Alive Wesleyan

The Christmas story is one of real people who had real lives and faced real events that sometimes got real weird and produced real fears in a very real Bible.Hope God cares for me.Hope God has not forgotten me.Hope I am not alone.Hope God hasn’t given up on me.Hope is the only way we move from fear to faith. I stink at waiting.  Waiting is part of learning to trust, its part of having hope. Luke 2:25 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting (to remain in a place or state, with expectancy) for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. #alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsl

God chooses real people to do things we never thought possible in ways we never considered. Faith is the belief that God is who he says He is and will do everything He has promised to do. The belief I’m good enough (qualified) and I can do (solution) and will do (ability) everything that needs to be done.  I wonder if there are two kinds of faith.  Faith that saves us.Faith for the battle at hand.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Luke 2:8–20 (NIV84) 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. God is good and He keeps His promises.15 . . . “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” #alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

I wonder if we have almost sanitized the Christmas story so it’s believable as a Fairy Tale for children and yet not believable as adults who know better. Baby Jesus came to die on the cross because we had to be forgiven. But that is too dark for us, so we sanitize it and prefer to think of Christmas this way. These were real people who had real lives and faced real events that sometimes got real weird and produced real fears in a very real Bible. “How did this happen?” “What will I do now?” What would I do if that happened to me?#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Our lives are burdened under the epidemic of busyness.   What is the antidote for a world that is weary and exhausted?   SABBATH.   Sabbath literally means cease or stop.   Sabbath is a posture of becoming instead of doing.   It's about moving from managing time as a scarce reality to keeping time as an abundant gift#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Worship--treasuring God above all things.   Jesus wouldn’t cave to something he admires less at the cost of what he admires the most.    Did you know what happened this week during the Compassion Experience?   2,830 Stories walked through 226 Children Rescued (sponsored) #alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

The Bible talks about a heart that is divided, a heart that pursues one thing but needs another. The heart needs tending. The heart is powerful. The heart is to be protected and valued.   Proverbs 4:23 (NIV84) 23Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Heart of Prostitution vs. Heart of Holiness   The biggest competition that Jesus faces in our lives is our question of who or what will ultimately take care of us.   So how is a heart of prostitution changed to a heart of holiness?   Worship--treasuring God above all things.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

This series is built on the premise that every single one of us—man or woman, young or old, religious or not—we were all created by God to know and to worship him.   Colossians 1:16: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth… —all things were created through him and for him.   Isaiah 43:21 “the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”   The Creature inside us is a “God-shaped vacuum,” and it “cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator” – Blaise Pascal   We all become like what we admire the most.   Who are we? And what do we admire the most?#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

#1--God’s greatest goal in my life is to form me into the kind of person who He can trust with whatever it is that I want.   Matthew 17:20 (NIV84) . . . I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”   #2--As our character is formed into the same character as the character of Jesus, our “wanter” will begin to want the same things that Jesus wants.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

We work for big incomes, large houses, easy retirements and long lifelines. John 10:10 (NRSV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 3:16 (NRSV) 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 17:3 (NRSV) 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Spiritual formation—linking arms in a safe group is the best environment to learn who Jesus really is so he can be fully formed in us. John 10:10 (NRSV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 3:16 (NRSV) 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 17:3 (NRSV) 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Spiritual formation—something Spiritual is being formed in us, making us into something better. Growing spiritually isn’t about me changing what I want. It’s about Jesus changing the inside of me. John 17:3 (NRSV) 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.   What would be the best possible environment for any seed to grow? Is what I am currently doing, working?#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Last week we started with some big questions.What does Jesus say needs to be done?What does Jesus say needs to change?What does Jesus say I need to do better? #1 - God’s greatest goal in my life is to form me into the kind of person who He can trust with whatever it is that I want. #2 - As our character is formed into the same character as the character of Jesus, our “wanter” will begin to want the same things that Jesus wants.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

And after coming out of a series like Meat and Potatoes we would place ourselves under a similar scrutiny but we would add some Jesus.What does Jesus say needs to be done?What does Jesus say needs to change?What does Jesus say I need to do better?Do I want to do it?If I don’t want to do something, then what I need to do is irrelevant.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Former Southern Wesleyan University Religion Professor, Dr. Bob Black goes deeper into the concept of Holiness. This event was the third of three weekly classes provided at ALIVE Wesleyan Church.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Do I have a relationship with God and if I do, what does it look like?Matthew 11:28–30 (NIV84) 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”Leviticus 19:2 (NIV84) 2 Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.Matthew 5:48 (NIV84) 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Former Southern Wesleyan University Religion Professor, Dr. Bob Black goes deeper into the concept of Holiness. This event was the second of three weekly classes provided at ALIVE Wesleyan Church.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

God allows us to reject him.What is God like?What does God want with me?God made us individually to be like Him.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Former Southern Wesleyan University Religion Professor, Dr. Bob Black goes deeper into the concept of Holiness. This event was the first of three weekly classes provided at ALIVE Wesleyan Church.#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

Do I have a relationship with God and if so, what does it look like?“ . . . let us remember that we are in the battle for our own souls here, and when we decide the fate of holiness for this generation, we are, in that moment, deciding everything else.-Steve Deneff#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate

There is great power in presence.I am most afraid when there is an awareness of how out of control I really am.Do you have a relationship with God and if so, what does it look like?#alivewesleyanchurch For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyanFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/Website: https://alivewesleyan.comNewsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate