A People Made Holy: Saved for More Than Forgiveness

What We Believe — A Wesleyan Perspective, Week 3
Ephesians 2:8–10; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

Watch here. 

I cannot tell you how many times I went to the altar because I wondered whether I had gotten it right the first time.

I wanted to belong to Jesus. I knew I needed forgiveness. But I kept wondering: Had I prayed the right words? Was I sincere enough? Had I changed enough? Maybe I needed to go back and try again.

I do not regret seeking God. The altar can be a wonderful place of prayer and surrender. But somewhere along the way, I had confused receiving salvation with proving I deserved it.

Eventually, I began to understand something that changed my perspective:

I do not do good works so God will save me. I do good works because God’s saving grace is changing me.

That is the order Paul gives us in Ephesians 2:8–10. We are saved by grace through faith. Salvation is God’s gift. Then, as people made new in Christ, we are created for good works.

Good works are the fruit of salvation, not the purchase price.

Grace Does Not Leave Us Where It Found Us

In the first message of this series, we said, “Grace found us first.” In the second, “Grace gives us a choice.” Now we take the next step: Grace does not leave us where it found us.

God’s grace not only forgives our sins; God’s grace transforms our hearts.

Paul’s prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 is addressed to people who already belong to Jesus. Yet he asks God to sanctify them completely. Conversion is the beginning of God’s transforming work in us, and His purpose reaches into every part of life.

The word holiness sometimes brings to mind rules, appearances, or people who seem eager to judge everyone else. Scripture begins with God’s character and His call for us to reflect it.

Holiness is not about being better than other people. 

Holiness is about belonging completely to God.

That belonging should shape our homes, conversations, relationships, and choices—even when nobody is watching.

God Wants Our Whole Heart

We all know what it is to do the right thing outwardly while struggling inwardly. We can speak politely while nursing resentment. We can serve faithfully while craving recognition. We can avoid obvious wrongdoing while giving pride room to grow.

God sees beneath our behavior. He cares about what governs our hearts. David’s prayer in Psalm 51:10 becomes our prayer: asking God to create a pure heart within us.

God does not merely want to remove sin from our record. He wants to change what rules our hearts.

This is central to our Wesleyan understanding of entire sanctification. Sanctification begins with new birth, and we believe God also offers believers a decisive work of grace in which the Holy Spirit cleanses the heart from inward sin, perfects it in love, and empowers holy living and service. We receive this grace through faith as we yield ourselves fully to Him.

Simply put, God wants our whole heart.

We may gladly surrender our Sunday mornings while protecting an old grudge. We may offer Him our gifts while insisting on controlling our future. His invitation reaches into those places, too.

Our hope rests in the faithful God who calls us. We surrender, trust, and obey; the Holy Spirit does the cleansing and transforming work. And a decisive surrender opens into a lifetime of growing in grace.

Perfect Love, Everyday Life

When Wesleyans speak of perfect love, we do not mean that Christians become incapable of mistakes. We still need wisdom, correction, forgiveness, and growth.

We mean a heart given fully to God, with His love governing our motives and actions.

Holiness is not a claim that I never need correction. Holiness is a heart that belongs to God and wants His love to govern everything.

What does that look like on a Tuesday afternoon?

Patience when someone tests our nerves. Integrity when dishonesty would be convenient. Compassion toward a hurting neighbor. Willingness to admit we were wrong. Forgiveness when we would rather keep score.

Galatians 5 calls these qualities the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit grows because life flows through the branch. As Jesus teaches in John 15, we bear fruit by remaining in Him.
A holy church becomes a church that cares, prays, and shares because Christ’s love is alive among His people.

An Invitation to Trust

Perhaps you recognize yourself in my story. You have prayed, tried harder, and wondered whether you have done enough for God to accept you.

Hear the good news: salvation is God’s gift through Jesus Christ. Turn from sin, trust Him, and receive His grace.

Or perhaps you know Christ as Savior but recognize something you have withheld—a resentment, a habit, a fear, or a need for control. Bring that to Him, too. Give Him your whole heart and trust His Spirit to do His sanctifying work.

I used to wonder whether I had gotten it right the first time. Today, my confidence rests in what Jesus has done for us and what His Spirit is able to do within us.

Grace found us first. Grace gave us a choice. And grace can make us holy.

