2023 State of the Communion Address

Introduction
It is our tradition at Pleasant Grove at the beginning of each new year, to have a State of the Communion Address where we look back at the accomplishments of the previous year and look forward to some goals and initiatives for the coming year. Before we get into those details, let us hear God’s Word.

Exodus 18:14-26
¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?”

¹⁵ Moses replied, “Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. ¹⁶ When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.”

¹⁷ “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. ¹⁸ “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. ¹⁹ Now listen to me, and let me give you a word of advice, and may God be with you. You should continue to be the people’s representative before God, bringing their disputes to him. ²⁰ Teach them God’s decrees, and give them his instructions. Show them how to conduct their lives. ²¹ But select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. ²² They should always be available to solve the people’s common disputes, but have them bring the major cases to you. Let the leaders decide the smaller matters themselves. They will help you carry the load, making the task easier for you. ²³ If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.”

²⁴ Moses listened to his father-in-law’s advice and followed his suggestions. ²⁵ He chose capable men from all over Israel and appointed them as leaders over the people. He put them in charge of groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. ²⁶ These men were always available to solve the people’s common disputes. They brought the major cases to Moses, but they took care of the smaller matters themselves.

Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
Moses had a heavy burden—to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.  These were a people who had lived as subjects and slaves of the Egyptian empire for 400 years.  They had always had slave masters to tell them exactly what to do.  And if they stepped out of line, there was surely a whip ready to snap them back into line.  Now they were a free people, but they had still to learn how to live as free people.

Moses’ Father-in-law, Jethro, saw how hard Moses was working and knew this was too much for one man to bear.  His wise advice was that he should delegate the administrative tasks to capable leaders among the people.  Moses should concentrate on being “the people’s representative before God” and teaching “them God’s decrees” and showing “them how to conduct their lives.”
But Jethro advised Moses to delegate the day to day tasks of managing the community to capable and honest community leaders.

The Methodist Way
This is wise biblical advice for any church or large organization.  This is the model that built the Methodist Church.  It’s where we get our name:  Methodist—because we follow a methodical process for governing the church and doing Christ's work.

Rather than one person making all the decisions—whether it be the pastor or someone—the work of the church is divided up among various committees.
We have a Trustees Committee to oversee and make decisions about the property of the church.  We have a Finance Committee to oversee finances.  There is the HR Committee (Human Resources, usually called SPRC) that oversees the paid staff of the church.  The Nominations Committee recommends people for the various jobs in the church and all the committees and ministries report to the Church Council, who is the main decision making body of the church that oversees everything.

Sometime people complain that we have too many committees.  I understand.  no one likes sitting in a boring committee meeting.  However, have you ever thought of the alternative?  The alternative is to give just one person or maybe a small handful of people all the power to make decisions.  That may be easier, but it can also be very dangerous.  Some churches have succeeded that way, but the overwhelming majority get into serious trouble when they invest that much power in the pastor or a small board of directors.  Power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately.

Using various committees as we do give everyone a say in what happens in the church and maintains proper checks and balances.  Plus, it is actually a method of discipleship.  It may be more pleasant to confine your interaction in church to just sitting in a pew singing pretty hymns and listening to sermons.  But actually doing the business of the church making important (and sometimes even uncomfortable) decisions is a much better way to grow closer to Christ as you oversee the work of His Church.

Some Highlights from 2023

Let’s take a minute to remember some of the things we did last year as a church.

In February, Coach Matt Land was our guest speaker for Souper Bowl Sunday.  It was well attended and included many people who would not regularly attend a church service.  They came to here a football hero speak, but he spoke about the Greatest Hero--Jesus Christ--and the good news that we can be saved from our sins if we repent and put our faith in Jesus.

In February, we also resumed our Valentines Sweetheart Banquet, which we discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It was great to resume this activity.  And I want you to notice that even though it has been nearly 3 years since the onset of the pandemic, we are still recovering from the negative effects it had on our church's ministries.  

In March we had our first ever Car Show/Cruise-in.  our main parking lot was full of classic cars and visitors roaming the lot to see them all.  And our members were out there mid=gling and our showing Jesus' hospitality.  And again, this was a victory because it was originally scheduled for 2020 and had to be canceled for COVID-19.  SO just having the event meant were we getting thing going again.

Children’s ministry has struggled since the pandemic began.  Of course, we had to cancel many of the usual events because it wasn't safe for kids to gather together.  However, the biggest obstacle has been the loss of so many regular volunteers who are now out of the habit of helping with children's ministry.  Even so, we did have some things to celebrate in 2022.  

