The North Church Women

*at 1:05, Kristin unintentionally misquotes Romans 1:25, "because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." ---------- Paul uses a “how much more” logic to show us how much better the free gift of righteousness is than the sin that necessitated it.  We have a better Man than ourselves. We are not saved...

In Romans 5:1–11, we learned that justification leads to a restored personal relationship with God. In Jesus, we are reconciled and can rejoice in our past redemption, even our present sufferings and our future in glory. Our past is redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Our present is increasingly becoming more like Jesus, and our future is secure. * Remember and rejoice in all that Jesus has done for y...

This week Paul offered Father Abraham as an example of how to obtain righteousness with God—through Christ by faith alone. We learned that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness BEFORE he was circumcised. God made a promise to and covenant with Abraham to redeem the world—both the circumcised AND the uncircumcised—and it would be carried out by Abraham believing God and his promises,...

A jeweler puts a diamond on a black velvet background in order to highlight the stunning beauty of the diamond shining all the more brightly against the dark background. The gospel is the same way—it shines at its brightest when seen against the backdrop of the condemnation of sin and death that we deserve. Knowing our desperate condition—that we are under God’s wrath and hopeless without a Rescue...

The Jileks share some of the observations they’ve made over the years as college student ministers, providing some helpful considerations for parenting kids through the college transition, as well as how this impacts the parenting of little ones — all while keeping our eyes on Jesus, knowing that He holds our kids and is the author and sustainer of their faith.

No one gets a pass. Not the flagrantly immoral and not the private idolater. This is Paul’s argument so far: God judges each person—Jew or Gentile—according to his works. The standard for judging those works is God’s righteousness, explicitly stated in his laws. Both Jews and Gentiles have failed to keep God’s righteous standard.  What should we do when we hear a word like this? Paul already told...

In God’s mysterious grace, the starting point for hope is to face our desperate, hopeless condition. Our problem is the stain of sin, which we can never scrub away. Sin of exchanging the glory of God for a love of ourselves—that terrible exchange, which trickles down into a hundred other fruits of wickedness. But there was another exchange. The holy, almighty God we rejected, He made another excha...

This week we heard the "Overture to Romans” (Paul’s introduction in Romans 1:1–17). As in a musical before the curtain rises, the overture sets the mood and introduces motifs that are developed later in the play, and you hear familiar melodies from each scene or episode.

Dr. Naselli gives us a powerfully rich "jet tour" of the book of Romans. For more extensive information, we recommend Dr. Naselli's excellent book, Romans: A Concise Guide to the Greatest Letter Ever Written.

Start the new year by considering how we can feast on the life of Jesus by thirsting for prayer and consuming God’s Word. We come to him so that we may have life!   You can access Kristin's recommended resources here .

Judges concludes with a deeply sobering illustration of what the kingdom of this world is like. While the author doesn’t shrink from revealing the horrors of what humanity becomes when they reject God as king, he nonetheless ends his history of the judges on a hopeful note. He invites us to look through the gloom of “those days” to a new day when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of...

Feelings of inadequacy, fear of failure, indecision, and guilt often rob us of joy and effectiveness. Why are these pitfalls so prevalent today, even in the church? How can we as Christian women avoid them and approach life with contagious confidence?

Sometimes, in order to repent and worship God, we have to take a long hard look at what life apart from him looks like. This week in Judges 17 and 18, we saw the ironic and devastating effects of Israel’s rejection of the one true God: “There was no king in Israel, and everyone did right in their own eyes.” The fruit: relational manipulation, deceit, generational sin, the perversion of the priesth...

Samson’s story captured our attention with daring exploits, romantic betrayal, and a last-minute plot twist. It’s clear, however, that Samson is not the hero of the tale. He walked contrary to God’s ways and took God’s gifts for granted. His life offers warnings about the dangers of compromise and presuming on the Lord’s kindness. Our covenant-keeping God is the real hero of Samson’s story. God st...

In Samson’s life, we saw the glorious character of God revealed. When Israel was unfaithful, God remained a covenant-keeper. He disciplined Israel and sent the help they didn’t ask for. When Manoah’s vision was small, God revealed himself as "too wonderful." He accepted their offering and promised a baby boy. When Samson wanted to marry a Philistine, God’s plans were not thwarted. He used Samson t...

Jephthah’s story is both triumph and tragedy. The author of Judges recounts Jephthah’s life in such a way that his “victory is swallowed up in death.” But Jephthah’s story is just prologue to the best story. His life illustrates the inability of all other saviors to deliver us from our worst enemy.  He prepares us for another judge who will rise to deliver his people. Like Jephthah, this judge wil...

Four takeaway truths we glean from this passage about Abimelech: 1. Abimelech’s dark chapter in Israel’s history harbors this lovely truth about God: that he is loyal to his own beyond death.  2. Abimelech’s story illustrates how deeply God cares about the unity of his people. 3. Abimelech’s life warns us of the internal danger of sin.  4. Abimelech prepares us for the incomparable Jesus.

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...