There is a prayer that I recently discerned to pray: God, may all your plans for me be successful. The rationale behind this prayer is that I want to position myself and do everything that is in my power to let God fulfill his plans in my life. Notice that I did not say “my plans,” but God’s. This is
True faith is demonstrated with obedience: what you cannot see, God does. “And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the
There are seven “Woe to you” statements in Matthew 23: Jesus was warning the teachers of the law and the Pharisees not to focus on outward things. Of ten trees we had removed from our property, we knew that one was damaged. An arborist saw the spot where it had been hit by lightning. We hadn’t seen it. Other than
After this, Jesus appeared again to the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea (the Sea of Galilee). This is how he did it: Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter announced, “I’m going fishing.” When the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn’t
“Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1-31). Imagine how the disciples are feeling in this moment. Jesus has just predicted Peter’s denial and another’s betrayal: they could hardly be a happy group. How would his words have been heard? Would they have been comforting? “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Certainly more easily said than done. How
It has become cliché to tell people to practice what they preach—that is, to live according to their words. But increasingly we may need to think about preaching what we practice. In most activities we practice, a structure must be followed, even when creativity is involved. For example, the best cooks can add a pinch of this and a teaspoon
Have you ever had a day where you worried that you weren’t going to have enough? Enough love. Enough patience. Enough energy. Enough smarts. Enough food. Enough money. Jesus and his disciples had a day like that. Five thousand unexpected guests showed up for dinner and they were a long way from a grocery store. Just when everyone was about
The texts for this sermon come from Psalm 23 and John 10:11-18. In the middle of the Easter season every year is what some call “Good Shepherd Sunday,” which falls on the fourth Sunday of Easter. The revised common lectionary readings for this Sunday are always related to the image of the shepherd – Psalm 23 is the psalm all
My Dad was diagnosed about six weeks before we were to move. We suspected for a while that he was sick, but didn’t know just how sick he was until he was diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer. There was also cancer in his bowel and in his lung. My family had planned and announced a major move from Canada
Christians in the Wesleyan tradition love to talk about grace, and with good reason. God’s grace is another way of talking about God’s love, love that can overcome anything, including the many ways in which we humans rebel against our creator. Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, “God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with
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
George Washington Carver was born in a slave’s shack on a cotton farm. You know his story. He became a member of the Royal Academy, distinguished himself in science and helped discover countless uses of the peanut and sweet potato which helped salvage the economy of cotton-growing areas with depleted soil. Dr. Carver was not only a distinguished scientist, a
Isaiah directs the reader to “Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen for the life of your soul is at stake.” Listening for the voice of the Lord must become a serious lifestyle imperative for us all. We cannot afford to do any less than to continually come to Him with our ears wide open, because our never-dying
This is the second article in a series on the Christian Pattern. Read the first article here. What Is Your Life Really About? I have been a pastor for over thirty-five years. In that time I have sat across from a lot of people in a lot of conversations — in hospital rooms, in counseling sessions, in coffee shops, in
official website Congregations 0 K+ It started with 17 churches. In May 2022, a small group of congregations formally launched a new denomination. They called it the Global Methodist Church. Seventeen congregations. A new name. A deep conviction that Wesleyan Christianity needed a fresh expression rooted in doctrinal integrity of the historic Christian faith and the authority of Scripture. Four years
official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + In the spring of 1873, two bishops from rival American churches crossed the Rio Grande within weeks of each other — heading to the same country, with the same gospel, and the same dream. One was Bishop Gilbert Haven of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The other was Bishop John Christian Keener of
For several years, I have heard about the amazing things God is doing in the Methodist Church in Cuba. I have sought to see these firsthand on several occasions. However, for various reasons, those doors kept closing until this February. I took a group of four from our young church along with me as I taught at WME’s Unity in
Two more characteristics of the saints I want us to explore as we wrestle with the question, “Will I finish well?” Closely akin to the issue of obedience is a third characteristic of the saints: they didn’t seek ecstasy, but surrender to the will of the Lord. The Meaning of Surrender in Christian Leadership In her strange and beautiful book
Get articles delivered directly to your inbox as soon as they come out.
