National Community Church Video Podcast - 480p

Dr. Dick Foth continues our Beloved series! We are discovering, through the letter from JAMES, the cohesive power of GOD'S Word to shape our words in building a house called The Beloved Community.

“This is the marvel of marvels,” said C.S. Lewis, “that he called me Beloved.” We are beloved by God. His love is where we find our identity, our security, our authority. Then, and only then, can we become what Dr. King called the beloved community. We lead with love - we love because He first loved us.

In order to step into our belovedness, we must first encounter and be transformed by the unimaginable, inconceivable, incomprehensible love of Jesus. In 1 John, the disciple reminds the churches of Asia Minor of the final teachings of Jesus in John 13-17- that God is love, that God demonstrates his love towards us at the cross and the empty tomb, and that we demonstrate God to the world around us when we love one another.

Pastor Joshua Symonette kicks off our new series! Many years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described his longing for a beloved community. It was not something he created or came up with on his own. It was what he read throughout the Gospels and reflected in his pursuit to bridge a segregated America. God's beloved is what he calls those who are submitted to him wholeheartedly. The Apostle Paul, repeatedly in his writings to the early Church, both encourages and clarifies for them what it means to be God's beloved.

Dr. Mark Batterson gives our annual State of the Church message. Together, we'll look back at all God has done in and through NCC in 2020 and look ahead into 2021 and beyond. The church ought to be the most CREATIVE place on the planet. The church ought to be the most DIVERSE place on the planet. Those two things are not unrelated. In fact, you can't have one without the other. Unity does NOT mean uniformity! Unity is CORPORATE HUMILITY. Maturity does NOT mean conformity. Maturity is UNITY in DIVERSITY. Then, and only then, can we become the BELOVED COMMUNITY God has destined us to be.

As we conclude our Win the Day series, Dr. Foth riffs on Pastor Mark Batteron's "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Win the day!" Through the lens of Hebrews 13:8—"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever"— Dr. Foth helps us explore what we believe about what really matters.

Sow today what you want to see tomorrow. Over time, one of two things happens. Either MEMORY overtakes IMAGINATION or IMAGINATION overtakes MEMORY. The difference? Prophetic imagination. It's seeing the invisible, hearing the inaudible, and believing the impossible. Add to it patient persistence and bold prayer, and it's game on.

Dr. Mark Batterson continues our Win The Day Series with Habit #6! Time is measured in MINUTES, but life is measured in MOMENTS. You don't FIND TIME, you have to MAKE TIME. How? For starters, curse the barren fig trees. These are the things that waste time, waste energy. How do you curse the barren fig tree? You establish boundaries and establish priorities. If managing minutes is a science, then managing moments is an art form. It's recognizing teachable moments and making the most of them. It's accumulating experiences, rather than possessions.

How you do ANYTHING is how you'll do EVERYTHING. The good news? If you do little things like they're big things, God will do big things like they're little things. The key is kaizen—an uncompromising commitment to continual improvement. It starts with a growth mindset, and there is no finish line. You keep setting stretch goals until the day you die!

When it comes to goal-setting, problem-solving, and habit-breaking—GRAND GESTURES are key. They are defining decisions, calculated risks, and selfless sacrifices that double as defining moments. Grand Gestures are often the tipping point, the turning point. They are the point of no return. The idea is as old as Old Testament altars.

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Video (SD) messages from National Community Church in Washington, DC. For more information please visit us at theaterchurch.com

There are weeks when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen. This felt like one of those weeks. This weekend we hold space—we catch our breath and collect our thoughts after a difficult week in Washington, DC. We are here for such a time. We are here for such a place as this. We stand in the gap as peace makers, grace givers, and tone setters. We believe God for racial reconciliation and political healing. We remind ourselves of who we are, where we are, and why we are as a church.

If you want to change your life, you have to change your story. You can't just flip the calendar, you have to FLIP THE SCRIPT. It's the first of seven habits in Win The Day, and it's a high leverage habit. In the science of cybernetics, there are two kinds of change. First-order change is behavioral—it's doing something more or less. First-order change can facilitate a quick-fix, but second-order change passes the test of time. Second-order change is conceptual—it's mind over matter. At the end of the day, your explanations are more important than your experiences. Long story short? The best story wins!

Video (SD) messages from National Community Church in Washington, DC. For more information please visit us at theaterchurch.com