Am I Defeated In Any Part of My Life?

One of John Wesley's 22 Questions of Self Examination

I’ve talked about this a little before, but part of my job as a Presiding Elder in the Global Methodist Church is to lead a weekly Class Meeting with the pastors in my Covenant Area. On top of being the Senior Pastor of Lutie Watkins Memorial Methodist Church in Llano, TX, I am also the Presiding Elder of Covenant Area 12, which is made up of 8 churches outside of my own. (Because I am a PE, I cannot preside over my own charge in that capacity).

Every Tuesday at 9:00 am I meet with some amazing pastors. I feel like our time together has become more and more in-depth and we have become closer and better pastors because of our time together.

This morning, however, I did not have much planned as I struggled to find a question for us to focus on for the week.

In the 1700’s a man named John Wesley, his brother Charles, and a few of their friends, started a movement that we now call “The People Called Methodists.” What started as a group to help reform the Church of England ended up spinning off a movement of itself that has now gone through a few different iterations over the last couple of centuries.

In 1738, May 24 to be exact, John had an encounter with the Lord during a service at Aldersgate Street where someone was reading the Preface to the Book of Romans written by Martin Luther. John wrote in his journal the following:

“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading [Martin] Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

From this experience was birthed the movement that we as Methodists now hold on to.

One of the distinguishing factors of the Methodist Movement is what are called Transformational Discipleship Groups (Class Meetings & Band Meetings). Each one of these types of meetings has its own purpose. Class meetings are meant to be experienced in community with others. They help hold larger groups in accountable relationship and ask transformational questions like the ones below.

Band Meetings go deeper and are meant to be gender-specific (men with men & women with women). Below are the questions asked in Band Meetings.

For our Covenant Area, we are required to meet once a week in class meetings and are highly recommended to meet in Band Meetings with our smaller accountability groups.

But for today and this post, I want to talk about this morning’s Class Meeting.

As I stated, I was having a tough time coming up with a question to ask. When I introduced my issue of having a prepared question, I submitted the list of questions to our Covenant Area group and stated that I had a hard time choosing because some of the questions I didn’t want to answer and others we had just talked about in previous weeks.

Each one of them looked over the questions, and finally one chose a question:

Am I defeated in any part of my life?

Let me just say, this question hit me like a ton of bricks today.

Am I defeated in any part of my life? More like, am I going to tell you if I am defeated in any part of my life?

Defeat is not a word that we like to think. As an Aggie, I’m used to defeat. Except hopefully tonight when the Aggies take on the Horns in Austin. But I have always gone for the underdog, and more often than not, the underdog loses. So that’s always fun. But when there is a win, it’s that much sweeter. But I digress…

But this question isn’t asking about winning or losing. This question is about getting to the bottom of the feeling of defeat. Do you feel defeated in any part of your life? Do you perceive defeat in some part of your life?

There are so many places and times when I have felt defeated. Maybe I didn’t feel confident enough in a sermon. Maybe I felt I was losing a spiritual warfare battle. Perhaps I was struggling with a program or annual event that I see needs to dramatically change or be pruned, and yet feel defeated any time I push back.

But the question is…Am I REALLY defeated in any part of my life?

You see, these questions are meant to make you think. Sure, some of them are Yes and no questions, or at least they can be. But when you really start digging deep into your soul and asking God to illuminate those parts of you that you keep hidden away, stuff starts to come out.

You start to hear yourself say things that you didn’t even know you really thought. Then, when you are held accountable (in love) you start to hear what GOD really says about you. You start to hear:

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”

Or,

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I can honestly say that class meeting is one of the best parts of my week. It’s not just about getting together and talking about what we’re doing in our churches. It’s not just about gloating about what cool ministry things we’ve done. It’s about digging deep into our souls and getting all the gunk out so we can be free…so we can be victorious.

If you are not involved in a Small Group (Class Meetings or Bands), I cannot recommend them strongly enough. Get a few people together, people you are close to and just start asking these questions, especially the Class Meeting Questions. We can talk about Bands, but remember the rules!

It’s time for the church to truly Watch Over others in Love! The best way to start that is to meet together and dig.

Stay Hungry For God, My friends!
Pastor Bryan