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
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...