I resonate with A.J. in wondering, as a Christian, if I’ve missed the life Jesus has called me to live. I don’t doubt that the majority of us have a healthy love towards Jesus and appreciate what He has done by going to the cross to pay the price for our sins.

But how do we know if we’re living the way Jesus has called us to live?

“I’m not Jesus, so I don’t have to worry about it.” That is our answer most of the time. And that answer will no longer do. We long to be a Church that constantly wrestles with the mission and life of Jesus. When we wrestle with the life of Jesus, our lives change.

This past season, we set aside Wednesday nights in October and November to “Recapture” the life Jesus lived and the life he has called us to. We’ve allowed going to Church on the weekend to become our faith. It’s like going out for a steak dinner, having a salad, and skipping the juicy filet. Oh it’s good, but if we stop there, then we’ve missed the best part! 1 John 2:6 calls us back to live the life Christ lived: “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked.” As a Church, we want to recapture the life of Jesus. We love His grace. We’re saved by grace. Nothing we can do can earn our way back to Him, but we must also realize we’re a part of the ministry that Jesus started, and that part is our life. That’s why we’re launching a new effort to recapture Jesus and His ministry this spring.

Roots
This two-week class seeks to answer, “What was the will and work of Jesus?” This is going to be a great place to wrestle with the true identity of Christ and how He has literally changed everything in this world. It doesn’t matter if you’re new or have been attending for a while; we must know the true Christ to move forward in His mission. We all want to run hard after something, and typically we fail in anything when we don’t know the mission. Roots will help us recapture the mission of Jesus.

Fruits
Once a tree has a strong root system, it begins to produce fruit. God is into fruit. He is longing to produce His life through us, but we must be His people. He has set up a way for the world to know Him and His incredible peace, but that will not happen if His chosen vehicle, the Church (Eph. 3:10), chooses not to listen. This is where the ‘rubber meets the road’ with our faith. This will be a three-week class specifically designed to examine what God wants to produce through our lives, and create a plan for that to happen.

I’m a “list” type of guy; I need to know exactly what I need to do in order to accomplish it. We’ll be investigating exactly what Christ did while He was here on earth and the life He calls us to imitate. Fruits will be great for you, even if you’re not a “list” person. This will truly be taking the next step in understanding God’s plan.

Every day, God is calling us to live and walk as Jesus walked. There is unbelievable peace in this, but we must be fully aligned to do so. This may be simple for some and complex for others, but either way, we want to be a people moving forward and walking as Jesus walked. So grab a friend and get ready to dig deep. This will be one of the most eye opening studies. It will revolutionize your life, all because of Jesus.

GOD IS MAKING ALL THINGS NEW.

His power is at work even now as you’re reading this article. This is why, time and time again, I find myself overwhelmed with this opportunity to speak about Christ and live the life He has called us to.

We as a Church have been witnessing a God who is continually restoring broken lives, giving hope to those who have none, and calling us to live beyond ourselves. In our hearts, as leaders of this Church, we only seek to follow Christ’s leading and His desire for the whole world to know Him. But for your world to know Christ… for your family, your boss, your kids, and your poker buddy to know the Hope we have…it starts with you.

If we don’t know what Christ has done for us, understand His mission, and allow Him to lead our lives, we will miss out on the fullness of what Christ is accomplishing throughout the world. This is the biggest invitation of our lives! Be honest: don’t you love getting invited to things? God has literally invited us to partner with Christ to bring hope, relief, and His passion to this world. But how do we respond?

We can respond by taking the next step. Each one of us will probably have a different step to take, but we still need to take a step, myself included! Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Faith is moving… moving to allow God to heal our brokenness, to love our neighbor (you know, What’s-his-name who lives next door), to use our gifts to point people to Jesus, to follow the calling He’s put on our lives, to confess sin… the list could go on forever! The truth, for all of us, is there is a next step to take.

Maybe you’ve never connected with other Christians and lived in a caring, praying community. Or maybe you love people, but have never allowed God to lead you in your life. Perhaps you have great Christian friends, you attend a service and you read your Bible, but you’ve never “gotten off the bench,” into the game of serving and telling others about Jesus. All three of these things are needed to truly show Christ in this world.

Recapturing Jesus
Our mission has not changed: “Connecting the unconnected to Christ and growing together in full devotion to Him.” Our mission is only Jesus and the way He lived. He lived in a way that gave people hope and inspired them to follow, despite great cost. Our hearts will never shy away from loving those who are unconnected to Christ. Despite what others may think or say about God, we love them because Christ does. We choose grace over tolerance. The Church is a family, where we grow together in His Word by sharing, encouraging one another, and intentionally living to bring others into this family. We’re not hiding the fact that we want every person in the Church to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus. However, we’re not all at the same place.

Changes to 3D: New Method, Same Message.
Last year, we launched this 3D terminology to help lay out the mission of connecting others to Christ and growing in full devotion to God. We’ve realized there are some “holes” in the current process, and our passion is to create clear pathways for you to follow Jesus. They aren’t easy pathways, but they will help point you in the right direction. Instead of identifying all three areas of “Discover, Develop, Deepen,” we want you to pinpoint where you are now.

Discover I’m exploring what it means to be a Christian, or I just became one. I’m trying to find where I belong, but I need to know the first steps in moving forward.

Develop I am a Christ follower, and it’s showing up in my habits by the way I treat others. I seek to use my gifts in a way that is challenging and consistent. I’ve started to build relationships with others that help me to be a better follower of Christ.

Deepen My life belongs fully to Christ. I’m not perfect, but I’m submitted to His ways and His leading. My greatest desire is to help lead others to Discover, Develop, and Deepen in Him.

“Where are you?”
Good GPS technology tells you exactly where you are so you can move forward. Imagine if GPS just gave you a random starting place and hoped that you found where you were headed. Our roads would be in chaos! We want to know where we’re at, where we’re going, and how we get there. That’s exactly what reformatting 3D will allow us to do. Remember, Christ is personal, and wants to share His love to the world through you. We’re all at unique, different places in our lives, but we need the same Savior, and all of us are called to the same mission of making disciples in this world. We must be absolutely honest in identifying where we are in 3D. We can’t be random, or say that we would “like to be” in another season. It’s not a comparison game, but a simple matter of each one of us taking the next step. This is the beauty of Christ! He loves us right where we are, but doesn’t leave us there. There’s so much He is willing and longing to do, in us and through us, if we submit ourselves to Him.

And now the “How.”
In an earlier model, you may have seen six words partnered with 3D: “Grace, Truth, Community, Calling, Personal Outreach, and Personal Growth.” These are not bad things, but they did confuse the process a little. We all need community at every level in life. We all need to be sharing the Gospel from the “get-go” of being a Christian. We need all of these things all the time…just at different levels. We’ve racked our brains trying to find how to best communicate the pathways in the life of Jesus.

We landed on three things that we want you to do in every season of 3D. Concentrate hard on these words and memorize them (just joking…actually I’m serious). The words are: Connect, Grow, and Give. This is what we believe God is calling you to in each season as you follow Jesus. We’re glad if you’re here for a weekend service, but that alone is not the fullness of following Christ. We’re glad if you’re giving of your gifts and serving the Church or the community, but those acts don’t reach the fullness of following Christ. We’re glad if you’ve connected with other Christians and are meeting together, praying, reading the Word, and helping each other become better followers, but that isn’t fully what it means to follow Christ.

The fullness of following Christ involves all three: “Connect” to each other, “Grow” in our faith, and “Give” of our life to others. We absolutely need everyone in this Church to be involved, because we’re literally not the same without you. That’s why God designed the Church so personable; because EVERYONE MATTERS! Church is not about a few important people. It’s not just about the “pastors.” There are people you love that I might never meet, and God is longing to use you to show and tell them about Christ. But you need to take the next step.

It might be hard to understand this process if you are a linear thinker. For example, think of going to school. You start at first grade, and take the next step to second grade, and end up finishing with the twelfth grade. It might be easier if the Church was like that, but it’s not. We have people walking in here who have no idea who Jesus is, and right next to them are people who have been going to Church since they were five years old. Our goal is to create a culture that facilitates growth for the person seeking who Christ is as well as the person who has been following for a long time. Both types of people need to Connect, Grow, and Give. We’ll be doing those for the rest of our lives! Christians never stop connecting with other people, growing in the Truth, and giving of themselves to help others. Now for some mind blowing news. Most of us think that people start following Christ by coming through the front doors of the church. I would agree that the majority of people start there, but there’s a ton of people who start by entering the front door of your house. You are the Church. Northside is just a building to gather in, but you are the Church! People see Christ by talking to you, by how you love others, and even how you drive on the street (scary to think about, I know).

One Goal, Multiple Entries.
We want all people to connect to Christ and become fully devoted to Him. With that said, people start at different places. People can begin their journey here by starting with a small group opportunity, or a planned “Give.” It’s moving from just watching to actually participating. We all want to be “in the game.” So you can start by coming to a week- end service, or by hopping into a home life group, or joining a men’s/women’s class; but ultimately we want you to be Connected with other Christians, Growing in your faith, and Giving of your giftedness to others.

You might be thinking, “This is organized chaos!” And you’re exactly right! God is working in a tremendous way, and when He does, things are sometimes messy. We’re broken people; we have sin, addictions, and our own desires. We bring our mess into this place and need help. But that’s when we know we’re doing what Christ has called us to; following Jesus is a messy process! All we’re doing is providing guardrails to keep you on the right path as you follow Jesus.

So have you found yourself in 3D? What’s your next step to being fully devoted? Do you need to Connect, Grow, or Give? We are here as a Church family to go through this journey with you as we grow together to bring Christ to this community and the world. I’m so excited for these changes and what will come of them. But more than anything, I’m so excited to be partnering with all of you to love this community in the name of Jesus. He’s making all things new!

Written by Nate Ross.

If you didn’t have a chance to come to Northside this weekend, you can check out the video below. And if you would like to see the rest of our messages visit www.mynorthside.tv.

And for your enjoyment we have the text below as well. It’s from Philippians 4:5-9 (The Message)

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

So our question to you is this, What do you think of the whole thing? Does it work for you? And if it doesn’t, why?

We want any and all feedback! Please leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Click this link to leave a comment.

It’s taken us a couple months to finally work through all the kinks and today we officially launched the new version! So if you haven’t already seen the new site take a stroll over to www.mynorthside.com and check it out! Oh and don’t forget to let us know what you think!

Check out the sneak peak below!

Also on another note if you are interested in joining our Facebook Group follow this link

Bill Hybels | Willow Creek Community Church

The Leadership Summit is designed to be a can’t-miss gathering for leaders serious about developing their leadership gift. The event features highly-respected senior pastors as well as innovative minds from the public and social sectors leading right where they are. Each session delivers practical learnings alongside inspiring programming to stretch your leadership bandwidth.

Every year the Summit is much more than “just a conference.” It’s crafted to envision, equip, and encourage teams with space to grow and learn together. It’s two full days of opportunity—during sessions, over meals, and in the moments in between—to process the life-changing potential of your church in your community and the world.

Explore the vision behind the Summit: to transform Christian leaders around the world with an annual injection of vision, skill development, and inspiration for the sake of the local church.

Visit www.northsidesummit.com to sign up Today!

We chronically miss the point.

And never more so than with religion.  Even the sound of the word makes me cringe.  We have completely destroyed this concept, we have given ourselves and the world around us an instant bad taste when it comes to “religion”.  What is the first thing you thought of when I said religion?

I’d bet all my Christmas presents next year that it wasn’t a good thing and that is certainly wasn’t on point for what religion is supposed to be.

By the world’s definition, which in this case is supplied by a man named Webster religion is… a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

And that is our problem… that we see religion as a system of beliefs, or rules… because what religion quickly becomes in that line of thinking is a point of argument.  Real religion is what James calls it is James 1:27…

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

So real religion my friends is taking care of hurting people, caring about others and not allowing yourselves to be stained and corrupted by this world’s skewed views.  It’s refusing to accept this cheapened version of life and setting your sights on a higher calling, living by a different standard and inviting others to join you.

Take care of someone today.  For no other reason than because you truly care about them.  Make someone else’s life better, even if just for a few moments… and don’t let this world convince you that the point is something else.

Imagine what would happen if in basketball players were allowed to show mercy.  Imagine if you got fouled and you were allowed to forgive the other player and cancel the foul.  My guess is no one would ever take advantage of that privilege… you see I think we have gotten to a place where we enjoy payback, it’s almost as though we feel we are getting a bonus out of it.  We like to pay people back, one because we want to reap the benefits and two because we can’t stand the idea of someone getting away with something. We feel them getting off the hook is taking something away from us.

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

The word blessed translates to inexpressible joy.  It means receiving more joy than you can comprehend.  So what Jesus is essentially saying is those who practice mercy, will be overwhelmed with joy… and they will also receive mercy themselves.

Here is the idea… you have been redeemed, your redemption came via the cross, which occurred because of God’s mercy, and therefore you have been shown great mercy.  If you have been shown great mercy and refuse to give mercy what does that say about your commitment to the cross?  God desires His children whom He has given mercy to pass forward that mercy; with the promise that His mercy is abundant… it keeps coming.  On top of that God will give us joy, true joy and lots of it.  But here is the problem… are you willing to exchange your pride… for joy.

You see many people have fooled themselves into thinking they can supply their own joy… but Jesus is very clear that the joy He offers cannot be found anywhere else.  So are you willing to give up your fake, temporary joy for real joy.  Are you willing to not always get your way, to give mercy to people who often won’t appreciate it and often don’t appear to deserve mercy.  Will you show grace that does not ask questions?

Your job when you pass a homeless person is not to determine whether they deserve help, whether they are helping their own cause, whether they are lazy or guilty of some sin… your job is to love them.  Your job is to give them the mercy you have already received, the mercy you didn’t deserve and didn’t have to work for.  Maybe that comes through a few dollars, maybe a meal, maybe a conversation or maybe just a simple smile that acknowledges that they are a person too.

Find a way today… to feel the inexpressible joy that comes with sharing the mercy that has been lavished upon us.