Northgate Christian Community

Chris Sullivan comes to us with a word about a woman at a well (John 4). In this overfamiliar story we will unpack some of its true meaning hidden beneath the layers of its familiarity. At the end of the day Chris encourages us to stay curious and to be reminded that Jesus is already doing the hard work on our behalf and is inviting us to co-labor with Him to build His kingdom.

Join us as Jon shares an exciting message on how to build and maintain a friendship with God. 

Chris Parker

Jon Hasselbeck Baby Dedication Sunday

Chris Parker

Join us as Jon and Yolande share from the Lord's Prayer/Disciple's Prayer. 

ROY 

Jon Hasselbeck

Chris Parker

Jon Hasselbeck with Nia Bates of FCA

Yolande Hasselbeck

Jon Hasselbeck What is faith? Why is faith the avenue through which we encounter God? Why are we asked to believe in someone we can’t see? These questions were the focus of Jon’s message. To work through these questions, Pr. Jon looked to the examples of faith in Matthew 8 from two individuals who were at the margins of Israel’s community: a leper and a Gentile. In the first story, a leper comes to Jesus in a posture of worship and declares, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean” (v. 2), to which Jesus responds by stretching out his hand, touching the leper, and declaring, “I do choose. Be made clean!” (v. 3). It is important to know in this story that leprosy in the first century meant that you were part of a select group of “untouchables.” Lepers were segregated from communal life and were considered unclean by Jewish law. They suffered a lifelong illness and marginalization from the broader society. In this context, the leper goes to Jesus in a posture of worship and has hope and faith in Jesus’ auth

Chris Parker Chris opened his message by referencing Luke 4:16-30. In this verse, he mentioned that the context serves as a manifesto for God’s kingdom. He also tied in his message from the last time he spoke, explaining the hospitality message found in Romans where philoxenia equates to phileo (love) plus xenas (xenas, stranger, other). An example of this was seen recently when Chris was sitting on a bench reading a book. He met a woman who described a situation with police cars with American flags on them and how it was dividing their community. He then explained how our society tends to take small things and turn them into big divisive issues. We have a tendency to align ourselves with those who agree with us, and separate ourselves from those who disagree with us. Put in Chris’ words: “It’s easy to love the “me’s”, it’s harder to love the “thems”. Chris also mentioned that unity (the oneness that we have an innate desire to seek) isn’t about agreeing on everything, it’s more about agreeing on the source

Jon Hasselbeck Jon spoke on the story of Lazarus’ resurrection. When Jesus heard Lazarus was dying, he waited to travel to him, despite the fact that Mary and Martha loved him greatly. Jesus had a reason for this and knew that there was greater glory for God in Lazarus’ resurrection rather than in his healing. Jon pointed out that even though we may feel that God is not acting when we ask for healing or guidance, He isdoing something \greater than what we had planned. Mary felt like Jesus wasn’t present when her brother was sick. Jesus told her that Lazarus will live again, but Mary believed he was giving the standard comforting saying Jews said when someone died. So, she gives the proper response that she knows Lazarus will rise on the last day during the resurrection. Jesus then reveals that He is the resurrection and the life. He has come not just to save Israel and the world, but to remake it and give it new life. Jon then talked about the four “RE’s”. 1. Redeemed 2. Reconciled 3. Restored 4. Resurrected

Northgate Christian Community

Roy Van Der Westhuizen Roy talked to us about the Cross. As he said it wasn’t an eloquent message or one of great detail, but a simple reminder that Jesus paid for our sins. Acknowledging that simple truth is good enough; even when we don’t find ourselves “feeling it.” Roy started by taking a look at what we have discovered about the world. We find that there are rules or laws governing different aspects of our universe all around us. One such rule is the law of gravity. Roy linked this to the idea that there are also spiritual laws. One such law is that sin needed to be paid for. We see this all throughout the Bible. The Lamb of God, as Jesus is often referred to, is a reference to the sacrifices made for sin by the shedding of the blood of a lamb as commanded in the law. In Romans, Paul states that the law can’t save us it can only point to our falling short of those ideals in the law. How then does God save us? Jesus steps in our place and takes on our penalty or our debt through the work of the cross.

Chris preached on the topic of hospitality during this week’s message, focusing on Romans 12:9-21. He mentioned that hospitality involves an “us for them” mentality. This opposes an “us vs. them” mentality, which is often portrayed on the news and through various social media outlets. Throughout history, Christianity has been expressed through cultures, or flavors, as Chris explained with an example of different ice cream flavors. Whenever there are differences among us, we tend to form tribes; a concept better known as tribalism. This is the quintessential picture of the “us vs. them” mentality. As a society, we tend to look at whatever divides us and we group people accordingly. One of the many beautiful works of the resurrection is that it created a new humanity; effectively eliminating the “us vs. them” mentality and replacing it with an “us for them” mentality. Chris also explained that the Greek word for hospitality is “philoxenia” which, translated to English, means love for strangers, others, or forei

Jon Hasselbeck

Roy Van Der Westhuizen

Jon Hasselbeck