On April 23, 2016 North Village Church is going to set aside a Saturday to strengthen our marriages, and you are invited!  We are inviting all of our friends in Austin, TX to take advantage of this opportunity.

North Village Church will provide childcare, lunch, and facilitators to walk through practical lessons on how we can strengthen our marriages, and it will all come from the relational data we provide.  What a great opportunity!  Here’s what you need to do:

• Sign Up by April 1st:  http://www.northvillagechurch.com/prepare-and-enrich-group-session-hosted-by-north-village-church/
• Take the relational survey by April 9th. (We will send you the link when you sign up.)
• Pay Prepare and Enrich $35 to take the survey.
• Show up on April 23!

Psalm 1:1-2, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! ² But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

In verse 2 you see Scripture calling us to “meditate on Scripture day and night.”  To be clear:  When you see the word “meditation” it isn’t Eastern Meditation that we see in our culture today that largely encourages you to remove all thoughts and center your soul on nothingness.

It is biblical meditation so that you are sifting God’s Word through your soul.  Here are a few observations of what it looks like practically to meditate on Scripture:

1. Reading Scripture:  We must begin with Scripture, and we must expose our heart to all of Scripture as the authority over our life.
2. Regular:  It says “day and night” because meditating on Scripture is a regular part of our day that we build into our lives.  You will get the most out of meditating on Scripture when it is a regular habit.
3. Reflection:  Meditating on Scripture will shape the content of our prayers, therefore, we have to not only read Scripture, but get below the surface to ask questions about how that truth applies to our life.
4. Repetitive:  It is to look at the verse over and over and over.  Most will illustrate a cow chewing on grass over and over, and studies show a cow can chew on grass up to 890 times in an hour.  But, I think a better illustration is to think about how we interact with songs.

Song Illustration:  We don’t listen to a song and then put it up until we are ready to listen again in a year or two.  We listen over and over.  We put the song on repeat.  We study the lyrics.  We study the author of those lyrics to better understand why she would write those lyrics.  We memorize the song.  We watch the video.  We go to the concert.  We tell our friends.  We talk to our friends about the song.

And, we do all of that without even trying.  Why not do that with God’s Word!

In January we invited 82 adults to set aside 6 hours on a Saturday to sharpen the axe of their life (Ecc. 10:10).  It was great!

Our Yearly Retreat is off like a rocket.  We planned for 60 adults and have 77 adults signed up so we are having to close off registration.

Our next Spiritual Challenge of 2016 is our Theological Training.  We like to think of this process like working out physically, and instead working out spiritually.  Haven’t you noticed all these groups of people working out together in a running class, spinning class, yoga class, and they are everywhere.  Why not work out spiritually!

Why do we try to grow spiritually as individuals.  We learn in groups, we hang out in groups, but we try to keep our spiritual life private and end up struggling.

That is why we launched Theological Training.  You read a Christ centered book with a group of people, write a 1-page paper, and meet once a month with a group of people to discuss.  Here’s a quick recap:

It is the beginning of a new year and during this time of the year we typically begin reflecting on our life and making goals.  Goals can be helpful, but I have found it is better to take time and draw out our personal values.

Every company has values, so why not think of your personal life or family as an entreprenurial start up and put your values down on paper.  You are already living by those values technically.  It is how we make decisions.  So why not take the time to put those values down on paper.

Below is a little video to help describe our Yearly Retreat:

How do we respond to trials with wisdom?  James 1:1-8 is a great resource that teaches how to walk through life with wisdom:

1. Jesus is Lord:  In verse 1 James refers to Jesus as Lord.  This is significant because James grew up with Jesus as His younger brother.  Could you imagine calling your older brother Lord?  James did, and it is critical to see Jesus not only as your Savior, but as your Lord when you go through trials.
2. When / Not If:  In verse 2 we see trials are going to come.  I know our culture teaches us to expect life to be easy, but God makes it really clear trials are going to come.  They might be situational trials like a car accident, status trials like not getting married, or sin trials like ignoring God, but trials are going to come.
3. Consider:  In verse 2 we are taught to Consider our trials.  Specifically, as we go through trials we would consider how we see ourselves, others, and God.  Does it line up with Scripture?  Is there deception from the enemy?  Are we in relationship with others for godly counsel?
4. Persevere:  In verses 3-4 God is teaching us to stand firm in our trials.  The purpose of our trials are an extension of God’s grace to help us mature and stand firm in Him.  Really.  It is His grace that allows trials.  It is why He must be our Lord.  It is why we must consider our trials, and it is why we can consider it all joy.
5. Ask for Help:  In verses 5-8 God teaches us to ask for wisdom.  We can’t walk through wisdom with Him.  He is the embodiment of wisdom.  He is good.  He wants us to mature in Him, consider; rightly see Him, ourselves, and others, and for that to happen we need His wisdom.

God knows you are running to illusions that will let you down. He knows you are hoping in idols that are frail. He knows you are placing your foot on shifting sand, so that these trials are an extension of His grace so that we might find our footing in Him.

Matthew 6:19-21, “19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Treasures On Earth Are Powerful:  Verses 19-20

• Earthly treasures are DISORIENTING.  How do you know when you have enough? It isn’t wicked to get a house, get a car, get a cup of coffee, but how do you know when you have enough?  How do you know when you are being greedy? How do you know when you are being wise with money?  How do you know when you are being generous? How do you know the difference between storing up treasures on earth, and being wise to save for the day you are older? How do you know?
• Earthly treasures are DISRUPTIVE.  You will change jobs, changes houses, change cities because you will convince yourself that you need more earthly treasures.
• Earthly treasures will breed DISCONTENT.  How many times have you been going through life, feeling okay about yourself, and then you go to someone’s house and you see their television, house, car, pictures, and you think to yourself, “What have I been doing with my life?” You immediately feel horrible about yourself.  10-minutes ago you felt great, you thought about going to your high school reunion, but now you are in such a place of despair you can’t imagine getting out of bed.
• Earthly treasures are DECEPTIVE.  When you get them they promise they are going to make everything better, and they never last. Pretty soon they end up on Craigslist with every other earthly treasure, and on the hunt for a new earthly treasure.

Do you know the greatest treasure we could ever imagine?  He is the visible of the invisible God. He is Lord over all. He is the second person of the trinity. He is eternally connected to the Father and the Spirit, and yet He lays all of His heavenly treasure aside to come and take on flesh.  His name is Jesus.

He was born in a manger. He born into poverty. He was despised and rejected, He was stripped naked of all His earthly possessions, and spiritually stripped from the Father and the Spirit when He willingly lays down His life at the cross, and He went through all of it for you.

While you were yet sinners, while you were yet enemies storing up treasures on earth and He completely gives His life for you because He is deeply committed to you.

He’s is the only One that will last, and He invites you to turn to Him and find the greatest treasure you could ever imagine.

Ephesians 3:2-3, “2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.”

In verses 2-3 the Apostle Paul is going to refer to our relationship with God as a “Mystery.” Now when we hear the word “Mystery” it sounds like we are watching one of those mystery shows on Dateline.

The whole time you are trying to figure out the motive, murderer, the mystery, but in verse 3 when you see the word “Mystery” in the original language it isn’t about discovering the answer on your own, but that the mystery is so mysterious that God must reveal Himself and make Himself known.

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John 13:1, “1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

This means the cross is coming, and Jesus is wanting to take these last few moments to press into His closest friends about the most important things.

It is as if He is saying, “You have heard Me teach, you have seen miraculous healings, you have seen crowds gathered, but Jesus wants to make sure they are focused on the most important things. Look at verse 2:

John 13:2, “2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,”

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Ecclesiastes:10:10, “If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.”

We all see areas where we need to grow, or areas where we are deficient, but we don’t know how to improve those areas. A “Yearly Planning Retreat” is to help you with the, “How?”

In John 5, Jesus explains that He knew exactly what He came to do and He was working toward that end.  We all know it is important to work, but we end up working IN our life instead of ON our life. We end up spending our week working really hard on mowing the yard, making dinner, cleaning clothes, but we don’t take time to work on our life where we reflect, pray, and plan.

This retreat is going to be vital to help us thrive in this new life we have been given in Jesus.  Ecclesiastes 10:10 says, “If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength.” Therefore, we want to use this time to “sharpen our edges” so that we can enjoy the full life we have been freely given in Jesus.

My hope and prayer is that the power of God would resonate in our hearts so that we all might have a vision for our life that brings great joy to our soul and greater glory to our Savior!

Sign Up:  Click Here

Our heritage at North Village Church is connected to a vision to saturate Greater Austin with local churches that exist to see every man, woman, and child have an opportunity to experience the life transforming power through faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Our hope is that in our life time we will see the spiritual landscape of Greater Austin transformed by the gospel so that more of our gifts and talents are being directed toward His glory.

But, many will ask, “Why start so many churches in one area?”  It is because many times new churches are simply taking people from other churches.  It doesn’t really expand the kingdom, but more so shuffles the chairs.  Therefore, these new churches are deeply dependent on God’s power to ignite new life in the people of greater Austin, and by God’s grace we will see new churches coming out of those communities.

On Sunday morning we watch our musicians stand up here, play songs, and they make it look so easy.  Sometimes I watch them play and I get so jealous.  I wish I could just walk up here and play an instrument like they play an instrument, but it’s not like they started playing that instrument this morning at 10am. It is has been worked into their life over and over.

They started practicing this morning at 9am to make last minute tweaks. Then, they had practice on Tuesday evening to practice playing the song together. There is also the prep work Luke sends out weeks in advance over charts, chords, and lyrics.

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In May 2014 we challenged our church family to make a pledge over 18-months and give $30,000 to start a new church in Greater Austin.  By August 2014, (Less than 3-months) the North Village Church family has already given (In hand) over $27,000.  Isn’t that amazing!

Right now, we are partnering with 5 other local churches who have committed a combined total of $170,000 to starting this new church.  We are currently interviewing potential church planters so that we can see a new church birthed in our city by August 2016.

All for Jesus!

Sometimes I see people walking through tension in life and they feel blind-sided. They see sin being exposed in their life, and their first thought is, “What is wrong in my life?”  They start to feel distant from God, and they start pushing God away.

Sometimes we push God away physically by pulling away from Sunday morning, groups, prayer, friends, and sometimes we push God away metaphorically by putting up a wall that says, “You can’t touch this part of my life.”

But, you need to know if you want to walk in a growing, vibrant, non-religious relationship with Jesus there is going to be a trajectory of tension so that you can experience the greatest life He has to offer. Look at John 7:6-8 to see why:

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