Wellborn Methodist Church--Wellborn, Florida

Posted on October 2, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Did You Hear Me?

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 27, 2026

Scriptures: Ex 17:1-7; Ps 78:1-4, 12-16; Phil 2:1-13; Matt 21:23-32

There are moments in every parents’ life when we wonder if our kids ever listen to us. Can you remember taking your young child to a funeral, after having explained to them the proper way to behave at such an occasion?

Consider this true story:

“I am attending my great-uncle’s funeral. As his casket is being lowered into the ground, I notice that all his grandchildren are smiling far too much for such a solemn occasion.

Parent: “Why are you boys grinning?”

Grandson #1: “We’re not.”

Parent: “You absolutely are.”

Before anyone can question them further, thick red, yellow, and orange smoke starts pouring out from underneath the casket.

Priest: “What is that?!”

Family Member: “Is the casket on fire?”

Grandson #2: “No!”

Parent: “How do you know?”

The smoke becomes so thick that everyone has to step away from the grave. Then, from somewhere nearby, a boombox starts blasting “Highway To Hell.”

Everyone turns toward my great-uncle’s three grandsons.

Parent: “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Grandson #3: “It wasn’t our idea!”

Parent: “You have exactly five seconds to explain yourselves!”

Before their parents can tear them apart, the fourth and oldest grandchild takes out an iPad.

Oldest Grandchild: “Wait! Great-Uncle [Norton] left a message.”

He plays a video recorded from my great-uncle’s hospital bed about a week before he died.

Great-Uncle: “Hello, everyone. If you’re watching this, the smoke bombs went off, the music started, and my grandsons followed my instructions perfectly.”

The three boys beam proudly.

Great-Uncle: “Don’t blame them. I planned the whole thing. I wanted one final great prank—and one last chance to make my children clutch their pearls.”

The family goes from furious to laughing, and the grandsons escape punishment. Their parents calm down pretty fast. But the poor priest, however, takes a little longer.”

(“One H*** of a Funeral,” www.notalwaysright.com, 9/18/26)

This is the kind of situation that, while funny, makes you wonder about the great uncle! The 4 boys listened to the deceased, doing as he directed…but clearly ignored all parental directions on how to behave at funerals.

In our Gospel lesson today, Matthew 21:23-32, Jesus tells a parable concerning obedience. The context is yet another confrontation with some Jewish religious leaders. They ask Him about His authority to teach, preach, heal, and forgive sins as He does. But it’s a set-up, which He rightly discerns. They are hoping to catch Him saying His authority comes from the fact that He is God so they can charge Him with blasphemy and have Him executed. But Jesus brilliantly turns the tables on them. He agrees to answer their question (actually their demand) if they first answer His (They are testing Him). Staying with the issue they have raised regarding authority, He asks them Who commissioned John the Baptist. If they say John prophesied by God’s authority, then Jesus can ask them why they mocked John and did not believe him. And if they insist John was a fraud, they know the people–who loved John and considered him a prophet–would condemn them. So they fail to commit to either option. Thus Jesus can then say (v.27)-→Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things. Really, He is saying, “Well, you wouldn’t answer My question, so I will not answer yours.” Then He goes on to reprimand them through a parable.

This is the Parable of the Two Sons: The Father makes a request. The first son refuses initially, then goes and does what his father asked him to do (No, then Yes). The 2nd son agrees initially, then blows dad off (Yes, then No). Jesus then asks (v.31)-→Which of the two obeyed his father? They rightly answer the first. Then before all the listening crowd, Jesus exposes and condemns the religious rulers. This is not our usual Jesus, meek, mild, humble. This is an angry Jesus, a disappointed Christ. The very ones who should have recognized Him have not. Instead of teaching the people to be loving and to share that love with those who don’t know the Sovereign Lord of Israel, the Jewish religious leadership have become rule-bound, negative, unloving, judgmental. They are like the 2nd son, originally saying Yes to God, but then going their own way, saying No. This is why Jesus insults them by saying notorious sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes—who they abhorred and shunned—will enter the Kingdom of God before they will. It’s true that notorious sinners repented due to John the Baptist’s teaching; but these leaders remained skeptical and unbelieving. Did they hear Jesus? My guess is that they said Yes to serving God originally, but then lived out No. They heard and saw Jesus but rejected Him and His teaching.

Sadly, Jesus knew where their stiff necks would lead them (to Hell), and Him (to the Cross).

In some ways, these hard-hearted religious leaders are a lot like their ancestors in the wilderness wanderings. In our Exodus 17:1-7 reading the people find themselves at Rephidim, where there is no water.

Once again, they complain bitterly to Moses and Aaron. Once again, they fail to believe that God both accompanied them and would care for them. So many miracles later, they still lack faith. They are demanding that God prove to them that He is their provider (just as the religious rulers demanded proof from Jesus).

We can ask for a sign based on faith (Mark 9:24): I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief. But our Lord detests a test based on doubt (John 6:30)-→They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in You. What can You do? (like Jesus is a trained seal or a bear).

It’s tantamount to saying, “I think God should prove Himself to me.”

“A test based on doubt makes us the judge and God the defendant”—which is wrong (NLT study notes, p.101).

Nevertheless, God, in His infinite grace, tells Moses how to locate water for them. Moses is told to strike the rock at Mt. Sinai with his staff. We know Jesus is the rock of our salvation. St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4-→I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground….All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. J. Vernon McGee states that, “The smitten rock is a picture of the death of Christ.”

(McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Exodus, Thomas Nelson, 19091, p.154).

This is why Moses could not later enter the Promised Land: In anger, he struck the rock again instead of simply speaking to it (Christ cannot be re-sacrificed.) The people tested God (Massah) and quarreled with Moses (Meribah)-→These place names memorialized their lack of faith.

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 reviews these events. The psalmist, Asaph, encourages us not to be faithless, but to remember His miracles, and trust that God is faithful. Remembering His faithfulness can strengthen our faith and lead us to obey Him. In light of this psalm, those religious leaders who challenged Jesus should have been prostrate before Him in worship. They should have been awe-struck and humble, rather than arrogant and dismissive.

St. Paul directs us, in Philippians 2:1-13, to have the mind of Christ.

The mind of Christ is humble. Think about it: From what do most quarrels arise?

The quarreling parties each assume they are right. Humility requires that we each consider we could be wrong. Paul is setting out a pattern for Christian living (v.2)-→Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. He wants us to avoid being selfish, focusing only on what we want. He wants us to consider others and their needs even before our own. This is what it is to be unselfish, to be “un-self-centered,” to be Christlike. The Jewish religious leaders who confronted Jesus were convinced they knew what was right. Time and again, Jesus did or said something that challenged their ways of thinking and of being. They had said Yes to God and became His priests and religious teachers, but they said No to God’s son. They lost out on a deeper relationship with the Great Shepherd, the King of the Universe, because they were not humble. They physically heard Jesus, but intellectually they tuned Him out—Poor Souls!

I began today with a story about some kids at a funeral. I want to end with another such tale:

A fellow named Jim Lyons shared: “ A very close friend of ours, Bob, had passed away and we took our eight-year-old son to the gravesite service. He was in awe the entire time. After lowering the casket, Bob’s grandchildren gave each person a golf ball. Bob was an avid golfer and his widow decided to drop golf balls into the grave instead of flowers [or dirt]. Everyone smiled and joked. When we finished dropping the balls, our son, speaking in his outside voice had everyone laughing when he said, “Mom, it’s a good thing your friend wasn’t a bowler.”

(Juliana LaBianca, ReadersDigestHumor.com, 08/24)

No wonder Jesus said, in Matthew 18:3-4-→Then He said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, help us to be humble, to have the mind of Jesus.

Help us to abandon our selfishness and our arrogant assumptions that we are always right, and lovingly look to the needs of others. Teach us to truly hear You and to obey You. AMEN!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on September 25, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Our Griping vs. God’s Grace

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/20/26,

scriptures: Ex 16:1-15; Ps 105:1-6, 37-45; Phil 1:20-30; Matt 20:1-16

I want to begin this morning with a brief video clip of research done on two Capuchin monkeys. A Dutch Ph.D. named Frans De Waal was assessing whether or not these monkeys could detect unfairness. (Go to YouTube and locate a 2:44 minute clip of Frans De Waals’ TedTalk entitled “Two Monkeys were Paid Unequally.”). Even monkeys can tell when someone else is getting more or better than they are. Did you notice how the 1st monkey behaved when she didn’t get a grape? She frammed on the desk, shook the cage, threw the cucumber piece at the experimenter—we witnessed a monkey tantrum!

Isn’t this just like Jesus’ Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16)? The Vineyard owner hired workers early in the morning to work among his grapevines. He promised them (v.2, NLT)-→the normal daily wage. Then he hired others at 9:00am, noon, and 3:00pm, saying to each group that he would pay them (v.4)-→…whatever was right. He even made the same deal with some workers he hired at 5:00pm—who worked only an hour or so. When he paid everyone the same, no matter how long they had worked, the earliest guys protested this as unfair. Like the monkeys, it looked unfair from their perspective. But the vineyard owner insisted that his money was his to dispense as he thought best. You see, “this story of workers and wages is not about economics or farm management, or even human relations [and certainly not about Capuchin monkeys preferring grapes to cucumbers]; it is about the incredible grace of God.”

(Fairless & Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, 2013, p. 228.)

Jesus is teaching the startling concept that God’s generosity is not tied to any of our standards of what seems fair. Remember Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) reads, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “-As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” No matter how long or how hard we have worked for His Kingdom—or how much we have produced—He prefers to measure how faithful we have been to the task He has given us. So the woman who raised up a missionary who then brought many to Christ is as valuable in God’s eyes, not due to her labor as compared to her son’s, but because her faithfulness set the stage for her son’s impact for the Lord. So too the person who comes to Christ on their death bed vs. a life-long believer.

As Scripture points out over and over, our job is not to compare ourselves or our potential rewards to anyone else. (We can’t really know specifically how the Lord regards another.) God calculates how He rewards us on the basis of His unfailing and overwhelmingly generous grace–again, not based on how long or how hard we worked or how many souls we saved or Kingdom “widgets” (meals served, clothes gathered and given away, hospital visits, prayers prayed, etc.) we produced. Instead, He appears to focus on how faithfully we served in whatever setting He placed us. As I have said before, I believe He bases a lot on how well we loved Him and how well we have loved others?

God’s concept of grace (unmerited or unearned favor) is certainly other-worldly, isn’t it? And aren’t we glad?

