Northeast Christian Podcast

There are two "Great Commands" in the Bible: Love God and Love Neighbor. A desire for the second flows out of the first. You can’t white-knuckle a desire for the mission of God into your heart. A desire to live FOR God grows from a life spent WITH God. The "Great Commission" to go and make disciples of all nations is not forever. Life with God is. How does this affect our mission to live life on purpose?

We live in a culture where "evangelism" feels wrong. But before he ascended into heaven, Jesus' last words to his disciples commissioned them to be his witnesses in the world. Today, our role as a public witness to Jesus means we must ask ourselves every moment, "What will this say to the unchurched and dechurched about Jesus?" One of the most relevant "evangelistic" traits we have is hope. While everyone is distracted, bored, outraged, afraid, lonely, sad, exhausted, and doing all they can to avoid getting old, we bring hope!

Jesus had a moral vision for life. He promised it would lead to resurrection life, but he also promised it would be the way of the cross. One of Northeast's core values is "Faithfulness to Truth". Is your life faithful to truth? Would you define "truth" the same way Jesus does in Scripture? Let's find out together.

In the moment, adversity doesn't BUILD your character, it REVEALS your character. The last eighteen months have been full of adversity. What have they revealed about our church? What kind of character are we committed to building? In this series, Who we Are, we will celebrate and cast vision for who we are as a church family and a community on mission. At Northeast, we value Love for Neighbor, Faithfulness to Truth, Public Witness, and Missional Intentionality. What is the biblical vision for neighbor love? Do you truly love your neighbor? Listen to this message for an encouragement and challenge to really commit to loving your neighbor as Jesus does.

As we continue our series, Love the 'Ville in the City, we're reminded that serving others transforms our lives. Loving our neighbors should be a regular, worshipful rhythm in our lives. Today, we're helping you get inspired by people who are living the Love the 'Ville lifestyle, and encourage you to commit to making service a regular part of your life. Jesus is why we love others, and Jesus is why we Love the 'Ville!

Everybody likes talking about love, tweeting about compassion, and virtue-signaling about justice. Not everyone likes the inconvenience, time, and consistency it takes to do it. It’s socially advantageous and laudable in our culture to seem humanitarian, to have a cause. But we must ask: Do we like the idea of love more than the act? We’ve seen that a compassionate church is made through sweaty brows, dirty hands, achy backs, weekly commitments, and inconvenienced schedules. We have to put our money and muscle where our mouth is. Are we up for the challenge to truly BE the Love the ‘Ville church, and not just applaud the idea of it? In this service, we hear from a panel of our community partners who are committed to loving their city one small act of great love at a time. As you listen, consider how you might follow in their steps to commit to being a doer.

“Don’t talk about money, politics, or religion.” We’ve probably all been on the receiving end of this recommendation before a family gathering or social event. You may bring this cultural imperative to the table when you read the Bible, but it won’t take long to discover that the Bible has a lot to say about money. The book of Acts is no exception. This week, we’re asking the question, “How should a wealthy church deal with its money?”, and looking for answers in the book of Acts.

At the height of Adolf Hitler’s reign, German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, created an underground seminary for Jesus followers who opposed the church’s complicity with Nazi control. It was within this distressing context that Bonhoeffer penned these words in his book, Life Together: “The greatest threat to Christian community is our expectation of some wishful idealized version of it… Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community.” In the United States today, we do not live under fascist control or in the thick of genocide, but our country appears to be more polarized and divided than ever. Do the words of Bonhoeffer deliver any hope for the American church today? And what does the book of Acts have to say about unity among believers? Is Christian unity even possible in our divided country? (Spoiler: we believe it absolutely is. Listen to this week of Acts Verse by Verse to discover how.)

Guest Speaker, Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders, delivers a powerful encouragement spurring us on towards unity in the body of Christ. If we are to have significance in this world (instead of just settling for "success"), we must learn to embrace the whole of the Christian love ethic which shows concern and care for every part of the body of Christ.