Father, thank You that salvation is Your gift. Forgive us for trying to earn what Jesus freely offers. Search our hearts and show us what we have withheld. As we surrender to You, cleanse us and fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Teach us to love You wholeheartedly and our neighbors as ourselves. Let our good works be the fruit of Your life within us. You are faithful, and we trust You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Faith Today in History : October 15

 

TRUE STORIES • ENDURING HOPE Faith Today in History October 15

October 15 gives us three portraits of grace in motion: a man in Madagascar turning decisively from his old spiritual bondage, an evangelist whose own deliverance became a message to millions, and an ordinary working woman boarding a train because she believed God had called her to China. Their circumstances were different, but each life points to the same truth: when Christ changes a heart, He also gives that life a new direction.

OCTOBER 15, 1894 • MADAGASCAR Rainisoalambo became “a new man” Rainisoalambo was a respected healer and diviner whose identity and livelihood were bound to charms and traditional spiritual practices. Ill, impoverished, and abandoned by friends, he called upon the God proclaimed by Christian missionaries. At dawn on October 15, he discarded his amulets and instruments of divination, repented, and testified that Jesus had freed him from his former bondage. He immersed himself in the New Testament, began telling his family and neighbors about Christ, and helped form the Disciples of the Lord. Their movement emphasized repentance, humility, prayer, mutual help, Bible reading, and sharing the gospel. It became the beginning of an influential indigenous revival in Madagascar. Faith connection: Real repentance is more than regret. It turns from old masters, clings to Jesus, and produces a visibly different way of living. Verification: Historical event date: October 15, 1894. Dictionary of African Christian Biography, article received in 2008; site last updated October 7, 2026; accessed October 15, 2026. The author, Berthe Raminosoa Rasoanalimanga, formerly directed the FJKM National Center for Archives, and the article cites Malagasy historical and mission sources.

OCTOBER 15, 1906 • UNITED STATES Sam Jones finished the journey a changed man Sam Jones’s early law career collapsed under the weight of alcohol. In 1872, while struggling to quit drinking, he experienced a spiritual turning point and entered Methodist ministry. His plainspoken call to “quit your meanness” eventually filled revival meetings across the country. He preached against the very addiction that had nearly destroyed him and urged hearers toward changed lives. On October 15, 1906—one day before his fifty-ninth birthday—Jones died suddenly while returning from a revival in Oklahoma City. The former alcoholic had completed his life as one of America’s most widely known evangelists, and his ministry had helped lead others, including riverboat businessman Thomas Ryman, toward dramatic change. Faith connection: Grace does not erase the truth about our past; it transforms what the past means. The wound that once enslaved Jones became part of the testimony through which he warned and invited others. Verification: Historical event date: October 15, 1906. New Georgia Encyclopedia, written by David B. Parker of Kennesaw State University; originally published February 18, 2005; last edited September 20, 2018; accessed October 15, 2026.

OCTOBER 15, 1932 • LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND Gladys Aylward boarded the train for China Gladys Aylward was a domestic servant with little formal education. A missionary training program had judged her unlikely to master Chinese, but she remained convinced that God had called her to serve there. She saved her wages and, on October 15, boarded a train in Liverpool to begin a difficult overland journey across Europe and Siberia. In China she joined Jeannie Lawson, welcomed mule drivers at an inn where they shared Bible stories, served vulnerable children, and used public work to oppose foot-binding and carry the gospel into new communities. During wartime she later guided roughly one hundred children toward safety. Faith connection: A closed door is not always the end of a calling. Aylward’s story honors steady obedience—the willingness to take the next faithful step even when recognized authorities do not see our potential. Verification: Historical event date: October 15, 1932. Christian History Institute, article undated; accessed October 15, 2026. The exact date is independently listed by Howard Culbertson’s global missions timeline at Southern Nazarene University, undated; accessed October 15, 2026.

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION “Ye shall be witnesses unto me … unto the uttermost part of the earth.” — Acts 1:8 (KJV) The witness of Christ begins in a surrendered heart and then travels—across a household, across a nation, or across the world. If you have never entrusted your life to Jesus, turn from sin and receive His mercy today. If you already know Him, ask where His grace is calling you to take the next faithful step.

With hope, Pastor Rick Carder

Faith Today in History • Verified stories of Christian witness and transformed lives.

Grace Gives Us a Choice

What We Believe: A Wesleyan Perspective — Week 2

Scripture: Joshua 24:14–15 || Watch here. 

As a boy, I remember standing with the neighborhood kids while two captains chose teams for baseball. The best athletes were picked first. I usually waited a little longer.

