Wooster Nazarene Podcast: Recent Episodes
Wooster Nazarene Podcast
If you tend to be a controller, it doesn't mean you're a bad person...but...it wears you out trying to play God. Controllers are living in fear... not faith. "I Surrender to the loving control of the almighty God! I live to please Him. I live to bring glory to His name. I'm choosing to live for his "Well Done"!
Never place your faith in your limited ability to control people and outcomes! Let God be God! Without this kind of faith, it's impossible to please God! Place your faith and trust in God alone! Give it up...hand over control to Him!
Sometimes, the people we love must hit the bottom and learn there’s nowhere to go but up! Know this … wherever and whenever that may be … Jesus will still be there for them!
Jesus is the only Savior and Lord. He loves them more than you do! He can reach them and help them when you can't. Jesus is the only one who can save! He is the only one who can meet their needs!
I’ve been speaking to some who have the spiritual gifts of criticism and are practicing it regularly. God loves you … and so do I!
Here’s a truth for you to marinate on! You’ll never change someone by being overly critical and by having the wrong heart motive and attitude. Never! Your words are toxic, and you are hurting other. Many times those who love you the most. By doing this, you're not helping, you're hurting! You may be hurting yourself the most!
I’m praying that you’ll realize it and that your heart will be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and that when you begin to think and speak in such a ways ... you’ll stop in your tracks! You’ll begin to realize that your heart and tongue are being used by Satan.
When you look for the bad … you’ll find it! When you begin to look for God and good … it'll find you!
In this state of the church message. Pastor Nathan Ward goes over Wooster Nazarene's past, present, and future.
Philippians 2:13 "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him."
There are many who have embraced and moved into the post christian culture. They have rejected Jesus due to an incorrect view of who he is. They are rejecting a watered down, anemic version of Christianity … a cheap imitation.
While the church doesn't always get it right, Jesus always does! He came full of grace and truth. When you truly see him for who he is you’ll want to worship him.
Whatever platform of influence God gives me … I want to use to unify rather than divide. I’m not going to get drawn into online arguments for sure!!! There are ways to respectfully disagree without compromising truth and backing down. I sincerely desire the love of Jesus to shine through.
We don’t need to play hide and seek with culture … we need to call it out and we need to influence it!!! Be salt and light! Be all in but not of it! We have been called and set apart to add flavor and bring light!
Think about this, in America it’s been to easy to identify a christian for too long. Criticism is here, and persecution is knocking at the door.
Remember this … history tells us that when persecution comes, the church of Jesus flourishes. It purifies and strengthens God’s church. It’s time to count the cost of following Jesus.
Religion is man-focused, but relationship is God-centered. Because God loves me, He accepts me, and I choose to obey Him. It’s not my effort to gain His love. I receive it!!! Love is who He is! Love does!!! God does love you!!!
Jesus is bigger than any and all our sin! He is faithful to forgive and cleanse all confessed and repented sin. When temptation knocks … there will always be a way out! What you choose and what you do matters!!!
I’m not sure what your story is today, but I do know this … the time when we get to know God best is … in the valley and not on the mountaintop.
We were not created for earth, but for eternity and heaven. We were created to bring glory to His name. We are placed here for a season and a reason, to serve him! Nothing else can fill and fulfill this God-shaped space.
When Jesus was crucified, He was right there in the middle. At the dead center He paid the sin-debt for all men, including the thieves hanging beside Him. One rejected, but the other accepted. We can be right with God because Jesus hung in the middle. Wherever you may find yourself today emotionally and spiritually,
Jesus is speaking life over you and to you - present and eternal! He wants to be in the middle of your life and give you peace, comfort and calm.
The resurrection of Jesus is one of the greatest attested facts in all of history. There were eye-witness accounts galore!!! We can’t physically see and touch His nail scars, but the impact left on those who did was life and history changing. They walked in the joy of the resurrection for the rest of their lives. They never got over it!
Create Calendar space for God and his ways! Don't miss out on the most important things. Align your day with the heart of God and find rest for your weary soul.
The challenge will be to stop following the patterns of this world … by surrendering to God and doing all of life his way so you can experience his best … his good, pleasing, and perfect will. It’s all found in Jesus!
