Top Ten - April 4
1. Costa Rica Breakfast – On April 13 from 9:00-10:30 our Costa Rica mission trip participants will be hosting a traditional Costa Rican Breakfast of Gallo Pinto, along with pancakes and some of the world's best Costa Rican coffee. Ample seating will be available in our gym at the South Campus for you to relax and savor breakfast while learning more about this trip. For those with limited time, we'll provide to-go containers.
To ensure we prepare enough food, we kindly request that you RSVP at https://northgatefmc.churchcenter.com/registrations/events. While breakfast is complimentary, we will be accepting donations to support this Costa Rica Missions trip.
2. Prime Timers – The Prime Timers (50+ group) will meet next Thursday, April 11 for lunch in the café at North. Please bring a dish to pass, including dessert, and come prepared for some good fellowship. Pastor DL will be bringing the program, letting us know how things went at Flower City Work Camp this week and telling us about the youth mission trip to Costa Rica this summer. We get together at noon – hope to see you there!
3. Playground Work – Work on the playground is going really well and we are finally getting to the place where the finish line is in sight! Thank you to everyone who came out during the last work week – over 25 different people helped out! The next work week is April 15-20, from 9-noon. You don’t need to be skilled in construction, just willing to pitch in and follow directions!
4. Thank You for Providing Easter Baskets to Migrant Families – This Easter weekend 30 migrant families in our area enjoyed a wonderful Easter meal thanks to your generosity. This is just one of the ways we let people in our community know that we are aware of them, and that Jesus loves them. Thank you for helping to make that happen!
5. Early Birds Rummage Sale – People have started to ask if the rummage sale is happening this year… and the answer is yes! The dates for the rummage sale that benefits missions work are as follows:
Set up:
For more information contact Linda or Tom Schmidt at 585-615-6501
6. Sight and Sound Trip to See “Daniel” – The details are set for the next Sight and Sound trip, which is planned for Tuesday, July 9th through Thursday, July 11th. Angelique has arranged everything from bus to hotel reservations, show tickets and food. Last year’s group had a wonderful time and we look forward to seeing a terrific show and enjoying one another’s company again this year. If you’d like to be a part of it contact Angelique at angelique@northgatefmc.com. She’d like to have deposits for this trip in as soon as possible.
7. Do You Have Young Children’s Clothing You No Longer Need? – If you have some that would be appropriate for children from 18 months of age to 3T, Courtney Mead, our Toddler Room Coordinator is looking to have some on hand in case a change of clothes is necessary. You can connect with Courtney at Courtney@northgatefmc.com.
8. New Caregivers Group – Warren and Nancy Savage will be leading a new session of the Caregivers group on the first Tuesday night of the month at North. The group will meet at 6:30pm. If you would like more information about it, please contact Angelique at angelique@northgatefmc.com.
9. Flower City Work Camp – Meals – Thank you to everyone who donated food or paper products to help make lunches happen for the Flower City Work Camp. We really appreciate it – your help made it so easy to provide those meals to the kids and their adult mentors!
10. Gather to Pray – Here are some opportunities to pray together at Northgate…
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You Can Count on This – Hebrews 11:30 – By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. (Read Hebrews 11:1-40)
I read this verse this morning and it just hit me hard, in a good way! You probably know the story… it’s found in Joshua 6. The Israelites are beginning to take possession of the Promised Land as God had instructed them to, and God has told them how to bring down the walls of Jericho. It involves a lot of marching! But you can read it for yourself to see what happened.
What struck me this morning when I read verse 30 was the spiritual application of it. The author of Hebrews says it was by faith that the walls of Jericho came down! It wasn’t the marching or the other things that brought down those walls… it was the faith of the marchers!
Now, I think there is a meaningful relationship between those two things. The people had faith (trust, belief, confidence) in what God had told them to do. No doubt some of them weren’t quite sure (“God wants us to march around the city for a week and then the walls will come down? Really?”) but they had enough faith to go ahead and march. Their faith in God drove their behavior, and by their faith, lived out in their behavior and obedience, God brought down those walls.
Here's the application that hit me today. What are the walls you are encountering right now in your life that you want God to bring down. There is a blessing waiting for you, but it’s not available to you at the moment because there is a wall of some kind between you and the blessing. It’s a wall you can’t knock down on your own; you need God’s help to do it. And it’s a wall that might not come down immediately, yet it must come down. Maybe it’s a wall built with bricks of resentment; or jealousy; or lust. Maybe the wall that stands between you and the blessing God wants to give you is made of unresolved conflict in a relationship or hidden sin or neglect of God’s word and worship.
There are many different kinds of walls we may experience, but the common factors are these: they stand in the way of something God wants us to have, and we are powerless to tear them down on our own. We have to go to God and by faith listen to Him and then obey Him. And we have to persevere. Imagine what would have happened to Israel if after day 2 the people had said, “This is silly. All this marching is getting us nowhere.” It took 7 days to get those walls down. In your case it might be 7 weeks or 7 months. Don’t abandon your faith that God wants those walls to come down and is calling on you to continue to trust and believe that, and remain obedient to Him until the victory is yours!
So, again. What are the walls you are facing keeping you from a blessing God wants to give you? Do you believe that God wants to help you bring those walls down? Are you trusting that God will bring down those walls as you persevere in faith? Are you, with God’s help, being obedient to the things He’s asked you to do? Are you doing all this in community? (The Israelites marched as a team, and we need to as well.)
At the end of their week of marching, Joshua (by faith, since the walls hadn’t yet come down) told his army to “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” (Joshua 6:16) My prayer for you is that you will be able to say, as God helps you demolish the walls in your life that need to be demolished, “I am shouting in praise! Because the Lord has given me the victory!”
When you’re not sure what you can count on in the world around you, know this: You can count on God keeping his word. So read what God has to say in scripture! And count on it.
To ensure we prepare enough food, we kindly request that you RSVP at https://northgatefmc.churchcenter.com/registrations/events. While breakfast is complimentary, we will be accepting donations to support this Costa Rica Missions trip.
2. Prime Timers – The Prime Timers (50+ group) will meet next Thursday, April 11 for lunch in the café at North. Please bring a dish to pass, including dessert, and come prepared for some good fellowship. Pastor DL will be bringing the program, letting us know how things went at Flower City Work Camp this week and telling us about the youth mission trip to Costa Rica this summer. We get together at noon – hope to see you there!
3. Playground Work – Work on the playground is going really well and we are finally getting to the place where the finish line is in sight! Thank you to everyone who came out during the last work week – over 25 different people helped out! The next work week is April 15-20, from 9-noon. You don’t need to be skilled in construction, just willing to pitch in and follow directions!
4. Thank You for Providing Easter Baskets to Migrant Families – This Easter weekend 30 migrant families in our area enjoyed a wonderful Easter meal thanks to your generosity. This is just one of the ways we let people in our community know that we are aware of them, and that Jesus loves them. Thank you for helping to make that happen!
5. Early Birds Rummage Sale – People have started to ask if the rummage sale is happening this year… and the answer is yes! The dates for the rummage sale that benefits missions work are as follows:
Set up:
- Monday, May 6 through Wednesday, May 8 – 10am-1 pm and 5-7 pm
- Thursday, May 9 – 10am-1pm
- We need muscle to unload cars and move furniture boxes to/from customer’s cars.
- Friday, May 10 – 8am-4 pm
- Saturday, May 11 – 8 am-2pm
For more information contact Linda or Tom Schmidt at 585-615-6501
6. Sight and Sound Trip to See “Daniel” – The details are set for the next Sight and Sound trip, which is planned for Tuesday, July 9th through Thursday, July 11th. Angelique has arranged everything from bus to hotel reservations, show tickets and food. Last year’s group had a wonderful time and we look forward to seeing a terrific show and enjoying one another’s company again this year. If you’d like to be a part of it contact Angelique at angelique@northgatefmc.com. She’d like to have deposits for this trip in as soon as possible.
7. Do You Have Young Children’s Clothing You No Longer Need? – If you have some that would be appropriate for children from 18 months of age to 3T, Courtney Mead, our Toddler Room Coordinator is looking to have some on hand in case a change of clothes is necessary. You can connect with Courtney at Courtney@northgatefmc.com.
8. New Caregivers Group – Warren and Nancy Savage will be leading a new session of the Caregivers group on the first Tuesday night of the month at North. The group will meet at 6:30pm. If you would like more information about it, please contact Angelique at angelique@northgatefmc.com.
9. Flower City Work Camp – Meals – Thank you to everyone who donated food or paper products to help make lunches happen for the Flower City Work Camp. We really appreciate it – your help made it so easy to provide those meals to the kids and their adult mentors!
10. Gather to Pray – Here are some opportunities to pray together at Northgate…
- •Prayer meeting Wednesday at 1pm at North in Room #1
- Centered: the first Wednesday of the month at North at 6pm (Sanctuary)
- Sunday mornings at 9:30 at North in Room #4
- Prayer rail: Before and after services on Saturday/Sunday and also while we are singing/praying during services
- Anytime the church is open people are welcome to come and pray in any available room or in the sanctuary. The church is generally open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 to 4pm, Saturday from 4 to 7:30pm and Sunday from 8am to 1pm. Arrangements can be made to be open at other times too, if needed.
***********************************************************************************************
You Can Count on This – Hebrews 11:30 – By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. (Read Hebrews 11:1-40)
I read this verse this morning and it just hit me hard, in a good way! You probably know the story… it’s found in Joshua 6. The Israelites are beginning to take possession of the Promised Land as God had instructed them to, and God has told them how to bring down the walls of Jericho. It involves a lot of marching! But you can read it for yourself to see what happened.
What struck me this morning when I read verse 30 was the spiritual application of it. The author of Hebrews says it was by faith that the walls of Jericho came down! It wasn’t the marching or the other things that brought down those walls… it was the faith of the marchers!
Now, I think there is a meaningful relationship between those two things. The people had faith (trust, belief, confidence) in what God had told them to do. No doubt some of them weren’t quite sure (“God wants us to march around the city for a week and then the walls will come down? Really?”) but they had enough faith to go ahead and march. Their faith in God drove their behavior, and by their faith, lived out in their behavior and obedience, God brought down those walls.
Here's the application that hit me today. What are the walls you are encountering right now in your life that you want God to bring down. There is a blessing waiting for you, but it’s not available to you at the moment because there is a wall of some kind between you and the blessing. It’s a wall you can’t knock down on your own; you need God’s help to do it. And it’s a wall that might not come down immediately, yet it must come down. Maybe it’s a wall built with bricks of resentment; or jealousy; or lust. Maybe the wall that stands between you and the blessing God wants to give you is made of unresolved conflict in a relationship or hidden sin or neglect of God’s word and worship.
There are many different kinds of walls we may experience, but the common factors are these: they stand in the way of something God wants us to have, and we are powerless to tear them down on our own. We have to go to God and by faith listen to Him and then obey Him. And we have to persevere. Imagine what would have happened to Israel if after day 2 the people had said, “This is silly. All this marching is getting us nowhere.” It took 7 days to get those walls down. In your case it might be 7 weeks or 7 months. Don’t abandon your faith that God wants those walls to come down and is calling on you to continue to trust and believe that, and remain obedient to Him until the victory is yours!
So, again. What are the walls you are facing keeping you from a blessing God wants to give you? Do you believe that God wants to help you bring those walls down? Are you trusting that God will bring down those walls as you persevere in faith? Are you, with God’s help, being obedient to the things He’s asked you to do? Are you doing all this in community? (The Israelites marched as a team, and we need to as well.)
At the end of their week of marching, Joshua (by faith, since the walls hadn’t yet come down) told his army to “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” (Joshua 6:16) My prayer for you is that you will be able to say, as God helps you demolish the walls in your life that need to be demolished, “I am shouting in praise! Because the Lord has given me the victory!”
When you’re not sure what you can count on in the world around you, know this: You can count on God keeping his word. So read what God has to say in scripture! And count on it.
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