We had our first Community Easter Egg Hunt since

COVID began with about 40 people attending.  We also resumed VBS for the first time since COVID began--with about 30-40 kids attending each night.  And we also resumed a Walk-thru Trunk or Treat that well attended and appreciated by around 500 people from our community.  We started Trunk or Treat over 10 years ago and we managed to continue it through the pandemic, but we had done it as a drive-thru event in 2020 and 2021.  In 2022, we resumed the walk-thru method.  Another victory for the return to normalcy.

Our Youth Group for middle and high school students is going strong on the wise, and capable leadership of Amy Harris.  They met weekly on Wednesday nights and had some extra meetings on Sunday evenings as well.  They took several trips including the summer extreme beach trip, a Halloween trip to Hell's Gate Christian Haunted House, Six Flags, as well as others.  Furthermore, they volunteered to help clean up a church members yard, and served as volunteers at the Miracle Field of Whitfield County to help disabled people play baseball.

The Girl Scout troop that has met at Pleasant Grove for numerous years, offered to build a community raised bed garden for our church.  With the help of several church volunteers, they installed 6 raised beds and we had a garden this season!

The Boy Scouts program exploded with over 40 boys attending.  This year, they outgrew the Scout Hut on our property and started also meeting weekly in the Promise Building.  A big thank you to Frank Fetzer and the many volunteers that help run the Boy Scouts program at Pleasant Grove.

On Wednesday nights, we had a first century Roman soldier visit and teach about what life was like for soldiers in Judea when Jesus carried out his earthly ministry.  We also watched seasons one and two of the Chosen Series, about the ministry of Jesus and the Disciples.  (We started Season Three this past week.)

We also had a number of leaders from our community share about their faith in Jesus and how it guides them to serve the Lord in our community in a variety of ways such as teaching, government, business, social work.  Speakers included Senator Chuck Payne, Kelsey Ikerd, Jason Denson, Sherry Dickson, and others.

In July, we had an important Town Hall Meeting to consider developments in the United Methodist denomination and how these may affect our congregation relationship with the UMC.  An anonymous survey indicated the congregation overwhelmingly wishes to pursue disaffiliation from the UMC.  According, our church council voted to request a Church Conference by the District Superintendent to vote on disaffiliation under provisions in the Book of Discipline.   We also created to teams to help, one to handle the work of disaffiliation (the D-Team) and another team to study future affilation options if we disaffiliate (the A-Team).

In November, we had Homecoming and Revival services lead by Tom Atkins.  It was an important time of healing and revival as we drew closer to God.

Becky Haley led our church to collect 148 boxes for Operation Christmas Child--the most we've ever collected since we started participating a decade ago.

In 2022, our music minister, David Crawford, created and directed an original production with volunteers from our congregation acting out the Christmas story with music by our chancel choir.  It was a beautiful presentation that involved so many people.  Then, we ended the year with 68 people attending our Christmas Eve service.  It was such a special time for our church family.

Sack lunches have been packed throughout the pandemic and continue to be an important part of Pleasant Grove's ministries.  In 2022, 17 faithful volunteers met and packed 65 sack packs a week for around 36 weeks, totaling around 2,340 sack lunches to help needy children at Pleasant Grove Elementary School. Plus, another 40 sack packs were packed per month to help at risk children visiting White's Pediatrics, bring the total to around 2,700 sack lunches. This was over 9,000 pounds of food!  In addition, we gave supplies to the nurse at Pleasant Grove Elementary, along with other essential help.

Through our Operation Mercy Drops grant program, Pleasant Grove awarded 12 grants totaling $12,000.  There were 6 hardship awards to help people in need, 2 merit awards to honor people who are doing admirable things in our community, and 4 service awards to help special community organizations continue their good work to help people in our community.  

Looking Forward to 2023
I believe God has great things in store for our church in the coming year.  We are privileged to be the hands and feet and heart of Jesus Christ to our community.  I want to mention a few things that we can expect for 2023.

One Morning Worship Service

First of all, we will combine our two morning worship services back into one starting next Sunday.  We will continue to have our live, online service at 10:55 AM but we will only have one in-person service, which will be at 10:55 AM.  I believe this will bring more unity to our congregation, as we all meet together again in one service for worship.

Easter Program

Second, we will have an Easter Cantata patterned after the Christmas cantata which was so successful.  Families from our congregation will tell the Easter story from Scripture in cooperation with the beautiful music of our choir.  

Children's Ministry

Third and very important, we will focus on children’s ministries in 2023.  I am excited about the idea David and Amy Crawford have to start a puppet ministry.  They had so much fun using puppets for our summer VBS, they took the initiative to build a set in a class upstairs above our fellowship hall that they plan to use regularly during the children's church time to have a puppet program for kids.

But we must also do more to invite more families with kids into our church for regular meetings.  The HR team is already considering how to get some training for our church about how to revamp and invigorate our children’s program and bring in more families and kids.  This is critical to our calling from Christ to make disciples.  We have an important opportunity with children that we cannot pass up.  We have to do better than we've been doing.  

