Grace is the rock upon which Christian life is built and sustained. Through faith, grace transforms us so that good works naturally follow.

In James 2:17, we find that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” When grace moves us into action, we “go and do”.

Good works show that our faith is genuine and transformative.

Our good works are the visible evidence of an invisible faith, which is proof to the world that God’s grace lives within us!

Faith is not meant to sit still. It is alive, breathing, and moving because the grace of God never leaves us where it found us. James reminds us that belief without action is lifeless. True faith compels us to “go and do.”

Grace is God’s gift, freely given and unearned. But grace is never idle. When we truly receive it, it transforms our hearts, shifts our priorities, and stirs us toward acts of love, mercy, and service. It is grace that moves us to forgive when wronged, to give when it costs us something, and to speak truth even when it’s uncomfortable.

The world doesn’t just need to hear what we believe—it needs to see it. Every act of kindness, every choice to love, every step toward serving another is faith made visible. It’s grace in motion.

As you listen today, where is grace calling you to “go and do?” Is there someone you need to serve, forgive, or encourage?

Heavenly Father,

You have called me not only to believe but to live out my faith. Shape my heart so that my good works flow from love for You, showing the world that my faith is genuine and life-changing. May everything I do point others toward Your transforming grace. Amen.

This devotional was written by Gary Hensley and read by Joey Smith.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

My father, like many men of his generation, grew up working on his family’s farm. His father, my grandfather, had two jobs: he was a stationmaster at various train stations throughout East Tennessee, and he farmed. It wasn’t a huge farm, but he produced enough to sell or share with others. My dad recalled working alongside his father and learning how to cultivate and harvest many different plants and trees, including grape vines, from which they made jelly and juice. The grapes on these vines did not taste good at all. They weren’t cultivated to be eaten but to be used in other ways. As children, my brothers, sister, and I didn’t see much use for a grape that couldn’t be eaten, and one day, when we were visiting our grandparents, we decided the branches on the grapevine would be ideal for whatever project we were working on. Whether it was a mud fort or an imaginary sword, I don’t remember, but the four of us stripped several strong branches from the vine. Big mistake! We were soundly scolded for our actions and forbidden to touch the growing plants. Our sticks and twigs had to be those that had fallen on the ground naturally.

The branches we had pulled never had a chance to mature; they couldn’t fulfill their natural purpose. They had been separated from their source of life and were therefore useless.

I always remember that experience when reading this passage. We are the branches. Unless we remain connected to God through the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. We often fool ourselves and think we can manage life, but when challenges arise, and they always do, we find we are powerless. It is in difficult times that we are painfully reminded that we can do nothing on our own. There are many forces at work in the world that would separate us from the vine: greed, seeking power or fame, being swayed by false teachings, focusing on how others are different instead of acknowledging that we are all children of God. If we allow any of these things to control us, we are ripping ourselves from God. We are dead branches. We can do nothing.

It is up to us to remain connected to God through worship, Bible study, prayer, and service. We can separate ourselves from the vine through willfulness and the false belief that “I can do it myself,” but no one else can do it if we find our strength in these practices.

Dear God, we are so thankful that you hold us close, as branches on the vine, and give us the opportunity to find life and strength in You. Help us reject the forces that would separate us from You. Guide us to be fruitful in the service of your Kingdom. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Pat Scruggs.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

You are listening to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast produced by the people of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee.

This is Scripture Saturday, a time when we pause and reflect on the scriptures we have read throughout the week. If you missed any of our devotionals on these passages, you can find them on our website at 1stChurch.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, we invite you to listen and receive Grace.

Welcome and thank you for joining us.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

My objective today is to take this simple, straightforward message and complicate it to the point that you will never forget it. Now you might be saying, “What could possibly be hard about the phrase, Let us consider how to stir up one another? '” If you ask my wife, this is very clear; to stir is a cooking term. Stirring helps dissolve particles like sugar or salt into a solvent like water. Stirring creates a homogenous mixture by evenly distributing ingredients. It is also essential to keep things from sticking or cooking unevenly. And if you take a scientific approach to your cooking, you know that stirring can increase the rate of chemical reactions by increasing the frequency of collisions between reactant molecules. At this point, I would say thank you, dear, for those four different definitions. Although she is correct, I see it differently. You see, my friend used to frequently hand me a wooden spoon and say, “Owen, you are just trying to stir up trouble.” It had nothing to do with cooking.

So, what do you do for clarity when you are thinking about a scripture? For me, I look at other translations. The New International Version says we should spur one another on. Does this mean cowboy spurs? Ouch. The New Revised Standard Version says we should provoke one another. This doesn’t sound much nicer than getting spurred. The King James Version says consider one another to provoke. The Common English Bible says to consider each other carefully. The Amplified Bible moves to consider thoughtfully how we may encourage. It appears we have moved from my stirring up trouble to my wife’s blending and evenly mixing together.

