Northwest University Podcast

Jesus came on the scene and showed us how to be human. The very first sermon He preached is surprising to all. It is not "God loves you" or "I'm going to die for you." Jesus' first sermon is "repent" What is repentance was the most loving thing that Jesus could teach us in our endeavor to become human.

Romans 12:5

The world is more connected than ever before, yet people feel more disconnected, unnoticed, unknown, and unloved than ever. We are created for true community and crave it, yet why does it seem so far off? The gospel of Jesus calls us into a deep, vulnerable, terrifying, and satisfying community that is better than anything anywhere has to offer. To attain this, we must do the work of continually creating that community of belonging.

There are so many different paths, religions, spiritualties, and claims for truth. In a time where we have access to any information at any time and place, why should we listen to this ancient, seemingly outdated book called the Bible, let alone even trust it? Even if we trust it, is it even relevant today? And why should we live out the practice of reading and meditating on it each day?

Luke 11:1-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – not so much a sermon but a practical teaching, a “how to”.

Prayer was the center of Jesus’ relationship with the Father. Jesus was constantly getting alone to pray. It was a practice and rhythm of life. For a lot of us prayer feels boring, awkward, or hard; we don’t have the life of prayer and communion with God that we want. But that’s not how it has to be.

Church Participation: Being gathered together in community for the intention of transformation, mission, and worship. The preaching and teaching of Scripture calls us to re-learn how God has designed things to be.

Sabbath: Doing no work to rest in God’s person and provision; praying and playing with God and others. God designed this for one day a week.

Corporate Worship through song: Gathering together and using songs to redirect our hearts to God. To both contribute to the telling of God’s work and to be reminded of God’s work by others.

Silence/Solitude: Involves refraining from interacting with other people, entertainment, or work in order to be alone with God and be found by him. Often looks like not speaking in a quiet place in order to quiet our minds and whole self and attend to God’s presence, remaining alone and still, removing noisy distractions, withdrawing from the world to spend time with God. Can be beneficial to write thoughts/impressions that God lays on our souls in this time.

Fasting: Involves going without food (or something else) for a period of intense prayer; skipping meals to find greater nourishment from God. Often looks like choosing a period of time to go without food. Drink water. Feel the pain of having an empty stomach and depend on God to fill you with His grace. A reminder of the source of all nourishment.

Matthew 7:24-27, Romans 12:2

We live in the age of self-help, therapy, and technology obsession. Deep down, we all know we’re broken and need to change. The question is, How? Through teaching we get a vision of the good life. Through practice, we align our loves and longings with those of Jesus.