Northplace Church Podcast

When we study the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we can see that there are a lot of things that seem to bring pleasure to the heart of God; things that honor the Lord. We can't escape the thought that it looks like God's love language is seeing His people living a faith-filled life.God continually puts us in situations that require that we love him and serve him by faith. In Matthew, there's a story of a centurion who comes to Jesus and asks him to heal his servant. Jesus was amazed! Jesus was so amazed that the centurion believed Jesus had such authority that he said to those following him, "truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith."Hebrews 11:6 says: "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." It doesn't say it's going to be difficult, it's actually going to be impossible. We like to say things like I walk by faith, not by sight. Yet, it is so challenging to walk by faith. There's often a breakdown between what

When we started this initiative several weeks ago, we wanted everyone listening to understand that the generations before handed our church family an incredible spiritual inheritance. This inheritance is almost 100 years of kingdom impact. Jesus said: To whom much is given, much is required.We need to be asking ourselves: How can we hand off our faith to the next generation? How can we go, give, live, and serve so that our ceiling becomes their floor?We have a call from God to leave them a legacy. We have a call to finish the unfinished task of covering the earth with the glory of God. That's what we want our legacy to be.The difference between Inheritance and Legacy is that: Inheritance is what you receive. Legacy is what you leave.Like Abraham, we have a divine call to leave an eternal legacy. Genesis 12 is to the Old Testament what Matthew 28:19 is to the New Testament. We have been blessed to be a blessing.Our ultimate prayer coming into a day like commitment Sunday was that the Lord would Burden our

We are nearing the end of our study of Abraham’s life, and we’ve left out as much as we’ve discussed. We could spend a year teaching on the historical and spiritual significance of Abraham’s life. The most prominent story of Abraham in the bible is probably the most troubling to modern readers. It’s the story of God asking Abraham to offer Isaac on Mount Moriah.If you summed the whole account up in one word, it’s a story of total and complete surrender. Most Christians know how the story ends. Abraham proceeds to Moriah, preparing an offering to the Lord. As he’s getting to a place of no return, an angel of the Lord stops him, and God provides a ram for the offering.God asked for Isaac, but He never really wanted Isaac. He was after Abraham’s heart. We don’t know to what depths, but somewhere deep within Abraham’s heart, there was a war over who was going to sit on the throne of Abraham’s heart: God or Isaac.God’s gift to Abraham was becoming an idol of his heart. And Abraham’s entire future, including all th

This weekend is our fourth time in as many weeks to come together and learn from Abraham’s life. So far, he’s taught us about legacy, trust, and honor. In our fourth installment in the life of Abraham, he’ll show us about transformation.In the dictionary, the word “transformation” means “a thorough or dramatic change.” But in scripture, when you see the word “transformation,” it takes on an even deeper meaning. For example, take Paul’s comments in Romans 12:Romans 12:2a NLT2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.The Greek word for “transform” here is “metamorphoo,” which is where we get our word metamorphosis. The most common image that comes to mind when thinking of a metamorphosis transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly: caterpillar—cocoon—butterfly.The transformation that God calls his people to IS “a thorough and dramatic change,” but it's more profound than that…it’s a metamorphosis…it’s you becoming some

At Northplace, we’ve become accustomed to using this statement: We honor up. We honor down. We honor all around. “Honoring Up” means we honor God and those in authority over our lives. “Honoring Down” means we honor younger generations. It means we honor those who serve us in some way, whether it’s the waitress at lunch, the baggage handler at the airport, or the person you pay to mow your yard. “Honoring All Around” means showing honor to your peers and equals.There are some incredible promises in scripture to people who understand and live out the concept of honor. God promises to reward honor. We continue to look at Abraham, but we’ll also look to the New Testament to see how honor invites God’s reward and blessing into our lives.

Abraham shows us how to trust profoundly and doubt with honesty. Trust is not the absence of doubt; it’s obeying God in the face of your uncertainties. And we’ll see from Abraham’s life, how God welcomes and embraces the doubter all while addressing their doubts. It’s titled: The Place of Doubt in Learning to Trust. There’s a big difference between believing and trusting.  You can believe in something but not be ready to put your full weight on it. You subconsciously think it is “belief-worthy,” but not trustworthy. That’s the way too many people approach their relationship with God; they believe in God, but they don’t trust him.Be careful; there’s a lot of preachers out there selling the benefits of walking with God. He will protect. He will provide for you. He will promote you. And the crowds are cheering: Webelieve! We believe! But those blessings don’t come through your belief. Those kinds of covenant blessings come through your trust. 

We begin our journey through the study of Abraham’s life, and I don’t want you to overlook the significance of this study. If you drive through a large US city and pass a church, a mosque, and a synagogue, the worshippers inside of every one of them see themselves as children of Abraham. Three of the world’s largest religions, the majority of the world’s population, look to Abraham as the father of their faith.Too often, when people study Abraham’s life, they see all these big things and the lasting results and residual of his life. That may be true, but there is something so much more significant that it always gets overlooked.Abraham was responding to the call of God. The call of God is what makes your life unique. It’s what sets you apart and marks you for something unique. Now don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. In our circles, when someone here’s the phrase “the call of God,” we immediately assume the Call to pastoral ministry or preaching or missions.Pastoral ministry is not at all what I’m referr

God put you on this earth for two reasons: 1. That your life would bring him glory 2. That you would use your life fulfill his mission in the world. His mission is that none would perish but all would come to everlasting life. His driving passion is to be in a life-giving, eternity-altering relationship with as many of us as possible.People who are committed to God’s mission in the world can learn from Moses’ life and leadership. He shows us 8 principles that will keep us on mission.1. The credibility of the mission is not measured by the opinions naysayers.2. The journey is always more difficult than first perceived.3. Focusing on vision (the preferred future) does not devalue previous experiences.4. Attitudes and actions should never be determined by personal disappointment.5. God’s mission is indispensable…I am not.6. Gods assignment is not limited by personal deficiency.7. Failure is never final and victory is rarely instantaneous.8. Spiritual victory is a team sport.

Who’s on your team?Who do you have in your life to help you on this journey to pursue God’s mission in the world an honor him with your life? Who’s on your team?The Apostle Paul speaks about a very real conflict we face as believers. A conflict that has traditionally been called: Spiritual Warfare. I’m hesitant to even use the term, not because spiritual warfare isn’t real, but because a lot of people engaged in a lot of really weird, and even heretical things in the name of spiritual warfare. Which leads me to a point that the great Christian writer and thinker CS Lewis made a long time ago.Lewis said when it comes to Satan, the demonic, and spiritual warfare that believers will most often fall into one of two extremes. One, they will deny their existence. Or Two, they will become fascinated with them. Either one of these extremes misses what the bible has to say about this very real conflict.The bible was written to tell God’s story, not Satan’s. Any view of spiritual warfare that magnifies Satan’s power is

We don't know how this message finds you today. Maybe you're in a doorway and there’s a dormant dream that needs to be taken out of the box; maybe you find yourself in a long hallway that you’ve moved you stuff into and made it a permanent place; but you need to get up and keep moving. Maybe you passed through that season and you're looking back asking, what was that all about?!Be looking for your gateway, an open door.Go on, don't stop. Dream again. Just keep moving because there is a gateway at the end of the hallway that only God himself can orchestrate. God will not waste any season. Keep saying, God, I trust you. Dream again.

Courageous faith sets miracles in motion. It’s comprised of sacrificial obedience, complete trust, and total surrender, boldly displayed through tangible acts of faith.Courageous faith is what makes a church take risk. Courageous faith is what keeps us from settling for the status quo. It keeps us dreaming for what seems impossible…planning for things beyond our capacity…and believing for things that make other people think we’ve lost our minds.You can make a decision today, to be a person who takes bold steps of faith and fail; than somebody who lives their life with regret wondering “what if”. May God help us become a people of courageous faith.

define Culture is “The way we do things here.” It’s the unwritten but understood and agreed upon way things work in a family, an office, a church or your life for that matter. The importance of culture is often overlooked because the things that make up culture are intangible. The things that make up the culture of your life…or of the culture of the organizations you’re a part of…are under the surface. So…we often ignore culture. But here’s what we said last week: Culture is the foundation of vision. If the culture of your life is toxic, unhealthy or undefined, it really doesn’t matter how powerful your vision for your life is, it will never flourish in a toxic culture. One of those key ingredients in our culture is generosity, and we believe that generosity is one of the most important components to the Northplace culture.

ulture is the foundation of vision. The culture of your life is the foundation that your life’s vision will be built on. If you have a weak, toxic, or undefined culture, your vision doesn’t stand a chance. It’s true in an individual life and true for any organization.The culture of an organization is a difficult thing to define in concrete terms because there are so many intangible things that make up a culture. For a church it’s a complex blend of beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and practices that end up defining the congregation. Every church has a set of beliefs, they may even have great vision and value statements beautifully displayed on their website or hanging in the halls of their buildings, but far too often what they say they believe is inconsistent with their actions.This is why Culture is more powerful than vision.Just as soil quality influences the potential outcomes of a field, the culture of a church establishes the environment that often predetermines the effectiveness of God’s work within tha

