May 22, 2011

5-22-11 Sunday, 5:50 am Springfield, 67 degrees, cloudy

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you Lord for the singing birds, for my family, for a healthy body and a working mind. Guide me today as I encourage hearers to taste and see that You are good, and that your mercies are real, personal, and forever.

Yesterday I awoke in Columbia, and was up early to get ready for the Surge event. Chuck Bomar spoke to us morning and afternoon about ministry with college-aged people. It was a very helpful event, especially to the 11 people from Wesley UMC as we launch into more extensive and intense ministry among this age group.

Today my message centers around John Wesley’s Aldersgate experience. It was primarily an experience of grace in which Wesley gained a personal assurance that his sins had been taken away, and that he was saved from the law of sin and death. Martin Luther’s “Preface to the Epistle to the Romans” was being read. In 1515 Luther lectured on this Epistle, and in 1552 published this introduction to his commentary. Today, in 2011 I hope to communicate the Love of Christ, the nearness of God, the individual seeking and finding of God’s grace and peace.

I Pet 2:2-10 – Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

I have found such peace, and I live today in the hope and the assurance that God has saved me, that God is with me, speaks through me and desires for each person who attends Wesley the assurance of salvation.