Wesley Word – March 9, 2022

Carolyn Lemaster   -   March 9, 2022

To go along with service on: Sunday, March 13, 2022 

Experiencing Grace

Exploring Truth
Famous Last Words: Another Comforter
John 14:15-31

We are continuing our Lenten series… Famous Last Words: Jesus’ Farewell Discourse in the Gospel of John. This week, we finish up John chapter 14 where Jesus promises to send another comforter: the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is going away and has promised to return. In the meantime, Jesus promises he will send the Holy Spirit to be an advocate and comforter for us. The Holy Spirit will be with us and will give us guidance, hope, comfort, and peace. The Holy Spirit will also teach and remind us of all the things Jesus said. The Holy Spirit will enable us to obey Jesus’ commandments because, as Jesus said, our obedience is a sign of our love for him.

Throughout the farewell discourse, Jesus has both bad news and good news; warnings about hardships to come, and promises of God’s overarching goodness and blessing. Jesus tells us he is telling us about these things, even the bad things before they happen, so we will believe in him. People often make the mistake of thinking that being a Christian means nothing bad will ever happen to them. Then when something bad does happen, it shakes their faith. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Jesus warned us that bad things would happen to those who choose to follow him so that when they do, our faith should be strengthened, not weakened.

Questions for Reflection/Discussion:

  1. What is something that has happened in your faith life that can only be explained by the Holy Spirit?
  2. How does the fact that Jesus warned us ahead of time make hardships easier to endure?

New Testament in a Year: https://wesleyonline.org/biblereading/

  • March 9    Mark 14:22-52
  • March 10    Mark 14:53-72
  • March 11    Mark 15:1-47
  • March 12    Mark 16:1-20
  • March 13    Luke 1:1-25
  • March 14    Luke 1:26-56
  • March 15    Luke 1:57-80
  • March 16    Luke 2:1-35

Expressing Love: Family/Mission Activity

Connect the Dots: Have your kids complete a dot to dot. If you don’t have any around your house, you can print many different difficulties here, depending on the age of your child. When the dot to dots are complete, ask, did you know what picture it would make when you started? (Probably not) You were able to complete the picture by drawing from one dot to the next.

In our lives, we can’t always understand why certain things happen, but God knows more than we do. When Jesus left the earth, he promised the Holy Spirit would be ever-present to help us and guide us. With the Holy Spirit’s help, even when life seems hard, we only have to do the next thing He tells us (from the Bible) and He will work things together for our good. He sees the big picture and we can have faith that He will always do what’s right and we’ll never be alone.

Announcements:

  • WOW TONIGHT at 5:30pm
  • Early Bird WOW, March 16, 11 am
    • Power Up with Protein (presentation and meal healthy meal to follow. Please RSVP by calling the church office, if you have not already signed up.)
  • Wesley Scholarship applications are now available on the table in front of the office. Completed applications are due April 1.