The Wesleyan Way

Eventually, in life, we will all wonder if there is more to life than what we do, what we see, and what we feel. Even after we accept Jesus into our heart, we will still feel a longing. We don't believe that accepting Jesus is the final step. Accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior is only the beginning of our faith. The Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives. John Wesley used the illustration of a house to describe this work. When you're beginning to feel that there has to be more to life than this, you take a look at the house. Then, you’re moved to take a risk and step up on the porch of repentance. There you find new life. After that, you walk into the living room through the front door of justification. Justification is when God makes right what we never can; God, through Christ, makes things right. Wesley ended by saying that sanctification is the exploration of the rest of the house. How sad would it be to live your entire life in the living room? That would b...

I have a confession to make: When I was a teenager, I thought it'd be cool to figure out the chronological order of Jesus' life. To be honest with you, I thought I'd gain some insight into who Jesus was and is. (That's the heart of this time of epiphany--realizing who Jesus is.) But as I got into college (I was an English major), I started to notice that the structure of a novel was sometimes just as important as the story. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels, because they are so similar. If you've read all four Gospels, you know John's Gospel is different. John's Gospel begins with an amazing poem about how Jesus is the Word of God, how he was with God at the beginning, and how he is God. Then, we have a description of the first days of Jesus' ministry, including a conversation between John the Baptist and the Pharisees. John 1:19-28 in the Common English Bible (CEB) reads: This is John's testimony when the Jewish leaders...

In Mark's Gospel, there's nothing about Jesus before his baptism. That's one reason why it's easy for us to view baptism as a new beginning. In our baptism, we're marked and identified as Christian disciples. We're baptized into a family. That's why we call each other "Brother" and "Sister." We all come through baptism into the Body of Believers. But let's be honest, baptism is not our work, it's God's. Baptism is an outward sign of something that has already happened in our heart. God searches for us, finds us, chooses us, and adopts us as his sons and daughters. But baptism is not the end. Martin Luther often said that baptism is a lifelong process. Our baptism is a reminder that our faith has a social element. Christianity is a social religion. Back in November, we looked at the membership and baptism vows we took. We promised to be "Christ's representatives in the world." In Mark 1:9-11, we see ...

I hope your New Year is off to a wonderful and blessed start. As the calendar turned to 2018, many people resolved to get into shape. Maybe we would do better if we let our Maker shape us. If we let God reshape our character, what would we look like and what would we do? I think Wesley was pretty close when he listed five clear practices for anyone who identifies as a Christian. These are sometimes called the five marks of a Methodist: A Methodist loves God. A Methodist rejoices in God. A Methodist gives thanks. A Methodist prays constantly. A Methodist loves others. If we embrace and live out these qualities, so that they become ingrained into who we are, then our lives will exhibit Christian character. If you're interested, here's a  link  to our Instagram page. Blessings, AK

The Gospel of  John begins with a poem about the Word. John 1:1-5 in the Common English Bible (CEB) reads: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn't extinguish the light. The Gospel of John begins with a wonderful poem about the Word. This first section relates God to all creation through the Word. We see that Jesus is God's life-giving and light-giving Word. (The words light  and life  are very important in John's Gospel.) Jesus is the power of God which created the world. This means that Jesus has always been with God, which also means Jesus is God. This also reveals that God has always been like Jesus, but we didn't fully realize who God was and is u...

Hey! Welcome to our church's blog. I hope your week is off to a great start. I'm going to try  to do a weekly blog where I write about something related to Christianity, Methodists, or our church. Since some of you may have resolved to read through the Bible this year, I figured we could start there. John Wesley believed that Scripture was inspired, and he said that the Bible is "infallibly true." Did you know that Wesley translated the Bible? In 1755, he published his translation of the New Testament. Wesley could read Greek, and he used the best Greek manuscripts of his day to compose his translation. Ultimately, though, it was a slight revision of the King James version (1611). There was nothing groundbreaking or exciting in his translation. However, some phrases were easier to read and understand than in the KJV. If you look at the journals and sermons of John and Charles Wesley, you'll see that they used a variety of different translations: the Geneva...