Would That All the Lord's People Were Prophets, a sermon based on Numbers 11: 24-30 and Acts 2: 1-21, preached on May 24, 2026

There’s an old trailer in our big parking lot. I’m talking about the parking lot that’s across the Harris Hines Bridge. In a corner of that great big parking lot is an old trailer taking up space. You may have noticed it. While we now have four beautiful vehicles parked where people can see them, we’ve been hiding this one old trailer in the corner of our biggest parking lot, and last Monday morning, as I looked at its flat tires and noticed the lichen growing on it, I thought to myself, “I hope we can get rid of this thing somehow.” That was Monday, but selling a used trailer wasn’t on my calendar. I didn’t have any more time to think about it. Last week, I was busy with meetings and preparing for a wedding. On Tuesday, I was honored to pray the opening prayer at the Cobb County Board of Zoning Appeals. That was an exciting opportunity. I was honored to be invited to ask for God’s guidance as the county commission considered their business on a day when two of them were facing opposition in a primary election. I was thinking about how to pray as I walked through the metal detector. The room was full of people ready to speak up and have their voices heard. I found an open seat at the front next to a man who clearly thought I had sat down too close to him. He looked at me, then scooted over a little bit. Noticing his discomfort, I introduced myself and told him that I’m a pastor at First Presbyterian Church. Sometimes, sitting next to a pastor makes people feel more comfortable. Other times, it makes them feel less. In the case of this man, it was a moment of providence, for he took out his phone and began scrolling through pictures. He asked if First Presbyterian is the church with the old trailer in the great big parking lot, then showed me the picture he had taken of our trailer on his phone. “I was showing a picture of your trailer to my wife,” he said, “We’d like to take it off your hands. Would you be willing to sell it to me?” My friends, that’s no coincidence. In that simple gesture, I felt again the assurance that God is at work in our world. When we step out into the world, we go, not alone, for there is no place we can go where God is not. Pushed by the Holy Spirit, we go out into the world as His disciples, and the more we are open to the movement of the Holy Spirit, the more confident we are in the truth that God is at work in our world, the better we can step out in faith. Today is Pentecost Sunday when we remember all of that. The Great Hall is adorned in red as we remember how the Holy Spirit blazed like a fire among those first disciples. The Spirit gave them the ability to speak in other languages so that they might be understood by the crowds of people who traveled to Jerusalem from the four corners of the earth. That was a miracle, plain and simple, yet notice with me what the Spirit did. The Spirit pushed the disciples out into the world and gave them the ability to speak in other languages. Consider with me the specifics of this miracle: They were pushed out into the world, and they began to speak in other languages. Think about these things because there have been Christians nervous about foreign languages for hundreds of years. I told you before in the announcements that this summer, we’ll be preaching a sermon series on the Apostles’ Creed and will spend time trying to better understand some of the more difficult lines in that creed that we say week after week. Each time we recite the Apostles’ Creed, we say, “I believe in the holy catholic church.” We’ll spend more time on this later, but for today know, that it’s lower-case “c” catholic, which means we’re talking about the church universal not the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church got worried about other languages, and so they mandated that certain parts of the liturgy always be said in Latin. Why? Because even though the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the power to speak in other languages, sometimes other languages make people nervous, especially if they’re trying to stay in control. For example, I used to lead a lawn maintenance crew, and if the guys I was working with started speaking in Spanish, I got worried they were talking about me. Often they were. Likewise, there’s a famous line from the first female governor of Texas, Miriam Ferguson, who did all kinds of wonderful things for her state but is most often remembered for saying, “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas school children.” We get worried about other languages, yet the Holy Spirit pushed the disciples out into the world and gave them the ability to speak in all the languages of the world. What does that say about God? God is powerful, and our God wants all people to hear the Gospel spoken in the same language that they heard their mothers speak when they were but babies in her arms. On Pentecost, the Gospel was heard in the mother tongue of all God’s people. That’s a beautiful thing, but let me get back to our church parking lot. I really was inspired by our church parking lot last week. Let me tell you what else happened out there. Not only did I nearly sell a trailer. I also cleaned up yard signs from the midterm election. One of our neighbor churches is Maple Avenue United Methodist Church. I vote there. Maybe you vote there, too. Because our big church parking lot is right across from a place people vote, last week, I caught two sweet little old ladies putting campaign signs on our church property. They looked like they felt guilty about it. They didn’t have our permission to do it, but they did it anyway, and it became my duty to pick up after