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Worship Together
Genesis 28:10–17, Exodus 3:1–6, Luke 23:44–46 Have you ever been confronted by a person who states that they can worship God better in nature than in a church? They might be right. Jacob put a stone under his head, and upon waking declared that the wilderness was the house of God. Moses is wandering in
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Through God’s Mercy
2 Corinthians 4:1–6 Ministry. Mercy. Determination. Cleansing. Sharing. Shining. Ministry: each and every one of us is a minister of the Gospel of Reconciliation. Every one of us. Pastor and preachers they have their roles. That does not excuse anyone from being a minister of the Gospel. How are you being a minister of the
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People Needed
Isaiah 30:8–17, 1 Thessalonians 2:2–12 “To make Christlike disciples in the nations.”—Church of the Nazarene Mission Statement “Iron sharpens iron and one person sharpens another.”—Proverbs 27:17 Discipleship is not a program, nor is it a class. It is a lifestyle. If we are not careful, Sunday School, Life Groups, Youth Group, Children’s Church, even Sunday
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Just Praying
1 Samuel 1:1–18, Luke 18:1–8, Matthew 6:5–15 “…The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.”—James 5:16 As a gift, prayer is probably second only to salvation and reconciliation. The ability to talk to the Creator of the universe. The God who calls us children. Prayer can take many forms. While there
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Spirit Grades
Jeremiah 23:30-40, 1 John 4:1–6 What is a spirit? In the Scriptures, there is the Holy Spirit. That is certainly one. However, often the time spirit is used, it is not a good thing. There are evil spirits. There are deceptive spirits. It is the deceptive spirits that make an appearance all too often. What
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Be Strange
Joshua 7:3–15, 1 Thessalonians 4:1–12 The pivotal character in the book Dune at one point talks about having a “stamp of strangeness” put upon him. This stamp was definitely a different context, yet “stamp of strangeness” was and is exactly what God does to us when he calls us and we accept him. When the
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Not Anything; Something
Ruth 1:2–18, 2 Samuel 15:19–37, Matthew 19:16–30 Something more. Something greater than ourselves. That kind of thing calls to us very deeply. In this modern world, we have a greater amount of freedom to find that “something”. There is an argument that the only reason that we have that “freedom” is that we have so
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The New Healing Miracles
2 Kings 4:18–37, 2 Kings 5:1–14, Mark 10:46–52, James 5:13–18 We are embodied creatures. In other words, our bodies are part of our being, well-being, and attitudes. When it isn’t well, it is harder for our perspectives to be positive or good. We have to work harder, pray harder, trust more to be joy-filled when
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Freedom From Earned
Genesis 15:1–6, Romans 5:1–11, 1 John 1:5–2:2 One of the ongoing struggles that people have is earning their salvation. They think they can, or that they must. This is what is often called “works” in Christian circles. Theologians have discussed what “works” is from a more philosophical perspective. Some have argued that Abraham completed a