Encounter Church Napa

“The church has so many items in its shop window today that people have lost sight of the cross.”

Derek Prince

The cross anchors us in the unchanging love of God, even when our feelings shift, our prayers seem unanswered, and life doesn’t unfold as we hoped. Through Paul’s message of Christ crucified and the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we are reminded that the cross is not a decoration on our faith, but the very center of our relationship with God. Our circumstances may change, but nothing can undo what Jesus has finished or separate us from His love.

The gospel isn’t about trying harder. It’s about being rescued, brought home, and discovering what Jesus has already done. This is The Hope of the Gospel: leaving performance behind and learning to live from the finished work of Christ.

In Luke 5, we see the difference between a crowd that watches and a community that carries. One group had the best seats and the closest view. The other had a friend in need, and tore up a roof to get him to Jesus.

In this message, we look at James and John, the “Sons of Thunder,” and discover how Jesus transformed their understanding of power, authority, and what it means to carry His name. Spiritual authority was never given to us to stand over people, but to love, serve, bless, and bring freedom. The Holy Spirit takes truth from our heads, into our hearts, and ultimately into the way we live.

In this message from our Letters to the Seven Churches series, we sit with Jesus' words to the suffering church of Smyrna, a community that faced real persecution yet received no rebuke from Christ, only comfort and promise. We explore what it means when the cross isn't just the doorway we walked through once but the place we keep returning to, how suffering can reframe our vision of who we truly are in Christ, and why the fire we're in isn't proof we've been forgotten but proof we're in the room with Him. This one is for anyone walking a hard road right now and needing to hear, again, that Jesus is with you in it.

What happens when a church can have strong theology, stand firmly for truth, resist compromise and still lose its first love? In Revelation 2, Jesus speaks to Ephesus, a church that did almost everything right, yet somewhere along the way their devotion became duty and their work continued while their hearts grew cold. But Jesus isn’t condemning them; He’s calling them home: Remember. Repent. Return. This is a message about the danger of becoming so focused on doing things FOR Jesus that we stop looking at Jesus and the invitation to stop striving, return to simple devotion, and rediscover that before we were ever useful, we were loved.

In Revelation 1, Jesus gives a weary church exactly what it needs most: not a timeline, not an explanation, but a clearer vision of Himself. The risen King is alive, He is coming, and He is not distant. He is walking among His people.

As we begin our journey through the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, we’ll see Jesus speak directly to His Church with encouragement, correction, warning, and hope. Before we hear what Jesus has to say to these ancient churches, we need to see who Jesus is: the faithful Witness, the risen King, and the One who is present with His people.

Because when we see Jesus clearly, we find the strength to endure faithfully.

In this episode, we explore one of Jesus' most challenging teachings: sometimes the greatest danger to the Church isn't just obvious sin, but the quiet drift toward self righteousness. Through the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the story of the woman caught in adultery, and the power of the cross, we discover that God's grace is never earned through good behavior but received through honest dependence on Him. What happens when we bring people to Jesus while still holding onto judgment? And how do we keep our love from growing cold in a world that seems to be growing darker? Join us as we rediscover the heart of Christ, a love that meets us in our deepest need, sets us free from performance, and transforms us from the inside out.

In this message, we explore The Mind of Christ in Community through Philippians 2, discovering why humility is the antidote to division and why Jesus' example completely redefines greatness. This sermon is a call to move beyond attending church and become the kind of people who truly carry one another.

Pentecost changes everything. For thousands of years people traveled, sacrificed, and performed just trying to get near God. But today we celebrate that God didn't build a better temple; He moved in. Right now, Jesus isn't passively watching your life from heaven. He is actively interceding for you, presenting Himself to the Father on your behalf. Your worst week doesn't change His position. Your doubt doesn't silence His prayer. Your standing before God isn't measured by your performance. It's anchored in a High Priest who saves completely, intercedes continuously, and never stops. You don't need to manage yourself before God anymore. Come as you are. That's not weakness. That's where transformation actually begins.