National Community Church Video Podcast: Recent Episodes
National Community Church
Video messages from National Community Church in Washington, DC. For more information please visit us at theaterchurch.com
Mark 16:9-15 NIV
Our witness requires us to --
Believe the Good News
Recognize the Good News
Live the Good News
Share the Good News
Mark 12:10-11
Have you not read this passage of Scripture: The STONE the builders rejected has become the CORNERSTONE. The Lord has done this. And it is marvelous in our eyes.
We want to do amazing things for God, but that isn’t our job. God is the One who does amazing things for us. Our job? To consecrate ourselves to God. And if we do our job, God will do His job. If we do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things!
Our church home is a PLACE OF MIRACLES, place of prayer, place of worship, place of belonging, place of purpose and so much more. No matter where you’ve been or where you're headed, we’ve got a seat for you at the table, and you’re right on time. Welcome Home.
Where do I belong? The age old question. Make yourself at home this week as we tackle the topic of belonging. You belong somewhere - Fully Seen. Fully Known. Fully Loved.
Worship is a weapon, our secret weapon. It’s the way we fight spiritual battles, shift the atmosphere, and prophesy our praise.
Our highest privilege and greatest responsibility is prayer. Prayer is the difference between the best WE CAN DO and the best GOD CAN DO, and that’s a big difference. Prayer is the way we WRITE HISTORY before it happens.
Discover how facing your underlying pain will allow you to overcome it and move forward as Irene shares her story and talks about what it takes to break the cycle of addiction and shame.
Shame is a story you tell yourself about yourself. Like a news ticker that runs in the background of our minds, we have shame scripts that say: “I am unworthy, I am unlovable, I am not enough, I am a mistake.” God says you are His workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made, the apple of His eye, more than a conqueror. If you want to change your life, you have change your story! You are who God says you are. To believe anything else is false humility.
God has prepared in advance opportunities for you to step into. He has and is opening up doors for you to live and share your faith. The question is this: Do you have something to give? Here’s where it starts…sharing and living your faith. Sharing your faith is giving an answer. Sharing your life is living an answer. Join us as we unpack 1 Thessalonians 2:8 and learn to fill our backpack to be able to bless those that God brings across our path.
Intentional faith starts with praying a simple prayer: God where are you at work and how can I be a part? But when our foot hits the floor, it’s time to activate and live out that of which God is making us aware. We go from praying a prayer, to living a prayer. Join us as we talk about developing a prayer state of mind, cultivating story, acting as witness, and calling out God’s image.
What would happen if you started your day with a simple prayer: God where are you at work and how can I be a part? It’s the difference between pursuing your own agenda or partnering with God’s plan. We don’t realize all that God is doing all around us, until through prayer, our eyes are opened. When we turn our attention to intention, annoying interruptions become divine interventions. Random interactions become relationship building opportunities. Join us as we talk through what it means to live out faith intentionally.
PATIENCE: tolerating delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
A simple thought that is difficult to do. If you want to be a farmer, you better have patience. The act of farming is not limited to plants and land. We are farmers each day when we invest in those around us towards the harvest of their futures. A future of love, hope, joy, and all of the fruits of the spirit is made possible when we give sacrificially and patiently wait for the harvest of their lives. Having the patience to plant and wait for growth is what the world needs today.
If you stay humble and stay hungry, there is nothing God cannot do in you or through you. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. How? By thinking of others more. By thinking of God more.
We are getting smarter and smarter, but I’m not sure we’re getting wiser and wiser. Our culture is polarized and politicized, fight or flight. If we ever needed wisdom, it’s now. The good news? Wisdom has a name. Jesus is wisdom with skin on it. Jesus is perfect theology! The Jesus Way is Third Way. It doesn’t compromise it’s convictions, but it always shows compassion.
Let’s be honest. There’s just about nothing we want more than freedom! Whether it’s financial freedom, freedom from addictions, freedom within our workplaces, freedom to pursue our passions. Freedom is a desire in every direction. In James no nonsense, don’t pull any punches, direct way, he gives advice on how to achieve freedom. It comes through the Word of God planted within us. When we cultivate God’s Word and live it out on a daily basis, we become who God has made us to be. There’s nothing freer, than doing that which you were made to do! Join us as we journey into James 1:19-27 to unpack the Scripture.
We have RULES for everything. There are rules of the road, rules for the games we play, rule of law. Spiritually speaking, a RULE OF LIFE consists of core values, core beliefs, and core practices. It’s a CODE OF CONDUCT—rituals and routines, decisions and disciplines—by which we live our lives. This week we explore seven JOY RULES, and it starts with this—ENJOY THE JOURNEY.
Everybody is somebody’s disciple. Consciously or subconsciously, we pattern our lives after someone. As Christ followers, we have made a conscientious decision to live like Jesus, pray like Jesus, forgive like Jesus, love like Jesus. We are His hands, His feet. We are His workmanship. We are the manifold wisdom of God. Simply put, you are the genius of Jesus.
When most people think of genius, I am sure their mind goes to outputs. We think about what someone produces. But what if most of what genius is has more to do with inputs; the things we don't see. I believe discipline, as an input over time, is a force multiplier. And when that discipline is focused on submitting to God, he takes care of the outputs, which is beyond what we could ever do on our own.
When you put what you have in your hand—five loaves and two fish—into the hands of God, 5 + 2 doesn’t equal 7 anymore. Add God to the equation, and 5 + 2 = 5000 R12.
There are 2 words that have the power to change worlds, and they are: “I WILL”. Gideon modeled for us what the Genius of Willingness looks like and what God can do with a willing heart.
A powerhouse leader for God's people, Deborah had the Genius of Activation (Judges 4-5). Activators are individuals who prompt us, support us, call out of us! Leaning into their god-given authority, Activators have an acute ability to discern a path forward. Let us be a community that activates one another!
We often view vulnerability as a weakness, and it certainly can be. But Paul models how to use vulnerability as a tool that moves us toward soul wellness. In fact, it is a requirement in each of our journeys back to who God created us to be.
When you trace the genealogy of genius, the genesis usually involves some PAIN and SUFFERING. Genius is not born of comfort. It’s born from, born for adversity. SUFFERING is the SEEDBED of genius. God redeems it and recycles it for His plans, His purposes.
When Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross, it was GAME OVER. Death was undefeated, but there is a God who turns GRAVES into GARDENS. It's not over until God says it's over. Don't put a PERIOD where God puts a COMMA. Just when it seems like all is lost, God has a supernatural surprise up His sovereign sleeve!
Many of us find ourselves in chains to addiction or habit or routine. And when God sends someone to help us, to unchain us, we have a choice. Do we cross the threshold of fear toward faith to try and escape our prison, or do we lean into our fears and remain captive? Will you risk faith? Or will you risk not having faith? Join us as we speak not only to the second chance that we have, but the second life that God gives us through his Spirit to those that believe.
God has not, cannot, and will not give up on you. It’s not in His nature. He is the God of second, third, and hundredth chances. We are never beyond the need of God’s grace and we are never beyond the reach of God’s grace. When we extend God’s grace to others, we become People of the Second Chance.
Esther leveraged her power, position, and privilege to serve others. Xerxes released control in order to reverse the narrative. Both required a special kind of courage. A courage that makes decisions based on values, convictions, and opportunities instead of fear, insecurity, and avoidance.
At critical junctures in our lives, situations present themselves that call for courage. Are you going to let FEAR or FAITH dictate your decisions? Are you going to OFFEND GOD or OFFEND PEOPLE? Are you going to PLAY IT SAFE or TAKE A RISK? These are the days when decades happen. The courage of calling is risking ME for WE. The courage of calling is enduring present-tense PAIN for eternal GAIN. The courage of calling is living according to biblical convictions—no reserves, no retreats, no regrets.
At critical junctures in our lives, situations present themselves that call for courage. Are you going to let FEAR or FAITH dictate your decisions? Are you going to OFFEND GOD or OFFEND PEOPLE? Are you going to PLAY IT SAFE or TAKE A RISK? These are the days when decades happen. The courage of calling is risking ME for WE. The courage of calling is enduring present-tense PAIN for eternal GAIN. The courage of calling is living according to biblical convictions—no reserves, no retreats, no regrets.
It would be great if we could make things happen on our terms, without hassles, holdups, and sometimes having to push through hell. But often, in order to get to the other side of our dreams, our calling, and the things we envision, there is usually inconvenience. Because inconvenience and opportunity usually go together. And that means discomfort, which no one loves. But if we are ever going to maximize our potential and live out who God desires for us to be, we will have to be courageous enough to embrace inconvenience. And by the way, embracing the inconvenience is not about us and our glory, it is about God being at work in and through us to redeem and restore his creation.
Conviction is the antidote to a thousand comprises. We tend to take life as it comes to us, making decisions in the moment, without guiding values. Which leads to a thousand regrets. But if we take time to make pre-decisions to explore that which we are CALLED to do, God will grant us peace, no matter the outcome. Because we are then living in PURPOSE.
In today's message, we will look at one of the lessor known figures in the book of Esther. She makes a courageous decision against the grain of what was expected of her. She acts with courage. Join us as we explore living out a life of faith-filled courage that comes from Godly conviction.
What we perceive to be our problems are often presenting problems. The root problem? Unforgiveness. We take offense, and let a seed of bitterness grow roots. The net result is unforgiveness. That’s when and where and why we get stuck spiritually. Hurt people hurt people by projecting their repressed pain. Forgiven people forgive people. There is nothing easy about living unoffended, but it’s the solution to a hundred presenting problems!
Bob's inspiring and entertaining stories show us what it looks like to live a beautiful and purposeful life rather than drifting aimlessly from one season to the next. He encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus and harness life's distractions so we can find joy despite our circumstances.
Love the one who hates you. It was shocking and revolutionary when Jesus taught it, and it remains shocking and revolutionary today. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus invites us to imagine a world transformed by people who make decisions against themselves to love across labels, categories, and divisions.
The call to DREAM again is not only an invitation but a responsibility. Dreaming is not just for the self-identified "Dreamer", but a responsibility for us all. Join us as we walk through what it means to live from and toward a DREAM way of life!
God is raising up a REMNANT—a creative minority, a company of prophets—that operates with an Issachar anointing. They understand the times—supernatural insight. And they bring supernatural solutions to the table—supernatural foresight. God is raising up this DREAM COLLECTIVE to usher in a new season of REVIVAL in the church, REFORMATION in the kingdom, and RENAISSANCE in culture.
We have a core value—the church belongs in the middle of the marketplace. We don’t curse the darkness. We light candles. We’re not just building a church. We’re blessing a city. We want to be more known for what we’re FOR than what we’re AGAINST. We criticize by creating! We write better books, make better music, draft better legislation, produce better films, start better businesses. How? With the help of the Holy Spirit.
