Northstar Church Blacksburg

In our trials, we can either render ourselves defeated, or we can choose to acknowledge the reality that we desperately need God’s grace. This sermon looks at how it was not until Jonah came to the end of himself that he understood how greatly he needed God’s goodness and mercy.

Even if we are doing all of the “right Christian things”, it is possible to still have a hardness of heart towards God, which can be revealed by a hardness towards other people. This sermon looks at how Jonah was hardened towards those outside of his own people group, even when they were reflecting righteousness and a fear of God.

Jonah was called to love those starkly different from him, or “the other”; yet, he ran in the opposite direction. Despite that, God used “the other” to draw Jonah back to himself. This sermon prompts us to consider where in our lives we are running from those different than ourselves, looking down upon them instead of loving them as our savior does.

When we think of the book of Jonah, we usually think of the whale. However, this sermon begins our series on Jonah by looking at how the story of Jonah is really about race and nationality, about following God’s commands, and about our own ideas of God and what he may ask us to do.

What is truly important is being a “new creation.” Works don’t please God, power, acclaim doesn’t please or impress him, what he wants from us is to become a new creation in Christ. If that is how we can summarize Galatians, then we should be concerned about knowing what a new creation is!

This sermon looks at how Christian life is meant to be done together, in community, and how true spirituality is displayed in self-sacrificing love that is powered by the Holy Spirit to the body of Christ.

When looking at the fruits of the spirit, we must realize that resisting the desires of the flesh is not about willpower or our own strength, it is about our faith in God and love for God, and the fruits that come of it. This passage is not about effort- the point is not to "try harder" or to "do better", the point is to allow the Spirit to produce the fruit.

Galatians 5 shows how the cross was not politically correct when Paul was writing to the churches of Galatia, just as it is not politically correct now. Society still wants us to add different cultural movements to the gospel, but if we are following the true gospel, it is only Jesus. What are we adding or taking away from the message of the cross?

This message examines the promise of freedom that Jesus gives those who follow Him and examines the temptation to align oneself with causes and movements (even good ones) that distract us from the one, true gospel. Christians must hold out the hope of Jesus alone for the problems of our world and culture today.

On one side there's religious bondage, and on the other is spiritual freedom. Paul teaches the Galatians about the joy of a love relationship with Christ and how legalists will always try to rob us of simple faith.

This sermon examines how as we grow in faith and in love for Jesus, it is sometimes all too easy to slip into a pattern of legalism, in which we believe that it is our works that justify us rather than our faith. But the patterns of evil in this world should tell us that humanity will always fall short of upholding a law. So then, in the face of life's most daunting hardships, we should be reminde...

Truths to be reminded of: 1. No one has ever been justified by works. Ever. 2. God doesn’t change. Ever. 3. The Law exposes that on your best day, you are as desperately wicked as your worst day. Always. 4. The Law did not give life and your laws will not give you life. Ever. 5. Life comes only through Jesus. Always.

Jeff Noble preaches on how those who have been saved by faith will live by righteousness, but a life of righteousness requires complete perfection- no sin, at all. We do not have to attempt to achieve this perfection through legalism, because Jesus became sin for us and makes us righteous by his sacrifice.

This sermon looks at how the people of Galatia were tempted to find their identity and their salvation in the works of the law, and how they believed that that was synonymous with faith. True faith however, comes from a love relationship with Jesus, in knowing who He is, and knowing that our identity is not rooted in how successfully we adhere to the law or volunteer at church, but in who He says...

The first hours of the first Easter Sunday were full of chaos and confusion. Angels, soldiers, disciples running, and reports of a risen Jesus. How would Jesus' resurrection impact what the disciples thought was their "new normal?"

In Matthew 27:32-50, the reality of the cross is that Jesus really *died." His death disheartened the disciples, but it brought a new reality - HOPE. And yet, in those dark moments of the cross, God was dealing with sin, death, and hopelessness. Jesus asked His disciples during His ministry, "Why are you afraid?" From the cross, He declared, "It is finished." Death defeated. Sin vanquished. Fear n...

This sermon takes an in depth look at what Paul describes as the "foolishness" of the Galatians, in that they made little of the cross by tying themselves and their faith to legalism. We know that because of the cross we have the tomb, and because of the tomb we have we have the resurrection. Jesus defeated our sin, defeated death, and as we prepare for Easter, we remember that He has risen.

In this sermon, Jeff examines the doctrine of justification, and the idea that if we do not understand that we are made righteous by Christ rather than ourselves, than we are rendering the cross useless. To fully know Jesus, we need to understand that there is nothing we can do on our own to live a life that is pleasing to God, and that our salvation is dependent on a faith in Jesus and a love for...

This sermon examines Galatians 2, and how we as people of God, should hold to the truth of the gospel in times of fearfulness. In these days of social distancing, we need to remain intentional about staying in people's lives, even if virtually, in order to keep the gospel "peopled". When we could succumb to fear, it is imperative that we remember the gospel, and grow in our love of Jesus, which co...

This sermon examines how when we love Jesus and profess Him as our savior, we are saved by His grace for eternity. That is how simple the gospel is. If we allow worldly things to cloud that message or overcomplicate it, we will forget how important it is to contend for the gospel. Because the gospel is so simple and yet so profound, we should want to fight for its message, as Paul did in the New T...

Jeff Noble preaches on the apostle Paul's autobiography, and why a list of events 2000 years ago matters in our spiritual walk today. Paul's story of being a legalistic persecutor of the church, and becoming a firm believer who taught multitudes encourages us that despite our stories filled with sin, God chooses to use us to glorify him in his perfect plan.

Jeff Noble teaches on the Gospel being God's good news about Himself for man, not man's good news about God for man, and how by being a message given to man from God makes this message the only true message. This good news is bad news for us, however, in that in order to accept the Gospel, we have to come to terms with the fact that we are wrong, and cannot earn our own way into salvation.

In this series introduction, we learn the background and context of Paul's letter to the Galatians. It is written for both legalist and prodigals, and it urges us as the church to not forsake the beautiful truths of the gospel of grace.

While taking a look back at this past year at Northstar, Jeff examines Galatians 1:10 and the idea of "people pleasing". He notes that since we are created by God to be dependent, we are pleasers by nature; however, we should seek to please God above all things. With that in mind, our "2020 vision" as a church is to grow deeper in spiritual maturity by embracing ministry instead of activity.

In the last of the mini-series on "Jeff's favorite scriptures," we look at how Jesus urged us to pray always and not give up. Learn what persistence in prayer means and does for our walk of faith and life in the world.