In The Wesley Challenge Participant Book small groups or whole churches will spend three weeks working through 21 questions that will engage their physical, spiritual and emotional lives and their relationship with God and others. With fast-paced emphasis on graphics and short content bits, the challenge will inspire us to a new kind of commitment—one that is more authentic, vulnerable and soul shaping resulting in thousands of people who have a renewed passion to discover deeper levels of commitment to God and others. Additional components for a three-week study include a comprehensive leader guide and a DVD featuring author Chris Folmsbee, and a youth study guide. Renew your passion and discover deeper commitment to God in just 21 days. Chris Folmsbee is the Senior Director of Discipleship Ministries at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS. He is the author of numerous books on spiritual formation, practical theology and missional living. He is a sought-after speaker, and consults with dozens of churches around North America each year. The Wesley Challenge Participant Book 21 Days to a More Authentic Faith By Chris Folmsbee Abingdon Press Copyright © 2017 Abingdon Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-5018-3290-1 Contents Foreword, Introduction, Relationship with God: an Upward Focus, Is Jesus real to me?, Am I enjoying prayer?, Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?, Did the Bible live in me today?, Did I disobey God in anything?, Do I pray about the money I spend?, Do I give time for the Bible to speak to me every day?, Relationship with Self: an Inward Focus, Am I proud?, Am I defeated in any part of my life?, Do I go to bed on time and get up on time?, Do I grumble or complain constantly?, Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?, How do I spend my spare time?, Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?, Relationship with Others: an Outward Focus, Do I thank God that I am not like others?, Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?, Do I confidentially pass on to others what was told to me in confidence?, Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?, Am I honest in all my actions and words, or do I exaggerate?, Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward, or disregard?, When did I last speak to someone about my faith?, Notes, Acknowledgments, CHAPTER 1 IS JESUS REAL TO ME? A few months ago I spent ten days trekking through the fifth gospel — The Holy Land, Israel. People refer to the Holy Land as the fifth gospel because when you are there, in the midst of all of the history, geography, tradition, and religion, the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John come alive in new ways, ways that just reading the text cannot bring you. Jesus was made more real to me in Israel, and as a result, Jesus is more real to me today than ever before in my life. I believe Wesley's question, "Is Jesus real to me?" may be the most important of all. As we reflect on this question, we see that it gets at the point of our Christian pursuit of holiness and witness. Jesus is real to us when Jesus is tangible to others through our words, actions, disciplines, and practices. Jesus is made real to us, and to others around us, when our trust relationship with Jesus is incomparably more important than just knowing facts and rules in a religion about Jesus. Acts chapter 8 tells the beautiful story of an Ethiopian eunuch who is returning from the Temple, from worshiping God. The eunuch is reading one of the scrolls of Isaiah. The Holy Spirit moves and directs Philip to the eunuch on a road in the Judean wilderness to help the eunuch understand what he is reading. When asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" the eunuch's response is, "How can I unless someone explains it to me?" Philip was sent to help the eunuch make sense of what he was reading. Acts 8:35 tells us that Philip explains to the eunuch that the passage of Isaiah he is reading relates to the good news about Jesus. The Ethiopian had pilgrimaged to Jerusalem to experience a religion that was outside of his personal heritage. As a eunuch, he wasn't even supposed to be present in the Temple. His new understanding, thanks to Philip's attention to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, did not limit his participation to believing the Jewish laws or a distant God. Instead, Philip helps the eunuch understand that Jesus is a person, not a proposition. Jesus was made real through the story of God in Isaiah, Philip's obedient witness, and through the eunuch's newfound belief in an accessible, real Jesus. In asking this question, Wesley wants Christians to make sure that we are not simply partaking in a religion, but that we are experiencing a relationship with Jesus. For Jesus to be real to us t