We’ve started a sermon series entitled Intoxicated. The word comes from a misunderstanding about what was happening in the lives of the disciples when the Holy Spirit fell on them. It was such an inexplicable experience that those who were seeing the effects accused them of being drunk! But something else was going on. Jesus has promised them the Holy Spirit
When I first arrived at seminary, I was astonished at the number of Wesleyans I met. Wesleyans everywhere! Having grown up in the small but active Wesleyan denomination, I was gratified to see it represented so fully. Then, about a week into the semester, I began to realize something – all the Wesleyans I was meeting were Wesleyan, not Wesleyan.
The painting Reflections, celebrates the awesome process of changing into who we are and whose we are, God’s children, made in his image. God finds such delight in this process, especially when we reflect and acknowledge his grace within the journey.
In short, we need more Arminians with an edge. These are Arminians who understand that the claims of Calvinism and Arminianism are mutually exclusive, and they cannot both be right. They understand that there are important issues at stake and that there are large practical implications. Not the least of these is the very character and love of God. Does
David understood the important of leaving a legacy. He understood that each generation should stockpile resources for the next generation. He accepted that his own failures and inadequacies would prevent him from accomplishing everything he wanted to do during his own lifetime, but he used that fact as a motivation for the future success of those who would come after
Do you mind if we drive around a bit in the Word? I’d like to show pastors some points of interest that have changed the way I understand ministry. If you need to set your GPS, I’ll tell you that we’re going to start in 2 Timothy where we’ll pick up a three-letter key. Then we’ll stop in Luke 9
In the church, we often are so soft about what we are doing that we can’t speak to people about concrete objectives and goals. We can’t even tell whether we are doing well because we don’t know what doing well looks like. And, my son observed, we often seem more concerned about everyone liking us than speaking what we believe.
The challenge for the disciples was to be the bridge for someone else to experience justice. When Jesus called the disciples, he didn’t send them out in search of instant conversions. He gave them an example of living before telling. Doing before speaking. Go. Make. Baptize. And teach. This is one way in which Jesus was the incarnation of God.
Is anything too supernatural? Too mystical? Too great for God to do? Nope. Is it too hard for him to bend the laws of nature? Nope. He wrote them. You know what? You, too, have continual reminders in your life of not underestimating God. We have those reminders, items large and small, global and personal, to urge us not to
It’s not easy to hold yourself in readiness. You have to be alert, your entire body engaged and prepared to move. You have to be focused, intent on watching for the necessary sign. You have to be willing to act, following the signal the moment it arrives.
In Part 1 of this series, I shared how God challenged me to become more intentional about sharing my faith. I realized that although I had spent my life in church, I had never learned how to have meaningful spiritual conversations. Preparation became the first step. Before we can confidently step out, we have to sit with our own story.
Henry Jordan was a great all-pro defensive tackle who played with the Green Bay Packers back in the glory days of Vince Lombardi. Henry was as good with words as he was at sacking opposing quarterbacks. That made him a favorite with sports writers. One of his most widely quoted statements came when someone asked, “Does Mr. Lombardi show any
official website Members 0 M+ Congregations 0 K+ It was Easter Sunday, 1885. Two young missionaries, Henry Appenzeller and Horace Underwood, stepped off a boat onto the shores of Korea. At the time, it was a country largely closed off to the Western world, often called the “Hermit Kingdom.” They had no grand strategic plan and no idea what was
official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + When John Wesley first sailed to Ireland in 1747, he found 280 Methodists already gathered in Dublin! The movement had begun before he ever stepped onto Irish soil. That Methodist society was formed by ordinary lay people who simply would not keep quiet about Jesus. And they didn’t stay put. They emigrated,
In 2014, I walked out of a Sunday service deeply challenged by my pastor’s sermon on sharing our faith. As I reflected on what he said, I realized I believed in sharing my faith, but at 57 years old, I had never actually done it. I had been raised in the church and lived in it my whole life. I
I want to tell you something about John Wesley that might surprise you. Actually — it might embarrass you. It embarrassed me. Most modern Methodists celebrate communion monthly. Some quarterly. Some considerably less. We think of it as a memorial — a symbolic remembrance of what Jesus did at the cross. A meaningful ritual. A box to check on the
Someone said that worshipping God is permanent. It starts on earth and goes on for everlasting eternity. All our toiling and efforts are temporary. All our services in the church, mission work, preaching, and teaching, etc., are temporary. But worship is eternal. So, as Christians, worshipping God is our primary duty. What is the True Meaning of Christian Worship? What
This is the third installment on the Christian Pattern. Click here for part one and part two. The Inner Life and the Voice We’ve Stopped Hearing There is a spiritual condition that most pastors recognize but few talk about publicly. It goes by different names in the tradition. The desert fathers called it acedia. The medieval mystics called it desolation.
official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + Back in 1843, a man named Thomas Birch Freeman stepped onto the coast of what is now Benin and began to preach. Freeman, who was the son of a freed slave, became one of the most influential British Methodist missionaries in West Africa. Freeman sailed into a region deeply scarred by the
official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + Let me ask you something. What would it take to stop your congregation from meeting? A fuel shortage? A power grid collapse? A government that has spent decades teaching children that God does not exist? For the Iglesia Metodista en Cuba none of that has been enough. Right now, Cuba is in
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