A Global Methodist Church
Today’s message is titled “The POWER of Prayer”. Think about what a privilege God gave His children giving us the opportunity to pray. How many of us forget that we have that privilege? Prayer is the most important activity in the life of a Christian. Prayer is our direct communications channel with God Almighty. As we pray, we grow in His likeness as we are molded to have our will be His will. Prayer is ALWAYS available. From the first second we wake up until the last second, we are awake for the day. We have the privilege to pray without ceasing. Each and every one of us has a unique experience in this life and God uses that to shape our prayers. Each one of us has unique praises and requests. Do not waste this. Take the time to pray and be blessed as you are a blessing to others all the while we are drawn closer to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today’s message is titled “My All for Jesus”. In the Old Testament, the law was to give a tithe or ten percent of the first fruits of your increase. There were also other laws that required other gifts to be given to the church. Jesus came to free us from the law and showed us that God loves a cheerful giver. When we put giving first, as a matter of faith, our giving becomes an act of worship. Luke 9:23-24 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. What does Jesus want us to give? Jesus wants us to want to give. It is when we realize that there is great joy in trusting Him for our finances, time and talents, that we are free to give and truly become the cheerful giver that is mentioned in 2nd Corinthians 9:7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” Is this prosperity preaching? No it is not. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Giving out of faith, is not giving in order to receive financially. Giving out of faith is trusting in The Lord Your God with all your heart and leaning not on your own understanding. God will provide. God is worthy to be praised. God is worthy of our trust. Amen?/p>
Today is Annual Conference Report Sunday. Wait, before you go… this annual conference was different. Twenty-twenty-three was the convening year of the Allegheny West Conference of the Global Methodist Church. The theme of the conference is “Becoming One” as the former West Ohio, East Ohio and Western Pennsylvania Conferences came together to become one newly formed conference. This truly marks the rebirth of The Wesleyan movement in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania within The Global Methodist Church. The message brought by Pastor Jon, born from this wonderful Holy Conference event is titled “Oh How Wonderful”. God’s promise from Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. Is alive and well. He is always waiting for us to come to Him. The last several years of increased denomination division have been frustrating and even painful. But take heart! God doesn’t waste a thing, good OR bad. There is a renewed freedom to concentrate on worshiping Jesus Christ without strife or agendas. 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So, we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. It is a new day church, Oh How Wonderful, indeed!
Today’s message is titled “His Love for Me”. Jesus’ love has no boundaries and those of us that have much to be forgiven for have received great forgiveness. We are very good at judging the actions of others. Jesus knows everything about us and yet He offers Love to all of us. He not only freely gives his Love but He alone offers complete forgiveness. There are no sins that He will not forgive. A good example of Jesus’ Love and forgiveness comes in the recounting of the woman that anointed Jesus with expensive perfume and washed His feet with her tears. The “religious” people were shocked because they knew that this woman was a sinner. She also knew how much baggage she had. Jesus knows all and He does not care about what the judging ones among us think. His Love is big enough to overcome all our sins.
Today’s message is “Needing Jesus”. None of us enjoy tragedy or sadness or having a broken heart. However, the times when we are weak are times of great opportunity to draw closer to God. Nothing can separate us from Christ’s Love and when we are our weakest, His strength carries us through. Romans 8:28-30 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn[n] among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. God is always in control and there is great comfort in that. His provisions never fail even and especially when we fail He is always there and always faithful. Yes, we all need Jesus and the more we lean on Him the more we are blessed. Matthew 5: 11-12 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.