Stockton Wesley United Methodist Church

04/02/2026

Update:

04/02/2026

Please see and share update

Wesley UMC Maundy Thursday service meal is cancelled due to potential storm threats. Stay safe everyone.
Good Friday service is at 7 pm with meal prior at 6 pm. in Fellowship Hall. All welcome to attend.

04/02/2026

Wesley UMC Maundy Thursday service meal is cancelled due to potential storm threats. Stay safe everyone.
Good Friday service is at 7 pm with meal prior at 6 pm. in Fellowship Hall. All welcome to attend.

12/07/2025

Our Kid’s JOY Market was a true success!
Our shoppers enjoyed 2 weeks of purchasing their own treasures for their gifts! They were so excited and proud! A great team of elves came through along with many bakers for our Cookie boxes!
Kids, be ready for a new year of fun at Wesley!

08/09/2025

August 9, 2025 ~ Verse of The Day: Romans 4:3

When God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, He gave him a promise. And Abraham trusted God. Abraham believed what God said, which resulted in his being proclaimed righteous.
The Hebrew for the word 'believed' is 'aman'. This word carries with the thought of being propped up and supported; carried by God. Abraham rested on the character of God and trusted His Word. He abided in the truth of Scripture: "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Paul is echoing the words written in Genesis, and when God repeats a matter in Scripture, we would do well to pay extra attention to it. May we, like Abraham, believe and trust God and it will be credited to us as righteousness.
All who trust in Jesus as Savior are credited with His righteousness, for we too have trusted the Word of God for salvation. All who believe the good news that Christ died for their sins and rose the third day to pay the price for their sins, have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, by faith.

As righteousness has been credited to us on His behalf, let us live by faith so that all that we do is done by faith and not by our flesh. And just as we were credited with righteousness at salvation, let us continue to live by faith, with thanksgiving for all that He has done for us.

My Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for clothing me in Your righteousness. Help me to live godly in Christ Jesus, to Your praise and glory. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/romans-4-3

08/02/2025

August 2, 2025 ~ Verse of The Day: Romans 4:2

Abraham is often called 'the father of faith' because he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. We first read about this accreditation in Genesis chapter 15 and the apostle Paul confirms this in both Romans and Galatians. We find a third reference relating to the faith of Abraham in James chapter 2 for we read, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Abraham did many good works that were commended by men. And down through centuries of time, Jewish leaders proudly proclaimed that being Abraham's physical descendants, they too were imputed with some of his righteousness and meritorious acts. They taught that because they were the physical descendants of Abraham - through Isaac - they were automatically reckoned to be justified in God's eyes.
They believed (incorrectly), that because Abraham was declared righteous before God, they were also righteous - by association! They taught that Abrahams's offspring were automatically justified. They proudly boasted that being in his ancestral line they too were declared righteous by default! But righteousness is not inherited. Justification is not gained by doing good works or keeping the Law nor is it passed on from our parents. Righteousness is a gift of God - received through faith. We are justified by faith and not by works of the Law.
Paul pointed out that, "if Abraham was justified by works, he would certainly have something to boast about." However, he quickly pointed out that although he carried out many commendable works which merited man's approval, they certainly did not justify him in the sight of God. Although Abraham may be justified - or considered righteous in the eyes of man, good works will never justify a man in the eyes of God.
Abraham did many admirable things that justified him in the eyes of men!! One of these righteous deeds that demonstrated his faith in God and caused him to be justified in the eyes of man was the offering of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah - referred to in James chapter 2. However, it is important to realize that although this deed caused Abraham to be justified in the eyes of man, it was not the offering of Isaac that caused Abraham to be justified in the sight of God.
"For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God."
None of his works caused God to declare him justified. Abraham had placed his trust in God many years earlier (Genesis chapter 15) when he left his birthplace and set out to go to a land that God had promised to give him, not knowing where he was going. When Abraham trusted God's promise and obeyed His instructions... that was when his faith was counted as righteousness by God - as Paul records.
Many years later, he demonstrated his faith through his actions (Genesis chapter 22) when he obeyed God's instruction to offer his only son to the Lord on Mount Moriah. In Genesis 22, he demonstrated his faith in God and it was counted as a righteous act by man - as James records.
Throughout Scripture, we discover over and again that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. God declared Abraham righteous because he trusted God - he believed His Word. He was not declared righteous because of what he did but because of what he believed.
There were many in Paul's day, as there are today, that continue to believe that we are justified by performing good works, by keeping rules, or by performing rituals - but this is not what the Bible teaches. Similarly, there are many that like to believe that their Jewish ancestry or Christian heritage justifies them in the sight of God and automatically assures them a place in heaven - but this is not what the Bible teaches - for if a man is justified by works, the keeping of rules, the performing of rituals, through physical birth, or by any other meritorious thing, he would certainly have something to boast about, but as Paul makes very clear, such boasting would not stand up before God.