Eventually, someone called my name: “Rick.”
My assignment was catcher. It wasn’t glamorous, but I discovered that the catcher participates in virtually every pitch. I had a place on the team and a part to play.
Yet being chosen didn’t force me to participate. I still had to walk onto the field, put on the equipment, and take my place.

That memory helps me think about our response to God’s grace. God loves us, pursues us, and invites us into a relationship with Him. His grace makes our response possible, but He does not force us to receive Him.

In Joshua 24, the invitation to choose follows a reminder of God’s faithfulness. God had called Abraham, delivered Israel from Egypt, protected His people in the wilderness, and brought them into the Promised Land. Before Joshua asked for their commitment, he reminded them of what God had already done.

The choice came after grace.

Joshua then declared, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,” adding, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

Our Wesleyan understanding calls God’s work before our response prevenient grace—grace that goes before. Sin has damaged us, and we cannot save ourselves. But through Jesus Christ, God reaches toward us and enables us to turn to Him.

Before we recognized our need, God was working. Before we reached toward Him, He had already reached toward us.
God initiates. Grace enables. We respond. Christ saves. The Spirit transforms.

Responding to grace involves repentance and faith. 

Repentance means turning from sin. Faith means trusting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Our response does not earn salvation; we receive what Christ has done for us.

We can know Bible stories, sing familiar hymns, and attend church for years. But Joshua’s question remains personal: Whom will you serve?

When we receive Christ, God does more than add our names to a membership list. He forgives our guilt, makes us spiritually alive, adopts us into His family, and assures us through the Holy Spirit that we belong to Him.

Joshua’s declaration also challenges those who already follow Jesus. We cannot make our children or grandchildren believe, but we can show them what faith looks like. We can pray, share our testimony, and tell the next generation how God has been faithful. Our example becomes an invitation for them to respond.

Perhaps you have wondered whether God would want someone like you. You know your failures and feel unworthy of His attention.

The cross reveals His love for you. You do not have to make yourself worthy before coming to Him. His grace is already reaching toward you.

Joshua said, “This day.” The invitation calls for a response today: trust Christ, turn toward Him, and let His grace shape your life.

Listen to this melody as you meditate on the goodness of God.

God pursues us.
Grace comes before us.
Christ died for us.
The Spirit calls us.
Grace enables us.
We are given a genuine choice.
And when we respond through repentance and faith—Christ saves us.

God has extended His grace to me—how am I choosing to respond?

“As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Faith in History –

 

TRUE STORIES • ENDURING HOPE Faith Today in History October 8

Some dates carry more than one witness. October 8 reminds us that the gospel has spoken through a preacher under punishment, missionaries sailing toward an uncertain future, and a redeemed former prisoner opening his door to people who needed the same mercy he had received. These are not legends. Each event below is tied to October 8 and grounded in the historical sources listed with it.

OCTOBER 8, 1664 • AYLESBURY, ENGLAND A Baptist pastor would not be silenced At twenty-four, Benjamin Keach was hauled before the Aylesbury Assizes because his children’s primer taught Baptist convictions. The court sentenced him to jail, a heavy fine, two public appearances in the pillory, and the burning of his book. When a crowd gathered, Keach used the place of humiliation as a pulpit. People listened respectfully until authorities ordered him to stop and threatened to gag him. The punishment did not end his ministry. Keach kept preaching and writing, later describing true faith as the Spirit of Christ changing the heart—not merely outward religion. Faith connection: Courageous witness does not depend on a comfortable platform. When Christ has changed the heart, even shame can become an opportunity to speak truth with grace. Verification: Historical event date: October 8, 1664. Christian History Institute, article undated; accessed October 8, 2026. The page cites William Cathcart’s The Baptist Encyclopaedia (1881).

OCTOBER 8, 1732 • COPENHAGEN, DENMARK A small ship carried a large missionary vision A Dutch vessel slipped out of Copenhagen harbor bound for the Danish West Indies. On board were Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann, the first two missionaries sent by the renewed Moravian Church. Their aim was to preach Christ among enslaved Africans on St. Thomas—people largely neglected by the churches of Europe. That departure helped begin an extraordinary missionary era. By the close of 1760, the Moravian movement had sent 226 missionaries and baptized about 3,000 converts, carrying the gospel to communities on several continents. Faith connection: God often begins far-reaching work with ordinary believers willing to cross a threshold. The love of Christ moves toward people the world overlooks. Verification: Historical event date: October 8, 1732. Christian History magazine, “The World of 1732”, originally published in Issue 1 (1982); accessed October 8, 2026.

