This is a sermon introducing our new Devotional: Becoming a People of Overflow, State of the Church. You can watch more here.
Well let’s get started! Welcome to North Village Church.
Happy Anniversary! My name is Michael. I am one of the pastors. So good to
be here this morning!
If you are new, usually we would teach through a passage of Scripture, but
today we are going to reflect on the Lord’s provision in our church family, and
cast some vision for where we are going as a church family.
I think it’s important to remember how we started as a church. In the very
beginning, there were 17 adults who sat in our living room, probably had no
idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we all rallied around this vision
of starting a new church in Austin.
Many of those people have moved on to serve the Lord in other churches
around the world but we still have a few with us from the very beginning.
(Rhesa / Geraline / Jessie / Holly). We all rallied around this vision:
North Village Church is a family who places Jesus at the center of our lives so that it moves us to chase after
every man, woman, and child in Greater Austin to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ.
That’s our vision. I know that’s a long vision, but we really just rally around
those three words; Family, Jesus, and Chasing.
When we say family, it doesn’t mean we are a cult who all live together, but
that we are committed to one another. Our church family isn’t just about
Sunday morning, but about getting to know the people who gather on Sunday
morning.
Centered on Jesus means Jesus and His Word is the decision maker of our
lives. He doesn’t conform to us, but we are being transformed in Him. That’s
why we love the Bible, because the Bible is how we know Jesus. That’s why
we talk about the gospel, because the gospel is what makes our relationship
with Jesus come alive. Amen?
Chasing is an important part that sometimes we can glaze over, but we don’t
want to just be recipients of God’s blessings. We want to share His blessings
with others. We believe that the Lord has determined the times and places in
which we live, therefore, there are supernatural opportunities all around us,
where we live, work and play.
Whether you knew it or not, if you resonate with North Village Church, it’s
because you resonate with our vision as a church family. You want to get to
know Jesus through His Word and His people, so that we might live for His
glory.
When we started North Village Church we started with you on our heart and
mind. 16-years ago, we didn’t know you, but we were praying for you. We
were sacrificing for you. Men and women giving thousands of dollars by faith
to see North Village Church become a reality, because we were dreaming
about a place where anyone could come and explore what it means to give
their life to Jesus and grow in Jesus, and that’s why we are still here today.
I was sitting here last Sunday as Jerry, didn’t Jerry do a great job, and as Jerry
was walking us through the passage and I was just struck with this
overwhelming sense that this church family isn’t about any one person.
It isn’t about those 17 people who gathered in our living room. This church is
His church. This work is His work, so this morning we are simply celebrating
His faithful hand on our life. Amen?
Every three years we rotate through focusing on Family, Jesus, and Chasing,
and the last 12 months we have been focused our vision of chasing after
others with the word, “Immovable: Standing Firm in the Faith.”
At first glance, it might not look like “Immovable” is going to move us to chase
after others, but the idea is that when we become confident in our faith in
Jesus, the chasing will happen. When we are sure of our faith in Jesus, we are
more likely to talk about our faith in Jesus. Amen?
Last year, our elders were praying over our church family and it just felt like
we were shrinking back as followers of Jesus. All the political conversations
were making us nervous. Spiritual conversations seemed like the last thing
we wanted to do with our neighbors and co-workers, so we wanted to take the
last 12-months to become “Immovable In our Faith in Jesus.”
Therefore, we asked the Lord to help us make three commitments as a church
family over the last 12-months:
READING GOD’S WORD EVERYDAY: When we read God’s Word we are
going to become more confident in our faith.
REJOICING EVERY DAY: When we see God’s goodness and grace in our life,
we are going to become more confident in our faith.
RISK ORIENTED FAITH: Everyone is at a different place, but we wanted to
see everyone take one step toward the assumption, expectation, of yeah, “I
talk to people about Jesus.” What an exciting time in our history to be a
follower of Jesus!
