Northstar Church

Faith to elevate the desires, preferences and needs of others above my own

Grace that helps others with tenderness and compassion

A deep longing for others to experience good

Behavior that extends the love that God poured out in my heart to others

Living today in a way that inspires awe for God

Wanting to be with Jesus primarily because he wants to be with me

Attracted to people of different status because of you in them

Seeing harsh, brothers and sisters as beloved

 Jesus all that matters, even more than religiousness

Message Description: Jesus was the most joyful person alive, and he prayed that his apprentices would have "the full measure of my joy within them." Joy is more than just an emotion; it is an overall condition of the heart. But how do we become the most joyful people alive? Through the spiritual discipline of celebration and the best way to do that is to eat and drink together as a family.

 Jesus more important to me than my race and culture

Transformed into the image of Jesus, despite my failures

 Seeking the knowledge that will transform me into the image of God

Planning ahead to place obstructions in the path of sinful habits

Appropriating the power of the Holy Spirit that is already in me

Putting to death the old self that I've already put off

What does hospitality in the church have to do with architecture?  Today we explore the story of this practice in Church history: throughout the New Testament, we see followers of Jesus gathering in homes around a table and a meal. But as the church changed, so did their meeting place, which impacted the practice of eating and drinking in fellowship. Today Marty  encourages us to recapture this practice of breaking bread together and gives us practical ways to get started.

Putting off the old self's evil practices through confession

Putting off the evil automatic responses that have embedded themselves in my body

disarming the lies of my earthly desires with the truth of God's promises

Rendering my body of sin, powerless and ineffective

Depriving our old self of its power

Trusting God to work without my deceptions

Choosing the presence of Jesus, overthinking about fulfilling the desires of my flesh

Refusing to speak in ways that are inappropriate

Description: Jesus said we are to "love your neighbor as yourself." What if he meant our actual neighbors? What if we were to reimagine our homes not as a castle to hide in, but as an outpost for the kingdom of God, our tables as a tangible expression of love, and meals as the setting where strangers become neighbors and neighbors become brothers and sisters?

Stopping before I harm someone with my words

Putting away the desire to harm or injure another

Putting to death and laying aside outbursts of anger

Putting away anger that is a settled disposition waiting to be triggered

Cutting off and putting away all that leads me away from delighting in Jesus

Saved from a manner of living that responds to my earthly impulses

Living together with Jesus because we have escaped God's wrath through his death

Description: What was it about Jesus' method of hospitality that drew people in? How can something as ordinary as setting a table create space for people far from God to experience the Father's warm welcome into his family? Join us this Sunday!

Refusing a way of life that follows my earthly nature

Feeling the weight of God's wrath that Jesus took for me

Never exploiting others with my words to get what I want

Stopping before delight becomes idolatry

Killing desires before they become evil over desires

Healing my disease that causes over desires

Changing what I do for any reason other than pleasing God

Description: Is there a practice from the life of Jesus that could set us up to thrive in a culture of distraction and escapism? Jesus details out a framework to help us thrive! Join us this Sunday!

Cutting off the life source of all sexual immorality

Putting to death everything in me that does not extend beyond what I can touch and see

Choosing the practices that will sever the life from my earthly cravings

Future experience with Jesus trumps my immediate pleasures

Encouraged as I focus on the eternal glories that come from my current afflictions