Napoleon Church of the Nazarene

Our N2 youth group take over the Sunday Service from greeting to preaching; as they show what the Lord has been doing in the hearts and lives of this young generation. You will be encouraged as you hear our youth preach the Word and lead the church into a time of worship!

We are in week 2 of our series, "Found Family". Pastor Ben teaches from Romans 12 and how as the body of Christ, God created us with different gifts and abilities to be used for the Kingdom. How are you using your gifts to help the body of Christ?

Our new series, "Found Family", starts with teaching from Acts 2. Pastor Justin talks about unity and the building blocks to creating unity in the body of Christ.

We wrap up the gospel of Luke on Resurrection Sunday! Pastor Ben draws us to reflect on the journey through Luke as we discovered our roles as reconciled sons and daughters of the King. As he teaches through chapter 24, we discover the reality, the revelation, and mystery of our faith and we are then encouraged to respond by sharing the gospel to the world around us.

Justin Braun teaches from Luke Chapter 21. He talks about the end times and how we are to be looking upward as we see the signs in our generation. Our witness during times of trying circumstances can lead others to Jesus.

Pastor Justin continues teaching from Luke in chapter 19; talking the story of Zacchaeus. He points out how Zacchaeus' behavior is very much of the kingdom mindset in having faith like a child when it comes to approaching Jesus. We are encouraged and reminded to seek Jesus with vigor, receive Jesus with gladness, and to share abundantly. How are you approaching Jesus today?

Pastor Ben Hartford continues our series on the book of Luke in chapter 17. He hits on verses 5 & 6 when the disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith. These two verses challenge us to take a look at our own faith. What is faith and what does real authentic faith look like?

We are excited to announce that Pastor Ben Hartford will be residing as head pastor of the Napoleon Church of the Nazarene. Listen in as we hold a special installation service and celebrate what God is doing in the life of the church.

Pastor Ben teaches from Luke Chapter 15 on the parable of the prodigal son. He makes it a point not just to look at the son who was lost but now found, but to also look at the older brother's response in all of this. Both showing us how we can be either self centered or self righteous, but yet the Father's love is clearly seen in how the father in this parable responds to both his sons.

Pastor Justin Braun teaches from Luke 14 with the parable of the great banquet. We are encouraged to give of ourselves, risk the urgency, and find the presence of God as we continue to be the light and step out in obedience to God's call on our lives.

Pastor Justin Braun continues on in the book of Luke. We are in chapter 12, where Jesus reveals multiple things like, being on your guard against hypocrisy, to fear the Lord above all else, and not worry about your physical circumstances. All in all, revealing to us as the church to rid ourselves of the world's circumstantial view and start living in the spiritual reality.

Pastor Ben teaches from Luke chapter 10 about the Good Samaritan. We are challenged to think about who our neighbors are and how we can show compassion to them even if they are different than us, the same as us, or might have brought hardship onto to themselves. Can we love how Jesus loves?

We have special guest speaker, Dwayne Mills, from Appalachia Reach Out; a work and witness ministry that spreads the gospel and meets the need of one of the most poorest counties in West Virginia. Dwayne shares his heart along with some personal testimonies about how the Lord is at work in this ministry. If you would like more information on how you can partner with ARO, please visit our website https://napnaz.church and click on the Appalachia Reach Out 2023 link located on bottom our home page.

We come back to Luke, teaching through chapter 9, where Jesus asked His disciples, "who do you say I am?" With Peter's response of saying 'He is the Messiah', we are left to search our own hearts; who do we say that Jesus is and does our life reflect what we proclaim? Are we willing to leave behind our own will to pick up our cross and follow Christ, the Messiah?

Pastor Ben continues in the book of Luke, preaching on the Parable of the Sower in chapter 8. He relates the soil to our heart conditions and encourages and challenges us to check our own hearts and then to not forget to pray for those who may not have softened hearts.

Pastor Justin teaches from chapter 7 about the centurion who had great faith. Seeking hearts move us from relying on corrupted hearts to having repentant hearts and experiencing Christ. A great faith is preceded by a repentant heart which only comes from a seeking heart.

Continuing on in the book of Luke, Pastor Ben teaches from Chapter 4; Jesus being tested and tempted in the wilderness. We take a look at the 3 ways Jesus was tempted and how He overcame them. We can take Jesus' example and be empowered by the Holy Spirit as we abide in His truth daily to overcome temptations.

We are studying the Book of Luke in our new series, "Luke- Discovering Our Role". Pastor Justin teaches through Luke Chapter 3 on John the Baptist and his role in calling us to repentance.

We are in the fourth week of Advent; talking about love. Pastor Ben is finishing up Luke 1, preaching on Zechariah's song; a beautiful prophetic response to what the Lord has done and has come to do. Pastor Ben encouraged us that as we reflect on Christ's love for us, would we love others so much to share the gospel with them?

The third week of advent is joy! We have much joy in our hearts through salvation and the anticipated return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pastor Justin continues to walk us through Luke 1. We learn about Mary's response to God's call on her life. She immediately finds community and encouragement as she faithfully says "YES" to be used by God. What is God calling you to say "yes" to?

In our second week of advent we continue in Luke. Pastor Justin teaches on Mary's response to being the virgin mother of our Lord and Savior. Her open hand to receive the unexpected is an example to us all of how we should live, willing to be used by God in unexpected ways.

It's the season of Advent as Pastor Justin starts off our new series, "Born | The King Has Come". We will be reading in the book of Luke all season long. Justin starts us off with Zechariah and God's timely plans for him and were asked the question, "How should we respond to God in the midst of our limitations, in order to best be used Him?" We learn from Zechariah that bold prayers are big doors for a bountiful God to move in ways that are bigger than our prayers, our expectations, and hopes.

We end our Fundamentals series with the discipline of giving. True Christian giving is inspired by grace, motivated by love, and has blessing as its goal. “Christian giving is an expression and evidence of the indwelling spirit of God.” - Stan Toler Who are you impacting with the gospel by giving?

Pastor Justin teaches on the discipline of fasting. Fasting is a sabbatical from the conveniences of this world that often distract from the treasures of God. We turn to Exodus and Matthew to see the how both Moses and Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights. Out of the fast, they were strengthened from being in the presence of the Lord and able to have victory even before facing trials and temptations.

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.

This week in our series, "Neighborhood Watch", Pastor Chip teaches out of Ephesians 4 and how we can encourage one another to grow in maturity as the body of Christ. He talks about friendships and what "core" friendships should look like according to scripture. Core friendships should be the result of the course our lives.

Pastor Justin teaches our second week of the series, "Neighborhood Watch". He goes through scripture found in Ephesians and Philippians and teaches about walking in the manner worthy to which we were called, together in unity with one another. To be obedient in loving one another just as Christ did.

Pastor Chip introduces to the new teaching series called, "Neighborhood Watch", where we learn what is really means to love your neighbor. We dive into Jesus' teaching of the Good Samaritan and learn that loving your neighbor brings life and is a good indicator of our relationship with God.

Pastor Chip looks at key passages found in Ephesians Chapter 6 on raising children. We as parents should be modeling a life that reflects Christ so our children will want to follow. The most important thing we can do as parents, is to lead our children to know Christ and to follow Him.

Pastor Chip teaches a second week on marriage talking about conflict. Every marriage will have conflicts and God tells us in His word how to go through conflict while still reflecting the image of Christ. By obeying God's Word through conflict, we can continue to build strong marriages and families that witness to the world Christs' love for us.

Pastor Chip teaches on biblical marriage and how it can be a light to the world. He encourages Christian married couples to pray together to build intimacy that helps created a strong foundation to build a family on.