We are also going to need more volunteers to help with children in the puppet ministry, in Sunday school, on Wednesday nights, and in children’s church.  Could you help?

Disaffiliation
We believe our church wants to vote about disaffiliation from the United Methodist Church over issues related to Scripture and human sexuality.  We have been working through that process and will continue to work through it in 2023.  Unfortunately, the out going Bishop of the North Georgia Conference announced a "pause" on December 28th (a few days before she left our conference to be reappoint Bishop of the Virginia Conference).  This "edict" has disrupted our disaffiliation process (along with hundreds of other faithful congregations across our conference).  We are in communication with other churches and conference leaders to decide what will be our response.  We hope that the conference will be open to cooperate with churches who are faithfully following the process that was approved by General Conference and our own annual conference and conference board of trustees.  We will do whatever we can to ensure that our congregation has a fair chance to voice your desires to either remain in the UMC or to disaffiliate from the denomination.

I am calling on everyone in our congregation to join with hundreds of other faithful Methodists across our state who are praying and fasting to prepare for the difficult road ahead.  I invite you to choose one day each week to pray and fast from sundown to sundown.  For example, I am taking Tuesdays, to pray and fast.  I will eat dinner Tuesday before 6 PM and then only have water, juice, or coffee until Wednesday night at 6 PM.  During the fast, you are asked to pray that our hearts will be right with God, our attitude and motives will be pure, and that the conference will cooperate with churches discerning a path forward that leads them away from the UMC, and that God will make a way for His Methodist people to walk faithfully with Him--whether inside or outside the UMC.

 

Pray for New Church Leaders

Finally, I call on you to pray for all the church leaders from our congregation who have been elected to serve in 2023.  Here are the names of those who have been elected:  

CHURCH COUNCIL

Chairperson of the Church Council – Tom Dickson

Vice Chairperson – Mike Wilson

Secretary – Amy Harris

Treasurer – Jeff McDonald

Finance Chairperson – Kevin Roberts

HR (SPRC) Chairperson – Elaine McDonald 

Board of Trustees Chairperson – Marcus Blalock

Pastor – Rev. Chris Mullis

Lay Leader – Jason Denson

Assistant Lay Leader – Bill Caylor

Lay Delegate to Annual Conference – Mike Wilson 

Marketing Specialist – Donna Phillips

Youth Ministers – Amy Harris

Music Minister – David Crawford 

Children’s Minister – Tiffany Tankersley

Sunday School Superintendent – Debra Sloan

Church Council Members at Large: Harry Kelly, Dianne Caylor, and Mara Cobble

HUMAN RESOURCES (SPRC/PPR)

Lay Delegate to Annual Conference – Mike Wilson

Lay Leader – Jason Denson

John Denson, Elaine McDonald (Chair), Jason Childers, Jimmy Brooker, Danny Cobble, and Diane O’Brien

NOMINATIONS & TRAINING TEAM

Pastor – Rev. Chris Mullis (Chair)

Lay Leader – Jason Denson

Scott Ward, Bill Caylor, Sherry Dickson, Sallie Thomas, Amy Crawford, and Angel Kirk

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Maribeth Reno, Jean Coker, Marcus Blalock (Chair), Becky Haley, Jon Adams, Lori Roberts, Mike Kirk, Kyle Marlow, and Scott Denson

FINANCE COMMITTEE

Chairman – Kevin Roberts

Lay Member to Annual Conference – Mike Wilson

Chairman of Church Council – Tom Dickson

Human Resources Chair – Elaine McDonald

Lay Leader – Jason Denson

Chairman of Trustees – Marcus Blalock

Treasurers – Jeff McDonald, Donna Phillips

Financial Secretaries – Jean Coker, Teresa Marlow, & Debra Sloan

Finance Committee Members at Large:  Becky Ward, Bob Brooker, and Steven Weed

Operation Mercy Drops Committee

Mike Wilson, Salena Weed (Chair), Kelly Scruggs, and Andrea Adams

OTHER LEADERS

Vice Treasurer – Donna Phillips

Altar Guild – Kaye Fetzer

Church Historian – Rita Wagers

Librarian – Becky Ward

Nursery Coordinator – Laurie Wilson                    

Coordinator of Ushers – Mike Marlow

Sunday School Secretaries – Ron Phillips, Johnny Denson

Coordinator of Special Events – Marie Jordan, Angel Kirk, and Debra Sloan

Coordinator of Family Night Suppers – Angela Kirk

Prayer Coordinator – Sherry Dickson

Alternate Lay Delegate to Annual Conference – Laurie Wilson

Memorial Garden Committee – Elaine McDonald, Kaye Denson, and Jimmy Brooker

Coordinator of Scouting Ministries – Frank Fetzer

Affiliation Study Team (The A Team)

