It’s that time of the year! For those of you who are not familiar with “March Madness” it refers to the NCAA men & women’s division 1 basketball championship tournament that happens in March every year. It seems like March Madness is something that gets the whole nation pumped up and excited like the Superbowl. People are filling out the tournament brackets to see if they can guess the outcome of the tournament. For this year’s tournament, Warren Buffett has offered a 1 billion dollar prize for a perfect bracket. The odds of filling out the perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. For next year’s tournament, maybe I should go to the Media and throw out a big amount of money prize for the perfect bracket because the chances of someone winning that prize is almost zero.
As I was driving home from work on Wednesday, I heard a debate on the radio on who each person thought was going to win the tournament. There were 5 men involved in this debate and each person sounded so intelligent that I was amazed by how much information each person knew about each basketball team represented in the tournament. These people truly deserve to be called experts and if someone was to guess the perfect bracket, it would be one of these people for sure.  
However, if you have ever been through March Madness before, you know there is always the “upset” factor that messes up everyone’s bracket, including the experts’.  Since I started following March Madness, there has always been at least one upset that messed up everyone’s brackets. This year’s tournament started out with a huge upset and there were at least 2 more upsets on the first day of the tournament alone. How ridiculous is that! How are we supposed to get the perfect bracket and win the billion dollar prize with all these “upset” factors?! I guess that’s the beauty of “March Madness” that draws me in.
Who’s your top pick for this year’s March Madness? Although I didn’t fill out a complete bracket this year, I am hoping for either Kansas or Kentucky to be the winner of this year’s tournament. I know Kentucky may not be the best pick but I think they have so much talent and potential to be the winners. I guess we will find out in a week!
Being surrounded by so much uncertainty in life, I am reminded of the confidence and hope in Jesus Christ. There is no “upset” for us because Jesus Christ has already won the battle for us on the cross. We just have to trust in Him and walk victoriously. How awesome it is to know that we will all receive the prize that God set before us whether we live a perfect life or not!  

From Pastor Brian’s Heart
March 23, 2014

We’re in the midst of studying through the book of Nehemiah on Sundays.  I’m really enjoying it immensely because I sense that God is speaking to our congregation through this book.  God knows well what we’ve been through as a church, what condition we are in, and to where He wants to take us.  Someone asked me the other day, “What is our vision as a church now as we move forward?”  I simply replied that the vision that God had given to NCFC from the beginning still remains the same, “Make disciples of all nations and glorify God.”  No matter who’s at NCFC, the original vision that was given by God to NCFC should continue on because the head of NCFC is always Jesus Christ.  People change but Jesus never changes.
Yes, we’ve been experiencing some glitches recently, and some portions of walls and gates have been broken down in the city of NCFC.  But God says He will restore the broken down walls and gates of NCFC.  Then, how does He want to do it?  I truly believe that God is revealing to us how He wants to restore us through the book of Nehemiah.  It’s almost like He is giving us a manual which provides step by step procedures which we can follow to resolve problems.
What really fascinates me is that Nehemiah was a layperson like you who lead the task of rebuilding the broken wall of Jerusalem which seemed to be an insurmountable task.  How was he able to do it as a layperson?  Nehemiah caught God’s vision because his heart was focused on God’s heart.  And he cared so much about the wellbeing of Jerusalem that he was weeping and praying for the restoration of Jerusalem.  His heart was so focused on it. 
Do you see the broken walls and gates of NCFC?  Can we do the same as Nehemiah has done?  I would really like to invite all of you to come out to our Saturday morning prayer and monthly praise and prayer meetings to come together and cry out and pray to our God for the restoration of our church.  As Nehemiah began to cry out to God, He began to move and opened the door.  Do you know our prayer can move God?  Prayer moves God because it is partnership with God.  It is not an act of forcing God to do what is against His will.  But as we ask for what He wants to carry out, He begins to move.  Does God want to restore NCFC?  Is it His will?  I have no doubt it’s indeed His will.  Then, let us cry out together and reach out to Him.
God also mobilized everyone to do the work of restoration through Nehemiah.  God knows one person cannot do the restoration alone.  Can you imagine Nehemiah and a few others trying to do all the repairs of the broken walls and gates of Jerusalem?   God wanted everyone to come and work together.  Everyone needs to be involved.  I talked about “divide and conquer” last week.  Everyone gets an assignment.  It’s much easier and faster to do it together.
When we work together, everyone feels they played a part in the restoration and contributed to make a difference.  Also, God’s blessings and rewards are shared.  God wants to bless as many people as He can.   And in fact, if one or a few people do everything, those few may end up taking God’s blessing away from others.  In the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-7) describes God’s desire to bless as many people as He can.  A landowner went out again and again to hire workers for his vineyard from early in the morning until the late afternoon.  Verses 6-7 say, ‘“And about five o’clock that afternoon he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, “Why are you standing here all day without work?”  They said to him, “no one has hired us.”  He said to them, “You go and work in the vineyard too.”” 
How about you?  Are you still standing without work because no one asked you?  The vineyard at NCFC is in need of many workers who are willing to come and work.  The harvest is plentiful, and workers are few.   Come and let us work together!

From Pastor Neil’s Heart
March 16, 2014