Not to give up yet, it occurs to me that we could both have effective methods to bring people together if we remain focused on the true end state of working together with faith and good works. Many of the translations say love and good works; either expression is good with me. Regardless of our initial differences, if we act in love by doing good works together, we will form a bond (perhaps a chemical reaction) that transforms us into a stronger relationship with Christ and our neighbor.

One final translation for you. Let us keep holding one another in our thoughts, such that an explosion of love and good works results.

Father God, bring us together in relationship with you and each other such that we can demonstrate our faith by doing good works for our neighbors. May all that we do glorify our God. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Owen Ragland.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Just before saying these words, Jesus had told the parable of the sheep and the goats. In Chapter 24 and 25 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is sitting alone with his disciples on the Mt. of Olives, telling them of the time to come – a time in the future when the Temple would be destroyed, nation would rise against nation, famines and earthquakes would be in various places, and many would turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other. He told them that because of the increase in wickedness, the LOVE of most will grow cold. He told them of the future time when the abomination that causes desolation will stand in the holy place.

He goes on to say that, as in the days of Noah, before the flood, when people were living large, paying no attention to God, the end will come. In Chapter 25, he told them to keep watch, because you do not know the hour or the day. At that hour, on that day, the Son of Man will come in Glory with ALL the angels with him.

He said that ALL nations, ALL people will be gathered before Him and separated on His right and left – the sheep (those who LOVE and worship him) will stand on his right and the goats (those who are cursed because they do not LOVE and worship him) will stand on His left. As he spoke to them in this final judgment, he spoke the words from today’s scripture – “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

I think we all want to be on his right that day!

It can be easy to help our siblings – brothers and sisters from the family we grew up in, siblings from the same parents – even when we have resentments or anger pushing us apart. Family generally binds us. But Jesus was talking about all our human siblings! Perhaps we find it simple to think of our Christian brothers and sisters too. But Jesus was referring to ALL our human brothers and sisters, all God’s children.

From that viewpoint, the least of these encompasses those in need all over the world! Just look at the news and you will find hundreds of thousands of the least of these brothers and sisters. We must consider what Jesus said in Matthew 19:21 – “If you want to be perfect, sell all you have, give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come and follow me.”

I don’t know if he meant that literally, but what if he did? In America, we are a nation of plenty. We have great wealth. I’ll bet most people hearing my voice today have good houses filled with things of comfort and pantries full of food.

When we turn on the news and see war-torn villages around the world, devastation in our own country from disasters and poverty, are we immediately reaching out to do for our fellow humans, our human brothers and sisters across the world?

I’ll wager that not many of us would sell all we have and give to the poor to follow Jesus.

And not enough of us put food in that blessing box outside our church doors, to feed our homeless brothers and sisters. Not enough of us skip the luxuries of dining out, to write a weekly check to the Community Food Connection or Welcome Table, or to give to the International Rescue Committee, to send food to our hungry brothers and sisters locally and in Gaza or Afghanistan…food for Jesus!

Perhaps this modern perspective on our brothers and sisters in need will give us pause and prod us to feed the least of these - to feed Jesus more richly and more often.

Great loving God, remind me with every bite I take, to think of your hungry children next door, down the street, and across the world. Steer me to generously share my blessings with You and all of them. In Jesus’ name we...

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the phrase “good things come to those who wait.” I feel this also goes hand in hand with the phrase “patience is a virtue.”

It can often be exhausting to feel that you are constantly doing good towards others to get nothing in return; on the contrary, there are some cases where doing charitable acts towards others paves the way for more acts to be done in the future, in other words, setting off a “domino effect” of sorts or serving as inspiration.

While it can be easy to grow impatient from doing good deeds and not seeing our efforts bear fruit right away, this does not always mean that they will not bear fruit. They can often lead to a returned favor down the line, or as previously mentioned, a beginning of a series of charitable acts to be done. So, in these instances, it can be crucial to practice patience and remember that it truly is a virtue and that good things can come to those who wait, so long as we have the willingness to wait.

God, thank you for showing us that patience is a virtue and that while doing good can often lead us to feel weary, this is not always the case, as our efforts may soon bear fruit if we remain strong in doing good and have the willingness to wait. Help us to always remember this and have the willingness to be your faithful servants. Amen.

This devotional was written and recorded by Grace Jonas.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

God gave special significance to the rock when he commanded Moses to strike a rock in the desert and provide water for the Israelites. In many other verses, especially in Psalms, God is addressed as a rock, a firm foundation, and a fortress for safety. According to Bible Gateway, there are 149 references to the word ‘rock’ in both the Old and New Testaments. In many of the references, the rock is a symbol of God. It represents strength, salvation, and comfort against enemies. I never thought much about the significance of rocks until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic stopped the world in its tracks and left us isolated from each other.

