North Way Sermons

The blessing in Numbers 6 reveals the heart of God and His desire to bless, keep, and bring peace to His people. As followers of Jesus, we are called to live in the opposite spirit by choosing blessing over cursing and forgiveness over bitterness. Blessing our offenders is not based on feelings, but a heart posture that asks for God’s best in their lives. Through the power of God, forgiveness becomes spiritual warfare that overcomes evil with good, releases bitterness from our hearts, and places others into the transforming hands of Jesus.

Unforgiveness often reveals that we’ve forgotten the depth of what God has forgiven us. When we focus more on what’s been done to us than what’s been done for us, our hearts harden and we begin keeping score. But Jesus teaches that forgiveness flows from remembering the gospel; our massive debt canceled through Him. As we sit with God, process our hurt, and let His grace fill us, forgiveness becomes possible. Bitterness and abundant life can’t coexist. Choosing forgiveness is choosing the life Jesus died to give.

When we’re offended, the root is often anger. But human anger does not produce the righteousness of God. Jesus came so we don’t have to live offended. Unforgiveness gives the enemy a foothold, while forgiveness is spiritual warfare that pushes back against his lies and protects our joy and freedom. Forgiveness isn’t weakness, and it isn’t excusing what was done. It’s trusting God, reflecting Jesus, and choosing freedom over bondage.

Author and radio host, Brant Hansen, kicks off our new series Unoffendable by challenging the way we think about anger. While culture tells us anger is justified or even necessary, the bible consistently warns against holding onto it. Forgiveness is the way of Jesus and the path to freedom. While it’s not easy, holding onto unforgiveness is even harder. When we intentionally choose to forgive, pray for those who hurt us, and even prepare our hearts in advance, we begin to experience peace and transformation.

God has not gone silent in our lives. He wants to speak to us. But hearing His voice isn’t about a perfect formula. It’s about desire, trust, and intentional connection. We often confuse our own thoughts for His or let the noise of the world drown Him out. Jesus reminds us that He is the Good Shepherd who calls us by name, inviting us not just to exist, but to live fully and abundantly. The question is: will we quiet the noise, seek Him through scripture and prayer, and choose the abundant life He offers or settle for what the world offers?

Easter isn’t just another holiday. It’s the most important moment in history. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” it wasn’t a sigh of relief, but a bold declaration that something new had begun. Through His death and resurrection, our debt was paid and a new covenant was established. Because of Jesus, shame, hopelessness, and the search for worth are finished. Easter reminds us that we don’t have to keep looking for life in empty places. We can walk in freedom, hope, and a secure future in Him.

We often chase glory, trying to build a name, be seen, and find significance. But Jesus offers a different way. God’s glory is revealed in Jesus, and He shares it with us so we can live in unity. We don’t have to make a name for ourselves, Jesus has already given us one. In Him, we find our true worth. Our mission is to know Him and make Him known.

In a culture that centers everything around us, it’s easy to believe the story is about our preferences and perspectives, even in the Church. But scripture reveals a different reality: everything revolves around the throne, and Jesus alone sits on it. The question is, who is shaping your life? Culture or Christ? When we fix our eyes on the throne of Christ, our lives begin to reflect the values of His kingdom over the voices around us.

Sometimes we settle for a low view of the Church because we forget who we are in Christ or because we think too highly of ourselves. Scripture reminds us of a humbling truth: we are sheep. Sheep are vulnerable, easily distracted, and not meant to live alone. But we are not just any sheep, we are His sheep. Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and the Church is His flock. When we listen to His voice through His Word and walk in the light together, we experience the protection, guidance, and care of the One Shepherd who leads us into life.

Do you love the Church? Not just attend it, but truly love it? Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Church is His bride that He purchased with His own blood. Through His sacrifice, we are forgiven not only so that we can be saved, but so that we can truly know Him. As we experience the depth of Christ’s love, we begin to love what He loves. To follow Jesus is to forsake the things that compete for our hearts and to embrace His bride, the church, with the same love He has for her.

We can understand something our whole lives, but we only take it seriously when it costs us something. Taking the family of God seriously comes with a cost, the willingness to suffer. Following Jesus means choosing humility, confessing our sins, and resolving conflict the biblical way. As we share in Christ’s suffering together, we experience the deeper unity and life He intends for His family.

The church is the body of Christ, with Jesus as the head who gives direction and purpose. True freedom isn’t independence from limits, but life within the right ones. We find our identity in belonging, our direction in His mission, and growth through love and accountability. Our response is to trust Jesus and fully live as committed members of His body.

If you are in Christ, you already are a royal priesthood with direct access to God. Ministry isn’t for a select few, but every believer is called to carry God’s presence, represent Him in the world, and serve within His church. Choose loving truth over criticism, honor the church as Christ’s bride, and step faithfully into our shared calling.

