“You’re Invited!” Whether you are 7 or 70, hearing these words means the world to us… For example, we all remember what it felt like as a kid to be invited to birthday parties… and what it felt like to not be invited. We remember in part because that feeling never really goes away. You can say not being invited to that wedding or hangout or work pa…

This Sunday, join us as we dive into one of Jesus' most beloved parables: the story of the prodigal son. But instead of focusing on the wayward son, we will explore the heart of the compassionate father—a heart overflowing with unconditional love and boundless forgiveness. Through this powerful story, we will see how the father's response to both h…

We celebrate our nation's independence and the Declaration of Independence, which highlights Americans' inalienable rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." For much of my life, I didn't give much thought to what "the pursuit of happiness" really means. If you asked people, most would probably say it means Americans have the freedom…

"Where are you from?" is the ultimate “Get to Know You” question. Everyone’s life story starts somewhere, and when someone begins to tell their story, we’re instantly taken back to the past. We get to meet the people, visit the places, and experience the events that have shaped them into who they are today. Without knowing these key moments from so…

A GPS's purpose is to get us from one destination to the next. God isn't always worried about the destination but He is in the business of forming and shaping us into His image. As the Israelites are about to embark on a journey into the wilderness they are going to be reminded of God's faithfulness and begin to learn what it looks like to depend o…

It is an awesome thing to consider: that the LORD desires to be with His people. It was His plan all along–to center Himself among His people and for His people to orient their lives around Him. The tabernacle made this possible for a people in the wilderness. How might it be possible for us today? -- Questions for Reflection & Discussion Why do yo…

Sometimes we wonder what God is like, but we don't need to speculate when it comes to God. God has clearly revealed Himself to us. He has told us who He is and what He is like. He has made Himself known to us. There's no need for speculation when He has provided us with a clear understanding of His character and His love for us both in the Scriptur…

Have you ever known someone whose presence in your life mattered to you? Have you ever known someone whose presence mattered most to you? We live in a time where people want “The Kingdom, but not the King.” They might not express it like this, but their actions reveal a clear truth: when given the choice people want more from God instead of more of…

Do any of you have a most prized possession? Something you keep in a glass case or out of the reach of children? Autographed memorabilia? A wedding ring? A piece of art, perhaps? Now, can you imagine destroying that thing to prove a point? Moses once did such a thing with what is–to this day–quite possibly the most valuable thing to ever have exist…

If I were to tell you that the wrath of God was real, which I believe it is, and that it is coming on account of something, one thing in particular, would you want to know what that one thing is? I hope so. In fact, I would hope that you would not only want to know what that one thing is, but you would want to know everything you could about it so …

Have you ever had a mountain top experience? These are moments not so much about reaching the literal peaks of mountains, but about the part they play in one’s life. The transformative high points of one’s life where things were never the same afterwards. Moses and the elders of Israel had one–a meal with God Himself on His holy mountain. -- Questi…

The Ten Commandments are timeless wisdom. Wisdom is “knowing what to do with what you know.” It is the application of knowledge. The Bible says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). The way to godly wisdom then is not by listening to your gut but by listening to God. If we want to know right from wrong, if we want to know …

You won’t want to miss this Sunday. Family Worship Sunday. Connect 4 Lunch. And, to top it off, we have multiple members of our faith family taking their walk with Jesus to the waters of baptism. To fully appreciate what it is that they are doing, we are going to spend some time looking at what we believe is the biblical understanding of baptism. M…

Could you name the Ten Commandments? Studies done over the years show that the majority of Americans and even Christians struggle to recall them. While memorization is valuable, it's more important for us to grasp the truths embedded within the words spoken by God to His people. Truths that are still relevant for us today. -- Questions for Reflecti…

The people have reached Mount Sinai. The mountain where it all began–just as God had promised when He first appeared to Moses in a burning bush: I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. The promise is being fulfilled. The time has…

I am a sucker for survival shows. Shows where people are dropped into remote locations and they have to live off the land. There is a reason why those shows are filmed in non-arid settings. There is no harsher survival setting than the wilderness of the desert where there is no relief from the scorching sun and the parched earth seems to stretch on…

There are certain places that one can and should expect to find certain things. For example, if you want good food or quick food, there are right places to look and there are wrong places to look. There is one thing the world is desperately seeking, but will never find no matter how hard they try – life. The world is desperate to be and feel truly …

