Introduction

Good morning once again, friends! I’m thankful you decided to join us either in person or online today as we begin a brand-new sermon series. Over the next four weeks we will be talking about how to Live Ready… As we all know, life can throw some pretty wicked curve balls our way. Not to mention, we live in the midst of constant change. This constant change can cause us to question God, be confused in our faith, or have doubts.

Have you ever struggled with doubts about faith? I want to introduce you to a guy named John Wesley who lived in England from 1703-1791. He was the 15th of 19 kids, and his mom homeschooled them all. His father was a pastor in the Anglican Church, and John himself became a pastor in that same church. Early on as a minister, Wesley struggled with doubts about his faith. He shared this with his good friend, Peter Böhler, and Böhler gave him some good advice, “Preach faith until you have it. And then, because you have it, you will preach faith.” Basically, fake it ’til you make it.

Wesley took that advice and soon after led someone to the Lord by preaching faith alone in Christ. This person gladly accepted the message and his life changed immediately. Wesley was surprised at the guy’s sudden life change because Wesley himself hadn’t experienced similar changes.

Soon after, on May 24, 1738, at 8:45PM, Wesley was at a meeting of believers in Aldersgate, and as he was listening to someone read Martin Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to Romans, Wesley says, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, and Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given to me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

God unexpectedly showed up at that moment! Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed and discovered he did have faith. God can show up in any situation at any moment and change a life, often when we least expect Him. With Wesley, the rest is history. His life did change. He went on to start the Methodist movement in both England and the United States. When he died at age 88, he left behind 130,000 people who gave their lives to Christ; he had hundreds of thousands of dollars pass through his hands that he channeled to the poor, to widows, to the hungry, and more. He died nearly broke with only a few coins in his pocket because he distributed so much wealth to those in need, keeping a bare minimum for himself.

Throughout this series we’re going to talk about how God can show up in any situation at any moment, and how we must learn to Live Ready through the highs and lows of life.

God can show up in any situation at any moment and change a life, often when we least expect Him.

When I say, Live Ready, I’m sure there are many images that come to mind ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium