Digging Deeper – Page 5 – NorthStar Church Blog

Digging Deeper: The Overflow

Sarah Jefferson on January 10, 2025

“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

THE OVERFLOW

I know what you might be thinking: I have remembered my why. I have asked for changed thinking. I am trying to lock eyes with Jesus and wrestle out what I say I believe. But what’s next?

Pray for Endurance

“For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.” – Hebrews 10:36
Sometimes, the hard things we walk through last a moment or days, but other times they last years. Pray for endurance.

Just Do the Next Right Thing

“Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!” – Lamentations 3:22-24
My grandmother used to tell me, “Do not yield to the temptation of looking at everything at once, as if everything would happen at once and all the events of the day are crowded into an hour.”

We glorify the Lord in whatever He ordains, one step at a time. Walk in today’s mercy, believing that tomorrow will have new mercies for all it holds.

Wait and Watch

“I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what he will say to me and what I should reply about my complaint.” – Habakkuk 2:1
Get on your watchtower, waiting and looking for the Lord to work. Be expectant.

There is a fascinating study I read about the topography of tears. Researchers photographed 100 tears under a microscope, revealing an amazing spectrum. Tears of grief looked entirely different from tears of joy. Tears of liberation were distinct from tears of release. Even tears from laughter, change, or cutting onions had unique structures.

Tears and Transformation

Acts 9 details Jesus’ calling on Saul’s (Paul’s) life. Saul was blinded, and when the scales fell from his eyes, his restored sight immediately propelled him to become a world-changer for God’s kingdom.

While Saul had literal scales causing blindness, we too are often spiritually blinded. What if our tears held the scales? What if those very tears were the remedy for healing our sight? As the scale-filled tears fall, they give way to vision—clarity to see Jesus. Like a blind person seeing for the first time, the blur is removed: clarity, focus, vision… Jesus.

I don’t want this study on tears to minimize the pain you might be experiencing. It certainly doesn’t capture the depth of some of my hardships. But I want to elevate the truth that each tear has been accounted for and holds a purpose.

We serve a good Father who allows the circumstances of our lives to filter through His hands. He is our only hope.

Sarah Jefferson is married to Curtis and the mother to Grey, Sanders, and Collins. She is a rare Atlanta native, currently living in Acworth. Sarah began her career in public relations in the sports industry. Now, she is a high school English teacher Mt. Paran Christian School. When she’s not teaching, you can find her running or hiking the beautiful trails of north Georgia and spending time with her busy family.

Digging Deeper: Work Out Your Salvation

Sarah Jefferson on January 9, 2025

“Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.”

Philippians 2:12-13 (CSB)

WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION

When my mother-in-law died, I couldn’t even process her passing because my mother immediately fell ill. Then, eight months later, she also went to be with Jesus. Layered grief is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I tried to read my Bible, but I couldn’t understand any of it. I couldn’t listen to praise and worship because I couldn’t stop crying. And if I’m being fully transparent, I was disappointed with God’s plans for my life.

Elizabeth Elliott often said in her talks, “Sometimes life is so hard you can only do the next thing. Whatever that is, just do the next thing. God will meet you there.” When life feels a lot like you’re living in a snow globe and everything is turned upside down, it can be tempting to walk away. But the enemy of our souls is never closer than when we suffer.

There is no checklist for getting through hard circumstances, but we must continue to work out our salvation. Here are a few things that helped me:

Continue to lift your eyes to Jesus. I found it helpful to listen to podcasts and sermons that pointed me back to Him.
Surrender. This is hard but necessary.
“Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” – James 1:2-3
Oftentimes, my prayers were simply, “Jesus, I trust You.” I had no idea what He was doing in my life, but I knew He was faithful.
Wrestle with what you say you believe.
“Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.” – Hebrews 10:23
Find someone to walk alongside you who will continue to point you to Jesus. Don’t suffer alone! NorthStar pastors can help guide you to the right ministry to help you hold fast to Jesus.
Stay teachable.
“Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established. Teach me your way, Lord, and I will live by your truth. Give me an undivided mind to fear your name.” – Psalm 86:11
We often do not have because we do not ask (James 4). So, ask the Lord to teach you how to glorify Him in this hard season.

