Napoleon Church Of The Nazarene

Pastor Ben teaches on the discipline of rest. Remembering the Sabbath and how God created the Sabbath for us to find rest and peace in His presence; to slow down and truly embrace time with a purpose. “The Sabbath introduces us to the graciousness of God, for it is where we do absolutely nothing and discover that we are deeply loved.” -Daniel Grothe

We welcome one our beloved alum pastors, Pastor Dave Lutz, to preach on the maskil psalms and how we relate and respond through hard circumstances.

This week Pastor Justin teaches on the discipline of community and how much value and life there is when you get connected with a group of believers. He invites 4 of our congregants to share their testimony on how being in community has helped them grow closer to the Lord.

Pastor Ben teaches on the Fundamental Discipline of worship. Worship is not just singing songs to Lord but is compassed in our complete adoration to God. Worship is our lifestyle corporate and in our alone time; it's prayer, it's our time in solitude with God and His word, it's serving others, and most importantly is serving God with an undivided heart. Pastor Ben teaches from Daniel 3 and shows us how worship leads to hope in the midsts of trials.

We welcome our D.S. Rev. Geoff Kunselman as he teaches on holiness; holiness of heart and holiness of life. He teaches from 1 Thessalonians.

Pastor Justin teaches on the Spiritual discpline of studying God’s Word. It is the discipline of letting go of our own control and finding our place in His story. Hebrews chapter 4 talks about entering into God's rest and that is found when we believe and receive His living acting Word. Nothing else should take the place and priority over communion with the Father through His Word.

We continue in our second week of "The Fundamentals" talking about prayer. Prayer is more than just coming to the Father to change your circumstances. Prayer is coming into relationship with the Father, being still, listening, and communicating.

Pastor Ben Hartford introduces us to our new series, "The Fundamentals : Disciplines that change lives." Pastor Ben leads us through scripture to remind us that we have been saved by faith through grace from Christ Jesus, but our relationship with Christ and true heart transformation does not start and end there. True character transformation begins in the pure grace of God and is continually assited by it, but requires action from us. We will continue to walk through together and be encouraged through God's word on how to continually live out our faith through spiritual disciplines.

For Pastor Chip's last Sunday here at NapNaz, we take a moment to express our gratitude and heart towards him and his family. We know the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their lives as well as the life and body of NapNaz. For his final sermon, Pastor Chips teaches on peace. We will miss you Chip!

As we prepare to say goodbye to our beloved Pastor Chip and his family, he leaves us with his final sermon series called, "Grace and Peace". Inspired by the signature of Paul after he wrote his letters to the church. This week, Pastor Chip talks about grace.

We end our Ministry Focus series with Pastor Justin sharing his passion for his role as the discipleship pastor here at NapNaz. There is more to being Christian than simply going to church. If we are true followers of Christ then we should be constantly in discipleship and making disciples. How do we do this? By getting invested in Life Groups, Bible Study, Sunday school, ect. To be the church and grow together requires intentionality. Be invested, be involved, be a disciple of Jesus!

Our Ministry Focus Month continues with highlighting our children's ministry here with NapNaz Kids; directed by Janae Elling. Statistics show that 80% of Christ Followers had found and followed Christ between the ages of 0-14! The value of kids ministry in the glocal body of believers is huge and should not be taken likely. Matthew 19:13-15 says, "13Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. 14Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' 15When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there." The younger generations are the future of the church and we should be taking a higher priority in ministering and discipling them to know and follow Jesus. Volunteer your time for the kingdom; to raise up the next generation of Christ followers!

This week, our ministry focus was on Community Outreach. We highlighted two key ministries that have helped us as a church spread the gospel through out our own community. The first being our NapNaz Community Preschool, led by teacher and director, Sarah Sonnenberg. NapNaz Preschool helps to prepare children spiritually and academically as they enter into kindergarten. Our second ministry outreach is LifeWise Academy, directed by our community outreach and worship pastor, Ben Hartford. LifeWise Academy is a Released Time Religious Instruction (RTRI) program which provides Bible-based character education to public school students. Under RTRI laws, students can be released from public school during the school day to attend religious classes, provided the program is off school property, privately funded and parent-permitted. If you are interested in finding or starting a Lifewise Academy in your school district, head to https://www.lifewiseacademy.org/about to get more information.

For the month of August, we are focusing on the different ministries of the church and how the body of Christ can use their gifts to help serve in these different ministries to advance the kingdom. Our focus this week is Missions. Pastor Chip interviews two of our church's missionaries who have served in the DR.

We end our Neighborhood Watch series with part 2 on "Knowing Your Roles". Pastor Chip takes us into Ephesians, Corinthians, and Romans, teaching on how we are to use our gifts and talents to advance the Kingdom. He encourages all believers to take a shape test to find their spiritual formation and God given gifts to be used to serve others.

This week, Pastor Chip teaches on knowing your role and how you can use your gifts and talents from the Holy Spirit to help edify and encourage others. He teaches from Romans and 1 Cor about the important functions of the church body. "The church exists for the sake of the world… the ultimate goal of all ministry is to reach others for christ.” - John macarthur

Pastor Justin teaches on investing in the lives of others. Investing in others is sowing beyond our own flesh. (Gal. 6)Investing time in others despite the messes but instead showing grace, we show our neighbors the love of Christ Jesus.

Pastor Chip shares an encouraging and challenging message on sharing the gospel with your neighbors and what that looks like.

Pastor Justin teaches on bitterness this week in our sermon series, "Neighborhood Watch". We read through Psalm 4 as Justin highlights the meaning of each verse. We learn that we can't truly love our neighbor if we are bitter. He goes through scripture to show how bitterness is defeated by putting God above all else.

This week's message is titled, "Scope and Sequence", because we need the parameters of what it looks like to love our neighbor. Pastor Chip continues through the Word of God to show us how we ought to love one another and understand how to be comfortable in our compassion and inconvenience. To love others is not a suggestion, but a command.