them because many Presbyterians don’t like the idea of our church participating in political elections. I carried at least 30-yard signs and put them in our dumpster because you can’t campaign on our church property. Why, then, do people do it? I believe it’s because with each election cycle, it feels a little more like the fate of our nation hangs in the balance. Each election cycle, Christians get a little more involved. Each year, there are a few more pastors become politicians. Each year, Christian Nationalism gets a little less Christian. Each meeting of the Cobb County Commission gets a little more heated. Last week on my ballot was whether the Cobb County School Board meetings should be televised. Isn’t there something better for us all to watch? Yet even the school board has become infected by a toxic political culture. I believe people have put too much faith in politics and not enough faith in God, so while I’m thankful to serve the Lord in a church engaged and mindful of current events and political realities, I feel obligated to say that the future of our world does not rest in the balance of any election. It never has and it never will. Remember with me that God is at work in our world, and the Spirit of Pentecost still blows, bringing all God’s people together in a common cause for a common purpose, less concerned with winning a partisan election and more concerned with making sure that all God’s people hear the Good News of Jesus Christ regardless of where they’re from or which language they speak. Did you hear that line from our first Scripture lesson? Moses said, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets.” Not politicians. Not pundits. Not critics. But prophets, proclaiming the truth that God is at work in our world bringing together nations, healing division, and leading people into a future brighter than all our yesterdays. Remember with me that the end of segregation didn’t start with Lyndon Johnson. He’s just the one who signed the legislation. The push, the transformation, the change, came from the prophet who inspired the people with the power of a dream. Remember with me that apartheid was outlawed by the politicians, but the push to end it came from the people led by a bishop named Desmond Tutu. Remember with me what the Bible says: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Don’t just quote that verse from 2nd Chronicles. Live it. Believe it. The world changes, not with elections or legislation, but when God’s people step out in faith and are pushed by the Spirit to speak out from the mountain tops. That’s what we remember today on Pentecost Sunday: God is at work, and God is concerned with all people. Dare to be a prophet declaring this truth. Dare to testify to the reality that God is in control. When you face the anxiety of this present evil age, choose faith, choose hope, choose love. Amen.

Looking Up Towards Heaven, a sermon based on Acts 1: 1-11, preached on Ascension Sunday, May 17, 2026

This second Scripture lesson from the books of Acts ends with the disciples of Jesus “gazing up towards heaven.” Gazing was not what Jesus had asked them to do, but that’s what they were doing because Jesus had just issued an impossible task, and then He didn’t stick around to help them do it. Instead, He ascended into Heaven. “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth,” He said, and then His body was lifted up into the sky and a cloud took Him from their sight. Two men wandered towards them moments or hours later to find them still, “gazing up towards heaven.” If Jesus gave them the assignment, why hadn’t they gotten started? Why were they there, just staring off? My wife, Sara, often wonders the same thing. Sometimes, she finds me just staring off into space, especially after she’s asked me to do something that I’m not excited to get started doing. She’ll ask me to vacuum the house or to change the sheets on the bed. Because these are things I don’t want to do, after enlisting me in home cleaning, she’ll sometimes find me moments later not springing into action but staring off into space. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s easier to stare off than it is to get started. Now, if that’s the case with me and common household chores, how much “gazing up towards heaven,” would I have to do before getting started on preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth? Jesus did two incredible things in our second Scripture lesson. First, He gave to His disciples an assignment that surely seemed impossible; then, He miraculously ascended into Heaven, leaving the bewildered disciples gazing up towards Heaven, unsure of where to even start in accomplishing their mission. This moment in the Bible reminds me of the day my mom dropped me off at college. Now, you know this, many of you from experience, that the major life transitions of graduations and watching kids go off into the workforce, armed forces, or higher education are emotional times for those parents who are fortunate enough to be there and to see it happen. Last week, our church hosted three tear-soaked graduations. On Wednesday night, the 5th graders in our afterschool program, Club 3:30, graduated and gave speeches, and their parents cried. Then, on Thursday morning, was the preschool graduation where the parents cried, and on Friday, was our kindergarten graduation, and their parents cried as well, so did their teachers. One of their teachers was crying before the ceremony even started. At all three events, I was honored to give the opening prayer and to see the tears in the eyes of all those parents at this milestone in their child’s lives. At the preschool graduation on Thursday, one mother walked down the aisle to her seat carrying a box of