If you want to REPEAT history, do the way it's always been done. If you want to MAKE history, do it the way it's never been done before. The solution to our problems is very rarely MORE or LESS of the same. It's DARING to be different. It's DARING to dream again.
Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. It's time to DREAM again! We're believing God for nothing less than Revival, Reformation, and Renaissance in our nation, in our generation. The capacity to dream is part of the image of God, and the supernatural byproduct of a Spirit-filled life. Show me the size of your dream, and I'll show you the size of your God. It's time to dream big, pray hard, and think long!
We often miss out on the fullness of joy because of our misconception of it in relationship to everything else we experience in life. In the story of the coming of Jesus, and then throughout His life and into the life of the early church we see JOY in relationship to the rest of life. Getting this right could be the next step to your joy being made full.
God is love. It's who he is and it's what he does. The story of Christmas is not a saccharine-coated, sentimental folk tale. It is the story of ultimate sacrifice- a king who left his throne to be God with us. A king who would hang on a cross to be God for us. As followers of Jesus, we are called to walk the difficult way of love as outlined in 1 Corinthians 13.
Hope. It’s become a frail and weakened concept. The consistency of hope being deferred or hope being disappointed has taken a toll on our society. Are we speaking of a hope or a wish though? There’s a big difference between the two! To hope is something that is grounded in possibility or even probability. To actively hope in Christ, is to live and work in confidence with an eternal perspective on all the events of our life. As expectations are disappointed through life, how do we continue to live a hope-filled existence? We have to examine the object of our hope and the longevity of perspective as well. We’ll allow the scripture to speak to this critical concept as we continue in this season of advent.
The Hebrew word for peace is SHALOM. Shalom is RELATIONAL HARMONY and it’s four-dimensional. It’s right relationship with God, Self, Others, and Creation. How do we experience the peace that passes understanding? First and foremost, peace is a PERSON. His name is Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
If you want to experience shalom, there are three keys: 1) Confess Your Sin 2) Love Your Enemies 3) Prophesy Your Praise
You were created on purpose, for a purpose, to share a purpose. This not only lays a foundation for how we see ourselves, but moves us toward an understanding of our place in this world and the fulfillment that happens when we know what to do with what we've been given. Let's take a journey on what this looks like through a missional lens.
As we continue our A18 Missions series, the way of Jesus is about finding safety and comfort in order to heal, restore and live from God's love. But it's so much more than that.
The mission of God and call of the missional Church is far more than our personal peace and prosperity - it's about love-based risk - going where Jesus is - places where humanity is most at risk, at the intersection between darkness and light, soil and spirit, heaven and earth. We call this living from the redemptive edge. What does this look like, how do we grow in discipleship to follow Jesus into love-based risk?
You'll hear many stories of ordinary people, empowered by God's spirit, doing what Jesus did, all over the world.
Staying with the theme of Acts 1:8, I will focus on the role of the Holy Spirit and the importance of the Presence of God in fulfilling the Missio Dei. I will share some of my personal testimony of what I/we have been experiencing as a church the last few months since we started meeting in person again and the lessons I have learned about the presence of God.
One key to making and breaking HABITS is making and breaking RULES. Rules help you establish boundaries and priorities. Rules help you establish rituals and routines. A RULE OF LIFE consists of four quadrants: 1) Core Beliefs 2) Core Values 3) Life Goals 4) Daily Habits. Collectively, they become the guardrails and guidelines that help you get where God wants you to go.
There is nothing easy about HABIT FORMATION. You have to fight for your health, fight for your marriage, fight for your convictions. How? 1. Do it SCARED 2. Do it DIFFICULT 3. Do it DIFFERENT 4. Do it NOW. The good news? When we get on our knees, God fights our battles for us!
Show me your HABITS and I’ll show you your FUTURE. Destiny is not a mystery. Destiny is DAILY HABITS. Habit formation is one dimension of spiritual formation. You have to make or break the habits that make or break you, with the help of the Holy Spirit. The good news? You are one habit away from a totally different life! The key? Do it for a day!
The parable of the fig tree reveals the hidden truths of becoming who God desires us to become. He has made us not to merely exist, but to produce and provide wonderful fruit to our surroundings. It’s a story in which we find great points of learning in the process of becoming:
*Patience and urgency
*Growing through challenge
*Purpose in the places we’re planted
*A promise in need of activation
It’s ultimately a story that leads us to faith through repentance. We hope you’ll join us this week as we pray for guidance from the Spirit of God as we seek out the best that is yet to come.
If we are promised LIFE EVERLASTING with Jesus, King of All Creation, what might that look like?
Have you ever felt stuck? In a jam? In a situation that is impossible to get out of without help? This is the story that Jesus enters into in John 2. The wedding party had run out of refreshments for its guests and had no options. That’s when Jesus got the call, that he then delivered. His very first miracle was to turn water into wine.
This miracle was not a magic trick that provided excess fun to a wedding, though. This miracle would set the tone for everything to come in the new covenant. Jesus would establish a new kingdom normal, would reveal His power to His people, would exercise that power for transformation, and would spark faith in his disciples.
The Best is Yet to Come is NOT wishing on a star, hoping your luck will change or waiting to win the lottery. If you keep doing what you’ve done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten. Your life is perfectly designed for the results you're getting! The good news? You are ONE DECISION away from a totally different life. God can deliver you in a day, but you have to back it up with daily habits.