Nothing Jesus ever did was by accident. If you look closely every detail matters. One example of this is the specific date Jesus rode into Jerusalem one final time for a passover celebration. The date of His triumphal entry was just as significant as the day itself. What happened that day tells us that the Jews in Jerusalem believed that Jesus was …

Fear is an interesting word in the Bible, isn’t it? Its meaning is twofold—in one sense it means dread and in another it means reverence. Unfortunately, these two types of fear are enemies of one another. Mutually exclusive. You can only go with one fear at a time. The former stops you dead in your tracks. The latter leads to life. At the Red Sea, …

Have you ever had an experience that you never want to forget? Or maybe an event that looking back, meant your life would never be the same? Like the thrill of starting fresh in a new city, the excitement of landing your dream job, the magic of meeting the love of your life, or all the feels that fill you when you hold your child for the first time…

Jeremiah 17:9 reads, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?” The answer to Jeremiah’s question is “God, and God alone.” He not only understands the heart but is completely sovereign over the heart and is the only one wise enough, good enough, and great enough to use even the most wicked of human hearts…

We’ve reached the infamous showdown between God and Pharaoh with a capital “P,” who in a way represents all of us. He is the archetype of the wickedness and stubbornness of the human heart. “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice?” Pharaoh asks. The Plagues are God’s answer to the question. He is God and there is no other. How will we respon…

After Moses and Aaron first confront Pharaoh, things go from bad to worse for the people of God, and understandably, the people can't deal with it. It’s not a question of “if,” but “when.” Jesus once said that we can all expect trouble in this world. How will we ever learn to deal with it? God has the answer to our question. -- Questions for Reflec…

Moses lives in our memory as one of the greatest leaders in the history of God’s people, but it's important to remember where he began: insecure, uncertain, unprepared, and unworthy. He was entirely insufficient (in every sense of the word) for facing Pharaoh, but he’d soon learn that the LORD was sufficient enough. -- Questions for Reflection & Di…

This week we are introduced to Moses. Moses' remarkable story reveals to us that God desires a relationship with His people and goes to great (often unexpected) lengths to make it happen. -- Questions for Reflection & Discussion How can we be more attentive to the work God is doing in our lives, especially in those aspects that we might not think t…

The Book of Exodus tells an important story. And by story, I don’t mean a fictional story, but a factual one. It is a timelessly true story about God and what He does for His people—He was, is, and ever will be the God who provided ‘a way out’ for his people, who were slaves in Egypt, and He is still providing a way out today. In fact, right from t…

This week we wrap up our ALL IN series with the call to love God with all of our strength. What is strength? What does it mean to have strength? How do I love God with all my strength? The answers from scripture might surprise you. Thankfully, it’s got little to do with moving monster trucks with ropes. -- Questions for Personal Reflection and Grou…

This week we discuss the importance of loving God with all of our minds. I find it interesting that the Word commands us to love God with all our mind. We don’t usually speak of love in terms of intellectual activity. In fact, most of our understanding of love today is described in passive categories. We speak not of jumping in love but falling in …

Loving God with all our heart makes sense to us. What else would we or could we love God with besides our heart? Well, God commands a few things. The next to discuss is loving God with all our soul. -- Questions for Reflection & Discussion How does the OT and NT understanding of the soul challenge the common understanding of the soul? What differen…

This week we start a new sermon series titled “All In,” which most commonly refers to a move in a poker game where a player bets all of his or her chips on one hand. However, that phrase has caught on to the larger culture beyond poker games. Nowadays, it simply implies that someone is fully committed. You hear it everywhere—whether in business tal…

The greatest Christmas gift of all has come, Immanuel, God with us. How will you respond to the news? -- Questions for Reflection and Discussion In what areas of your life do you struggle to acknowledge and celebrate the abiding presence of God? How might recognizing Immanuel, God with us, transform your perspective in those areas? What practical s…

Ever notice how the holiday season, meant to be a time of joy, turns into a stress-fest? The pressure for perfection in decorations, gifts, and gatherings, coupled with social media's picture-perfect standards, leads to nothing but all out chaos. Add in the financial strain, family dynamics, and the ticking clock of holiday deadlines – it's the per…

2024 marks an election year, and it is shaping up to be unlike anything I've witnessed in my lifetime. Unfortunately, every four years, our nation appears to be growing more and more divided. This division has reached a point where the idea of a government embodying justice and righteousness seems unimaginable, let alone one characterized by enduri…

