03/24/2025
Matthew 24: One More Thing...
I sometimes stumble on old documents I’ve created but have completely forgotten about. I cannot remember why I created them or what purpose they were originally supposed to serve. While researching Matthew 24 on my computer I came across a little something I wrote for my previous congregation. Again, I have no idea why I put it together, but it caught my attention.
Despite What You Might Have Heard…
If you want to know more about the heart of God—
If you want to experience the forgiving love of Jesus
If you want to put down roots into an ancient—
and always relevant—faith
For you and for your whole family—
Then you are welcome to come be with us
At Trinity On Jackson. (Period.) (Exclamation Point.)
A United Methodist Community of Faith.
I don’t think it would be much of a stretch to apply those same words to us here at Carmel Church:
If you want to know more about the heart of God—
If you want to experience the forgiving love of Jesus
If you want to put down roots into an ancient,
and always relevant, faith
For you and for your whole family—
Then you are welcome to come be with us
At Carmel United Methodist Church. (Exclamation Point.)
I don’t know how we’d use it, but I like it.
It’s an invitation I would definitely be interested in if I wasn’t already here.
Archived Posts
Gandhi and the Sugar
I wasn’t preaching Sunday, Reverend Jackie Chandler was. And she talked about the power of influence you get when you practice what you preach. This famous illustration came to mind. It fits Jackie’s points quite well. Enjoy!
Not Just for Parents
Our current sermon series is about How To Talk Parent, but it doesn’t require any of us to be parents to appreciate the bits of wisdom OUR parents shared with us growing up.
If Not Higher
Here’s a story I wanted to use when talking about ‘what you do when no one is looking’ yesterday. It’s a wonderful illustration of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:1-6—do what you do because of who you want to be, not so that others will take notice and praise you.
The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”
One of the Longest Benedictions I Ran Out of Time to Share
Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...