04/27/2026
Quotable Outtakes That Didn’t Make the Sermon This Week
“When you try to control everything, you don’t just exhaust yourself—you quietly replace trust in God with trust in you.”
“Being needed can feel good—but it can also become a quiet addiction.”
“Sometimes what looks like care is actually a refusal to release control.”
“If your life only works when you’re in control of everything…
then your life is built on something other than God.”
“Your need to carry everything may actually be keeping others from becoming who God called them to be.”
“If Moses needed help to do God’s work, what makes us think we’re the exception?”
“You were created to be faithful—not to be infinite.
And most of our exhaustion comes from confusing those two.”
“When everything in your life depends on you…
you’ve taken a job that’s already been filled.”
Turns out, ‘Savior of the World’ was never an open position.”
I came across an idea that I expanded on but didn’t use Sunday, but when you think that it all depends on you, it’s important to understand our place relative to God’s place in our lives, in our world.
I liked these analogies:
You’re in the bridal party, but you’re not the groom
You’re in the cast… but you’re not the director.
You’re the clay… not the potter.
You’re one of the sheep…not the shepherd
You’re in the orchestra… you’re not the conductor.
We have a vital role to play at work, at home, and among our neighbors and friends. We just don’t have the pivotal role we sometimes think we do. That should be a relief rather than a struggle. God is in control so we don’t have to be. Thanks be to God!
Archived Posts
Quotable Outtakes That Didn’t Make the Sermon This Week
“When you try to control everything, you don’t just exhaust yourself—you quietly replace trust in God with trust in you.” & more
There is a challenge when it comes to preaching the Word of God.
Preachers are called to open up and interpret the word—inspired and written down thousands of years ago—and make it relevant to a very different world. On top of that there’s a degree of persuasion that goes along with the process.
What Jessica Really Meant to Say in Her Sermon…
When Jessica or Rick or a guest preacher takes the pulpit it’s hard for me to write a One More Thing Blog. I can’t share with you what didn’t make it into the sermon because I have no idea, not having written or delivered it.
Jesus Keeps On Ruining Funerals!
I didn’t have anything this last week that didn’t end up in the sermon. No catchy illustrations that didn’t make the cut. No theological insights that slowed down the main point. No one can ruin a funeral like Jesus. Told as I saw it and that was it. So I did some quick research and I thought I’d share just a reminder of what Easter is all about.
When I Don’t Get To Give My Benediction
Yesterday’s sermon talked about how we are in the thrall of self-centeredness—caught in a system that rewards those who climb to the top, even when you have to climb on the back of others. I talked about a famous sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, ....
Some Good Quotes that I Didn’t Get To Last Sunday
I have been working out of Adam Hamilton’s excellent book, Why Did Jesus Have to Die? And when I find something that says what I want to say more succinctly and expressively than I can, I like to quote it...
Good Stuff that Didn’t Make the Cut
I liked what I’d put together below, but ran out of time to share in Sunday’s sermon. Remember we were talking about the Old Adam and the New Adam, Jesus.