Caught Not Taught by Kim Reisman

October 29, 2015

Jesus reminds us that if we keep a seed in our hands and clutch it with a closed fist, it will never grow. We must open our hands and let go of the seed. The problem is that many of us are living with closed hands. When we live like that, nothing can grow either within us or within others.

Free Will in Brazil: Interview with Jerry Walls

October 26, 2015

I think the deepest appeal of Wesleyan theology is that is heartily affirms a God who is truly good and sincerely loves all persons. God does not determine, God empowers, enables, encourages. And the message that God loves us and wants to empower us to love him back, as well as each other is a message of great hope. No one has been “passed over” or determined by God for eternal misery and damnation. To the contrary, there is hope for everyone, and the resources of grace are available to transform even those persons who may seem most hopeless in our eyes.

Marriage, Human Sexuality, and the Body: From the Beginning It Was Not So by Timothy Tennent

October 22, 2015

For example, we often describe a “sacrament” as an outward sign of an inward and spiritual grace, but then we limit ourselves by thinking of sacraments only in terms of the two which Christ established: baptism and the Eucharist. Wesley, on the other hand, prodded us to think more deeply and expansively about all the means of grace which, for Wesley, is a much larger category than baptism and Eucharist. John Paul II makes the point that Christ is not the only one who provides sacramental means of grace. There are sacraments which flow from the Father and the Spirit. We will actually explore how marriage is the primordial sacrament later in this series. But, for now, let us lay the groundwork that your physical body itself is a kind of sacrament. It is an outward sign of an inward and spiritual grace, because we have been created in the image of God.

All Saints’ and Mentoring: A Personal Reflection by Michael Smith

October 21, 2015

You may never know the great power that a simple word of love can have on a person, but I encourage you to share love with others. It will never leave my memory. Though a lot of time has passed through the years, the memory of a mentor’s words at a critical time in my life will never fade.

If You’re Wanting More from Your Devotionals, Try This by Tom Fuerst

October 19, 2015

For many of us, when we read the Bible, we read it from the perspective of people who need encouragement, therapy, challenge, hope, or even love. These are all good things that we do, indeed, need. But usually these needs arise from a larger situation that involves someone or something hurting us. For example, we need encouragement because a boss is berating us. We need therapy because of a conflict in our family of which we see ourselves as the victim. We need challenge because we find it hard to keep pressing on. We need hope because our situation seems hopeless. And we need love because we lack self-esteem.

Again, these are all fine. But I wonder if they don’t eventually become habits of reading that blind us to other things we may need.

A More Excellent Way by Jeff Rudy

October 17, 2015

The heartbeat of the Church is Christ. We’re only here because of him; because of his love. Christ is the reason we are. Christ is all our reasons.

Soul Seasons by Carrie Carter

October 15, 2015

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 In case you didn’t…

Infant Baptism and Beyond: A Systematic Approach (Part III) by Ken Loyer

October 14, 2015

“I hope you’ll always remember that God loves you so much—more than I can even say—and has a wonderful plan for your life. We at the Church are here to help you discover the special life that God made you to live.”

I’m a PK: A Preacher’s Kid by Justus Hunter

October 12, 2015

We carry our great preachers around in the corners of our soul. They wait there to surprise us. They wait there to revive us.

Marriage, Human Sexuality, and the Body: Let’s Go Back to the Beginning by Timothy Tennent

October 7, 2015

Discussions about marriage, divorce and issues of human sexuality are not new. What is new is our unpreparedness for the current questions being asked.