by Doug Hammack | Dec 19, 2010 | Advent, Message Audio
At Christmas time, being home is a value for many. But what is “home?” We long for it, but it’s a moving target. The people and things we associate with “home” are always changing, so “home” never stays the same. We long...
by Doug Hammack | Dec 12, 2010 | Advent, Message Audio
I teach my kids all the time that they cannot not fail in life. I tell them they will embarrass themselves. They will shame themselves. They will fall into something they can’t believe they’ve fallen into. The measure of your soul isn’t how well...
by Doug Hammack | Dec 5, 2010 | Advent, Message Audio
One of the most moving stories I’ve read comes from a memoir of a minister who lived about the time I was born. It involves a rooster and his great shame. It also involves a call to us for readiness and redemption. Have a listen. Doug ...
by Doug Hammack | Nov 28, 2010 | Message Audio, Thanksgiving
Continuing where we left off last week, we consider how gratitude, expressed in good works, is manifest in our lives. Have a listen. Doug https://media.blubrry.com/north_raleigh_community_church/s3.amazonaws.com/nrccaudio/2010/11-28-10_Sermon.mp3Podcast: Play...
by Doug Hammack | Nov 21, 2010 | Message Audio, Thanksgiving
A few years ago, our family stopped sharing around the Thanksgiving table the things we were grateful for. Our kids were getting older, the crowd at the table was getting larger, and it started feeling contrived, so I stopped bringing it up (I think everybody has...
by Doug Hammack | Nov 14, 2010 | Individual Lesson, Message Audio
We pause between these lessons, to review an important spiritual principle in our community’s history… “The Central Organizing Principle of Life in God is the Indwelling Spirit.” Now if you come from the Charismatic tradition and think you know...
by Doug Hammack | Nov 7, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Self
Last week, we made the outrageous claim that God’s judgment is a good thing. Who knew? This week, we go further by asking how we can invite this judgment upon ourselves. Not only are we claiming to want God’s good judgment, now we’re paying a pretty...
by Doug Hammack | Oct 31, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Self
Ps. 98 says the the judgment of God is a good thing. Go figure! How could coming up short, and then hearing about it from God be good? In this lesson, we see that we’ve really misunderstood the whole idea of “the judgment of God.” It’s a...
by Doug Hammack | Oct 24, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Self
We continue thinking about what we can learn from Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan, and his cryptic remarks about “eternal life.” What is eternal life? How does one access it? Turns out, it has very little to do with the afterlife as so many...
by Doug Hammack | Oct 17, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Self
In the last lesson, we looked at “the suffocating power of stuff.” An extension of the same thinking that went into that lesson applies to this one. In this lesson we look at how we orient ourselves to life by looking through the lens of what’s...
by Doug Hammack | Oct 10, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Stuff
Today, we conclude this lesson on the suffocating power of stuff. We began the lesson with Jesus’ teaching in Mt. 6 on stuff, and an analysis of why it is so difficult for us, living under the socio-economic system of consumerism, to heed Jesus’ words. We...
by Doug Hammack | Oct 3, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Stuff
That we are suffocated by stuff in a literal sense is not the biggest problem we face. Yes, it’s true that possessing too many things stifles and loads us down, but the more dangerous form of suffocation, is the mindset, the heartset, that believes we’ll...
by Doug Hammack | Sep 25, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Stuff
Dumbing down grownups, capturing children early and indenturing them into the obligations of consumerism, and misrepresenting the utility of stuff… these are the lengths our economic system goes to sell us stuff. And in the face of that, Jesus tells us that...
by Doug Hammack | Sep 19, 2010 | Message Audio, The Suffocating Power of Stuff
Jesus taught us a lot about how stuff, and our relationship to stuff can steal from us the freedom, vitality, and life that the spiritual journey affords us. However, we live in a society that is founded on consumerism. The powers at work to keep us spending and...
by Doug Hammack | Sep 13, 2010 | Message Audio, Revenge and Forgiveness
Revenge and forgiveness, both natural parts of being human, both wired into our brain chemistry. However, ancient wisdom has taught us that we tend to over-exaggerate the former, and underestimate the power of the latter. So, how do we actually get our brains to move...
by Doug Hammack | Sep 5, 2010 | Message Audio, Revenge and Forgiveness
So how’s this for crazy? I’m standing up in church to say that revenge is a natural part of being human and shouldn’t always be avoided! In fact, only when we recognize the natural part that it plays in the human experience, can we fully embrace...
by Doug Hammack | Aug 29, 2010 | Community Meeting, Message Audio
Listen in to our 2010 community meeting and found out the vision I have for the future of NRCC. Have a listen Doug https://media.blubrry.com/north_raleigh_community_church/s3.amazonaws.com/nrccaudio/2010/08-29-10_Meeting.mp3Podcast: Play in new window |...
by Doug Hammack | Aug 22, 2010 | Message Audio, Reconsidering Prayer
We conclude this lesson on prayer today. We’ve been looking at prayer from a different starting point. Instead of beseeching God to do things for us (even good, noble, selfless things), our starting point has been Jesus’ teaching about Truth setting us...
by Robin Camu | Aug 8, 2010 | Guest Speaker, Message Audio
As co-creators, we can access the Agape Love of the indwelling Trinity by clinging, by patting blindfolded into the future and by backing into truth. When we do access this Agape Love, this indwelling Trinity, we sometimes experience energy, sometimes strength, and...
by Doug Hammack | Aug 1, 2010 | Message Audio, Reconsidering Prayer
In this second-to-last week of this lesson reconsidered prayer we talk about what happens to us when we take on the soul-quieting, truth-seeking, freedom-finding, prayer practices we’ve been talking about. And sure enough… our souls find increased...