God no longer dwells in a place; He lives within His people. We are living stones being shaped into a spiritual house. The shaping God does in us is rarely just about us, but about how we fit together as His church. God doesn’t want to simply inform us but transform us, and that transformation happens in community, as we move from consuming faith to contributing lives through everyday acts of faithful obedience.

In a culture that celebrates independence but still leaves us anxious and alone, Jesus offers a better way. We are not formed through free solo faith, but formed together faith as His church. Because of who He is, we discover who we are. The gospel calls us to trade convenience for devotion, comfort for vulnerability, and content consumption for service, as we love and build one another up and experience Christ together.

Communion is more than a moment; it’s a sacred meal that moves us toward deeper union with God. We are reminded that God longs to be with us and invites us into restored relationship with our past, with one another, and with the hope of what’s to come. As we examine our hearts, receive forgiveness, pursue reconciliation, and remember Jesus’ return, communion becomes a fresh and powerful reminder that we are welcomed home.

Home is more than a place; it’s a longing. In Luke 15, home is where the who is more important than the what and where, grace outweighs mistakes, love is sacrificial, and belonging is freely given. While many of us long for that kind of home and some have been hurt by the absence of it, we don’t create it ourselves; God does. As we pursue Jesus, He changes us from the inside out and becomes our true dwelling place, where our deepest identity, rest, and belonging are finally found.

Scripture warns us to guard our hearts. When we fail to do so, we take on the mentality of the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We misunderstand our birthright as God’s children and relate to Him more like servants than sons and daughters. But our Father is calling us to more. With pure hearts we can see God and experience the freedom that is available to us as followers of Christ.

When one generation fails to pass on God’s truth, the next is left to write its own story. Today’s generation faces anxiety, depression, loneliness, and relational fracture, even while being more digitally connected than ever. Yet God does not see them with frustration or fear. He sees them with belief, compassion, and joy, calling us to believe in who they can become in Christ, run toward them with grace and forgiveness, and celebrate our own salvation with heavenly joy.

At Christmas, we often sentimentalize the nativity and miss its true meaning. Jesus didn’t come just to be admired, He came with purpose. Born in Bethlehem, laid in a manger, and wrapped in swaddling cloths, Jesus came to give us the life we all long for. Christmas is merry because Jesus was born to die in our place, so we could receive true, abundant, eternal life.

Christmas reveals the deep longing in our hearts, an ache that points us to our need for God. At the first Christmas, Jesus came as the Light of the World to heal that longing and welcome us into God’s family. God often meets us through disruption, inviting us—like Joseph—to trust, not fear, and to respond in obedience. When we embrace humility, obedience, and the mystery, we make room for Jesus to bring new life and a love that truly satisfies.

Our deepest longings are an invitation from God, not something to ignore or replace. At Christmas, God meets our longing not by changing our circumstances, but by giving us a new identity through Jesus, where we become children of God. Christmas doesn’t just tell a story; it gives us belonging, revealing God as our everlasting Father. As His children, we can hold onto joy, anchored in the unshakable love of our Father.

Do you have peace? Every heart longs for it, yet true peace isn’t found in relief or changing circumstances but in a person. Jesus overcomes sorrow, loneliness, death, and chaos, and He restores us to God, the only source of true, lasting peace. Even in a dark world, we can wait with peace-filled hearts because Jesus satisfies our longing.

We all grumble more than we realize. Scripture shows grumbling isn’t just complaining, it’s a spiritual posture rooted in distrust. It steals joy, shuts down gratitude, and spreads easily. Often, the things we grumble about most reveal where we trust God the least. Grumbling is an act of pride, thinking we know better than God. So how do we respond? We draw near to God, pray honestly, and practice gratitude.

What’s your challenge? We often ask the wrong questions because we limit our perspective. God calls us to see our challenges spiritually first, aligning with His side, not asking Him to align with ours. When we bring our battles to God and ask, He teaches us who He is, shapes us to be more like Jesus, and equips us to share Him.

Life brings challenges that can tempt us to question God, His power, goodness, and care. When circumstances disappoint us, we can slip into demanding that He prove Himself. But genuine trust remembers that God has already shown who He is. Scripture shows us that God is both powerful and loving, and the cross is the ultimate proof. Even in the wilderness seasons, we can be confident that He is able, He is good, and He will provide.

Joshua 3:5 reminds us that consecration - setting ourselves apart for God - positions us to see Him, discern His will, and be used by Him. In a world of shifting morals, we must stay devoted, purified, and bold in our faith, preparing our hearts for the wonders God is ready to do among us. If we believe deeply in the gospel, we must be willing to share it.

