Sermon Text: 1 Samuel 11
Sermon Title: Salvation Belongs to the Lord
Sermon Theme: “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9)
I. The Need for Salvation
II. The Promise of Salvation
III. The Reality of Salvation
Sermon Text: 1 Samuel 11
Sermon Title: Salvation Belongs to the Lord
Sermon Theme: “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9)
I. The Need for Salvation
II. The Promise of Salvation
III. The Reality of Salvation
Sermon Text: 1 Samuel 10:17-27
Sermon Title: The Unlikely King
Sermon Theme: Though Israel receives a king; they remain dependent upon the Lord.
I. The King’s Introduction
II. The King’s Selection
III. The King’s Responsibility
Our mission at North Hills is to make the grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ known in the church, in our community, and throughout the world by learning, growing, and belonging together. As we talk about how to do that, one of the things that we value is being a part of the larger Kingdom of God. In fact, we have articulated that under our heading of the value of “Belong In Christ” with three commitments: Commited to the Local Church, Committed to our Community, and Committed to the Kingdom. We recognize that the work of God is much larger than our church, though we should rightly be committed to a local expression of the body of Christ. That said, there is great blessing to looking at the wider world around us with an eye for seeing how God is the Lord over all the earth, not just our nation or even our denominstion or heritage. How can you expand your heart and mind and grow in your commitment to the worldwide Kingdom of God?
Together we belong to our Savior Jesus Christ and that is a blessing that we won’t fully realize until glory, but know that worship in heaven will bring together a great multitude of sond and daughters together to worship the Lamb. By His sacrifice he has redeemed “people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10). It is both something to look forward to and grow into now.
Building Healthy Marriages: A Marriage Seminar
How long does it take to build something? How long does it take to destroy something? If you spent time around a toddler, you know that destroying things usually doesn’t take that much time at all. My children loved to knock down block towers that I would build when they were toddlers, although I imagine the same might happen still today. In most every case, it is much more work to build something than it is to destroy it. We might apply this principle to our marriages and this seminar is an opportunity to consider some things that tear down our marriages, as well as some ideas of what will build our marriages.
So, plan on joining us on Friday, January 27th from 6:00-8:00pm for this seminar.
Call the church office (256-829-0333) with questions or for more information.
Sermon Text: 1 Samuel 9
Sermon Title: Lost & Found
Sermon Theme: Sometimes the Lord uses ordinary circumstances to reveal His will.
I. Saul & the Lost Donkeys
II. Samuel & the Found King
A New Year is always a good time to evaluate where we are in our lives and to consider changes that we may want to or need to make. This, of course, is where the ubiqtious New Year’s Resolutions come in. Personally, I have moved away from making resolutions, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t thought about where I am in life (whether physically, relationally, mentally, or spiritually). For me, it helped to have some time away visiting family, as well as some quiet time at home last week, to provide some breathing room to think along those lines. If you haven’t done so yourself, I would encourage you find ways to do the same. I want to focus on the spiritual side of things, though it is good and necessary to think about all areas of our lives and we should be careful to not try to segment our lives. (On the physical side of things, I’m excited about a new bicycle…some Christmas gifts/bonus is allowing us all to get new bicycles. I can’t remember the last time I had a bike!).
There is a danger here for many of us, however. If we approach our spiritual lives the way that we approach and experience a lot of life in this world, then we will be driven by our performance (or lack thereof). We can easily fall into a trap of thinking that we can earn something from the Lord, forgetting that He has already given all that we need as a gift (read Ephesians 1 & 2). Our experience of our relationship with the Lord can become too entwined with whether we did something or not (such as having a “quiet time”), rather than becoming more and more entwined with the Lord himself. This is the danger of New Year’s resolutions – they can become a cycle of resolution, effort, failure, guilt, resolution, effort, failure, guilt…. I don’t think that is how the Lord intended us to experience our relationship with him (read Romans 8).
But there is a danger on the other side: we are prone toward apathy and stagnation. And we can become lazy in our spiritual lives. And the Lord does give us commands in Scripture that govern all aspects of our lives (read Ephesians 4:17-5:21, for example). And so, there will be times that we need to finds ways to get moving again – to recover devotion and focus upon the Lord. A time to reconsider the commands of the Lord. This may be a good time to that. This would be a good time to pick up your Bible again. I have come across two great lists that have a wealth of Bible Reading plans for you to consider – there may be some overlap between them, but check out Justin Taylor’s list or Ligonier’s list. DId you get a new Kindle for Christmas? Start reading your Bible there. A new smartphone? Download a Bible app. Tired of your commute? Redeem the time by listening to the Word. Or go “old school” and dust off your Bible. We live in an unprecedented time in terms of availability of God’s word – we should take advantage of these opportunities. Let me know if you need help choosing a plan, downloading an app, or need some encouragement either to get moving or to not get wrapped up in a performance trap.