Jim Parsons Podcast

We continue our Lenten Series, "Tell Me Something Good," by looking at another one of the major tenets of Christianity, feeding those who are hungry, by looking at Mark's story of the feeding of the 5000. As the commentator from "A Sanctified Art" put it this week, "God does not start with the problem: How do we feed all these people? God starts with what God has - which is everything, held in her hands. And God starts with what God has given us - five loaves, two fish."  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released. d

We continue our Lenten Series, "Tell Me Something Good," by examining one of the major tenets of Christianity: the Greatest Commandments. We do so in a unique way by examining the story of Jesus being anointed by an unnamed woman at a Pharisee's dinner party. We contrast the two main characters to learn how to love God extravagantly and to quiet the inner judgment of our hearts in order to truly love our neighbor.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

We start off the First Sunday of Lent with the first story of Jesus interacting with the world in the Gospel of John, the Wedding of Cana. This is a unique way to introduce Jesus to the world, but we can learn a lot about the Good News when we peel back the layers of this story and see the abundance and surprising nature of it. What is always important to remember is, it may surprise us, but it is never a surprise to God.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

We wrap up the Both/And series this week with the last dichotomy, Saint & Sinner. We like to lump people who believe the same things we do and the ones who interpret scripture the way that we do as the "saints" of the church. On the other side, we feel we are worthy of God's grace because we look at our lives and we feel far away from God. When we look in the mirror, we only see the "sinner." The reality is we are both a saint and a sinner, but thanks be to God that we are always covered in God's grace.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

We are in the middle of our new worship series, Both/And. Each week, we look at a different dichotomy in our culture and where God is in the middle of it. In a world of either/or, we need a both/and faith. This week, we look at Us & Them. We have a deep desire to belong and to create an "Us" in our lives. However, we need to be careful that the "Us" doesn't start to leave out the "them." Jesus didn't break down boundaries for us to erect new ones. Let us reach beyond the lines drawn in our culture to experience what God is doing in the "thems." Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

Today, on this snowy Sunday, we start a new worship series called Both/And. We live in an either/or world where we need to live out a both/and faith. This week, we are looking at the dichotomy of the sacred and secular.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

Today, because of the weather, we moved our entire worship to a prerecorded format. We wrap up our three week series on Stewardship today by talking about Stewardship as Legacy and connecting it to the Parable of the Valuable Coins. Stewardship recognizes the shoulders we stand on, and stewardship as legacy makes room for the next generation to stand on our own.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

We continue to explore how stewardship relates to various aspects of our lives. This week, we look at the Parable of the Soils in Matthew 13 and what this can teach us about stewardship as hospitality. Hospitality is about opening ourselves up to others, and we do this through stewardship by allowing ourselves to be used by God to produce fruit and build the Kingdom of God. It isn't easy because we have to cultivate good soil to be used by God in that way. Join us for this journey today, and may we be good soil and used by God to do more than we could ever imagine.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

Today, we start a new sermon series on Stewardship. We often associate stewardship with money alone, but there is much more involved. Today, on the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, we will examine how our baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace that calls us to be good stewards of everything we have, because we are claimed, called, and loved by God.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

Today, we end the Christmas Season with a celebration of the Day of Epiphany. This is when we read the story of the Magi coming to visit the newborn king, and we connect it with our journey with God as a new year starts. Join us as we start this new year off by seeking where the star will lead us.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866. Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

We have come to the end of our Advent Journey and are looking forward to what is in store this special night. Thank you for worshipping with us as we welcome the Christ Child, God putting on flesh this evening. We hope and pray that you connect with God in a meaningful way as we come to him this evening. Merry Christmas! Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866 and make sure you click the "Christmas Eve Offering" to help out our Zoe Empowers Group in Kenya.  Please subscribe to our channel to stay updated when our new worship services and other videos are released.

On this Second Sunday of Advent, we focus on the question, "Do you taste what I taste?" This Advent, our theme will come from Matt Rawle's book, "Experiencing Christmas: Christ in the Sights and Sounds of Advent." Each week, we will look at another sense of ours and connect it to this time of preparation for Christmas. Today, we learn that the scripture tells us, "taste and see that the Lord is good." It is an invitation to encounter God.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

We kick off the Advent season with the question, "Do you see what I see?" This Advent, our theme will come from Matt Rawle's book, "Experiencing Christmas: Christ in the Sights and Sounds of Advent." Each week, we will look at another sense of ours and connect it to this time of preparation for Christmas. Today, we hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah, and we are called to wait, yet also to have hope in that waiting. We hope you will join us during this season of Advent as we prepare for the birth of Christ once again.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

This is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christian Year. It is a time when we remind ourselves that Jesus Christ is truly the King of Kings. He doesn't look like the King of this world, but what he offers is truly something we need, but don't necessarily want. Join us as we look at the story of Jesus and the two criminals on the cross, and what it can teach us about the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

Today, we wrap up our two-week Foundations series. The purpose of this series is to look at creating a strong discipleship in our lives. We will be looking at what is the foundation of discipleship and how we, as followers of Christ, can build off of that foundation. Today, we look at Mark 1:14-20, and the call of the first disciples. Jesus poses two statements in these 7 verses, which is what we build on our discipleship on.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

Today, we start a new, two-week series called Foundations. The purpose of this series is to look at creating a strong sense of discipleship in our lives. We will be looking at what is the foundation of discipleship and how we, as followers of Christ, can build off of that foundation. Today, we look at Matthew 7:24-27, and the familiar parable of the two builders. It asks us the question, "What is our life built on?" Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

On this All Saints Day, we remember those who have gone before us this past year, all the while wrestling with some of the hardest teachings of Jesus. We hold up our everyday saints, not as those who have lived perfectly, but as reminders that the Kingdom of God is made up of real people living real lives. May we all work together to bring about the upside-down kingdom God desires on earth as it is in heaven.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

We wrap up our series on 2 Timothy this week with the final 4th chapter. Here we learn about Paul's deep faith in God, even in the reality that he will die soon. We learn that God is God no matter what, and that truly is our source of hope as we face things in our lives. This week, please read 2 Timothy 4 every day and see what God is telling you through this powerful, pastoral chapter. Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

We continue our walk through 2 Timothy in our worship series, "High Stakes Faith." We look at the third chapter this week and Paul's commission of Timothy to go out and do the ministry he is called to. This week, please read 2 Timothy 3 every day and see what God is telling you through this powerful, pastoral chapter. Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.

We continue our walk through 2 Timothy in our worship series, "High Stakes Faith." We look at the second chapter this week and Paul's encouragement to Timothy about what he will need as he takes the mantle of Paul's work after his death. We hear words of hope and the definition of what we hold true in this world. We are also encouraging everyone to read the chapter we cover every day and to see what God is telling them through those words. This week, please read 2 Timothy 2 every day.  Thank you again for joining us in worship. For more information about our congregation, please visit our website at milfordhillsumc.org. If you would like to support Milford Hills UMC's mission to Love, Serve, and Live as Christ, please visit milfordhillsumc.org/give or text 'GIVE' to 833-264-3866.