Founding Pastor Bob Cherry returns as a guest preacher to deliver a powerful encouragement. He reminded us of our need to replace "but I" excuses with "but God" declarations. Bob uses Paul's letters to the Corinthians to display that God did not dispute anyone's inadequacies, and is capable of bringing beauty through brokenness.

I’m Still Standing- Damian Thompson Guest Speaker, Damian Thompson, continues our series in Acts Verse by Verse with a powerful encouragement to remember that You’re Still Standing. In Acts 28, Paul the apostle faces personal disappointment and public danger after unexpectedly shipwrecking on the island of Malta. He was bombarded with trial after trial, but remained standing strong in the knowledge that God had a purpose for him. We’ve all faced trials of different kinds, but if you’re reading this, you are still standing. If your plans have been wrecked, God can still use them to bring forth his purpose.

If you've spent any amount of time as a consumer of Christian media, you'll likely be familiar with the great "culture war". Christian media and political pundits would love for you to believe we're engaged in a war for the soul of Christianity, the future of the US, and the fate of the next generation. "Culture War Christianity" is a corruption of our faith because it prioritizes winning over witness, power over piety, protecting the 99 over reaching the 1, and self-preservation over selfless love. How do we fight these "Culture wars" we hear so much about? If we look at the conversion of Saul found in the book of Acts, we see a cross-shaped alternative to the "culture war" mindset that isn't very war-like at all.

Christians on the political left and right have convinced themselves that gaining political power is the key to bringing the kingdom of God to earth. Recent data has shown that political privilege is harmful for Christianity in society. The presence of pluralism and the absence of privilege are actually beneficial for Christianity because it must be chosen for its actual merits and spiritual power, rather than its social merits and political power. Anytime we look elsewhere for power, it robs the Spirit. You can have the power of politics, or the power of the Spirit, but not both. It's not a matter of whether Christianity has power- it's whether WE will have it.

According to a recent Gallup Study, in 2020, 47% of U.S. adults belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque. That’s down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999. This is the first time in eight-decades it's dropped below 50%. Younger people are far more likely to claim no religious preference. Why is this the case? Why is the church facing a credibility crisis? How can we overcome the cultural pressure we're facing and model the early church as we see in Acts? Tyler walks through seven marks of the early church, and how those characteristics allowed them to remain a faithful witness to Jesus amidst persecution.

Have you ever wondered how to respond to demands like, "Stop talking about race and ethnicity and just preach the gospel!"? In this sermon, Tyler walks through the book of Acts to deliver a beautiful, biblical vision for gospel-centered racial and ethnic diversity. Christians have been given the doctrine, power, and commission to build a multi-ethnic family that heals racial and ethnic divides. It's time to make this vision a reality through the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit at work within his church.

The book of Acts follows the birth of the early church, beginning with the ascension of Jesus and the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Acts testifies that we, the church, are the continuation of Jesus' ministry. The "Acts" of the disciples are carried on through us today. Join us this summer for our new series, Acts Verse-by-Verse, starting now with Week 1.

Our home is the most important ministry God has entrusted to us. How can we use it as a tool to love those around us? Join us for week two of our series as we learn how to live the Love the 'Ville lifestyle in our homes.

Our home is the most important ministry God has entrusted to us. How can we make sure we give it the attention and love it deserves? Join us for our two week series as we learn how to live the Love the 'Ville lifestyle in our homes.

Romans 8 says that all creation eagerly waits for the day in the future when God will make all things right. We eagerly anticipate and groan for the future when Jesus will return and all things will be resurrected. This week, we wrap up our theology of the resurrection.

Our job as Kingdom citizens is to move the world and its people toward heaven. Perhaps this task must start first in the Church. We've got a job to do! Join us for week five of our series, From Death to Life, as we develop our theology of the resurrection of Jesus.