Pastor’s Page | June 4th, 2026
Sermon Prep (Read Ezekeil 8-9)
As many of you know, I am a huge fan of the Kentucky Wildcats. Fans of the Kentucky Wildcats are commonly referred to as “Big Blue Nation” and especially in basketball (okay, primarily only in basketball) we travel very well and have been known to take over an opposing teams’ gymnasium. There have been times when the Kentucky fans outnumbered the other team’s fans (it is often easier to get tickets to other gyms than it is Rupp Arena…especially if we are doing good…which sadly hasn’t happened in a few years…I may start crying). The point is that you may go to the home court of let’s say the Vanderbilt Commodores and see more blue shirts than you do black shirts. Then you will hear a chant of “Go Big Blue…Go Big Blue”. Now that is great for us Kentucky fans, but how do you think the Vanderbilt team reacts to that? Now imagine if that coach of the Vanderbilt team decided to appease us Kentucky fans by turning part of their gymnasium into a “Kentucky Fan Zone” with statues celebrating the UK players from yesteryear. What if they sold blue ice cream and blue foam fingers and played “My Old Kentucky Home” instead of whatever silly song Vanderbilt plays. That would be crazy, right?
Now imagine that this was our sanctuary. You arrive on Sunday morning, and as you come down to the altar to receive communion, you see on either side of our altar table a statue of Buddah, a Muslim prayer rug, a Wiccan spell book, and an altar to sacrifice a Voodoo chicken. When you say something, I respond by saying that we are still worshipping God, but we want to make sure we accommodate everyone’s beliefs, plus…we get to eat the chicken sacrifice afterwards. You would say, “No! This is the house of God and His alone!” In Ezekiel 8 and 9, Ezekiel gets a vision of what was happening in the Temple in Jerusalem. What he sees shocks him. There is an idol of jealousy in verses 5 and 6, there is the worship of animals in verses 7 to 13, there is a Babylonian fertility cult (yes…the very army that is attacking them, they were including in their worship in the Temple) in verses 14 and 15; and even bowing down to worship the sun in verses 16 to 18. This is all the while that the Glory of God was still present. In Chapter 10, the Glory of God will depart and after reading chapters 8-9 you see why. I am sure in their mind they saw nothing wrong with it, that they were simply being tolerant and inclusive. But this was God’s house! This was God’s people. This was an abomination and God had enough.
As you read through the text, I want you to think of how we allow the worship of other things to worm their way into our worship of God. How do we replace or reduce God in our worship and end up worshipping other things? Even worshipping ourselves? Read Romans 1:21-25 and think how this relates to this passage and to our modern concept of worship. The people were also acting selfish, being violent and unjust. Think about how we worship connects to how we live. We become what we worship. Read Hosea 9:10 and connect it to how the people in Israel were living and how they were worshipping. Also, notice how God is reacting to all of this. Is it trivial? Is it just a Sunday morning thing? Not only this but notice how God reacts to how the people are reacting.
Ezekiel can be a depressing book, but we are just beginning. Some bad things happen, but there will be promises of hope. God is faithful, even after all that the people have done. Hope is coming. For us, hope has already arrived. His name is Jesus and He has the power to move our hearts back to God and to revive even the most hardened, wayward, and cold heart.
June Sermon Series
Crazy Times and a Steady God:
We Smell Like Sheep and Wolves
06/07 - Corrupt Worship - Ezekiel 8-9
06/14 - Departed Glory - Ezekiel 10-11
06/21 - Lying Preachers - Ezekiel 13-14
06/28 - Unfaithful People - Ezekiel 15-16
Updates, Thoughts and More
We are getting excited about our upcoming Vacation Bible School on June 15th to 18th from 10am to 12:30pm. This is going to be a great time and we are going to need lots of help. Please see the sign-up sheet in the Lobby for more information.
Acton Celebrates America is going to be bigger and better than ever this year. We are celebrating the 250th birthday of America and it is going to be a celebration at Acton Methodist! We will have promotional material available for you to distribute in the coming weeks.
Even though Summer is a slower time here at church, don’t think that we have slowed down completely. We still have lots of opportunities for you to get involved in studies and serving. Check the calendar to see all the opportunities available.
I haven’t shared with you in awhile what I have been reading. I am reading a book by my favorite author, Brad Thor, called “Edge of Honor.” If you like the Jack Reacher series, then you will love Brad Thor. His books are full of action and great characters. So far, this has been a great book. I believe that his latest book was just released this past week. I am thinking I know what my Father’s Day gift will be.
The Knicks handed it to The Spurs the other night. The Spurs looked tired and they got pushed around a bit. They will need to toughen up. And for goodness sake, Wemby! You are 7’4… get closer to the basket!
What’s Going On This Week
Sunday (06/07)
Worship Services — 9:00am & 10:30am
Monday (06/08)
Stitching Angels — 1:30pm
Tuesday (6/09)
Men’s Prayer Breakfast — 7:30am
Wednesday (6/10)
Prayer Warriors — 9:00am
Sip And Share — 10:00am
Choir — 7:00pm
Joke of the Week
A little boy was acting up in church, so his dad whispered, “Son, you better straighten up or there’ll be consequences.”
The boy whispered back, “What kind of consequences?”
Dad said, “The kind where your mother gives me that look all the way home.”
The boy sat perfectly still the rest of the service.
Memory Verse of the Week
“The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of His feet.”
~Nahum 1:3 (NIV84)
Quote of the Week
“God is not jealous like an insecure employer who fears that his employees might get lured away by a better salary elsewhere. God’s jealousy is not the reflex of weakness or fear. Instead, God is jealous like a powerful and merciful king who takes a peasant girl from a life of shame, forgives her, marries her, and gives her not the chores of a slave, but the privileges of a wife - a queen. His jealousy does not rise from fear or weakness but from a holy indignation at having His honor and power and mercy scorned by the faithlessness of a fickle spouse.
~John Piper
