Amherst Wesleyan Church Amherst Wesleyan Church

The middle of the fight is not the time to fall asleep. - I think we have all fallen asleep while praying. We are already tired and then we close our eyes and try to surrender our troubles to God, then we fall asleep! Unfortunately, that often leaves us missing our time with God, and not only that, it gets in the way of our mission. There is power in prayer, and Jesus understood this better than anyone. In a critical moment of His ministry He didn't ask His disciples to gather food, preach louder, or make money, He asked them to pray with Him. Then, they fell asleep.
Matthew 26:41-46
The middle of the fight is not the time to fall asleep.

You’re not supposed to do God’s work without God’s power. - When we feel the call of God to change something in our lives, take a step of faith, or reach out and do something to help someone else, we can often fall for the lie that we are supposed to do that on our own. That's like entering a NASCAR race and thinking you have to run the race on foot instead of in the car! It just doesn't make sense!
Matthew 14:13-21
Youre not supposed to do Gods work without Gods power.

It's more important that you start than be fully prepared. - When you have taken a step of faith to base your life on something you can't see, it can be very scary to admit it to others who haven't taken that step of faith. Their reactions can be hard, their questions can be scary, their rejection can be painful. We end up thinking that we will just avoid sharing our faith with others until we are ready for all of those things. We think we just need a bit more preparation. That isn't what Jesus thought though!
Matthew 9-10
It's more important that you start than be fully prepared.

When your attachment to someone keeps you away from Jesus, it needs to change. - When relationships start going bad or your feeling about them changes, we often start wondering if it may be time to get out of them. Or, sometimes they are causing problems but we don't want to give them up! How are we supposed to know which relationships we should be keeping and which ones we should be quitting? As with everything that has to do with relationships, that is a complicated question! God gives us some key guidance and wisdom in figuring this out though.
2 Cor 6:14
When your attachment to someone keeps you away from Jesus, it needs to change.

Time to Quit?

If we quit the mission, we lose. - With all the pressure we face today from all different directions in life, is it time to give up on the mission of Christ? Is it needed anymore? Are we the ones that need to be investing in it? Is it just too costly to keep going with it? The New Testament Apostles knew those questions 2000 years ago and made what they thought emphatically clear.
2 Timothy 3:1-4:5
If we quit the mission, we lose.