OCTOBER 8, 1872 • NEW YORK CITY A former prisoner opened a “Helping Hand” Jerry McAuley knew prison, relapse, and the struggle to begin again. In Sing Sing he heard the testimony of a converted former thief, read Scripture, and surrendered to God. After his release he stumbled, but Christians befriended him, trusted him, and helped him return to faith. On October 8, Jerry and his wife Maria opened a mission at 316 Water Street. A sign read “Helping Hand for Men.” People in need received food, coffee, prayer, and living proof that a ruined past did not have to dictate the future. The work became a landmark in America’s rescue-mission movement. Faith connection: The gospel does more than pardon a past; it can redirect a life toward the rescue of others. Jerry’s story declares that no one is beyond the reach of grace. Verification: Historical event date: October 8, 1872, according to The Bowery Mission’s institutional history, an undated page supported by nineteenth- and twentieth-century sources and accessed October 8, 2026. Source note: Some later church-history calendars give the year as 1871. This edition follows The Bowery Mission’s documented institutional timeline, which gives 1872.

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV) The same Christ who sustained Keach, sent the Moravians, and remade McAuley still saves today. Whatever your past, turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. Receive His mercy—and then let the grace that found you become a helping hand to someone else.

With hope, Pastor Rick Carder

Grace Found Us First

What We Believe: A Wesleyan Perspective

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…” — Ephesians 2:8

There are moments when I look back over my life and see things much more clearly than I could see them while I was living through them.

Listen to the message here. 

After roughly forty years of ministry—most of those years serving within The Wesleyan Church—I can see a thread running through my story.

That thread is grace.

I did not become a Christian because I understood Wesleyan theology. I did not come to Jesus because I could explain prevenient grace, sanctification, or the Articles of Religion.

I came to Jesus because somewhere along the journey, God’s grace found me.

Looking Back and Seeing Grace

The Wesleyan Church was part of my early childhood development. There were people who opened the Bible, prayed for me, taught me, encouraged me, and helped me understand that God knew me and loved me.

Then came my teenage years and youth group. Those are important years because eventually the faith you have heard about must become more than somebody else’s faith.

As a teenager, I was uncertain about my future. I faced some difficult things and certainly did not know where the road ahead would take me.

But God was already at work.

Later, college helped me think more deeply about Scripture, theology, calling, and ministry. Eventually came my first church. The church that had poured into me gave me an opportunity to begin pouring into others.

Looking backward, I can see it now:

God was working before I knew He was working.
God was guiding before I knew where He was leading.
God was putting people in my life before I understood how important they would become.

Jesus Is the Center

As I write about my Wesleyan heritage, I want to make something clear: I do not believe Wesleyans are the only people going to heaven!

We are not saved because the word Wesleyan appears on a church sign. We are not saved because we can trace our theological heritage to John Wesley. We are not saved by denominational membership.

We are saved by Jesus Christ.

The Body of Christ is larger than any denomination. Across generations and traditions, Christians have proclaimed the gospel, cared for the poor, educated children, sent missionaries, stood beside hurting families, and carried the name of Jesus into places none of us could reach alone.

Unity does not mean pretending theological differences do not exist.

It means knowing where the center is.

The center is Jesus.

Within that larger Body of Christ, however, God has used the Wesleyan movement to emphasize some beautiful biblical truths: grace, holy living, transformed lives, compassionate action, and mission.

One of those truths is especially precious to me.

Grace Comes Before

Wesleyans sometimes use the term prevenient grace.

The phrase sounds complicated, but its meaning is beautiful. It is the grace that “comes before”—God graciously working in our lives before we fully recognize Him, drawing us and enabling us to respond to Him.

First John 4:19 captures it simply:

“We love because He first loved us.”

Before I knew I needed God, God was working.

Before I understood the gospel, God was working.

Before I knew how to pray, God was working.

Before I ever reached toward Him, He was reaching toward me.

Or put another way:

Before you ever went looking for God, God came looking for you.

You Are More Than Your Worst Mistake

I came to understand this grace in a practical way during a season when I was both a youth pastor and working with young people through the juvenile probation system.

I met teenagers who had made mistakes—sometimes serious ones.

It is easy for a young person in that situation to begin thinking, This is who I am. I messed up. I am the problem. This mistake is my identity.

I wanted them to understand something different.

Choices matter. Actions have consequences. Responsibility matters.

But failure does not have to be the final chapter.

