07/06/2026
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. This last Sunday, I did reference how important it is to teach children how much things cost. Yet, the best and truest sermons are always designed to address me first and foremost. The secret to good preaching is the preacher is preaching to herself or himself—search for ways to apply the gospel in their own lives, long before they attempt to apply it to others.
I need to know what things really cost. I need to know that someone worked for what I have. I need to know that someone fought for the privileges I enjoy. I cannot possibly follow Jesus unless I know that someone died for me—someone did for me what I could not do for myself.
I’m a Dad and that’s a big part of who I am. I would never change that. But I do apologize if after some time you who are without children or nieces or nephews feel as if the preaching at Carmel UMC has not got something for you in it. It is always my intention EVERY Sunday to do my best to share a message that is relevant for all of us.
We are actually experiencing growth from preschool families who have begun attending our worship. The wonderful work Shaina is doing—the outreach she and Stephanie Holl do on a regular basis is bearing fruit. So if there is a tendency to Talk Family it might also be because we are doing our best to minister to the mission field closest at hand. I say, let’s build on what is happening. We’ve been praying to expand our ministry to preschool families at least as long as I’ve been here.
In any case, continue to pray for our preachers, our teachers, and volunteers. May we continue to reach all of God’s with the good news of Jesus. And may we never tire of reaching out to those closest to us.
Archived Posts
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...
So many quips and quotes...
So little time to preach
I wonder what Mary and Martha’s phones might look like:
* Martha = the open browser with 27 tabs
* Mary = the single window that matters
* Psalm 46 = God saying, “Close the tabs.”