Discipling Life

This coming Sunday is The Baptism of the Lord on our church calendar. As I start my preparation I have come across a sermon I originally preached at Horne Memorial in Clayton, North Carolina. If I were to use it again I would certainly go through it making some changes. But here it is, in the form I preached it in 2006. What is Baptism? Alan Swartz, Horne Memorial UMC, January 7-8, 2006 Horne Memorial UMC is a church that is made up of people from many backgrounds. We have people who grew up Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Pentecostal, and some who grew up without any religious background whatsoever. There is considerable agreement between these different denominations in what they believe. But, there are then the differences. I feel it is important to lift up our unique teaching on some distinctive matters because these distinctive qualities often define the kind of people we believe ourselves to be and strive to be. For example, i...

 The scriptures this week invite us to move beyond a simple admiration of the Christmas story toward an active participation in the life of Christ , drawing from his endless and lavished fullness . This Christian journey is characterized by a three-fold movement of grace that replaces a life of scarcity with one of abundance. It begins with prevenient grace , which is the initiating work of God that seeks and “goes before” individuals even before they are aware of his presence. When one responds to this seeking, justifying grace saves them, providing not only forgiveness but the power to become a new creation. The process continues through sanctifying grace , the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit that shapes and conforms a believer’s character to the image of Christ over a lifetime. Ultimately, we are invited to cooperate with the Spirit and live fully into this grace that never runs dry as we enter a new year. Grace Upon Grace -  January 4, 2026, Ebenezer & Black Creek...