From The Pulpit of DUMC

Sermon Take Home Notes

• Choose trust over fear. Fear can keep us from responding to God’s call.

• Use what God has entrusted to you. Your time, resources, and faith can make a difference.

• Faithfulness matters more than comparison. The servants received different amounts, but their faithfulness brought the same joy.

• Take the risk of loving your neighbor. Care for others, especially those facing fear or hatred.

• You don’t go alone. The Holy Spirit and your church community help you answer God’s call.

This Week’s Practice
Pray the Prayer of St. Francis each day. Ask God to show you one way to bring love, hope, or peace to someone around you.

Weekly Takeaway
Trust God. Take the risk. Put love into action.

• Feeling alone does not mean God has left.
• Notice what you turn to when life gets hard.
• Money, power, and success cannot take God’s place.
• Keep living your faith while you wait.

Weekly Takeaway
When God feels distant, keep trusting. God is with you in the waiting.

1. Keep God first. Let your relationship with God guide your priorities.
2. Check your idols. Notice when your schedule, possessions, or preferences take God’s place.
3. Honor God’s name. Let your words and actions reflect God’s love. Never use God’s name to manipulate others.
4. Make room for rest. Sabbath renews our connection with God and one another.
5. Let God shape you. Stay open to the Holy Spirit’s correction, even when it challenges what you want to hear.

Weekly Takeaway
Put God first. Let that relationship shape every other relationship.

This Week’s Reflection
Where am I seeking agreement when God may be inviting me to grow?

Take-home notes

• Trust God today. The manna came one morning at a time.
• Make room for God daily. Becoming takes practice and patience.
• Remember your neighbor. God provided enough for everyone.

This week’s takeaway: Trust God for today, make time to grow, and help make sure your neighbor has enough.

Remember, but don’t go back.
Remembering God’s faithfulness gives us strength for what’s ahead. We can honor the past without becoming stuck there.

Be still and trust God.
Fear can make us want to retreat, complain, or become paralyzed. Sometimes the faithful response is to pause, pray, and trust that God is still at work.

Then take the next step.
Being still doesn’t mean staying still forever. God tells the Israelites to move forward, even before they know exactly how the way ahead will open.

Trust God with what you can’t see yet.
The Israelites moved before the sea was parted. Faith means moving forward with courage, trusting that the God who has been faithful before will continue to lead us.

Fear can shape our choices.
Pharaoh allowed fear to become oppression. We are called to recognize when fear begins driving our own decisions.

Courage chooses a different way.
Shiphrah and Puah chose life over death, unity over division, and courage over fear.

Faithfulness may require resistance.
Following God will not always mean following the crowd, the culture, or even what feels safest for us. Sometimes faith calls us to courageously resist what is wrong.

Small acts of courage can lead to something bigger.
Before Moses and before the Exodus, two midwives made a courageous choice. Their faithfulness helped begin a much larger story of liberation.

When fear tells us to protect ourselves, faith calls us to courage. Choose God's way, even when it requires resistance.

• God meets us in unfinished places. We do not have to have everything figured out before God meets us.
• Grace does not wait for perfect people. God met Jacob while he was still growing, changing, and dealing with the consequences of his choices.
• God is present in the ordinary. A conversation, an act of kindness, laughter, forgiveness, or an unexpected moment can become holy ground.
• God’s presence does not depend on our awareness. Even when we cannot see or understand what God is doing, God is still present.
• Pay attention to the life in front of you. Instead of waiting for life to settle down, look for where God may already be at work today.

You don’t have to get everything figured out before God meets you. God is already present. Ask for the eyes to notice.

Grace isn't earned.

Stop keeping score.

Watch for anger and resentment.

God comes looking for both sons.

Choose relationship over transaction.

Stop keeping score. God's grace isn't something we earn. It's something we receive and extend to others.

Grace comes first.

No one is beyond God's reach.

Jesus crosses boundaries to reach people.

Grace leads to new life.

Grace is meant to be shared.

No one is beyond the grace of God. Receive it, live it, and share it.

Hold on to hope, show up for one another, and leave nobody behind. Everybody all in.