Wednesdays with Wesley Bob Kaylor

“Always let your conscience be your guide.” That’s the advice that Jiminy Cricket gives to Pinocchio in the little ditty he sings in the Disney movie. It’s advice that seems to ring true for a lot of people in a western culture where individual autonomy is the highest value. In that worldview, “conscience” is a construct of one’s own thoughts and opinions--how you feel about right and wrong is what matters. Another’s conscience about a particular moral choice might be different but, all things being equal, it’s your conscience so “you do you” as the kids say.
Such a worldview assumes that there’s no such thing as a universal standard of right and wrong. Christians, however, don’t subscribe to that worldview. We believe that God has established a way to live for the human beings he created in his image--a way that is embedded in us if we will acknowledge it. The very idea that there is such a thing as right and wrong is evidence of the image of God stamped on every human being. We Wesleyans would say its further evidence of God’s “prevenient grace”--that grace that goes before our understanding of God. When we become Christians, however, we see our conscience tuned and honed in a way that not only keeps us in the way God has made for us, the way of Christ, but also enables us to live joyful and abundant lives, assured that we are children of God.
The Christian conscience is the focus on John Wesley’s 1746 Sermon, “The Witness of Our Own Spirit,” and that’s our focus in this episode of Wednesdays with Wesley.
Read The Witness of Our Own Spirit
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Doctrines, experiences to try,
We to the sacred standard fly.
Assured the Spirit of our Lord
Can never contradict his Word.
What e’re his Spirit speaks in me
Must with the written word agree;
If not: I cast it all aside
As Satan’s voice, or nature’s pride.
This verse from a Charles Wesley hymn (973 in Volume 1 of Short Hymns) speaks to the witness of the Holy Spirit and the witness of Scripture and the way they are dependent upon each other. The Scriptures reveal the Word of God inspired by the Spirit of God, and yet the Spirit also enables us to interpret Scripture according to that Word. The Spirit and the Word do not contradict one another, and that’s especially true when it comes to the doctrine of assurance, which we’re continuing to explore in this episode of Wednesdays with Wesley.
Sermon X, The Witness of the Spirit, is actually part 1 of a two-part discourse in which John Wesley will expound on the ways in which we can discern the assuring word of the Spirit of God versus our own inner voice or, more insidiously, against the voice of Satan. That sort of discernment is vital, especially in an age where plenty of people are claiming that they are hearing “new things” from the Spirit of God that diverge from what God has revealed in the Scriptures.
Read The Witness of the Spirit
Send your questions and comments to the host, Bob Kaylor, at revbkaylor@gmail.com.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bobkaylor.substack.com

How can we know that we are children of God? In this episode, host Bob Kaylor looks at a sermon that lays the groundwork for the Wesleyan doctrine of assurance. It’s an essential component of the larger understanding of how those in the Wesleyan tribe understand sanctification and also gives us reason to embrace John Wesley’s optimism that the gospel of Jesus Christ actually works!
Read The First Fruits of the Spirit
Read Carolyn Moore’s blog post on “What Wesleyans believe about ‘once saved, always saved.”
Leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and let others know about Wednesdays with Wesley
!


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bobkaylor.substack.com

The podcast returns with an episode on Wesley’s understanding of the nature of the Church and what constitutes a body that is “faithful in Christ Jesus.” It’s a timely sermon to explore as churches across the Methodist tribe consider their identities after a difficult season.
Read Sermon 74 - “Of the Church”
Read Howard Snyder’s article “Wesley’s Concept of the Church”
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bobkaylor.substack.com

Host Bob Kaylor offers a brief update on the show and his impending move into a new season of ministry. Wednesdays with Wesley will be back in a few weeks but, in the interim, send your suggestions for future episodes to revbkaylor@gmail.com (note the new address). Watch for new episodes coming soon!


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bobkaylor.substack.com

In this episode we go a little deeper into John Wesley's understanding of the good news by looking at his definition of "true religion" found in Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God. It's a religion of the heart that is evidenced in the believer's life in "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." As Wesley puts it, "This is the way; walk ye in it!" Host Bob Kaylor walks us through this important sermon that gets at the essence of the gospel and how it's lived out in the lives of those who will "repent and believe the good news."

Read The Way of the Kingdom

Leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and email the host with your questions and comments at pastorbk@tlumc.org. Follow Bob on Twitter @revbkaylor.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bobkaylor.substack.com