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Easter Message 2026 - Reactions (Matthew 28:1-10)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville and Centenary UMC... Reactions (Matthew 28:1-10)   We live in an age of online personas. Through platforms like YouTube some folks enjoy a career as influencers. Sometimes they create reaction videos. [Slide] They’ll video themselves reacting to a box that they are opening to review a new product. Of course, their reactions are over the top making them seem almost cartoonish. They make reaction videos as they listen to a song for the first time. You can even watch entire movies or television episodes with your favorite YouTuber’s reactions.   [Slide] Wouldn’t it be cool if we had reaction videos for the resurrection? First, a reaction video by the guard at the tomb of Jesus.   Whoa! That rock is so heavy! We had to grab extra men from the population of Jerusalem to roll that massive stone in place to cover the tomb. Nobody’s going to get back in there. We’re watching the grave of some dude the Jews called their deliverer king....
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Who is This? (Matthew 21:1-16)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville & Centenary UMC... [Title Slide] Who is This? ( Matthew 21:1-16 )   Seems like there’s a national holiday for every day of the year. Thursday was national equal pay day, epilepsy awareness day, nougat day, and spinach day! You can eat a candy bar and then cancel it out with a spinach salad!   Do you know when to celebrate national parade day? March forth!   Who is This?! (Matthew 21:10) Jesus entered Jerusalem in a parade of sorts. The crowds gathered for the Passover festival celebrated Jesus as their messiah king. They lined the streets, waving palm branches, throwing their cloaks on the ground before his donkey to honor God’s anointed messiah.   [Slide] Why palm branches? They were symbolic of victory, triumph and national pride. It was like waving flags on the 4 th of July! They shouted Hosanna to the Son of David. Hosanna means “Save us.” Son of David is a messianic title. In popular use, Hosanna had come...
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Journey to Promise: Take Possession (Deuteronomy 31:1-3, 5-8; 33:44-47; 34:1-7)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville & Centenary UMC [Title Slide] Journey to Promise: Take Possession ( Deuteronomy 31:1-3, 5-8; 33:44-47; 34:1-7 )   We are finishing today our time with Moses and the Hebrews and their time in the wilderness. God used the wilderness to shape His chosen nation and prepare them to take possession of the Promised Land.   Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!” Deuteronomy 31:6 Like Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments, we’re skipping a lot of Moses’ story and ending with his final words. Allow me to share a couple important stories we are skipping over.   While Moses was with God on Mt Sinai, the people strayed. Even though God told them not to make idols, they pressured Aaron to make them an idol to worship. [Slide] In DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, Edward G. Robinson played Dathan, a chief troublemaker. “We don...
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Journey to Promise: The Covenant (Exodus 19:1-6, 16-19; 20:1-21)

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 Sermon for Milledgeville and Centenary UMC... Journey to Promise: The Covenant ( Exodus 19:1-6, 16-19; 20:1-21 )   [Slide] The climax to Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind happens at Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. An immense alien spacecraft comes down from space in thick clouds, rumblings, bursts of fire, and trumpet blasts. People stand in awe as the ship hovers above the mountain. Some cowered. I love it when the one guy goes running for the porta potty to hide.   I was a teenager when I first saw the film. I was in awe just like the characters on screen. Little did I know that Spielberg was recreating God’s appearance at Mt. Sinai. [Slide]   The Hebrews were terrified by what they saw and heard. The whole experience shook them to their cores. They begged that Moses act as mediator, because they were sure if God spoke to them again, they would surely die. God’s overwhelming appearance on the mountain sent a solemn message. [Slide] This ...
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