience instead of seeking further, pressing into prayer, and seeking a fuller vision, revelation, and healing from the Great Healer. Today, we’ll talk about the progression of seeking healing that can come through Christ. Tucked away in Mark 8 is a strange and fascinating story about a blind man who received sight from Jesus. The story teaches us a progression of healing. It took three unique touches. The first was preparation, the second brought sight, but the third touch brought vision. May the Lord open our eyes and grant us faith as we press in to grasp vision and healing from him in the areas of pain, hurt, trouble, and trial.

One of our sacred responsibilities, one of our prophetic privileges is NAMING RIGHTS. When God wants to catalyze change, He starts with names. There is power in naming things. It had the power to alter identities, the power of altering destinies. When God puts His name on us, it’s game on!

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Do we live like we believe that? He has raised us to a new standard of living, given us a new framework for seeing, and invited us into a new way of relating to God and to one another.

In his letter to the Christians in the province of Galatia, Paul is encouraging them to not live according to their flesh but by the Spirit. The evidence of the Spirit in our lives looks like the fruit of the Spirit. And we can only see that evidence if we walk with and are led by the Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit, we’re ordinary in every way. With the Holy Spirit, all things all possible. His anointing is the X Factor—it helps us do what we do better than we can do it!

Prophesy is declaring what will happen in the future. You can prophesy fear. You can prophesy doubt. You can prophesy pain. Or, you can prophesy your praise! Whatever you don’t turn into praise turns into pride. Whatever you don’t turn into praise turns into pain. Worship is not just thanking God for what He has already done. By faith, worship is declaring what God can do, what God will do!

All of us experience shame. None of us talk about shame. It’s a word that we don’t even like to say. Shame keeps us from being honest about our struggles, about our sins, about our hurts, about our abuse. And for many of us, it has become a debilitating factor that has hijacked our identity and halted us from reaching our God-given potential. Shame can be what you did, it can be what you didn’t do, it can be what someone did to you. So we approach this conversation asking for God’s grace and anointing. Throughout scriptures, we see a common progression in shame. It starts with secrecy, which leads to isolation, which breeds insecurity. But with courage, we’ll talk about how to peel back the layers of shame by talking through the antidote to each category. Don’t accept the shame that you have lived with for far too long. God has freedom in store for you. Join us in this journey as we seek God in our shame.

When we deny the existence of our loneliness, our addictions, our sadness and shame, it grows in darkness and isolation. The opportunity we have to deal with it is to bring it out into the open unlike Adam and Eve they covered it up, they hid it and placed blame. Whenever we do that with our doubts they don't get better they only grow and grow and grow.

Dr. Gary Collins said “We live in a loneliness producing society.” So in this sermon we’ll peel away some of the misconceptions that might have been passed on to us regarding loneliness. We think those feelings are isolated to a few people, when in reality, the majority of our society deals with loneliness on some level. When we look at the scriptures we see that even Christ can relate. It’s not how do we get rid of loneliness, but how do we successfully navigate those seasons and come through better for it. We hope you’ll join us to get new perspective and find health and wholeness in who you are as well as who you are becoming.

There are dozens of different addictions. Some are as obvious as opioids. Others are as private as pornography. Those addictions are multi-dimensional. Addiction is biological, psychological, and neurochemical. Addiction is emotional, relational, and spiritual. But no matter what addiction you struggle with, God can set your free. You are NOT your addiction. You are who God says you are. There are no shortcuts. There are no cheat cuts. But a single step of faith can turn into a giant leap toward mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health.

The pattern of our world is centered around fear, worry, and anxiety. We are constantly concerned about our performance, how we are perceived, and what we can possess. Jesus speaks to this by telling us to give no thought to our life. He often juxtaposes fear and faith, telling us to not to worry or be afraid. But only believe.

If the tomb is empty, all bets are off. In fact, all things are possible! It’s why we’re bold enough to believe that we can come out of the shadow of shame, overcome addiction, and face our fears with faith. Jesus is the Adjacent Possible!

It’s all FROM God. It’s all FOR God. That is where radical generosity begins. Your generosity is someone else’s miracle! And the more you give, the more joy you experience. You also discover this simple truth: you cannot out give God.

As followers of Christ, we should be more known for what we’re FOR than what we’re AGAINST. We can’t just count the ACTUAL COST. We’ve got to consider the OPPORTUNITY COST. You can do nothing WRONG and still do nothing RIGHT. Goodness is not the absence of badness! That is a glass half empty gospel, and God has called us to so much more than that.

Do you look at things the way they are, and ask WHY? Or do you dream of things that never were, and ask WHY NOT? What got you HERE may not get you where God wants you to go NEXT. But you have to have the courage to ask, WHY NOT.

The faithfulness of God is always pursuing us from the past. The sovereignty of God is always bearing down on us from the future. We live in the gap between SO FAR SO GOD and THE BEST IS YET TO COME. No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. But we have to add the “Amen!”

Within 300 years of the siege of Jerusalem, the God of Israel had become the God of the Roman Empire. Against all odds, the church changed the course of history because they were gripped by the message of Jesus and galvanized by the reality of the resurrection.

The Apostle Paul writes to several groups of Christians who had formed churches throughout Europe and Asia Minor. He was trying to get them to understand the way that Jesus modeled and how they should live. In this message, we zoom in on his letter to the Philippian church. Paul encourages them to have humility in their dealings with one another, which is the mindset of Christ.

There never has been and never will be anyone like you, but that isn’t a testament to you. It’s a testament to the God who created you absolutely unique. God knows you better than you know you, which is why a relationship with God is so critical. You cannot reach your full potential without the God who gave it to you. Yes, we are better together. But we are best in relationship with God