A. Let’s review our Old Testament lesson, from Exodus 16:1-15, for a story that illustrates how this works: Scholars appear to differ on whether the people are 1 month out of Egypt or 2, but it is long enough to have left their experiences of God’s miracles in their rear-view mirrors. It’s long enough for the people to begin to complain. They are hungry and remember their slave conditions more rosily than realistically. They wax on about meat, vegetables, and spices they miss when they probably subsisted on a form of Egyptian gruel.

They are irritated with Moses and Aaron, both of whom are their God-appointed leaders, with little control over finding water or food in a wilderness—unless the Lord directs them! They don’t yet seem to know God’s nature or to trust Him to take care of them (sound familiar?).

But notice the Lord’s response to their anger and complaining: He doesn’t smite them, as we might, or disappear in an angry huff. He patiently charges Moses to tell them…(v.4)–>Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. And (v.11)-→I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, “In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” God has heard their complaints; and He will graciously and generously provide them what they need. Have they earned it? No! Nevertheless, He gifts them with quail and manna, a Hebrew word meaning what is it. Whatever manna was, it tasted like honey. It was apparently packed with protein and provided energy, focus, and calm. And it was presented to them fresh daily. It was the original of what our military calls MRE’s-→meals ready to eat.

What is the Lord teaching them? “I hear you; I listen to your complaints.”

“Despite the fact that you don’t trust Me, I can and do provide for you.” Also notice that He doesn’t—at this juncture—address their anger at Moses and Aaron.

Moses tells them (v.7)-→In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because He has heard your complaints, which are against Him, not against us. Later on the Lord will punish some of them for talking badly about His appointed leaders (including Moses’ sister, Miriam, whom God afflicted with leprosy but then restored due to Moses’ prayerful intervention for her). (See Numbers 12:1-16). You see, our Lord doesn’t like us complaining about the leaders He has appointed.

As St. Paul will later write, in 1 Corinthians 10:10-11→And don’t grumble as some of them did [the Israelites in the wilderness], and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. If you should have a beef with me, I would appreciate it if you would—rather than grumbling to others, or posting complaints on social media—approach me directly. Let’s meet individually, face to face, as Jesus recommends in Matthew 18:15, and talk it through to try to work it out. Our God much prefers this to grumbling and complaining about church leadership.

B. Our Psalm (105:1-6, 37-45) joyfully recounts God’s rescue of Israel from Egypt and His faithfulness to them on their 40 year journey.

It references God’s provision of the manna and the quail. And it emphasizes how we should love, appreciate, and praise Him for his goodness and faithfulness to us.

C. I could be wrong, but I believe Paul’s discussion in Philippians 1:20-23 is connected to what Jesus was teaching in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers. Years ago, when I was providing Nursing Home Mental Health Services (prior to attending Seminary), I encountered a 93YO man named George. Out of respect, I called him “Mr. George.” He was still ambulatory and in his right mind, but he was depressed. The staff asked me to help him if I could. He told me he wanted to die and was discouraged to wake up each day and still be alive.

He had no grandchildren. His wife had died some years earlier, and tragically, his two sons were killed when their car stalled on railroad tracks and was struck by a train. He was alone in the world and mad at God for keeping him here. He had worked in the automotive industry but could no longer drive or tinker with cars.

He needed a purpose for living. I suggested to him that the Lord might wish for him to pray for the others there in the nursing home with him. Even the Apostle Paul, like Mr. George, wanted to die in order to see and be with Jesus.

But in our passage today, Paul says that—even though he would like to go be with the Lord—(v.25)-→…I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. Paul concluded that if he continued to live, he could still do the kind of Kingdom work that makes life worthwhile. Partnering with Jesus makes life worth living.

We can’t look at life from the human perspective and feel satisfied. We learned in the Alpha Class this week at St. Luke’s that most all of us ask at some point: “Is this all there is?” when we consider our lives, and are disappointed.

Even today, Canada has enacted legislation called MAIDS, Medical Assistance in Dying, having decided as a nation that people suffering from a terminal illness, for instance, have a right to have a doctor help them end their lives if they want.

As Christians, however, we believe God is the author of life and has written all the days of each of our lives in His Book of Life. We are not to try to take our own life. This leaves us with the responsibility to discover how to make the time we have left meaningful (Hint: It has everything to do with believing in Jesus.).

Mr. George could still walk about—he could have visited with residents who never had visitors. The staff helped him come up with a list of folks who would have appreciated a visit and who would have loved to know someone was praying for them. This new purpose to his life lifted him from his depression, and certainly blessed the other residents of his facility. Again, Paul insists (v.27, NLT)-→Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ.

We have to evaluate our lives from God’s perspective. What are we doing to advance the work of God’s Kingdom? We all have gifts and talents the Lord has given us. We don’t want to focus on the fact that we might be dealt cucumbers rather than grapes, or the same rewards as someone who hasn’t worked as long or as hard as us, and get angry with God. In God’s Kingdom, life is not an unfairness experiment, and we are not meant to compare ourselves with others.

Rather, we want to give up griping and complaining, and focus on God’s grace. We want to agree with Paul that (vv.21-24)-→living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ….I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. Living in service to Jesus is what makes life meaningful.

Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ! Alleluia! Alleluia!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

True Christian Hospitality

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/13/26

Scriptures: Ex 14:19-31; Ps 114; Ro 14:1-13; Matt 18:21-35

Two weeks ago, I preached on what Scripture has to tell about how we should try to live out our Christian walk. Once again, our passages appointed for today provide great guidance for daily living:

A. Our Old Testament lesson, Exodus14:19-31, reminds us of God’s miraculous interventions on behalf of His Chosen People. The free Hebrew slaves are caught between all of Egypt’s chariots (“the devil”) and the Red Sea (“the deep blue sea”). Pharaoh has rethought letting his slave labor force leave the country. He has pursued them with all of his considerable number of chariots (more than 600). The Pre-Incarnate Jesus appears as a cloud toward the Egyptians, keeping them in the dark (miracle #1); and a pillar of fire toward the Israelites, so they could see overnight (miracle #2) to walk thru the parted Red Sea (miracle #3), on dry ground (stated 3 times in the passage, and comprising miracle #4). God effects a massive rescue of His people, drowning Pharaoh’s army without a single military battle between Hebrews and Egyptians (miracle #5)–>The battle belongs to the Lord. This divine rescue is recalled again and again in Scripture so that we will be grateful to God for His providence and protection.

B. This divine rescue is also memorialized in Psalm 114. The psalmist wants us to realize that the Lord (v.3) “rolled back the Red Sea…” and “held back the Jordan River.”

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on the Psalms, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.76.)

McGee claims it is “a call to remembrance of God’s mercy and power on behalf of His people.” We want to live our lives in awe of and believing in God’s miraculous, redemptive powers on our behalf.

C. Paul asserts in Romans 14:1-13 that we should not criticize one another (Christians against Christians) for differences in on issues that are not critical to salvation. Some people dress up for church and others, more casually. This shouldn’t matter because our heart attitudes and beliefs about Jesus are more important than the way we dress. Some believe we shouldn’t dance or play cards, while others do both. Some prefer organ music, while others, the piano or guitars and drums None of these is critical to salvation, but we do want to be aware of how our behavior influences nonbelievers. The point is that our behavior as Christ-followers should not be a stumbling block to new Christians or to those seeking the Lord (we shouldn’t cuss, get drunk, view porn, etc.).

D. Finally, Jesus makes it very clear, in Matthew18:21-35, that we are to forgive whoever offends us. Because of all that God has forgiven us, we are to offer to others the same grace. And we are to do so again and again and again—because our God forgives us innumerable times.

There we have it: Some really valuable advice on how to live if we want to please Jesus.

Now I want to depart from my usual style of “sermon-izing” and ask you to bear with me as I read an excerpt from a modern novel that is making the rounds today: Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi (Simon & Schuester, 2023). Three friends mentioned this book within a single week, and one even lent me her copy. I knew then the Lord meant for me to read it. It’s an excellent book and I recommend it.

The novel concerns an elderly man named Theo who transplants himself from New York City to a small town in southern Georgia along the banks of the Oxbow River. He is quiet, observant, and friendly, and—over the course of a year —makes many friends in Golden. One of these is a homeless woman with mental problems, named Ellen, who tenaciously holds onto her bicycle. She calls her bike, “The Noble Invention”—a reference from a story by author William Saroyan, titled “Rescue the Perishing.” Ellen may be mentally off but she has clearly been educated and is well-read. The portion of the novel I want to read you this morning concerns her initial visit to a Sunday service at St. James Episcopal Church (See pages 153-157). As I read, try to think about what the passage says about the congregation of St. James. And try to imagine how we would behave if someone like Ellen visited us for Sunday worship.

The excerpt: (Warning: the passage contains some cussing)

As the last note of the song faded, Father Lundy rose to welcome the congregants and make his opening remarks. He had just begun reading a passage of Scripture when to the complete and utter shock of everyone present, a loud disturbance erupted at the back of the room. The sound of breaking glass, a falling vase, sounded through the high rafters. That shock was heightened when the words being spoken became audible and distinguishable.

“You get your blue blood hands off of me, you pin-striped whore of Babylon! Touch me again, and I’ll ride this Nobel Invention right over your hypocritical ass! Get out of my way.

An usher, fighting an onset of total astonishment and embarrassment, was trying to restrain a wild-eyed woman wearing a blue hat from bringing her bicycle into the sanctuary. She had forced her way through the door, bicycle in tow, and was intent on joining the congregation assembled there.

Or, more precisely, intent on finding and joining Theo.

Every head turned her way. A number of the leaders and others moved immediately toward the disturbance and encircled the intruder. Any semblance of order or sanctity fled the room as Ellen, not to be deterred by another act of bureaucracy, railed against her opposition. She was equal parts prophet and whirling dervish.

“Your sign outside says ‘Visitors welcome.’ Well, St. Smartass, I’m a visitor, so get out of my way. You touch my property one more time and see what happens, you throne-sniffing Pharisee. Get the hell out of my way! All of you. Right now!”

Her fist was raised and ready.

St. James had never experienced, and likely never would again, such a display of righteous indignation on its premises. Some of the congregation watched or ducked down cautiously behind their pews, horror-stricken at this unexpected visit from an uninvited guest. After all, there had been killings in churches in recent years. Others, who recognized the woman from having seen her around town, were curious and even amused that an actual sinner had entered the elegant premises of James, the saint. The biblically literate among them might have expected a finger to start writing on the wall at any moment: Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin.

