Wesley Foundation at MSU

Jesus wouldn’t have been very good at social distancing in a pandemic! Isolation and separation would’ve hit him hard. Physical distancing would not have come easily to Jesus. The story of Jesus is the story of a man who was with people – sometimes in crowds, sometimes with small groups. Jesus frequently touched people. And there was power in his touch! In many of his miracles, Jesus broke all the coronavirus rules and touched someone.

You’ve probably heard or said some of these sayings before, often within tragedy and hardship as a way of grasping for meaning behind suffering. Sayings like:

Decisions.  Doesn't it sometimes feel like college life is just one decision after another... Summer plans, major change, class scheduling, a new involvement on campus, relationships, where to live next year, Jimmy Johns or Chick-Fil-A, grad school or get a job...which job...what if I can't find a job???  God's will.  How can I be confident that my decisions are synced up with God's will? Does God have an opinion about everything?  What if God is silent?  If only God would come help me with these decisions...

What do I want to do with my life?  Or maybe the better question is, What does my life want to do with me?  This week at Thrive, we're starting a three-week series on God's will by talking about God's will and our calling.  Because God has a will, it’s not all up to me alone to figure out what to do with my life.  Our Creator has helpful input and good intentions for what we do with our lives.  Because I have a will, I play the crucial role of responding to God’s callings.  It's a beautiful thing when calling becomes a partnership between God’s will and yours.

In the Bible, a lack of awareness is often compared to blindness. And blindness is often portrayed as a central obstacle to intimacy with God and others. So how does God help us with our blindness? Two ways:

Would intimacy be a word you would use to describe your relationships?  What about with God?  One way to summarize the Bible’s story is this: It is the story of God’s hunger for intimacy; his pain at its loss; his determination to recapture it; and his fierce joy at its redemption. This week at Thrive, Katie’s teaching on intimacy with God and how God’s presence and God’s listening means our relationship with him can grow in intimacy. Hope you’ll join us and bring a friend!

Living loved is one continuous experience that starts with being loved by God.  Then living loved trusts the love that sent Jesus to solve our estrangement and our eternity issues. And then lives out the loved you receive. 

The Gospel of John makes an amazing claim about Jesus: “His LIFE brings LIGHT to everyone.” [Jn1.3] How’d you like for your life to be warmed and brightened by the light of Jesus? That’s the truth we find in 1 John 1.5 – 3.10 in Week 2 of our Bible study series on 1 John.

This week at Thrive, Hugh kicks off our series in 1 John. He speaks on how Jesus is life breaking it down into four parts: 1). Jesus is the Word of life, 2). Jesus defines life, 3). Jesus existed before the beginning, and 4). Jesus is eternal life. Sin disrupts life, but fellowship is restored because the blood of Jesus forgives and cleanses us bringing life to our life.

This week at Thrive, our good friend and Wesley alumnus, Pat Ward, teaches on finding freedom in our groaning. Pat says, “Being free and living free are two different things.”  Pat dissects Paul’s words from Romans 8:21 about “glorious freedom,” and he walks us down the road from groaning to freedom, offering wisdom on how we find this “glorious freedom.”