I’ve been doing this stand-up comedy, and it’s not because I want to be a
Christian comedian. In the first sentence I tell people I am a pastor, and you
can feel the tension in the room.
I did a show at the Vulcan on 6 th Street. People talking about graphic things
and then I get up and bring Jesus into the room. It’s awesome! At first, I was
super nervous, and now I love that feeling of tension!
When we do something over and over it becomes more comfortable, and I can
tell you, over the last 12-months, I have seen our church family grow in this
area of becoming “Immovable” in our faith in Jesus.
We’ve had these beads in the foyer where you would put a bead every time
you were able to read God’s Word, rejoice in the Lord and live out risky faith,
and I have seen this jar grow over the last 12-months.
I am not saying there aren’t areas for us to grow, but as a whole I don’t see us
worrying or overly timid in this area. Is that just me? Do you sense that? And
I am not trying to make light of the challenge. The challenge toward our faith
in Jesus in our culture is real, but Jesus is so good, we don’t have anything to
fear. Isn’t that amazing?
Listen, this idea of chasing after others is really the heart and soul of our
church family. You might not know this but, our vision isn’t to get 1,000
people in this room to listen to someone on this stage. Our vision is to see
ten’s of us and hundreds of us sent out throughout the week, living out our
faith in ordinary and extraordinary ways for His glory.
The easiest push back on something like this is, “I need more training. I need
more bible. I need to be stronger in my faith.” No, you don’t. If you have faith
in Jesus, you are indwelled with the Holy Spirit. You’re ready! We don’t need
more resources. We need to go! We need to speak up. We need fumble
through those spiritual conversations, because God’s Word invites us to seek
out spiritual conversations where we live, work and play. That’s our dream!
Sometimes I hear people say, “You got to get out of Austin.” I am like, “Why?”
People are coming to Austin from around the world, and more than likely
those people won’t be in Austin for more than 3-years, so that Austin is
becoming a launching pad of the gospel to the world! Isn’t that exciting?
And I think our city, our culture is the most open to Jesus, the most seeking of
truth than I have ever seen in our city in the last 20-years, so take ownership
of your faith, study God’s Word and let people know you are with team Jesus!
Let’s look at where we are going as a church family.
The focus of our next year is around our relationships with one another,
therefore, just like with Immovable, we can’t tell our church family to love one
another. Wouldn’t that be nice? I could just stand up on a Sunday, “Love one
another.” And then everyone just loved one another! So simple!
No, there are roadblocks to loving one another. There are spiritual hurdles to
loving one another. There are spiritual forces of darkness at work in our city,
in our lives hindering us and distracting us from loving one another. There
are doubts and lies engrained in our soul to loving one another, so we want to
take a methodical approach of preparing us to have a greater capacity for
others.
We might feel like a 12oz cup with little capacity for others, therefore, we
want the Holy Spirit to stir up in us a Big Gulp size spiritual capacity.
Before, 2 things (emotionally, physically, relationally) would fill up our cup,
but through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are going to ask Him to grow us
to 3, 5, 10 things. Does that make sense?
Quarter 1: Overflow at Home (Sept–Dec)
Quarter 2: Overflow in the Church (Jan–Mar)
Quarter 3: Overflow in the City (Apr–Jun)
Quarter 4: Overflow in the World (Jul–Sept)
Then, each month we will have a focus / challenge for our church family.
I am not going to go through each month this morning, but for the month
of September I want you to see what it looks like practically:
September 2025 — State of the Church Sunday!
Overflow starts here!
o Focus: Humble service begins at home.
o Challenge: Do one act of unexpected service per week for someone in your
household. Everyone gets a card that says, “I will put _________________ first by
___________________.” (Drop off in offering)
o Make them anonymous.
o Read a few next Sunday to celebrate.
Listen to me, let me point us back to the gospel. We aren’t doing these
things to earn anything from God. We might have the capacity of a
thimble our lives on earth, that’s okay. It isn’t about doing more for God
to gain the favor of God.
