NorthRidge Church & Christian Academy

February 2013 Volume 4, Issue 10

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Our News Reaching You; Reaching Out to You In This Issue

A Message From Pastor David

A life verse is a verse or series of verses that God has impressed upon your heart that has been used to shape your life. One of those verses for me is, Phil. 1:6 which says, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.," (ESV). We need the confidence of knowing that the Lord is working in us, that He has not left us alone, and that He is very concerned about us. Sometimes we experience that stale and dry season, where we seem to have reached a stone wall in our spiritual growth. Of course, this could be true for many due to sin or rebellion. However, this dry season may also be experienced by those who have a committed walk with God where they too find seasons of wondering and waiting. This verse is for you. Notice, first, the work that was begun in you began at salvation. When you trusted in Christ and were born again, you were changed. This is the beginning of the work of God in your hearts. God saves us as we are, but He does not leave us as we are. He changes us. Initially, when we are saved, we are justified; that is, we are declared righteous in God's eyes. That is the easy part, because it is a judicial declaration of the Lord that secures heaven, we are saved. The hard part is the struggle to change our thinking, our speech, our actions during the rest of our life. This is the process of God to conform us more and more into the image of His Son, Jesus. This second part, this sanctification, is hidden in the phrase of Phil. 1:6 where it says, "will bring it to completion. In other words, the Lord will complete, or bring to completion His work in us. This completing will continue until "...the day of Jesus Christ." This is a reference to the return of Christ. The Bible clearly teaches us that the return of Jesus can occur at any time. His transforming work will continue in all Christians, in all places, and in all times, until the return of Jesus. Once He has returned, we will all be with Him (1 Thess. 4:16-5:2) and we will no longer need to be perfected, since through His return, our transformation will be completed, which is the third step. So, Phil. 1:6 carries with it the past, present, and future work of God in us. Our life is a history of what God has done. We have current experience of what God is doing. And we have hope/confidence of what God will do. If you have one of those days, doubting your salvation, unsure about your growth, or a bit hopeless as to whether you will make it . . . allow this verse to do what it was intended to do . . . to encourage you that God is not finished with you yet. We may not always see/recognize Gods work within us, but be assured that He loves you, He is not through with you yet, and He will never quit His work within you. We too often quit on the goals or dreams or resolutions we establish. God has great dreams for you. He will never quit on you, shaping you to live out those dreams. He does not lie. He cannot be unfaithful. His love for you cannot fail.

Pastor David

Expressions of Worship:
Last month, I took the opportunity to share with you all just a few of the opportunities that are coming your way in 2013. In case you missed it, make sure you go back and look over the list. We are also in the prayer stage of several other ideas that we did not include in last months issue. I hope that you have been praying about what was presented to you. I am including the information flyers for our Honduras and India trips so you might better see some of the things that will need to take place for our travelers before they are ready to depart. Somewhere in your reading, take a moment to pause and pray, asking God to reveal His will to you and for the courage to obey that will no matter what the cost. Also, take a moment and pray for those that God is leading to travel with one of our foreign missions teams. Take a moment to pray for our local opportunities as well and the people that will be affected by our example of love. One of the concerns that came to my attention just a couple of days ago was the limited scope and reach of a project like Habitat for Humanity. I want to take a moment and respond, if I may, since it is likely that additional folks might also have that concern. First, it is our goal to do the most we can to impact our community. A Habitat build benefits more than a single family; it will impact our entire congregation as they pray and work together. It will also impact the surrounding neighborhood once they see us living out our faith, even at physical and financial expense. Second, it is not our goal to make this a one-time ministry opportunity. Speak with Pastor David about this for more than two minutes and youll begin to catch a glimpse of some of the vision he has for making this a recurring ministry of NorthRidge Church and the impact it is going to have on our congregation. Besides the difference it is going to have in a recipient family, there is exponentially much more that can happen when we work together as a team for a single goal. The unity and fellowship will bleed over into many other areas of our church. Finally, we realize that a project such as Habitat for Humanity might not be the area that you feel called to volunteer. However, the realization of that just means that you are just one step closer to finding that area of ministry God is calling you to. A few years ago, we went through a series called Uniquely You, where we noted the fact that we are all shaped differently and called to do specific things as called by God. Should you find that Habitat, or any other NorthRidge sponsored missions project does not seem to suit you, I want to encourage you to find something in a ministry area that excites you and do that thing to the best of your ability. No matter what, get involved with other believers in an area of missions or ministry.

I read this excerpt to our potential short term missionaries at an informational meeting a few weeks ago and wanted to share it with you. I hope that you will read it and truly pray (1) for God to reveal His plan and (2) for you to have the courage to follow it. BE WILLING to go out on a limb with Me. If that is where I am leading you, it is the safest place to be. Your desire to live a risk-free life is a form of unbelief. Your longing to live close to Me is at odds with your attempts to minimize risk. You are approaching a crossroads in your journey. In order to follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your tendency to play it safe. Let Me lead you step by step through this day. If your primary focus is on Me, you can walk along perilous paths without being afraid. Eventually, you will learn to relax and enjoy the adventure of our journey together. As long as you stay close to Me, My sovereign Presence protects you wherever you go. Psalm 23:4; Psalm 9:10; John 12:26 -Sarah Young in Jesus Calling

-Terrill

From the Desk of Pastor Harold

Home-bound Ministry
Thanks for all who give their time and resources to this ministry. If you are considering where you might serve, please pray about getting involved with the Homebound Ministry. This is the current group of Home-bound with addresses that are being ministered to at this time. If you know of others that would benefit from this ministry, please contact Rowena Daley or call the church office @ 863.422.4488 Ms. Irma Swain Spring Haven Retirement LLC 1225 Havendale NW Winter Haven, Florida 33881 (863)-293-0072 Ms. Lucille Tiner Savannah Court assisted living. 301 Peninsular Drive Haines City, FL 33844-5046 (863) 4225204 Ms. Vera Cook Brandywyne Health Care Center 1801 Lake Mariam Drive Winter Haven, FL 33884 (863) 293-1989 Not home bound, but limited in some way and could use a word or two of encouragement with a visit, call or card. Mr Russ Vincent @ home Ms. Dorothy Burgess @ home Ms. Regena Lyle Savannah Court 301 Peninsular Drive #7, Haines City, FL 33844. Phone 863-422-4157. Mr. George Price Spring Haven Retirement LLC 1225 Havendale NW Apt. 154 Winter Haven, Fl. 33881

Youth Happenings
Greetings Church Family, After an amazing January that brought an amazing concert at Winter Jam, we are now moving into the busy season of youth ministry. That's right, our summer camp is right around the corner. There will be many activities going on leading up to our summer camp. Our first major event will be our annual strawberry sale and yard sale. This will be taking place on Saturday, March 16th. We have already started the presale of our strawberries. They are still $10 a flat and you can pre order them at our youth table in the foyer on Sunday mornings. The garage sale will be from 7am-noon. Strawberries will be available for pick up starting at 8am. We are planning a self-esteem conference to take place during the second half of April. There will be a special guest speaker as well as a concert from a praise and worship team. We are hoping to build this up to be a community wide outreach event. Starting on March 1st, our students will be available for a repeat of last years rent-a-kid. This will run from March 1st through May 1st. If you have some work you need done around your home or business, please let me know. Any funds earned will go to help our students get to summer camp. And speaking of summer camp, this year we will be heading to North Greenville University in South Carolina for another amazing week of Centrifuge. We will be leaving late on June 9th and returning home late on June the 15th. We are excited about what God is going to do in the lives of these students If you are wondering how you can help a student get to camp, I have a very simple answer. Pray! There is nothing more valuable than the prayers that go up from our church family. We are looking at taking more students this year than we had last year. Pray that God begins now to prepare our students for what He has in store for them. Also, pray for the students, that they are open to what God is trying to tell them. Pray for the leaders that will be taking them to camp. If you wish to help a student financially, either through donation, or through our rent-a-kid event, please contact me at: dwhiteman@northridgehc.com. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers. I couldn't do this without them. Stepping out in Faith, Derrick Whiteman

Events and Announcements

Saturday mornings
At 6:00 am

February Birthdays
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
1 Dell Thompson

SATURDAY
2 Dylan Couch Sandi Snyder Sarah Snyder
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4 J.T. Reeves

5 Chai Colon Seth Justus Alley Snyder

10 Jennifer Miller

11 Jeremy Couch Leslie Smith

12 David Congdon

13 Brianna Reeves

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16 15 Bradley Meigs Ray Furlong Kendrick Jones Lori Macumber

17 18 Cynthia Southworth Briana Wiley

19 Lizbeth Alba

20 21 Tommy Byrd Pat Erickson Teresa Thompson Judith Figareau

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23 David Myers Heather Reuter

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25 26 Shawnna Conerly Luke Pike Bunky Hill

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28 Tinka Blaisdell Sandra Brooks

Wednesday services

Sunday services

5:45-6:45 -Prayer in Sanctuary 6:45-7:45 -Coffee and Bible study in Fellowship Hall

Sunday Morning Caf -8:45am Sunday School -9:20 Worship Service -10:30am (also Kids' Church K5-3rd)

Church Office
Hours-Monday -Thursday 8:00am-4:00pm. If you need to contact the Pastor On Call you can at any time by calling the Church Office 863-422-4488 and leaving a message in the On Call mailbox (ext. 2104) The Pastor that is on call for the week will return your call ASAP.