“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.” – Isaiah 50:7

All I can tell you is that Jesus is near to the brokenhearted, and the cleft of the rock is real. It’s the only thing that makes the heartbreak beautiful and purposeful. What once was the valley of the shadow of death, I now see as the valley of vision—a place to see Jesus.

Determine to see Him in this hardest pain.

Digging Deeper: Lock Eyes with Jesus

Sarah Jefferson on January 8, 2025

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:1 (CSB)

LOCK EYES WITH JESUS

We are now three days into talking about the hope of heaven. We have clarified that the hope of heaven doesn’t remove the pain of this life. It simply yet profoundly reminds us of our why, simultaneously giving peace in the midst of deep, penetrating loss and disappointment. Because our only purpose in this life is to glorify God in whatever He ordains, we cannot live for others, the things or pleasures of this world, or even the beautiful gifts God gives. Yesterday, we saw that the key to knowing God’s plans and purposes for our lives requires that our thinking aligns with God’s thinking.

But how do we do all of this? We follow Jesus’ example:

“Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2

You see, the overflow of locking eyes with Jesus is a life aglow with His glory. It takes our eyes off our circumstances and places them on the only sure thing in this world—Jesus Himself. We begin to see the beauty of His character, the blessings in His promises, and the peace in His presence.

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” – 2 Peter 1:3

Have you considered that as Jesus followers, we can share in His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption? That’s the hope that lights up the darkest nights. That’s the hope the world needs.

I don’t want to make light of our suffering. Some of us have endured wave upon wave of unbearable grief. Life is hard, but do not grow tired of doing good (Galatians 6:9). Get into God’s Word and lock eyes with Jesus so that, like Paul, you can say:

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14

Only when we lock eyes with Jesus do we see the hope of heaven. Only then can we press on. When we build altars in the wilderness, continually surrendering our will to His, we’ll look back and see that by His grace, mercy, and the empowering of His Spirit, we were walking on the water, hand in hand with our Savior.

Thank you, Jesus!

Digging Deeper: Changed Thinking

Sarah Jefferson on January 7, 2025

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then, you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

CHANGED THINKING

When Joni Eareckson Tada spoke at the Wheaton College Elizabeth Elliott Memorial Service, she said she knew there was more to suffering than understanding the reasons why God allows it or how you can benefit from it. She recognized that true maturity, true joy, and true contentment have less to do with a mechanistic assessment of God’s plan and purposes for your life and more to do with being pushed into—and at times shoved and pressed up against—the breast of Jesus Christ until your heart begins beating in rhythm with His. It’s not a tidy, orderly list but something very messy: an earnest grappling and wrestling with the angel of the Lord until He touches us in heart and hip.

She said, “When you are decimated by affliction, when you are down for the count, you learn Elizabeth’s doctrine. The Bible’s answers are never to be separated from the tender, sweet, holy, precious God of the Bible—food and drink to those of us that God places on altars of affliction.”

Tada, as you may recall, dove into the Chesapeake Bay at the young age of 16, broke her neck, and has spent the majority of her life paralyzed in a wheelchair. Now 75 years old, she has endured stage 3 breast cancer and currently lives with chronic pain in spite of her paralysis. Without a doubt, she has learned about the hope of heaven.

Romans 8:28 tells us we serve a sovereign God who is weaving all the events of our lives together for our good and His glory. But how can some of this be good? In the throes of life’s hardest moments, Scripture offers profound insight into God’s thoughts versus our own.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9

Yet, when you are staring at the effects of adultery, a cancer diagnosis, the loss of a loved one, or a wayward child, it’s hard to imagine how such hardship can be seen as good. Romans 12:2 offers the key:

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Philippians 4:8 adds this powerful command:

“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

If His thoughts are not our thoughts, then the prayer becomes, “God, change my thinking on this. You are the good thing You will not withhold. Give me eyes to see You in this impossibly hard season. Help me to fix my thoughts on Your promises and character.”

After all, He is our only hope in this life.

Digging Deeper: Remember Your Why

Sarah Jefferson on January 6, 2025

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

REMEMBER YOUR WHY

“But what does hope mean?” I practically begged my mentor and spiritual mother of nearly 40 years.

