The Well Church of the Nazarene

Gratitude and thankfulness is best measured through stewardship--the management of God's property, finances, or affairs. There are multiple layers to our conversation regarding stewardship, one of which is ownership. When it comes to being thankFULL, our horizontal measures (property lines, deeds, titles, bank accounts, etc.) will always leave us reaching for MORE but ultimately grasping LESS. 

New Life Sunday is a celebration of membership and baptism, as we come together for a time of worship as the family of God.

As a people, we have a natural tendency to share news that we find intriguing. News that resonates with us. That moves us. And the good news of the Gospel is "For God so loved..." -- are you ready and willing to share it?

Following Jesus into uncomfortable fields--a conversation with Cynthia Lee.

Special guest Dwayne Mills, Executive Director of Appalachia Reach Out (ARO) shares a message for Faith Promise.

When we truly embrace God's grace, it does something within us. And that grace that's within us has to come out! If it doesn't, then it's not grace. This creates a little tension between our actions and our words, because what's in us is always what comes out. Are you prepared to acknowledge what you know and let the Holy Spirit fill in the blanks? 

In continuing our previous conversation about "Dirty Work," the analogy remains: We are not the sower. We're not even the seed. We... are the dirt. But don't automatically assume that you're good soil. A Kingdom harvest must be predicated by people "in the Spirit!"

So prepare to get uncomfortable. As Dr. Jerry Porter once said, "Our passion to be Christlike--and to make Christlike disciples who mkae Christlike disciples--is not a program or a curriculum, it is a way of life. It is an intentionaly, relational, mutually empowering, lifelong Jesus pilgrimage."

It took a moment of wrestling with God for Jacob to discover God as his own, for his faith to become real. Because it's not about what God does FOR us, or THROUGH us, but what God does IN us. It's not WHO we are, but WHOSE we are. God wants to be known, and He wants us to love Him. That is where true blessing is found.

We often carry baggage as a consequence of our own actions, but sometimes we have baggage thanks to the actions of others. The gap between the best of what we want for ourselves and our everyday reality creates a burden we're not meant to carry. When we look for things or for people to fulfill our lives, we're bound to wake up next to Leah--in desperate need of a savior.  

If you're still searching for something, remember that our journeys all lead to the same place: Redemption. Grace. The Lion of Judah, the Child of Promise from the line of Leah. So keep loosening that grip on your baggage and lift up your hands in praise. 

Each of us faces moments where we are confronted with who we are apart from God--our sin, our pretending, our masquerade--and we're forced to be honest with who we are (and/or what we've become) and make a decision. Grace is offered to us all, but the choice to receive it comes with the realization that we're not deceiving God...just ourselves.