The Well Church of the Nazarene

The call to holiness begins with (and is about) our relationship with God--a vertical atonement in which God draws near to us and we draw near to Him, and then its horizontal application to our everday lives. 

Whatever is inside of us is what comes out of us. If we have discontent, bitterness, hurt... that's what we'll give others. If we're drifting off course or allowing the world to fill us, that's all we'll be able to offer, because our horizontal relationship is an expression of our vertical relationship. If the vertical is out of whack, so is our witness to the world.

We like the idea of being in the presence of the Holy Spirit, but often draw the line at wanting His presence in us. But the filling of the Holy Spirit that takes place in Acts 2:3-4 is a complete and total permeation and saturation of the Spirit--there was fire in the house and in those waiting in the upper room! And just like it is with smoked meat, where the evidence of a fire (smoke) is soaked up by the meat and not just on the surface like it is with imitation smoke, you can't cover up the real thing!

Are you wanting God to simply fill the room? Or to fill YOU? The difference is critical... and a fire is burning for those who would seek it.

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! 

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.  

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?

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...

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?

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.

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 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)