Clever Free Methodist

  As a Free Methodists pastor, I not only teach, but preach about three distinct kinds of grace that we can experience in our life with God: prevenient grace, justifying grace and sanctifying grace.   We most certainly want to progress to the highest form of grace which is sanctifying grace of becoming holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Sanctifying grace is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit that changes us so that our lives are increasingly conformed to the mind of Christ.   The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, referred to this lifelong process of sanctification as becoming "perfected in love" or “going on towards perfection.” We must surrender daily to the world and to “self” to become more holy and like Jesus.   Sanctifying grace draws us toward Christian perfection, which Wesley described as a heart "habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor" and as "having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked."   What that means to me, is t

There is a lizard that loves to change its colors depending upon the type of environment it finds itself. We all know those masters of camouflage as the chameleon. However, this trait is not as flattering or acceptable as a follower of Jesus Christ.   The Lord does not believe in the separation of faith from life, church from business, and even church from state (as we mistakenly understand it).Our faith is not something we tuck away in our closets after Church on Sunday and then go about our week ahead.   We are not to be Christians on Sunday then wake up secular humanists on Monday. We must not be one way at church and different at home or work. Also, we don’t leave our faith at home and behave wildly just because we’re on vacation where nobody knows us. The Lord does not believe in spiritual split personality disorder.   Trust me, God is all about perfection and not dismantling and destroying. God did not make us “bi-polar spiritual beings” to flip-flop back and forth between the wo