Courage and Community

A Word from Pastor Henry

Be Strong

and very courageous

Did you know that God has not given us the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7)?

As a matter of fact, He commanded Joshua three times to be courageous. Courage comes in a lot of forms but one of the most courageous things we can do is to fully trust God and His Word. He will never leave us nor forsake us. However, sometimes our hearts want to wander from Him. The hymnist, Robert Robinson, penned this struggle when he wrote:

"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love."

To be the people of God is be a people set apart. John Wesley used questions that can we can use today to examine if our hearts are wandering from God (see below). Ask them of yourself, your family, and your friends. As we endeavor to be visible reminders of the Holy, I pray these questions move us closer to the heart of God:

John Wesley’s Self-Examination Questions

1.    Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?

2.    Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

3.    Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?

4.    Can I be trusted?

5.    Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?

6.    Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?

7.    Did the Bible live in me today?

8.    Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?

9.    Am I enjoying prayer?

10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?

11. Do I pray about the money I spend?

12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

13. Do I disobey God in anything?

14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?

16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?

17. How do I spend my spare time?

18. Am I proud?

19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?

20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?

21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?

22. Is Christ real to me?

 John Wesley’s Small Group Meeting Questions

1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?

2. What temptations have you met with?

3. How were you delivered?

4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?

Optional questions that could be asked in addition to the 4 questions

1. Have you the forgiveness of your sins?

2. Have you peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ?

3. Have you the witness of God's Spirit with your spirit, that you are a child of God?

4. Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart?

5. Has any sin, inward or outward, dominion over you?

6. Do you desire to be told of your faults?

7. Do you desire to be told of all your faults, and that plain and home?

8. Do you desire that every one of us should tell you, from time to time, whatsoever is in his heart concerning you?

9. Consider! Do you desire we should tell you whatsoever we think, whatsoever we fear, whatsoever we hear, concerning you?

10. Do you desire that, in doing this, we should come as close as possible, that we should cut to the quick, and search your heart to the bottom?

11. Is it your desire and design to be on this, and all other occasions, entirely open, so as to speak everything that is in your heart without exception, without disguise, and without reserve?