Galloway UMC ”Living the Word”

This sermon explores the concept of kingdom stewardship, using the vivid illustration of a college student house-sitting in luxurious homes to show the difference between being an owner and being a steward. Pastor Raigan challenges the congregation to recognize that everything we have, including our time, talents, money, relationships, and even the breath in our lungs, belongs to God. We are not owners building our own kingdoms but stewards entrusted with God's resources for God's purposes.
The sermon broadens the typical understanding of stewardship beyond finances to encompass every area of life. Drawing on Genesis 1 and 2, Psalm 24, and the example of Jesus in Philippians, Pastor Raigan calls believers to shift from asking "what do I want to do with my life?" to "Lord, how would you have me use what you have entrusted to my care?" This shift in perspective changes how we make decisions, spend money, invest time, treat others, and understand our purpose. Because Jesus, the ultimate owner, became a servant on our behalf, we are freed to manage faithfully not to earn God's love, but because we have already received it.

In this sermon for World Communion Sunday,Pastor Raigan reflects on the profound image from Psalm 23 of God preparing a table in the presence of our enemies. Drawing on stories from the first moon landing, a World War II prison camp, and the ministry of Jesus, the sermon reminds us that God's table is not set in perfect, comfortable circumstances but right in the middle of life's hardest moments. The table is a place of security, provision, and presence, not because our enemies have disappeared, but because the Shepherd Himself is there.

This sermon, part of a series called "The Ultimate Text Message," explores why so many people feel lost when reading the Bible and offers a framework for understanding Scripture as one unified story. Using the story of two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24), Pastor Raigan illustrates how Jesus himself walked alongside confused followers, opened the Scriptures, and revealed Himself as the treasure hidden within every page. Just as a translator in a humorous opening story kept the treasure for himself, Jesus does the opposite: He is both the translator and the treasure, freely sharing the riches of God's Word.
The sermon introduces four major movements that form the Bible's overarching story: Creation (what God intended), the Fall (what went wrong), Redemption (what God has done through Christ), and Restoration (where God is taking the story). These movements connect the Bible's 66 books into one metanarrative: a loving God redeeming his people and restoring creation for His glory. The goal, Pastor Raigan emphasizes, is not simply to get through the Bible, but to let the Bible get through to us, so that like the disciples at Emmaus, our hearts burn with the fire of God and we are moved to share the good news with the world.

This sermon, the second in a series called "The Ultimate Text Message," draws from Deuteronomy 6 and the ancient Jewish prayer known as the Shema to explore how faith is formed and passed from one generation to the next. Pastor Raigan challenges both parents and the broader church community to take seriously their shared responsibility in shaping the souls of the next generation, not just their academic or professional futures. Just as research shows that parental involvement improves a child's education, intentional spiritual investment shapes a child's heart in ways that will sustain them through life's hardest moments.
The sermon emphasizes that faith formation begins in the hearts of adults before it can flow to children. Using Moses' instructions to talk about God at home, on the road, at bedtime, and in the morning, Pastor Raigan calls the church to weave faith into the ordinary rhythms of daily life rather than treating it as one more scheduled activity. The goal is not to raise religiously knowledgeable children, but to cultivate disciples with deep roots in the word of God, roots that will hold when the storms of life inevitably come.

In this sermon, Pastor Raigan uses Pavlov's conditioning experiment as a lens to examine how we engage with God's Word. Just as we have been conditioned to respond instantly to a text message ding, Pastor Raigan challenges us to consider what it would look like to be equally attentive and responsive to Scripture. Drawing from Psalm 119, the sermon highlights that God's Word is personal, relevant, and actionable, and that true discipleship begins when we stop merely owning the Bible and start genuinely opening, reading, and responding to it.
 

Summary
In this sermon drawn from Luke 10, Pastor Lori invites the congregation to hear God's call on their lives as laborers in a plentiful harvest. Jesus sends out 70 disciples with urgency, instructing them to travel light, offer peace, and trust that God will provide. Pastor Lori emphasizes that the harvest represents the vast number of people who do not yet know God's love, forgiveness, and the joy of belonging to a faith family. Rather than sitting as spectators, believers are called to be active participants in the community of faith.
 
Pastor Lori reframes evangelism away from uncomfortable or coercive approaches, instead painting a picture of joyful, everyday acts of service and invitation. From greeting at the door to singing in the choir, from writing an encouraging letter to sharing a meal with a grieving family, every believer has a unique gift that no one else can replicate. The sermon also reminds us that God's family is always bigger and more expansive than we imagine, and that as new people join the harvest, we ourselves are changed and stretched into greater love and maturity.

This sermon, the final installment in a series called "The Gospel According to Broadway," uses the beloved musical Les Miserables as a lens to explore the core themes of the gospel: mercy, grace, identity, and redemption. Drawing on Victor Hugo's story of Jean Valjean, the pastor illustrates how grace interrupts cycles of judgment and transforms not only the one who receives it, but also the one who extends it. Just as the bishop's undeserved mercy toward Valjean set him on a new path, so too does God's grace, made complete in Christ, rewrite the story of every broken and fallen person.
The sermon also draws on Matthew 9, where Jesus calls a despised tax collector to follow Him and then shares a meal with sinners, declaring that He came not for the righteous but for those who know they need a physician. The pastor challenges the congregation to see themselves as the "miserable ones" who have been found by grace, and to respond by becoming people of mercy toward others. The great theological claim of the sermon is that received mercy must become offered mercy, and that in Jesus Christ, mercy truly does triumph over judgment.

This sermon, part of a series called "The Gospel According to Broadway," uses the musical Ragtime as a lens to explore one of the deepest longings of the human heart: the dream that this broken world can become something more. Set at the dawn of the 20th century, Ragtime weaves together the stories of three groups divided by race, class, and nationality, each searching for a better life and a better future. The sermon connects this longing to Hebrews 11, where the faithful are described as strangers and foreigners who desired a better country, and to Revelation 21, where God promises to make all things new. Pastor Raigan challenges the congregation to understand that the Christian hope is not simply about escaping to heaven, but about God's kingdom coming down to earth. Christians are called to live between the "already" and the "not yet" of God's kingdom, acting as a preview of the world God is redeeming. Just as the musical's anthem "Make Them Hear You" calls people to carry the story forward, the church is called to make the world hear the gospel not by shouting louder, but by living differently: welcoming strangers, feeding the hungry, working for justice, and embodying the reconciliation and renewal that God has promised.

This sermon explores the story of Beauty and the Beast as a lens through which to examine the human condition and the transforming power of God's grace. Pastor Raigan draws a parallel between the Beast's hidden inner darkness and the brokenness that exists within all of us, pointing to Romans 7 where Paul confesses his own struggle with sin. Just as the Beast's outward appearance came to reflect what was already true on the inside, our own pride, anger, fear, and selfishness reveal a need for God's transforming work in our lives.
The sermon then traces the path of transformation through what Pastor Raigan calls the ABCs of change: Admittance, Belief, and Commitment, which together form the process of repentance. Through the sacrificial love modeled by Belle and ultimately by Christ at the cross, the message declares that no heart is too hardened and no life is too broken for God's grace. Using the real-life story of Larry Trapp, a KKK Grand Dragon transformed by the radical love of a Jewish family, Pastor Raigan illustrates that beasts are not changed by force or argument, but by the kind of selfless, sacrificial love that the gospel calls agape. Salvation, in this view, is not only about where we go after we die but about what God is doing in us right now.

In this opening sermon of the series "The Gospel According to Broadway," Pastor Raigan uses the beloved story of "The Wizard of Oz" to illuminate what it truly means to follow Jesus. Just as Dorothy is given a road to follow, many people spend their lives chasing false promises at the end of their own yellow brick roads, whether career success, relationships, wealth, or achievement. But when they finally arrive, they pull back the curtain only to find emptiness. The sermon challenges us to recognize that Jesus is not a distant wizard waiting to reward us at the end of a long journey. He is a living Savior who walks beside us every step of the way.
 
Pastor Raigan draws a powerful contrast between following a road and following a person. Dorothy was told which way to walk, but followers of Christ are told with whom to walk. Jesus does not offer symbolic tokens like diplomas or medals in place of real transformation. He offers genuine renewal of the mind, a new heart, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The sermon also emphasizes that this journey was never meant to be taken alone. Like Dorothy's companions on the road, the church community serves as a rope that holds us together when we slip, believing for one another when personal faith runs dry. Ultimately, the greatest adventure is not found somewhere over the rainbow, but in walking daily with the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.