Panicked cell phone calls, many from the sanctuary floor, were made to 911 with the expectation that, in a matter of seconds or minutes, officers would arrive, arrest the troublemaker, and restore dignity to the meeting. In the meantime, Father Lundy implored parishioners to remain seated and be calm. Few paid him any attention. The main event was clearly at the back of the sanctuary. Across the room, people gaped, craned their necks and whispered excitedly about the scene unfolding before them.

And then came a voice.

“Darling, Ellen. Ellen, darling. Hello, dear. Good morning, dear.” Mrs. Ocie Van Blarcum, her white hair shining like a nimbus, stepped between Ellen and the others and touched her hand. There was no sense of alarm or urgency in her voice. But her forceful presence made it abundantly clear who was now in charge.

Immediately, the confusion began to subside, affirmation that a gentle answer (still) turns away wrath.

“Ellen, please come sit with me, sweetheart. We’ll find a place for your bicycle. Would you like to sit with me and my family?”

Ellen stood silently for a moment, still defensive against the bodies that surrounded her. It took a moment and several hard blinks, but eventually a glimmer of recognition filled her gaze. Her hands relaxed.

“Hello, Miz Ocie.”

Mrs. Van Blarcum was a matriarch of St. James, a venerated and lifelong member whose family name was empaneled in the grand window that covered most of the sanctuary’s west wall. She knew well and lived devotedly the ethic of St. James: “Faith without works is dead.” She was not merely capable of saintliness. She was saintly. Some would have argued she was a saint.

While she fit in comfortably in the highbrow world of St. James, Ocie Van Blarcum was no stranger to the soup lines and homeless shelters in Golden. She and Ellen had seen each other often at such places.

She understood the difference between “troubled mind” and “troublemaker,” and she recognized in Ellen all the signs of the former—a wounded soul, a lost sheep, a “least of these my brethren.”

The sound of sirens had grown in strength until they were just outside the building. Clearly, more than one police vehicle had responded to the disturbance. Mrs. Van Blarcum instructed several of the ushers and vestry members, in a tone of voice that would not be denied, to tell the policemen to leave. Her eyes blazed with an authoritative “right nowness.”

“Ellen, come this way, darling. My family is right here. On that row. We have room for you.”

Ellen shook her head. “No ma’am. I’m looking for Mr. Theo.”

At that moment, he smiled and stepped forward into the small space that belonged to Ellen and Mrs. Van Blarcum.

“And Mr. Theo has been looking for you,” he said cheerfully. “Good morning, Ellen.”

Theo and Mrs. Van Blarcum knew each other only vaguely. They had met on a previous Sunday and had crossed paths occasionally since then. Standing there together with Ellen, they were the embodiment of goodness and mercy. And for the moment, the room belonged not to Father Lundy but to Ocie and Theo, surrogate shepherds of the flock.

No one shaving or dressing or selecting shoes or watching television before driving to St. James earlier that morning would have guessed that a church service could be as engrossing as this one was shaping up to be. No one could have anticipated the sight of an old man guiding a garishly attired homeless woman and her bicycle down the center aisle, eighth pew from the front, and helping her find a seat at the end of the row.

Ellen kickstanded the Noble Invention, sat and patted her blond dress, touched her necklace, rested her hands in her lap, smiled at Theo, then directed her attention to the pulpit.

Father Lundy began to speak. By then he had regained his composure. He knew a teachable moment when he saw one. He also knew that the congregation, if only they could see it, had just witnessed and participated in a sermon. Need he say more?

The organist, in a stroke of musical eloquence, played a simple rendering of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” as a never-before, widely-enlarged sense of reverence filled the room. Some still looked at Ellen. Most, “the oldest first,” had redirected their attention away from the spectacle of her strange appearance and had turned their gazes inward.

One could almost hear the sound of stones dropping to the ground.

After the morning service, it was agreed that, in the future, Theo would sit in the last row, on the outside aisle, so that when and if Ellen attended (which, in fact, she began to do regularly), her bicycle could be parked beside her. That way the Nobel Invention would not impede movement up and down the center aisle when collections of the offering and celebration of Holy Communion took place. It was the practice at St. James to dispense the bread and the cup at the altar to all in the faith who were able to walk forward., After the first week, when Ellen insisted on wheeling her bike with her to the Communion rail, Theo was able to convince her that it would be safe at the pew. He and Mrs. Ocie would guard it.

He also encouraged Ellen to be on time for the service. She was never late again.

This is such a lovely story and a great example of true Christian hospitality. I wept when I read it at home. We should welcome any and all visitors to our church. We want them to get to know Jesus. We want them to participate in our church family. It shouldn’t matter how they dress or even if they are disruptive. As Paul would say, we abandon our critical attitudes/ or judgments. While we can understand the shock of the ushers, we need to be as kind as both Mrs. Ocie and Theo. Remember when 18 Year old Dakota (who is autistic) wondered aloud, right in the middle of my sermon, where two missing couples were, one by one, and by name? I told him they were on vacation and that they would be back. He was worried about them, but my calm response reassured him and quieted his anxiety. Remember when toddler Annie wandered the sanctuary during both the readings and my sermon? I recall lifting her up and holding her in my arms as I finished my remarks.

We want all to feel welcome. We can offer grace to our members, but we can also do the same for the stranger—and even tolerate the presence of a friendly, 3-legged hound dog who joined us for worship Thursday night. Let this be our consistent response to anyone who joins us. AMEN!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on September 9, 2026September 9, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

God is love

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/6/26

Scriptures: Exodus 12:1-14; Ps 119:33-40; Ro 13:8-14; Matt 18:15-20

The story is told of an old grandmother who had decided that Christmas shopping had just gotten to be too much for her. Now she still wanted to do something nice for her kids, grands, nieces, nephews, etc., so she decided to send each a nice Christmas card with a $50 Visa card inside. Granny selected the Christmas cards, addressed the envelopes, added stamps, and deposited them at the post office, innocently assuming she had taken care of Christmas gifts for all of her family in a way that could not help but please each one. The problem, however, was that–being a little forgetful–she had neglected to include the Visa cards (probably also forgot where she had put them), and had happily written next to her signature, “Merry Christmas! Go get your own presents.” We laugh, but this could all too easily be any one of us!

Her intention was loving, but the result indicated neglect or even insult…until her oversight was discovered.

When I was in college, there was a foreign language requirement for graduation. There were 3 stipulations: (1) You had to be able to read it; (2) You had to know the grammar, vocabulary, and correct sentence structure; and (3) then you had to demonstrate you could speak it by passing an interview with the language Professors. I managed to make it through the first courses, but put the speaking part off until my Senior year…YIKES! The first day of class, a stereotypical French woman came into class—wearing a beret, fishnet stockings, a tight skirt with a slit up the side, and carrying her own ashtray (in 1967, professors could smoke in class as they lectured). She propped herself on the front of the teacher’s desk, told us we could not speak English for the rest of the semester, and asked us in French to respond to the question, “What is love? I knew my goose was cooked! Before I had even begun to formulate an answer in English, then laboriously translated it into French, she had gone on to the next deep question.

I survived conversational French, praise God, because I paid a very proficient underclassman to tutor me. Back in 1968, I was able offer a student a cup of coffee and a piece of pie to talk with me in French for an hour 2-3 times a week. By the end of the semester, this young man had me contributing to class discussion in French and also thinking and dreaming in French! It was, to me, a miracle for which I will always be grateful!

But I have never forgotten that French professor’s question, “What is love?” Our Old Testament lesson, Exodus 12:1-14 gives us some good answers to a timeless question.

Let’s first consider the context: Back in Exodus 3:7+, God had told Moses:

“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.” That was God’s promise. He would create the situation that would compel the stubborn Pharaoh to let His people go. The Hebrews had been in Egypt about 400 years—long enough for the Canaanites to have time to come to love the true God–which they refused to do. So God was ready to rescue the Israelites from Egyptian slavery with 10 plagues.

Each plague was actually a put down of some Egyptian god. Yahweh had declared war on the gods of Egypt:

1st, He turned the Nile to blood—fish died and no one could drink from it. They so depended on the river for their water supply and commerce that they equated it with life. In rendering it fully polluted, God was essentially saying to them, “I, not your river god, Hapi, (the so called bringer of fertility) am the true source of all life.”

2nd, He sent a superabundance of frogs. Seven days later, millions of frogs leave the polluted river and invade Egyptian homes, businesses, and even Pharaoh’s palace. The frog-headed Egyptian goddess, Heqet, was equated with fruitfulness. God is saying, “I, not Heqet, can deploy millions of frogs at will.”To those who considered frogs to be demons, He declared, “And I also exercise control over demonic entities, even the entire supernatural realm.

Similiarly, out of dust Moses tossed into the air, God produced 3rd, a plague of lice (in opposition to Geb, god of the earth), and 4th of biting flies, the servants of Khepri, god of the morning sun. Again, God was asking, Why aren’t your gods powerful enough to counter Me and to destroy these pests?

5th, God sends disease on their cattle, rams, sheep, and goats, many of which die. The Egyptians had gods for each of these animals. But God is saying, “I have complete control over animal life, not Osirus, the bull or Apis the ram god, or Hathor, the cow-headed goddess of motherhood and childbirth. None of them can counter Me.”

6th, He afflicted the animals that remained—and this time, the people too—with boils. Even Pharaoh’s magicians couldn’t prevent them, nor could Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of healing, heal them. God was saying, “Only I have power over physical health.”

7th, He sends hail—a form of ice clumps accompanied by fire. Egypt normally gets very little rain. God was essentially saying, “I—not Hephaistos, your god of fire or Porphry, your god of rain, or Nut, your god of the sky—have complete authority over forces of nature.”

8th, God sends locusts to eat up any vegetation left over, then sends them off to drown in the Red Sea. Egypt’s gods of nature were helpless, including Shu, their god of the wind. God was saying, “I can raise up hordes of any creature, deploy them, and then destroy them.”

By now, the Egyptian economy is in ruins, but still Pharaoh will not let his slave labor force go free. God then sends the 9th plague, 3 days of completedarkness—except over where the Israelites live. God was saying, Your sun god, Ra, is powerless before Me.

Finally, God sent the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn person and animal. The Egyptians believed their god, Horus, was the god of life, and Bes, another god, would protect their households. They also believed that Pharaoh was the divine author of life. With this final plague, God was saying, “Not so! Yahweh is the giver of life and He can take it away when it is in rebellion against Him.”

(New Living Translation of the Bible, Tyndale House, 2024, p.89.)

