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John Wesley
John Wesley (1703 - 1791). English Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and co-founder of Methodism, born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, to a rector’s family. Educated at Oxford, where he earned an M.A. in 1727, he was ordained in 1728 and led the Holy Club with brother Charles, emphasizing disciplined faith. After a failed mission to Georgia (1735-1737), he experienced a transformative conversion in 1738 at Aldersgate, London, feeling his “heart strangely warmed.” Wesley preached over 40,000 sermons, often outdoors, sparking the 18th-century Evangelical Revival, and traveled 250,000 miles on horseback across Britain and Ireland. He authored 400 works, including A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777), and edited The Christian’s Pattern. Founding Methodist societies, he trained 650 preachers and ordained ministers for America, influencing millions. Married to Mary Vazeille in 1751, their childless union strained, but his brother’s hymns enriched worship. A tireless advocate for the poor, he opened dispensaries and schools, and his 1787 sermon against slavery stirred abolitionism. Despite tensions with the Church of England, he never left it, shaping global Protestantism. His maxim, “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,” inspired generations to active faith. Wesley’s journals and letters, still widely read, reveal a legacy of practical holiness and social reform
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John Wesley emphasizes the profound relationship between God and humanity, as illustrated in Psalm 139, where David acknowledges God's omniscience and omnipresence. He reflects on David's plea for God to search his heart, revealing the importance of self-examination and the desire for a pure heart. Wesley highlights that true humility and spiritual poverty lead to a deeper understanding of oneself and a closer relationship with God. He encourages believers to invite God to reveal their inner thoughts and sins, assuring them that through Christ and the Holy Spirit, they too can become people after God's own heart. The sermon challenges listeners to seek purity and authenticity in their spiritual journey.
Scriptures
A Person After God's Own Heart
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23&24) If you have the time, try and read the whole of Psalm139. The Interpreter’s Bible calls it “one of the glories of the Psalter” and as you read it you will find many verses that sound familiar. It is a Psalm of David and it speaks of the God who knows all things, the God who is in all places, and the God who creates. It speaks of the God who sees all creation (and today we understand more than ever just how huge creation is) and at the same time sees into the womb and watches over the formation of a little person. Theologians might use words like Omniscience and Omnipresence to describe these mysteries but the Psalmist just uses words of praise and joy and wonder. The intriguing part of the Psalm is that it begins with the words, “Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me” and ends with the words, “Search me, oh God and know my heart.” He is asking the God who knows him, to get to know him. Why is this so? Here we see David at his best, spiritually poverty stricken and crying out for a pure heart. David is fully aware that it is possible to not know your own heart, so he asks God to show him what He sees in his heart. He invites God to test him knowing full well that God tests by fire and by water but he is prepared to risk it because he wants a pure heart. No wonder David is called a man after God's own heart. The good news is that because of what God has done for you in Christ and because of the power of the Holy Spirit at work within you, you can be a person after God's own heart as well. Do you want to be? Show me, as my soul can bear, The depth of inbred sin, All the unbelief declare, The pride that lurks within; Take me, whom thyself hast bought, Bring into captivity Every high aspiring thought That would not stoop to thee. (348)
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John Wesley (1703 - 1791). English Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and co-founder of Methodism, born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, to a rector’s family. Educated at Oxford, where he earned an M.A. in 1727, he was ordained in 1728 and led the Holy Club with brother Charles, emphasizing disciplined faith. After a failed mission to Georgia (1735-1737), he experienced a transformative conversion in 1738 at Aldersgate, London, feeling his “heart strangely warmed.” Wesley preached over 40,000 sermons, often outdoors, sparking the 18th-century Evangelical Revival, and traveled 250,000 miles on horseback across Britain and Ireland. He authored 400 works, including A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777), and edited The Christian’s Pattern. Founding Methodist societies, he trained 650 preachers and ordained ministers for America, influencing millions. Married to Mary Vazeille in 1751, their childless union strained, but his brother’s hymns enriched worship. A tireless advocate for the poor, he opened dispensaries and schools, and his 1787 sermon against slavery stirred abolitionism. Despite tensions with the Church of England, he never left it, shaping global Protestantism. His maxim, “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,” inspired generations to active faith. Wesley’s journals and letters, still widely read, reveal a legacy of practical holiness and social reform