There’s a big difference between generational patterns and generational curses. While it may sound like a subtle difference in terminology, the end result in our lives is not subtle. The way you label and what you believe about the sins, habits and hang-ups in your life will determine the level of freedom you live in (or don’t live in).Here’s the definition of the word curse:A solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.Then that would mean that a generational or ancestral curse would be something that previous generations of your family did that assigned a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on you. Something you were destined to live with; something that wasn't your choice.It leads us to this question, "Why are people so ready to buy-in to the concept of a generational curse?" So many people are ready to buy-in to the concept of generational curse, because it’s easier to blame somebody else than take responsibilit

Your situation may be difficult. It may be tough. You may deserve to be treated a certain way. Oftentimes, we miss the opportunities that God presents to us to show his glory and show his power because for many of us, that sense of entitlement, that sense of demanding my own way,  gets in the way. We feel like we've got to fight for our rights. We feel like we've got to fight for what we deserve. And yet what the book of Esther teaches us over and over again, is that you and I, don't have to fight for ourselves. We don't have to demand our own way. We don't have to force people to know who we are and what we're all about. The book of Esther teaches us that we serve a God who is big enough that even when the world is against us, even when circumstances are overwhelming, He is fighting for us.A message from Randy  Freeman Northplace Durban, South Africa, Campus Pastor.

Here’s the setting: Jesus is a few hours from his crucifixion and his disciples are still clueless as to what’s about to happen. On the calendar, it was the Jewish celebration of Passover. So, Jesus calls his disciples together to celebrate the Passover meal. This would be His “last supper” and would become the model for us every time we come to the Lord’s Table to take communion. There’s a set order to the Jewish Passover meal. It progresses through certain foods, and certain cups with specific scripture readings and hymns in between each selection of food and drink. Jesus would have been following that protocol as we come to Matthew 26. Let’s look at it.Matthew 26:26-30 NLT26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant

This message is titled "Come Home Crippled Prince," because that was the invitation David gave to Mephibosheth and it’s the invitation the King is offering to you today. The title is intentionally worded as an invitation because we believe there are some crippled princes and princesses who are watching this message who need to find the covering of grace at the Father’s table. There are some crippled sons and daughters watching online that need to find their way back to the Father’s table. No matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’ve done…just come home. Visit our website for the video of this message.  Northplace Church on FacebookNorthplace Church on InstagramPastor Bryan Jarrett on FacebookPastor Bryan Jarrett on InstagramPastor Bryan Jarrett on Twitter

Romans 16 is the last chapter in Paul’s Magnum Opus; his greatest gift to us, his masterpiece. The book of Romans is the book of books in the Bible. More details are given in the book of Romans regarding the transformed Christian life and what living for Christ looks like in the real world, than any other New Testament book.The 16th chapter is easy to overlook because it is a list of greetings to people with hard to pronounce names. After reading through the weightiness of the first 15 chapters, Chapter 16 feels like an insignificant - easy to skip - list of personal salutations. But if you skip it, you miss looking through a window into the soul of the early church. It gives you a glimpse of what life was like when Christianity was in its purest form - before it was stained by institutions, politicians, egos, heresies and religious corruption. Studying Romans 16 - not just skimming it - is like getting in a time machine and traveling back in time. And if we can go back, we can learn what a gospel-centered ch

Is it possible to persevere through pain? Follow along on this message from guest speaker Scotty Gibbons, as he shares his story of pain.The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 TLB says: "Three different times I begged God to make me well again. Each time he said, “No. But I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people.”"  Here are three main takeaways from this message: 1.  Don’t allow what you don’t understand about God to keep you from trusting what you do understand about him.2.  Refuse to waste your pain.3.  Think long term.Visit our website for the video of this message.  Northplace Church on FacebookNorthplace Church on InstagramPastor Bryan Jarrett on FacebookPastor Bryan Jarrett on InstagramPastor Bryan Jarrett on Twitter

Does the Bible talk about laughter? What does laughter mean to the Christian life? What does laughter mean to life in general? Laughter is a subject that isn't always discussed in church and ministry. Have you ever heard any anybody deliver a sermon on the value of laughter?But as we find in scripture, surprisingly, there’s more information on this topic than we can have time to share in one sermon. There may very well be a part “2” to this message. Most people don’t put humor and church in the same universe. Religious people are often so pious, staunch, and somber that they insinuate that laughing is sacrilegious; and yet one of the evidences that you have genuinely come to Christ is the presence of joy in your life. Listen to what Paul says to the Galatians:Galatians 5:22-2322 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!Visit our website for the video of