Praise God that we are justified by grace through faith in the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and not because of any good deeds we have carried out.

My Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You that like Abraham I have been justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior. Thank You that I am accepted in Christ and have been declared righteous - not because of what I have done, but because of trusting in what Christ did on the Cross for me. May my life become a living testimony to the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ to everyone I meet, and may all I do, be done to the glory of God. In Jesus' name I pray, and for His greater glory, AMEN.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/romans-4-2

07/23/2025

New release for 2025! Join the fun for this free event. Bring your camp chairs, blankets, outdoors at Wesley UMC to enjoy this family movie by 8 pm. Free popcorn, theatre candies, lemonade. Kids check out free school supply table. Free event! Let’s Celebrate Summer!

07/17/2025

July 17, 2025 ~ Verse of The Day: Romans 3:31

The focal point of the gospel of God is Jesus Christ, and how to be saved is the single, most important truth a sinner needs to know. Justification by faith in Christ is the one and only way to God... for the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.
Paul laid emphasis for the best part of three chapters in his epistle to the Romans, on man's terrible guilt and need for salvation. All men need the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, for all have sinned and all fall short of the perfection of God's perfect Law. But he rejoices to inform us that apart from the impossible task of keeping God's perfect Law, the righteousness of God has now been made known through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the sinless Son of God Who as our Kinsman-Redeemer, fulfilled every aspect of the Law... and He did it on behalf of all who would have faith in Him.
Paul lays out the bottom line that although no one is sinless and no one can keep God's perfect Law, there is an acceptable way to be declared righteous - and it is simply through faith in Christ.
The simplicity of the gospel caused many in the early Church considerable concern, for they knew that only those that are righteous in God's eyes can be saved... and strictly keeping to the Law seemed to be the only way to achieve such righteousness. And yet, the perfect standard of Law was incapable of being achieved by human effort.
However, Paul announced that because Christ took the punishment that we deserved under the Law, the curse of the Law has been lifted from those who trust in Him. Instead of being under the condemnation of the Law because of our sin, we are free from the curse of the Law and God's condemnation because we have trusted in Christ. We are justified by God through faith in Christ.
For many, this seemed to imply that God's perfect Law was meaningless and so the question was asked, "Do we then nullify the Law through faith?" This is a concern that continues to be the cry of many today, for the simple gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, seems to overthrow the legitimacy of God's divine authority that comes through the perfect Law.
But Paul answers this objection with the exclamation, "May it never be! - God forbid! - Banish the thought! On the contrary, we establish the Law - and it is established simply through faith." He explains that the purpose of the Law was to point us to Christ and is fulfilled when a sinner believes in Christ for the forgiveness of sin. The purpose and plan of the Mosaic Law is fulfilled when it has achieved its work in the life of an individual. When the Law has turned a sinner to repentance, so that they turn from their sin to faith, to Jesus Christ - it has achieved the purpose for which it was given.
The Law demands perfect obedience, but when any part of the Law is broken it demands death. Death for the sinner means eternal separation from GOD... for the wages of sin is death BUT... the gift of God is eternal life, through faith in Jesus Christ. By His grace, the redemption price was paid in full by Jesus, so that when a sinner recognizes their sin and seeks salvation by faith in Christ, the Law has fulfilled its work in the life of that sinner. When knowledge of the Law causes a man to admit he is a sinner and turn to Christ for salvation, then the Law is established in their life. The Law is not nullified by faith but is established.
Paul lays out why we are saved by faith and why we are not saved by works of the Law. The Law exposes sin but it cannot forgive sin. Sinners can never keep God's perfect Law which must be punished by death. But Christ took the punishment that we sinners deserve so that we may be declared righteous saints in the eyes of God - through faith. We are freed from the curse of the Law - by faith.
The prime purpose of the Law is to expose our sinfulness and point us to faith in Christ's righteousness and when a sinner is saved by grace, the Law has been established in that life. "Do we then nullify the Law through faith?" is Pauls's rhetorical question, to which he immediately responds, "May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law."

Far from negating the Law, the gospel of Christ upholds the Law, for the death penalty is paid for every man's sin by Christ and those who place their trust in His finished work for salvation instead of trusting their own works of righteousness are saved from death - BY FAITH.

My Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for the simple gospel of Christ. Thank You that it is the power of God to declare righteous all those who have faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/romans-3-31