At that time, Tom and I had just moved to Asbury Place in Maryville, a senior living community. We knew a few people here, and most avenues for connecting were cut off. On top of that, Tom was facing a difficult open-heart surgery in June of 2020. It was an isolated and anxious time. My most frequent activity was long walks around the Asbury campus. Over that period, I began to notice rocks on the edges of walkways that had been painted in bright colors. Often, they had words written on them such as ‘LOVE,’ ‘COURAGE,’ ‘WAIT,’ ‘JESUS LOVES ME,’ ‘HOLD ON,’ ‘SOON,’ ‘PEACE,’ and ‘BE STILL.’ They were painted with happy faces, flowers, animals, and colorful designs, and they were scattered around the Assisted Living facility, as well as lakeside and near the Bistro. All the rocks were smooth and rounded and felt solid in the palm of my hand. I began to search for them as I took my walks, and found comfort in these messages from the isolated people all around me.

Later that year, after Tom recovered from his surgery, we managed a gathering with our children and grandchildren, and I brought a kit with smooth rocks, paints, and design suggestions. We found joy painting rocks together. I arranged them on a platter and they still adorn my living room table. They bring happy memories.

I have since learned that the painted rocks were a worldwide phenomenon. During the pandemic years, trails and parks in California and Calgary were lined with hundreds of painted rocks. A “Kindness Rocks” project that started in 2015 went viral and led to rocks being left in random public places for people to carry home or to another site. The rocks were a quiet way of staying connected with our fellow human beings.

In the Old Testament book of Numbers, God showed love for the Israelites by bringing living water out of a massive rock. The rocks I found during the pandemic years were smaller, but they also reflected God’s love for the human community. In a symbolic way, they brought water to our thirsty souls.

“Dear Lord, we thank you for your refuge during hard times. We thank you for a solid rock we can hold in our hands and feel your love and protection. You are our rock and our fortress. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

This devotional was written by Laura Derr and read by Judy Wilson.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email

Picture something with me. Imagine you're stirring a pot of soup on the stove. You're not just mindlessly moving that spoon around - you're being intentional, making sure nothing sticks to the bottom, bringing up the flavors from the depths. That word "provoke" in our verse? In the original Greek, it's paroxysmos - it's where we get our word "paroxysm." It means to stir up, to incite, to sharpen like iron sharpening iron.

The writer of Hebrews is addressing a community that's getting tired. They're facing persecution, some have stopped gathering together, and their initial enthusiasm for following Jesus is waning. The author isn't giving them a gentle pat on the head - he's calling them to actively, intentionally stir each other up toward love and good works.

This verse sits right in the heart of one of the most encouraging passages in all of Scripture. Just before this, the writer reminds them that they have the confidence to enter God's presence through Christ. Just after, he urges them not to neglect meeting together. It's all connected - our relationship with God, our responsibility to each other, and our witness to the world.

John Wesley understood this deeply. He organized early Methodists into small groups called "classes," where they would meet weekly to ask each other the hard questions: "How is it with your soul? Where have you seen God this week? How can we help you grow?" Wesley knew that faith grows best in community, where we're lovingly challenged and supported.

But here's the thing - this isn't about criticism or judgment. The goal isn't to provoke each other to guilt or shame. It's to stir up love and good deeds. We're called to see the potential in each other, to fan the flames of compassion and service that God has already placed in our hearts.

Do you know anyone who needs some stirring? Maybe it's a friend who has lost their way, a family member who has forgotten their gifts, or a fellow believer who has grown complacent. How might God use you to lovingly provoke them toward the love and good works they were created for?

And remember - this stirring goes both ways. While we consider how to encourage others, we need to remain open to being stirred ourselves. Sometimes God uses the most unlikely people to remind us of our calling, to challenge us when we've settled into comfortable routines, or to inspire us when our own fire is burning low.

The early Methodist movement spread like wildfire because ordinary people took seriously this call to stir one another up. They didn't wait for the perfect moment or the right credentials. They simply asked each other honest questions, shared their struggles, celebrated their victories, and held each other accountable with grace and love.

Remember, we're not just individuals trying to make it on our own. We're part of something bigger - a community called to lift each other up and point each other toward Christ. In a world that often feels divided and disconnected, what a powerful witness it is when people see Christians genuinely caring for each other's spiritual growth.

Father, stir our hearts today and help us see those around us through your eyes. Use us to kindle love and good works in others, and keep us open to being stirred by your Spirit. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Cliff McCartney.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition...