afterWord with Pastor Kent

Pastor Kent Dresdow and Pastor Jeremy Pray continue their conversation with Dr. Greg Gifford of The Master’s University, beginning with how life online is changing the way we relate: fewer close friends, conflict carried out over text, and less shared ground as each of us scrolls a different feed. Greg encourages churches to apply the same biblical communication principles to the digital age, and to point people toward good content online the way we have long recommended good books. The conversation then turns to young men leaving evangelical churches for Eastern Orthodoxy, drawn by its history, beauty, and reverence. Greg argues that Orthodoxy places church tradition on the level of Scripture and denies justification by faith alone, and that those leaving rarely give an exegetical reason beyond misreading passages like John 6 and Acts 2:38. The episode closes by putting historical theology in its proper place: a valuable check on our reading, under the final authority of Scripture.When conflict comes up with your spouse or a friend, do you work it out face to face, or does it happen over text? Do you have people in your local church who know you well enough to speak into your life? Who is shaping your thinking online, and are they leading you toward the Word or away from it? If a tradition appeals to you, could you defend it from Scripture, or only from history?Welcome to NorthCreek Church!In glad reliance on the Holy Spirit and Scripture, we exist for the glory of Christ, to make disciples who worship God, walk in love, and witness to the world.Connect With Us:Sunday Services: 9:00AM & 10:45AM Address: 2303 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598Online Resources:Main Website: https://www.northcreek.org/ NorthCreek Academy (TK-8): https://ncapschool.org/ Sermon Archive: https://northcreek.churchcenter.com/channels/19901 Church App: Download the Church Center App and search for "NorthCreek Church"

Pastor Kent Dresdow and Pastor Jeremy Pray welcome back Dr. Greg Gifford, who teaches at The Master’s University and hosts the Transformed podcast, for a conversation about how artificial intelligence is shaping believers and the local church. Greg sorts the conversation into lanes: AI as a tool for objective tasks, AI as a generator of content, and AI as a stand-in for counsel and friendship. That last lane, he argues, is off limits, because a machine cannot replace people made in the image of God. Drawing on 1 Corinthians 2:14, Philippians 4:8, and Colossians 3:2, they discuss why discernment comes through the Word, how handing our thinking to a machine bypasses the renewing of the mind, and why a chatbot that only affirms us can’t give the sharpening that happens in the church. They close with counsel for people whose work is being reshaped by AI: plan wisely, and trust the Lord who establishes our steps (Proverbs 16:9).Where have you started asking AI for the kind of counsel you would never seek from an unbeliever? When AI produces something for you, could you explain and defend it as your own thinking? Is a chatbot quietly filling a place in your life that God designed for people? If technology is changing your work, are you planning wisely while trusting the Lord with the outcome?Welcome to NorthCreek Church!In glad reliance on the Holy Spirit and Scripture, we exist for the glory of Christ, to make disciples who worship God, walk in love, and witness to the world.Connect With Us:Sunday Services: 9:00AM & 10:45AM Address: 2303 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598Online Resources:Main Website: https://www.northcreek.org/ NorthCreek Academy (TK-8): https://ncapschool.org/ Sermon Archive: https://northcreek.churchcenter.com/channels/19901 Church App: Download the Church Center App and search for "NorthCreek Church"

Pastor Kent Dresdow is joined by Jeremy Ang, NorthCreek’s Director of Adult Ministries, to walk back through Jeremy’s recent sermon on Psalm 51. Jeremy shares how the Lord led him from engineering and tech into caring ministry. He then explains why he preached the whole psalm in one sermon, and why the less familiar second half, from the plea for restoration through the closing verses on Zion, matters as much as the first. He also covers material that didn’t make the final cut: God’s answer to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, where he reveals his glory by proclaiming his mercy; repeated words like “delight” and “purge”; the psalm’s ties to Psalm 32 and Psalm 50; and the contrast between David as an imperfect king and Christ as the perfect King. The conversation closes on David’s confession of sin from conception in Psalm 51:5, and on how the psalm ends with God’s people praising him together.When you confess sin, do you stop at the specific sins you can name, or do you come before God aware of how deep your sin runs? Do you come to him in repentance confident that he is merciful and ready to forgive, or do you expect him to hold you at arm’s length? When God confronts your sin through his Word or through another believer, as he did with David through Nathan, what is your first response? And does the mercy you’ve received stay private, or does it move you to praise God together with his people?Welcome to NorthCreek Church!In glad reliance on the Holy Spirit and Scripture, we exist for the glory of Christ, to make disciples who worship God, walk in love, and witness to the world.Connect With Us:Sunday Services: 9:00AM & 10:45AM Address: 2303 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598Online Resources:Main Website: https://www.northcreek.org/ NorthCreek Academy (TK-8): https://ncapschool.org/ Sermon Archive: https://northcreek.churchcenter.com/channels/19901 Church App: Download the Church Center App and search for "NorthCreek Church"

Pastor Kent Dresdow, with Executive Pastor Matt Rehrer and Pastor Jeremy Pray, continues the conversation on Matt's book, When Sleep Won't Come, with a turn toward practical help. Matt begins with a key distinction: God does not promise us sleep, but He does promise us rest, and holding onto that promise can free a weary believer from the anxiety of a sleepless night. From there, the conversation covers caffeine, clock-watching, melatonin, over-the-counter and prescription sleep aids, and how to tell when a sleep problem calls for a doctor, a biblical counselor, or both. Matt also addresses the heart issues behind our habits, from treating sleep as an idol to neglecting it for screens and productivity. The episode closes with a reminder that the greatest day in history, the day of the cross, was lived after a sleepless night.

When you can't sleep, do you fight for it, or receive the night as an opportunity to rest in the Lord? What fills the last two hours before you go to bed, and does it quiet your mind or stir it up? Is sleep something you guard anxiously, or something you neglect for the sake of productivity or entertainment? If poor sleep has worn on you for months, have you been willing to ask for help from a doctor, a pastor, or a trusted friend? And if God withholds the sleep you want, do you believe He can still give you strength to live the next day faithfully for Him?Welcome to NorthCreek Church!In glad reliance on the Holy Spirit and Scripture, we exist for the glory of Christ, to make disciples who worship God, walk in love, and witness to the world.Connect With Us:Sunday Services: 9:00AM & 10:45AM Address: 2303 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598Online Resources:Main Website: https://www.northcreek.org/ NorthCreek Academy (TK-8): https://ncapschool.org/ Sermon Archive: https://northcreek.churchcenter.com/channels/19901 Church App: Download the Church Center App and search for "NorthCreek Church"

Pastor Kent Dresdow, with Executive Pastor Matt Rehrer and Pastor Jeremy Pray, discusses Matt's new book, When Sleep Won't Come. Matt explains what compels him to write, and how his work as an ER physician, his counseling in the local church, and a packed conference session showed him how many people struggle with sleep in silence. The conversation then turns theological. Sleep is more than a physical process; it is a gift from God (Psalm 127:2) that calls us to hold body and soul together. Each night we lie down vulnerable and dependent, practicing the trust we will one day need to face death itself, as seen in Jesus asleep in the boat (Mark 4:38), Stephen falling asleep as he was stoned (Acts 7:60), and Peter sleeping soundly in prison before his trial (Acts 12:6).How are you sleeping, and have you considered what your restless nights might reveal about what is occupying your heart? Do you receive sleep as a gift from God, or treat it as wasted time or a mechanical necessity? When you lie down at night, are you resting in the Lord's care, or holding on to worries you have not entrusted to Him? If every night is a small rehearsal for trusting God with death, what does your rest say about where your hope is anchored? And if you have been struggling quietly, who in your church could you talk to?Welcome to NorthCreek Church!In glad reliance on the Holy Spirit and Scripture, we exist for the glory of Christ, to make disciples who worship God, walk in love, and witness to the world.Connect With Us:Sunday Services: 9:00AM & 10:45AM Address: 2303 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598Online Resources:Main Website: https://www.northcreek.org/ NorthCreek Academy (TK-8): https://ncapschool.org/ Sermon Archive: https://northcreek.churchcenter.com/channels/19901 Church App: Download the Church Center App and search for "NorthCreek Church"