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Guest Post – Why Are We Afraid to Embrace the Different? Uncategorized

Guest Post – Why Are We Afraid to Embrace the Different?

This is a guest post from Cindy Keating. Cindy is a singer-songwriter, worship leader, blogger, speaker and a long time attender of North Pointe. She loves to create conversation at redcarpetlife.me – an online community premised on the belief that we are all leaders of worship. By finding our true contentment in Christ, we can experience everyday “red carpet” moments simply by seeing our day-to-day tasks as our greatest opportunities for worship. "It’s the eye contact that lingers a little too long, the hug that squeezes a little too hard, the handshake that practically rips your arm off, the pause that befalls a conversation where we feel the need to say, “Anyhow…” It’s that fake sentence that has become a…
Bob Jones
October 27, 2013
The Minute Manager of Prayer Uncategorized

The Minute Manager of Prayer

  You'd be amazed what you can accomplish in a minute. What holds a lot of people back from prayer is the feeling that if I can't go into isolation and completely focus and pray for an hour, my prayer won't count. As a pastor, my typical day is formed around minutes, not hours of prayer. As a pastor I live in the shadow of men like Martin Luther who is quoted as saying, "I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer." (Rev. Luther may have done that only a few times in his life, but his quote has become a benchmark regarding the priority of prayer, especially for pastors.) Luther also…
Bob Jones
October 23, 2013
What Can You Accomplish in a Minute? Uncategorized

What Can You Accomplish in a Minute?

Minutes are to us as miracles are to God. Think about it…minutes are what define our lives. We get 1440 of them every day. We know minutes like fish know water. They are so second nature to us that we are unaware of their passage. Miracles are what define God. Miracles are second nature to Him. If a conception/birth is a miracle then there are over 250 of them every minute on our planet. That’s well over a quarter million every week. 95% of our entire universe is held together by an unknown "dark energy." That's a miracle everyday for us. The 'chance' coincidence of so many trillion possibilities that had to be exactly right for a universe and life…
Bob Jones
October 21, 2013
How Can I Pray? Uncategorized

How Can I Pray?

Is prayer something that you can "learn" or does it just come naturally? Quite simply, you can learn to pray by praying. God invites us to "ask" of Him. Asking is a good starting point to praying. But won't God feel "used" by my asking? God wouldn't invite us to ask if He didn't want us to ask. Right?  Actually, asking is a form of worship because it shows our dependency on God. As you pray take note of the following to help you pray: 1. Become aware of God’s interaction with you. Look back on the events of the day. Your day may seem confusing to you—a blur, a jumble, or disconnected events. Ask God to help you be…
Bob Jones
October 20, 2013
How to Have Strong Faith Uncategorized

How to Have Strong Faith

"Faith moves mountains." Faith will help you do what you thought couldn't be done. Faith can give you new direction and purpose. Faith pleases God. But faith doesn’t come easy. People hunger for certainty, yet something hinders them from experiencing it. They want their faith to soar but their intellects can hold them securely down. How can I have a strong faith? 1. Understand that faith is conditional. Unlike love, which is best expressed unconditionally, strong faith demands a BECAUSE. “I trust you because…” “I believe in you because…” If the “because” is not strong enough the faith will never be secure. We trust people because of what we know about their character or their history. We trust God because…
Bob Jones
October 17, 2013
291 Days and Counting Uncategorized

291 Days and Counting

"The sun comes up, its a new day dawning, its time to sing your song again." 2013 is 291 days old and counting. Have you made your days count for something? In January 2013 we invited people at North Pointe to pick a word for the coming year that could characterize their experiences. My word was "intrepid." Jocelyn's was "resolute." Kristen Fersovitch's was "purposeful." A sampling of others were "crave," "yes," "intentional," "influence," and mark." The word chosen for our church family was “awaken.” It comes from the verse, “Be up and awake to what God is doing!” Romans 13:11(The Message) We had an expectation that God would work a spiritual awakening in the lives of people through North Pointe.…
Bob Jones
October 16, 2013
What I Am Thankful For… Uncategorized

What I Am Thankful For…

EVELYN – “I am thankful for God’s blessing in my life, my husband, my family, my friends, my church family, and countless blessings.” APRIL – “I am thankful for my faith, my awesome friends and family, my sister and cousins, shelter, food, clothes, money to survive, a good church, basic needs, eternal life, teachers, doctors. NORM – “I am thankful for God’s perfect leading throughout my life.” DAISY – “I am thankful for technology so I can call, Skype and text my family in Ontario.” DENISE – “I am thankful to have my son back in my life. I feared I would never have a relationship with him again.” CHRISTINA – “I am thankful for a big, close family and…
Bob Jones
October 14, 2013
3 Choices for Strength in Suffering Uncategorized

3 Choices for Strength in Suffering

"Suffering" can be an ugly word. Suffering brings to mind shades of pain, discouragement, anger, and darkness. You know all about it. So does God. It is tough to believe that suffering can reveal anything worth knowing. However, in the upside-down, inside-out, way of the Christian faith, suffering produces more than easy living ever could. Suffering has meaning. In the middle of intense affliction your spirit is more open than ever to the outpouring of God’s love into your life. 3 choices for strength in suffering: 1. Choose to cultivate spiritual serenity in spite of chaotic conditions.  "Shaking mountains” and “agitated waters” (Psalm 46:2,3) are figures of speech for the difficulties we face in life. The Psalmist was inspired to…
Bob Jones
October 5, 2013
3 THINGS ASLAN GOT WRONG ABOUT JESUS Uncategorized

3 THINGS ASLAN GOT WRONG ABOUT JESUS

Reviewers called his book “a bold, powerfully argued re-visioning of the most consequential life ever lived.” How can you argue with the acclaim Reza Aslan’s Zealot: Jesus of Nazareth received, becoming a NY Times bestseller and reaching #1 on Amazon? Fox News and CNN's Piers Morgan propelled his rise in popularity. Out of curiosity I read his book. In many ways, Aslan's book is simply a rehashing of old ideas. He regurgitates a multitude of bold, inaccurate and misleading observations about Jesus that lead him to recreate Jesus in his own image. Reza Aslan Reza Aslan is an Iranian Muslim who immigrated to the US with his family in 1979. He became a Christian in his teenage years. Aslan later…
Bob Jones
September 28, 2013
WHAT’S WITH COMMUNION? Uncategorized

WHAT’S WITH COMMUNION?

Everyone wants to be remembered for at least one thing after they're gone. Jesus told his disciples, then and now, one thing to do to "remember him." One Thing The night before Jesus was crucified he called his disciples together. He knew what they didn't - this would be their last supper together. He wanted to make a lasting impression on them. He knew losing focus or getting sidetracked from their faith would be a threat. Jesus took unleavened bread and broke it and told them to eat - this was "his body." He took wine and gave it them and told them to drink - this was "his blood." Then he told them to repeat this practice in remembrance…
Bob Jones
September 23, 2013