I could remember my own teenage years. I did not have my future figured out either. I faced uncertainty and difficult circumstances. I could not have imagined all God had ahead for me.

Yet God stepped in.

God guided me. He placed people around me. He opened doors and gave me opportunities to make decisions that moved me toward the person He was calling me to become.

That allowed me to tell those young people:

What happened matters, but it does not have to define everything that happens next. With God’s help, you can choose another direction. God has not finished with you.

That is grace.

Grace does not tell us our choices do not matter. Grace tells us our worst choice does not have to have the last word.

Maybe you need to hear that too.

Your failure may be part of your story, but it does not have to be the author of your future.

Jesus Christ is still writing stories of redemption.

A Home of Second Chances

Cindi and I learned another dimension of grace when we opened our home to foster care.

Young people came into our home carrying circumstances they had not necessarily chosen and often did not understand. Some carried hurt, fear, disappointment, confusion, or behaviors they had learned simply trying to survive.

We wanted our home to communicate something different:

God loves you.
Your life has value.
There is hope for your future.
What has happened to you does not determine everything that can happen through you.

Perhaps you could have called our house a home of second chances.

But the longer I have lived, the more I realize that description does not belong only to foster children.

All of us need a second chance.

Some of us need a third and a fourth. I know that has been true in my own life.

Peter denied Jesus. Thomas doubted. Paul persecuted Christians. The prodigal son walked away from home.

Grace met them.

Grace did not excuse what was wrong. Grace made redemption possible.

And that leads me to something I believe deeply about the church:

The Church ought to be a home of second chances because we are all people who live by grace.

Grace Invites a Response

Grace being available to everyone does not mean our response is unimportant.

Paul writes:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith.” — Ephesians 2:8

A simple way to remember our Wesleyan understanding is:

God initiates.
Grace enables.
We respond.
Christ saves.

Our response does not purchase salvation. Faith is not the price we pay for grace. Faith is the open hand receiving what Jesus Christ has already provided.

God calls. God convicts. God draws. God enables.

And love invites a response.

Grace Sends Us

Ephesians 2 does not end with verse 8. Paul goes on to say that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Good works are not the root of our salvation.

They are the fruit of it.

Grace saves us.
Grace changes us.
Grace makes us holy.
Grace sends us.

That is why the church must always be a church on mission.

We do not exist simply to maintain an institution or preserve a denominational name. We exist because there are still people who need Jesus.

The child matters.

The teenager matters.

The person with a record matters.

The foster child matters.

The widow matters.

The successful businessperson matters.

The skeptic matters.

The person who has not walked through a church door in thirty years matters.

If God’s grace is available to everyone, everyone matters.

That is why we care, pray, and share.

We care because grace cares.
We pray because grace is already working.
We share because the gospel is for everyone.

And perhaps this is one of the most beautiful implications of prevenient grace for the church: when we enter someone’s life, we do not bring God with us as though He has never been there before.

God got there before we did.

We simply have the privilege of cooperating with what His Spirit is already doing.

Look Back and See Grace

When I look backward now, I see a church.

I see Sunday school teachers.

I see youth leaders and pastors.

I see college.

I see that first church.

I see young people whose lives crossed mine.

I see foster children who came through our home.

I see people who believed in me, challenged me, prayed for me, and gave me opportunities.

But behind all those people, I see something greater.

I see grace.

Maybe it is worth looking backward over your own life.

Who prayed for you?

Who invited you?

Who taught you?

Who gave you another chance?

Who believed in you when you were not sure you believed in yourself?

Who told you about Jesus?

They were not the source of grace.

They were instruments of grace.

And now comes the question for us:

Whose story is God asking us to become part of next?

The same grace that found us is sending us to others.

Before you ever went looking for God, God came looking for you.

And because He came looking for us, we can go looking for those who still need to know His love.

We are Wesleyan because of our heritage.
We are Christian because of Jesus.
And we are here because of grace.

A Prayer

Father, thank You for grace that came looking for us before we knew how to look for You. Thank You for the people You placed along our path—parents, grandparents, pastors, teachers, friends, youth leaders, churches, and others who became instruments of Your grace.

Thank You that our failures do not have to have the final word. Thank You for second chances, third chances, and the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

Open our eyes to the people around us. Make us people on mission—people who care, pray, and share because we believe Your grace is available to everyone.

For the person who senses Your grace drawing near today, give them courage to respond in repentance and faith, trusting completely in Jesus Christ.

Make us a holy people, a gracious people, and a sent people.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.