On September 15, 2019 North Village Church is celebrating TEN YEARS as a church family! We are so excited. Here’s a snapshot of the last TEN YEARS:
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Why did we start North Village Church? (John 17:13-21)
I remember when the God of Scripture started to put the desire in my heart to start a new church in Austin. We didn’t have a name, we didn’t have a geographical focus, we didn’t have a meeting space, and we didn’t have people.
It was just an idea that Jesus put in my head, “What if men, women, and children could find their greatest joy in Jesus, and then live out their lives in such a way (full of character, joy, confidence, quality of life) that the people around us would want to know Jesus.” That was the initial idea.
How to build up treasure in heaven, “Matthew 6:19-21”
Matthew 6:19, “19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”
Did you know we are all living in kingdoms? This is a little abstract, but right now we are all living in our personal kingdoms. We all have our own castles we call our homes; we have our own armies we call our bank accounts, right, make us feel strong; we have our own allies we call our friends, and we have our own “dragons” we call our careers, and today we are all living in our own personal kingdom.
Limitless Compassion, “Jonah 3:1-10”
Jonah 3:1, “1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,”
- Isn’t that good news, “The word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time?” Sometimes our culture today will tell us that the God of Scripture in the Old Testament is cruel, blood thirsty, vengeful, but in the life of Jonah we see the God of Scripture is full of limitless compassion, and the “word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.”
Jonah 3:2, “2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”
Limitless Compassion, “Jonah 2:1-10”
In Jonah 1 we see the God of Scripture call Jonah to extend biblical compassion to the people of Nineveh, and Jonah runs in the opposite direction. Jonah ends up on a ship heading to Tarshish, and the God of Scripture hurls a great wind and a great storm to draw Jonah back to Himself.
But, instead of Jonah responding to the God of Scripture in repentance, awe, and obedience, we actually see the sailors responding in repentance, awe and obedience. What!
Limitless Compassion, “Jonah 1:11-16”
Jonah 1:10-11, “10 the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.”
- In verses 10-11 the focus of the story pivots toward the sailors on the ship in the storm, and we need to remember the chaos of the storm.I f you look back to verse 4 we see the ship is falling apart in the storm. In verse 5 the sailors are afraid, throwing cargo overboard, and in verse 8 the sailors ask Jonah, “Why is this happening?”
- In verse 9, “Jonah says, ‘Because I am fleeing from the presence of the Lord.’” So that in verse 10 the sailors say, “How could you do this?” Do you see the progression?
Now, you need to know these sailors do not know the God of Scripture. They are worshipping rocks, clouds, statues, and animals, and all they have as a reference to the God of Scripture is Jonah’s profession of faith in verse 9, “I am Hebrew, I fear the God of heaven who made the sea and the land” and still these sailors know “fleeing from the presence of the Lord” is a bad idea.
Limitless Compassion, “Jonah 1:1-10”
Jonah 1:1, “1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying”
- In verse 1 we see the name “Jonah” and the name Jonah means “dove, a messenger of peace.”
- We don’t know a ton about Jonah, but Jonah would have been raised just like every other Israelite in history, which is to be a blessing to others. Did you know this about Israel?
- Abraham in Genesis is established to be a blessing to all the nations. Moses is raised up for Israel to be a blessing to all the nations. David is set apart to lead Israel to be a blessing to all the nations, so that Israel is established to be like a mirror that reflects the glory of God to the nations, so that the nations of the world might see Israel, see the beauty of Israel, and that it would peak their curiosity about the God of Scripture.