In psychology, mental health has a scale from FLOURISHING to DEPRESSION. FLOURISHING is evidenced by things like optimism and empathy and authenticity. DEPRESSION is evidenced by things like hopelessness and helplessness. In between FLOURISHING and DEPRESSION, there is what Adam Grant calls “the neglected middle child of mental health,” and it may be the “the dominant emotion of 2021.” Languishing is basically BLAH. It's a feeling of apathy. It lacks focus, motivation and vision. There are no easy answers or quick fixes, but there is a way out.
We live at the intersection of two theologies, two realities. The faithfulness of God is pursuing from the past—SO FAR SO GOD. And the sovereignty of God is setting us up for the future. We live forwards, but God is working backward. God is ordering our footsteps. God is preparing good works. We live in a fallen world, a broken world, but heaven is invading earth right here, right now.
We don’t believe in happily ever after. We believe in something so much bigger and better and longer—happily FOREVER after. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
When did we start believing that God wants to send us to SAFE PLACES to do EASY THINGS at CONVENIENT TIMES with NICE PEOPLE? Newsflash. Jesus didn’t die to KEEP US SAFE. Jesus died to MAKE US DANGEROUS. The will of God isn’t an INSURANCE PLAN. It’s a DARING PLAN. And the complete surrender of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not radical. It’s normal. The problem? Our normal is so subnormal that normal seems abnormal.
Jesus made no bones about it: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Since the beginning, NCC has been a missional church. And missions is not a department or team you go on overseas for a week—it is a way of life. At NCC, we're integrating our discipleship process with our missional DNA and asking: what does it look like to partner in the mission of Jesus in our world today? We'll explore 5 anchors that shape our discipleship process for missional living.
Jesus told his followers, "Go make disciples of all nations." Against all odds, this small sect of Judaism attracted Gentile followers and began to spread throughout the entire Roman Empire. As those early followers studied the words of Jesus, imitated the ways of Jesus, and partnered in the mission of Jesus, the early church offered a way of life that stood in stark contrast to the power of the empire. Two thousand years later, Jesus still invites us on a journey, empowered by the Holy Spirit within the context of community, to learn to live our lives from Jesus and invite others to do the same.
The Apostle Paul reveals one of the great mysteries in the book of Philippians: The secret of contentment. In learning and understanding what true contentment is, we find tension with our cultural understanding. It’s not attained by just accepting whatever happens. It’s also not attained through hard work and achievement. Contentment is found through a combination of both – finding peace in who we are and what we have while pursuing that which God has called us to pursue. It’s in this endeavor that we realize the strength of God in our pursuit and begin to live in true contentment. We hope you’ll join us as we wrestle this challenging passage!
We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. Your FOCUS determines your REALITY. If you want to change your life, start by changing your story. How? You have to audit your thoughts, fix your focus, and flip the script.
Mindset is defined by Merriam-Webster as a mental attitude or a fixed state of mind. Our mindset is what determines what we do and how we engage the world around us. The Apostle Paul wrote to Jesus followers in a place called Philippi, in part, urging them to be spiritually mature and not to pursue Earthly things. Instead, he encouraged a heavenly mindset, in pursuit of God's calling.
Playing it safe seems safe, but the greatest risk is taking no risks at all. At some point, you have to risk rejection, risk failure, risk your reputation. Simply put, faith is spelled RISK. What risk do you need to take? What are you waiting for? Risk or regret? The choice is yours!
Throughout Scripture, light is used as a symbol of God's presence. It sparks life, inspires hope, and points to God's goodness, faithfulness, and beauty. God also commissioned his people to be a light to the nations. In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul commends the believers for their obedience and commands them to continue shining brightly in the darkness of suffering and in the confusion of the culture.
We will explore the tension of suffering and surrender that came from Jesus' "letting go of His place and glory" to become One of us described in Philippians 2.
Are you living outside in? Or are you living inside out?
In a culture that is divided by racial tension and political polarization, we stand in the gap as peace makers, grace givers, truth tellers, tone setters, and joy bringers. We love those who hate us, pray for those who persecute us, and bless those curse us. And when we do, it provokes questions for which the gospel is the answer. We don’t take our cues from trending hashtags. We live according to our biblical convictions. We don’t reflect the attitudes and opinions of those around us. We shift the atmosphere with faith, hope, and love.
Will I ever truly find happiness, contentment, or joy? In Philippians 1, Paul gives the context and purpose that are critical to being able to answer that question for yourself, as well as being able to keep that discovery alive.
Joy. It’s not getting what you want. It’s appreciating what you have. Joy isn’t always the easiest choice or the obvious choice, but joy is a choice. The Apostle Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice!” And his life is louder than his words. Paul writes his letter to the Philippians from a prison cell. You can choose joy anywhere, anytime, anyway!
When Paul the Apostle wrote to the Christians in Galatia, he wanted to address a debate about the evidence of righteousness. Circumcision was at the center of the debate and it was both a theological and cultural issue. Paul makes a clear case that our only hope for righteousness is God's spirit. And the fruits of the spirit are the evidence of his spirit at work in us.
Pastor Heather Zempel continues our series on the Holy Spirit.
Big moves of God often begin with small steps of obedience. But small doesn’t necessarily mean easy. If we tune our ears to the voice of the Holy Spirit and train our wills to move in obedience, our lives will take turns towards adventure. Sometimes, that adventure may take us along a desert road, but if we partner with him, we get to be a part of new life springing forth.
Dr. Mark Batterson kicks off our new series on the Holy Spirit.
We find ourselves in a Hebrews 12:27 moment—everything that can be shaken will be shaken. God is shaking false securities and false identities, false assumptions, and false narratives, false idols, and false ideologies.
But we are STIRRED, not shaken. Why? We are grounded in God’s word, standing on God’s promises, and filled with God’s spirit. We don’t take our cues from cultural talking points. We don’t put our trust in horses and chariots.
STIRRED is rising above the rhetoric and living according to your convictions. STIRRED is giving the Holy Spirit veto power. STIRRED is operating in the power of the Holy spirit while obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Robb Schmidgall wraps up our series on doubt.
Doubt is inherent in all our lives. The question is are we allowing it to work FOR us, or against us.
Doubt is more emotional than it is intellectual. There are many examples of this in our lives. This message shines a light on how emotional trauma, sustained oppression, and the degradation of identity causes people to walk away from Christianity. Fortunately, the scriptures, written by the poor, people of color, and the oppressed show us God's true intentions, despite the misrepresentation of that hope.
Life is infinitely uncertain and God is infinitely complex. The net result? Doubt. We think of doubt in negative terms, but it’s a key catalyst when it comes to faith. Doubt breaks down our false narratives, false assumptions, and false beliefs. It forces us to deconstruct and reconstruct our faith by digging a little deeper. How do you deal with doubt?
- Seek Wise Counsel
- Keep Asking Questions
- Create a Deuteronomy 29:29 File
- Take a Field Trip
- When all else fails, Eat A Watermelon. Yes, eat a watermelon.
(Trust me, it’ll make sense when you listen to the message!)
In the first century, death by crucifixion was not uncommon. Lots of people died on Roman crosses, but only one person predicted their own resurrection and then pulled it off. His name is Jesus! The foundation of our faith is an empty tomb. That is where heaven invades earth, eternity invades time, and life defeats death. Faith is not the absence of doubt any more than courage is the absence of fear. But that is when and where and why we RUN TO THE TOMB. If the tomb is empty, all bets are off and all things are possible!
This weekend, our multicultural team (Lora Batterson, Joel Buckner, Pastor Dave Schmidgall, and Pastor Marion Mason), help us explore what it practically looks like to journey towards becoming a Beloved Community.
Dr. Dick Foth continues our Beloved series!
We are discovering, through the letter from JAMES, the cohesive power of GOD'S Word to shape our words in building a house called The Beloved Community.
“This is the marvel of marvels,” said C.S. Lewis, “that he called me Beloved.” We are beloved by God. His love is where we find our identity, our security, our authority. Then, and only then, can we become what Dr. King called the beloved community. We lead with love - we love because He first loved us.
In order to step into our belovedness, we must first encounter and be transformed by the unimaginable, inconceivable, incomprehensible love of Jesus. In 1 John, the disciple reminds the churches of Asia Minor of the final teachings of Jesus in John 13-17- that God is love, that God demonstrates his love towards us at the cross and the empty tomb, and that we demonstrate God to the world around us when we love one another.
Pastor Joshua Symonette kicks off our new series!
Many years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described his longing for a beloved community. It was not something he created or came up with on his own. It was what he read throughout the Gospels and reflected in his pursuit to bridge a segregated America. God's beloved is what he calls those who are submitted to him wholeheartedly. The Apostle Paul, repeatedly in his writings to the early Church, both encourages and clarifies for them what it means to be God's beloved.
Dr. Mark Batterson gives our annual State of the Church message. Together, we’ll look back at all God has done in and through NCC in 2020 and look ahead into 2021 and beyond.
The church ought to be the most CREATIVE place on the planet. The church ought to be the most DIVERSE place on the planet. Those two things are not unrelated. In fact, you can’t have one without the other. Unity does NOT mean uniformity! Unity is CORPORATE HUMILITY. Maturity does NOT mean conformity.
Maturity is UNITY in DIVERSITY. Then, and only then, can we become the BELOVED COMMUNITY God has destined us to be.
As we conclude our Win the Day series, Dr. Foth riffs on Pastor Mark Batteron's "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Win the day!" Through the lens of Hebrews 13:8—"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever"— Dr. Foth helps us explore what we believe about what really matters.
Sow today what you want to see tomorrow. Over time, one of two things happens. Either MEMORY overtakes IMAGINATION or IMAGINATION overtakes MEMORY. The difference? Prophetic imagination. It’s seeing the invisible, hearing the inaudible, and believing the impossible. Add to it patient persistence and bold prayer, and it’s game on.
Dr. Mark Batterson continues our Win The Day Series with Habit #6!
Time is measured in MINUTES, but life is measured in MOMENTS. You don’t FIND TIME, you have to MAKE TIME. How? For starters, curse the barren fig trees. These are the things that waste time, waste energy. How do you curse the barren fig tree? You establish boundaries and establish priorities.
If managing minutes is a science, then managing moments is an art form. It’s recognizing teachable moments and making the most of them. It’s accumulating experiences, rather than possessions.
How you do ANYTHING is how you’ll do EVERYTHING. The good news? If you do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things. The key is kaizen—an uncompromising commitment to continual improvement. It starts with a growth mindset, and there is no finish line. You keep setting stretch goals until the day you die!