In a world filled with uncertainties, challenges, and ever-changing circumstances, the concept of hope often emerges as a guiding light for many. However, the world's understanding of hope can sometimes resemble a fragile wish, a desire founded on circumstances and fleeting emotions. It’s not so for the people of God. This Sunday, we will not gathe…

What do you treasure? One needs to look no further than his or her priorities for the truth. Whatever we focus on dictates our actions–make no mistake, you are willing to sacrifice for the thing(s) most valuable to you. Whether it’s money, status, power, safety, or comfort. What do you treasure? There is only one thing most “worth it;” one thing of…

Have you ever been asked the question, “What do you do?” For the majority of us, when asked the question, we begin with our career, our work–at least we do if we are proud of what we do, right? In our culture, we are often defined by our work. There are a number of problems with this mentality. The biggest problem with this mentality, frankly, is t…

This weekend is Veterans Day where we honor veterans of our country’s Armed Forces. There is something particularly beautiful about sacrifice that, when you see it, you cannot help but be moved, whether it be a hero's sacrifice for one’s family or country or, in the case of our scripture reading for Sunday, a savior’s sacrifice for the sin of the w…

This Sunday is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Together, we join millions of Christians around the world in praying for the persecuted church. The statistics are startling. There are over 360 million Christians who will suffer high levels of persecution today and every two minutes, someone is killed for their faith in Jesus.*…

Join us this Sunday as we wrap up our Ready to Run series. Let's explore the discipleship strategy here at North Highlands and discover what it means to Learn, Love, and Live Like Jesus.By Josh Rivera

We often seek temporary prizes or pleasures, but Jesus asks us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness which are imperishable. This week we hear about several lessons from the Sermon on the Mount - lessons that Christ calls us to put into practice now for an eternal reward.By Brian Lonergan

Our third and final value is an outward facing one: You are Wanted. Every church wants to be a welcoming church. But oftentimes the way churches think of “welcoming” is superficial at best or misguided at worst, opting for an approach that (even if unconscious) avoids all moral judgments and encourages a “values-free” environment in the name of bei…

So, I grew up going to a beautiful old (in every way) Methodist church in downtown Waco. My mom sang in the choir, which meant my siblings and I needed someone to watch us every Sunday. That someone was Ms. Sandra Test, a sweet elderly woman, who, to curb our boredom, would do little scribbles on the bulletin for me and my siblings and then we woul…

This weekend we pivot from Mission and Vision and begin to focus on a few values that we have here as a church. These values are the shared convictions that we have as a church body that create the culture we enjoy as a church. They are the things that people pick up on or feel when they are with us and this morning we hit on the first of three val…

It’s going to be an exciting Sunday! We have a guest worship leader and Connect4Lunch. Yum! And to top it off, we will talk about our vision as a church which is to see lives forever changed through everyday encounters with Jesus. This is not only possible, it should be the expectation. And not because we want it, but because God wants it. Bring a …

I am so excited to kick off this new vision series we are calling Ready to Run and I hope that you are excited, too. This first Sunday would be the PERFECT Sunday to invite friends who are looking for a church family or are simply on your mind and heart because we are going to discuss our mission as a church as we consider the most important questi…

Studying Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has been so good. And while we all might prefer Paul to end on “high note,” Paul opts to end with an honest one–he talks about the Opposition and the Armor of God. For we know for certain God’s plan is to create a new united humanity, but it will not happen without a fight. There is an Enemy who will stop at …

There are few passages in scripture more controversial than the one we are going to read this weekend–and possibly then for this very reason, there are few passages more socially relevant and important for followers of Jesus to both rightly understand and faithfully follow. Let’s talk about it!By Rich Roush

This week we cover a text that is to the modern audience one of the most well-known and controversial texts in all of the New Testament–to suggest it be read at a wedding today would lead to a public outcry. I think the reasoning is two-fold. It requires something the world doesn’t have and something the church hasn’t done.…

Most of us are probably familiar with the old adage “Like Father, Like Son.” It reflects the idea that children often inherit traits, behaviors, and tendencies from their parents, especially their dads. I often catch myself saying things or doing things that my father did and I catch my kids saying and doing things that I do. It’s awesome, but also…

One of my favorite things growing up about going back to school was getting to buy new clothes. With a new shirt and a new pair of shoes, I felt like the possibilities for me were endless. Like it was all I needed to live my best life. Our scripture passage from Ephesians is the perfect Back to School Sunday text because it reminds us that when we …