Discipling Life

In 2 Peter 2:17-22 , the apostle warns about people who appear spiritually confident but whose lives do not reflect the truth of Christ. He describes them as “waterless springs and mists driven by a storm” (2 Peter 2:17). They promise life, but they cannot truly satisfy the deep thirst of the soul. Peter’s words are sobering because he knows how easily people can be led astray by impressive words or selfish desires. False teaching is not only about incorrect ideas. It also concerns the shape of a person’s life and heart. These teachers spoke about freedom while remaining “slaves of corruption” themselves (2 Peter 2:19). Their lives lacked the transforming power of God’s grace. They had knowledge without holiness, words without faithfulness, and influence without love. Yet even in this warning passage, we can hear the heart of God calling people toward something better. The grace of God does not merely inform us. It transforms us. In the Wesleyan tradition, we believe the Holy Spirit ...

This is my sermon for April 26, 2026, at Ebenezer and Black Creek UMCs. The texts I used today include Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-26, 31; Psalm 100; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10. 1. Introduction: The Familiarity of the Voice In an era defined by a relentless cacophony of digital alerts and competing narratives, the act of spiritual discernment has moved from a quiet luxury to a strategic necessity. Recognizing the voice of the divine is to be a practiced familiarity. It is akin to the immediate, instinctive recognition of a loved one’s call across a distance. To hear the voice of Jesus is to identify a singular frequency amidst a noisy world that constantly seeks to drown it out. In the Gospel of John in the 10th chapter, it says that the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes ahead of them. And the sheep follow him because they know his voice. What does it mean to know that voice? To re...

We’ve all had moments when we realized something costly was given for us. Somebody made a sacrifice for us that we didn’t earn. Maybe a parent working long hours, a teacher spending a lunch break with you, a friend standing by us when it would have been easier to walk away, or a stranger offering unexpected kindness. Those moments can change how we live. They invite us to respond, not out of obligation, but out of gratitude and love. In 1 Peter 1:17-23, we are reminded of a far deeper gift. The writer says, “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors… not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish” (vv. 18-19). This is the heart of the gospel: God’s grace reaches out to us before we ever respond. We call this prevenient grace: God is already at work, drawing us in, making a way where there was none. This grace doesn’t leave us unchanged. God’s grace isn’t ju...

In this sermon titled “A New Life,” I explore how the risen Christ meets us in our most fearful and isolated spaces , just as he did with the disciples on that first Easter evening. We often find ourselves huddled behind locked doors due to psychological paralysis or the weight of a world that has fallen apart, but the miracle of the resurrection is that Christ does not wait for the air to clear before he enters the room. This message highlights the “new birth” as a radical, internal reconstruction of the soul rather than a mere behavioral “patch job,” anchoring us in a “living hope” that persists even through suffering. Grounded in the Wesleyan truth of prevenient grace , we see that God always moves first, taking the initiative to breathe his Spirit into our wreckage and transform us into a forgiven community. Ultimately, I want to emphasize that this new life is not about the exhaustion of trying harder, but about trusting in the divine promise of the one who has already conquer...

Jo Anne and I like to visit some of our favorite places in the mountains. We are especially fond of Blowing Rock and Boone. Some mornings feel like resurrection mornings. The air is cool, the light is soft, and everything seems to shimmer with possibility. You step outside and notice how the world feels new again, everything touched by grace. That’s what I see in our text today. 1 Peter 1:3-9 begins, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  Easter presents us a way of living in the world with hope that breathes. Peter’s words were written to people who were struggling, perhaps newly baptized Christians, trying to hold onto faith in hard times. He reminds them that their hope isn’t fragile or fleeting. It’s  living because it’s rooted in the risen Christ. This hope doesn’t deny pain; it transforms it. It’s the kind of hope that can walk ...