The Well Church OKC

So many play at things. Children pretend to be things that they aren’t all the time. This is innocent, even productive play. When adults do this, however, it is another thing entirely. As grown people, we either are, or we aren’t something. We occasionally see folks who pretend to be something they aren’t getting into all kinds of trouble.

Sometimes people perpetrate fraud in their own salvation. They pretend to be followers of God, even saying all kinds of religious things about Jesus. They dress, talk, and even act like Christians, but they are not. How do you know that folks are really saved? How do you know if it is just a hollow, ultimately empty religion, or the real thing. Salvation is found in Christ alone. Hold to this truth and be aware and thinking about your soul.

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When you get the right folks around you, you know it. They are the kind of people you can fully depend on. They have your backs day or night. The actually desire to sacrifice for you and yours. They want to support you in your wins and comfort you in your loses. Above all, they are focused on the same goals and are willing to ‘ride or die’ next to you to make sure the goals are pursued. The work of the Kingdom is the life work of the Christian.

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I have often thought about Academia/Higher Education as the ultimate place to find God. Contrary to what many fear, that they or their children will fall from God if they go to study in college and fill their heads with all kinds of thoughts, that they will fall from God, I have a different perspective. I will readily acknowledge that if folks are weak or immature in their faith that being surrounded by brilliant and experienced atheists, agnostics and humanists will be a serious challenge to a person’s belief systems.

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Last week we spoke about our story and how our “testimony” is a powerful tool for sharing the Gospel. I hope you have had the opportunity to share your faith with others. Today, in addition to the power of your own story of redemption, we will see the power of logic and reason in the presentation of the Gospel. We are to prepare both our mind and our heart for the spread of the Good News.

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The power of testimony cannot be understated. It is the vehicle by which the power and nature of God is most often revealed. The love of God is shared in the stories of how he has loved us. The faithfulness of God is embedded in the lives of others when we give account of what he has done to bring us through times of trouble.

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Our own missionary Joe Brewster, currently serving in Bogota Collumbia, explains Acts 15 and the dangers of majoring in minor issues.

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Why is it difficult to remain strong and true to the faith? This is an age-old challenge. We have to stay attentive to this area as we do all other areas of our health. Physical, emotional, financial, mental, etc. We need to pay attention to our first love, remaining diligent to nourish our love to the one who saved us.

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There is no stopping the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who have been set apart by Him.

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We fear when we are hurt, when we are uncertain, when we are not in control. We doubt when we don’t understand, when something seems amiss, when things don’t go as we hope or expect. We fear and sometimes we despair. Sometimes we get angry when we don’t see the why, only the pain. Those in the early church were no different than us. They had all the emotions we do. All of the challenges, and probably more, that we do. We can learn a lot from their situation and from the way God worked in their midst.

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One of the coolest things I get to experience is observing truly changed lives. Watching folks pivot 180 degrees from lives of devastation, loss and sin, into the arms of Jesus! What a beautiful thing to get to experience.

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