NorthStar Church Blog

Planet NorthStar Mini Golf
Join us for some crazy fun on Saturday, July 26th from 10a.m.- noon at Clifton Park Golf located on Route 9. The cost is $10 per person, which includes Mini Golf, Batting Cages and Water Wars. Parents welcome! Sign up + cost is due Sunday, July 20th. Please email dan@northstarchurch.com for more information.

NorthStar Ladies Luau
Are you ready for some summer fun? Then hula on over to the Mostoller’s (67 Skylark Dr. Ballson Spa) on Saturday July 26 at 5:00 p.m. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. If the weather isn’t cooperating, the event will be rescheduled so contact Teri at teriberi@nycap.rr.com if you have questions.

What did you want to be when you grew up? You can spend your life, waste your life or invest your life. Investing your life means leaving a legacy and using your life as Jesus meant for you to. What do you want to be remembered for? People mostly want to leave behind a legacy that will be remembered long after they’re gone. Oftentimes they try to do this through their children. One of the greatest ironies of life is that success doesn’t mean people will remember that you were here. What guarantees that you and I will be remembered when we’re gone? Three things that will last: Faith, Hope and Love. Love is what makes the most difference. If we miss this purpose of life, we miss the very purpose as to why we were created. Here are three simple truths that will turn your life into a life of action.

1. The best use of life is love. Love should be number one. It’s the most important thing and deserves all your attention. Before you have the right words, the right beliefs, the right actions, you must have love. Christianity is a way of life, not just a set of beliefs. These beliefs have to impact every single aspect of our lives – with our neighbors, our children, out spouses, our work. Every relationship must be reformed by love. Each morning before you get out of bed, say this prayer, “God, If I get nothing else done today, help me to love you and help me to love others.” God says that’s the best use of our lives – to love Him and to love each other.

2. Best expression of love is time. Wasting time is killing a part of your life. What your family really needs is quality focused time with you. Your family doesn’t need more stuff, it needs more time. Once work is finished, turn the page and plan how you’re going to give each person some quality time. If you don’t plan your life, you’ll default to TV. Turn off the TV, turn off the computer, cell phone, etc and spend quality time with those that Christ has placed in your life.

3. The best time to love is now. You don’t know how much time you have left with others. Anytime we choose other activities over spending time with our loved ones, we’re making the wrong choice. You don’t have to have it all figured out but you need to decide what you’re going to invest your time in. Two questions God will ask at the end of your life when you stand before Him are:

1. Did you make Jesus the manager of your life?
2. What did you do with your time, money and resources?

Live a life filled with love for others. Remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was because he loved us. Accept God’s love by starting a relationship with Jesus today. Be part of starting a reformation of Love in Action. Give 15 minutes of focused attention to each member of my family – everyday. Think about how I can enjoy each person in my family while on my way home. Practice Love in Action by participating in a community service project.

Some values are specific to us. There are other values that we rank in order. What are God’s values? What are important in order of rank to God? Before Jesus, there were over 613 written laws that followers of God had to keep track of. In addition, there were over 1000 rules that people had to follow in order to love and follow God. When Jesus came, He was asked what was the single most important rule to follow. “Jesus answered, “The most important commandment is this…’Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” The second commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” There are no commands more important than these.’”-Mark 12:29-31 (NCV) People will know you are a follower of Christ by the love you show each other. We use the word love to describe a lot of things – to describe material things that we like, to describe our relationships and to describe our faith. In Jesus’s time, he only had four terms to choose from:

Philia: Friendship Love
Storge: Family Type Love
Eros: Egotistical selfish Love
Agape: Unconditional Love

Jesus chose Agape to describe the love we are to show our fellow man because it’s the highest type of love you can give.

What love is NOT:

1) Love isn’t a feeling. It can produce feelings in us. It can make us joyful or angry (if someone hurts those we love). God could never command us to have a feeling.

2) Love isn’t uncontrollable. It’s not accidental. There’s a choice. If you have no control over it when it comes to you, you have no control over when it leaves.

3) Love isn’t just being nice. It’s not keeping silent just to keep the peace. Sometimes love creates friction (on purpose). Give loving discipline. God is not optional. Love speaks up even when it’s not the nicest thing to say. Love isn’t flattery. Flattery is not done for love but rather it’s done because the person is trying to deflect and cover up misdeeds. Love doesn’t enjoy giving the honesty necessary for growth – like giving a different perspective.

Giving in a loving way is love. Give each other grace and space. The assumption is that we’re all trying to move forward and be more like Christ. Love also is this idea of saying tough things as well.

What love IS:

1) 1Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV). Love is a choice. It’s a command from God. Pursue love. Make a choice to go after it with all your heart and soul. Some people are easy to love but others are very hard to love. Love is a choice that we make every single day. Love is easy when you’re on your honeymoon, when you’re flush with cash and everything is rosy. But love isn’t so easy when you’re broke, unemployed and struggling every day. It’s easy to love those that love us. That doesn’t help us grow. Those that help us grow are the ones most difficult to love. They grow our grace and character.

2) Love is an action. Stop talking about loving people so much and just do it. Really love and show it through your actions. Make a choice to grow in your love. Even though we have great intentions, we focus on our to do lists and not on what really matters. Take a moment to hug a child, listen when necessary. Take the first small step to mend broken relationships. Ask God for His help. Every time you’re faced with a choice, choose to take the step towards love and not away from it.

Accept God’s love by starting a relationship with Jesus today. Focus on relationships instead of achievements. Let love and faith start with you, in your home. Practice Love in Action by participating in three community service projects.

What’s the greatest commandment? Love thy Father. Jesus tells us that this is how people know we are followers of Christ – by the love we show to others. What does it look like to be the church God wants us to be? Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve. This theme of a church being based on love and service is woven throughout the Bible. We’re created to do good works. Pastors are supposed to command their congregation to do good. If you don’t do good deeds and move God’s kingdom forward, you are going to lead unproductive lives. Focus outward towards the non-members and see where you can be of service. Do we exist for ourselves or do we exist for those people who have yet to know Jesus Christ? If communities aren’t getter better because the church is there, something is wrong. Church is like manure…pile it up in one place and it does no good other than to smell up the world but spread it around and it fertilizes and helps things grow. Jesus changed the golden rule from a negative to a positive. Instead of “Don’t do bad things to your neighbors”, Jesus told us “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Your good works alone can’t earn your way to heaven. Jesus died on the cross for our salvation. Our good works show our changed heart from before we knew Jesus to after knowing and accepting Jesus as manager of our lives. Love in action means using whatever talents and natural gifts that God has given to you to help others. Good works means being a good neighbor and helping the less fortunate. Both of those things are vital. That’s where reformation of character comes in. The followers of Jesus Christ have a problem with credibility. The message we give is compelling. It’s the messenger that needs to be worked on. Smugness with no wisdom, no humility and no charity is not what Christianity is all about. We’re supposed to change people’s perception of what it is to be a Christ follower.

Commit your life to Jesus Christ and become a Christ follower today. Get involved with three Summer of Love in Action projects. Do you part to practice love in action to those around you.

Got a tip that may help someone? Submit your ideas to Pam Wang at awang3@nycap.rr.com

Bible Verse: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”-Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Diet/Exercise Tip: Fill up first on soups and salads—and eat fewer calories later: Filling up on fiber- and water-rich foods first can help prevent you from overdoing high-calorie fare later. Research out of Penn State shows that eating a first-course salad can reduce overall calorie intake at a meal by up to 12 percent. And in a study in Appetite last November, people who started lunch with vegetable soup ended up eating 20 percent less than those who skipped the soup. – www.eatingwell.com

Protect the Environment: Wait for the storm to pass. Don’t fertilize before a rain storm. Your fertilizer – along with your money – washes down storm drains and can pollute rivers and bays. Compost it. When properly composted, kitchen wastes can become natural soil additives for lawns, gardens, and even house plants. Allow grass clippings to stay on the lawn, instead of bagging them. The cut grass will decompose and return to the soil naturally. – www.epa.gov

Life Tip: Patience is the companion of wisdom. – Saint Augustine

In less than one week another little angel has joined our NorthStar family! Beautiful Caroline Ava Tanner was born on Monday, June 30 at a weight of 7lbs 11oz and 21 inches long. She has big blue eyes and light brown hair. Caroline and Mommy are home from the hospital and are doing well. First time parents Joe and Aubrey are proud as can be and describe Caroline as “a happy little baby.”

Congratulations to the Tanners!