After decades of following Jesus, the layered grief of losing my mother-in-law and my mother within eight months of each other had left my head in a million places, uncertain of everything I thought I knew. Everyone kept talking about the “hope of heaven,” and I believed our mothers were there—in the very real place of heaven, in the presence of Jesus. But this hope wasn’t easing the pain I was left with.

In her kind, gentle, but confident voice, Susan replied, “Sarah, this is when you fall back on what you know.”

So, friend, let’s do just that. When life feels completely upside down, overwhelming, and absolutely nothing like you imagined, go back to the beginning. Trust the process.

Who made you? Genesis 2 tells us it was God who made us.
What else did God make? Genesis 1 tells us God made all things.
Why did God make you and all things? Isaiah 43:7 reminds us that we were made for His glory.

We were made by an intentional, loving God who sees the beginning from the end. Nothing surprises Him—not the loss, the diagnosis, the broken relationships, the financial hardships, the distant marriage, the infertility, raising teens, or the loneliness. He is aware of it all.

When we remind ourselves that we were created by an all-knowing God, who made us to glorify Him in whatever He ordains, we remove ourselves from the center of the story. This life is not about us! It’s not about our wants and desires, or even our “rights.” It’s certainly not about our happiness or what’s fair. It’s about Jesus and His glory. Glorifying God is our one great calling.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!” – Psalm 84:11

The good thing He does not withhold is Himself. Pause and sit with that for a moment. Living for His glory begins with sitting—the secret to the true Christian experience. You see, before we can live for His glory, we must prioritize being still (Psalm 46:10), begging like Moses (Exodus 33) to see His glory in the very place we doubt it might be.

Digging Deeper: Honor God in Everything

Lee Wilson on January 3, 2025

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42 (NLT)

HONOR GOD IN EVERYTHING

I am a very practical guy. I like big ideas, and I appreciate good vision casting, but I immediately want to dice them up into pragmatic and actionable plans. So, the final commitment we were challenged to make this past Sunday was to honor God every day.

Sounds simple, right? Well, how do we do that? I view this in three different categories for myself: as a spouse, as a father, and as an employee. So how do I honor God every day in each of these categories?

As a spouse, I try to do what Paul says in Ephesians and love my wife as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). This kind of love looks different every day but is rooted in the sacrificial love Christ had for His church.

Sometimes that means if she has to work late, I handle dinner and the kids, running to a baseball field or the grocery store if necessary. Other times, it means I grab her an iced coffee after an early morning for her. And sometimes, it is as simple as putting down the phone, turning the game off, and just listening to her.

When I put on my dad hat, the way I honor God looks different. As the father of two young boys, I spend a lot of time breaking up fights and breaking out the “dad voice” when needed. Other times, it’s the stuff dreams are made of, like playing catch with my sons.

One of the greatest baseball movies of all time is Field of Dreams. If you watch the whole movie, there are all kinds of intricate stories about ghosts, former players, and a magical cornfield. But how does the movie end? What is it all really about? It’s about a son who wants to play catch with his dad. I will stop anything I’m doing when one of my boys wants to play catch. I live for that.

As their dad, one of the keys is ensuring they see Jesus every day. We are finding new ways to introduce Scripture to them and make it part of our routine, but the best way they will see Jesus is in how I treat them and their mom. They are a precious gift that I thank God for every day, even on the hard ones.

Paul references the way he behaved with the Thessalonians “like a father with his own children,” encouraging them and urging them to “walk in a manner worthy of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12). I think that is an ideal description of how I hope to raise my boys into men who walk in a manner worthy of God.

In order to provide for my wife and kids, I have to work. God blessed me with a job that pays the bills and enables me to be home every night and attend every baseball game or chorus performance. To honor God at work, I simply try to adhere to Paul’s command in Colossians:
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17).

If I do everything in the name of Jesus, I have a chance to honor God in everything I do.

Lee Wilson and his wife, Deanna, have been NorthStar Church members since 2010. They are parents to Everett, Henry and Roselyn. Lee is passionate about sports (Go Braves, Go Dawgs) and has the pleasure to serve on the worship team as a bassist.