Debra Sloan, Elaine McDonald, Harold Brooker, Kay Denson, Kevin Roberts, Kyle Marlow, Mike Wilson, Salena Weed (Recorder), and Tom Dickson (Chair)

Disaffiliation Study Team (The D Team)

Bill Caylor (Chair), Jason Denson, Marcus Blalock, Maribeth Reno, and Rita Wagers

God Wants You to be Holy

Introduction
I haven't always been a Methodist.  I grew up going to Baptist churches.  So when I started attending a Methodist church, I was curious what were the differences.  Someone told me a joke I have always enjoyed.  They said, "You know what’s the difference between Methodists and Baptists?  Methodist say hello when they see each other in the liquor store!" 

And it is true that Methodists are much more open about the fact that we may enjoy an acholic beverage (while Baptist who do might not want to admit it).  There may be other difference we notice--we like to light candles and recite the Apostles Creed and other responsive liturgical readings.  However, the real difference are much deeper than these surface level issues   It's theological.

Methodists have a distinct emphasis on God’s grace. Grace is the undeserved gift of God’s divine help.  All Christians believe God's grace is what saves us--rather than our good works--because we can't earn salvation; it's a free gift from God for those who believe.  However, Methodists really emphasize God's grace and we even spell out the three main ways we experience God's grace.  There is the prevenient grace of God that helps us before we even think about God.  Then there is the justifying grace of God that saves us when we realize who Christ is and we repent of sin and turn to follow Jesus.  And today I want to talk about the third grace--sanctifying grace--that works to actually heal us and make us holy.

In the UMH, we have 22 songs under the theme of Prevenient Grace and 20 songs about Justifying Grace.  However, we have 154 songs about Sanctifying Grace!  What does the number of hymns for each category tell you about how the Methodist church's emphasis on sanctification?  It is very important to us! 

Sanctification is the life-long process of God healing us of sin and perfecting us in love. True Healing comes as we surrender ourselves to God and let His grace transform us.  Healing comes as we obey and do those things God asks of us.  

A man who is seriously ill, physically, will never get better unless he goes to a good doctor and follows the doctor’s treatment plan.  However, it doesn’t matter if the doctor is the best doctor in the world; the sick man will not get better on his own if he doesn't follow the doctor's treatment plan.

Well Jesus is known as the "Great Physician".  He is the greatest spiritual healer of all.  And we need healing.  We can't heal our own sin-sickness.  Jesus can heal us, but unless we follow The Great Physicians treatment plan for us, we will not get better.

Romans 6:12-18
¹² Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. ¹³ Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. ¹⁴ Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

¹⁵ Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! ¹⁶ Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. ¹⁷ Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. ¹⁸ Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

Key Verses
Let me point out a few key phrases from this reading that shows what God expects from Christians after Jesus saves them.  Romans 6:14 says, "Sin is no longer your master… You are free by God’s grace…"
Romans 6:15 says, "Since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!"  So we see, God expects Christians to put away sin because we've been set free by His grace.

Here are some other scriptures that show that God wants us to be holy.  1 Thessalonians 4:3, "It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality"  And Jude 1:24 says, "All glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy."

There are even more challenging verses from God’s Word about what God expects with regard to holiness, such as Hebrews 12:14, which says, "…seek to live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord."  And 1 John 3:9, "Those who have been born into God’s family do not sin, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they have been born of God."

God’s Prevenient Grace draw us to Him. His Justifying Grace forgives us and sets aside our sin.  However, God doesn’t want us to remain in sin, so His Sanctifying Grace heals our sins and leads us to become holy. 

Now all Christian denominations know this and preach about sanctification.  However, sanctification has always been the hallmark of the Methodist movement.  John Wesley and the early Methodist were specifically motivated to urge Christians everywhere to "Spread Scriptural holiness across the land" (in other words, to truly be reformed and to help reform people everywhere to live holy lives).

Perfection In Love
Methodists believe God’s sanctifying grace through the Holy Spirit can perfect us in love in this lifetime.  We will still be tempted.  (Even Jesus was tempted.)  We will still make mistakes. We will never have perfect knowledge in this life, but we can have perfect love.  John Wesley taught perfect love is when everything you do is motivated by sincere love.  Thus, in this state, even the mistakes you make flow from love.  That is what we are aiming for! 

Strive for perfect love!  Let God change you!  Don’t be lazy and don’t you dare sell out!  God wants more for you than mediocrity!  He wants you to be holy!  And you can be holy, because God’s Sanctifying Grace can heal you and make you Holy.  Eventually, Lord willing, everything you do may be motivated by love!  But you can’t sit back and make the excuse, “Oh, no body’s perfect…”  That won’t get you anywhere.  But God’s healing grace can take you all the way to perfection in love—if you will let Him! 

Personal and Social Holiness
True Methodist doctrine shouts holy sanctification loud and clear!  It motivates us to be changed and to help change the world. 

Some Christians live their lives as if they’re just waiting to die.  They say, “I’ve been saved. 
I know I’m going to heaven.  What more is there?” 
There’s a lot more!  We are not just waiting to die.  

We pray in the Lord’s prayer:  “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  These are not empty words.  They should be the yearning of every Christian’s heart.   I believe God answers prayers, don’t you?  So why would He not answer the Lord’s Prayer? 

It is not God’s will that you continue to be dominated by sin.  God wants you to actually be free!  Does that seem impossible?  Well Jesus reminds us in Mark 10:27:  “With men it is impossible, but not with God.  Nothing is impossible with God!”  And Jude 1:24 says, “All glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling…”

We cannot free ourselves or stop ourselves from sinning own our own.  But God—through the Holy Spirit—helps us & sanctifies us to grow more & more like Jesus.  We ought to pray for and hope for and cooperate with the Holy Spirit, trusting God will heal us.  If you aren’t aiming for perfection, what are you aiming for?  And if you aren’t aiming for perfection, what do you think you will get?  

This is not a burden, because we don’t do it by our own strength. It’s not a matter of will power.  It’s not us buckling down extra hard, gritting our teeth, and making ourselves better people.  Sanctification is a matter of cooperation.  God makes the changes in your life, but, you’ve got to cooperate. 

Jesus is a wonderful physician, but you’ve got to follow His treatment plan.  Are you?  Are you actively praying?  Are you reading your Bible?  Are you celebrating the sacraments regularly?  Are you serving God and others?  Are you supporting God’s mission financially with a cheerful heart?  Are you devoting yourself to the Lord above all else?

The Christian faith is not just a personal thing.  It is also social.  We are called to spread scriptural holiness across the land.  Christians have changed the world for the better over the last 2,000 years.  It’s not God’s will that our world continues to be broken or that Christians throw up their hands in resignation and say, “There’s nothing we can do about it.” 

True Christians have always worked to better the world.  Even Christians who were being brutally tortured and executes for their faith, have followed Christ’s example of sacrificial love and sought the salvation of their persecutors.  Surely Christians today can change our world in 21^st century America for the better, but it won’t happen unless you take seriously God’s call to be Holy People.  It cannot happen just because you, by you sheer will power, resolve to make the world holy.  It can only happen when you cooperate with what the Holy Spirit wants to do in you today. 

Choose Your True Identity

Introduction
It's the time of year when many people put out Christmas decorations.  Christmas decorations often have deep symbolic meaning--whether they are traditional meanings or meanings specific to your family.  Do you have any ornaments that hold special meanings for you?  Maybe it's something your child or grandchild made for you and your cherish.  Often we forget the traditional meanings of ornaments like stars and lights and angels and only choose to decorate with them because we like the way they look.  It might be helpful to recall why we use those special symbols at Christmas and what they have to do with the original Christmas story or traditions that grew over the last 2000 years since Jesus was born.

Each of us as individuals have a purpose too, but sometimes we forget why God made us.  This series of blogs in meant to rediscovery our purpose as Methodist Christians.  Last week, we learned about God’s prevenient grace that works to help us before we are even know about Him or have any thoughts about God.  

Grace is God’s undeserved, unearned divine help. Prevenient grace is the divine assistance of God that works ahead on our behalf before we even think about God.  Today, I want to talk about God's justifying grace.

Ephesians 2:8-10
⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. ¹⁰ For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Justifying Grace
This passage says you are saved by grace when you believe.  We need to be saved, because we have all sinned and turned away from God.  We don't deserve to exist because we've denied our reason for existing.  But God is gracious.  He doesn't turn away from us even though we've turned away from Him.  Instead, He works to save us.  His saving grace becomes active in our lives when we believe.

Now, the belief that activates God's saving grace is not just an intellectual agreement.  It's active belief.  You can believe your mother-in-laws Thanksgiving turkey is safe to eat, but your don't really believe unless you're willing to eat it!  The kind of belief in Christ that saves us is a belief that causes us to listen to, obey, and follow Christ.

All Christians believe in God’s grace.  Methodism has a distinctively wholistic approach to grace.  We believe God's grace helps us before we are aware of Him.  But we also believe that you can't coast along on God's prevenient grace forever.  At some point, you must make a personal choice to turn away from your sin to God in order to experience God's saving grace. (There is also another grace to that helps us after we make our choice and saved, but we'll get to that in a later blog post.)

·       When you put your trust in Jesus, you are justified.  To be justified means your wrong actions are excused.  I once shot my little sister in the foot with a BB gun when we were kids.  My actions were not justified, even though she was being a pest.  But there may be other times you could think of when wrong actions could justified.  Suppose you were being attacked by a murderer and your life was in danger.  You might be justified to kill that murderer in self defense.

