Posted in Video on Nov 26th, 2007 No Comments »
As North celebrated the beginning of its Open the Door Campaign, the congregation met at East Irondequoit High School. It was the first time in roughly 6 years that the whole congregation gathered into one single meeting place. While the grownups were worshiping at that location, the young people of North (from infants to third graders) were at the church - celebrating in their own way!
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Posted in Sermon on Nov 26th, 2007 No Comments »
Do you have a solid definition for the word “Gospel”? You may be surprised to learn that the Gospel, or the Good News, is not simply the first four books of the New Testament (although they contain the Gospel). The Gospel isn’t saying “I’m okay, you’re okay”. The Gospel isn’t simply that God is love. Love is one of the characteristics of God, but not the only one, and it would be limiting God to say that that’s all He is. The Gospel isn’t that Jesus wants to be your friend, and it doesn’t mean that all we need is to start living right. To get the right and best definition of the Gospel, we need to go beyond semantics and grasp a short, simple-yet-dynamic concept: I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior. This concept, when embraced, reveals that the Gospel is about salvation. The believer can rejoice that “Salvation is not a reward for the righteous; it is a gift for the guilty.”
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Posted in Text on Nov 26th, 2007 No Comments »
The sermon notes for the message delivered on November 25th, 2007.
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Posted in Sermon on Nov 21st, 2007 No Comments »
In this week’s sermon, Scott Bixby examines the name Jehovah Nissi.
It means “the Lord is my banner” and God uses it to describe Himself
just once in Exodus 17. While traveling through the desert, the
Israelites found themselves attacked by the Amalekite army. Seeing
his people hopelessly outmatched, Moses climbed up on a mountain and
prayed for his people. As he held his arms up, he noticed that Israel
was winning, but whenever he lowered them, they started losing. When
Moses wasn’t able to hold his arms up any longer, Aaron and Hur held
them for him. God through Moses became Israel’s rallying point - that
to which they looked for inspiration and motivation when their
situation seemed the most dire. He was indeed their banner.
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Posted in Sermon on Nov 15th, 2007 No Comments »
This week Scott Bixby preaches on El Shaddai, one of the names for God. It translates to “God Almighty”, but the root word “shad” itself means “breast”. The picture that this drew for the Jewish people was of a God who gives life-sustaining nutrition (as when a mother gives milk to her baby) and comfort during times of trouble. We find that when God says “I am El Shaddai”, several things are usually true. It is often during a time when God’s people are going through tough times and it also sometimes accompanies a name change (such as Abram being called Abraham).
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Posted in Text on Nov 14th, 2007 No Comments »
For those who may be unaware, the Open the Door site that North has been working on contains some powerful testimonies. They are readable at the site, under the heading “Resources” and then “Faith Stories”. As an example, this pdf file contains the story of one member. Please check out other stories by following this link: Faith Stories.
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Posted in Video on Nov 13th, 2007 No Comments »
A door can be provocative. A door can also be intimidating - perhaps even terrifying. Opening a door can be an emotional experience. But many doors that we encounter in the metaphorical sense can also make an emotional or spiritual impact. Think about it - when did you last ask yourself, “I wonder what is behind this door…this opportunity?” In this series, the door you are asked to approach is the door of your heart towards giving. Who knows what will happen if you open that door, but you can be sure that God will not disappoint you if you choose to open that door.
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Posted in Sermon on Nov 6th, 2007 No Comments »
This week the North Baptist Church family met at one morning service for the first time in six years for the final installment of the Open the Door series. Celebration Sunday is the culmination of the entire series on financial stewardship, as the congregation is asked by David Whiting to offer their 3 year commitments to the building fund. Through testimony, song and scripture he reminds us of that the entire reason for North’s facility expansion is the Great Commission. David’s desire for North Baptist Church is that it be fully committed to radically changed lives through Christ Jesus. “It is a GREAT COMMISSION and it demands a GREAT RESPONSE.”
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