God is working in your life, but you must choose to respond.
You must engage your free will to activate the desire in
your heart and God's power that is stirring in you.
Many are content just to get by day by day. You might want to
succeed with as little effort as possible. This is a ho-hum
way of life that leads to just settling! You just get by and
barely survive. God doesn’t want you to barely get by! He wants
you to get ahead and thrive! Hey! He has plans for you!!!
Failure happens on the way to success. Do you think you’ll never have a flat? The journey is not a parking lot or a hotel. It’s a road trip. No matter what, you can get back up and go on! Honor God now!
You have an extra room that you don’t need. Let Tobiah live there! No! Throw him out! Don’t give the enemy space.
With setbacks come shame, pain, and regret. I’ve got to fix myself first! NO! You can always come back! There’s no “too” with God! He rushes to you with arms wide open. He’s calling out to you … “Where are you!”
When you get your eyes on God and others you’ll never be the same! There will be great joy and significance in your life! Nothing’s better than being “used” by God!”
This is the most fulfilling thing you can do on this earth. Love, serve and give.
Be the change you want to see in others and in the world. As God’s love flows through you, it always blesses you and changes you! It’s more blessed to give than to receive.Get and keep your eyes on God and others! Live to give His love away. Be a contributor by being a distributor!
This Christmas, go “palms up and palms out!” Determine to give the gifts of compassion, kindness, and forgiveness this Blessing Season. This constantly flows from your “want to” rather than your ever-changing “feel like it!”
Cut out the distractions in your life so you can choose Him and make room for Him in your heart and mind. It's intentional!
Practice quality living by cleaning house, consuming less, and contributing more. Your life is valuable. Your calling is great! Don’t waste your life chasing things that don’t last! Commit your time, talents, treasure, and tears to God. Live for His purposes! Make room for Him!
Jesus followers live generously. They give spontaneously, strategically, and sacrificially. Step up and into radical generosity through God’s church.
Heavenly Perspective. You find your life through surrender to the One who gave His life for you! Everything about following Jesus flows counterculture.
Proverbs 11:24-25 says, “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
We return and give because of who God is and because of what He has done. To God be the glory! This is what we do! Will you join the “we team?” This really isn’t a matter of God wanting your money. He doesn’t need it, but you do need to give it! He’s after your heart!
Through Christ and in Christ, you now have a new and powerful destiny. Your life purpose is to follow Jesus all the way to Heaven and take as many people with you as possible.
The disciples knew and remembered the last words Jesus spoke on earth. He commanded them to be His witnesses. In the face of pressure and persectuion, they also knew their only hope was through the power of the Holy Spirit. They prayed!
The disciples experienced and witnessed the life-changing power of God. They went out to share their faith full of God-confidence.
One of our five Vision Frame Measures at Wooster Naz is “Going”. This is one of the markers that tells us when we are successful in being who and doing what God created us to be.
What has the Lord given you? And what are you doing with it?
Remember - we GET to serve!
Being a follower of Jesus is not about following a list of rules. It is about staying close to Jesus so you can learn how to love and live like Him. This is possible through His presence and power in our lives.
It’s impossible to thrive without gratitude. You can’t control your circumstances, but you can control your response to them. Gratitude truly is the difference between bitter and better. Be better!
You must learn to say, “I’M SORRY!” to God and to man - with specific and genuine sincerity from your heart. This will be something you’ll need to practice until you draw your first breath in Heaven. Keep getting better at it!!!
Who are we passing by in our everyday lives that need Jesus? Are we too busy doing ministry to actually minister to people?
Saying “please” takes the posture of humility. There’s no hint of entitlement. It places high value on others. It creates a culture of honor and respect. It puts others first!
Whatever the area may be, if you’re not walking with integrity, you won’t be walking in security! You’re constantly trying to hide and not be found out. But when you walk with integrity, there is security. You can build your confidence and a good name.
You will become who you run with. In fact you already are!!! You need to intentionally walk on the “wise side” when it comes to matters of faith, family, friends and finances. You need to hang out with people who have wisdom in each of these areas.
