"Find Where God Is Moving And Join Him"

Experiencing God by Henry  Blackaby, Richard  Blackaby and Claude King (Claude is Marsha Flinn’s brother) has sold more than 4 million copies and is in more than 62 languages.  I remember reading this book and going through this study for the first time back in the early 90’s shortly after it was released.  I have seen God do some pretty incredible things over the years. It seems, however, I have seen God do more in my life in the last few years than all the years put together. Recently I have revisited and reflected on this book and I want to share some of the key points that are distinct and relevant in my life as well as in the life of our church.

 Just knowing that God is always at work around us is an awesome concept.  He is constantly drawing people to Himself and working in people’s lives so that those far from God can draw near to Him through the power of Jesus Christ.  He is actively working in us, among us, and through us. It is God that is causes the increase and changes lives. I am thankful for the way He is doing that at NorthStar. He is more concerned about who we are than what we do. He wants a love relationship with us that will continue throughout eternity. Isn’t that awesome?  God wants the world to know Him and He reaches out to them with His love.  After a person comes to trust God, it doesn’t stop. We are able to have an intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe.  He has great plans for us. It is His desire for us to join Him in this journey.  What a privilege it is for us to join God in sharing His love to the world.  This is why I am so passionate about reaching our communities, cities, and world. My prayer is for this passion to never weaken, wane, or dissipate.

As God speaks to us by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and the church, He reveals Himself and His purpose for our lives as well as the life of our church. He invites us to join Him. This challenges us to believe Him and trust Him. In doing so we must make certain major adjustments in our lives to be a part of what He is doing. I have had to make these adjustments in my own life and continue to do so. It is through our obedience, we are able to know Him better and it is then that He accomplishes His work in and through us. Blackaby stated: "Find where God is moving and join Him." I have found where He is moving and I have joined Him!

Just A Few Thoughts For Today....

We at NorthStar are part of a movement of God He is using to significantly change individuals, families, and communities for the glory of God. The issue is not a matter of whether or not God is at work at other places. I know He is at work in churches around the globe on many different levels. He can do as he chooses and wills. I’m just glad He has chosen us to be a place and people that make such a significant difference. I am glad to be a part of this journey. I believe scripture teaches that God works and moves in proportion to the willingness, vision, amount of faith, participation, sacrifice, faithfulness and obedience of His people. We must never get the idea that we are better than others or that we have somehow arrived. We must never take for granted what is happening here. What is happening here is rare, just ask around. Even though we have an incredible staff, faithful volunteers, and loving people, there is no way we could somehow arrange for this to happen the way it is happening. It is definitely a move of God. We must stay focused on Christ and the vision, faithful to the mission, diligent in the task, guarded against the enemy, and sensitive to His Spirit. I envisioned seven years ago how He would be changing lives, healing hearts, dispelling fear, saving souls, shaking things up, sending folks out and making a huge difference not only locally but globally. I am so thankful to be a part of this journey and I stand in awe of the fact that He has chosen us to be a part of this movement. He could have chosen a different people, time and place. The reality is He chose us for this time and place. We must keep believing, trusting, following, serving, giving, reaching, sharing, going, telling, living, growing, preparing, ministering, and envisioning till He comes. Just a few thoughts as I ramble in writing….

Blessed With 30 Years Of Marriage

I joke about how I married Marla Kay Bell at a very young age. (As if that explains why I am so young but have been married so long.) Who am I fooling? ...we were pretty though. Well, I will say one thing…I am so blessed to have been married to the love of my life for thirty years today.  It seems like yesterday we tied the proverbial knot in Memphis, Tn. , went to Gatlinburg on our honeymoon, and began our lives together. It has not been perfect by any means but Marla is really trying.  I better retract that, huh?  A lot has happened since that day. We have had about one thousand five hundred and sixty dates since our wedding. We both graduated from college and received graduate degrees. We were taught by our parents to tithe, work hard, pray diligently, live in His Word, live by faith and trust God....so we did. We have not always succeeded at everything we set out to accomplish but we have continued to press forward. We have traveled on mission to 5 countries, seen thousands come to Christ, served as pastor of six great churches and with the partnership of many great people, planted an incredible church called NorthStar.  During these thirty years, I have lost both parents and all my grandparents.  Marla has lost all her grandparents and her father. During these years, we had three incredible children, gained a godly son in law, a wonderful future daughter in law, and just this past week, we gained our first precious grandbaby Emma.  We have been blessed with so many friends through these thirty years.  We have seen some incredible miracles in the lives of our kids, friends, family and churches. We are so thankful for so much and the exciting thing is that the journey continues.  With many lessons learned, we are now beginning our next thirty years together.  I can’t wait to see these years unfold as this the Lord keeps His work in us alive.

Bold Steps

Sunday was incredible as we had Pete Wilson with us from Crosspoint Church, Nashville.  He brought an awesome message as we began our miniseries “Empty Promises”. What an honor to have had one of the leading pastors in America with us here at NSC. Pete is a highly sought after speaker and we were blessed to have had him here.  If you haven’t picked up a copy of his book, I would encourage you to get one. We still have copies of both of his books in the Compass Center.   I am excited about continuing this series this Sunday.  I know God has a word for us this week that will challenge us to get rid of the idols.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we are launching a brand new campus in the spring of 2013.  We are pumped about the potential not only at our Saltillo Campus but also at our new Tupelo Campus.  I have heard from so many people about this over the last two weeks and the enthusiasm is incredibly high. This is one of those bold steps of obedience that I have been talking about for quite some time. Every time we as a church take these bold steps, God releases His miracles. I know God is going to do great and mighty things in our future at both campuses.  As Pete and I were talking this past Sunday   he said to me concerning the new campus: “This is huge and God will honor your obedience.”  Coming from a pastor who currently has five campuses, I take this as super encouraging.  One of the core values at NSC is that we structure for where we are heading.  I guess this is just one example of how God is moving us to a whole other level.