Northeast Christian Podcast

God With Us | Life is Hard. We All Need Good News.

This week, we're looking back at the year in photos. 2021 was a difficult year. We all need Good News. In Luke 2, an angel says he brings, "Good News that will bring great joy to all the people." He's announcing the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, Emmanuel.

Jesus is God with us, and after a tough year, he is the good news we all need. 

God With Us | God Never Promised Your ”Best Life”

Contrary to popular Christianity, God never promised your “best life now”.

If we look to Scripture, we see that he doesn’t promise us everything we ask for- perfect health, blessing, success, safety, or resolution for all of life’s problems. He promised something better: that every promise HE makes will be “yes and amen” in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).

If we can trust that God keeps every promise he makes, what did God actually promise us? What truth can we place our hope in, and what does it all have to do with Christmas?

This week, we’re looking at the gospel of Matthew’s account of the Christmas story. What promises does God make? Who is it that we worship in Matthew’s story, and how does that change how we live our ordinary days over 2,000 years later?

God With Us | What is ”Worship”?

The idea of "worship" is at the core of the human experience. Whether intentional or not, we all worship something. The only question is- who or what are you worshipping?

We believe worship is not just one set-apart hour to sing together on Sunday morning. Worship is when you offer ultimate value to something. As Christians, we worship God alone who was revealed in Jesus, and we do it mostly through ordinary moments in our everyday lives.

To prepare for Christmas, we're walking through a theology of worship that is based on the simple and beautiful truth that God is ALWAYS with us because of Jesus- even in the ordinary moments that fill our days.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | Daily Habits

Our daily habits (whether intentionally chosen or not) create the substance of our entire lives. How can followers of Jesus practice daily habits that align our hearts and minds with his? In this sermon, Care Pastor, Melinda Gividen shares two time-tested practices that Christians have used for centuries to connect with God: Daily Office and Lectio Divina.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | When Burnout Hits

Have you ever felt like you're always behind, playing catch-up, and never "done" with your work or responsibilities? Is there an undercurrent of something in your life that doesn't feel right and never goes away?

Do you maybe even feel that way right now as you're reading this?

These are all signs of burnout.

If God and the people you're closest to feel distant, if you've lost sight of your dreams, or you find yourself a slave to the "urgent" instead of the "important", the way of Jesus offers a better way to live. In Week Four of Let's Talk About Mental Health, we're unpacking what the Bible says about Sabbath and how it can reverse and prevent the effects of burnout.

This might be the message you need to hear today, so take a break and tune in.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | Grief

Grief is more than an emotion; grief is tangible, and it does not wait to be invited into your life. The apostle Paul says in the book of Romans that followers of Jesus can "Rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know they help us develop endurance". Do we really believe this? When we experience uninvited grief, how do we grieve "well"? In week three of Let's Talk About Mental Health, Jacob Stewart offers four guiding principles on biblical grief.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | When A ”Wall” Hits and You Feel Stuck

What do you do when your world turns upside down? The unexpected job loss, the death of someone you love, the diagnosis, the divorce, the shattered dream, the betrayal? How do you respond when deep desires go unfulfilled, or you find yourself in a dryness or loss of joy in your relationship with God?

After 2020, surely all of us have experienced this kind of challenge to our mental health in one way or another. Pete Scazzerro, author of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, calls these seasons "Walls". Walls can't be avoided in our broken world, so we must decide how we will respond when they inevitably come. They have the power to damage us emotionally and mentally, but they can also have great power to grow us spiritually.

Rather than accepting secular narratives of karma, illusion, or fate when you feel "stuck" at a wall, we believe the Bible offers a response more hopeful and true. Intimacy with God and surrender to God can carry you through the wall and bring you out the other side with more maturity and wisdom than you had before.

Let‘s Talk About Mental Health | Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Studies show that at least 1 in 5 adults in the United States experience mental health challenge. This number is even higher amongst teens. In 2020, the CDC reported that 40% of Americans were struggling with mental health or substance abuse.

What role does the church have to play in this mental health epidemic?

At Northeast, we believe in a wholistic approach to mental health. Mental health problems are rarely faith problems, but they can have faith solutions. We believe talking about our mental health with one another is vital, and the church should be a place where we share our burdens- not the place we hide them.

So, let's talk about mental health.

----------------------------------

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please immediately contact a hotline for help:

 

LOCAL (to Louisville, Kentucky):

Mental Health Crisis Line: 502-589-4313

Seven Counties 24/7 Addiction Help: 502-583-3951

 

NATIONAL:

Crisis Text Line: HOME to 471-471

Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-TALK

Veterans Crisis Line: 800-273-8255 press 1

The Trevor Project (24/7 helpline for LGBTQ youth ages 13-24): 866-488-7386

 

WEB:

NAMI Louisville: www.namilouisville.org

First Hour Grief Response: www.firsthourgrief.org 

Unpacking Faith | What Story Are You Living?

The stories we believe make and break our lives because they give us our answers to the big questions and realities of human life. What makes humans different than other living organisms is that, by nature, we must find a larger story to live into that explains our existence, purpose, meaning, morality, destiny, and more.

We're diving in to the Story of Popular Culture and asking, "Is it a true story? Is there a better story? Is there a story more in tune with reality?"

Do you know what story you're living? Let's unpack it together.

Unpacking Faith | Is it Okay to Question God?

"Is it okay to question God? Is it okay to tell him what I'm really thinking?"

The Bible gives us many examples of real people who brought their doubts, their struggles, and their questions to the Lord. In this message, we're looking at five examples of ways God responded to people who came to him with questions, honesty, and even accusations. How does God respond to them? What might he say to us if we come to him? Let's find out.