There is no justification for turning away from God though.  We were made by God for a loving relationship with Him.  It's why we exist.  But people have turned away form God and abandoned their reason for being.  There is no justification for it.  Isaiah 29:16 says, "He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”?"  And Isaiah 53:6 says, "All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all."

Methodists teach the justifying grace of God.  Justifying Grace is the undeserved divine assistance of God makes us innocent.  God prevenient grace works to draw you to Him.  Gives you the wisdom to see you need God and enables you to choose God.  But you still have to choose.  When you choose, God justifies you with His justifying grace.

Other denominations also teach justification too, but John Wesley and early Methodists were at there at the very beginning, driving the Protestant Christian rediscovery of the essential need for people to be “Born Again.”  Jesus taught us the essential need to be born again.  He said in John 3:3, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  Unfortunately, Christians over the centuries grew complacent.  They were mist often born into Christian families in Christian communities and went to church all their lives.  Most people never knew a time in their lives when they weren't thought of a "Christian".  

But John Welsey and the Methodist and other evangelical Christians rediscovered the truth of what Jesus said, "You must be born again".  Let me share what it means to be born again? You are born physically once.  God’s prevenient grace (often signified through infant baptism) works to mature you until you ecognize you need of God saving grace.  Eventually, you believe, you trust, and you declare your allegiance to Christ.  At that moment, you are justified and you are born again,  You become a new person (a new creation).  It may not be an immediate change, but it is a new birth.  And over time, you will grow from a new baby Christian to a more mature Christian if you cooperate with God's Holy Spirit and follow Christ.

Closing
Have you been born again? Here are some signs:

1. Do you really believe and trust Jesus? If You’re born again, you really will believe in and trust Jesus Christ.
2. Are you fruity? If you’re born again, you’ll start seeing the fruit of God’s Spirit growing in your life (Gal. 522-23) – “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
3. Is your life changing for the better? If you are born again, you’ll start to change for the better. You’ll no longer want to live in sin. You’ll want to do the right thing even is you still often fail. And when you sin, it will bother you.
4. Do you love your neighbor as yourself? You will start to love your neighbor. (And remember, love is not a feeling. It’s a doing…)

Jesus said, “You cannot see the Kingdom of God unless you are born again.”  Have you really been born again?  I challenge you to examine your heart about this matter right now.

Remember Who You Are

Introduction
I love all my children.  It’s fascinating to me to see picture of them all as babies and compare them to pictures of my me and my wife when we were babies.  Can you tell who is who? (left to right, top to bottom:  Kelly, Grace, Chris, Gavin, Abigail)

We had another child before Abigail was born—in between Grace and Abilgail.  Kelly was about 7 or 8 weeks pregnant.  We had already heard the heartbeat at a doctor’s visit.  We went for another doctor’s visit and were excitedly anticipating hearing the heartbeat again; but unfortunately, there was no heartbeat.  The baby had expired.  We never got to meet that child, but we do keep a picture ornament of the sonogram on our Christmas tree.  One day, when we go Home to be with the Lord, I believe that child will be there and we will get to meet it. 

I don’t know why things happen the way they do, but I trust God does.  One thing I know is that we really love Abigail (the last child we raised).  And we probably wouldn’t have had Abilgail if the little baby we lost had been born because we were planning to stop after three kids.

God knows it all and He has a plan and He even works tragedies out for our good when we love the Lord.  God knows us before we are even born.  And that’s what this message is about to day.  It’s about the prevenient grace of God that helps us, even before we realize it.

Jeremiah 1:4-8
⁴ The Lord gave me this message:

⁵ “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
    Before you were born I set you apart
    and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

⁶ “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

⁷ The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. ⁸ And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Grace
This passage is the call narrative of the prophet Jeremiah.  God called him to speak God’s Word to the people of Jerusalem, even as the Babylonians were gathering around their city, poised to destroy it and carry them off to captivity.  It was a tough appointment and Jeremiah didn’t feel qualified.  He was young and had “imposter’s syndrome”.  (Most people God calls for a special purpose don’t feel qualified.)

Jeremiah felt like God had chosen the wrong person.  “I think you got the wrong guy!  I’m not made for this!”  That’s a funny thing, when a creature tells it’s omniscient Creator they made a mistake.  God says, “It’s no mistake.  I made.  I designed you specifically for this task.  I gave you your own unique personality, your strengths and weaknesses, specifically for this purpose.  I didn’t make a mistake and I’m calling you to the task now.”

You have a purpose too.  God designed you for it.  And if you’re facing an identiy crisis, trying to remember who you are and why you are here, the best place to look for answers is the Creator who made you.

