Posts

The Resurrected Life: Grace (Ephesians 1:3-14, 18-20)

Image
 Sermon for Milledgeville and Centenary UMC... [Title Slide] The Resurrected Life: Grace ( Ephesians 1:3-14, 18-20 )   Two caterpillars are escaping a spider. They climb up a branch and get to the edge, but realize they are now trapped…   [Slide] "Hold on tight!" says the first caterpillar and he quickly chews through the branch. It snaps and they begin to fall, but he grabs two protruding twigs and uses them to steer the branch through the air with grace and finesse.   "That's amazing!!" says the second caterpillar. "How are you doing that?!"   The first caterpillar scoffs, "Am I the only one in the forest who knows how to drive a stick!?"   There are a lot of ways to think about the word grace. The caterpillar guided their fall with grace and finesse. [Slide] It makes me think of Buzz Lightyear in the first Toy Story film. “This isn’t flying. This is falling with style!” [Slide] People are named Grace, meaning lovel...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

Image
 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....
Post a Comment
Read more

Who is This? (Matthew 21:1-16)

Image
 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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Journey to Promise: Take Possession (Deuteronomy 31:1-3, 5-8; 33:44-47; 34:1-7)

Image
 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...
Post a Comment
Read more