When it comes to goal-setting, problem-solving, and habit-breaking—GRAND GESTURES are key. They are defining decisions, calculated risks, and selfless sacrifices that double as defining moments. Grand Gestures are often the tipping point, the turning point. They are the point of no return. The idea is as old as Old Testament altars.
There are weeks when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen. This felt like one of those weeks. This weekend we hold space—we catch our breath and collect our thoughts after a difficult week in Washington, DC. We are here for such a time. We are here for such a place as this. We stand in the gap as peace makers, grace givers, and tone setters. We believe God for racial reconciliation and political healing. We remind ourselves of who we are, where we are, and why we are as a church.
If you want to change your life, you have to change your story. You can’t just flip the calendar, you have to FLIP THE SCRIPT. It’s the first of seven habits in Win The Day, and it’s a high leverage habit. In the science of cybernetics, there are two kinds of change. First-order change is behavioral—it’s doing something more or less. First-order change can facilitate a quick-fix, but second-order change passes the test of time. Second-order change is conceptual—it’s mind over matter. At the end of the day, your explanations are more important than your experiences. Long story short? The best story wins!
When Jesus was born into the world, He didn’t just bring hope with Him. He WAS and IS hope and is a revelation to every person that encounters Him. To one, a revelation of hope brought confirmation, to another joy, to another redemption. He was the fulfillment of prophecies of old. He was the embodiment of comfort in the now. But what we found in the incarnation is that He is a God who reveals His presence in any and all circumstances. We believe that He still reveals hope today – even in the midst of a year like 2020!
God’s revelation often comes in different ways through different vessels, so this weekend we thought it was appropriate to share a tag team message. As our Campus Pastors all speak to a unique dimension of hope, we pray that God would enlighten our hearts to see our world, our neighborhood, ourselves as He sees...with eyes of eternal hope.
Pastor Joshua Symonette continues our advent series with a celebration of Hope! Hope is a powerful force that can propel us forward like a canon or a rocket. But there are times when our hope fades or takes a hit. It is usually in the "in-between" times or in the middle of our current reality and our anticipated reality. In Matthew 2, the Magi, who are on their way to find baby Jesus, give us an example of the celebration of hope and what it looks like to pursue with only a revelation and no evidence.
Pastor Joel Schmidgall kicks off our 2020 advent series with a proclamation of Hope!
Hope had and has been at the core of Jewish faith for its entirety of existence: hoping for freedom from slavery, hoping for justice, hoping for peace, hoping for a savior. When Christ came, heaven touched earth in a new and profound way. God’s glory was being shown, not by splitting a sea, with a pillar of fire, or by the glowing face of Moses. God’s glory was embodied in the small and breakable form of the human life of Jesus. Jesus is our hope. He is THE hope.
When the shepherds found Christ, they couldn’t help but proclaim hope to the world around them. The Magi’s natural reaction was to celebrate hope in the presence of Christ. And all who came across Jesus’ path were confronted with a revelation of hope. During this series, we want to light a candle to the profound gift of hope that we find in Christ.
You can get an A for EFFORT. You can get an A for TRUTH. Are you getting an A for LOVE? Many decades after the Ephesians receive a letter from the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John calls them back to their FIRST LOVE. How? One, REMEMBER. Two, REPENT. Three, DO WHAT YOU DID AT FIRST.
Ephesians 6 is a message Paul gives the Ephesians to wear the full armor of God, every piece. From warrior to a wrestler, their context was fighting for life or death. Dr. Foth imparts to us the same hope Paul gave back then reminding us to not duck or run away but to stand firm and fight the good fight. We are not going down no matter the situation because we have a destination.
There are 59 one another statements in the New Testament. Two of the most significant are found in Ephesians 5—SUBMIT to one another and SING to one another. When practiced in two-part harmony, marriage turns into a melody. Marriage is an ICON—an earthly representation of this eternal reality called the Trinity. You have to make sure the ICON doesn’t become an IDOL. That puts an impossible burden to bear on your spouse because you’re asking them to do for you what ONLY CHRIST CAN. But with Christ at the center, marriage mirrors the diversity and unity of the Trinity.
It takes moral courage to STAND AGAINST what is WRONG and STAND FOR what is RIGHT.
It takes moral courage to SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER, to SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE.
Living not by lies is refusing to bow to cultural idols or ideologies if they don’t pass the TRUTH TEST.
It’s living according to your biblical convictions even if it’s COUNTERCULTURE. It’s RISKING YOUR REPUTATION for what you know is GOOD and RIGHT and TRUE. It’s DISAGREEING FREELY yet LOVING REGARDLESS. It’s a conscience taken captive by the Word of God and Spirit of God.
From the very beginning of our lives, we learn and grow from imitating others. The question over time becomes WHAT and WHO should we imitate? When you find faith in Christ, you are given both an identity as a child of God and a calling to imitate God (Ephesians 5:1). Identity and action are interlinked. Things like love and purity and sacrifice are virtues that we should strive to imitate. But that only happens when we know who we are. What you believe about yourself determines how you live your life! Our passage today gives both guidance in who we are as well as what we should do. We are love, we are light, we are God’s children. You can’t control anyone else’s action, but when you live out God’s light, you shine brightness into darkness. We hope and pray that as a church community we are people that don’t stand by complaining, but instead go out and hang a street light to provide warmth and direction for those around us. Join us we talk about what it looks like to imitate God.
