Community UMC Sermon Devotionals

Based on the sermon Deny Yourself, found here:  https://kwssmithereens.blogspot.com/2026/08/deny-yourself.html “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” — Matthew 16:25   DAY 1 The Road That Must Be Walked “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things ... and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Matthew 16: 21 This verse marks a turning point.  Up to now, Jesus has been teaching in parables, healing the sick, and gathering a following.  But immediately after Peter confesses him as the Christ, Jesus starts speaking plainly about what is coming: suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.  The word “must” is important.  This isn’t a possibility Jesus is weighing.  It is the path he has committed to walk, because it is the only path that accomplishes what he came to do. It would have been easier for the disciples to hear a triumph story....

Based on the sermon Who Am I? https://kwssmithereens.blogspot.com/2026/08/who-am-i.html DAY ONE What People Are Saying “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  Matthew 16:13-14 Jesus asks this question in an unlikely place — Caesarea Philippi, a region thick with pagan shrines carved into a rock face, temples to Pan and Baal and the deified Caesar.  It is a strange backdrop for the most important question in the Gospel of Matthew.  But maybe that is the point.  Surrounded by every competing claim about who deserves worship, Jesus asks His disciples what the crowds are saying about Him. The answers are flattering.  John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah — these are not insults.  They place Jesus among the greatest prophets Israel ever produced.  And yet every answer is wrong, because every answer is too small.  A great prophet points to God....

Based on the sermon, Great Faith , found here -  https://kwssmithereens.blogspot.com/2026/08/great-faith.html  DAY 1 Faith Beyond Borders READ  Matthew 15:21-22 Jesus withdraws from Jewish territory into Tyre and Sidon, Gentile land, and it's here, outside the expected boundaries, that a desperate mother finds Him.  She's not part of Israel.  She has no claim on the promises made to Abraham.  And yet she comes anyway, calling Him “Lord, Son of David,” a title dripping with Jewish messianic hope from a woman who by birth had no right to use it. This is worth sitting with: God's grace has never respected the borders we draw.  The woman didn't wait until she qualified.  She didn't wait for an invitation.  She heard that healing was near and she went toward it, regardless of whether she belonged. There may be places in your life where you've assumed you're on the outside of what God does — too far gone, too different, too disqualified.  This wom...

Based on the sermon, Walking on Water , found here -    https://kwssmithereens.blogspot.com/2026/08/walking-on-water_0780757995.html DAY 1 Sent Into the Storm Read: Matthew 14:22-23 "Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray." Before the storm ever appears, Jesus does something easy to overlook: He sends the disciples out.  This wasn't a mistake or an oversight on His part.  He had just fed five thousand people, the crowds were electric with excitement, and in that very moment Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and go ahead of Him — knowing full well what was waiting for them on the water. It's worth sitting with that.  Obedience to Christ doesn't guarantee smooth water.  Sometimes the very instruction that comes from His hand leads us directly into difficulty.  The disciples weren't wa...