Introduction:
Last session we looked at the life of William Booth and what a life that was. A man whose heart changes the status of many in the east end of London. In this session we are going to look at another preacher who changed the world. John Wesley was a radical and a Jesus freak who grew tired of the church of his day and set about the work of transforming lives.
John Wesley is one of history’s most traveled men. He rode 250,000 miles on horseback, that’s ten times the circumference of the earth
Preached 40,000 sermons
Gave away £30,000 to people. (In his day this was astounding!!)
John Wesley was a victim of bullying as a child. John, a short and intelligent boy, was bullied relentlessly as a child. This abuse affected him for the rest of his life. Accounts tell of how, as an adult, Wesley would tremble when discussing the barbaric treatment he received from his peers.
His last words were quoted as “The best of it all is, God is with us.”
Quotes of John Wesley.
“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
“Catch on fire and others will love to come watch you burn.”
“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
“In using all means, seek God alone. In and through every outward thing, look only to the power of His Spirit, and the merits of His Son. Beware you do not get stuck in the work itself; if you do, it is all lost labour. Nothing short of God can satisfy your soul. Therefore, fix on Him in all, through all, and above all...”DVD – John Wesley
1. What impressed you most from the DVD?
2. Wesley believed that "The devils should flee from him and not the other way round" what do you think of this?
3. Wesley had an experience of God in which he said "I felt my heart strangely warmed" Have you ever had an experience of God like Wesley?
4. What has challenged you from the DVD?
5. What can you take from the story of Wesley to apply yo tour own life?
John Wesley’s Prayer of Consecration to Close:
In 1738 at the age of 40, back in England, John Wesley was at a Moravian prayer meeting and had his famous “Aldersgate experience.” He heard a reading of Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle of Romans and reported, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.” He wrote a prayer of consecration that has inspired many other hearts to be strangely warmed by the love of God being manifest to them:
O grant that nothing in my soul May dwell,Prayer:
but thy pure love alone!
O may thy love possess me whole,
My joy, my treasure, and my crown;
Strange fires far from my heart remove:
My every act, word, thought, be love!
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