This brings us to the Passover: In the 10th plague, God intended to and did take the life of every 1st born. Those who loved Him, however, could and would be spared. They were to select a perfect male lamb around one year old; they were then to slaughter it on the 14th of Nisan, and paint their door frames with its blood. The blood of the lamb would signal the angel of death that they were true believers and their lives would be spared. They were to remain inside their homes all night, eating the roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. This was a hasty meal. They were to be dressed for travel as they would soon be free to leave Egypt. The first born of those with no blood over their doors did in fact succumb to death, even Pharaoh’s son. By the next day, all of Egypt wanted the Israelites gone!

This series of plagues was tough on the Egyptians, but so effective for the Hebrew slaves! Look at how God manifested His love for them!

He provided a way for the angel of death to distinguish His Chosen People from Egyptians. While every Egyptian house contained at least one dead person, the blood of the Passover Lamb signaled to death, pass over, pass on by every Israelite. This final plague broke the back of Pharaoh’s resistance. He capitulated to Moses’ demands following this event. He finally let the people go. And the Egyptian people were so glad to see them leave that they gifted them with gold and silver coins and jewelry, what my Old Testament professor in seminary called “back pay.”

This is such a great, dramatic example of God’s love: He ground down the Egyptian resistance with 10 plagues, then rescued His people without a single military battle! The historic Jewish Passover finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus—it foreshadows pr predicts Jesus’ blood shed for us on the Cross. He too was a perfect male lamb. John the Baptist calls Him, in John 1:29 …the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus was the only sinless human ever, which qualified Him to be our sinless Substitute, our Savior. He was also God–the only Son of God, so His blood–the blood of God–was a perfect satisfaction or atonement for our sins. Paul later tells the leaders of the Ephesian Church in Acts 20:28 Be shepherds of the church of God, which He [Jesus] bought with His own blood. No mere person would have been capable of atoning for our sins. Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf was totally acceptable to the Father. The writer to the Hebrews calls Jesus is the once and for all perfect sacrifice for our sins. Peter, on trial before the Sanhedrin, testifies in Acts 4:12 (NLT) that There is salvation in no one else [meaning Jesus]! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. John tells us in 1 John 3: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.

So what is love? The 10 plagues and the Passover were God’s strategies for motivating a despot to let go of a free labor force of 1-2 million people. The plagues and the Passover demonstrate how far God will go to redeem those He loves. Jesus’ death on the cross proves the same truth again: Our God has died an undeserved but agonizing penalty to obtain our freedom from sin and death; like His Father before Him, He has gone to extreme lengths to redeem us.

As the apostle John tells us, (1 John4:10) This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. If I could go back in time, I would tell my French Conversation professor, “Your question can be answered a number of ways…

But the best and most complete answer to what love is is this: God is love!

Jesus Christ loving me (and you) so much that He died so you and I could have abundant life!

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory thru our Lord

Jesus Christ! Alleluia, alleluia!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on September 5, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

How Now Shall We Live?

Pastor Sherry’s message for 8/30/26

Scriptures: Jer 2:1-13; Ps 81:1, 1-16; Heb 13:1-8, 15-16; Lk 14:1-14

Back in 1999, Chuck Colson (former President Nixon’s Special Counsel and considered an attack dog for Nixon against any of his enemies), having served time in prison for obstruction of justice, wrote a book titled, How Now Shall We Live, coauthored by Nancy Pearcey (Not to be confused with Francis Schaeffer’s How Then Shall We Live, 1976). Colson came into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ while serving his prison term.

The book reflects his resulting radical change of heart. In it, he attempted to answer 4 significant, essentially existential questions:

1a. Who or What do we come from?

1b. Who are we?

2. What has gone wrong with the world?

3. What can we do to fix it?

4. And How should we live, based on these answers?

As I was praying this week about what the Lord would have me preach, the answer He gave me was Colson’s book title: How Now Shall We Live. I had not read it, so I downloaded it to my Kindle and checked it out. When I perused the readings appointed for today, I figured why. Please review this with me:

1a. Who or what do we come from? We come from a Who, not a what. We live because our God called each of us into being.

1b. Who are we? If we believe in Jesus, we are each, as a wonderful old prayer says…a sheep of His own fold, a lamb of His own flock…a sinner of His own redeeming.

(The Book of Common Prayer, Church Publishing, 1986, p.499.)

Through the saving work of Jesus on the Cross for us, we have been adopted into His line and are now children of God the Father. We know from the Bible that God choose the Jews to be a people set apart for Him, through whom He intended to bring about His plan for the redemption for the world. God chose them–and through their legacy and Jesus’ sacrifice–we have each chosen to follow Him.

2. What has gone wrong with the world? The short answer is that sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s willful disobedience. And ever since, we have struggled between our spiritual nature that wants to please God and our fleshly or carnal nature that wants to please ourselves (Romans 7 and 8).

Let’s look to our readings to find deeper answers to this and Colson’s other two questions:

A. The Jeremiah 2:1-13 passage also provides answers to what has gone wrong with the world. In verses 1-5, God reminds His Chosen people of how much they loved Him and followed Him after He rescued them from slavery in Egypt. In verse 5, God asks His people through Jeremiah, What did your ancestors find wrong with Me that led them to stray so far from Me? The Lord sounds puzzled, but we know He knows all things! He wants them to think about it…They didn’t remain grateful to Him for having shepherded them through the wilderness for 40 years, protecting and providing for them the whole time. No, they wandered into idolatry. Even their priests, (false) prophets, and rulers ignored God and turned against Him. In verses11-12, the Lord expresses His disappointment and grief-→Yes my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay.

He boils their sins down to two: They have abandoned God (the living water), and they have taken up with false, evil, pagan gods, who are empty, broken cisterns that hold no water. I think we could make a very good case that America has done the same thing. Our founders gave our nation a solidly Christian foundation. But over our 250 years, we have pushed God away or ignored Him entirely. We, like the folks in Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s time, have settled for broken cisterns of money, power, fame, material things, riskier and more daring experiences, and more and more depraved sexual behaviors. We have embraced sin and called it good. Thank goodness, this was not God’s last word for the Jews or for us!

(J. Vernon McGee, Throgh the BibleCommentary on Jeremiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.30.)

B. Our psalmist, Asaph (81:1, 10-16) reminds us all in verse 9 that our Lord never wanted us to pursue false gods. We were always meant to follow the Lord and Him alone. He rescued His people from bondage in Egypt and hoped to have deep fellowship with them. Through Jesus, He has rescued us from our bondage to sin, and He desires today to bless us abundantly! But we (and they) dismissed Him and did what we wanted; He, in response, said (v.12)-→So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas. (See Romans1 for a similar message.) Our willfulness, our pride, our insistence that “I know better than God,” brings us to low, painful, and discouraging places. And all the while, the Lord is ready to protect and bless us—if we will only turn back to Him.

C. Well, there’s the answer to the question about how we go about fixing the mess we are in: We turn back to Him. We admit, with AA, that we are powerless to turn our lives around by ourselves. Remember the caterpiller caught in the ring of fire? We cannot rescue ourselves. We need a divine rescuer, and we have one, Jesus! We confess that He is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, and we are saved by faith in Christ. Then we go on to cooperate with the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. He molds and shapes us through our experiences, our prayers, our Bible reading, perhaps a sermon or two—and even our pain. Through it all, He helps us to become more and more like Jesus.

The writer to the Hebrews (13:1-8, 15-16) finishes out his/her book by sharing a list of recommended Christian practices. Remember, the 4th of Colson’s questions was how we should live. These suggestions all demonstrate love…we don’t just love other people as if they are brothers and sisters in Christ, but we love them because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ: So we show hospitality/kindness to strangers. We remember those in prison and those who are mistreated. When we can’t do this in person, we provide donations to ministries who do. If married, we remain faithful to our vows. We don’t love money, recalling that God cares for and provides for us. Since God is our helper, we don’t have to be afraid (His perfect love drives out all our fear). We respect and appreciate our spiritual leaders and mentors. And we hold fast to the truth that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We are to offer to God a sacrifice of praise. I could be wrong, but I believe this means we come to worship even if we would rather not. We offer the Lord our time. We also offer Him our gratitude, even if we are not feeling very grateful or happy or a given day. Again, it’s a sacrifice we offer to Him. And we continue to prompt ourselves to do good to others and to share with those in need.

D. Jesus Himself gives us some practical pointers on how to live the Christian life in today’s gospel, Luke 14:1-14. First He demonstrates that love trumps law by healing a man on the Sabbath. No doubt this was a set up, a trap on the part of the Pharisees to make Jesus look bad. But as usual, He demonstrates that their zeal is to have others strictly obey the Law, rather than to relate lovingly to God and to others. They won’t self-incriminate by answering His questions, but they clearly would do work to rescue a child or an animal that fell into a pit on the Sabbath. Then He rescues a man from “the pit” of a chronic illness, dropsy. The point is that the Lord desires mercy over strict adherence to their interpretations of the religious rules.

Next, He gives them a seminar in etiquette, in the “Parable of the Ambitious Guests.” Since they didn’t use place-cards in those days, as one commentator puts it, once dinner was announced, there would be a rush to commandeer the seats of honor. Younger, impolite pharisees might even push aside a slower, older cleric in their rush to be prestigiously seated. Jesus recommends each one take the least valued seat, then feel blessed when the host moves them to a better place. Imagine their chagrin when their rudeness and selfishness is pointed out by the honored guest, Jesus. What if one of them was publically asked to move and make way for Him? Our Lord was teaching humility—in God’s Kingdom, humility trumps arrogance and entitlement. (See Micah 6:8.)

(J.V. McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Luke, Thomas Nelson, 1991, pp.176-177.)

Finally, in verses 12-14, and in a nod to our Hebrews lesson, He recommends they feed those who cannot repay them, the poor, the lame, the blind, instead of their successful, well-off peers.

So How Now Shall We Live? Like we know and acknowledge that the Lord created us, that we owe our lives to Him. Like we appreciate and follow Him, despite the fact that we all too often turn away from Him and follow the devices and desires of our own hearts. We want to follow Him, but we too often succumb to the pull of the world, our flesh, and the devil. As St. Paul states so eloquently (Romans 7:24-25, NLT)-→Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. We embark on the solution to our sin-problem, just as Chuck Colson recommends, when we turn our lives over to Jesus. He, and the lessons from His word, the Bible, show us How Now We Shall Live. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on August 27, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Who Does God Choose to Use?

Pastor Sherry‘s message for August 23, 2026

Scriptures: Ex 1:8-2:10; Ps 124; Ro 12:1-8; Matt 16:13-20

This story falls under the category of “Truth is Stranger than Fiction”: Back in the mid to late 300’s, there was a slave named Moses the Black” (who lived from 330-405AD). He was a tall, intimidating Ethiopian, who stole from his Egyptian master. The master also suspected of him of murder. Rather than sell him off, the master fired him and threw him out.

So, Moses the Black joined a gang of thugs. Almost immediately he became their leader, and for years his band of hoodlums terrorized folks along the Nile River Valley. At one point, he evaded the law by hiding out in a desert monastery. He thought he was pretty clever to take refuge in a church, but the joke was on him, as he encountered Jesus there, and then gave his life to Christ in that place.

Even more incredible is the fact that four of his former gang members—not realizing he was there—decided to rob the monastery. Moses the Black completely overpowered them (citizen’s arrest), tied them up, and dragged them before the abbot. Because he didn’t slit their throats, the thugs were so moved that they too gave their lives to Christ, and became monks as well. Legend has it that he was martyred, as an old monk, by a different band of robbers who did not know who he was. The former robber, murderer, adulterer had been transformed by God into a Christ-following teacher and priest. Notice, however, that even though God so transformed him, he still reaped what he had sown: He had lived by the sword, and he also died by the sword.

(Wikipedia, 8/19/26.)

But isn’t it interesting who God chooses to do His work? Last week, we noted that it was a non-Christian German painter, Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760), numerous Moravian Christians, and John Wesley Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son; St. Paul; and even some pretty unlikely persons, like you and me! This week, our OT lesson, Exodus 1:8-2:10, introduces us to Moses’ backstory. Moses was born to an Israelite family, from the tribe of Levi, working as slaves in Egypt. Almost 350 years after the death of Joseph–the one God had used to save the fledgling Israelite nation as well as Egypt from a massive famine–a new Pharaoh (Ahmose? Rameses?), from a different line, came to the throne of Egypt. He looked around and saw how numerous the Israelites had grown. Here is the outworking of God’s promise to Abraham: his descendants would outnumber the stars, or the grains of sand on a beach. From the 90 family members who joined Joseph in Egypt, the Israelites had grown to what scholars believed were about 2 million Hebrews by the time Moses led their exodus. They had indeed become a “great nation,” and the new Pharaoh was afraid he and his countrymen could be overwhelmed and overcome by them. So, he decides to contain any threat by enslaving them. He works them hard and harshly, but still they seem to multiply.

As the story unfolds today, Pharaoh is concerned that the Israelites are reproducing too rapidly. So he calls in the head Hebrew midwives and tells them to go ahead and deliver girl babies, but kill the boys (this is once in history that it paid to be female). The midwives are wise. They fear/respect God more than Pharaoh. They refuse to practice male infant genocide. Pharaoh then notices that male Israelite infants are surviving and wants to know why. The wise midwives claim Hebrew moms are very hardy and complete the birthing process without calling upon them. This is no doubt a lie; but it seems to prevent Pharaoh from exacting revenge.

Moses is born in the midst of this birth-control strategy. As a male, he should have been euthanized; but his mom, Jochabed, rears him to 3 months. Then she places him in a carefully water-proofed basket, and sets him adrift on the Nile–a true act of faith (Nile crocks are ferocious, but we don’t know if they were so numerous then). In an amazing twist of fate—like Moses the Black, thief and murderer becoming a monk—Moses the Hebrew is spotted and rescued by Pharaoh’s eldest daughter. Childless, she decides to raise the baby as her own son. Miriam, his sister, has been watching over him and suggests a woman to nurse him—his biological mother, Jochabed, for pay! How ironic—and how like our God—to keep Moses safe on the river, and to place the future deliverer of Israel within the very household of Israel’s chief oppressor. A Hebrew slave will learn the Egyptian language, culture, and military strategies. God has once again placed one of His own (like Joseph) into a position of authority and influence. Additionally, “Moses is ‘brought out’ of the river [so that] one day, he will ‘bring out’ the nation of Israel from Egypt.”

(John Faiurless & Delmer Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, The Lectionary Lab, 2013, p.207.)

Whether Pharaoh realizes it or not, God is also demonstrating that Pharaoh will be impotent to destroy God’s people or His program (shoring up the lineage of Jesus).

Psalm 124 is a Psalm of Ascents, sung by Jewish pilgrims on their way to the Temple Mount to celebrate one of the major feasts. They praise God for His protection of them now and in the past, even mentioning saving them from (v.6, crocodile) teeth. They worship Him saying (v.8, NLT)–>Our help is from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

In our Gospel lesson, Matthew 16:13-20, our Lord commends Peter for both recognizing and testifying to who Jesus really is. Remember, Jesus is still outside the borders of Israel, in a Roman resort town (Caesarea Phillipi), 2 days’ walk north of the Sea of Galilee. Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, asserts that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God—a Deliverer even greater than Moses. Jesus praises him. He calls him “Peter,“ or “Rocky.” Jesus Himself is “The ROCK”—but it is on faith like Peter’s, and believers like Peter that Jesus will establish His Community, His Church. In addition, Jesus proclaims that…

(v.18) the Gates of Hades/Hell will not overcome it. The deaths of believing individuals will not extinguish the flame of the Church. Historically, the Church has always grown during times of persecution. Nonbelievers are so impressed with the peace or the commitment of martyrs that they too come to believe in Jesus. Just as Satan did not kill off the Jews through either slavery or Pharaoh’s schemes, no one person, or group of persons, can thwart God’s plan and program. Furthermore, Jesus gives Peter (the apostles, the early church, and us) (v.19) the keys of the kingdom of heaven authority to preach and teach the Gospel. Some claim Jesus was hereby making Peter the leader of His Church, and giving him the power to forgive or fail to forgive sins.

Others interpret this somewhat differently: Only God can forgive sins. But, iI we, as Jesus-followers, loose or proclaim God’s truth on earth, the powers of heaven will support our efforts. God’s word will not return to Him empty (Isa 55;11). Souls will be brought into God’s Kingdom. But if we bind it on earth (forbid or fail to proclaim), the Church will not live into its destiny.

Last week, I asked us to consider who gets saved. This week, the issue under consideration is who does God choose to work in His program of redemption. He appears to pick the unlikely:

1.) The reprobate, Moses the Black, becomes a major force for Christ in the 4th century Church as a teacher, pastor, and martyr.

2.) Moses–born to Hebrew slaves–is nurtured and educated under Pharaoh’s own nose, then used by God to free His people.

3.) Peter, who takes his eyes off Jesus, resorts to violence in the Garden, denies Him three times, and fails to show up at the Cross to support Him, is selected by God as a leader in the 1st Century Church.

4.) Paul assures us in Romans 12:13-20 that the Holy Spirit has given to each of us gifts to be used for the upbuilding of God’s Kingdom here on earth.

The beauty of all of this is that God chooses unlikely, even weak and flawed people to carry out His program of redemption. He trains us up. He places us strategically—like Joseph, like Moses–right where He wants us. Back in the 1960’s there used to be a popular poster in offices that showed flowers in a pot with the caption, “Bloom where you are planted.” That poster irritated the stew out of me! Like many of my generation, I wanted to change either the place where I was, or take myself elsewhere. The idea of blooming where I was planted seemed to me either too restrictive and like giving up. I have since come to realize that the Lord places us where we are for His reasons. We-folks like you and like me- are meant by Him to join Him in His Kingdom purposes where we find ourselves.

The wonder of it is that He puts so much trust in us. This week, let’s agree to assist Him in His goal to bring the lost to Jesus. This week, look for opportunities to tell those who don’t know Jesus Who He is; how He loves them; and how knowing Him has impacted and improved our lives. The best thing you can share with a nonbeliever is how you have seen Him work in your life.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory thru our Lord, Jesus Christ!

.©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on August 20, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

So Who Gets Saved?

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 16, 2026

Scriptures: Gen 45:1-15; Ps 133; Ro 11:1-7, 28-32; Matt 15:10-28

The story is told of a notable German painter from the 1700’s who was not a Christian but was approached by a Catholic priest to paint a picture of Christ on the Cross for his church. The non-believing artist agreed and researched Jesus’ crucifixion to get ideas on how to proceed. Frustrated when the work wasn’t going well, he took a walk in the country and encountered a lovely Gypsy girl. He invited her to sit for him in his studio so he could paint her. While there, she noticed his unfinished painting of “Christ on the Cross,” and said, “He must have been a very wicked man to be nailed to a cross like that.” The painter replied, “No. On the contrary, He was a very good man. The best man that ever lived. He died for others.” The young woman then asked, “Did He die for you?”

This question touched the painter’s heart and, upon further consideration, led him to believe in Jesus. It is said that viewing the painting (which was later destroyed when the church burned down) led a number of people to faith. One of these was Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, who went on to provide sanctuary for the Moravian Brethern in 1772. The Moravians were a group of Spirit-filled Christian missionaries, whose denomination predated the Protestant Reformation by 60 years! You may remember that our own John Wesley encountered some Moravians on his return journey from Georgia to England, and found his “heart strangely warmed” by their faith and zeal.

(Chuch Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcoart, Word Publishing, 1998, p.501.)

The artist was saved through the young gypsy woman’s questions; Von Zinzendorf, through the artist’s depiction of Jesus on the Cross; and John Wesley’s faith was revitalized through the example and zealous worship of the Moravians.

One of the themes present in our Scripture passages today is that of being saved or of peoples’ experiences of salvation. Let’s examine these together:

A. Last week, our Old Testament lesson, related how Joseph’s 10 brothers from other mothers sold him into slavery. This week’s lesson, from Genesis 45:1-15, jumps ahead to describe Joseph’s reunion with his 10 half-brothers and his full brother, Benjamin. Joseph, after 13-14 years of slavery, interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and reports correctly that they predict 7 years of massively abundant harvests, followed by 7 years of desperate, devastating famine. Two years into the famine, his 10 treacherous brothers arrive in Egypt to purchase food for the extended family. Unbeknownst to them, their lost brother Joseph has survived—by the design and grace of God—and is now second in command of all of Egypt.

They no doubt fail to recognize him because he is…

1.) Clean shaven, in the manor of Egyptians, rather than bearded, as was customary with Hebrews;

2.) He was dressed in Egyptian clothing, jewelry, and a wig (Egyptians reportedly shaved their heads and wore wigs to prevent lice infestations), and perhaps with make-up around his eyes;

3.) He’s now around 30YO and they last saw him at 17;

4.) Furthermore, he speaks the Egyptian language, and communicates with them through an interpreter.

5.) Simply put, they probably never expected to see him alive again.

But, as God would have it, it is to Joseph that they must apply to buy grain. Just as Joseph’s own dreams from age 17 had prophesied, his 10 brothers now bow down to him to request aid.

