A Welling Place

The church is called the Dwelling Place of God (Ephesians 2:22)....

But did you know, in the middle of God's Dwelling Place is a well?

Literally.

Cover the “D” and the “ing”…

You’ll see it—right there in the middle. God's Dwelling Place contains a “well.”

And this simple reminder is profound for us believers.  

The ancient language of Dwelling Place harkens back to the Temple, reminding us that God had always intended to dwell on earth among His people.

But His Dwelling Place was never intended to be a static location, like the Temple was...

Instead, it began as an invitation to encounter and overflow with the Living God...

King Solomon prayed at the Temple dedication, at the height of Israel's kingdom: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” 1 Kings 8:27.

And the Apostle Paul writes a prayer saying, 

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father… so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith"  Ephesians 3:14, 17.

God wasn't meant to be cooped up in the box of a church building.

He has always intended that we who receive from Jesus, would become deep wells of His presence:

Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life”John‬ ‭4‬:‭14‬ NASB1995‭.

If it's not clear yet, in the New Testament, we Christians become the Dwelling Place.

A Dwelling Place that is a Welling Place. 

Where our hearts, as we go deeper with Jesus, well-up, bubble-up, spring-up with the fountain of Living Waters. 

And it's not just a me thing.

This is a we thing.

We, interlocked together like the stones of an ancient well, become a place in which the infinite overflow of God's redeeming love can flood through us, our lives, our relationships, our healing, and our brokenness...

So that the community around us can come drink deep at the Well of Living Water. Because that's what wells have always been for!

But this Welling-Place requires, that:

1. Like living stones, we lean on each other and chip off our rough edges, so that we're interlocked and synced up with Jesus together (1 Peter 2:5 & Eph 2:20). We have to lean into forgiveness, forbearance, endurance, and joyfully seek Jesus together. 

2. We're willing to go deeper ourselves. Meaning we have to acknowledge our preferences for our own ideals, our self-management of our relationship with God and others, and take honest steps toward healing our wounds. We have to follow the Holy Spirit toward more of God in our experience. For we can only lead people as deep as we've gone ourselves. 

3. We need to understand, that despite our deficits and in our dependence on Jesus, the purpose of God in His Church remains to overflow-into our lives and the lives of those around us, bubbling up so much, that there's abundance, not only for our local body of believers, but more than enough for those in our community that Jesus is calling to Himself. 

The Dwelling Place well isn't a church-only well. It is a communal well. 

And the nature of that well is expressed as we go deeper in Jesus. Our well must continue to dig deep into the Spirit, so that the spring of Living Water can bubble up for us, and for those who are aching with spiritual thirst. 

Do you long for a Welling-Place in your life?

Do you lean into the Living Water that flows from others around you?

Do you see the Church as a place for God's well to resource the hurting and broken in the community around you?

We'll continue our study of Becoming a Dwelling Place this Sunday with a Sermon titled "Unlocking our Doors."

And don't forget, this Saturday, from 9:30-11am, is The Journey Kick-Off. 

If you're on the fence about The Journey, this Kick-off is the one you'll want to come to "to try it out!"

• We'll gently explore The Journey content together

• Begin talking about our own spiritual journeys

• Share together in small groups (and explain how this will work for already-existing small groups)

• You'll learn how to navigate and pace The Journey Course

• You'll receive discount codes for the course

• You'll receive free The Journey resources

• Plus there's warm coffee & yummy snacks!

May we all go deeper in our relationship with Jesus and one another in the weeks ahead.

Pastor Dave