The North Church Women

A Word to the Wise: Exploring the Proverbs, L4, Charisse Compton, 6.27.23

Watch What You Say!

We all struggle to consistently use our mouths in service to God! May God to pour out fresh grace on us as we pause to evaluate the heart behind our words. Remember, you will sin, but in Jesus, there is grace for every failure. Remember, it is growth and not perfection that is the distinguishing feature of the Christian life. Remember to go to war with those sins of the heart, knowing that God himself will help you. Take advantage of all the help he offers—his word, prayer, the counsel of other Christians, the conviction and guiding of the Holy Spirit, his promise to provide an escape in every temptation, and the promised joy and satisfaction you will receive in doing his will. Seek the same joy that Jesus himself experienced when he spoke the words of life to the woman at the well and then to the Samaritan townspeople who listened to her testimony. May all our other appetites diminish this week as we increasingly feast on the good fruit of our own lips.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. —Proverbs 18:21.

A Word to the Wise: Exploring the Proverbs, L3, Kristin Tabb 6.21.23

Money and Wealth in Proverbs

In God’s economy, there are two ways of handling money: the way of wisdom that leads to eternal life, and the way of foolishness, which leads to eternal destruction. Mercifully, our failure to live wisely can point us to Jesus, the Perfect Covenant Keeper and the fulfillment of God’s perfect wisdom, who became poor for our sake, that we might be made spiritually rich. We are loved with a very great love!

A Word to the Wise: Exploring the Proverbs, L2, Lindsay Osborne 6.13.23

Keep Your Heart: Wise Emotions & Desires

Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to “Keep our hearts with all vigilance.” I hope our study this week allows you to listen to God’s wise and practical words for keeping our hearts. If we pour out our hearts to God and submit to his will, we can make our emotions and desires into strategic servants for holy living and a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father.

A Word to the Wise: Exploring the Proverbs, Introduction (Ryan Dembeck)

The Book of Proverbs is our training ground for making wise decisions in our daily lives, grounded in the fear of the Lord. An invitation to grow in this ancient, God-endorsed wisdom is extended to any who humble themselves and ask God for wisdom (James 1:5).

But on our own we can’t live skillfully and successfully as God has wired the world. The path of folly–choosing our desires over God’s commands–is too enticing in our own strength. But hallelujah, what a gracious gift given to those who are in Christ! In Jesus, we have all the treasures of wisdom (Colossians 2:2-3) and his Spirit working in us to grow in wisdom from above (James 3:17).

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.