The Well Church of the Nazarene

Say What?

With our pastoral staff in Indianapolis attending the 30th General Assembly of the global Nazarene church, we'd like to thank Mike Griffith and Steve Brown for leading the music this morning, and Todd Gates for sharing the message! 

Who Do You Think You Are?

In Psalm 8, David ascribes glory and awe and wonder to the Creator for his majestic works, but then asks... who do we think we are that God would be mindful of us--and the answer? We are the most significant representation of God's glory!

Despite how small and insignificant you might be in the universe, YOU are a masterpiece. An image-bearer. Beloved. And regardless of what stage of life you're in--graduating high school or somewhere either before or after--your purpose is to bring glory to the Creator.  

The Real Thing

Being God's chosen people is not about separation, but rather invitation. The burn within us compels us to send smoke signals to a world that needs to hear the message, but it's not just looking the part, saying the right words, or doing the right things when others are watching. We are called to be the real thing. When you examine your faith, what fruit is your life producing?

Everyone Plants

Christ commands us to let our light shine before men, to use whatever means we have at our disposal to relieve the suffering of others and drive out the darkness that shrouds the lives of so many. When we are yoked to Jesus, we become light!  Time to get our hands dirty...

Water and Weeds

We all fall somewhere on a temperature scale of 1 (cold) to 10 (hot) when it comes to evangelism, and yet God calls us the salt of the earth--we bring flavor! Are we living a life that creates a thirst in others that can only be filled by the Living Water? In our ever-evolving--or devolving--society, preservation of the "salty" life we're called to live is more important than ever! So what can we do this week to yoke ourselves to Jesus and raise our outreach temperature by one degree?

Sowing the Seed

Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. And grace is getting what we don't deserve. Love is the doorway to grace, and though often misunderstood, grace is an incredible, indescribable, amazing gift of God.

Preparing the Soil

Our love for God shapes our heart. The more we love God, the more we see the world as Jesus sees it. And as we see others as Jesus does, love moves us to follow Him into the fields! Love prepares the soil for ministry, service, and outreach. And this "dirty work" is what opens us up to share life with those others may not see, or seek to avoid.

Jesus’ Easy Yoke

Jesus invites us to take his yoke upon us. To learn as He leads. But if we are "yoked"--joined or connected to something--that is anything but Jesus' easy yoke, then we are un-yoked to Him. Disconnected. Bearing a burden that is unnecessary. But Jesus invites us to more!

He wants us to dig in, get our hands dirty, and let him guide us toward loving Him and loving others according to His teaching, His Law. "For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29)

 

The Cup of Praise

When we stop praising, fulfilling our purpose becomes less of a priority. When we stop fulfilling our purpose we tend to be less concerned with God’s nature. And when we stop pursuing the nature of God and participating in the divine nature, we allow the sin from which God and Christ saved us back into our lives. 

When we lose sight of our WHY, we eventually lose our WAY. But praise be to God--hallelujah--for He came that we might find our way through Him. Jesus himself will drink from the fourth cup, The Cup of Praise, with us, and heaven will be filled with the praises of His people. For God's greatest promises are discovered when we accept His invitation to the party.

The Missing Cup

We have been studying how the Old Testament promises reflected in the Passover find fulfillment in Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And because the stone was rolled away, the tomb still empty, we can live our lives from a position of victory! God keeps his promises!

But whether we recognize it or not, we spend much of our time fighting, or reliving battles that have already been decided, living outside of those promises.  Drink of the fourth cup--the cup of praise! For death has been defeated. Jesus is ALIVE!