Notice how wise Joseph has become through his trials and troubles. Before he reveals himself to them, Joseph checks to see if their characters have changed since he last saw them. He generously sells them the grain they need to live, but also decides to test them in two ways: 1st he requires that they leave Simeon behind and bring back Benjamin. He is testing their honesty. He is also checking to see if they will allow another brother (Simeon) to be killed or imprisoned to get what they want. The brothers return again, to buy more food, and to bring Benjamin so that Simeon can be released. Joseph’s 2nd test involves his full brother, Benjamin. Joseph has his servants hide a favored cup in Ben’s food supply bag. This is a set up to see if they will sacrifice the new favorite son. Joseph wants to know if they have learned that murderous jealousy is incredibly costly. Have they become more loyal to their brother from Joseph’s mother?

Have they developed greater compassion for their aging, heartbroken, grieving father? Have they repented of their great sin against him and against Joseph?

Judah, the new leader of the 10 brothers, steps up and offers his life in the place of Benjamin’s. The brothers do realize that potentially losing another brother is God’s punishment for what they did to Joseph (recall the Law of Sowing and Reaping). And Judah—who had been the one to suggest they sell Joseph to slave traders–is now willing to sacrifice his life for Benjamin’s. Judah’s offer indicates a true change of heart. I suspect this is probably why God will have Jesus become a descendant out of Judah’s line.

So, satisfied that they have truly undergone a moral transformation, Joseph reveals his true identity to them. At first, they can’t believe it is him. Then they fear his retribution. But in a truly Christ-like way, he reassures them, [Peterson’s The Message](v.5+) I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t feel badly, don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years—neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt.

God uses Joseph to save his father, Jacob/Israel, his brothers, and his whole extended family (a total of 90 people). But Joseph’s wisdom also saves thousands, perhaps millions of Egyptians; as well as untold, unnumbered, other Gentiles in the region. So, who gets saved? Joseph’s family and the fledgling Jewish/Hebrew nation.

B. Our Psalm (133) affirms how pleased the Lord was with the reconciliation of Israel’s sons. He truly desires that families get along.

C. Our New Testament Lesson, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32, makes it pretty clear that God has not rejected the Jews as His Chosen People.

Just as God is merciful to us, Gentile believers, He too will have mercy on the Jews. At some point in the future (perhaps during the Great Tribulation), many—not all—but many Jews will come to Christ to be saved. So, who gets saved? Many modern day Jews in the days to come.

D. Our Gospel lesson occurs in Matthew 15, but is also recounted in

Mark 7. Jesus journeys outside Israel’s borders (into Tyre and Sidon, NW of Jerusalem) because He knows He has been rejected by many of His countrymen.

He apparently needs a break. His focus has been on reaching His fellow Jews, the Children of Israel. But now He appears to indicate, by what He does, that He will also receive Gentiles (aren’t we glad?).

This Canaanite (Syro-Phoenecian) woman with a demonized daughter approaches Him. Apparently, she is noisily insistent that she see Jesus. She persists. The Hebrew verb is one that indicates she continues to implore him—like Blind Bartimaeus, outside of Jericho. She won’t take no for an answer. As a Gentile, she has no true claim on Jesus: She is not a Jew by nationality—wrong ethnicity; she is not a convert to the Jewish faith—wrong religion; and she is a woman—wrong gender, by the standards of the day. And, remember, Jewish rabbis did not typically speak to women. But this woman is a mother–and apparently a tigress–desiring healing for her child. Clearly she believes Jesus can free her daughter from demons. And clearly she isn’t going to be put off.

Jesus uses the metaphor of dogs to remind her, His disciples, and whoever else might be listening, that His first priority is to the Jews. Jews often referred to Gentiles and Samaritans as “dogs.” However, Jesus does not deliberately insult her; He uses the diminutive of “dogs”, “puppies” in the Hebrew. He is essentially saying, just as in a family, there is an order here: The children (Israelites) eat first; then the puppies get fed, but not from the table and not until the kids are done. He is not telling her she cannot expect help from Him, but rather that there is a set of priorities to His ministry.

She gets what He is saying, steps into His metaphor, and reminds Him that (v.27) …but even the puppies eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. She knows she does not have a legitimate place at the table; but she indicates that she believes that Jesus can provide enough to Israel that some leftovers will be available to her and to her daughter. She dialogues with Jesus in a most respectful way. Notice, she doesn’t say, “Give me what I deserve due to my goodness or my rights,” as some might today. Instead, as Timothy Keller asserts in his book on the Gospel of Mark, King’s Cross, she implies, “Give me what I don’t deserve on the basis of Your goodness—and, please, I need it right now.”

(Timothy Keller, Kings Cross, Dutton, 2011, p.89)

Jesus commends her: (v.28) Wonderful answer! Incredible answer! You may go. The demon has left your daughter. He appears to be impressed with her faith, her commitment to her child—and heals her child—because she also got His metaphor without His having to explain it. Perhaps too He was also affected because she answers Him from within the parable. These things tell Him she heard and understood His message to her.

So, who gets saved? This woman and hopefully her daughter.

Let’s sum up: So, who gets saved? The Good News is a surprising number of folks: The German painter, Count Zinzendorf, numerous Moravians, and even our own John Wesley; Joseph’s father, brothers, their wives and kids, through Joseph’s wisdom and forgiving spirit; God’s chosen people, the Jews, if they can come to accept and believe in Jesus as their Savior; and Gentiles, like us. Just last week, we focused on what Paul wrote in Romans 10:9–If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. We tend to try to make it difficult, but it isn’t. Thanks be to God!

Posted on August 10, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Keep Your Eyes on the Lord

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 9, 2026

Scriptures: Gen 37:1-35; Ps 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b; Ro 10:5-15; Matt 14:22-33

Have you ever noticed that Scripture gives us about as many lessons on how not to live as it points us to the best ways to live? Our Old Testament lesson is a prime example of how not to manage a family. Genesis 37:1-35 reads like a daytime soap opera or a reality TV show. We’ve got a family that that’s a hot mess . Let’s count the ways:

(1) First, there is the matter of choosing favorites: Jacob, the favorite of his mother, has to run for his life to escape the murderous wrath of his twin Esau, the favorite of his father. You would think Jacob would learn from his experience and not repeat it with his own family . But no . He breeds jealousy and discord by favoring one wife over another—the beautiful Rachel over the prolific Leah. And he compounds his trouble by favoring Rachel’s son, Joseph, over all 10 of his other, older sons. To make matters even worse, he gives Joseph a costly and gorgeous coat, fit for a prince, thereby indicating that Joseph is a prince in his father’s eyes. I just want to talk to Jacob and ask him, “Did you not take Developmental or Child Psych in college? Did you never learn to treat your children as equally as possible? (similar clothes, shoes, backpacks, the same amount of money spent on birthdays and Christmas, and the same size cookies or pieces of cake?) They often tend to think you favor one over the other anyway, but you don’t ever want to be as overt as you were .

(2) Then there is the really odious behavior of his eldest sons: Reuben, the first born, carries on an affair with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine, and the mother of his half-brothers, Dan and Naphtali. Yuck! Even if she was a lovely “cougar,” he let his carnal instincts short-circuit his brain. His behavior implied he wished his father, Jacob, were dead. Next, Simeon and Levi are so incensed that Jacob would not punish their sister’s rapist, the Prince of Shechem, but rather have her marry him, that they slaughter the men of Shechem while they are laid up, recovering from adult circumcision. I’ve known some guys in the Navy who had to undergo circumcision as adults and they tell me the recovery period is pretty rough. These Canaanite men were willing to endure this procedure as a condition of the marriage contract Jacob had put to them. In other words, these pagans were converting to the One, True God . Perhaps Jacob intended to make things right through the marriage, but Leah’s sons are furious and want revenge for their sister Dinah’s rape. (This all foreshadows King David’s family issues, in the rape of Tamar by her half-brother Amnon.) Jacob is furious with his sons and also ashamed of them, believing they went too far and made God and their family look bad among their Canaanite pagan neighbors.

(3) Finally there is Joseph’s naivete regarding sharing his dreams openly with his brothers, and their father’s using him as a snitch. Joseph, at 17 years old is not yet sophisticated enough to realize how he added to his brothers’ enmity toward him, but Jacob should have been wiser than to pit his favorite against his jealous and embittered other sons. Unfortunately, the stage is set for horrendous sin and grief . Joseph had already told Jacob that 4 of his brothers had barbequed some of the sheep they were supposed to watch over, thus defrauding their father. In today’s passage, Jacob unwisely sends Joseph to again report what they are up to, and the 10 brothers are now so angry and enraged that they plot to kill him. Reuben apparently hoped to regain his father’s regard by saving Joseph, gathering materials to rescue him from the pit. But Judah, in Reuben’s absence, convinces the others to sell him to Ishmaelite and Midianite traders heading to Egypt. They sell him for 20 pieces of silver, and assume he will die as a slave—but not directly by their hands. Now they also have to lie to their father, Jacob, leading him to believe Joseph was killed by a wild animal. And they have to live with Jacob’s resulting, unrelenting grief. In Chapter 38, Judah becomes so distressed by his father’s grief (and his own guilt) that he leaves the family and goes to live among the Canaanites. Having learned nothing about the dangers of favoritism, Jacob now treasures Benjamin, his last child by the beloved Rachel who died while giving him birth.

This family is in a world of hurt . Last week we considered how God had been working on Jacob: Jacob had learned to love someone beyond himself, Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin. He had developed perseverance, grit, and a good work ethic. He had also become grateful to God for his protection and his acquired wealth. But he was still a work in progress. He had not yet learned to turn to God in every circumstance (Dinah’s rape; his sons’ perfidy). I have to wonder what kind of example of faith he set out for those 10 bitter, resentful, and murderous sons. None of them checked with the Lord before selling their own flesh and blood into slavery. None of them appeared to consider the effect of Joseph’s death on them, their consciences, or on their father–or even Benjamin. They each had to go through a personal hell on earth before they would learn to keep their eyes on the Lord.

Nevertheless, the Good News is that even though they have created an ungodly mess, our God is in the business of redeeming our messes—if we will let Him. God had given to Joseph two dreams that were very similar to each other: In one, his brother’s sheaves of wheat bowed to his sheaf; in the other, the sun, moon, and 11 stars bowed before him. None of them realizes this yet, but Joseph will be elevated by Pharaoh to command of all the resources of Egypt. His brothers will indeed bow before him. God will eventually use him to save his entire family, and many others, from a 7 year famine. Our Psalm 105:16-22 recalls God’s purposes behind Joseph’s sojourn in Egypt. The remaining chapters of Genesis deal with Joseph’s trials while enslaved; his rise to power through keeping his eyes on God; and his brothers’ journeys to repentance, reconciliation and faith.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the two lessons that teach us how to live:

A. Paul wants us to be sure we understand that is not by following the rules of religion that we are saved—but rather by having a personal relationship with Jesus. He famously states in verses 9-10 (NLT)-→If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. And he further adds in verse 13-→For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We are saved by our faith in Christ. We are saved by keeping our eyes on Jesus and His Cross.

B. And this precious and exceedingly important fact is demonstrated by Peter in today’s Gospel text, Matthew 14:22-33. Recall that Jesus wanted to go away somewhere private to pray, but was prevented from doing so by the crowds following Him. Now He has healed all the sick, taught them the wisdom of God, and even miraculously fed them. Then he sends the crowds away and the disciples to their boat, and he goes up into the hills to pray most of the night. The disciples encounter heavy seas in a storm, just as Jesus returns to them on the water. Peter wants to walk on water too, so he asks Jesus to allow this, which he does. Peter does fine as long as he keeps his eyes on the Lord. He starts to sink as soon as he puts his eyes on his circumstances. Perhaps the heavy winds had not yet diminished; perhaps the huge waves had not yet calmed. Once Peter takes his eyes off Jesus, he sinks. But he is saved from drowning when Jesus reaches out and clasps his hand.

This is such a great reminder for all of us: Keep our eyes on the Lord, not on the circumstances that either frighten us or frustrate us. We are safe in His hands. We are safe in His care. No circumstance in which we dwell is too great for Him . He heals; He provides (jobs, peace, financial well-being, family unity, etc.); He saves; He blesses; He either helps us overcome adversity, or He helps us persevere through it. God saved Jacob, and his unruly sons, so they might see and be reunited once again with Joseph. In the meantime, he molded and reformed their characters. Jacob drew closer to the Lord in his faith. Joseph’s brothers grieved their sins and experienced being forgiven—a lesson for next week. Again, the life lesson is for us to keep our eyes on the Lord.

When I was in seminary, my best buddy and I—a woman named Amanda from Chicago—heard about a church south of Sarasota with a powerful healing ministry led by the Rev. Sharon Lewis. Our field worksite church paid for us to attend a weekend healing conference there to learn what they were doing. After having met up with my brother (who lived near there), I had come back to the room we shared on Saturday night to find Amanda asleep. At about 4am, I awoke to hear her weeping. When I asked what was wrong, she told me she was sure she would never be ordained. Now I knew her pretty well, and had observed her over time, so I was clear she was called to be a pastor. But I think the Holy Spirit must have inspired me to tell her to not pay any attention to what men or women said to her about it, but to keep her eyes on the Cross of Jesus. I said she should not look to the left or to the right, but to look to Jesus alone. She calmed down and we were able to get back to sleep. The next day, we attended the Sunday communion service. When Amanda stepped up to receive the bread, Pastor Lewis said to her, “You are not to look to the left or to the right, but to keep your eyes on Christ .”—almost verbatim what I had said earlier that morning. We both took that to mean she would eventually be ordained (and she was).

I attended a wedding in Gainesville, Florida, yesterday that was just awesome. The precious daughter of my son’s best male friend (from age 3 to college), Kaiti, had taken a gap year between high school and college. She worked with a youth missions agency that sent her to Jerusalem. While there, she met a fellow named Sterling from Colorado. They became friends and talked for hours about their faith in Christ. During this time, she came down with covid and was quarantined. Sterling brought her snacks and notes daily. They continued to correspond when he returned to Colorado and she went off to begin college in Pittsburgh. Their friendship grew into love during their four year, long-distance relationship, culminating in yesterday’s lovely and deeply heart-felt ceremony. The church was packed. Their precious relationship is truly a testimony to what can happen when God provides the foundation for a marriage. They both kept their eyes on the Lord and their example ministered to each of us who attended.

In the days ahead, and always, let us keep our eyes on the Lord. Watch and see what He will do. Amen.

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Don’t You Forget It!

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 2, 2026

Scriptures: Gen 32:22-32; Ps 17:1-7, 15; Ro 9:1-5; Matt 14:13-21

Recently, including this morning at the Church door, I’ve heard a number of folks—and not just those of a certain age—bemoan the fact that they forget a lot. People worry they are showing signs of dementia because they forget the time or date; their phone; their keys; the day a certain bill or a library book is due; people’s names; or the vocabulary of a foreign language, etc. At one point, when I was in college, I began to think in French and I even dreamed a few times in French. Now I can hardly remember any of it due to rarely having ever used it since.

Back in 1885, A German psychologist named Herman Ebbinghouse (1850-1909) studied the phenomenon of forgetting. He experimented on himself, testing his ability to remember a series of words and also a series of nonsense syllables. He quickly decided we remember meaningful things like words much better than random syllables that convey nothing but sound. In 1885, he came up with what became known as “The Forgetting Curve,” which has been authenticated numerous times since. He determined that when we are trying to learn/remember a body of content or a number of facts, we tend to forget about 58% of it within the first hour! Within a day, we have lost about 68%; and after 5 days (a work week) we have lost 75% (3/4ths)! He discovered that if we review the material at repeated intervals–spaced out over time–we can hold things in memory longer than the Forgetting Curve predicts. We still forget some, but the rate of forgetting decreases. In other words, material stays with us longer if we practice remembering it over several time periods.

Interestingly, our God never forgets anything—unless it is our confessed sins. Corrie Ten Boom would say He drops our forgiven sins in the deepest part of the ocean and plants there a “No Fishing” sign. He does not intend to revisit them, and neither should we. We tend to easily remember very significant events (joyful or traumatic ones) without much rehearsal, practice, or repetition, as though they have been burned onto the retina of our mind. But for most other things—grocery lists, where I put my keys, the day my neighbors go on vacation and want me to water their plants, the Bill of Rights, a code of ethics–we need to either write it down or say it over and over in our heads, several different times.

I bring this forgetting phenomena up because I want us all to remember that our God does not forget us. This is an important and a comforting concept for us all to keep at the forefront of our minds.

A. Consider this morning’s Gospel, Matt 14:13-21. Jesus hoped to get away to mourn the death of His cousin, John the Baptist. He set out to sea, but the crowds followed Him around the Lake and caught up to Him. Scripture says He had compassion on them and healed them. Since the place was far from a town, He also multiplied food, in a miraculous way, to feed them (5,000 men plus women and children). He didn’t forget or overlook their needs. His compassion for them led to His healing, teaching, and feeding them, physically, cognitively, and spiritually. This reminds me of a praise song (based on Psalm 78:23-29) from the early 2000’s: “My God shall supply all my needs, according to His riches in glory. He will give His angels charge over me, Jehovah Jireh [The Lord will provide] cares for me.”

B. Speaking of psalms, our Psalm this morning (17:1-7) appears to be a prayer from David during those days when jealous King Saul and his army chased David in the wilderness. David knew he was being pursued to his death, yet he trusted God both to hear him and to answer him. He was asking for protection; he was counting on God’s mercy; he knew that God had anointed him to become king one day, and that his coronation hadn’t happened yet. He must have figured that that meant that God had not forgotten him or given up on him. Instead, believing God was not finished with him, David could trust that God would not allow Saul to kill him. When I was in seminary, my school sent me and two others to represent them at a Preaching Conference in Jackson, Mississippi. As we intended to fly back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, our place was forced to wait on the tarmac during a deluge of rain and lightening. Even once we were airborne, the plane bounced around during the less intense but still terrifying storm. We would suddenly drop who knows how many feet and many passengers would scream. My seatmate, a woman who frequently flew for work, grabbed onto the bag supplied for vomiting. She was worried and said she had never experienced a flight so rough. I had been praying all that time, but looked at her and told her we would get through the storm and land safely because I was midway through seminary and God wasn’t finished with me yet. I wasn’t bragging because I had the same blessed assurance that David did.

C. We meet the Apostle Paul again in Romans 9:1-5 today. After having asserted in Chapter 8 that nothing can separate us from God’s love, he begins Chapter 9 by bemoaning the fact that his Jewish brothers and sisters have rejected Christ. Now, let’s be clear that in the early years of the 1st century Christ’s newly founded Church was mainly composed of Jewish believers. Most of the Apostles, but particularly Paul, then turned their attention on bringing Gentiles into the fold. Paul was zealous about his mission, as we all know, but also brokenhearted that so many sons and daughters of Israel rejected Jesus. As we will see as he continues beyond today’s passage, he reassures himself that the Lord has not forgotten Paul’s countrymen. Perhaps he exaggerates for effect when he says he would gladly trade his relationship with Jesus to have all Jewish people come to Christ. That’s a very pastoral and a loving thing for him to say, but he knows that would never be necessary, that God will never forget them because…

1.) Verse 4–>They are God’s Chosen People (we gentiles are grafted into their line as children of God).

2.) They have seen God’s glory (fire, cloud) while on the wilderness wanderings, received His Law from Mount Sinai, were recipients of His Covenant Promises, and built a huge and glorious Temple in which to worship Him.

3.) And he goes on to assert in verse 5 (NLT)-→ Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors and Christ Himself was an Israelite as far as His human nature is concerned. Paul will spend subsequent chapters in Romans assuring us that God has not forgotten the Jewish people and will bring many of them to Christ before all is said and done.

D. Let’s think through how the Lord works on Jacob in today’s Old Testament lesson, Genesis 32:22-31. Our passage today sees Jacob and his huge family (two wives, two concubines, eleven sons, one daughter, and a huge number of servants and livestock, slowly making their way back home. He has essentially been indentured to wily Uncle Laban for 20 years, but leaves him as a wealthy man. We remember he had to work 14 years to be allowed to marry his true love, Rachel. But meanwhile, Leah, the less favored wife, bears him six sons and a daughter; then two more sons by her servant surrogate. Leah is the mother of 8 sons who will become the leaders of eight of the 12 tribes of Israel. Rachel, on the other hand, is beloved by Jacob but barren. Mightily frustrated, she has two sons by a surrogate; then finally—when the Lord takes pity on her– she gives birth to Joseph, his father’s favorite. (Once back in the Promised Land, She will die giving birth to Benjamin, her fourth son.) The ladies then retire from childbearing, with Leah credited with 8 sons and a daughter, and Rachel with 4 sons by the time of her death.

