North Way Christian Community

Behind & Beyond is back for season 2 to unpack our new series, "Around the Table: Jesus, Meals, & Ministry." Do you want to know how to have spiritually healthy confrontation with others? This week, Rebekah and Pastor Dave talk through the keys to God-honoring confrontation and how to shift our focus from being right to seeing God more rightly. When we're lead by the spirit, we're more open to what God wants to say to us and through us, especially around our tables.

To watch this past week's sermon: Is It Worth the Risk?

For more info: northway.org

Have you ever had an unmet expectation? This is usually caused by unrealistic or uncommunicated expectations. When we invite people over to our houses for a meal, we hope things will go a certain way. But an invitation to the table is not an invitation for others to be more like us. It’s an invitation to encounter Jesus. We can set the environment, but only prayer can set the atmosphere. Are we willing to be vulnerable and to shed our expectations so others can taste eternity by Jesus speaking through us?

Throughout the series Around the Table: Jesus, Meals, and Ministry, we will be asking Jesus to challenge us to move more toward risk just as He did. Jesus describes His method of ministry as eating and drinking with people who needed to be reached. He ignored the risk and gathered with all sorts of people around the table to reach them. His church is called to do the same. Tables are places where healing happens and where anyone can belong. If we are going to allow God to cultivate a reaching heart, then we will be challenged to reset our tables and reset our hearts.

Throughout the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus reveals the various ways that our hearts and minds can be swayed in the wrong direction while also demonstrating His response to those areas of brokenness. In the family of God, we are not orphans or older brothers. We are first borns who can find freedom, abundance, and identity in the Father. To grow into a first born we must cultivate abidance actively, be transparent, and intentional with our actions.

As ambassadors for Christ, we are called to row back to those who are dying spiritually and offer rescue. We must offer the gift of forgiveness, status, and a reframing of identity to those who are drowning. People who are drowning need a place to belong. Status, or proximity to us, is not meant to be protected, it’s meant to be shared. When we help those reframe their identity and how they see themselves, we share that in Christ we are no longer sinners, guilty, ashamed, and broken. Instead we are free, forgiven, significant, and beautiful.

All around us people are drowning and desperate for rescue. Even with our best efforts to save ourselves, it never works. Rescue comes from outside of ourselves, through Jesus. Jesus was willing to risk it all because people were drowning, and He empowers the church to do the same. The moment the church stops going is the moment the church starts dying. Jesus’ presence is found in the rowing back. We can achieve this by feasting on a gospel scripture, inviting and investing in others, praying consistently in a different direction, and letting our own story be the menu.

If you or someone you know is affected by abuse, here is a list of resources available to you. 

• Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 

• Crisis Center North Hotline: 412-364-5556 or 412-444-7660 (TEXT) 

• North Way Counseling Center: 724-935-0680 

After the message, Scott is joined by Lauire Johnson, MA, to extend the conversation around this difficult topic and discuss what to do in an abusive situation. 

Join us as we gather online together as one church, exploring how we can relinquish our rights in whatever season we may be in. Whether you are single, married, experiencing divorce, or in a legacy stage, we have a specific sermon to meet you where you are. 

This message is catered specifically to those who are in a legacy stage of life. The tighter we hold onto the past the more we miss out on what God wants to do right now. There is joy and purpose found in following God wherever He leads. We relinquish our rights to determine how God will use us when we stop telling God how and start asking God “how?” It’s not about us being remembered, but about Jesus being remembered. 

After the message, Amanda is joined by Mark C. Hutchison, MSW, to have a discussion on what it looks like practically to relinquish our rights to how God will use us in our daily lives. 

If you or someone in your life has been affected by abuse, we have a specific message from Pastor Scott Stevens available here: How Do I Heal from the Scars of Abuse? 

Join us as we gather online together as one church, exploring how we can relinquish our rights in whatever season we may be in. Whether you are single, married, experiencing divorce, or in a legacy stage, we have a specific sermon to meet you where you are. 

This message is catered specifically to those who are single. Our culture screams that singleness is the ultimate freedom, and church culture often teaches singleness is all about focusing on yourself. When we hold too tightly to either of these ideas, we feel entitled to use our time to best serve us. What if our time is not our right to hold but a resource to relinquish? God is calling every one of us to think differently about our time. As believers, we don’t spend our time like everyone else. We redeem our time from sin nature and invest in things that really matter. 

After the message, Brad sits down with Katie M. Iwanyshyn, M.S.ED, ABA, to extend the conversation around singleness and discuss what it looks like from a mental health perspective to redeem our time for Christ. 

If you or someone in your life has been affected by abuse, we have a specific message from Pastor Scott Stevens available here: How Do I Heal from the Scars of Abuse? 

Join us as we gather online together as one church, exploring how we relinquish our rights in whatever season we may be in. Whether you are single, married, experiencing divorce, or in a legacy stage, we have a specific sermon to meet you where you are. 

This message is catered specifically to those who are married and explores the foundation of a healthy, Biblical marriage. The world teaches marriage is about self-fulfillment, but marriage in the Bible depicts two people relinquishing their rights to self, and instead, finding their significance, acceptance, and security in the never-changing love of Christ. When we are filled with God’s spirit, we can serve our spouse with a strength and grace that comes from God Himself. 

After the message, Dave is joined by Kaitlin Simonette, L.P.C., to discuss how to have helpful, productive conversations within our marriages. 

If you or someone in your life has been affected by abuse, we have a specific message from Pastor Scott Stevens available here: How Do I Heal from the Scars of Abuse?