The North Church Women

MOMS: Friendship: Life Together in the Day to Day, Heather Elting-Ballard, April 18, 2023

Having friendships where we can be “real” with each other is a desire for many women—especially in a large church. But it can be hard to know how to initiate and build these kinds of deeper relationships, especially in the midst of busy mothering. Drawing on years of mentoring and small group leading in a number of settings, Heather talks about building intentional friendships that help us see Jesus.

(Note that the last portion of the podcast includes some group discussion, so sound quality is not optimal.)

Jesus! Week 10: King of kings | Lord of lords (Pam Larson with Beth Nordquist)

As we come to the close of our study, is your heart bursting with joy? We’ve seen picture after picture—portraits of our precious Savior, painted for us in his Word. My prayer is that you have seen Jesus as he is revealed in the Bible, and that in seeing him, you love Jesus more now than when you started on this journey. And I hope you will share with others the sweet good news of his love and grace. One day we will all appear before the Lord of lords and King of kings, the Refiner and Purifier, and the Righteous Judge. Is your name written in his book, the Lamb’s book of Life? Can you say with Paul that he is your precious treasure? Sister, I pray that you will treasure Jesus in all of life, that you will count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. —Philippians 3:8

When you are afraid, trust him as your Rock, your Savior, you Defender. Run to your Refuge. When you are sad or discouraged, remind yourself that he is your Counselor, the Atoning Sacrifice for all your sins, your High Priest, and Advocate before the throne of God. When you are confused, seek the Light of the World, the Way, the Truth and the Life. When you are thirsty and hungry, drink deeply from the living water he gives and feast on the Bread of Life. He is Jesus. Yeshua, “the Lord is salvation.” Turn to Jesus, your Treasure in every circumstance of your life. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."—Colossians 1:17

Jesus! Week 9: Revealed! (Pam Larson with Charisse Compton)

In this lesson, we pondered many titles and names of Jesus: the Author of Life, the judge of the living and the dead, the Righteous One, the Hope of Israel, the firstfruits, the last Adam, the cornerstone, the founder and perfecter of our faith, the head over all things, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Creator who holds all things together, the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, the hope of glory and our all in all! He is ​​the radiance of God’s glory, the exact imprint of his nature, the image of God, the upholder of the universe, our mediator, our ransom, our reconciler, our advocate! He is FOR us, not against us!! He is our forever perfect and great high priest, our atoning sacrifice and propitiation for our sins!

With His blood He has saved me

With His pow'r He has raised me

To God be the glory

For the things He has done

MOMS: Legacies of Grace, Jan Howard, April 4, 2023

Jan Howard shares many stories and observations of God’s grace both to herself and also to other godly women in her life. “Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, if with His love He befriend thee!”

Jan's recommended reading: 
Recommended reading:
Honey for a Child’s Heart, by Gladys Hunt
His Loving Law, Our Lasting Legacy, by Jani Ortlund
Dwelling Places: Words to Live in Every Season, by Lucinda Secrest McDowell
Disciplines of a Godly Woman, by Barbara Hughes
The Day is Yours: Slow Spirituality in a Fast-Moving World, by Ian Stackhouse
Every Moment Holy, by Douglas McKelvey
A Heart for God, Perpetual calendar of Elisabeth Elliot quotes w related Scriptures

Jesus! Week 8: Resurrection (Pam Larson with Julia Dembeck)

Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and because of his love, he worked a plan that was very different from theirs. He showed them His glory and His power. He revealed to them who He is:

Jesus said: “I AM the resurrection and the life”

He didn’t say, “I can resurrect people” and “I can give life” (although awesomely true!) John’s emphasis here is not on what Jesus does (or does not do), but on who Jesus is—the Resurrection and the Life! Perhaps the most loving thing God can do for us is to show us more of Himself in the hard times, to show us the preciousness of Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life!

Here’s John Piper’s definition of love based on John 11: “Love is doing whatever you have to do — or whatever God has to do — at whatever cost, in order for the glory of God to be shown.”

In what other ways did we see the preciousness of Jesus in this lesson? Here are just a few:

• He weeps with us.
  • *Jesus wept. John 11:35.
  • *he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… (Isaiah 53)
• He raises us from death, spiritually and eternally.
  • *“Lazarus, come out.” John 11:43
  • *And you were dead in the trespasses … But God, … made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:1–8
  • *So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 1 Corinthians 15:42
• He calls us by name.
  • *Jesus said to her, “Mary.” John 20:16
  • *The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3
  • *Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1
• He gives us eyes to see him.
  • *she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. → “I have seen the Lord” John 20:14; 18
  • *For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

MOMS: Sharing Christ With Friends and Family, Vince & Kathy Johnson 2.21.23

With the preciousness of Jesus in mind, we will look to God for wisdom and insight for sharing Christ with others in a winsome and practical way.

Jesus! Week 7: Chosen One | Atoning Sacrifice (Pam Larson)

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

God’s amazing grace in giving his one and only Son, Jesus to die in our place, while we were still dead sinners, is all we need to trust God in even the most difficult of times. Jesus himself is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for us. Never have we been more lifeless and helpless than when we were dead in our sins; and never has God shown his matchless grace, incredible wisdom, awesome power, lavish love, and commitment to save us than he has in giving his Son, the Chosen One, Jesus, for us as the Atoning Sacrifice!

Jesus! Week 6: Lamb of God | Son of God (Pam Larson with Renée P)

This week we searched the scriptures asking, “Where’s the Lamb?”

• In Genesis, God provided one lamb for one son (Genesis 22)
• In Exodus, the people were instructed to kill one lamb per household or gather with neighbors together under one roof (Exodus 12)
• In the sacrificial system, one lamb atoned for the sins of the whole nation (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy)

But all these lambs could never really take our place.  For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4) So the question continued through the Bible: Where is the lamb who can fully and finally die in our place, once and for all so that we don’t have to? The Lamb of God, the Creator of all lambs, was born in a manger in Bethlehem and came to do something that no other lamb could ever do. He came to give his life as the once-for-all-perfect-sacrifice. Our Passover Lamb. 

• Jesus, the Lamb of God, one Lamb for  the sins of the world! (John 1:29)
• Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is also the Good Shepherd (John 10; 1 Peter 2:22-25)

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  For you were straying like sheep, [do you hear Isaiah 53?] but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

• Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is also the Door (Exodus 12; John 10) The Israelites went in through the blood-sealed door on the first Passover night and found protection and redemption. The next morning, they went out the same door, and out of Egypt and began their journey as a newborn nation. We are born into a new life through the blood of Jesus.  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9)
• Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is also the Bread of Life (John 6) When Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life,”   he added,  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples for the last time in the Upper Room before he went to the cross. He gave his disciples bread and and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”(Matthew 26:26). Then he gave them the cup and said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (v. 28). 
• Jesus, the Lamb of God, slaughtered for us, his body broken, torn, crushed. His blood poured out for us.

Jesus! Week 5: I AM (Pam Larson with Jean T)

“If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”― John Piper, A Hunger For God

What a feast was set for us in John’s gospel this week! But have we truly recognized the riches of grace set before us in God’s word? Jesus told the religious leaders, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). They failed to see the true content and purpose of the Scriptures, which is to testify about Jesus. Oh sisters, let us heed the words of Jesus, come to him, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Door, the Good Shepherd and the True Vine.

Jesus! Week 4: Precious Pictures (Pam Larson with Amy Katterson)

This week we saw one magnificent portrait of Jesus as our precious Teacher. In many different places: synagogues, mountainsides, lakes, one-on-one clandestine meetings at night and unexpected conversations … Jesus taught. He taught in public and in private, in cities and in the countryside, during the day and during the night, to the rich and to the poor, to strangers and to friends. He had no prestigious degree from an esteemed university, and no modern resources like sound systems or powerpoint. Sermons, conversations, word pictures, images, and parables. His words, recorded for us by the gospel writers,  are unforgettable and timeless. The greatest of all teachers used words to paint pictures for us, and those pictures point to precious gospel truths. “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

In this lesson, we examined images such as birth, water, spirit, wind, bronze serpent, living water. In the parables, all sorts of characters point to Jesus: bridegroom, beloved son, heir, the shepherd who leaves the 99 to go after one lost sheep, master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard, the king’s Son, a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property, a great physician, a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants, a man who had two sons (one who was a prodigal.) We learned that no one (including an educated religious leader) is beyond the need for Jesus and no one (including a despised, hopeless woman at the well) is beyond the reach of Jesus.