Northeast Christian Podcast

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.

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.

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 wis

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:

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.

"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.

If your deepest beliefs are driven and formed by vengeance, a desire or longing to be in control of your own life, or by fear and insecurity, the way of Jesus offers something different. In week two of Unpacking Faith, we're asking three clarifying questions that can help you process doubt and deconstruction.

We all wrestle with anger. We would all like to think that other people or inanimate objects are the ones to blame for our anger, but with a brief survey of Scripture, we see this is simply not the case. Only you can control your anger. So is it worth the fight? Founding Pastor Bob Cherry offers us six steps to controlling anger. You may be surprised by how simple they are once you really commit to placing your anger in the shadow of the cross.

God has you where you are for a reason. No matter where you work, you have an opportunity to love the people around you with the love of Jesus. We're passionate about helping you do just that. Richard Mosqueda, our Spiritual Formation Team Lead, is passionate about helping people understand who they are so they can do what they're called to do. What might the Lord be calling you to do so you can unleash the love of Jesus in your workplace?

The Bible says in 1 John 2:6 that "Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." As Jesus followers, we must ask ourselves, "How did Jesus walk?" Guest Speaker, Nicole Unice, joins us this week with a powerful sermon exploring the intersection of Grace & Truth. Can you have one without the other? Are grace and truth like a see-saw that must be balanced, or is it possible to abound in both?

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.