God tells us in His Word that He made us all.  And even though we turned away from Him and stayed from our purpose, God didn’t give up on us.  He sent His Son, Jesus, to atone for our sins and brings us back into a right relationship with Him—not because we deserve it, but because God is gracious and full of unconditional love.

I heard a joke this week.  A priest was talking to a group of kids about "being good" and going to heaven.  At the end of his talk, he asked, "Where do you want to go?"  "Heaven! Heaven!" Yelled Little Lisa.  "And what do you have to be to get there?" asked the priest.  "Dead!" Yelled Little Johnny.

That’s a funny joke, but it’s an example of a wrong way of thinking.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” 

All Christian denominations believe people are saved by God’s grace alone.  It’s not by being good enough.  We cannot earn our way to salvation.  You are only saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  This is true Christianity.

Each Christian denomination emphasizes different facets of the Christian faith.  One of the distinctive emphases of the Methodist tradition is our focus on God’s grace.  Not only does God’s grace save you for Heaven, God’s grace helps you in this life.  You see, it’s not just about heaven.  God wants us to live for Him in this life too.  In the Methodist tradition, we see that God grace encompasses ever part of life and we really focus on that.

God’s grace is His undeserved, unearned, Divine help.  Jeremiah 1:5 reminds us God’s gracious help starts before we are even born.  “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.   Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

 

Prevenient Grace
And this kind of grace is what Methodists call Prevenient Grace—grace that helps us before we even know it.  Prevenient grace is the grace of God that Goes before.  Prevenient grace forms us, nurtures us, and pulls us toward God.  It seeks to reveal God to our developing consciousness and woos us to turn to God for a relationship of mutual love.

Infant Baptism
Infant Baptism is one of the signs of God’s Prevenient Grace for Methodists (and many other denominations). I didn’t grow up as a Methodist.  I only ever attended Baptist churches as a child.  My perspective was limited to that tradition.  Baptists have a unique view of baptism.  They are call “Baptist” for a reason, because when they formed their sect in the 1600s, they believed Christians should only be baptized after they were old enough to understand and believe in Jesus.  Thus, Baptists practice “believers baptism”, and reject infant baptism.

When I was a Baptist, I thought every Christian practiced believer’s baptism (except maybe some strange heretical cults).  I didn’t understand how anyone could think baptizing a baby made sense; I mean, a baby doesn’t understand and can’t believe.  What I didn’t understand, given my limited perspective, is that the vast majority of Christians have practiced infant baptism as opposed to believer’s baptism.  In fact, it was mostly the very first generation of Christians who were baptized as adults, because they were adults when they starting following Jesus.  However, their children were baptized as infants because those early Christians wanted their children to be part of the church from the very beginning of their little lives.  And from that second generation onward, for 2,000 years in al parts of the world, Christians have baptized their infants.  Infant baptism is the norm.  Believer’s baptism is the innovation that has only been a limited part of the Church’s experience for a few hundred years.

Infant Baptism is a sign of God’s Prevenient Grace.  Christians baptize in obedience to Christ’s command to “…go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

Some Christian denominations consider baptism and ordinance (something done primarily out of obedience).  Baptism is a sacrament to Methodists, because we believe it is a sacred moment when God piurs out His grace upon the child, the family, and the Church.  God gives us His divine help so the child may grow up in the faith with everything they need to one day accept faith in Jesus Christ for themselves.  When they do, they confirm their faith and the Baptism is complete.

Infant baptism is real baptism.  It’ not a christening.  I often hear people where I live in the Bible Belt who are more familiar with believer’s baptism say, “I was only christened as a child.  Now I’m an adult and I want to be baptized.”  This is a misunderstanding of what happened to you as a child.  If water was placed on your head in a Christian church, you were baptized, not just Christened.  “Christening” is technically the part of the Baptism where the child is given their Christian name.  The pastor asks, “What is this child’s name?”  The parents say the name and that is the christening.  If water is placed on the child, the child was fully baptized.  There is no need to be baptized again once the child grows into an adult.  Do you not think that God did it right the first time?

You see, through sacramental infant baptism, we trust that God is acting.  God’s actions are not dependent on whether we are old enough or understand enough.  It’s not even dependent on whether the pastor does the ceremony correctly.  God is not limited by our mistakes orlack of understanding.  This grace, prevenient grace.  God does His sacred work in Baptism regardless of our understanding or ability.  And this is a good thing, because no one ever has enough understanding or ability to earn God’s grace.  Infant baptism is the perfect sign of this truth.

