Amherst Wesleyan Church

Matthew 6:14-15 & 18:30 Bitterness and unforgiveness isolate.

Titus 2:1-8, Matthew 19:14, 1 Timothy 4:12, Psalm 79:13, Psalm 100:5 Each generation is meant to be a blessing to the other.

Ephesians 4:29, James 3:8 In a community, you either poke holes or you patch holes with your words.

If you're focused on what people can do, you're not watching Jesus or pointing others to Him. 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, 12:9-10

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 When you are generous with what God gives you, you point people to Him.

2 Cor 3:18, Col 1:15, Gen 1:27, Matt 5:16 You're not a flashlight, you're a mirror.

2 Cor 2:5-11, 1 Cor 5:1-13 Jesus came to save sinners outside and inside the church.

2 Corinthians 1:4 Comfort should flow through you, not just to you.

Ephesians 6:10-20 Suffering is never natural.

Romans 5:1-5 & 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 When your hope is in Jesus, suffering just make is stronger.

Genesis 1:31 Peace is a trait of God's Kingdom, not the fallen world.

Ruth 3:10-11 Honour, not desire, builds the best relationships.

Matthew 1:5 & Galatians 3:7 Insiders are those who put their faith in God.

We are constantly surrounded by "outsiders." They are there in our church, in our community and in our social settings. The question is, what do we do about it? Do we push them away, do we try to protect the insiders, or do we invite them in? Deut 10:18-19 Outsiders have a special place in God's heart.

The book of Judges and the book of Ruth tell stories that happen at the same time of history, and yet they are wildly different. They actually seem to contrast each other and show what happens when we do things our way or God's way. Judges 21:25 & Ruth 1:16 Your way is not the right way.

We tell ourselves that we need to keep busy and that being busy is a sign of success. Yet, being busy doesn't always get us what we are hoping for, and it can actually get in the way of what we are trying to get. Busy-ness is a kind of "junk food" for your time; it fills up your schedule but leaves you with very little to show for it. John 21:3-6 Doing the right things better than doing all the th...

Usually when someone asks me if something is a sin or not they are looking for permission. They want to know what is allowed and what is not. That's the wrong question to be asking though. If we are trying to follow Jesus but still trying to find what we can get away with, it will be incredibly hard to keep up! 1 Corinthians 10:23 Don't ask, "What's allowed?" ask, "What's like Jesus?"

Junk food is full of calories but doesn't provide the quality building materials your body needs to heal and grow. The same is true for media content that we consume that is junk; it fills up our minds and hearts, but doesn't actually give us what we need to heal and be healthy mentally, emotionally or spiritually. Jesus is different though. John 4:13 Junk food fills you up and leaves you empty.

Eternity can be an overwhelming thought. Especially when you are processing the idea of Hell. It becomes very natural to try avoiding that idea and to just focus on the here and now instead. But, when we do that we start to see how the present life isn't so great either. Thinking this way can lead to some pretty dark places and the only remedy is accepting what God says about eternity and changing...

Many people have had the experience of going to church or talking to a church person and being left confused. Others have read 1 Corinthians 14 and been left wondering what the author was really trying to say about the gift of tongues. When we take the time to read it more carefully we can see that confusion shouldn't be the result of what we do. 1 Corinthians 14 Our job is to make the message of...

Some of us focus on loving people by what we can do. Others of us focus on loving people by what we allow or fight for them to do. Neither of those things actually has the affect it needs to have on them though. What we need, and need more than anything else especially as a church, is to love the way God loves us. 1 Corinthians 13 Loving like God needs to be our first priority.

The comparison game is very common and also very toxic. It is also very rediculous! We try to figure out if we are more or less valuable than others and work to become more valuable or make others less valuable, but really it is like comparing apples to oranges; they are simply two different things. Like our bodies, we don't compare our hands to our feet! One isn't more valuable than the other, an...

If you are special enough, talented enough, attractive enough, you are then worth of love, right? We work so hard to be lovable. And we work so hard to help people see themselves as lovable. But, we aren't. On our own, we are broken and messed up. We do not deserve love. Which is what makes Jesus so miraculous. Because He loves us even though we are unlovable! John 4 The miracle of Christ is that...

We often think that if our circumstances change, how we feel will change. So we focus on blaming our circumstances or changing them. But what we actually find is that the peace that comes from circumstances doesn't last very long. We need a better peace than what our circumstances are able to provide. Isaiah 26:3, John 14:27, Luke 2:14 Peace comes from God, not circumstances.