In Christ, we have already been adopted, seated at His table. We have His
favor! His grace! His power! His freedom! His joy! Therefore, we are
asking Him to fuel in us a desire to have a supernatural capacity for
others. Amen?
Every seat has a card and a pen. Right now, fill it out, thinking about your home, “I will put
_________________ first by ___________________.” It doesn’t have to be huge! Confetti doesn’t have to fall from
the sky. It can be a small step of living by faith as we trust in the Lord, instead of trusting in ourselves.
Amen? (Cards at the back if you don’t have one)
After worship, put the cards in the offering at the back, and next Sunday
we will read a few of those cards to encourage one another, and each
month we will have a different challenge.
Don’t sleep on the challenge in September. A new, different challenge is
coming in October. Every month it will change. I am guessing, most of us
already feel “Relationally FULL.” We have this narrative in our head like,
““I don’t have any space, time, capacity for others.” Some of that is
accurate, some of it is perceived, therefore, we are asking the Holy Spirit
to expand our capacity. You with me? (We don’t grow by holding back, we
grow by being uncomfortable.)
In a second, I am going to invite some people to the stage, just to
celebrate what the Lord is doing in our and through our church family,
but let me just walk you through this devotional, so we know some of its
devotional goodness.
First, Amazon makes these for us for pennies, so they look impressive and
expensive, but they cost pennies.
Front page, you can put your name in there. Did you hear that? You can put
your name in there! QR’s to communicate with us, sign up for the Realm, our
online community.
Next page, our vision focus being rotated every three years; Jesus, Family, and
Chasing. On page 4, you see a calendar of what “Overflow Challenges” will
look like each month. Do you see those James? Page 7 is some direction on
how to use the devotional.
Ideally, tomorrow we will start to study our passage for next Sunday on our
own. Page 16 at the bottom of the page “For Personal Study.” You make
observations of the passage on your own. You try to do some interpretation of
the passage on your own. You create some application on your own. You try
to summarize the passage in 3-4 words on your own. You try to see how the
passage points you to your hope in Jesus on your own. And there’s even some
questions to complement our focus of “Becoming a people of overflow.”
Can you imagine if we did this as a church family on our own? Can you
imagine how much more you would enjoy Sunday morning if you came in
hot? Can you imagine the spiritual temperature in our church family if
the majority of us have already been soaking our soul in this passage
individually?
It’s possible you might be thinking, “How does all this happen financially?” It
happens through the people of North Village giving cheerfully, willfully and
sacrificially:
Financial Slide: October 2025-September 2026
Budget: $370K
Monthly: $31K
Listen, the only reason our church family exists is because men and women
make a financial investment in North Village Church.
Our lease in this space ends August 2026. We have to give them a decision in
February 2026, so we are praying for wisdom in these matters.
But, most of all, ask yourself, “Do you resonate with our vision, values, our
focus as a church family? If so, ask the Lord, “What does it look like for me to
give cheerfully, willfully, and sacrificially?” And we will put our trust in the
Lord, we will follow Him!
Let me ask some friends to come up and share their story:
Nepal / Ukraine:
Where are you most encouraged about what the Lord is doing in your
group?
Where can our church family pray for you?
What do you miss the most about your country?
Deborah:
What made you want to get involved at NVC?
Where are you getting stronger in your faith in Jesus?
What’s it been like to share your faith in Jesus with others over the last
year?
Let’s give a round of applause. We will finish just like we started. A church
family isn’t about any one person. Were about the glory of God. Were about
Him gathering a people who want to know Him. Were about a people who
want to study God’s Word. Were about a people who want to have
compassion toward others. Were about seeing other men and women in
Austin coming to know Jesus and grow in Jesus.
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.
NVC Online
Unable to attend this Christian Church in Austin? Don’t worry, because, through God’s provision, we have created NVC online, an Online Church streaming a worship service every Sunday from 10:30am Central Time. You can also watch our short, powerful sermons on demand and follow us on Instagram for daily Christ centered content.