Don’t follow all the trends and allow culture to saturate you with its lies. Don’t waste your life! Fight for what matters! Your calling is too great and your God is too good to waste your life pursuing things that have little significance in the end.
As His precious child - are called to “Bring glory to His name!” Let your life be about loving God, loving people, and living transformed. What a way to live and invest your life!
When you constantly communicate with God, as you practice daily obedience, you will experience a growing and healthy daily dependence on Him.
In this series, we have seen God’s faithfulness to Joseph through a lot of difficult situations. Anybody here today facing a difficult situation? Maybe you’re not being hunted down by your angry siblings, or thrown into prison for a crime you didn’t commit, but we all have our stuff, don’t we.
What we learn through this series is that God desires from us to be faithful in the MIDST of circumstances, and he will be faithful to bring us through according to HIS plans for our good and HIS glory. Those last two words are KEY for us to remember…HIS GLORY. Often we simply want things to be easy and for US to get the glory. God’s love for us is immeasurable, but it also is immeasurable for others, so if we let Him, he will use our trials to help others see His goodness and love as well!
Revivals produce transformed lives that are passionate about becoming more like God. Our spiritual journey can be summed up in a short phrase: “I have one deep desire … I want to be more and more like Jesus. We are believing and becoming!” We are pursuing Him. He is our single focus. This is precisely how we get more of God. There are positively no shortcuts. love for God will compel us to become more and more like Jesus.
This can only happen as we surrender more of ourselves to Him … creating more “GOD-SPACE” in our lives. This is a life of holiness that moves us towards wholeness. This is foundational! We have must get a grip on the scope of what God has done for us through Jesus. “Jesus took it all on Himself” We must make a transformational connection with this truth. It will produce a change that we will never get over.
Generosity is not an act - it is the posture of the heart! It’s an abundance mindset. With God, there’s always more! Generous people look for needs and meet them … “God has blessed me so I can be a blessing to others! I was created to pour out!” I believe the mindset of abundance and a heart of generosity flourishes when you understand that the first of all the increase belongs to God. It’s His!!! God calls the first “tithe”. In Hebrew this means 10%.
You don’t have to have everything fixed in your life. Come to Jesus and live! To be an influencer, you just need to know who Jesus is and you need to love people. Be salt and light! Influence the one in front of you! To be an influencer … “Do for one!” You don’t need a huge platform! Start where you are with who is in front of you.
You are invited. No matter what you wear, how much you've messed up, whether you know about God or not, you are invited.
If God’s the one asking you to jump, you can close your eyes and take the leap! No matter what reason you have for saying you aren’t enough! No matter what insecurity is causing you to double clutch… you can TRUST His desire to use you. He can (and will) use you in spite of insecurity.
Ever ask, "Why do bad things happen to "good people"?"
When you think about it, something bad only happened to someone truly good - one time. I’m speaking of Jesus! He never sinned! He was perfect in all His ways. He stepped up and said … “I will become the perfect sacrifice for sin and I’ll die once for all!”
If you think or say, “God's not fair!” - I’ll have to agree with you! He didn't give you what you deserver so He could give you what you didn't deserve.
God is calling us to finish what we started, to finish what He has started in us. The gravitational pull is towards what’s easy and convenient. Satan will hound you and try to get you to stop what God told you to start. When you commit - don’t quit!!!
Philippians 1:6 (NLT2) 6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Faithfully taking whatever you have been given, investing it in the Kingdom of God, pouring it all out – pleases our Father! How can you use your hospitality, prayer, generosity, wisdom? What is in your hand?
Many are inconsistent because of an “all or nothing” mindset. Lighten up already!!! If you fail a few times, do you consider yourself a failure? No!!! Being consistent is NOT being perfect. Give yourself grace - because God does.
Determine to honor God in all things. Say, “Father! Bring glory to Your name!!!” Decisions aren’t based on the emotions of the moment but on the values God has planted in your heart and powered by the Holy Spirit.
Your life is moving in the direction of the decisions you are making. Take your life back! Settle it! Decide to do things differently. Because of who God is and because of who I am and what I value I’m going to settle it before I get into a situation and make an emotion-based decision.
