>>His Heart-Our Heart-One Heart- That All Peoples May Know Him

Each day as I move along the journey God has called me to, I am reminded I am not alone as I travel. I know that there are others who are taking this journey with me. Most of all I am comforted by the fact that God is walking with us as we avail and humble ourselves to Him to be used in the planting of His church. We yield ourselves to His will as He builds a unique church to shine His light to those who might otherwise not be reached. It is a matter of obedience. We are doing His work, going His direction, in His power, led by His Spirit. We must remember, it is not about oursleves but about Him and His glory.

I love to read from the book of Acts of how the New Testament church was formed and functioned. I find encouragement in the way God helped the early Christians and early church as they navigated through history. We are reminded in Peter's sermon how they functioned as believers. Read the following verses carefully and notice several significant truths. Notice how they preached the Word of God, responded to the message, gathered together in one place, studied the Word and fellowshipped together. We have consistently been saying our methods are different but our message is the same. This concept is not new, for Jesus was keen to the methods needed but never changed His message. The early church did the same yet were devoted to the truths of the Word of God. Listen to the Words as you read them and imagine yourself in the same place with them.

37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off -- for all whom the Lord our God will call." 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV) Acts 2:37-47

I love seeing the five purposes lived out in scripture. Please pray as we develop as a church and live out those purposes even now.

>>Fresh Anointing

As we gathered last night for our sixth "core building" meeting, we sensed a fresh anointing of God on the meeting. We had a total of just over sixty people with us as we met to worship and continue to catch the vision of where God is leading. I felt God's presence before the meeting even began. I stand amazed at what God is doing. I am humbled at the fact that He is allowing me to be a part of something so exciting and great as NorthStar. I am thank for all those whom God is raising up to join us in this great journey. We are so blessed by what He continues to do each time we come together. If you have not begun this journey with us we hope to see you soon.

>>He Is Able

Listen to the direction God was leading His people. Numbers 13:1-3, 21-30 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders." 3 So at the LORD's command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. 26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." 30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

The report of the ten was: "we can not so ..." but the report of Joshua and Caleb was "we can...."
This is a passage I used at our last time of worship to describe what God is doing and where God is leading. We must be sensitive to His leading and respond with obedience. There are movers and shakers and there are moaners and quakers. I want to always be on the cutting edge with a heart of obedience. What do we ask and how big do we dream? He can and will do even more than we ask or dream. I am being told by church planters and visionaries not to dream to small. I am believing God to do an incredible work in and through NSC. Someone asked the question: "Who is behind all of this?" We serve a great God and He is the one behind all of this. Without Him we would certainly fail, fall, go astray and to put it frankly, mess it all up. We have got to put our trust in Him, follow Him completely and constantly be sensitive to His leading. I humble myself before Him, seek to be filled with His Spirit, seek the mind of Christ, and follow His voice. He is able!

>> What Is God Doing?

God is moving and we are joining Him. The Bible describes it this way: 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) God is raising up a church to reach a generation of people with the solid, unchanging message of the love of God. There are so many unchurched and lost people in our area. It is going to take all our existing churches and more to reach them. Our passion is to reach the 22,000 in our county who do not know Him. Our involvement in this task is going to require us to be faithful, diligent, sensitive, holy, devoted, willing, sacrificial, loving, giving, committed, and prayer warriors. What is God doing? He is at work! We are joining Him.
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