Kleenex, and before the welcome and introductions were even over, she had gone through half the box. I imagine that the flood of tears grows deeper with each step of the journey. From preschool to kindergarten and then from 5th grade to high school, I imagine that with each graduation, the parents cry a little harder, so when my mother dropped me off at college, this is what happened. When we reached my freshman dorm at Presbyterian College, kind upperclassmen helped unload our car and move my stuff into my first dorm room, where we met my roommate. My mom talked with his parents, explaining to them that my dad had to stay home with my little sister and brother. Then, we strolled to lunch in the dining hall and attended some orientation meetings about how to register for classes and make tuition payments. I’m not actually sure what those meetings were about because I wasn’t paying very much attention. My mom was there, why would I need to listen? Then we made it to the BBQ dinner under the live oaks by the administration building, and my mom, without finishing her plate said to me, “I’m about to start crying, so I’m just going to go. I love you so much,” then she hugged me and left. What did I do next? I watched as she walk to her car. As she drove off, I stared at the place where her minivan had been, wondering what to do. She had to push me to apply to college, she bought me my dorm room linens, she sat through the financial aid meetings while I dozed off, she was there doing almost everything while I did next to nothing. It was only as she left that I realized, now it’s up to me. Back to our second Scripture lesson: Now it’s up to the disciples. Jesus gave them their assignment: “Be my witnesses. Take the message to the ends of the earth,” then He left them to it. Had He stayed, they would have sat back waiting for Him to do it for them. Parents, you know that’s the truth. If you know anything about the book of Acts, then you know that it is our account of what the disciples did, how they built the Church of Jesus Christ, how they were His witnesses throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, but what must happen at the very beginning of the book in the first 11 verses? Jesus must leave so that the disciples will act, and, therefore, our second Scripture lesson describes one of those crucial transitions in life. The task is assigned, but the disciple must be left to complete the assignment. The child leaves the nest, but the mother bird must leave him so that he learns to fly. There is a calling on every person’s life, but some are still starting off into space, afraid to get started. We are all called by God to do incredible things, we are all equipped by the Holy Spirit to do the impossible, but so long as Jesus will do it for us, so long as Mama will do it for me, so long as the adults are in the room, the children never have to grow up. That’s why the Boy Scouts of America used to tell the dads to stay out of the way. Years ago, I was a chaperone with my brother’s Boy Scout troop. If you look on the wall of Eagle Scouts from our own Troop 252, you’ll see my brother’s name on a plaque. His Eagle Scout project was making picnic tables out by the railroad tracks. A more recent Eagle Scout project just replaced the ones he built years ago. I never made it that far in Scouts, but I was so proud when my brother did, and I was excited when, at the age of 22, I was asked by my father to go with my brother to the border of Minnesota and Canada to canoe with him and his troop for this high adventure trip through the wilderness. My dad had just had heart surgery, so he couldn’t go. The trip was paid for, and I was invited to fill his slot. It was a wonderful experience for me to see just what my little brother could do, but one father was always jumping in to help his son do everything. You see, he didn’t want his son to make a mistake. He wanted to help, and he helped so much and so often that his son never had the opportunity to discover just what he could do on his own. On the last full day of that trip, our group was hiking next to a rushing stream with waterfalls. By this time, we were close to civilization, so youth groups and families were all along this stream, some of them playing in the water, treating the waterfalls like waterslides. I remember the scream of one leader who saw a member of her group get caught in the hydraulic at the base of the waterfall. The cycle of that water trapped a girl in its current, so the leader screamed for help. Our group’s guide jumped into action. He tied a rope around his waist, handed me the other end, and repelled into the rapids. Now, I want you to know something, no one knows how strong he is until he’s holding a rope with a human being tied to the other end repelling into the fierce current of a waterfall. I remember the feeling of the rope cutting into my arm. I remember pushing with every muscle in my legs to help our group leader get back to safety. I learned in that moment that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but not everyone gets to learn that lesson because not everyone ever has the chance or takes the chance. Mr. Rogers is famous for saying, “When bad things happen, look for the helpers,” but at some point, we are called to be the helpers. At some point, it is up to us to answer the call. When I attended the Club 3:30 graduation, I heard the speeches of those 5th graders who will move to middle school and out of our afterschool program. One of the 5th grade graduates asked the other 5th graders to join her at the front of the room at the end of her speech. Then, she asked the principal of her elementary school to come forward, and then her parents, and together, they presented Mary Groves, Director