Clever Free Methodist

I don’t think anyone who has faced being ridiculed or slandered has found it to be a pleasant experience. An attack on our worth or enduring a heated or unkind statement meant to hurt our feelings can be painful and crushing.   Dignity! That is a very important word. It is important because everyone has it within their possession and it is a gift to be honored and guarded, but not thrown away. Dignity is defined as “the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.” This is a quality that should be found within all Christians as they see all others as equal in worth and value in the sight of God.   God created us in His image which makes us all equal in worth and value. When we evaluate ourselves, we know we are not greater or less than any other person. We can be assured of being unconditionally loved by God. Psalm 139:13-14 , “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.   I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderf...

The Methodist denomination holds to the teachings of John Wesley and the grace of Sanctification. As followers of Christ, we should be growing, improving, and maturing in our faith, example, and reflection of Jesus.  The Free Methodist Church says, on Sanctification , in the Book of Discipline (Paragraph 119), “As believers surrender to God in faith and die to self through full consecration, the Holy Spirit fills them with love and purifies them from sin. This sanctifying relationship with God remedies the divided mind, redirects the heart to God, and empowers believers to please and serve God in their daily lives.”   That speaks of an ongoing battle between our natural tendencies to “please self” or to become more holy to “please God.” Galatians 5:24 , “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.” By “the flesh,” the Bible refers to our fallen human nature.  When battling the “flesh” it must be remembered that both he...

  The Bible can definitely capture a wide range of our emotions as we read. Sometimes, that emotion is more of a convicting “sting” that suddenly stops me to think much deeper. In fact, I had to literally stop reading and forego the rest of the passage to do study and research on the particular verse that struck me so powerfully. One such verse came from a daily devotional reading that referenced a particular Scripture verse. It was Revelation 3:2 , “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” This strong message to the Church in Sardis got my attention.   After just a short study, I realized how this connected to other warnings to keep alert. Hebrews 3:12, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.” Then also, the warning of 1 Corinthians 10:12 , “So, if you think you are standing firm, be care...

  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, ...

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 ...

There were several denominations who emphasized the ministry and passion of John the Baptist this month. His account is detailed in the Book of Luke in Chapters One and Three . John is clearly a pivotal figure in the salvation history of God. Although most of his formative years were lived in obscurity in the desert, his public ministry ended nearly four hundred years of prophetic silence. John was truly that voice “crying in the wilderness” preparing the way for the coming Messiah.  John preached the Good News without compromising his convictions or calling. This means going beyond the gentle, non-offensive sermon topics, and addressing the truth of the Good News that teaches repentance, freedom, healing, and restoration through Jesus’ death and Resurrection. John was truly a transitional Biblical figure, forming the connecting link between the Old and New Testaments. He spans the generations with one foot firmly planted in the Old Testament and the other squarely placed in...

I have to admit that it can be mind-boggling when I learn something new that changes the dynamics toward understanding something I have been accustomed to knowing nearly all my life. Especially, if it involves “re-thinking” parts of a fairly adaptable “memorization” from the church such as Psalm 23, The Apostle’s Creed, and even the Lord’s Prayer.   One such encounter led our church into a full-hour discussion as our Sunday School lesson. It was part of the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:13 , “And do not lead us into temptation….” What, exactly, does it really mean to “not lead us into temptation?”   I found is that it does not literally mean “keep me from being tempted.” The key word here is “temptation” which means “ trial ” or “ proving .” It has a stronger, spiritual meaning than a mere whimsical approach such as “help me resist the temptation to eat another slice of cake!” It also puts to rest that God is “messing with us” to see if we “take the bait” and choose to sin....