Northplace Church Podcast

Most people love receiving invitations. To a party. A meal. A wedding. A celebration. A special event. It’s nice to be included- to feel part of something…because many Americans are truly lonely. We live in a lonely society. That’s why Mother Theresa is right when she famously said: ‘The greatest disease today is not starvation but loneliness.’ Loneliness is one of the greatest ills of 21st Century.Because people have an innate, built in, deep longing to belong. People want to be included. They want to be invited.

Gratitude is the key to a fulfilled life. Every year as we approached the Thanksgiving Holiday it becomes clearer and clearer that learning to foster a grateful heart is THE most crucial piece of what it means to be whole, complete, centered, satisfied, content, and spiritually mature. Here’s what the Apostle Paul said:2 Corinthians 4:15 NLTAs God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving (gratitude), and God will receive more and more glory.It begins with a very clear understanding of God’s grace in our lives. When we clearly see our unworthiness and the depth of grace that God has extended to us, it fosters a deep sense of gratitude in our hearts. We are humbled by his sacrifice for us. We are moved by his unrelenting pursuit of us. We are in awe of his faithfulness in the face of all our failures.

Jesus prayed generational prayers.John 17:20 NIV20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Do you realize the prayers that he prayed over 2000 years ago, are being fulfilled in us? We are living those prayers out now as his disciples. The legacy of prayer is of higher value than stock portfolios, properties, money, or heirlooms. Had it not been for the prayers of my grandmother, I may have continued in my addiction and rebellion. Who knows? I could be in a prison cell today instead of in this pulpit. Her prayers have impacted me and they will impact generations in my family and in this church.

No matter who you are, the Bible will surprise you. No matter what your culture or what your social class, no matter what prejudices or categories you come to the Bible with; it will smash some of them. Most people will say that…you're either inclusive or exclusive, but Christianity is both…radically inclusive and radically exclusive.

What happens when the people of God settle into this world? When they stop resisting the evil of it and start looking and acting more like Babylon than they look and act like the people of God. Daniel stood for his faith. He maintained his identity, his integrity and his commitment to God, but we know there were many who slowly but surely caved to the constant pressure of the culture’s pull. Sadly, they basically became Babylonian and lost their unique identity as God’s people. This kind of thing doesn’t just happen when enemy armies invade your homeland and take you captive like they did Daniel; we face these challenges everyday as the people of God today. We live in a culture that is increasingly antagonistic to our faith. We are facing our own Babylon-like culture and in this environment, it’s easy to spot a “sell out”. It’s easy to spot someone who has outright traded their faith for the momentary pleasures the culture has to offer. The casual observer can see it and the person who has sold out knows it. 

The overarching theme in the book of Daniel is that statement that says: But Daniel resolved not to defile himself…whether it was refusing to eat the king’s food, refusing to stop praying when the king ordered, or many of the other challenges of living out his faith in Babylon…Daniel had a made-up mind…he had resolved in his heart that the headwinds of the Babylonian culture were not going to change him or weaken his faith. Over the last several weeks, we’ve talked about the things that fueled Daniel’s resolve:1. A firm belief in the sovereignty of god2. An eternal hope that gave him courage3. A biblical humility that gave him favor with God and man4. A rare wisdom that balanced grace AND truth and gave him perspectiveThese 4 key elements of Daniel’s life are the foundation of a countercultural faith. But I think we would miss the key ingredient of Daniel’s resolve if we ended this series without talking about Daniel’s prayer life. The wind in the sails of Daniel’s resolve was his prayer life. Trust in God’s

How did Daniel find this balance in Babylon?It all starts with a foundational belief in the sovereignty of God. Daniel believed that God was in control of who was in control. No matter what it looked like in the moment…Daniel was convinced that God would take current leaders and current situations and ultimately use them for His ultimate purposes. Daniel shared the same perspective as the apostle Paul who wrote in the book of Romans:Romans 8:28 NLT28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.“Everything” …means “all things”. Every possible “thing” …whatever it is…will ultimately be used to glorify God. Daniel knew this and when you believe God is behind everything…it changes everything. This foundational belief in the sovereignty of God birthed an eternal hope in Daniel. Eternal hope enables you to view life from a perspective greater than your current circumstances. When you have a hope that transcends the momen

