Whack Theology

Grace and Peace to all! Delight yourselves in God; yes, find your joy in Him at all times.

In the old testament God's glory would show up, and the priests were unable to do their duties in the temple because of the weightiness of His presence; but now in the new covenant we are the temple of God offering Him spiritual sacrifices. We actually minister out of the glory not unto the glory. The Person and Presence of Christ is the reason we gather. The Well is a place for people to come encounter the love of the Living God and it is a place for travelers to come through and be refreshed and encouraged by the the Holy One. If you have thought to yourself: why is it that I come to the Well, or what is my place at the Well? I would say that you are joining in on earth with what is going on in heaven: a 24/7 victory celebration for what Jesus accomplished on the cross!

I believe that Like a Child will blow up and travel to the nations and I believe the Well will partner with them in discipling nations in Christ's Name. I believe Like a Child and the Well will be known for selfless love and miracles, signs and wonders around the world. If you are feeling like you are not fitting in at the Well, it's probably because you are fitting in. The Well is all about unique living stones coming together into a dwelling place for Gods presence! We at the Well believe that God loves diversity in all of its brilliant colors and flavors, and that it's His way to express His wisdom through the church. Individuality is precious to God and to us.

Notice God did not call us living bricks. Bricks are all basically the same shape, size, and color. But stones are all different in shape, size, and color, but they are of the same substance and family: rocks. And so are we, and our substance is Christ and we are in the family of The ROCK Himself. If He would have said we were bricks you would be right in saying that you don't fit in because of your "difference." In that way of thinking being different would be the very thing that would disqualify you in being used in the building project. When a mason sets bricks uniformity is the idea, but when using stones the mason searches for interesting looking stones as well as plain ones alike for his creative composition. He looks at each one carefully and decides where it would fit and look best. All the stones are unique and the end result is a beautiful lasting work. Our heavenly Father is a master craftsman and loves your uniqueness.

Scripture and life can only be interpreted correctly when you view it through the perspective of God being a perfectly loving Father who is working all things together for the good of His children. Many are offended at the liberty that is in Christ. When I speak of liberty think living stones not bricks. This can be shown at the Well with all the various forms of expression in worship. Some dance, some laugh, some fall down under Gods weighty presence, or "get whacked" as we affectionally say, and some quietly receive Gods presence without much outward show at all. All of the above are equally legit. If you are thinking bricks then you would be offended when someone expresses their relationship with Jesus differently than you. When someone is thinking in the way of bricks they see their way of connecting with God as the only form that is "of God". But if you are thinking "loving Father" and "living stones", you would see differences in expression as a revelation of the different flavors of Gods wisdom.  Does a loving dad relate to all of His children in an exact uniform way? Does every child enjoy interacting with their dad in the same exact way, with the same activities, games, and toys? No, and the same is for the Kingdom of God.

God has a unique way of connecting with each of our hearts and we have our own special way of connecting with Him and each other. God is good and perfectly loving and He loves our uniqueness and He loves our unity in that we are all His and that we are all known by our love. Jesus never gave me liberty to be unloving, but He has given me limitless ability to love and to be creative, and to most importantly be like Him. His issue was never with me being me, it was with me finding my purpose, pleasure and identity outside of Him. He hated that I was under slavery to sin, which caused me be to be bogged down with fear and bitterness, which kept me from being myself. So in conclusion, be totally Gods' and totally be yourself and don't worry about making yourself fit in because The Master Builder will take care of that.

In my happy place,

Tyler :)