Sermon rewind 2/13/2011 - Deeper with Jesus

Lamentations 3:21-33 (New International Version, ©2010)

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust — there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.

31 For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

Myths about suffering vs. God's view:

Man's View	God's View
As Christians we should not suffer in this life.	We are called to suffer for Him (1 Peter 2:20-21)
When we are living in His will, living godly lives, we should experience few hardships.	We must go through many hardships to enter His kingdom. We were destined for trials (Acts 14:22, 1 Thess. 3:3)
Suffering means something is wrong. It is an abnormal state.	Suffering is normal, and inevitable in this Christian life (2 Tim. 3:12)
Suffering has no redeeming or positive results.	God uses suffering for our good, to conform us to the likeness of His Son. (Rom. 8:28-29)
Suffering means we can have no joy. It robs us of the choice to rejoice.	We have a choice to rejoice in our suffering.
Spiritual people don't hurt emotionally when they suffer.	Spiritual people feel many painful emotions when they suffer (Mark 14:33-34, 2 Cor. 2:4)
If God really loves us, He won't let us suffer very much. His love means that He will put a hedge around us to keep terrible trials from entering our lives.	He didn't prevent His own Son from suffering (Rom. 8:32) and He didn't prevent Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, Job and others He loved from suffering greatly.
When we do suffer God is punishing us out of anger. He is vindictive and wants us to suffer when He is angry with us.	Suffering may be God's loving discipline for our good (Hebrews 12:7-11)

Tommy Nixon shared that if we are to be deep with Jesus, if the church is going to be the Church that God always intended us to be then we need to enter into pain, struggle and suffering and when we do we will find Jesus. Lamentations teaches us that in the midst of struggle and suffering we find clarity as we are brought to a place of dependence only on God. This deepens our relationship with Him. Entering into our own suffering and the suffering of others is essential for depth with Christ and produces the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians.

Listen to this sermon and others online!
http://noc.newsong.net/grow/resources/message-archives/

Sermon Rewind: Dependency & Risk (Tommy Nixon)

Tommy Nixon shared on dependency and risk, drawing from his own life this past year and the parables in Luke 18. Dependency on Christ must involve risk, and the reward is nothing more, nor less, than a relationship with Him. Tommy summed up his point with the phrase, "Following Christ is the art of putting yourself in a place where you will be dependent on GOD." It is a place of great risk. However, the risks we take must be GODly risks, which are characterized by the following four criteria. Godly risks must:

1. be GOD-centered
2. have eternal value
3. change your life
4. be undertaken in the contexts of a deep relationship with Christ and a community of Christ-followers

Listen to this sermon and others online!
http://noc.newsong.net/grow/resources/message-archives/

cWOW Design Stars Project: The Nixon's Home

cWOW Design Stars Project: The Nixon's Home
by Angie Pang

You probably have seen or heard of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition before, and we witnessed our own version of it last weekend when Newsong Irvine's Design Stars team in partnership with Newsong Orange County renovated Tommy and Rachel Nixon's home in Fullerton. Tommy is one of our speakers at NOC and the executive of Solidarity, a non-profit organization whose vision is to "impact communities towards holistic transformation."

How was the Nixon family chosen for this free renovation? Tony Kim, who leads Design Stars, was in search of a deserving family and home to bless in an extravagant way — not just for the sake of being a blessing — but in hopes of furthering their Kingdom work and investing into what God is already doing through them.

When I heard this, I immediately thought of the Nixon's. I believe that God has called the Nixon family to this under-resourced area of Fullerton to be a home to the homeless and by this, I don't mean those without shelter, but the kids who live with their parents at their house, but don't have an emotional home where they can feel safe and loved.

I am personally inspired by the Nixon family, their faith, conviction and obedience to God's call on their lives to love those God's brought into their lives and so I wanted the Nixon's to be loved on as well, as they give out so much, in so many ways.

Check out the transformation of the Nixon's home.

Project Statistics:

• 3 days to do this project
• 8 spaces (including the front yard)
• 5 designers
• 70+ volunteers
• 11 trips to Lowe's
• 22 garbage bags of earth and trash

cWOW - stands for "church without walls." We believe our church is more than a building but its loving our community outside of our walls.

To find out more about cWOW Design Stars, check out www.joindesignstars.com.

Angie Pang is Director of First Steps at Newsong Orange County.