Wesley Chapel Methodist Church

10/21/2026

10/14/2026

Midweek Motivation

10/12/2026

Prayer Focus:
Unless the Lord Builds the House
Psalm 17:1
Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it…
Years ago, while working as a carpenter’s aide, I learned an important lesson about building a house. Before each stage of a project, the lead carpenter gathered the crew around blueprints spread across plywood on sawhorses. No matter how experienced he was, he always consulted the plans. To build without them would have been foolish: he might have constructed a house, but not the one the architect intended.
Jesus gathered His disciples and declared, “I will build My church.” The church is His, and He provides the specifications for building it. The disciples were to serve as His carpenters. How foolish it would have been for them to work on their own, adding or removing whatever they thought might improve the building.
As The Acts of the Apostles unfolds, we are drawn to the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4f), the missionary work of Peter and Paul, their sermons and their impact on Jews and Gentiles, and the miracles and healings they performed. Yet we may overlook their continual consultation with the Master Builder through prayer.
Beginning in Acts 1:14, the disciples are described as “devoted to prayer,” gathering consistently for that purpose. Prayer permeates the Acts narrative: they prayed when making decisions, facing opposition, carrying the Gospel across old boundaries, appointing leaders, and sending missionaries.
They did not merely ask God to bless decisions they had already made; they sought direction from the One who said, “I will build My church.”
Personal devotional prayer nurtures an individual’s relationship with God, while private intercession invites God’s help for family, friends, the Church, and the community. Liturgical prayer can unite worshipers, deepen worship, and create opportunities to pray for one another as a congregation. Both devotional and liturgical prayer reflect spirituality, but a life of prayer does not necessarily make a congregation a “house of prayer”—a body devoted to seeking the Master Builder’s direction as it advances the Gospel under the Spirit’s leading. Congregational prayer enables believers to intercede together for God’s guidance for the Church and its community and to address troubling circumstances in the community, state, or nation.
As we gather as a House of Prayer, I invite everyone willing to set aside time on the evening of November 2 for prayer beginning at 6 p.m. This gathering is not intended to favor any candidate or party, but to seek peace and tranquility before, during, and after the elections. Our only endorsement is this prayer: “Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” Regardless of the outcome, we will need God’s guidance, and His peace and comfort, especially for our nation.

10/10/2026

We will not have a Livestream tomorrow. We apologize for this inconvenience.

10/07/2026

Follow the Son!

10/04/2026

09/28/2026

Prayer Focus: Agonizing in Prayer
Some may think it was a mistake; at first, I did too. I was reflecting upon what it means to agonize in prayer. I thought of Epaphras, who was “always laboring earnestly” for the Colossians in his prayers (Col. 4:12). I thought of Paul’s struggle on behalf of the churches (Col. 2:1), and then of Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane only hours before His arrest and crucifixion. I confessed to the Lord, “I really do not know what it is like to agonize in prayer.” Then my thoughts took an unexpected turn.
I began to recall the painful consequences I had created for myself through foolish decisions. I do not ordinarily use the word “stupid,” but in this case it seems appropriate. I made plenty of such decisions during my teenage and young-adult years—and plenty more afterward. As I lamented what had resulted from those choices, I began to weep. My pity-party became a teaching moment.
My weeping was interrupted by another thought: “Now you know something of what it means to agonize in prayer for others.”
I began thinking about those who suffer because of decisions they have made and those who suffer because of decisions made by others: people trapped in addiction or alcohol dependency, parents raising children alone, families bearing the consequences of broken relationships, and many others. I was not judging them; I was beginning to empathize with them. To agonize in prayer for others may require us to enter their pain rather than stand at a distance and judge how they arrived there. This is not compromise; it is compassion.
Can you remember how you felt and how you lived before Jesus found you—and you found Him? Can you remember struggling with life’s burdens before you learned to place them into the hands of your heavenly Father? Can you remember feeling alone, without comfort or direction, until you discovered the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit?
When I was a young adult, Steve Camp was a popular Christian singer. I remembered a song from his 1989 album, Justice, entitled “Do You Feel Their Pain?” The song challenges us to move beyond distant sympathy and enter compassionately into another person’s suffering. One passage asks:
“Do you feel their pain? Has it touched your life?
Can you taste the salt in the tears they cry?”
Jewish sages would express this as “Your pain in me.” Obviously, this approach to prayer could be difficult, if not personally “painful.” Yet, this could be an application to God causing “all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28), especially knowing one purpose is “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…” (Eph 6:18). And lost family and friends!
“Prayers are measured neither by time nor number, but by intensity.” (Samuel Chadwick)

09/27/2026