Jacob has been out of the Promised Land for 20 years. The trickster or fraudster has been conned by a greater trickster, a master fraudster. We have to credit Jacob, however, for having been a hard worker, and for persisting through his time of testing (We could say that Jacob has developed “grit.”) The Lord has called him to return, but he’s not yet home free: Just prior to this passage, he had to contend with a jealous and angry Laban who pursued him. They work things out by agreeing not to venture into each other’s territory again. But next he knows he also has to deal with his vengeful brother, Esau. He’s no doubt exhausted, harried, and burnt out.

Having deepened his faith during the twenty years, he prays a powerful prayer to the Lord: (1) He acknowledges how God has blessed him; (2) He reminds God that it is the Lord who has called him to return home; (3) And he asks God to save him from his brother’s wrath. He then sends his wives and children to safety, across the Jabbok River, intending to bed down for the night. Suddenly, though, he is grabbed by the Lord Himself (the preincarnate Jesus), Who wrestles with him. The prophet Hosea later wrote about this event: (Hosea 12:3-4)-→Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He pleaded for a blessing from Him. There at Bethel he met God face to face and God spoke to him! Weary and worried Jacob wrestled with Jesus all night! At the conclusion of this encounter, the Lord changes his name to Israel-→He who contends with God and men and overcomes. Jacob has learned to persevere. And he has also learned he cannot bend God to his will; rather he must yield his will to the Lord

Jesus leaves him with a reminder of this: a dislocated hip. Jesus is letting Jacob know that He will not let Esau overcome or kill him. He does not need to fear because the Lord has not forgotten him. Uncle Laban has worked most of the deceptiveness out of him; but Jesus will protect him.

Lord, please give us all the faith and trust in You that Jesus, David, and Paul had, and that Jacob developed over time. It can be argued that since Jesus knows the Father intimately, He doesn’t really require faith—He just knows! But He always models obedience for us. And He Himself is never forgotten by God. Even when He became sin for us on the Cross, God turned His back on Him, but was no doubt very grieved for and aware of Him.

David and Paul both demonstrate the fact that the Lord is with them, hears them, and responds to them. Neither of them believes—even while running for his life or when being beaten or imprisoned—that the Lord ever forgets them! Neither one is perfect, either, but they both do an exceptional job of modeling for us unfailing faith and trust in our Lord.

Jacob has come a long way, but he is still—like us—a work in progress. God did not abandon him in Haran. God told him to leave Uncle Laban and return to his father Isaac’s land in the area of Mamre and Hebron. The Lord goes on to engineer Esau’s forgiveness. However, Jacob does still try to manipulate his brother by buying his forgiveness with very generous gifts.

Let me leave you with one final point: I have probably preached today’s lesson about Jacob 4 or 5 times over the years of my tenure here at Wellborn Methodist Church. Ebbinhause would predict we should all know the story (and the morals of the story) well by now—repeated reviews over several different time periods. That’s one of the points of preaching through the Bible. The Lord wants us to learn what He has to say in it, and to remember, not forget it. It is as though He is saying to us, This is My Word for you: Don’t you forget it!” Amen!

Posted on July 25, 2026July 25, 2026 by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Puzzling it Out

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 19, 2026

Scriptures: Gen 28:10-19a; Ps 139:1-2, 23-24; Ro 8:12-25; Matt 13:24-30, 3543

Like a number of folks in our congregation, I like to work jigsaw puzzles. I’ve found a site on line that I like and visit it daily to work a puzzle or two. Friday I worked on a picture of a large whale flipping. You may remember those insurance ads on TV that featured huge whales coming up out of the water and flipping over before descending back into the sea. This behavior is called “breaching.” I find it fascinating. Scientists aren’t sure why they do it: It might be a form of play—they do look like they enjoy it. Or it could be a tactic to remove parasites. It could also be a means of communicating with other whales, in order to rejoin or collect their pod, or for purposes of breeding. Or perhaps it’s a signal the breaching whale has located a food source. Whatever its purpose, it is surely a spectacular sight!

And it puts me in mind of what Paul has to tell us in Romans 8:12-25: We were not the only creatures affected negatively by the Fall in Genesis. Paul says (in verses 20-22, NLT)-→Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Our lives have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. Paul is teaching us that if we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, we are sons and daughters of God. This allows us into intimate fellowship with God the Father—so intimate that we may call Him Abba or Daddy (Remembering that He is omnipotent, we probably don’t want to act too casually with Him). Apparently, the Lord is giving all humans the chance to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior before ushering in the end of times (very patient!). It is then that Jesus will come to earth again, defeat evil, and return all living beings to the state of the Garden of Eden–a perfect world. Could it be that the whales who breach are checking to see—or puzzling it out—whether we humans have yet sufficiently submitted ourselves to God’s Kingdom rule so they can be released from the effects of human sin on them? Searching for food would not be necessary in a perfect world. Barnacles and other pests would not bedevil critters in a perfect world—no more mosquitoes, gnats, or roaches! Whales would not misplace their pods in a perfect world. And they might be able to perform other gymnastic feats (like a triple axle?) in a perfect world.

I think our other scripture passages today also present us with several encouragements to fall into line with Jesus:

A. Psalm 139 really eases any worries we might have about our relationship with God! David wrote it as a theological hymn, reminding us of God’s character traits of omniscience (He knows everything), omnipresence (He is everywhere), and omnipotence (He is all powerful). We are always on His radar and can neither get away from Him nor hide from Him. He sees us. He knows our every thought, and loves us anyway! There’s no problem confronting us that He cannot handle. If you attempt to puzzle this out, you can only end up feeling caught up in God’s love, known by Him, and comforted. Praise God!

B. That theme is expanded in our Old Testament story of Jacob’s flight from Esau. Esau realizes Jacob has stolen the blessing Esau thought was his. He erupts in murderous rage, so Jacob must flee for his life. Isaac and Rebekah tell him to head to Haran (Present-day Northern Syria), find a wife from among Rebekah’s extended family; and lay low until Esau calms down. In other words, they get him out of Dodge, thinking it wouldn’t take long. (It took about 20 years, during which time Jacob’s beloved mother dies, having never seen Jacob again.)

Actually, Jacob seems to have run 52 miles that first day! From 40 miles south of Jerusalem–Beersheba–he made it 12 miles north of the city by sundown. Fear was driving him and he was hoofing it! Jacob then falls into what was no doubt a sleep of exhaustion, and dreams of a ladder from earth to Heaven. He sees angels moving up and down the ladder, implying that heavenly beings do visit earth. He also views God (the Preincarnate Jesus) at the top of the ladder, Who identifies Himself by saying, (v.13, NLT)-→I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. Jesus identifies Himself then goes on to reiterate the covenant promises the Father had made to Abraham and Isaac: (1) Property, including where he laid his head; (2) Progeny, innumerable descendants, spreading all over the earth; (3) Presence (I will be with you; I will not leave you); (4) and Protection.

So, Jacob is running away from home to escape his brother’s wrath, and he encounters Jesus! He’s a scammer and a deceiver, but our Lord sees great promise in him! As I puzzle this out, I believe it means that our God does not allow our sinful tendencies to deter Him from loving us and even blessing us and using us in Kingdom building (Remember, Jacob is the ancestor of Jesus!).

With Jesus, there’s always hope! Secondly, Jacob experiences the fact that he can run from Esau but he cannot outrun the Psalm 139 omnipresence of God.

And, Jacob is humbled—for the moment—and renames the place Bethel, meaning house of God. He sets up a memorial to the dream and his encounter.

He should have been encouraged by the extension of the covenant promises,

but I doubt he had any inkling of what God had in store for him with Uncle Laban, poor soul!

C. But let’s leave Jacob to his future and take a look at our Gospel lesson, Matthew 1324-30, 36-43: And first, let me share a story of a man who owned a parrot.

“Every day at 5:00pm, the man took the parrot and walked down the street to the corner bar where he had a few drinks and talked with his friends. He had taught the parrot to order for him, yelling out, “Gimme a beer, gimme a beer” every time he entered the bar.

“Every Sunday the man and his wife went to church, locking the bird in its cage before they left the house. One Sunday the door on the cage did not lock well and the bird got out. It flew out an open window and found its way into the church. It flew in and sat down on its master’s shoulder, crying out for all to hear, “gimme a beer, gimme a beer.” The man was embarrassed and told the bird to hush, saying, “Shut up! This ain’t the bar; its the church.” The bird looked around and said, “AWWK, Same old crowd, same old crowd.”

(Fairless and Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, 2013, pp.182-183.)

The point of the story is that often it’s hard to tell who are “saints” and who are sinners, or who are the good seed and who are the tares or the weeds, isn’t it? We can deceptively look the same, for a time anyway–“same old crowd!” We want to be wheat or the good seed, but the truth, as Martin Luther put it, is that, “We are all Saint and Sinner at the same time.” (Ibid.) Unfortunately, that is all too true, isn’t it?! Often we do measure up, we do try our best to be like Jesus.

And if the harvest came at a bad time for us—if we were caught doing what we don’t want to do, or neglecting to do what we know God would want us to do–we would, at the least be ashamed wouldn’t we? But fortunately, it is not up to us to judge! Jesus suggests that, at the end of time, the angels will know our true hearts, and they will select out who of us are wheat (good seed) and who of us are tares (the seed of the Devil).

The wheat will go on to (v.43, NLT)-→…shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom, while the tares/weeds will be thrown (v.42)… into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, as we puzzle this out, it becomes clear there is a severe penalty for not choosing to align ourselves with Jesus, isn’t there? Heaven is the end of the journey for the good seed. It’s what we can expect as committed Christ-followers. However, it’s not up to us to judge who gets there and who doesn’t. There’s a little poem that expresses this well:

When you get to heaven, you will likely view

Many folks there who’ll be a shock to you.

But don’t act surprised, or even show a care,

For they might be a little shocked to see you there.

(Anonymous, cited by J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Mathew, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p,180.)

Jesus is telling us that saints and sinners are all mixed up down here for now. Our gracious God waits patiently for everyone who is willing to come to Him. He doesn’t want even one repentant soul to be lost, the message of the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost (prodigal) Son in Luke’s Gospel. Nevertheless, the eternal clock is ticking. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. We don’t know when our end is coming. We learned to our distress that a 44 year old former member of this congregation died suddenly on Wednesday. I’m sure when she went to bed Tuesday night, she never expected that Wednesday was her day to wake up and see Jesus. It’s not something we need to puzzle out: We need to have made our decision to follow Jesus this side of the grave. And just think, the more of us who choose Jesus, the quicker the rest of creation can also be freed from its bondage. It gives new meaning to the slogan from the 90’s, “Free the Whales.”

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Alleluia, Alleluia!

Wellborn Methodist Church–Wellborn, Florida

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Puzzling it Out