Build-A-Child at 4141 Ministries

: What does it mean, in your ministry, for people to have a "mountain-top experience?"

Pastoral leaders cannot manufacture a mountaintop experience—but we can create prayerful space for people to see Jesus, listen to him, and prepare to follow him into the valley.

This reflection explores the difference between thoughtful preparation and spiritual manipulation. How can our retreats, conferences, worship services, and renewal gatherings make room for God without confusing emotional production with the movement of the Holy Spirit?

The companion Matthew 17 sermon and study, “Glory for the Valley,” is available at:

https://tomsims.substack.com/p/glory-for-the-valley

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-cannot-manufacture-mountaintop-tom-sims-a9onc

See Jesus in his glory. Listen to him on the mountain. Follow him into the valley. Trust him at the cross .Remember his resurrection.

Dive deeper and utilize small group tools: https://tomsims.substack.com (biblechatonline.com)

You can also watch or share the same sermon on Facebook : https://fb.watch/IBULGpCibx/ or YouTube

Five questions for reflection and conversation:

1. What mountaintop experience has helped sustain you through a difficult valley?

2. Is Jesus saying something to you that you have found difficult to hear or accept?

3. Who is waiting for your compassion at the bottom of the mountain?

4. What mustard-seed-sized step of faith can you take this week?

5. Where do you need resurrection hope to remind you that suffering will not have the final word?

Read and watch **“Glory for the Valley”**:

https://tomsims.substack.com/p/glory-for-the-valley

A Suggested Group Plan
For a 45–60-minute gathering:

Welcome and opening question — 10 minutes

Read Matthew 17:1–23 — 5 minutes

Observe the mountain, valley, and cross movements — 10 minutes

Discuss selected questions — 20 minutes

Name one shared response — 5 minutes

Pray for faithfulness in the valley — 10 minutes

Are you optimistic?

True optimism does not deny obstacles, ignore suffering, or chase fantasies. It believes that something better is possible—and then brings faith, initiative, time, energy, and hard work to the task.

Optimism is active hope. It looks honestly at the present while moving purposefully toward the best possible future.

https://pastortom.blog/2026/07/24/optimism-3/

On July 20, 1968, approximately 1,000 athletes gathered at Soldier Field in Chicago for the first International Special Olympics Summer Games.

Years later, I was invited to offer the invocation at a large Special Olympics event. I prayed—but the words that remained with me were spoken by the athletes:

“Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

Watching their enthusiasm, commitment and courage—and seeing the pride and joy of their families—taught me something important about winning.

Victory is not always finishing first. Sometimes victory is showing up, giving your best and refusing to surrender to fear.

Read “Brave in the Attempt: The Special Olympics and the Best of America”:

https://medium.com//brave-in-the-attempt-the-special-olympics-and-the-best-of-america-946ff5a7fee9?sk=2be22a00a30ce46be0ca3457aeec27c3

Connect with me:

https://linktr.ee/tomsims

Read more at https://pastortom.blog/2026/07/12/if-theres-no-roux-it-aint-gumbo/

They could read the red sky, but they could not read the redemptive moment.

In Matthew 16:1–4, religious leaders ask Jesus for a sign even though signs of God’s kingdom are already all around them: healing, compassion, welcome, provision, truth, and transformed lives.

Their problem is not insufficient evidence. It is resistant interpretation.

We can read forecasts, polls, statistics, cultural trends, and social-media analytics—and still miss what God is doing directly in front of us.

Perhaps the sign is the hungry person.

Perhaps the sign is the persistent outsider.

Perhaps the interruption is the invitation.

The full reflection includes personal exercises, group-discussion questions, and a seven-day discernment practice:

https://tomsims.substack.com/p/reading-the-red-sky

The question is not whether God has given us a sign.

The question is what we will do with Jesus.

Follow Me | Sometimes Following Jesus Means Simply Staying Near
We often hear Jesus' words, "Follow me," as a call to action, mission, and service. They certainly are that. But there is another dimension we sometimes overlook.
An old dog reminded me that following someone you love isn't always about going somewhere. Sometimes it's simply about being near.
This short reflection explores discipleship as presence before performance, abiding before activity.
Read the full reflection:
https://pastortom.blog
Join our online community:
The Fellowship of Joy
https://www.facebook.com/tomsims
Bible Chat:
https://pastortom.blog/2026/07/09/follow-me-just-stay-near/ and
https://biblechatonline.com
More resources:
https://linktr.ee/tomsims

CRUMB: From Crumbs to Baskets
Matthew 15:21–39

In this message from Matthew 15:21–39, we move from the desperate cry of a Canaanite woman to the healing of great crowds and the feeding of the 4,000.
A woman comes to Jesus asking for mercy for her tormented daughter. She is an outsider. She is persistent. She will not be sent away. When Jesus speaks of children’s bread and dogs beneath the table, she answers with one of the great statements of faith in the Gospels:

“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
This sermon follows the word CRUMB as a guide through the passage:

C — Crying Out
Faith that will not be sent away.

R — Relentless
Grace at the edge of the table.

U — Unbounded Compassion
Healing for the broken.

M — Manna
Bread in the wilderness.

B — Bounty
More than enough.

The story begins with crumbs and ends with baskets. It begins with disciples wanting to send someone away and ends with disciples distributing bread. It begins with one outsider crying for mercy and ends with a multitude fed in the wilderness.
The compassion of Jesus does not stop.

Reflection questions:

Who am I in this story?

Am I the woman crying out for mercy?

Am I one of the disciples, tempted to send away the inconvenient and wounded?

Am I in the crowd, needing to be brought to Jesus?

Am I one of the people carrying others to his feet?

Am I holding a few loaves and fish, wondering how anything so small could matter?
What do I do next in response?

Cry out. Keep coming. Bring the broken. Offer what you have. Trust Jesus with crumbs, wounds, loaves, fish, and leftovers.

Links:

Read the full Substack reflection and sermon material:
https://tomsims.substack.com/p/crumb-from-crumbs-to-baskets

Join The Fellowship of Joy Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fellowshipofjoy

Follow Bible Chat and related reflections:
https://tomsims.substack.com/

More from Pastor Tom Sims:
https://linktr.ee/tomsims

YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/-tom-sims

In CRUMB: From Crumbs to Baskets, I reflect on Matthew 15:21–39 — the Canaanite woman who would not be sent away, the crowds brought to Jesus for healing, and the feeding of the 4,000.

The story begins with crumbs and ends with baskets. It asks the contemporary church hard questions about outsiders, compassion, mission, and where Jesus may be finding “great faith” beyond our familiar circles.

Read the full PastorTom.blog reflection here:
https://pastortom.blog/2026/07/05/crumb-from-crumbs-to-baskets/

See less

Jesus confronts one of religion’s most persistent temptations: to look clean on the outside while remaining distant from God in the heart.

https://tomsims.substack.com/p/clean-hands-distant-hearts and https://www.facebook.com/groups/fellowshipofjoy

In Matthew 15, the Pharisees challenge Jesus because his disciples do not follow the ritual handwashing tradition of the elders. But Jesus turns the question around. He asks why they are breaking the commandment of God for the sake of their tradition.

This message is called Clean Hands, Distant Hearts.

It is about tradition, holiness, hypocrisy, mercy, and the condition of the heart. Jesus does not call us to abandon holiness. He calls us to stop outsourcing holiness to rituals, reputations, and boundaries, and to let God cleanse the heart from which our words and lives proceed.

Let’s listen.

https://youtu.be/bMtcB7_wO1k