The North Church Women

This week we saw the wonders of the Lord’s sovereign mercy and grace in Judges 6–8; his grace is much greater and higher than all of our sins and our shortcomings. The Lord, in sovereign grace and mercy, called Gideon, calmed his fears, clothed him with the Spirit of God. But, also in grace, he kept stacking the deck against his people. Why? So that God could get all the glory for the victory rath...

Mothers wear many hats and juggle many jobs. How do we find hope, focus, and endurance in the whirlwind of life's responsibilities? We'll consider Christ's call to the weary as well as look for practical ways to fix our hope on Him even when our days are so full. View the handout Amy mentions here .

Judges 4-5 reminds us that in the midst of our own sins and failures, God’s mercy and might move through the most unexpected deliverer to redeem us from the enemy of our soul.  As women who fear and follow the God who saves, courageously meet the challenge God puts before you, knowing that he himself goes with you and fights for you. Worship our Savior for the awesome salvation he provided, crushi...

What the author of Judges observed is much like what Jesus observed when he looked over the multitudes of people following him. As Jesus said, “They are like sheep with no shepherd,” (Matt 9:36) so the author of Judges said, they were a nation with no King.” And in the absence of a king, in the absence of good leaders and shepherds, there is no end to the trouble the nation will get into. In Judge...

To kick off a new season of MOMS, our Minister for Women, Pam Larson unpacks this year's theme verse: But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” —Lamentations 3:21–24

Three Keys for Reading Judges: 1—Remember, you have a King! 2—Remember, Judges depicts Israel’s downward spiral into moral collapse. 3—Remember, there is always reason to hope: Unity between the Tribes God-appointed Judge ruling in Israel Israel cries out to the Lord Israel gives God glory for their salvation Israel seeks God’s guidance before acting God pities his people The undercurrent of kings...

Dr. David Howard helps us get an overarching sense of the book of Judges as we head into our study this Fall. He begins with the theme of the book—the downward spiral of Israel’s national and spiritual life into chaos and apostasy, showing the need for a godly king to lead it—and helps us to see how it was written in order to show the consequences of religious apostasy and to point the way to a ki...

This week we considered what our life will be like in eternity. Although we may have some funny misperceptions (floating on a cloud with a harp?), the reality that we observed in our text is full of rich delight and soul-stirring joy. We noted these five elements in Revelation 21:9–27: Wedding (verses 9-10): The wedding supper of the Lamb inaugurates a relationship of communion and love with Chris...

The marriage supper of the lamb is a biblical picture of the joy-filled fellowship which awaits God’s people. In Revelation 19:6–9, we get a vision of a rejoicing heavenly multitude and the four reasons they overflow with praise to God on that occasion. 1. The Almighty God reigns! He has conquered every enemy. (1 Corinthians 15:54–57) 2. The marriage of the lamb, a glorious groom, is finally here!...

Pure Delight! In heaven, our capacity to behold and receive God’s glory will be different. When we experience God’s glory, our own will pale in comparison. Self will seem microscopic and insignificant in light of God’s glory, not because people do not matter, but because we will see the God whose image we bear. Worship will be unfiltered as faith becomes sight, and our capacity to take in God’s gl...

In John 14:1–3 Jesus speaks of leaving his disciples to prepare the way for them, and they are troubled. He responds by calling them to believe in him and to believe in God. As he calls them to believe, he is also calling them to relationship with himself. He calls them to replace their troubled hearts with hearts of faith. He promises he is going to prepare a place for them. He will take them to...

Heaven is about God, his sovereignty over all things, and his being our God and we living as his people. In other words, we will be present with God!  In Revelation, God through John shows that the promises he made in Genesis, and throughout all of scripture, are coming true for his people! Most spectacularly, all the hurts that we have committed or have been committed against us will be redeemed,...

This week we asked this question about our destination: “Will heaven be our home? How do we get there? How can we know?” We began by going back to the Old Testament story of the bronze serpent being lifted up on a pole in order that whoever looked at the serpent would be cured. Jesus, like the bronze serpent, is our source of healing. He's the cure from the poison of sin and from the wrath of God....

Women's Ministry welcomes guest speaker Pastor Sam Crabtree to introduce our study on Heaven.

Lydia Sandquist and Nora Byers from Monday night MOMS share how God has steadfastly loved and kept them as they have trusted steadfastly in him.

Heidi Brazis gives us some patterns of daily living that help toward loving and respecting our husbands and living with humility.

Job's Confession & Restoration | Job 42 1—RESPONSE (Job 42:1–6)     A—RECOGNIZE God’s wonderful ways, power and purposes (v1–4)     B—RENEWED VISION (v5)     C—REPENTANCE (v6) 2—REBUKE and RECONCILIATION (Job 42:7–9) 3—RESTORATION (Job 42:10–17) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, st...

“Tween Age” Pastor Ben shares about discipling late youth/early teens and how to connect well with them.

God SPEAKS! And God CREATED it all and CONTROLS it all, even Behemoth and Leviathan. 1-The world is more terrifying and terrible than we think (Ephesians 6:12) and utterly beyond our control. But God is infinitely more aware of the suffering/injustice/wickedness in the world than we are. We can trust HIM 2- God is so much greater than we realize. We can trust HIM 3-Submit to God’s wise plan/purpos...

As we reach Job 32, we come to a turning point. After three cycles of argumentation, Job’s three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—have finally run out of words. Job himself has offered his final rebuttal and a searching reflection on wisdom. He has grieved the loss of his days of sweet fellowship with God and man and grieved the stark reversal of his life. And in chapter 31 he has searched his...

In Job’s last testimony, he longingly gazes at the past where he and those under his care flourished under the friendship of God. He bitterly glares at the present where he seems to be suffering the judgment of God, and he hopefully glimpses the future where he boldly approaches God like a prince, robed in righteousness and crowned with justice. In Jesus, we have a righteousness greater than Job’s...

In these chapters we see that the all-wise Creator God does not disclose all his ways to his creatures (Job 28:23). His wisdom is hidden from view, as a cloudy sky keeps us from seeing the stars. But the limits of our perspective do not limit God’s wisdom, justice, or goodness. And Job knows God, even though he doesn’t know why he suffers so.  And the apparent contradiction of Job’s life provides...

As we study Job's conversations and musings in this particular part of the book, we find him growing in hope and confidence that God will hear and vindicate him (23:6–7, 10); we discover a man who treasures God and his Words above great wealth and fine feasts (23:11–12); and we see a godly man grappling with his own inability to fully comprehend the transcendent God (26). But we also find a man wh...

In Round 2 (Job 15–21) of the speech dialogues, we saw highlights of hope and lowlights of despair, how these chapters point to Jesus, our Redeemer and the living hope HE offers. Because our Redeemer ever lives and intercedes for us, he will be that witness who stands up for us, pleading on our behalf, testifying that we have HIS righteousness when we are IN him. He is our advocate! Job longed for...

Job seeks God with his whole heart despite the many obstacles Satan plants in his path. Grief and pain obscure the way while slanderous friends darken it with poor counsel. But even in the storm of his deep trial, Job stumbles (as it might seem to our human perspective) on some deep truths about his big God—truths such as: God ordains suffering for the righteous, man needs an arbiter between him a...