Northgate Christian Community

Chris Parker Continuing with the Kingdom Culture series, Pastor Chris taught that the culture of the kingdom is not about divine retribution but is instead about the manifestation of the kingdom on earth as in heaven. Divine retribution (or retribution theology) is the idea that people receive from God, whether good or bad, what they deserve. While we might reject this as being inconsistent with the character of God we see revealed in Jesus, we often hear and sometimes think that tragedies (such as natural disasters, illnesses, car accidents, etc.) are in some way a judgement for sin. Basically, if you're asking the question, "What did I do to deserve this?" you are assuming a theology of retribution. This is not only a common way of thinking in our day, but it also permeated the Jewish worldview of Jesus' day. Jesus' disciples encounter a man who was born blind and ask, "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:3). Jesus rejects the retributive theology that assumes someone is at fault and says, "Neither." This is basically what the book of Job is about. The book of Job opens with Job losing his health, wealth and family. While we as the readers know that Satan is the one behind Job's tragedies, Job and his friends are unaware and spend most of the book reflecting on the reason for Job's plight. We thus have three perspectives/theologies on God throughout the book: Satan (the accuser) who views God as a control freak, the friends of Job who view God as one who engages in retributive justice, and Job who claims that God is not just because he is unjustly suffering. While all three perspectives are to be rejected, God says that Job spoke what is true (42:7). Job is right with what he said not because his theology was right but because he was honest with God about how he felt. The invitation for us is to have the same sort of honesty with God as Job and to reject a theology of retribution that claims that people receive bad events in their lives from God because they deserve it. Instead, we are to manifest the kingdom without any evaluation on whether or not brokenness/suffering is deserved. The people of God are called to implement the kingdom of God wherever and whenever it is absent.

Pastor Jon continued the series that Roy began last week entitled "Kingdom Culture". Specifically, he focused on examples in the Bible where people experienced the presence of God and how He longs for us to pursue His presence in our daily lives. Ultimately, God's presence is what brings His kingdom culture to earth. Additionally, Pastor Jon explained that God's presence and His Holy Spirit are available to us. If we desire to experience His presence, the best thing we can do is to seek God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Pastor Jon referenced the story of Solomon in 2 Chronicles chapter 5. In this story, Solomon inherited David's plan to build a temple for God. However, even though Solomon completed the temple and had an amazing experience with God's presence as a result, he eventually fell back into sin by building idols and worshipping pagan gods, which angered God. The main point behind this story is that the presence of God is a wonderful thing, but God wants to be more than just on the outside of His people, which is why He sent Jesus to bear the weight of our sins. Pastor Jon concluded his message by referencing John 16:7: "But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Advocate won't come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you." This emphasizes the fact that God's presence in His people brings His kingdom and His culture.

Jason & Laura Stiffler Patsy & Floyd Winter Chuck & Colleen Marchetta Scott & Lisa Levin Linda Macaluso & Barb Clawson-Cole

Roy Van Der Westhuizen Roy started a new series this week called Kingdom Culture. He started the series talking about the difference between the earthly family culture and the heavenly family culture. Each family is different and has a culture that is unique to them. In the same way that we are born into an earthly family, we are also born again into a heavenly family. Just like there is a culture to our earthly family there is also a culture to our heavenly family. The heavenly family culture is set by God and we are always working to more fully live out the heavenly family culture, in some cases this means renouncing our earthly family culture. This doesn't mean that we reject the people but rather the views of that culture. Roy shared Mark 3:31-35 where Jesus' family visited Jesus, but Jesus shared that those who do the father's will are his family. He doesn't reject them outright but indicates that the priority is to serve the Father. He always honors his mother, even when on the cross he makes sure that his mother Mary is cared for by giving her to John. Roy made the quote that "You honor your family, but you obey the Father." Roy shared the story of his father and grandfather. His grandfather was a successful architect and valued that above most other things. Roy's father started to follow in his footsteps and went to college for architecture. He met Jesus in his senior year and gave everything to him. When he graduated he turned down a prestigious position in order to preach the gospel in the jungle. Roy's grandfather couldn't understand this and it caused great strain in their relationship. Later when Roy and his parents were living in Chile, Roy's grandfather developed a severe depression that lasted for ten years. When nothing else worked he remembered his son was a pastor and that there might be some relief there. Roy's grandfather gave himself over to Christ and was transformed. He visited Roy's father in Chile and shared how proud and excited he was for the work Roy was doing. Roy's grandfather had never been proud of his son before, or at least could never show it. The transformation from an earthly family culture to a heavenly family culture allowed a healthy relationship to happen between Roy's father and his grandfather. Roy concluded on the point that we can better love our family when we are a part of the heavenly family culture rather than an earthly family culture.