Digging Deeper: Be Bold Enough to Share

Lee Wilson on January 2, 2025

Acts 2:42 (NLT)

BE BOLD ENOUGH TO SHARE

One of the commitments we were challenged to make this past Sunday was to share Christ with unbelievers. At the end of the Gospel of Matthew is the famous Great Commission, where Jesus challenged His followers to do that very thing. After His resurrection, Jesus commands the eleven remaining disciples to make “disciples of all nations” and assures us that He is with us to the end of the age (Matthew 28:16-20).

Sharing Christ is sometimes the most daunting task a believer can have. The conversations can be challenging. We might be afraid to broach the subject with someone for fear of their response, or perhaps we doubt our ability to articulate it correctly since we aren’t theologically trained.

The bottom line is an uncomfortable truth—you have been commanded by your Lord to do it. We all have different people in our paths to whom God has intended for us to reflect Christ. Sometimes our testimony can be through our actions, sometimes through our words, and sometimes through our story.

Yet we must always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). Have you ever stopped to consider that? I don’t know about you, but I don’t get randomly asked every day why I am a Christian. I sometimes doubt if I could even give a substantive answer to that question, so I have tried to “be prepared” by finding people who are smarter than me (which is easy) to give advice.

Dr. John Piper preached on this very text once and offered direct guidance on how we are supposed to be prepared to give this reason. He first cited Luke 21:14, in which Jesus is preparing His disciples for the persecution they will face:
“There will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to make your case. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”

In this guidance, Jesus clearly says not to meditate beforehand on your answer and instead promises to speak through you when that moment comes. What a relief!

So what does Peter mean when he says to always be prepared? Piper points to the beginning of that verse, where we are commanded to reverence Christ or to regard Him as holy, depending on your translation. This reverence is the key, according to Piper:
“Reverence the Lord Christ in your heart, and you will always have a reason to give for why you are hopeful.”

We can all agree the world needs Christ, and we are commanded to be part of the way He is revealed in this world. Feel the relief that this isn’t a call to be a theologian; the only thing you need to do is revere Christ. When the time comes to share, Christ promises to give you the words to say!

Digging Deeper: Going the Extra Mile

Lee Wilson on January 1, 2025

Acts 2:42 (NLT)

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

I have worked at a Chick-fil-A restaurant for almost nine years. Obviously, restaurant success is often predicated on how good your food is, but it is carried by the service you provide and the way in which you provide it.

One of the hallmarks of Truett Cathy’s company is “Second Mile Service.” It is a part of restaurant training for team members and is at the core of the company’s direction. The idea is to go the “extra mile” in order to surpass expectations and delight the guest.

It takes its root in Matthew 5:41, which states simply, “If anyone makes you go one mile, go with him two miles.” Going the extra mile, in my opinion, is what makes Chick-fil-A different than any other restaurant. You can find good chicken or fast service at other places, but the way you feel when you are at a Chick-fil-A should be the differentiator.

I am responsible for the hiring and orientation at our location, and we take a lot of care to build an eye for service among our teams. We focus on finding opportunities to go the extra mile. Sometimes it is as small as carrying out a high chair for a mom who has her hands full with children, and other times, bigger moments present themselves.

This past Sunday, we were challenged to commit to loving others through service, especially since, as Christians, people watch what we do. Our reputation matters because we have the honor and responsibility of being flagbearers for Christ. What an honor that is!

The idea of walking around carrying a flag that says “Christian” on it should influence each and every move we make. While none of us is perfect, we should daily strive to be more Christ-like in all that we do. The Apostle John says, “By this we know we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:5-6).

Sometimes I get tripped up because I am acutely aware of all the ways I fall short of Christ. I have no grand delusions of any sense of worthiness for Christ. While that is true, it doesn’t change the fact that we are clearly commanded to walk like Him every day.

One of the key elements in accomplishing this is to spend time with Him, both in prayer and in the Word. These habits must be a part of our daily walk, or else we can experience drift and become lost.

Paul offers us several practical ways in which we can love others and walk like Christ, chief among them being his simple claim in Colossians 3:17:
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

This is our lens through which we do anything and everything—to do it all in the name of Christ!

Digging Deeper: Be Atomic

Lee Wilson on December 31, 2024

Acts 2:42 (NLT)

BE ATOMIC

A few years ago, I was able to attend a leadership conference in Chicago. It was my first trip to that beautiful city, and the experience was capped off by an afternoon at the friendly confines, where the Braves coincidentally happened to be in town. An unforgettable experience.