The disintegration of civilization is caused by the deterioration of what British historian Arnold Toynbee called the CREATIVE MINORITY. The church is the creative minority, as well as a moral minority. It must swim upstream and go against the grain. Then—and only then—can it catalyze revivals, reformations, and renaissances. The key to this creative minority? Unity in diversity. That is what results in spiritual maturity. That is what nets this BELOVED COMMUNITY we call the church. In the words of NCCer David Grizzle, “Unity among DISSIMILAR people serves the purpose of being INDISPUTABLE PROOF that God is in the house!” Let’s not settle for the façade of UNIFORMITY. Let’s strive for biblical unity!
Whether it’s racial tension or political polarization, cancel culture or social media shaming, navigating this cultural moment feels like a high wire act. How do we stay balanced? How do we stay positive? How do we shift the atmosphere? The Apostle Paul shares four cardinal virtues that guide our cultural engagement—humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance. When we practice those principles, heaven invades earth. Instead of politicizing, we theologize the world around us.
Power has been a pursuit of humanity since the inception of our existence. And our world is in a constant state of drama as a result of the pursuit to possess power. Paul, the apostle and theologian, writes to a group of Christians in a place called Ephesus. Power is one of themes in this letter, which is an encouragement and a reminder of who has ultimate power and how we can access it. It is only that ultimate power, at work in us, in partnership with Christ, that can do far more than we could ever imagine. That is the opportunity that Paul is reminding us of and praying for on behalf of the church in Ephesus.
“TO SEE FOREVER” is the title of this week’s message. We explore the Apostle Paul’s thoughts as he hits the PAUSE button in his letter to his friends in Ephesus, now western Turkey. He reflects on his IDENTITY, DESTINY, and AUTHORITY from a vantage that is his alone.
The Bible is full of plot twists and turns- a Hebrew baby raised in the house of Pharaoh delivers the Hebrews from Egypt, the shepherd with the sling defies the Philistine, the baby in the manger is God in human form, the crucified Jesus walks out of a tomb. But Jesus had one more plot twist up his sleeve-- the inclusion of the Gentiles into the promises and the blessing given to Abraham. God is not just at work to merge two worlds-- heaven and earth. He is also at work to merge two peoples-- the Jew and the Gentile-- into one family of God. The destiny of heaven on earth is dependent on the development of this new community. It will require deep awareness of the reconciling work of Jesus on the cross, a relentless pursuit of peace and unity, and a passionate commitment to demonstrating the character, ways, and mission of God to the world.
So many of us find ourselves stuck. Stuck in routine. Stuck in frustration. Stuck in systems that hold us down. Stuck in destructive patterns. Stuck in sin that tangles us up. It almost seems impossible to escape. But do you know that God works best in the impossible?
Ephesians 2:1-10 speaks to our journey in Christ. It take us on a journey from who we were, to who we are, to who we can become. We go from our destruction, to God’s grace, to God’s purpose for us. Do you know that God’s grace can overcome sin, satan, and every structure? His grace catapults us to faith. His faith fills us to understand who we are. We are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, his work of art. And it’s when we know who we are that we can understand where we are going. We go from identity to destiny. And in Christ, and through God’s Spirit, we can lean in to understand what it means to fully live!
You are not the mistakes you’ve made. You are not the labels people have put on you. You are who God says you are—nothing less, nothing else. You are BLESSED with every spiritual blessing in Christ. You are CHOSEN before the beginning of time.
You are BLAMELESS in the eyes of God. You are ADOPTED by the Heavenly Father. You are REDEEMED by the blood of Christ. You are SEALED by the Holy Spirit, and you are STAMPED with the image of God.
As the people of God, we live COUNTERCULTURE. When we love our enemies, heaven invades earth. When we pray for those who persecute us, heaven invades earth. When we bless those who curse us, heaven invades earth. How? GRACE and PEACE. Paul begins each of his thirteen epistles with those two words, and they pack a one-two punch. We have a vaccine against cancel culture—the grace of God. We have a vaccine against political polarization and racial discord—the peace of God. We are grace givers and peacemakers.
Living UNSHAKEN is refusing to compromise your convictions, even if it costs you a fiery furnace or lands you in a lion’s den. It’s speaking truth to power. It’s showing grace in a cancel culture. It’s confronting the brutal facts with unwavering faith. Why? God’s got this. God’s got you. Don’t lose faith in the end of the story! Administrations come and go. Nations and rise and fall. The kingdom of God is forever. We find our identity, we pledge our loyalty, to the King and His Kingdom. And He’s coming again!
Daniel 11 is written like prophecy but it reads like history. While the people of God are coming to the end of exile and will be able to return to their land, Daniel is told that things will get worse before they get better. Israel will be sandwiched between two warring kingdoms, and the people of God will face a crisis of identity, a crisis of faith, and a crisis of hope. In order to find the right perspective and posture, they must be the kind of people who do not accept the current crisis as the end of the story. They must be the kind of people who do not put their trust in a current leader or ideology but recognize that God will outlive and outlast any earthly leader. They must be the kind of people who put their trust in the story and their trust in the author. As we stand in times of crisis, may we be people who stand in faithfulness, who walk in patience, who cling to hope.
Have you ever had your eyes opened to something that was always there, but you just hadn’t noticed before? Our text today will leave you with your eyes wide open!