Shame convinces us that we’re too broken, but mercy tells a different story. God meets us in the middle of our mess and invites us to believe, turn, and ask. Life with God isn’t a one-time decision, it’s a daily response to mercy. When we shift our perspective, release our need for approval, and let His mercy shape our story, we find the same freedom Rahab found, rescued, restored, and made new.

In Joshua 4:2–3, God calls His people to remember His faithfulness so their hearts don’t wander. Forgetting leads us away from Him, but remembrance renews faith and hope. Though our stories and “stones” are different, we serve the same unchanging God. As we tell our stories, we declare His power and draw closer to His presence.

When life feels uncertain and the path ahead is unclear, God calls us to be strong and courageous. Strength isn’t found in pumping ourselves up but in anchoring ourselves down to the unfailing, unchanging Word of God. Courage grows from God’s promises, His presence, and His precepts. We are invited to rediscover Scripture, not as a duty but as delight.

Our culture has placed sex where only God belongs, promising fulfillment it can’t deliver. When we worship creation over the Creator, destruction follows. God defines morality and His design for sex is good when kept within His boundaries for unity, life, and joy. Sex can’t give us identity or purpose, only Jesus can. Paul calls us to flee immorality and choose the cross over compromise, living in grace and truth.Sermon Resources:"God, You, & Sex: A Profound Mystery" by David White "Sex in a Broken World" by Paul David Tripp

Idols are carved in our hearts long before our hands. They form when we take things like money or success and give them God’s place. Idolatry is subtle, creeping into everyday moments, and distort the truth. Idols die when we stop sugar-coating them, taste their bitterness, and replace them with the goodness of God.

Obedience is more than rules, it’s mercy that stops our wandering. While many obey for reward, threat, or convenience, God calls us to trust-based obedience. In Joshua 3, we see that moments are big, but trusting the Miracle Worker is bigger; that God is both near and to be feared; and that faith means stepping into the water before we see that it will part. True obedience flows not from what is asked, but from who is asking.

The world pacifies us with temporary fixes, but only Jesus satisfies our deepest desires. In the wilderness, we often exchange God’s promises for the world’s patterns, seeking our own kingdom instead of His. But in Christ, we are chosen, loved, redeemed, forgiven, and never alone. Jesus wants us to jump fully in and trust Him.

We all face wilderness moments when life feels dry, silent, and uncertain. Sin can keep us wandering, false promises can mislead us, and only Scripture can guide us through. Like Jesus, we can trust God’s Word to carry us from the wilderness toward His promises.

Church is not just a building, a place we go, or an idea we keep at a distance. Church is the called-out ones, the Family of God in Christ. We are called out to believe and trust in Jesus, to belong to one another in love and unity, and to become like Christ in His character and mission. The Church is God’s people, growing in holiness and reaching the world as we go.

We are called to live with urgency as servants of God, devoted to prayer, living on mission, and standing out for Christ. Rest is found in pursuing Jesus and aligning our works with our faith. The more we fix our eyes on Him, the more we will stand out for Him.

We live in a world wired for instant gratification, leaving little room for patience. But God isn’t watching the clock, He’s watching our hearts. What feels like a delay may be God developing something in us before He can do something through us. Often, we are waiting for a response when God wants to give us a revelation. He’s inviting us to trust Him, draw closer, and find rest in His sovereignty and love.

Wealth becomes a trap when it’s hoarded for comfort instead of used for God’s glory. Chasing luxury and self-indulgence dulls our hearts and makes us forget Him. Our calling isn’t to measure ourselves against those around us, but to submit to the Lord above us. True stewardship means trusting God as our provider, keeping eternity in view, and using what we have to serve His kingdom.

What fulfills you? Is it the pursuit of wealth, the status of success, or the constant striving for perfection? Chapter 4 of James instructs us to let go of these earthly pursuits. It calls us to surrender our desire for personal fulfillment and instead submit to God's control. When we adjust our idea of what success and fulfillment look like, we can draw closer to God and find a lasting rest that only He can provide.

In a world overflowing with information but starving for wisdom, James 3:13–18 reminds us that true wisdom comes from above. It's pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful, sincere, and grounded in God’s truth. While earthly wisdom is limited and self-centered, heavenly wisdom transforms the heart and leads to peace and rest. Trusting God's wisdom means living differently, boldly, faithfully, and with a heart formed by Him.

Our words carry immense power. Though small, the tongue can cause deep spiritual and relational harm. Our words can bring great destruction but they also hold the power to give life. When we surrender our speech to God in prayer and rely on His strength, our words can become instruments of healing, life, and blessing.

What if the way we treat others reveals more about our faith than we realize? James 2:1 reminds us that partiality is sin and a heart issue that distorts how we see people and where we believe blessing comes from. It causes us to seek approval from others instead of living for God’s glory. True freedom isn’t found in judgment but in mercy. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, favoritism fades and love takes its place.