of the program, during her last Club 3:30 graduation, with two dozen roses because for the past 30 years, Mary Groves has been the helper, stepping forward to make a difference. She answered the call. She has been the one to change generations of children’s lives, and she’s led our church in taking part in that same movement, but we must take that risk of trying. We must be willing to try and to fail. We can’t be so afraid of the doing that we just stare off into space. Another who stepped forward last week was Lisa Stokes. At our kindergarten graduation, she led the effort to decorate for the reception. I couldn’t believe what she’d done. Every member of our kindergarten graduating class this year is a boy. They’re all boys. Not a girl in the class, and so at some point during the year, the moms of those boys started talking about how this kindergarten class was their sons’ first fraternity. Playing on that theme, Lisa Stokes decorated the graduation reception with Greek letters, a paddle on every table, and a fraternity composite with each member of the class. Under the picture of one their teachers was the title “Fraternity Sweetheart.” You see, Lisa stepped forward. She made a difference, which requires taking a risk, but it’s a risk that I hope and pray every member of the high school graduating class will take. I don’t want to hear about how they sat in their dorm rooms playing video games. I don’t want to hear about how they never made a mistake and never took a risk. I don’t want to hear about how they stayed the same, for the world will not get better if we stay the same. We must learn and grow and step out in faith, trusting the power of the Holy Spirit, Who is always at work in our lives. I received an email last week from a Methodist. I was honored to receive this email from a man who’s not a member of our church, but who knows about our church. That’s why he was writing. This is what he said: “These days, it seems like every vital/spiritual-related activity around this town meets or emanates from First Presbyterian Church.” Who said that? A methodist. Why did he say it? Because you’re stepping out in faith, and God is at work in you. Don’t get caught looking up towards heaven. Step out in faith with the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Audience of One, a sermon based on John 14: 15-21, preached on May 10, 2026

Last Thursday was the National Day of Prayer, and one of the largest prayer gatherings in the country on the national day of prayer is the Cobb County National Day of Prayer Breakfast, so I woke up last Thursday morning at 4:30 AM, and I needed to get up early, although not that early. I set my alarm for 5:30. That would have given me plenty of time to get ready, but I woke up at 4:30 because I was too excited to stay in bed any longer. I couldn’t wait to get to that breakfast. Not only does the prayer breakfast feature scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and blueberry muffins with orange juice and hot coffee, but it’s all that with 900 fellow residents of Cobb County, making the prayer breakfast a significant event. Every year at this breakfast, I’m honored to be invited to sit at the table of one of the major sponsors, prime seating at this 900-person event, because church members Judge Jim Bodiford and Nancy Bodiford invite me to sit with them. We were there in the middle of the grand ballroom, up close to all the movers and shakers in our community: judges, business executives, and politicians. I saw Charlie Bethel, an old friend of our church, who used to chaperone our Mexico mission trips when I was in high school. He’s now running to defend his seat on the Georgia Supreme Court. Also there was Chief Deputy Rhonda Anderson, who runs the jail and has been instrumental in our partnership there and with her church, Turner Chapel AME. Our table was next to Daniel White’s table. Next to Daniel White’s table was the Tip Top Poultry table, whose chaplain I had lunch with last week. Walking around were people I love to see, but so rarely get to see all in one place, and so I woke up last Thursday morning excited to eat a good breakfast at a prominent table surrounded by important people. I put on my best suit, a freshly pressed white shirt, and a tie my wife, Sara, just bought me, but as I looked in the mirror last Thursday morning, I looked myself in the mirror to ask, “Who am I trying to impress?” Do you hear what I’m saying? Last Thursday morning, I woke up excited to go to an important event. An event that matters in our community. But why does it matter? Why is it important? For whom was I getting dressed up? I ask these questions because our motivation matters. If you are motivated to please the world, if you wake up eager to impress the powers that be, then you’ll feel good when you receive their approval and you’ll feel bad when you don’t, but bow before the King of Kings and He will lift you up every time. Put your hope in Jesus and never be disappointed. Trust in the Lord, and He will put you under His wings but desperately go seeking the approval of people and put yourself in a dangerous position. I have a good friend named Elizabeth Manning. She grew up in this church with me. In 1998, we were selected by our peers as the two wittiest members of our graduating class at Marietta High School. The other day we were having coffee, and she said to me, “I’ve learned that if you’re OK with yourself, every place is safe, and until you’re OK with yourself, no place is safe.” Are you OK with yourself? Do you know who you are? Whose approval are you seeking? Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” and I ask you to consider this phrase from our Gospel lesson because we are all being pulled in different directions. We are all being asked to conform to varying circumstances, but if you desire the Lord’s approval then “Love the Lord your God, love yourself, love your neighbor.” “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Those are words from the lips of Jesus. Do them and please Him but go out into this world seeking approval from people and live like a ship without an anchor, tossed to and fro by the wind, for public approval is fickle. That’s why I once asked County Commissioner Keli Gambrill how she does it. Bob and Keli are always up in the balcony at the 8:30 service. Their worship attendance is outstanding, though she’s busy being one of five members of the Cobb County Commission. As a member of the commission, she bears the responsibility of representing her neighbors, some of whom she is always disappointing. Because Cobb County is nearly greater in population than the entire state of South Dakota, Keli is always disappointing somebody, so I once asked her how she deals with the responsibility of representing so many people with so many different opinions, and she said, “I serve the audience of one.” Now, I didn’t know exactly what that meant until she shared with me a song that inspires her. The song goes like this: It’s such a strong temptation to live for man’s applause. But I don’t want to buy into that lie because I know it’s not a worthy cause. I’ll be content to serve an audience of one. Only his approval counts when all is said and done. And this is my prayer when my race is won. I want to hear well done from the audience of one. My friends, public opinion rises and falls; therefore, do what is right, love justice, love your neighbor, and please the Lord, without seeking the endorsement of the wrong people. They say, the right endorsement can get you elected, but how much does that endorsement cost? I remember being 8 years old and the new kid in school. Because I always had the good kind of Little Debbie snacks in my lunch box, everyone wanted to trade with me, yet I’d accept trades for lesser snacks because I wanted someone to be my friend. I thought that was something you grew out of, but look at politics these days and what people are going along with to fit in. Or think with me about what it’s like to be a mom. Wanting to be liked, and to fit in, and to feel like a good mom is a dangerous business. Now, to look like a good dad, the stakes are low. Dad stops by the grocery store and drops off a pack of cupcakes to his daughter’s second grade class, and the world will line up for a parade. Have you seen it happen? I’ve lived it, and it’s wonderful. Mom drops off that same pack of store-bought cupcakes, and do you know what she hears? “So you didn’t have time to bake?” It’s rough out there for moms, so don’t be the kind of mom who is looking for approval in all the wrong places. Don’t look for affirmation on Instagram. Don’t look for approval from the popular moms who seem to have it all together (They don’t.). Remember that comparison is the thief of joy and pay attention to whose approval you are seeking, for even some who call themselves Christians regularly turn their backs on the children of God because they worry more about their reputations than their witness. They work for purity but forget about justice. They want to make a good showing in the flesh, so they pray at the right time, and they look like the right kind of person, but if they don’t sound like Jesus and if they don’t love like Jesus, then they don’t follow Jesus. My friends, be careful about trying to be accepted by the group, or risk losing the approval of the only One who matters. Don’t get swept up in the storm of hatred raging in our nation. Make Jesus proud by loving yourself. By loving somebody. By caring about the downtrodden. By speaking up for the weak. By living in such a way that you make your mama proud. On Mother’s Day, I think about a great video of a basketball player at a press conference. This guy is a big deal NBA superstar. He’s sitting at the press table with all those microphones in front of him. Cameras are flashing. Reporters are asking their questions. Everyone wants to hear what he has to say. This is his moment to shine and to impress the whole world, but as he’s answering questions, his phone rings and he sees that it’s his mama calling, so he picks up. I love that video. Pick up the phone when the people who love you call even though you’re busy working because your job can’t love you back. Consider who you’re aspiring to be, who you’re trying to impress, and who will be there for you when everything falls apart. The Rev. Meri Kate Marcum once preached a sermon in which she told this story: A young girl was just starting school and was required to go through something called “kindergarten screening.” The teachers asked her to count to 20, recite her ABC’s, identify shapes and colors, and even asked her to skip down the hallway. Then came the “life situation questions,” like “What do you do when you go outside, but it’s raining?” She answered, “You get a raincoat or an umbrella.” Then the teacher asked, “What do you do when you want to go into a room, but it’s dark.” Without missing a beat, this little girl said, “You hold someone’s hand.” Whose hand will always be there for you to hold? Who has promised that He will not leave nor will He forsake you? Who will not leave us orphaned? Who tells us again and again, “Be not afraid for I am with you”? My friends, there is not a mortal alive on this earth who can do for you what Jesus can, so don’t go trying too hard to impress people who will love you one minute and leave you the next. Get out of the bed and stand on the reality that Christ has died for you and make Him proud. If you love Him, keep His commandments. Amen.