Remember Your Baptism
The goal should be that our children always grow up surrounded by and knowing the loving presence of God.  I often hear people apologize, “You know, I never remember a time when I didn’t know God.  I wish I had a more dramatic testimony to give.”  Don’t apologize that’s good!  And that’s what we want for our kids too, isn’t it?  Who ever says, “I hope my kids grow up and spend frty years of their life living as an absolute scoundrel until the Holy Spirit gets ahold of them, shakes them, and they fall on their knees and turn to Jesus and become a Christian.”  No one hopes that for their kids.  We want our kids to start out in the loving embrace of God’s grace, surrounded by a family and a church that loves them unconditionally, and raises them with every possible advantage until the ay they accept faith in Christ for themselves. 

From time to time in a Methodist Church, you may have moments when we are asked to “Remember your Baptism.”  For some, that’s a challenge because you were infants when you were baptized; you can’t remember the ceremony.  That only reenforces the whole point.  Aren’t you thankful for your parents and the people of your church community who surrounded you with God’s love since before you could even remember it?  So remember them with loving fondness!  Remember what they promised on your behalf.  Remember that you are walking in their legacy and you have accepted their promises as your own.  We can remember them and be thankful.  We can remember God loved us before we even knew Him—before we were even formed in our mother’s womb—and be thankful. 

We can be thankful for the love of God that drew us toward Him throughout out our lives.  Some may not have had the benefit of a loving family or congregation. Some live a hard, hard life with every reason to stray away from God.  Yet these can be thankful for God’s prevenient grace too.  God has to work extra hard for those who were wounded or traumatized as a child.  But God never gives up, and His prevenient grace is always working to overcome the brokenness that blinds people to His love.  And even those who had it all and still turned their back on God, God does not abandon them either, even though they took their blessings for granted.  For God’s grace is great, greater even than our selfish sin

Have you ever been baptized?  If not, I encourage you to find a church where you can be baptized.  It is a beautiful sacrament and sign of God’s grace to you that you are part of God’s family, saved for eternal life with Him in glory. 

 

If you have been baptized, I encourage you today to remember your baptism and be thankful.  Here is a liturgy to help you remember:

 

THE BAPTISMAL COVENANT IV

This service is for use by a congregation when there are no candidates to be baptized, confirmed, or received into baptized or professing membership, especially on Easter, Pentecost, All Saints Day, and Baptism of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ:
Through the Sacrament of Baptism
we are initiated into Christ's holy Church.
We are incorporated into God's mighty acts of salvation
and given new birth through water and the Spirit.
All this is God's gift, offered to us without price.
Through the reaffirmation of our faith
we renew the covenant declared at our baptism,
acknowledge what God is doing for us,
and affirm our commitment to Christ's holy Church.

RENUNCIATION OF SIN AND PROFESSION OF FAITH

On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you:

Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject the evil powers of this world,
and repent of your sin?
I do.

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?
I do.

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior,
put your whole trust in his grace,
and promise to serve him as your Lord,
in union with the Church which Christ has opened
to people of all ages, nations, and races?
I do.

According to the grace given to you,
will you remain faithful members of Christ's holy Church
and serve as Christ's representatives in the world?
I will.

Let us join together in professing the Christian faith

as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

Do you believe in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
[who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again to judge the living and the dead.]

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
[the holy catholic* church,                                
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.]

[*catholic means universal]
THANKSGIVING OVER THE WATER
The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us pray.

Eternal Father:
When nothing existed but chaos,
you swept across the dark waters
and brought forth light.
In the days of Noah
you saved those on the ark through water.
After the flood you set in the clouds a rainbow.
When you saw your people as slaves in Egypt,
you led them to freedom through the sea.
Their children you brought through the Jordan
to the land which you promised.

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Tell of God's mercy each day.

In the fullness of time you sent Jesus,
nurtured in the water of a womb.
He was baptized by John and anointed by your Spirit.
He called his disciples
to share in the baptism of his death and resurrection
and to make disciples of all nations.

Declare Christ’s works to the nations,
his glory among all the people.

Pour out your Holy Spirit,

and by this gift of water call to our remembrance
the grace declared to us in our baptism.

For you have washed away our sins,
and you clothe us with righteousness throughout our lives,
that dying and rising with Christ
we may share in his final victory.

All praise to you, Eternal Father,
through your Son Jesus Christ,
who with you and the Holy Spirit
lives and reigns for ever. Amen.

REAFFIRMATION OF FAITH

When the congregation reaffirms the Baptismal Covenant, a deacon or pastor may invite the people to come to the water as the pastor says:

Remember your baptism and be thankful. Amen.

The Holy Spirit work within you,

that having been born through water and the Spirit,
you may live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

THANKSGIVING

Let us rejoice in the faithfulness of our covenant God.

We give thanks for all that God has already given us.
As members of the body of Christ
and in this congregation of The Methodist Church,
we will faithfully participate in the ministries of the Church
by our prayers, our presence, our gifts,
our service and our witness
that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

The God of all grace,

who has called us to eternal glory in Christ,
establish and strengthen you
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
that you may live in grace and peace.