Tuesday, April 26, 2011

April 27, 2011

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you have come to know Him as your Savior, it is because someone witnessed to you. Through the way they lived, and the words they said, and because of the quality of their walk they made the Christian faith seem credible to you. You had to investigate their claims because of the integrity of their lifestyle.

As this verse reminds us, Christians are called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ wherever we go. During 2011-12 in our Year of Hope emphasis will be a call to Holiness and a call to Outreach.

What will that involve? What does the call to outreach ask you to do?

For Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church, the call to outreach means we will ask you write and memorize your personal testimony. Like most people, you underestimate the power of your story of how you became a follower of Christ. Anyone who values you as a friend will find your story important. It is important that you prepare a two or three minute of what your life was like before you believed in Christ, how you came to know Him and how He has changed your life. We will call our people to work on these testimonies and share them in their LIFE Groups.

Also, our challenge to outreach will involve a target list of three to five non-believing friends for whom you will regularly pray and interceed for their salvation. You would not be a Christian if it had not been for a person who loved you enough to pray for your salvation. We have been doing this for about 18 months at FredWes and have regularly seen people from these lists crossing the line of faith.

Being prepared to share your faith and being faithful to pray for your friends are two big pieces to the outreach puzzle.

Third, you will be asked to demonstrate the love of Christ by touching your friends with acts of kindness. It may be a card to encourage or springing for lunch. Perhaps you could help with yard work or offer to babysit to give a friend a night out. There are dozens of ways to touch others with the love and grace of Jesus if you are looking for them!

So, the Year of Hope will involve an emphasis on Holiness and on Outreach.

What are you doing to witness for your Lord? If you don't consciously and intentionally make an effort to have a positive witness, you will unintentionally become a negative witness. I am sure you don't want that.

Will you formulate your testimony? Will you have a target list? Will you touch others with the goodness and grace of God?


April 26, 2011

 "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”  “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."  II Corinthians 6:14-7:1
For Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church, this Sunday is New Year's Day. Yes, it begins our 2011-12 Fiscal and statistical year. We begin the counting all over again.
2011-12 is going to be a Year of Hope at FWC. I am not just talking about hopeful thinking or wishing and hoping, I am talking about a plan to bring hope to the people of FredWes.
This coming year we will focus on four points of emphasis that will guide our sermon preparation, our LIFE Group studies, our fellowship and the personal attitudes and actions of our individual live.
H.O.P.E. will be an acrostic made up of the four great themes we will unite around this year. In that acrostic there will be four great themes for our focus on 2011-12. The first one, the "H" if you will, stands for holiness.
In 2011-12 we will be calling for each of our members and regular attenders to emphasize personal holiness.
What does that mean? What will I be expecting from my people?
Paul gives an excellent brief explanation of what holiness looks like and how it happens.
First it means guarding your relationships- "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God."  II Corinthians 6:14-16


You can never experience holiness if you are not in intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the source of all righteousness and you cannot be in an intimate relationship with God and at the same time have intimate relationships with evil friends. (Not my word But God's)

So, if you value having an intimate satisfying relationship with God then you must closely guard your heart and mind at all times during the day. You must resist every temptation that comes at you. You must renounce all sin in your life and repent of it. Call on God for strength to stand in it. If you do, you will have a good chance to say "no" to sin and "yes" to obeying Jesus!

You must read and memorize His Word daily. The Psalmist said, "I will hide your Word in my heart that I might not sin again you". A regular reading of the Bible and taking time to meditate and commiting it to memory will help develop a heart for hearing and obeying Him!



Holiness renouncing sin and not being casual about sinful thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors. Allow God's Spirit to search your heart and be quick to repent when He convicts you of a sin.

The evidence of holiness is righteous living - "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."  II Corinthians 7:1

2011-12 is a year of H.O.P.E. and that begins with holiness. Will you answer the call to personal holiness?