What's goin' on at NorthStar?

Have you ever had those times in your life when you just weren't sure what was going on? It's like you know "something's up" but you're just not sure what it is? That's what life is like right now at NorthStar. To better illustrate what I mean I'll reference one of the greatest trilogies of all time. Did you ever see X-Men 2 (I really like those guys)? If so, (Movie spoiler coming up) do you remember when at the end of the movie, the dam was about to break? At first the warning siren was going off, then small little cracks began to form in the dam wall. Then before you knew it, little streams of water where shooting out... then BAM... the whole thing busted and flooded everything! That's what I'm talking about. A flood. I feel like NorthStar is on the edge of a flood. I think we are starting to hear the siren. I'm not the only who feels this way either. It's kinda the buzz around the office. There are warning signs everywhere. All of the various ministries are experiencing tremendous growth, both spiritual and numerical.

So what can we do to prepare for this flood? I think a great scripture passage to live by right now is Psalm 24: 3-6; "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive a blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior."

There are three things that I feel this verse is saying to us:

1. We need to keep our hearts and our hands pure. With God doing such an incredible work in people's lives, the enemy would have no greater pleasure than for us slip up.
2. If we desire to "stand in His Holy place", we have to save ourselves for Him. Lifting up your soul to an idol means that something has replaced the "Lordship" of God in our lives, allowing our worship and devotion to be placed on something else.
3. We need to keep our mouths shut! Not in worship, just when it comes to saying things that don't build up the body or glorify the Lord. Words can slip out fast, but can hurt so deeply. We need to allow our words to provide encouragement and blessings for people.

These are the qualifications we have for receiving a blessing from the Lord. Let's make sure we work hard to keep our hands clean, eyes focused and our mouths shut and then sit back and watch God transform our community!

Love you all,

Daniel