First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth

March 29, 2026: Traditional Worship Sermon

·21 min·2 clips

A simple kitchen backsplash project uncovers mold, leaks, and a cracked foundation, revealing why surface-level change never works.

The episode opens with announcements celebrating church activities, such as a third-grade Bible retreat with 75 youth at Glen Lake and 17 adult volunteers. The speaker highlights a Holy Week tradition where volunteers provide free breakfast tacos and coffee in Burnett Park for corporate neighbors, framing it as an example of 'missional tacos' and prevenient grace. Announcements continue for the 'Be the Church' sermon series post-Easter, offering hundreds of volunteer opportunities including tree planting with Meadowbrook United Methodist Church and serving at the Taste Project. The speaker transitions to the core message by stating the church's purpose is a transformative journey with Jesus. He introduces the Palm Sunday scripture theme of 'going deeper' using a personal anecdote about his parents' HGTV obsession. The HGTV analogy describes a home renovation where a simple backsplash project reveals wet walls, mold, a leak, and ultimately a cracked foundation, illustrating that real restoration requires addressing root causes. This parallels the Palm Sunday narrative where Jesus enters Jerusalem to crowds waving palm branches and shouting 'Hosanna' (save us now), expecting political liberation from Roman rule. The speaker explains that Jesus instead confronts deeper societal flaws and the root issue of sin, leading the same crowd to later demand his crucifixion. The sermon analyzes Jesus's temptation to avoid the crucifixion and his commitment to atonement. It then applies the 'going deeper' concept to listeners' lives, asking them to examine broken relationships, prayers for healing, and systemic injustices for underlying wounds or foundational issues. The conclusion emphasizes that Jesus rides into Jerusalem knowing the difficulty ahead, offering transforming grace, and ends with a communal recitation of the Lord's Prayer.

As heard by us

A home-repair story gives this sermon a grounded way into faith's hidden work of restoration.

Restoration starts below the surface in this sermon, which turns a backsplash project into a reflection on Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem. A wet wall, mold, a leak, and a cracked slab become more than home-repair details: they frame the idea that lasting spiritual change has to…

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Why you'd press play

You get a sermon that starts with a backsplash and follows the damage underneath until spiritual restoration has to reach the foundation.

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