The Safe House Podcast

Text: John 1:5 (ESV)

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Reflection

Light is not decorative—it is disruptive. Light exposes what thrives in secrecy. Jesus does not merely comfort the suffering; he reveals the truth about the systems that create suffering. When light shines, excuses collapse. Silence is no longer possible.

Societal Lens

Darkness today is found in policies that criminalize ex...

Text: Luke 2:6–7 (ESV)

“And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

Reflection

Jesus enters the world because there is no room for him in respectable spaces. Long before borders, detention centers, and enforcement agencies, the story of Jesus begins with displacem...

Live Service for Dec. 3rd, 2025

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell Harper

Text: Matthew 1:23 (ESV)

“‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”

Reflection:
God’s presence changes everything. The incarnation is divine proximity—God entering our brokenness, not avoiding it. Presence heals what absence wounds. Jesus’ birth reveals that redemption begins w...

Text: Psalm 130:5–6 (ESV)

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”

Reflection:
Advent invites us into holy waiting. The psalmist teaches that waiting deepens trust. Our culture equates waiting with failure, but God uses it for formation. Waiting tempers impatience and births discernment. It reminds us that divin...

Text: Luke 12:15 (ESV)

“And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’”

Reflection:
Jesus’ warning challenges our modern obsession with accumulation. Advent calls us to strip away illusions of worth defined by wealth. Christ’s birth in a manger reveals that simplicity is sacred. “Enough” is not mediocrity—it is freedom from stri...

Live Service for Nov 5th, 2025

Special Guest: Fadi Suleiman

podcast notes https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson

Mitchell Harper

Clair United Methodist Church - https://www.clairumc.com/​​ !!!!!DONATE TO THE AMAZING STREAMING TEAM @ - https://bit.ly/2CwmMwT​​ FOR ALL THE AMAZING WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE DURING THIS TIME!!!!! We do not own the rights t...

Live Service for Oct. 22th, 2025 Special Guest—Rev. Derrick K. Holmes

podcast notes

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson

Mitchell Harper

Clair United Methodist Church - https://www.clairumc.com/​​ !!!!!DONATE TO THE AMAZING STREAMING TEAM @ - https://bit.ly/2CwmMwT​​ FOR ALL THE AMAZING WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE DURING THIS TIME!!!!! We do not own ...

Episode 75 – Heart Conditions: When God Doesn’t Cosign Your Words

Scripture: Proverbs 16:1

“The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.”

⸻

Proposition

A corrupt heart produces a distorted message. We can’t expect God to bless what the heart has already poisoned.

Main Question

What happens when the heart’s motives block God’s message?

⸻

1. Scripture Foundation

Cross-References:

Live Service for Sept. 24th, 2025

podcast notes  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell Harper

Clair United Methodist Church - https://www.clairumc.com/​​ !!!!!DONATE TO THE AMAZING STREAMING TEAM @ - https://bit.ly/2CwmMwT​​ FOR ALL THE AMAZING WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE DURING THIS TIME!!!!! We do not own the rights to this music. Come join us ...

Episode 72 – Transitions— For Better or Worse: When the Water Is Healed

Text: II Kings 2:15–22 Lens: Community resistance to new leadership; unhealthy nostalgia vs. healthy acceptance; what it takes to validate leadership.

1. Scripture Foundation

• Text (ESV): Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him… they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.”… They urged him to send men to look for Elijah… ...

Live Service for June 11th, 2025

podcast notes  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell Harper

Reflection Time Philippians 3:12-16 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: fo...

Episode 69

Rise Up: The Resurrection Moment

Mark 5:35-43

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the sy...

Live Service for May 21st, 2025

order The Cross and the Lynching Tree https://a.co/d/4xn5nVL

podcast notes  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell Harper

The Conclusion or The Beginning  Philippians 3:13-16 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies...

Live Service for May 14th, 2025

order The Cross and the Lynching Tree https://a.co/d/4xn5nVL

podcast notes  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell Harper

Chapter 5 Judges 4:4-9 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill countr...

Episode 66

Chapter 4 (Part II)

Ezekiel 37:11-14

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD,...

Live Service for April 30th, 2025

order The Cross and the Lynching Tree https://a.co/d/4xn5nVL

podcast notes  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell Harper

Episode 65 Chapter 4

Ezekiel 37:8-10 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he s...

Live Service for April 23th, 2025

order The Cross and the Lynching Tree https://a.co/d/4xn5nVL

podcast notes  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell Harper

Episode 64 Chapter 3 Galatians 2:15-21 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Chri...

Episode 63

Chapter 2 (Part II)

Micah 6:6-8

With what shall I come before the LORD,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the LORD requir...

Live Service for April 9nd, 2025

order The Cross and the Lynching Tree https://a.co/d/4xn5nVL

podcast notes  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iv4h1VA2zvbgt0vE3NzMEsD2O1Tpzb0Z?usp=drive_link

Pastor Dr. Charles W. Ferguson  Mitchell D. Harper

Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the...