The conference was filled with great speakers, but only a few really resonated with me. Chief among them was James Clear, the author of one of my favorite books, Atomic Habits. After hearing Clear speak, I immediately bought the book and began reading it.

It is an easy read, and the concept is fairly simple, yet extremely applicable and practical. The idea is to create habits that help improve your performance or a particular skill incrementally—1% at a time. The concept is predicated on the notion that we can’t make wholesale changes all at once but instead have to focus on building a process that helps us make small improvements constantly. By doing this, we build on our success and make incremental gains over time, which culminate in the wholesale change we are seeking.

One of the best examples he uses is the British Olympic cycling team, which was so bad at one point that they were not allowed to use branded materials to compete, for fear in the cycling world that their poor performance would damage the brands. They adopted this incremental gains approach and, in time, became an Olympic superpower.

We can apply these principles to working out in the gym, improving our grades at school, or growing in our spiritual walk. This past Sunday, we were challenged to commit to growing spiritually.

Spiritual growth can look different in methodology for all of us. You might have the goal of reading the whole Bible in the new year, and that’s a great goal to have. Odds are, you can’t read it in a day. So, you will have to build and develop a routine to read a little at a time and ultimately reach your goal as the year progresses.

My goal for growing spiritually in 2025 centers around my two sons and my wife. I feel like we need to reset for the new year, as my boys are getting older and are ready for a deeper approach to faith.

2024 was a very busy working year for my wife and me, and that presented some new challenges to our faith journey. So, we are recalibrating what that looks like moving forward, and we don’t yet have the answer. Sometimes, not having the answer is what feels daunting.

We can’t reach the mountaintop right away, and that can demotivate us from even beginning to climb. But if we take one step at a time, we can reach our ultimate destination. The key is to keep climbing—or growing. Because whatever isn’t growing is dying.

Digging Deeper: Marrow Deep

Lee Wilson on December 30, 2024

Acts 2:42 (NLT)

MARROW DEEP

We hear from our pastor, Mike Linch, all the time that we weren’t meant to do life alone. God demonstrates this in His will for mankind by saying that the first human ever, Adam, “shouldn’t be alone” (Genesis 2:18). We need companionship, we need love, and we need friendship.

On March 4, 1861, our 16th President was sworn into office. Just over a month into his presidency, the Civil War began. Needless to say, there would be a great need for companionship, friendship, and guidance in the months that followed for Abraham Lincoln.

At the onset of the war, Lincoln was routinely involved in the military movements and decision-making at a close level. While Lincoln was well-read in history, the former lawyer and congressman wasn’t keen on making military decisions and sought to relinquish that responsibility to a qualified and like-minded military mind.

The problem for the President was finding the right man. As the conflict drew on, Lincoln eventually decided to move on from General George McClellan, who was charismatic and popular among his direct reports but lacked the ability to mesh with the folksy western lawyer in Lincoln.

Lincoln set his sights on General Ulysses Grant, who earned several promotions after successful battle campaigns and possessed a relentless pursuit of victory. Despite several advisors offering criticism of the flawed man in Grant, Lincoln stuck with his gut and forged an unbreakable friendship with him.

The friendship of the two men who would ultimately lead the Union to victory was forged in the fires of criticism. Both men were routinely doubted for their abilities to accomplish that task, and within the walls of their friendship came the crucial decisions that would win the war.

In the 2012 movie entitled Lincoln, we find the President pondering a crucial decision that Grant has advised him to make. While debating aloud whether or not to do it, he says of Grant, “My trust in him is marrow deep.”

We were challenged this past Sunday to get to know others more deeply. I’d say “marrow deep” is about as deep as it gets.

I have often thought of that line and wondered, “Who do I hold in that regard?” That list isn’t (and probably shouldn’t be) that long. Those types of relationships are forged in the battles we fight in life.

We know the battles are coming, for Jesus Himself warns us that in this life, we will find trouble. But He has overcome this world (John 16:33). Praise God for that! But now what?

While we wait for Him to return, we have to find the people He leaves in our path to help us win the daily battles we face, as well as the battles that bring us to our knees and shake us to the core. We have to find our “marrow deep” people, and we have to be that person for others.

For we weren’t meant to do life alone!