Pastor Sherry’s message for May 3, 2026

Scriptures: Acts 7:54-60; Ps 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Pet 2:2-10; Jn 14:1-14

The Lord has used my dear, long-term friend, Dr. Cheryl, to disciple me over the years. She lives in the Florida Panhandle, so I don’t see her much.

But we call each other every so often and we talk for hours, often about spiritual things.This week she called me and we talked from 9:30pm until 3:00am!

She has taught me much about the love and grace of God. Now I was brought up in the pre-2003 Episcopal tradition with four years of Catholic girls’ school sprinkled in. Both traditions emphasize the majesty, the holiness, the “otherness” of God. Cheryl, however, is always talking about how sweet God is!

She had one Jewish parent and one Baptist, and was raised as a Christ-believer. She is the one the Lord used to help me become aware of God’s daily gifts to us:

1.) A view of wild-flowers along the interstate;

2.) The sight of a graceful bird on the wing, or a cardinal on a fence;

3.) The humorous or tender animal slides our projectionists show us at the end of our worship services (today they will display a cat in a rain-cape, celebrating the rain we enjoyed this week after a long drought);

4.) Kind, unsolicited comments from friends and even strangers.

For all of these things we need to give God the glory and our praise!

I found the following music video this week that I think does a really good job of conveying to us “The Sweet, Sweet Love of God.” (www.youtube.com, “Christian Kids’ Music, motions and lyrics, Rob Biagi, 3:42.) It looks to me like a dad and his two daughters recorded this on their phone for social media. It’s got a nice beat, doesn’t it? While it’s apparently directed at kids, doesn’t it do a good job of revealing the sweet, loving heart of our God for us?

So too do our Scripture lessons today:

A. In our Psalm (31:1-5, 15-16), King David pleads with God to come to his rescue, and trusts the Lord to do so. In verses 1-2 He writes (NLT)-→Oh Lord, I come to You for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. Hear me, rescue me. Be my Rock of protection, a Fortress where I will be safe. I picture in my mind a huge, immovable rock that we can stand upon and feel safe. J. Vernon McGee cites a Scottish lady who would say, “There are times when I am frightened and I tremble on the Rock, but the Rock never trembles under me” (J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on the Psalms, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.172).

This psalm predates Jesus, but remember, Jesus is the Rock of our salvation, the firm foundation of our faith. Can’t we also visualize a fortress in which we are protected from enemies? In verse 3, David calls God his Rock and his Fortress-→He is also our Rock and our Fortress. In verse 5, David says-→I entrust my spirit into Your hand. Rescue me, Lord, for You are a faithful God. Where else do we read this statement in Scripture? Jesus on the Cross cries out (KJV)-→Into Thine hand I commit my spirit, just as He dies. Taking a page from Jesus, Stephen, the first Christian martyr, says as he is being stoned, (Acts 7:59)-→Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Actually, many Christian martyrs through the ages have said the same thing.

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Acts, Thomas Nelson, 1991,p.173)

If we are confronted with a similar end, may we be as faith-filled! Our psalm reading concludes today with the lines, Rescue me; My future is [my times are] in Your hands

B. It is exactly this fact that would help each of us face martyrdom.

Our Acts 7:54-60 lesson recounts the murder of deacon Stephen. The Jewish religious leadership stone him for what they consider the sin of blasphemy.

Earlier, he lets them have it (vv.51-53, NLT)-→You stubborn people! You are heathens at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels. No wonder they were so enraged with him. Stephen boldly called them out! So even though he spoke God’s own truth, they proceeded to permanently shut up his prophetic mouth.

But look at Jesus’ sweet, sweet love for him! He fills him with the Holy Spirit, to give him the words to say and to provide him with courage. Then He opens Heaven so Stephen can be encouraged. Stephen sees (v.55)-→…the glory of God [the Father], and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. What Christian would be paralyzed with fear if they saw this? No one! Our culture is becoming increasingly anti-Christian. I hate to say it but we could be arrested and—God forbid!–killed for our faith. Let us pray to God that He helps us, like He helped Stephen, to face our death with unshakable faith in Christ!

C. This too is the faith and trust that Jesus is speaking of in our Gospel lesson, John 14:1-14. He makes it clear to the apostles that He is the face of God the Father (vv.9b-11)-→Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father…Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but My Father who lives in Me does His work through Me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.

Just prior to this, He has declared (v.6)-→I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. Simply trying to demonstrate our faith by doing good works will not take us to heaven. Without our belief in Jesus, Scripture tells us that our good works are like filthy rags to God. It takes the active, born again trust or faith–true faith–in Jesus.

Jesus is the only route to our Father in heaven.

The sweet, sweet of love of Jesus in this is that He has made it easy for us. When I was in seminary, we had a visit from an indigenous missionary to India, the Rev. Andrew Swamidos. He told a story of having been at a street corner in his city when a bus jumped the curb and killed a pedestrian waiting there. By the next day, a monument had been erected to “the god of the bus-stop,” and already food offerings and money had begun to be placed there to placate that vicious god. The great Good News of the Gospel is that we don’t have to undergo a lot of efforts or manipulations to get God to notice us favorably. No because, praise God, we are covered with the righteousness of Jesus.

D. This is why St. Peter (1 Peter 2:2-10) is justified in calling us (v.5)-→…living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple.

Because of the sweet, sweet love of God for us, Jesus died on the Cross to take upon Himself the penalty for our sins! Because of the sweet, sweet love of God for us, Peter can accurately call us (vv. 9-10)-→… chosen people…royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you [we] can show others the goodness of God, for He called you [us] out of the darkness into His wonderful light. In other words, God has plans for us in this world and the next. We are to function like people who know and who love Jesus and God the Father. By the ways we live our lives, and by the words we speak, we are intended by God to draw other people to Christ. Priests in Jesus’ day taught and showed people how to relate to God; they also taught and showed people what God wants from us. This is what we are to do and sometimes we might even use words.

Did you notice that a young Saul was in the crowd that stoned Stephen? Biblical scholars believe Stephen was an older, more experienced follower of Jesus: “Stephen is filled with the Spirit, while Saul is filled with rage and zeal for what he thought was right, like everyone else in the crowd that day. Stephen gets a straight-shot view through to heaven, where he can see Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Saul, of course, has yet to gain his spiritual eyes. He is blind to these details, just as he will become blind on the road to Damascus….”—until a loving, forgiving Jesus redirects him to true sight.

(John Fairless & Delmer Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, 2013, p.123)..

Saul/Paul was meant by God to become an outstanding teacher, preacher, and church planter. We too are called by God to do the work of God—not just me, a preacher, but you too, as Christ’s followers. Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, as well as of a book titled The Jesus Way, writes, “To follow Jesus implies that we enter into a way of life that is given character and shape and direction by the One Who calls us. To follow Jesus means picking up rhythms and ways of doing things that are often unsaid but always derivative from Jesus, formed by the influence of Jesus. To follow Jesus means that we can’t separate what Jesus is saying from what Jesus is doing and the way that He is doing it. To follow Jesus is as much, or maybe even more, about feet as it is about ears and eyes. (Peterson, Eerdmans, 2011, p.22)

The sweet, sweet love of God calls us to be the agents, or rather the messengers (like angels) “through whom God touches and changes the lives of those around us.” (Fairless & Chilton, p.127). Our culture needs the Good News of the Gospel! Time’s awasting! Let’s get to it, Church!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams