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In our next-to-last time in James together, we are presented with powerful reminders about prayer, especially in suffering and struggles. Both prayer and praise prompt us to ask: what if coming to God is not escape, but rather a means of walking with and experiencing Him in trials? Whatever is happening in your life, connecting with God is the right response. Power in prayer here is ultimately not attributed to the person who prays but to the prayer of faith itself, brought before God in belief and dependence as we draw near to Him. And with other believers, confession and prayer for one another do indeed have a purpose and power of collective healing, making us whole before God and cultivating sympathetic intercession. Connecting with God in prayer and confession establishes a right rhythm of response in an ever-revolving world. Sermon Notes

Continuing our time in James, we receive an important urging to have meaningful mouths. Words are not harmless; they carry consequences as serious as life and death. Reflecting Jesus' teaching, James here reminds us that followers of Jesus do not need extra oaths or promise to confirm their truthfulness in common conversations, and this reminder extends to issues like rash words and profanity. We shouldn't need an oath to be honest, and our everyday speech should already be trustworthy. We need to remember that repetitious oaths to emphasize truthfulness devalues truth, that careless oaths sworn in God's name may profane God's name, and that truth that must be reinforced by an oath in common life reveals an compromised character. Words matter, your words matter, and your word as well. How we communicate with people reflect how we communicate with God, so we should consider what the best use of our words is for eternal purposes. Sermon Notes

On the first Easter day, when Jesus rose from the dead, the Savior of the world appeared unexpectedly like a surprise celebrity, though His reception was much more mundane, much more ordinary, than celebrities today. Jesus's resurrection seems like a whirlwind of appearances, and from these appearances emerge three narratives: God's story is joyfully victorious, the world's story is a response of denial and resistance, and the disciples' story is a response choked by grief and unbelief. Our joy now should be greater today because Jesus has stepped into our own lives, just like when He emerged from that tomb in triumph. And He doesn't leave us but now abides us as we abide in Him! Are we moved by Jesus' kindness in stepping into our world and staying with us? Are we stunned by His generosity, His mercy, His joy in meeting us where we are? Are we telling people about Jesus' appearance to us? Sermon Notes

On this Good Friday, we remember and reflect on His body, given for you, and His blood, poured out for you, reading Mark 15:1-39 with this understanding. Good Friday is for us, because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us on this dark day. In this way is His love for us displayed. His cross was for us. His nails were for us. His death was for us. They were intended for us, and yet He took them for us. The light of the world has come into our brokenness and sinfulness, but on Good Friday that light seemed to be snuffed out. But there is unbelievably Good News, because Sunday is coming, and Jesus is coming...for you. Sermon Notes

Celebrating Palm Sunday, we read John 12:12-19 and learn that, even as Jesus was receiving seemingly sincere praise, there were whispers of murder in the air that would within a week grow into shouts of "Crucify him!" There are many examples from across Scripture of the fear of man holding back people from sincere praise, just as we see on Palm Sunday. We also learned about the reasons Jesus set out on this mission to enter Jerusalem, setting His sights on this city to serve as the willing sacrifice He had predicted He would be several times, a necessary and holy substitute. He alone had the power and authority to save us, not by force, but by a life of loving teaching and service, so that He could authoritatively declare on the cross: "It is finished!" Palm Sunday was the beginning of the end, the defeat of death and sin, as well as the beginning of the ending, the victorious conclusion God had composed for His creation and His people. The message of Jesus and the cross that He already had His sights set on during Palm Sunday was free forgiveness. Perhaps as we look toward Easter, we don't understand all that Jesus is doing, just like His disciples on Palm Sunday, but we are instead attracted by the fanfare, the excitement, the success, the numbers? Do we understand well who Jesus and what His mission is (and that His mission is OUR mission as well)? Sermon Notes

With guest speaker Charles Wilson from the Hill Church, we continue our series in James by looking at James 5:7-11. In these verses, James urges us to be patient and endure, and he offers us three images of endurance. The first is that of a farmer, actively waiting and watching for the Lord's work at the right time. The second is that of the prophets, proclaiming the Lord's word at a great cost. The third is that of Job, sitting in suffering but knowing his Redeemer lives. Our Redeemer likewise lives, and because of this our lives our redeemed strengthen our hearts and bear with one another in love, knowing that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

We continue our series in James by looking at James 5:1-6, where James confronts the pitfall of being mastered by the wealth as a spiritual snare. When wealth possesses us and we have irresponsible attitudes toward stewardship, the sin that comes out of this snare becomes progressively more severe. These verses caution those tempt to imitate sinful stewardship and comfort those oppressed by such stewards. Sinful stewardship hoards wealth, gains it deceitfully, is self-indulgent with it, and distorts our hearts. We need more than just new financial principles—we need new hearts. You will not be free from the mastery of wealth and be able to give generously until you truly understand and receive the One who willingly laid His life down and became poor to make you rich. Sermon Notes

We continue our series in James by looking at James 4:13–17, where James confronts the pride and presumption that often shape the way we plan our lives. Many people carefully plan their schedules, goals, and futures as if they are fully in control, but James reminds us that we do not even know what tomorrow will bring and that our lives are like a vapor that appears briefly and then vanishes. Instead of confidently declaring what we will accomplish, James calls us to approach our plans with humility, recognizing God’s sovereignty and saying in our hearts, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” The issue is not planning itself, but planning that leaves God out and assumes control over the future. James also warns that it is not enough simply to avoid wrong actions, knowing the good we ought to do and failing to do it is also sin. As followers of Christ, our plans should be shaped by humility, dependence on God, and a desire to seek His kingdom first, trusting Him to guide our steps. Sermon Notes

We continue our series in James to learn from James 4:11-12, James calls us not criticize and condemn, and how acting in this way relates to the law. The heart issues here seem to be the underlying issue behind the conflict addressed in this letter last week. The criticism James talks about here includes willful false accusations, exaggerations of faults that are real, needless repetition of real faults, and slander. When we do any of these, we are actually trying to judge the law ourselves, setting ourselves up as judges, and putting ourselves in God's place. Don’t criticize each other. Instead, let’s humbly serve Christ together. We will confront sin when we need to, but may our default posture be to support, encourage, and challenge each other to grow. Sermon notes

We continue our series in James to learn from James 4:7-10, in which James in several short sentences approaches sin remediation with a series of strong exhortations, urging us to submit and draw near to God, resist the devil, cleanse our hearts and purify our hands, turn our laughter to mourning, and humble ourselves before the Lord. Purity of heart is to will one thing, and so submission to God is not partial. We know that what you feed grows; we should, in the famous words of John Owen, be killing sin or it will be killing us. It can destroy our lives and change the way we see the world. This is the double-minded danger, and the answer is to humbly come to God, knowing the sorrowful weight of our sin but all the more knowing that with God there is grace upon grace. Sermon notes

In our final Renewal Service from 2026, we hear how God drew David Keele to himself, how God worked in Carri Drake's life through challenging times, and what God has been teaching Kate Hines as she walks with him. In our final message for this renewal series, Jeff took us to God's commands for Israel when they went to war to challenge us to find spiritual renewal by joining God in the battle against sin in our lives and the spiritual darkness in the world around us.

In our second Renewal Service for 2026, we hear about how God took Lydia Ilardo from a place of chasing after sin to a place of finding her peace in Christ. After her story, Don Hines shares how God helped him see that he was beloved despite growing up in a broken home. Finally, Pastor Matthew Kirkland from Crosslink Community Church urges us to renew our personal commitment to sharing the gospel with those around us.

In our first Renewal Service of 2026, Nathan Cook shares his story of how God saved and changed him. After that, Jeff Noble takes us to 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles to challenge us to embrace repentance as a dear friend that opens the door to fellowship and blessing with God.

We resume our series in James to learn from James 4:1-6, where James calls God's people to redirect their passions away from destructive desires. Instead, he urges us to remember that the Holy Spirit of God is jealous for us and allows us to have a passion not focused on ourselves but on Him who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. It's helpful to remember that God created pleasure and promises us pleasures forever as we seek them properly in Him. We cannot find true pleasure by being friends of the world–by aligning ourselves with the ways of the world that are opposed to God. Instead, we can receive abundant pleasure in the fullness of God's grace upon grace. There is always more to follow of His grace, more of His goodness that He so richly lavishes upon us as we daily seek Him and His pleasure. Sermon notes

In our annual State of the Church Sunday, we celebrated God's faithfulness through the story of Northstar and how He has used us for His Kingdom and Glory. Grounded in Colossians 1:28, we looked at how, throughout all the ups, downs, and unexpected turns in our history, God has allowed us to teach with wisdom so that students, families, and so many others across the New River Valley could be seen to be mature in Christ, never losing sight of "being the church." Looking ahead to 2026, we will remain rooted in the purpose statement we introduced last year: "Be the church by making disciples of Jesus who model love, humility, obedience, using our influence to share the gospel." This year, as we've now looked at our story as a church, we're encouraging and equipping every one of our members to be able to joyfully and confidently share their own stories. We want to be in God's Word weekly and daily, bringing our Bibles to church and reading the Scriptures each day. Sermon notes