We continue in our series on the book of Daniel, and today walkthrough chapter 10. After seeking God through fasting and prayer for 3 weeks, God gives Daniel a vision and opens his eyes to see the realm of the unseen. The heavenly realm, in which there is good and evil clashing behind the scenes. Believe it or not, there is a spiritual battle happening. And when we lean into God in prayer, he will give us both a revelation of what is happening and affirmation of who we are, to press forward. As God opens up Daniel’s eyes, chapter 10 is just the beginning of the prophetic vision of what is to come. Join us as we engage in a text will challenge us as well as take us underneath the surface of the challenges all around us.
With all that is happening in our 2020 world, a conversation about eschatology seems apropos! What does the Bible say about the end times? Are there any hints that can help us navigate the crisis we find ourselves in? What can I do to get ready for what’s next? Those are some of the questions we’ll explore this week, and a few answers may surprise you! The good news? God’s got this. Don’t lose faith in the end of the story!
In the 1980s, the Transformers toy and animation series debuted with a phrase, "more than meets the eye," which was simply about perspective. They were not what they seemed to be on the surface. Daniel 8, which on the surface seems weird and is difficult to grasp on the surface, is also about perspective. The vision that Daniel has is about the future and the struggle against good and evil. Daniel and his contemporaries see themselves in crisis, as the power of nations struggle against one another. But despite the struggle and suffering on the surface, God is still in control.
We think forwards, but God is working backwards. God begins with the end in mind. Occasionally, he pulls back the curtain of time and reveals His plans and His purposes to His prophets. The goal of prophecy isn’t figuring out timelines. It's a reminder that GOD'S GOT THIS. It's a reminder not to lose hope, not to lose heart. It's a reminder to GET READY for the part God wants you to play!
As the whole world shakes, instant and constant access to the Most High God is our greatest asset and deepest hope.
It’s never too little. It’s never too late. If you’re still breathing, God has a plan and purpose for your life. In Christ, you are never past your prime! We overestimate what we can do in a year or two, but we underestimate what God can do in ten or twenty or seventy years. We think right here, right now. God is thinking nations and generations. Don’t lose faith in the end of the story! God’s got this. God’s got you.
One of the greatest gifts God can give us is letting us get to the end of our rope! That’s often when and where and how we discover that there is a God. And just as important, I am not Him! Playing God is impossible! The good news? God is still on His throne! Don’t lose faith in the end of the story! Virtue signaling won’t get us where we need to go as a nation. Neither will hashtags. What we need is revival sparked by repentance. God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble! The Spirit of God can’t fill you if you’re full of yourself, but if you’ll empty yourself of pride, God will fill the void with His love, His power, His grace.
Our choices reflect both our priorities and values. Who we are and what we believe is a culmination of our choices. In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, contemporaries of Daniel, are government officials appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar. They are faced with a situation where they have to choose between submitting to God or a gentile king. It is seemingly a no-win situation. Should they compromise to save themselves? Who will know? We may never be in a life or death situation like this. But our choices are a direct indication of who God is to us and whether He is the priority in our lives.
God trusted Daniel with insider knowledge of the future. What kind of person does God trust with the future? God trusted Daniel to stand before kings. What kind of person does God place as his representative before kings? It’s the people who boldly declare that the impossible is possible when God is in the equation. It’s the people who dare to believe that God is still at work when the world seems to be falling apart around us. It’s the people who live unshaken in the knowledge that God will make a way.
Unshaken is confronting the brutal facts with unwavering faith, even when you’re taken captive by enemy armies. Unshaken is refusing to compromise your convictions, even when the rest of the world is bowing to a 90-foot statue. Unshaken is living countercultural, even if it costs you a fiery furnace. Unshaken is letting your conscience be your guide, even if it lands you in a lion’s den. God is not nervous. God is victorious. Simply put, God’s got this!
This is a teachable moment for us as a nation. God is WAKING us up. God is SHAKING us up. If we are humble enough to repent of racism and bold enough to believe for reconciliation, God will shake generational sins and break generational curses.
This weekend we venture into the final valley in this series, the Valley of Breakthrough. Breakthrough happens in lots of different ways. It’s small steps of faith. It’s long obedience in the same direction. It’s forgiving those who have hurt us. The common denominator? Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.”
In the midst of tremendous uncertainty, one thing is certain. God is able. In fact, God is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us! This weekend we believe God for the breakthrough, individually and corporately.
The Valley of Opposition calls us to pray bold, faith-soaked, creative prayers that are rooted in a theology of the greatness of God, a record of the goodness of God, and a practice of the presence of God. If we want to see a move of God today, we have to put a magnifying glass on the miracles He did yesterday. If we want to stand on the promises of God today, we have to anchor ourselves in the promises He fulfilled yesterday. If we want the presence of God to shift our world today, we have to seek His presence every day.
God is in the business of healing broken hearts. Heartbreak is incredibly painful, but it has a pruning effect in our lives. It unseats the idols in our lives, and helps us empathize with others. There is no hurt that God cannot heal, in time or eternity. In fact, He can turn the Valley of Heartbreak into the Door of Hope.
The Valley of Dry Bones is the place where God’s resurrection power is revealed. It’s the place where we discover our authority as Christ-followers. There comes a moment when you need to stop talking to God about your problems, and start talking to your problems about God. You have to prophesy to the mountain, prophesy to the storm, prophesy to the dry bones. What do we speak? Life. Love. Truth. We echo, “Let there be light.” We echo, “Peace, be still.” We echo, “Hear the word of the Lord.”