True North VBS has been amazing!
We consider it an honor to have served your family this week. It is a joyful investment for us, and we believe there is nothing more important than introducing people to Jesus, and inviting people to trust him. Eternally significant!
The daily focuses of our week seem so timely for all that is going on in our lives right now. You could start any of these, and your kids will finish them. Try it.
When we wonder, we can trust Jesus.
When we feel alone, we can trust Jesus.
When we feel powerless, we can trust Jesus.
When we need hope, we can trust Jesus.
When we need help, we can trust Jesus.
Last night, we prayed a prayer of trust in Jesus that went something like this:
Lord Jesus, we trust in you. You are holding on to us. We are holding on to you—all that you have said to us in the Bible, and all that you have done for us in making us and coming to rescue us. Thank you for dying for us on the cross and rising up from the dead that we might have hope. Come into our lives. Help us. Save us. Hold us now and forever. In your name we pray, Amen.
There are so many reasons I think trusting Jesus is amazing. Here are my top 3:
Trusting Jesus is being confident that God is for us and not against us. (Romans 8.31). This makes the most important difference for today and eternity. I stood at the foot of a newly dug grave on Thursday. What happens at the other side of the grave? Is there life beyond? What kind of god-ish thing is there? Is eternity a fairy-tale? A myth to help kids understand what even adults can’t understand? We believe that Jesus IS God. Do you believe this? If you believe it there is nothing more important. If you don’t believe it, there is nothing more unimportant. If you aren’t sure, there is nothing more important than grappling with this question. For a short and well-done film on this question, may I suggest searching: Alpha Film Series Who Is Jesus.
Trusting Jesus helps us chill out—about ourselves and others. I know that doesn’t sound very religious, but I don’t know a better way to say it. When we don’t trust Jesus we end up living in a constant cycle:
—trying to measure up,
—a nagging feeling that we are not measuring up,
—coping with not measuring up.
We live this way with others too:
__expecting them to meet our expectations,
__disappointed that don’t meet our expectations,
__and then punishing them in some way for not meeting our expectations. This bleeds into our romantic relationships, our parenting relationships, our extended family relationships, our work relationships and our friendships. When we trust Jesus, we can actually be who we are and allow others to be who they are—HUMAN! Humans who try. Humans who fail. Humans who love well sometimes and not-so-well sometimes. Humans who have a great capacity for good, and humans who have a great capacity to be a total train wreck. Humans who are deeply loved and totally forgiven by the God who became human! Jesus Christ died the death we deserved and was raised on the third day for our justification (Romans 4.25). Justification as a gift means it is no longer on our to-do list, to-try-list. We are freed from self-justification, and can free those around us to no longer be on our to-fix list, on a probationary status, constantly working on their resume for us, or trying to prove something for us. We can chill out. So can the people around us! The New Testament writers called this “FREEDOM” (Galatians 5.1).Trusting Jesus changes our outlook. We don’t see the future as bleak. We don’t see suffering as wasted. We don’t see other people as projects. We don’t see God as disappointed, disgusted, or ticked-off at us all the time. We don’t see our ethnicity, our nationality, our party, or our job as the most important identity. We don’t see our greatest triumph nor do we see our most shameful failures as determinative of our value. We don’t have to believe our own good press or our own bad press. When we trust Jesus, we start to gain a biblical outlook, and inlook for that matter. The future is bright because Jesus is coming back to make all things new (Revelation 21.5). Suffering produces what nothing else can produce (Romans 5.1-5). God is our Father who has good pleasure toward all his children (Luke 12.32). We, though from many places, with every job, and across party lines are one body in Christ (Romans 12.5). Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ (Romans 8). As Tim Keller used to say, “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” This change of outlook takes a whole lifetime to happen.
This gift is for you and your children (Acts 2.39). If you don’t have a home church, please join us at Trinity!
You are WELCOME HOME!
Nathan Hoff, pastor
Join us THIS Sunday for TRUE NORTH Sunday—Your kids will love it!
9:30 AM and/or 5:00 PM
Then, Join us for SUMMER SUNDAY “TRUE NORTH NIGHTS”!
Starting this week - we will gather on Sunday nights to learn to TRUST JESUS IN A WILD WORLD!
After the 5 pm worship service, everyone will gather for a meal in the MPR. Then, we'll enjoy family lessons that continue our 2025 True North VBS theme. We will sing the songs, work more on scripture memory and enjoy crafts and activities that we don't have time for during VBS week. Summer Sunday TRUE NORTH NIGHTS starts this week and go through August 10.
Our Summer Sermon Series at both 9:30 AM and 5 PM is Gospel Family: exploring what it is to be at home with God and at home with each other.
Attachment Theory is like a map of the mind (“a psychological framework”) that follows the journey of a life from it’s starting point to it’s telos—it’s goal. The starting point is our earliest longing, our primal need, which is the loving presence of a caregiver. Jesus calls our destination—abundant and abiding life (Gospel of John). Will we get there? How will we get there? Absent attachment through neglect, distraction, wounding, and various poverties can cause anxiety, avoidant, or self-sabotaging responses. Attacked attachment from abuse or other trauma can leave life long wounds inside and out. Artificial attachments are those coping mechanisms that promise relief but actually exacerbate our sense of lostness and loneliness. Jesus offers healing through his loving presence. Jesus invites us to come home.
June 29 Attachment—God’s Eternal Plan
(Garden story) Genesis 3.1-13
July 6 Absent Attachment
(Tamar’s story) 2 Samuel 13.15-22
July 13 Present Attachment
(Hagar’s story) Genesis 16.1-16
July 20 Attacked Attachment
(Jeremiah’s story) Jeremiah 21.1-13
July 27 Healthy Attachment
(Philippian girl’s story) Acts 16.16-34
August 3 Artificial Attachment
(Samson’s story) Judges 16.1-6
August 10 Real Attachment
(Paul’s story) Philippians 3.1-12
August 31 Welcome Home Sunday—
The Home God Builds
A wonderful teaching about trusting God, and not only for young people and kids but for everyone! I look forward to getting the next ones.