What Is Important Is Not Who Is In The White House, But Who Is In The Church House

I said this past Sunday, as we kicked off our brand new series "In Rhythm", "What is important is not who is in the White House, but who is in the Church House." For too long our church culture has been yelling at the non-christians in the world telling them how they are living like non-chiristians.  What we need to do is take a hard look inside the church to make sure we are right with God.  We then need to take the cross to the world and let them know there is room at the cross for them. It is then that they will listen to us. I am pumped about this series.  We are looking at how we, the church,  can walk in sync with our Creator.  It is when we get in rhythm with Him that we can be what He wants us to be. I believe our church is about to go to a HNL.  God wants us to take it to a new level. I believe He is going to use NorthStar Church to be a major difference maker in our city, county and region. We must never forget it is God that is making it happen.  We just need to be in step with Him.

What Am I Doing And Why Am I Doing It?

God is the only one that can bring true meaning to life.  It is in Him we find identity, significance and purpose. However, sometimes we tend to forget how important it is to give Him all of our lives. Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'Matthew 22:37 (NIV)
There are some dangers we face as we try to live in the zone with God. We often live our lives seeking the  approval of others. We do this to the point that we spend a lot of our time doing things that will make them happy rather than asking ourselves "what do we need to do to please God?". Another danger is being busy but not necessarily doing the best things.  We get so busy doing so many important things that sometimes we fail to do the best things God has for us. I know in my  life I find myself really busy doing a lot of things.  I need to consistently make an evaluation of my life.  I need to evaluate my motive and my actions.  I need to make sure I am trying to please God and if I am spending my time wisely.  Am I following God's vision, purpose and priorities for my life?

Waiting On The World To Change?

God wants us to be His agents of change. It is easy to look around and see all the things that need to change in our lives, churches, and culture and be overwhelmed at thinking there is no way I could make a difference. John Meyer’s song entitled, Waiting On The World To Change states: “That's why we're waiting, Waiting on the world to change, We keep on waiting, Waiting on the world to change.” Sometimes waiting is the very thing that perpetuates the problem.  Sometimes we are waiting on someone else to step up to feed the hungry, minister to the needy, share the love of Christ, and do acts of kindness. The truth is however, we can make a difference. God has called us to be salt and light to the world. Agents of Change! Jesus said: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”( Matthew 5:13-16 NIV) When it comes to making a difference, the waiting is over. Let's be agents of change and see what God will do through us and in us.

The journey of NSC continues to be incredible. God continues to change lives at NorthStar and His Grace continues to be manifested among His people. The building project is progressing really well.  Sometimes it seems like it is taking a long time to progress but in reality, we have done a tremendous amount it just seven months.  We entered the empty building to do an initial clean up on January 23 and the rest is history.  In just six months we are just weeks away from painting. God has really blessed us with outside work teams and for this we are grateful. However, the five work teams from our church(made up of over two hundred people) have been irreplaceable. These teams have been faithful in doing the work and moving us closer to completion. NSC Work Teams, You Rock. Speaking of rock, we still have some sheet rock to hang :) Just thought I would mention that.

While all the building stuff has been progressing life at NSC still continues.  We had fourteen go through our membership class this past week and we are seeing many come to Christ in our weekend services. God is so awesome and i love to talk about the things He is doing! In fact, I will be speaking down south in a few weeks to 60 churches on the importance of church planting and what God is doing at NSC. I cant wait to tell them the story of NorthStar.We are real people at a relevant church who connect people to a growing relationship with Christ and each other to fulfill their life purpose.

NorthStar Church, an awesome place to serve.
On the Journey,
T