The Well Church of the Nazarene

Tonight we're continuing w/ Dr. Manley's series of revival messages centered on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew, chapters 5-7.

Dr. Stephen Manley continues his revival series with the Sermon on the Mount: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is HERE!

Dr. Stephen Manley joins us for revival this week. This morning, we explore the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. 

On Easter, we celebrate the physical resurrection of Jesus. This changes everything, because Jesus invites us to come out of our graves and fully live. “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)

What if the object of life was not to get our own way, but to find ourselves in God's way? There is simplicity in this understanding, but simple does not mean easy. Even Jesus wrestled with the Father's will in the garden.

The resurrection was only realized through the obedience of Jesus--our resurrection will come through our own willingness to join Jesus in the garden saying, "Not my will, but your will."

Our podcast is back this week, as pastors Paul, Mara, and Josh discuss weeks 4 & 5 of our Fuse Breaker series. It is our hope that these conversations will inspire you to talk about our weekly teachings outside of Sunday morning services, because dialogue and study is an important part of being a Christ-centered community.

CHALLENGE: Using these discussions as a springboard, who can you reach out to this week for a bit of intentional conversation centered around the Lord's Prayer and the topics we've covered in this series of sermons? And if that's something you're already doing, how has your growth as a Christian been impacted by instigating further dialogue like this?

It's easy for our religion to simply become phrases we use. But in the Lord's Prayer, God invites us to rely on Him for our daily bread. It's not an otherworldly practice--He is invading our day to day life! "Your Kingdom come" is the recognition that God not only offers life after death, but life before death. He wants to a part of every detail of our life--not just the holy things. He has come to make our ordinary extraordinary.

Many of us remember learning and memorizing The Lord's Prayer as a kid, but how has our understanding and/or application of the prayer changed as we've matured both in age and faith? This week, Pastors Josh, Mara, and Paul discuss the infamous prayer and how it pertains to forgiving the "debts" that might keep us from relational wholeness. 

The Lord's Prayer is an invitation to find ourselves within the will of the Father. We seek our own forgiveness, and at the same time realize that God is calling us to forgive others. Our reconciled relationship with God moves us toward reconciliation with others instead of being weighed down by the past.

Busyness is the enemy of relationship with both God and others. Yet the entirety of The Lord's Prayer points to simplicity. It's simple in word, in length, and in trust. And it's in this simplicity that we not only find rest, but relationship. How then should we approach Lent? What can we unplug that will allow more space for relationship?