Jon Hasselbeck

Chris Parker Continuing on the message Roy and Julie shared last week, Chris honed in on the issue of shame. He defined shame as the belief that who you are is broken and unworthy of love. He outlines two ways to view oneself. The first being "I am a sinner – and I am also loved by God and created to be like Him". The other is "I am loved by God and created to be like Him – and I am a sinner". They might sound like the same thing, but they are different in that they highlight different things as being more important. Chris shared the story of Adam and Eve after they ate the fruit off the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They realized they were naked and hid from God because they felt like they were unworthy of his love. In other words they felt shame. On the other hand God went to the garden because He wanted to spend time with them. He didn't care that they were naked; he made them to be beautiful and be with Him. This poses the question to us. Who do we see ourselves as? Do we see ourselves like God sees us, as a beautiful creation for him that has fallen to sin? Or do we see ourselves as unworthy of the love God offers freely.

Have you ever wondered, "Why do I do the things I do?" For Julie and Roy this question, or the absence of this question, has dramatically shaped their lives in recent history. Julie shared a portion of her story in which she slowly, developed a hatred toward men. She shared how being a social worker and working with a population of people that had been abused in every way imaginable lead her to experience a form of vicarious trauma. This was at the root of the surface manifestation of "hating men". Roy also shared portions of his story. He explained his struggles with masturbation, pornography, and the like. His constant struggle was something that controlled his life for quite some time. He asked the Lord to take it away and fix him an to his surprise healing did not come in the way he expected. Amidst his struggle, Roy met a man who had been through a similar situation. He saw healing and recovery in his own life. He lead Roy through this healing process and Roy found healing, restoration, and freedom. In a similar type of situation Julie found herself in a program, which to her surprise, lead her to find hope and restoration. Using 1 John 1, Julie and Roy appealed to the fact that in Jesus there is no darkness. For the church, and us as his body we shouldn't be in fear of bringing things to the light, which is often seen as the first step in the healing process.

Whether you have been following Jesus for 4 months or 40 years, we never cease from needing to be reminded of God's constant grace and unwavering love. When we forgot those truths, we are tempted to deal with our issues in all sorts of unhealthy ways. We may suppress what's going on inside of us, become comfortable with dysfunction, seek to solve our problems ourselves, or believe that God will only love us after we get our lives figured out. Not only will these ways of trying to deal our issues not bring the transformation Jesus wants for us, but we may find that our unresolved issues leak out onto the people closest to us. Pastor Jon shared how this was the case for him throughout the week. He was feeling angry and unconsciously tried suppressing it. He also felt shame for not being able to change his emotions and embarrassment for even having these emotions as a Pastor and a longtime follower of Jesus. Freedom came when Pastor Jon spent some time alone with God in prayer. God reminded him that he couldn't be loved or forgiven any more than he already is. He also realized that he had been directing his anger toward Yolande. Pastor Jon confessed this to God and to Yolande and asked for forgiveness. He then asked Yolande to pray for him. Pastor Jon then shared a story from scripture of a community that had become comfortable with dysfunction and how Jesus brought freedom to a man possessed by a legion of demons, wholeness to a woman who needed healing, and life to a little girl. When the man possessed by a legion of demons begs to go with Jesus, Jesus sends him back to his town to share with his community what the Lord has done for him. The point Pastor Jon emphasized from this story is that the person's problem became his opportunity to discover his purpose.

Pastor Matt Brown began his message by explaining God's view of purpose through the lens of the book of Jeremiah. Despite the fact that Jeremiah had fears and reservations about carrying out God's purpose, God had already prepared the way for Jeremiah to be used, by God speaking through him. Because of this, we know that God has equipped us and eliminated our excuses not to live out our purpose. Ultimately, God is not stressed out about anything that stresses us out. Encouragement can be found in the fact that God will use your story for His glory. Pastor Brown referenced Ecclesiastes 6:10: "Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there is no use arguing with God about your destiny." This offers comfort to those who have yet to identify their purpose or have run from their purpose in the past. Purpose often goes through phases, from a growth season, to a consolidation season. Pastor Brown offered encouraging words for those struggling with their purpose by explaining that seeds can be changed if you aren't satisfied with the harvest. He also petitioned the congregation to consistently ask for God to reveal Himself in our lives and circumstances. He concluded his message by explaining how various individuals in the bible were given purposes that were fear-invoking or very difficult projects. There is an embedded call that we have on our lives to find our purpose that God has called us to, we just need to be willing to accept God's purpose and call on our lives.