Top Ten - June 20
1. Northgate Missions Group – Pastor Chris is organizing a Northgate Missions Group. This group will be involved in planning and supporting events that are a part of Northgate's involvement in local and global missions. For example, this group will help organize special events when we host missionaries from Free Methodist World Missions and work with our local partners to participate in events such as the Salvation Army's Christmas Program. This group will also work on coming up with new ideas for how we can serve those who are in need in our community and in the world. If you are interested in being a part of this group there will be a meeting after the second service at the North Campus on June 23rd. If you have any questions email Pastor Chris at chris@northgatefmc.com.
2. Kid’s Camp! – Registration is open for the Northgate Kid’s Camp – “Set Sail” – which is taking place this July, from the 15th through the 19th. Kid’s Camp is open to all children from the age of 4 through those who will be entering 4th grade in September. Camp runs from 9-3pm Monday through Thursday and 9-1pm on Friday and lunch is included. To register for camp, visit the “Register” page at northgatefmc.com.
3. Bottles and Cans – The Costa Rica Team is still collecting bottles and cans to help fundraise for their missions trip this July. Feel free to drop them off in the airlock any time the office is open during the week or during one of the services over the weekend. The team would like to thank everyone at Northgate for making this such a successful fundraiser.
4. Northgate Group Leaders – Attention Northgate Group Leaders: Save the date! Join us on August 18 at 12:15 PM, right after the first service, for a vision casting/planning workshop. Let's gear up for the fall semester kickoff together. A light lunch will be provided. See you there! If you have any questions, contact Angelique @ angelique@northgatefmc.com
5. Kicks for Costa Rica – Our youth ministry is traveling to Costa Rica soon on a mission trip, and they need your help. We're collecting new or gently used shoes for the children they’ll be working with. Drop off your shoe donations at North Campus front doors.
6. Do You Know About the Northgate APP? – Listen to sermons, access notes, explore the Top 10, join groups, check events, and submit prayer requests. Available for Apple and Android.
7. Northgate is on Social Media – Follow us on social media! Stay updated on upcoming events, and sermon & weekend highlights. Follow @northgatefmc on Facebook and Instagram. For families, don't miss out—follow @northgatefmckids and @northgatebase for kids and youth ministry updates.
8. St. Paul Lutheran School – St. Paul’s is a Christian elementary school in Batavia that a number of Northgate people have utilized for the education of their children, and which several Northgate people serve at as education leaders. St. Paul’s is now registering PreK-6th grade students for the 2024-2025 school year. If you’d like to know more about the school you can contact them at 585-343-0488.
9. “God’s Good Grace Home” – All Babies Cherished is getting ready to open a home that will provide temporary housing for up to five mothers and their children under the age of five. Before that can happen, they need to find individuals willing to serve as “house advocates” in the home. These individuals will work part-time in daytime and/or overnight shifts. If you would be interested in one of these positions contact Susan Sherman at sueabcherished@gmail.com or call 344-5660 for more information.
10. Foster Care Informational Meeting – The Genesee County Permanency Planning Unit is currently seeking potential foster and adoptive parents to show love and care for the children in the Genesee County region. This is a great need in our area, and a wonderful way to share our love with children who need a temporary or forever family.
The informational meeting is taking place at Grace Baptist Church on July 9 from 5:30-7pm. If you have any questions, please reach out to Danielle at 585-344-2580 extension 6446 or email her at Danielle.wojtaszczyk@dfa.state.ny.us
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You Can Count on This – 1 Peter 2:11-12 – Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (Read 1 Peter 2:1-25)
These verses are so helpful as we seek to understand how we are to live in this world. If we are looking for guidance on that, this is a great place to start and wonderful verses to meditate on.
First, Peter addresses his Christian readers as “foreigners and exiles.” What does he mean by that? Well, he means that we should keep in mind that we have given our lives over to Jesus do not make our home ultimately in this world. We are “foreigners” here. Our true home is in heaven with Christ. So, if we feel a little (or a lot) out of touch with the world, or if we feel that we don’t quite fit in with the ways of the world, that shouldn’t surprise us. If as an American I traveled to and lived in Japan or Finland or somewhere else in the world for the first time, there’s a good chance I would feel a little out of place. The language and customs and attitudes about things would all be somewhat different than those I am accustomed to. It’s similar for the Christian. When we enter into relationship with Jesus and adopt His language, customs and attitudes, we may well find ourselves feeling a little out of place in the world. But that’s only because we now belong to another world, the world where Jesus reigns!
Secondly, Peter encourages us to “abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” A Christian wants to not be ruled by sinful desires, those things that are opposed to what God wants for us. This is one of the ways we may feel out of place in the world. Whereas non-Christians might encourage indulging in sinful desires, the Christian seeks to be free of them, to have desires that are God-given and God-honoring. But though we have submitted our lives to Jesus, we find that those sinful desires do continue to plague us. Instead of indulging them, though, we wage war against them. When we are tempted to sexual sin, we battle against it. When we are tempted to sin through anger or envy or greed, we go to battle against those desires. Eventually, or maybe by God’s grace quickly, we find that we are winning those battles with the help of God’s Holy Spirit.
Finally, as we overcome those sinful desires that wage war against our soul, we endeavor to “live such good lives” among the nonbelievers in our home, workplace, community and elsewhere that though they may accuse of us of doing wrong (for example, doing the “wrong” of believing in Jesus as the only Savior) they can’t help but see the good things we do for them and others. Seeing those good deeds may just lead them to see God at work in us and through us and may just lead them to also glorify God and come to God through faith in Christ.
We wage war against sin because we want to honor and please Jesus in the way we live. We live in the best ways we can in this world in order to please and honor Jesus and in the hope that others will come to know Him through us. We seek to be loving, kind, thoughtful, considerate, sensitive, supportive, helpful, compassionate people, who know we are in this world only temporarily. We have a home in heaven and God is preparing us to live there and wants as many as possible to make their homes with Him there. We want that too.
Blessings,
Pastor Vern
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!
2. Kid’s Camp! – Registration is open for the Northgate Kid’s Camp – “Set Sail” – which is taking place this July, from the 15th through the 19th. Kid’s Camp is open to all children from the age of 4 through those who will be entering 4th grade in September. Camp runs from 9-3pm Monday through Thursday and 9-1pm on Friday and lunch is included. To register for camp, visit the “Register” page at northgatefmc.com.
3. Bottles and Cans – The Costa Rica Team is still collecting bottles and cans to help fundraise for their missions trip this July. Feel free to drop them off in the airlock any time the office is open during the week or during one of the services over the weekend. The team would like to thank everyone at Northgate for making this such a successful fundraiser.
4. Northgate Group Leaders – Attention Northgate Group Leaders: Save the date! Join us on August 18 at 12:15 PM, right after the first service, for a vision casting/planning workshop. Let's gear up for the fall semester kickoff together. A light lunch will be provided. See you there! If you have any questions, contact Angelique @ angelique@northgatefmc.com
5. Kicks for Costa Rica – Our youth ministry is traveling to Costa Rica soon on a mission trip, and they need your help. We're collecting new or gently used shoes for the children they’ll be working with. Drop off your shoe donations at North Campus front doors.
6. Do You Know About the Northgate APP? – Listen to sermons, access notes, explore the Top 10, join groups, check events, and submit prayer requests. Available for Apple and Android.
7. Northgate is on Social Media – Follow us on social media! Stay updated on upcoming events, and sermon & weekend highlights. Follow @northgatefmc on Facebook and Instagram. For families, don't miss out—follow @northgatefmckids and @northgatebase for kids and youth ministry updates.
8. St. Paul Lutheran School – St. Paul’s is a Christian elementary school in Batavia that a number of Northgate people have utilized for the education of their children, and which several Northgate people serve at as education leaders. St. Paul’s is now registering PreK-6th grade students for the 2024-2025 school year. If you’d like to know more about the school you can contact them at 585-343-0488.
9. “God’s Good Grace Home” – All Babies Cherished is getting ready to open a home that will provide temporary housing for up to five mothers and their children under the age of five. Before that can happen, they need to find individuals willing to serve as “house advocates” in the home. These individuals will work part-time in daytime and/or overnight shifts. If you would be interested in one of these positions contact Susan Sherman at sueabcherished@gmail.com or call 344-5660 for more information.
10. Foster Care Informational Meeting – The Genesee County Permanency Planning Unit is currently seeking potential foster and adoptive parents to show love and care for the children in the Genesee County region. This is a great need in our area, and a wonderful way to share our love with children who need a temporary or forever family.
The informational meeting is taking place at Grace Baptist Church on July 9 from 5:30-7pm. If you have any questions, please reach out to Danielle at 585-344-2580 extension 6446 or email her at Danielle.wojtaszczyk@dfa.state.ny.us
*********************************************************************************************************************
You Can Count on This – 1 Peter 2:11-12 – Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (Read 1 Peter 2:1-25)
These verses are so helpful as we seek to understand how we are to live in this world. If we are looking for guidance on that, this is a great place to start and wonderful verses to meditate on.
First, Peter addresses his Christian readers as “foreigners and exiles.” What does he mean by that? Well, he means that we should keep in mind that we have given our lives over to Jesus do not make our home ultimately in this world. We are “foreigners” here. Our true home is in heaven with Christ. So, if we feel a little (or a lot) out of touch with the world, or if we feel that we don’t quite fit in with the ways of the world, that shouldn’t surprise us. If as an American I traveled to and lived in Japan or Finland or somewhere else in the world for the first time, there’s a good chance I would feel a little out of place. The language and customs and attitudes about things would all be somewhat different than those I am accustomed to. It’s similar for the Christian. When we enter into relationship with Jesus and adopt His language, customs and attitudes, we may well find ourselves feeling a little out of place in the world. But that’s only because we now belong to another world, the world where Jesus reigns!
Secondly, Peter encourages us to “abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” A Christian wants to not be ruled by sinful desires, those things that are opposed to what God wants for us. This is one of the ways we may feel out of place in the world. Whereas non-Christians might encourage indulging in sinful desires, the Christian seeks to be free of them, to have desires that are God-given and God-honoring. But though we have submitted our lives to Jesus, we find that those sinful desires do continue to plague us. Instead of indulging them, though, we wage war against them. When we are tempted to sexual sin, we battle against it. When we are tempted to sin through anger or envy or greed, we go to battle against those desires. Eventually, or maybe by God’s grace quickly, we find that we are winning those battles with the help of God’s Holy Spirit.
Finally, as we overcome those sinful desires that wage war against our soul, we endeavor to “live such good lives” among the nonbelievers in our home, workplace, community and elsewhere that though they may accuse of us of doing wrong (for example, doing the “wrong” of believing in Jesus as the only Savior) they can’t help but see the good things we do for them and others. Seeing those good deeds may just lead them to see God at work in us and through us and may just lead them to also glorify God and come to God through faith in Christ.
We wage war against sin because we want to honor and please Jesus in the way we live. We live in the best ways we can in this world in order to please and honor Jesus and in the hope that others will come to know Him through us. We seek to be loving, kind, thoughtful, considerate, sensitive, supportive, helpful, compassionate people, who know we are in this world only temporarily. We have a home in heaven and God is preparing us to live there and wants as many as possible to make their homes with Him there. We want that too.
Blessings,
Pastor Vern
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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