Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Gospel in Human Contexts

The Gospel is always communicated from one person to another person and necessarily must be told from within the life experiences and culture of the communicator and the audience. Paul demonstrates so effectively in his letter to Corinth and his sermons in Acts how to preach the Gospel in a way that is targeted to one's audience so they might hear and receive the good news that God created, sin destroys, Jesus saves, and we believe.

Enemies of the Gospel

The Gospel has two enemies that have always struggled to corrupt it within the church. On the one hand is legalism, which pulls the church into shame and works-righteousness. On the other extreme is relativism which says that anything is fine, sin isn't a problem, and you just need to stay true to your self and you're fine. The Gospel resists both of these tendencies and calls people to recognized they are saved by grace but we do have a sin problem that only Jesus can deal with. 

A Bigger Gospel

Not all of the Bible is the Gospel. But if we properly understand the Gospel it affects everything. It is essential that the good news of Jesus is not only allowed to affect how we live though, it must be proclaimed so that people can hear it and choose whether or not they are ready to hear and receive it. The gospel must also always answer BOTH questions: "What must I do to be saved?" and "What hope is there for the world?" Anything that only answers one of these questions is too small of a gospel. 

Bacon Wrapped Gospel

Nathan McBroom presents a wonderful sermon on living in a way that spreads the Gospel. Fruit are beautiful, delicious, and attractive. But for plants and trees they serve the essential purpose of distributing seeds which create new plants. In the same way, Christians can live in a way that demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. When we live filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, it becomes a beautiful sight to others who might then be willing to receive the seed of the Gospel so it can began to grow and produce fruit in their lives.

Fruitful Gospel

For Christians and Churches, the Gospel has to be at the center of who they are and everything they do. The Gospel, that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected, anchors Christians. For those who claim to be rooted in this story, something should change in their lives and the lives of those around them. The best way to evaluate this is not success or faithfulness, which both fall short, but really can be demonstrated by fruitfulness. And this Gospel fruit is best produced when we start by listening to God, God's Word, the Spirit, and then listening to those in the world before we then start speaking and proclaiming the Gospel. 

Out with the Old

This year has been challenging for sure and certainly there must be someway to ensure a better 2021! But even if not, it's important for Christians to continue looking at how they can improve themselves. So this year, what is one bad habit or temptation or something that is hindering you from being who God wants you to be...and get rid of that thing. And what is one good habit or good practice that you want to add in 2021 so you can get closer to God? 

Messiah Christ King

We often connect the titles "Messiah" and "Christ" with the ideas that Jesus came as a Savior and Deliverer who died for us on the cross. But that isn't actually what it means. They are in their respective languages words that mean "anointed one" or "king." So what does it mean today when we claim to be the followers of the Anointed One and when the New Testament calls us to be leaders and rulers in our own right in this world today?

The Way the Truth and the Life

It has become scandalous in recent years to claim that Jesus is the only way to God. But there's no getting around the fact that Jesus claimed this himself. Further, it would be horrible if God knew there was another way to get to Him and did not prevent his only begotten son from going to the cross. If the only way was enough for God's Son, then surely it should be good enough for us. 

His Name Our Job

As we continue to study the names of Jesus we are looking at how his names teach us how we should be living as Christians in the world today. So often, the titles given to Jesus match Scriptural instructions on how Christians should live. This lesson focuses on the titles of Great High Priest, Emmanuel, Lamb of God, and King of Kings. 

The Name of Jesus

This week kicks off a four week series of sermons on the many names of Jesus. These names teach about about who Jesus was and is, and what his life meant and means to us today. The more we understand these names, the more we know Jesus, and the better we can be his disciples in our world today. This first sermon focuses on the name "Jesus" which means "Yahweh saves" or "God saves" and how Jesus was part of creating all that is.