Daniel knew that Nebuchadnezzar was a pawn on God’s eternal chess board that would ultimately be moved around to accomplish God’s ultimate purposes in the world. Daniel saw this first hand. He served at least 3 different kings in Babylon and led spiritual awakenings under each one. There are moments and seasons when finite people judge their current circumstances without faith in God’s sovereign control and the despair, but not Daniel. Daniel knew no matter what it looks like in the present, God is at work.Daniel had an eternal perspective and his eternal hope calibrated his life; and not what was going on at the moment. When you have that kind of hope it gives you a courage and confidence that is unexplainable. The world is falling apart, your life may be falling apart, but there is a joy, a peace, that baffles outsiders and onlookers. Your life doesn’t rest on the outcome of current situations; your life is anchored to an eternal hope that transcends this moment in history.

We have our own version of this cultural Christianity, and it's easy to not sense the conviction anymore about what is right and what it means to walk in the fruit of the spirit. There are more people, as the days progress, and as America and the world becomes more like Babylon, that are practicing a hybrid Christianity. There will always be a church, there will always a dominant religion of the day, and it would be better for us if it was a completely opposite religion than some hybrid of the Christian faith. When you take Christianity and make it a hybrid, it's no longer Christianity; but it's dangerous because it's deceptive. And there is a cultural version of Christianity that is not real Christianity: a counterfeit faith. My hope in this conversation was to make all of us ask the question, is my life driven by good intentions or is my life driven by genuine faith? And the only way to know that is for your faith to be tested. Northplace Church on FacebookNorthplace Church on InstagramP

We live in a culture that is looking more and more like the Babylon of Daniel’s day and that’ why we’ve been unpacking his story. We said in the first week of this series that the foundation of Daniel’s strength and courage in Babylon was firm belief in the sovereignty of God. Regardless of what was going on in his world, he still believed that God was in control and would ultimately use it for his glory and his purposes in the world.If you don’t believe that, you’ll never stand strong for your faith in Babylon; and if you don’t believe that, you’re probably not going to grasp what I’m going to say today. We want to equip you with some of the elements that fueled Daniel’s faith in Babylon, but those things will never grow in you if they are not planted in the soil of belief that God is in control of whose in control. We also want to challenge some accepted ways of thinking in church today that threaten our ability to survive and thrive. We need to move away from the coddling of milk and cookies and have a hea

The truth is not up for negotiation, but your tone is. We believe that when we walk in a tone that is gracious, compassionate, and courteous, that it gives the truth greater power in our lives and greater power in our culture. One of the greatest things that has hurt the truth in our world is that people who believe it are jerks in the process of living it out, that has eroded the truth of its validity in our culture. That's why we love the case of Daniel. He asked for permission to live out his conviction. There was this sense of courtesy in approaching even his enemies and his captors with the level of compassion and grace to walk in his conviction. May we also capture the spirit of Daniel as we walk it out in our world.

One thing we need to understand as we study the book of Daniel is…the books of the OT are not arranged in chronological order. They are grouped together based on a literary category. The first five books are called the Pentateuch…they are the books of Moses. Then you have a historical section. Then you have a poetic section where you get the proverbs and psalms…and then you have a section that's called the prophets. The prophets are broken into two categories…the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets. Major and minor doesn’t mean important and less important…it just means some of them where longer than the others. Culture is what changes…God doesn't. It’s a given…culture is going to change. The question is…are we going to change with culture? And even worse are going to expect God to “evolve” with it? You have Christians and churches today saying…God didn’t really mean it that way…or when he said that he wasn’t talking about our culture…he was talking those people way back when…so we need to modify

Hey guys, we decided this semester of small groups at Northplace to record a video, kind of an addendum, an extra to my messages to kind of serve as a starting conversation point for all of our small groups that meet in offices and coffee shops and in homes and while we were recording that some of the media team thought it might be a great resource to those of you who regularly watch or download the podcast. We have people from all around the world, from naval bases to countries all over Europe and even some closed nations to the Gospel that watch. And so, understand the context, we're going to make this available to you. It was originally for our small group leaders here at Northplace, but maybe some of these conversations actually will benefit you as you think more deeply about the messages that I'm preaching throughout this series. Hey guys. Welcome to our first conversation about Daniel. I just wanted to visit with you for a few minutes today. As you discuss this material. You know, how importan

