“So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’” John 19:16b-19
Weleyan Life Application Topic - Jesus Died for You
Jesus Died for You
We never fully know the meaning of the cross until we realize that our Lord’s death was for us, personally. We are told that in one of the early days of Martin Luther’s pilgrimage of faith, he was found in a posture of deep struggle, holding a crucifix, and sobbing repeatedly, “Fur mich! Fur milch!” –for me, for me! Charles Wesley put it eloquently in a hymn: “O Love divine, what hast thou done! /The immortal God hath died for me!” Stop some day before a cross, wait for your soul to grow quiet, then say aloud, but softly, “This was for me.” -Wesley Study Bible pg 1316
Scripture Nugget 11.7.2015
“After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people,’ to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:1-3
“Sanctify them in truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I Have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:17-19
“Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’.”
Scripture Nugget 11.6.2015 with Wesleyan Life Application Topic - Loving God
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. John 14:6-7
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” John 14:15-=16
“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father and I will love them and reveal myself to them” … “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that your hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.” John 14:21, 23b-24
Loving
God
Love is such an easy word to say and such a hard thing to do. Ultimately love shows itself not by declarations of affection but by the service we render to the one we profess to love, especially service that inconveniences us or that calls for sacrifice. What is true in expressions of human love is equally true of our love for God. Jesus puts the matter quite simply: If we love him, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15). This is the kind of practical Christianity that characterizes the Wesleyan tradition at it best. -Wesley Study Bible pg 1310
Scripture Nugget 11.5.2015
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
“Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40
“Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.’” John 12:44-50
Wesleyan Core Term - Eternal Life
Eternal Life
What is Wesley’s distinctive interpretation of eternal life as described in Jude v. 21? It is not simply “going to heaven … a blessing which lies on the other side of death.” No, eternal life begins in this life. “It is a present thing, a blessing which, though the free mercy of God, ye are now in possession of” (Sermon 43: “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” para I:1). Knowing and experiencing the love of God we already begin to share in the quality of eternal life. The kingdom of God begins in this life, “set up in the believers heart” (Sermon 26: “Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount,” para III:8). Thus eternal life begins when we first become conscious of the mercy and love of God (justification), but it extends “to the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory” (“The Scripture Way of Salvation,” para I:1). -The Wesley Study Bible, pg 1535
Francis Osley's Brother Ray Carnes Passed Nov 4
Church family, please pray for Francis and the family at the passing of her brother Ray Carnes.
Visitation is Thursday Nov 5, 6-8pmat McDougald Funerals Home, 2211 North Main Street, Anderson, SC 29621.
Funeral service is Friday 2 pm at River of Life Church of God, Anderson, SC
As many have expressed interest in attending visitation, we will not hold Bible Study tomorrow Nov 5.
Scripture Nugget 11.4.2015 Wesleyan Core Term Spiritual Blindness
“Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’” John 9:39
Wesleyan
Core Term
Spiritual
Blindness
Commenting on John 9:39, Wesley says: “the consequence of [Jesus’] coming will be, that by the just judgment of God, while the blind in body and soul receive their sight, they who boast they see, will be given up to still greater blindness than before.” (Notes, 9:39).
It is a “melancholy truth,” says Wesley, that “those whose eye is not single are totally ignorant of the nature of true religion” and “far remote” from both holiness and happiness (Sermon 125: “On a Single Eye,” para II.2, 4). Yet no person is totally blind spiritually. “Some few rays of light have in all ages and nations gleamed through the shade” – some “steaks of light” that “prevented utter darkness.” Jesus is still “the true light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world” (Sermon 119: “Walking by Sight and Walking by Faith,” para 8, 9). The biblical revelation of Jesus is necessary, however, in order truly to deliver people from spiritual blindness. Wesley Study Bible, page 1301
Scripture Nugget 11.3.2015
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” John 6:35
“Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” John 6:47-48
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:51
Scripture Nugget 11.2.2015
“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, …. ‘Where do you get that living water?’ … Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’” John 4:10-11a, 11c-15