Because of Jesus you no longer have to live in the bondage to anything. You have STRIPPED OFF YOUR OLD SINFUL NATURE AND have PUT ON YOUR NEW. You are RENEWED.
You COME INTO RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, and as you GET TO KNOW HIM, you are FORMED, CONFORMED, AND TRANSFORMED and GROWING TO BE MORE LIKE HIM.
BY FAITH, you can be MADE NEW in Christ, our: PAST FORGIVEN; PAIN HEALED; and PROBLEMS BROKEN. CLAIM YOUR FREEDOM the Jesus has provided. WALK it! LIVE it!
God is not trying to improve our lives so that we have a better life, but He truly desires to give us all new life. He is not asking us to turn over a new leaf. Through Christ, he wants us to experience new life.
“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me; “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost form the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” [Revelation 21:5-7 NIV]
Our verse from today comes from Isaiah 43:19 and it says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” The Lord is inviting us to open our eyes and our hearts to see and know the new things that He is doing in our lives. This promise from God is not just a past tense Old Testament promise…it is a today promise that He is already doing something new. Take some time today to reflect and see the good things that God has already begun to do in your life. Break through any cynicism that might be arising in your heart, and find a way to celebrate the blessings that God is pouring out on your life. I am praying that God will show you today just how good the future He has prepared for you really is.
Today our reading comes from Song of Solomon 2: 10-13: “My lover said to me, “Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one! Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air. The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!” These verses are a beautiful picture of who Jesus is in our lives today, as He invites us into the new season that is upon us. He is calling us to arise from our passivity; He’s calling us to let Him lead us on to new and better things, and He’s calling us to a new level of intimacy with Him. I challenge you to spend some time in prayer and ask the Lord how He is calling you forward during this new year of 2023. Thank you for joining us for today’s video, and we will see you again tomorrow for day two of our journey.
God’s grace changes the direction of your life. You are making this declaration … “I value you over everything else in my life! I will follow you!” When God’s grace hits your heart and life … you’ll never get over it! His undeserved favor drives your life, priorities, and affections. You live in response to God’s grace. You’re new!!
The return of God’s tithe is the primary way God has chosen and established to resource His work in this world throughout history. It is critical because when you return God’s tithe, you are reminded that God is first. He will never share this position with another. Every time you Return God’s tithe, you are declaring his "firstness". He is honored and pleased! It frees Him to work powerfully in our lives and in this this world.
God does not want a tip, a donation, the best, or the most. He wants the first! The first financial transaction you write should be the Release of the return to the Lord. When you do it His way - He will bless the rest.
Don’t focus only on what’s wrong. Think about all that’s right!!! Think about good things!!! Don’t put pressure on yourself to try to be perfect. You aren’t and never will be. But that doesn’t stop the Holy Spirit from working in and through you. It never has and it never will. Surround yourself with people who have a heart for the Lord and who “have your back” spiritually. Build your support team prayerfully and carefully. With a posture of prayer and a perspective of praise - seek God and with God’s Word as your constant GPS - do what seems to be right.
Jesus experienced stress and anxiety in the Garden praying the night before His suffering, crucifixion, and death. If something is big enough to worry about, then it’s big enough to pray about too. If something is on your mind -then it’s on God’s heart.
Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV) 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
When you say yes to Jesus, the resurrected Christ, your life does not belong to you anymore. It belongs to him. If you are His follower, then you go where He goes because you’re doing life with him! If you are a Child of God, if you are Follower of Jesus, then you will live like it!
You’re not just a regular Christian! You are a child of God - salt, light, Influencer, and difference-maker. Keep letting His light shine through you - into the darkness. You know who you are. You know what to do. Keep doing it!
We are not, “Just a sinner saved by grace.” We are now a child of God and reject the label of “sinner"! That’s what we were when God’s love and grace captured our hearts, but that’s not who we are. Never say, “I’m just a child of God!!!” You now have a positive ID!!!
What is Baptism? What's the importance and significance? Should everyone be baptized? Pastor Andrew and Pastor Sheldon take us deep into the history of baptism and it's importance in our walk with Christ.