NPFCC

NPFCC

By Newbury Park First Christian ChurchReligion & Spirituality
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NPFCC episodes

  • Who Is Jesus?: Love Your Enemies (Devan Bumstead) E09

    In this powerful message from the "Who Is Jesus?" series, we explore one of Jesus' most counter-cultural teachings: loving our enemies. Through Matthew 5:38-44, we discover that Jesus isn't calling us to be doormats, but to engage in creative, non-violent resistance that exposes injustice while seeking reconciliation over revenge. 

    Drawing from the Civil Rights Movement and examining the cultural context of "turning the other cheek," "giving your coat," and "going the extra mile," this sermon reveals how Jesus' radical approach to enemies transforms both victim and perpetrator. The core challenge: Can we hate the darkness without hating the person trapped inside it? 

    Because while we were still God's enemies, Christ died for us—and now calls us to love others with that same extravagant grace.

    Matthew 5:38-44

    For more information about our church, visit npfcc.org

    To help support the ongoing work of NPFCC and our mission partners around the globe, you can make a donation at npfcc.org/give

    41 min
  • Who Is Jesus?: Heart of the Matter (Rudy Haygood) E08

    In this powerful message from Matthew 5, Pastor Rudy explores Jesus' teaching on anger and reconciliation from the Sermon on the Mount. Discover how repentance isn't just a one-time act but a lifestyle of continually turning back to God. Learn why "rage is the practice of making others less" while worship makes God big—and why we can't do both simultaneously. This sermon challenges us to move beyond behavior modification to actually partaking in God's divine nature, emphasizing that reconciliation is both a prerequisite to authentic worship and the pathway to true freedom. Whether you're wrestling with anger, broken relationships, or simply want to understand what it means to be a citizen of God's kingdom, this message offers biblical wisdom for living without hostility toward others' souls.

    Key takeaway: Hurt people hurt people, but saved people bless people.

    For more information about our church, visit npfcc.org

    To help support the ongoing work of NPFCC and our mission partners around the globe, you can make a donation at npfcc.org/give

    34 min
  • Who Is Jesus?: Lessons From My Thorn (Devan Bumstead) E03

    In this deeply personal and vulnerable message, Pastor Devan shares his 6-year journey of living with a Huntington's Disease diagnosis—the same degenerative neurological condition that took his father. From bitter estrangement, to depression and suicidal thoughts, to finally facing his biggest fear head-on, he reveals how God has transformed his greatest weakness into profound strength. Through raw honesty about his darkest moments and the power of confession, he explores what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." This sermon offers hope for anyone wrestling with fear, suffering, or the question: "What if my biggest fear comes true?" A powerful testimony of how God brings Kingdom clarity through suffering, uses our wounds to give us purpose, and speaks truth over the lies Satan attaches to our thorns.

    Matthew 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

    For more information about our church, visit npfcc.org

    To help support the ongoing work of NPFCC and our mission partners around the globe, you can make a donation at npfcc.org/give

    50 min
  • Who Is Jesus?: The Good Life Pt 1 (Ken LaMont) E02

    In this message on Matthew 5:3-6, we explore Jesus's radical teaching on true happiness and "the good life." Just as Yale's most popular class ever tried to address student anxiety by teaching happiness, Jesus offers something far deeper in the Beatitudes—a complete inversion of worldly assumptions about blessing and success. Discover why Jesus says the truly fortunate aren't the wealthy, powerful, or comfortable, but the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger for righteousness. This sermon challenges us to examine where we've leaned our ladder against the wrong wall and invites us into the upside-down values of God's Kingdom, where weakness becomes strength and dependence on God brings true blessing.

    For more information about our church, visit npfcc.org

    To help support the ongoing work of NPFCC and our mission partners around the globe, you can make a donation at npfcc.org/give

    40 min
  • Who Is Jesus?: What Is The Kingdom? (Ken LaMont) E01

    In this introduction to a new series on the Sermon on the Mount, we explore Jesus' revolutionary "Kingdom Manifesto"—a blueprint for what it looks like when God's rule and reign are lived out in our daily lives. With just 107 verses, this sermon has influenced history more than any other teaching, challenging figures from Gandhi to Tolstoy. But as John Stott noted, it remains "the most well known, the least understood, and the least obeyed" of all Jesus' teachings. 

    This message sets the stage for understanding that the Sermon on the Mount isn't how we achieve salvation—it's how we demonstrate it. Jesus calls us to a monumental paradigm shift from the world's definition of success to life under His Kingdom rule. Over this series, we'll move beyond merely hearing Jesus' words to actively putting them into practice, discovering what it means to live as citizens of God's Kingdom here and now.

    For more information about our church, visit npfcc.org

    To help support the ongoing work of NPFCC and our mission partners around the globe, you can make a donation at npfcc.org/give

    42 min
  • Easter: Power of the Resurrection (Ken LaMont)

    This Easter message celebrates the transformative power of Christ's resurrection and what it means for our lives today. Through the illustration of Wellington's victory at Waterloo and the discovery of the empty tomb, this sermon explores how Jesus defeated death, sin, and shame. Just as the people of London's mourning turned to joy when they saw the full message—"Wellington Defeated Napoleon"—our despair turns to hope when we understand that "Jesus Christ Defeated Death." 

    Discover how the resurrection changes everything by: forgiving your past, empowering your present through the same Spirit that raised Jesus, and securing your future with eternal hope. If the tomb is empty, everything is going to be alright.

    For more information about our church, visit npfcc.org

    To help support the ongoing work of NPFCC and our mission partners around the globe, you can make a donation at npfcc.org/give

    33 min

About NPFCC

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We exist to help people find and follow Jesus. Stay connected to the heart of Newbury Park First Christian by following our weekly messages. Encounter God, Experience Community, Extend Compassion.