Pastor Sherry’s message for June 7, 2026

Scriptures: Hosea 5:15-6:6; Ps 50:7-15; Ro 4:13-25; Matt 9:9-13, 18-26

The story is told of a man who walked too close to the edge of a cliff…The ground gave way and he fell. He grabbed frantically for anything to break his flight to the bottom. He was able to grasp a thorn bush and hang on for dear life. Happy to be alive, he surveyed his situation: He was too high and it was too steep to climb to safety; yet it was also too far yet to fall and land safely.

So, looking up, he called out, “Is anyone there?” To his delight he heard, “Yes, I the Lord your God, am here.” “Lord, what should I do?” The Lord replied, “Let Go!” After a pause, the man called out again, “Is anyone else up there?”

Doesn’t this give new meaning to the AA slogan, “Let go and let God?” 

(Graham Twelftree, Your Point Being, Concorde House, 1988, p.116.)

Contrast that story to this one:

“Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, “Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask.”

“She put him up in the cart & he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies & he stood up in the seat & said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all.” So he sat back down.

“They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back in the cookie aisle. “Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down & be quiet.”

“Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this may be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart & shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?” And everybody round about just laughed. Some even applauded. And, according to Paul Harvey, due to the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy & his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.”

(Located at and borrowed from http://www.ChristianForumSite, 5/9/2006). 

Isn’t it interesting that the child had more faith than the grown-up? These are just stories—I don’t even know if the first one is true—but they illustrate the power of faith (and the dire consequences of having none).

All of our Scripture lessons today focus on the power of faith:

A. In Hosea 5:15-6:6, we find the prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel issue one of God’s final warnings the people that God is not happy with them and that they need to repent. Hosea reminds them in Verse 1 that they need to…return to the Lord. In other words, they need to stop going through the motions of worship They had the festivals down, they assembled choirs, they sang their hearts out, and they sacrificed animals on the alter…doing all the rituals just right. But they were just giving it all lip service. It would be like a present day politician claiming he/she does all they can do for the people, while also fraudulently wasting (or stealing) tax payer money. Hosea wants them to honestly (v.6)…show love [to God]; to repent of their sins and rebellion; and to develop a real relationship with the Lord. He is warning them that they lack faith in the Lord. He doesn’t use this image, but they are like caterpillars in a ring of fire. God’s judgment is coming and they cannot save themselves if they trust in their own power. As with us, our rescue from God’s judgment comes from trusting in Jesus and His divine rescue of us on the Cross.

Our Psalm (50:7-15) repeats the same theme. This psalm was written by Asaph as a hymn of judgment. Asaph emphasizes the fact that God needs nothing from us. Our God is totally self-sufficient. In their worship services, the Israelites sacrificed an animal to compensate or atone for their sins. They brought their animal to the priest, laid their hand on its head, signifying passing all of their sins onto the animal. Then the priest slit the animal’s throat and placed some of its blood on the horns at the 4 corners of the altar. This was to signify that it took the death, the blood, of something to obliterate their sins (a foreshadowing of Jesus on the Cross.), and was called the “whole burnt offering.” None of it could be eaten by the priests. The entire barbecued animal was dedicated to God.

However, as Asaph makes clear, all animals are God’s (vv.9-12, NLT)-→But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and everything in it. Later, the prophet Jeremiah will say essentially the same thing to the Southern Kingdom (7:22-23-→When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them: “Obey Me and I will be your God and you will be My people. Do everything as I say and all will be well.”

Next Asaph asserts that God wants three things from them: (1) Their gratitude and (2) their obedience to Him, and (3) the evidence that they would be faithful to Him (no idolatry). Finally, He (using Asaph as a propphet) says that if the people do these things (remain grateful obedient, and hold on to their faith in Him), God will rescue them from their troubles when they call out to Him. He will pull us out of the ring of fire. Our faith leads to God blessing us and rescuing us.

C. What follows in our readings today are 4 examples of people who demonstrated faith, despite their circumstances, and how God rewarded them.

First, Paul (Romans 4:12-25)cites Abraham as a man whose faith in God led to two miracles. We already know that God rewarded him for leaving his home and family to follow the Lord. Because of his obedience to the Lord’s call, God made him rich and influential. God also protected him and his wife, Sarah. But the Lord had also promised him a son, The first miracle was that Abraham continued to believe the Lord, even though he was 100YO and, as Paul states, (v.19) …his body was as good as dead. I’m sure Abraham didn’t know how God would pull it off, but he maintained faith that the Lord could and would do it. Abraham did not focus on his circumstances (like his old age), but he believed when he had no logical reason for hope.

In a sense, we could say the second miracle was that God raised up a son from two almost dead bodies (foreshadowing Jesus’ resurrection).

Next, our Gospel lesson (Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26) provides the examples of Matthew himself, Jairus’ daughter, and the bleeding woman.

Matthew, a hated tax collector for the Romans, immediately left his tax booth and answered Jesus’ call to follow him. Matthew does not comment on it too much, but he had to have been sufficiently dissatisfied with his life to leave a lucrative profession and follow the as yet unknown, itinerant rabbi, Jesus.  Not only that, but he then hosts a banquet and invites his fellow outcast tax collectors to meet the man who has given him hope and a new purpose for living. Matthew experienced firsthand the power of faith, as he began to live out a radically transformed life. I would bet that he felt he had been lifted out of a ring of fire.

Jairus, the president of the synagogue in Caesarea, sought Jesus out when his only child—a 12YO daughter—lay dying. He’d obviously known Jesus’ reputation for healing. Like Abraham, Jairus’ faith helped him to hang on even when there was no human reason to hope. After all, the professional mourners were already there at his house, wailing over the child’s death. When Jesus entered his home, the mourners laughed at Him. The word for “laughed” in the Greek is kategalon, which literally means, they laughed down on Him. The mourners were contemptuous; they mocked Him (the King of Glory). But Jairus’ lived experience was that there was power in his faith. As a preview of His own resurrection, Jesus Christ brought Jairus’ precious child back from the dead. And I think it would be OK to suggest that Jesus had the last laugh.

The woman who had hemorrhaged for 12 years was not laughing, though.

She was desperate for a healing. Luke (8:43-48) and Mark (5:25-29) both tell us she had tried everything to be healed. She knew she had no standing from which to approach Jesus, so she just planned to touch the edge of His garment. Women, in those days, could not touch a Jewish rabbi. Additionally, by Law an due to her hemorrhaging, He would have been made ritually unclean at her touch. If He hadn’t been God, He would have had to undergo a cleansing ritual.

But her faith compelled her to approach Him. Jesus tells her (v.23)-→Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well. Again, she was like that caterpillar in the ring of fire—no power to save or heal herself. But she had faith in the One Who could!

Do you see the power inherent in our faith? It is our faith that activates or motivates God to work on our behalf. If we are waiting on God to act, we want to be sure to hold on to our faith. (i.e., be like Abraham, Matthew, Jairus, and the unnamed hemorrhaging woman). It also helps to be obedient and grateful. It also helps to remain faithful to God (not an idolator), despite our circumstances. Our faith in Jesus might not get us a bag of chocolate chip cookies, but it will take us out of any ring of fire. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Alleluia! Alleluia!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams