The Update

Here is a perfect video for this week, being the start of Lent and all. It’s a collection of illustrations that an artists drew to account for Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, and subsequent temptation by Satan. Here’s the story out of Matthew 4:

The Temptation of Jesus

¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. ² For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. ³ During that time the devil^[a] came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴ But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[b]”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, ⁶ and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

   ‘He will order his angels to protect you.
   And they will hold you up with their hands
      so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’^[c]”

⁷ Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’^[d]”

⁸ Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

¹⁰ “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God
and serve only him.’^[e]”

¹¹ Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

and here’s the video…

As promised, here's the sweet video that Linda made from the Becker Retreat. How many times do you show up?

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder that we are starting the Lent challenge this Wednesday. What is the “Lent Challenge” you ask? Well, allow us to explain:

Lent is an early-Christian tradition where followers of Christ voluntarily abstain and/or fast from particular foods/practices during the forty day period leading up to Easter. While this is not required as a Christian, it can be a beneficial practice in self-control and sacrifice to God. Thus the challenge is to think of something (or somethings) that you can give up for the forty days leading up to Easter!

That’s the basic gist. So the question is, what are you giving up for the Lent Challenge? Let us know in the comments what it is so we can cheer you on and keep you accountable!

Friends and family are invited to join along too. Maybe you give something up as a family! We’ll check in for updates as the challenge goes on. Good luck and God Bless!

(Leave your Lent Challenge in the Comments [just click “comments”])

Howdy folks,

This is your non-video update for the week. I’m sick, so instead of listening to me hack my way through announcements like a chain-smoker, I though we’d stick to written form. So here’s what you need to know about this week

• The Junior High are going to Feed My Starving Children Wednesday Night
• We will meet at the Maple Grove Community Center (MGCC) @ 5:30pm
• We will finish at the normal time (8:30pm) at the Case’s home (regular Wed. place)
• If you can’t make it to the MGCC at 5:30 feel free to join us at the Case’s, we hope to be back there by 7:30pm.
• Hooray for Becker!
• Thanks to everyone who made the Becker Retreat so successful. Youth Leader Linda Dietz made an awesome video that we will post up here tomorrow morning, be sure to check it out.
• It’s time to Rock!
• The NSL Worship band is leading worship at Northwood this weekend! If you don’t usually make it a point to go to “big church” on Sundays you should (every week) but especially this week to cheer on you’re rockin’ pals as they lead us a worship-throw-down of awesomeness.
• The NSL Jukebox is no more…
• The company that ran the NSL Jukebox for us has gone under, so the Jukebox isn’t online anymore. I’m hoping to find an alternative way to provide great Christian music for your listening enjoyment, I’ll keep you posted.

That’s all for now, I hope you’re all having a great week. You are loved!

I was introduced to a new website yesterday called the “Global Rich List.” It’s a site that has you put in your annual income and it tells you how wealthy you are compared to the rest of the world.

So I plugged in the median income of Maple Grove ($90,000/year), hit ‘Show Me The Money’, and voila! Richest 0.72% of the world. There are something like 6.7 billion people in the world who earn less than that a year.

“But wait!” you say, “I don’t make that much!” You’re still filthy stinking rich. If you live around the U.S. poverty line you’re living of around $14,000/year. That still puts you in the top 12.5% of the world. So by the time you’re “poor” in the United States, there are still around 6 billion people poorer than you in the world.

But the real kick in the teeth for me was when I figured out where I would be in my old high school job. I made a unexciting $125/month. That still put me in the top 1/4 of the world, there are still 5.8 billion people who live off less than I made in high school (and I didn’t have to pay for food or clothes or anything). 

So what should we do? I think we simply need to hold our money more loosely. The love of money is a sin, and one that Jesus is pretty serious about staying away from. We’re in the middle of a recession, with headlines every day talking about what a catastrophe it is. While it isn’t pleasant to hear of friends and family losing their jobs or taking cuts in pay, I am always in favor of some perspective. And the perspective here is that we are filthy, stinking, rich.

(ht to Mark Collier for the link)

Hey everyone, just a quick reminder that today is the Deadline for the Becker Retreat. Head on over to www.northwoodcc.org/Becker to sign up/get details. Thanks!

-Luke Trouten
Yesterday morning, Kathy Collier told us about her trip to Africa and work with refugees there. She shared great stories and showed us tremendous pictures of smiling children, the slums, African animals, and the many people she met while she was there. The thing that struck me was the tremendous cost that came with being a Christian in the slums of an African country.

Here we set our Facebook status to “Going to church” and drive up to the front door. There they walk a mile to a bus so nobody knows where they went.

Here we can by shirts that say “Jesus is my best friend” at Wal-Mart. There their lives are in danger because of medal with with a Bible verse written on it.

Here we have to pay some money to go on a retreat. There the knowledge that they went on the retreat would be cause for them to be put to death.

Here, some people just get a little uncomfortable when they find out I’m a pastor. There, the Pastors in the slums are so unwelcomed by the slumlords that they have a standing death threat against them.They could be murdered at any time because of what they do.

I don’t feel like it’s every really cost me that much to follow Jesus. Here, being a Christ-follower has meant living in my car for a time, paying more for college than I had hoped, or earning less than my peers by taking ministry jobs.

That seems pretty lame when you consider the cost for following Jesus there is tallied up by the man attacked with machetes (scars across his face) or the man who is without a leg, or the girl who gets beat each day… all because they follow Christ.

I am blessed. I am selfishly thankful that I don’t have to endure the same hardships I heard about yesterday. But I don’t think I understand the value of my relationship with God, because the cost is not as steep for me.

I don’t know the secret to a passionate faith like the one you must have to risk your life for Jesus’ name… but I do know that Sunday morning I felt like a very lazy Christian, and that I need to change.