We launch a conversation this week that we are going to journey through over the next several weeks. We are calling this series: Living with Conviction AND Compassion in a World of Compromise. There is no doubt the culture both inside the church and outside the church…is marked by an erosion of moral conviction and spiritual fervor. And there hasn’t been a balanced response from Christ followers to this dilemma. It seems we too easily fall to one extreme or the other.On the one hand you have those who are dogmatically strong in their convictions. These are the ones in a holy war to bring back the good old days. They claim to be proponents of revival but their social media rants and dogmatic condemnation of everything and everybody (except the ones in their little group) looks more like a version of a modern day Pharisee than the New Testament Jesus. These folks are just out right mad at the world and you can see in their faces and hear it in the tone of their voices.On the other hand you have the group that i

Dreams and passions are fueled by a healthy dose of discontent with the status quo and a gnawing dissatisfaction with normal. When people get satisfied, they start protecting comfortable and comfortable is the enemy of more. You won’t seek more of God when you’re comfortable, you won’t sacrifice to build the kingdom when your comfortable, you won’t let go of good to lay hold of the best when you’re comfortable.Anyone can tell time—a flick of the wrist, a look at the dials, or a glance at your phone. But only a few can actually build something that actually keeps time. Telling time is simple arithmetic. Clock building is advanced engineering.Time tellers don't care about the details; they just want the time. Theirs is a world of status quo. They live in the moment and follow someone else's cadence. They take life as it comes—minute by minute, hour by hour. They're satisfied to watch time come and go without much thought.Clock builders think differently—they march to the beat of a different chime

Labor Day is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers…and their contributions to the strength, well-being, prosperity, and well-being of our country. This whole weekend is set aside to celebrate the value of our work. Last September, we walked through a series called Faith at Work and it helped us start viewing our work as a vital part of our spiritual life. We started seeing our work as a legitimate act of worship.

In this teaching, we learn how to walk into successful relationships. human relationships spring from a wish dream, power, influence, control, and attraction. However, spiritual relationship are based solely on Jesus Christ; it is a spiritual reality and not a psychological phenomenon.

Landmarks and boundary stones were big pieces of ancient Jewish life. Most often there were just what their name suggests…similar to our surveying stakes they marked property lines…and the wisdom writer is suggesting that future generations not mess with the clear boundaries that have well been established by their forefathers…it’s a slippery slope that leads to conflict and confusion. Sometimes, those landmarks were memorials that had been set up by previous generations to mark a place that God did something special among his people. They were reminders of a divine visitation or supernatural deliverance…and when future generations would pass by those ancient landmarks, parents could testify to their children of God’s power and faithfulness and pass their faith on to the next generation. Today is one of those days for Northplace Church. As we journey together, we have intentionally journeyed into this conversation to point you to an incredible landmark in Northplace’s history. About 10 years ago, I was given

The plot of the parable is fairly simple. There was a father who had two sons. The younger son asked for his share of the inheritance. He was given what he asked for and left for a distant land where he blew the entire inheritance on partying and sensual pleasures. He returns home broken fully aware of what he’s done and is shocked that his father welcomed him home with open arms. The father’s welcome of the younger son alienates and enrages the elder brother. The story closes with the father pleading with the older son to join the celebration and welcome and forgiven his younger brother. It has become very clear throughout our examination of Luke 15 that God views sin and spiritual lostness very differently than we might have suspected. The younger brother was undeniably lost because of his moral depravity but shockingly the religious elder brother who had always obeyed his father was just as lost. Not because of his badness but due to the motive of his goodness. He didn’t stay at the father’s house and obey

We are in the fourth week of a study of the 15th chapter of Luke’s gospel. It all began with Jesus being criticized for continually being seen in public eating with notorious sinners the socially ostracized those on the fringes of respectable society. The religious community (of which Jesus was a part) criticized the company he was keeping. Their criticism revealed how far their religious hearts had drifted from the heart of God. In response to their criticism, Jesus tells them three stories that describe God’s heart those who are “lost”…those who are far from him.