Northplace Church Podcast

TheUnfolding.BibleMost of us claim to be Christians but have never read the bible through. Which means we're basing our lives on a book we've never actually read. Why is that? How can there be so much love, respect, and admiration for a book we see as sacred, yet people won't read it?A LOT of crazy things have been done in the name of "the Bible says." The Bible has been the cause of some of the greatest good in human history, and it has been misused for some of the greatest evil.When misused, the Bible becomes a poison. When read, understood, and accurately applied, it becomes the cure.

The Bible is not a collection of 66 random books full of odd stories. It’s not a compilation of inspirational quotes. It’s not a moral code. This book is the way God has chosen to reveal Himself to us.As you read and engage every page with an understanding of the overarching storyline, God reveals more and more of himself to us. That’swhy we call the Bible “the unfolding revelation of God”.And it all points to Jesus.Check out theunfolding.bible for our reading plan, resources, and more. We have something for every age!

Merry Christmas from your Northplace family!"Obedience to God aligns us with His heart and places us in the pathway of His blessings." - Pastor Bryan

Christmas is the story of this transcendent God becoming one of us--the story of the divine becoming human--of deity robing himself in flesh. Because of that, our attention in the coming days before Christmas will be on the baby in a manger. The nativity scene captures our focus; however, we will NEVER comprehend the magnitude of God becoming flesh until we understand what it means for God to be God.We've already focused on the 'Ever' part of His nature, so on this Sunday before Christmas, let's look at what it means for God to truly be 'present' with us.

Ever Present Week 2Psalm 46 doesn't normally cause people to think about Christmas, but the concept of an Ever-Present God is the very essence of what Christmas is all about. What God has done for us in the Christmas story--his willingness to be present with us--is one of the most beautiful expressions and demonstrations of love you will ever see.Just think about how much peace it would give you, if you lived constantly with an awareness that the presence of Jesus was always with you.

During the month of December, we celebrate God's presence in the world, with Christmas as the pinnacle, but we also let our anticipation build for his return--his second Advent--as promised in scripture.To understand the "Ever Present" nature of God, we need to understand two words often used in theological circles that are rarely used anywhere else: Transcendence and Immanence.These are opposite concepts and yet both are completely true of our God. The words "Ever-Present" describe the transcendence and the immanence of God.

Closing out The Affluenza Antidote series, this week we looked at the last part of Paul's explanation of the antidote that can cure our hearts of affluenza.If you want to move the heart of God, if you want to capture His attention, if you want to show Him love, then give yourself--your time and resources--doing something for the people that are made in His image. Like Paul, Jesus instructs us to let eternity motivate our generosity--to look past this present world and think about laying up treasure in the age to come.Jesus teaches us to view our time and money in light of eternity, because when we do, we will loosen our grip on our money and it loosens its grip on us.

All Christians have been instructed to do good for other people. PoorChristians, middle-income Christians, rich Christians. Every Christian, every follower of Jesus is supposed to “do good." But in his comments specifically made to affluent people, he’s saying: Do even more good.Can you imagine what would happen in our communities in our country if every Christian took this piece of advice from Paul and Jesus and acted on it? It would literally change the world. And it would change us. The entire reputation of the Christian faith in this country would be changed.

Week 2 of series : The Affluenza AntidoteWhich of these two statements create the most anxiety in you:1. There is no God.2. You have no money.Your honest answer will tell you where you really place your hope.There is an antidote to affluenza clearly marked out for us in scripture, and if we can cometo an awareness that we have this spiritual disease and we’re willing to apply the scripture’s cure, our hearts can be healed of it.

Affluenza: 1. a pseudo-psychological condition defined as the inability of an individual to understand the consequences of their actions because of their social status or economic privilege. (i.e. Ethan Couch) 2. a social condition that arises from the desire to be more wealthy or successful. (i.e. most Americans)Jesus could not have been any clearer on what we should be doing with what we have. His teaching on the subject can be summarized like this: It's not how much you have that matters. It's what you do with what you have that will count either for you or against you in the kingdom of heaven.

If you have put your faith in Christ, you are not a slave; you are a son. You are not a slave; you are a daughter of the King. But because most of us don't truly understand what the Gospel promises, we live our lives like religious slaves instead of living our lives with assurances the love of God gives us as His children.Your identity is made up of the combination of your self-image and your self-worth. On the other hand, your self-worth comes from the things that make you feel significant, worthy, and confident in your value. So what kind of identity do we need? What kind of identity is stable, secure, and lasting? We need someone from the outside to name us--to GIVE us our identity.

Approval of Others + My Performance = My Self-Worth/Image/Identity.Here’s what this formula produces in us:1. Fear of failure2. Fear of rejection3. Fear of punishment4. ShameThese 4 things are the byproduct of living our lives performing to gain approval and letting other people’s opinions determine our self-worth. These are 4 lies that govern us when we don’t understand the gospel. These lies negatively shape our self-worth, the way we perceive God and the way we relate to other people. God’s response to these lies are profound theological truths anchored in his character and in the gospel. If we can get our heads and hearts around these truths, it would change everythingfor us.

Your thoughts affect your emotional, relational, and spiritual development. And so many of our emotional, relational, and life problems are rooted in our wrong assumptions, perceptions, and beliefs about love and acceptance. We haven’t fully grasped the way God loves us.Most people going to church every Sunday don’t really understand the gospel. They’re more influenced by religious traditions that have been handed down from one generation to the next. And in many places our religious and church traditions are in conflict with the real gospel."Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6 This is an emphatic promise--a bold declaration: The goodness and mercy of God WILL follow you every single day of your life.

For some of us, we reached what we thought was the dream, but it doesn't feel as magical as we pictured it. For some of us, it feels like the dream is constantly ever-so slightly outside of our grasp. For some of us, the dream is dormant. We've let defeat and frustration bring us to a place where giving up on the dream felt like a better option than waiting for it to happen the way we thought it was going to happen.1 Corinthians 2:9 "But as it is written, 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.'"Not what you've prepared. Not what you've concocted. But what God has prepared for those who love Him. When you finish living out your dreams, when you finally step into what you've been called to step into, will people be talking about you or will they be talking about Him?

One of the consequences of sin is alienation. Not just alienation from God, but also from each other. In the Bible, relationship restoration is often referred to as "reconciliation." When lived out, the gospel has the power to restore us to each other. "For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of His death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death." Ephesians 2:14-16 If being transformed by the gospel produced this forgiving, reconciling culture in the early church, what does that say to us as Christians today?

Do you believe that when you die, you're going to rot? That this world is all you have? That one day the sun is going to burn out and civilization is going to be gone and nobody will remember anything anybody's ever done? Or do you believe what John writes about in Revelation 21:"He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said 'Look, I am making everything new!'"When you study the narrative of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, the central theme of scripture is Restoration. When sin entered the world, the perfection and paradise God had established for His people was shattered. We see all throughout scripture God's plan to restore His people--to undo the curse of sin. When you understand God's design to restore, it produces a hope for you that can't be found anywhere else in the world. It's not an abstract idea. It's a real, living,

If you study the activity of God through history--His character and nature--you will notice that it's during dark times, like what we may be experiencing in our time, that God interrupts the course of human events in destiny defining ways. When things looks darkest--even hopeless--these are the moments when God intervenes. In the Bible we see God, through the prophet Amos, promise restoration:Amos 9:13-14 "'The time will come,' says the Lord, 'when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine! I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.'"God reveals something to us about himself in this book--He gives promises of acceleration and restoration. So what does that look like for each of us in the seasons we'