Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Radical Heart Surgery

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 23, 2025

Scriptures: Isa 55:1-9; Ps 63:1-8; 1 Cor 10:1-13; Lk 13:1-9

I believe I’ve mentioned several times in the past that I taught Psychology at Santa Fe College in Gainesville for about 5 years. Most majors at Santa Fe required Psychology—even welding!—so there were many sections offered. Whether you are majoring in Biology, English, or even Art, a basic understanding of human behavior can be very helpful.

I enjoyed how bright and how funny the students were, and often learned as much from them as they hopefully learned from me. Instead of a term paper every semester, I had them embark on a Self-Change project. They were to use principles of psychology to either (1) add a new, good habit like drinking more water, or working out more regularly, or even devoting more time to study; or (2) they could try to overcome a bad habit, like quitting smoking or dipping, or one young lady who decided to stop gossiping at work. She noticed her coworkers always talked badly about whoever was not present. She realized that probably meant they criticized her when she wasn’t there. She admitted that work had become an unsafe place, emotionally. A non-Christian, she decided to do something about it by abstaining from gossip.

Another young woman said she wanted to avoid talking and thinking negatively. She’d noticed that always focusing on the negative put her in a bad mood (This is true for most people).She planned to substitute three good thoughts for every negative one she had—it turns out that recent psychological research has shown that substituting positive for negative thoughts is an excellent way to overcome depression..

These young women had great intentions. I had hoped these self-change projects would make a significant difference for my students, but I sometimes had my doubts. A girl in one of my classes said she was going to control her road rage, and she appeared to have done so. The following semester, however, I was right behind her in traffic when she grew enraged at the driver ahead of her, and then honked, yelled, and made rude hand gestures to this person. She didn’t see me, but I emailed her about witnessing her relapse into road-rage, and encouraged her to remember her intentions to change and try again.

What that proved to me was that to overcome long standing bad habits, we need the help of the Holy Spirit. Simply put, our willpower alone is not enough. We are told by Jesus that (Matthew 12:34) Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. To achieve the kinds of behavioral changes we may want to make requires radical heart-surgery—a transformed heart! My students needed Jesus, and so do we! 

In our Gospel lesson today, Luke 13:1-9, Jesus talks about a what we may term “radical heart surgery.” Just as with real estate, a critical factor in understanding any passage from Scripture is its location, location, location! In the end of Chapter 12, is Jesus’ final appeal to the nation of Israel to repent. He tells them they are responsible for every sin they commit. He also reminds them to keep short accounts with God, asking for forgiveness daily, while they still have time to make things right. In the passage right after this one, Jesus again heals on the Sabbath. He has already duked this one out with the Jewish religious leaders several times. It is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, because the Sabbath was made for humankind, and besides He, Jesus, is Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore He has the authority to determine what is lawful to do during it. So He heals a woman in the Synagogue who has been bent over for 18 years. He then looks to see if the hearts of the religious establishment have been changed since He healed the man with the withered hand. Apparently not! The Synagogue ruler dresses Jesus down for healing during worship! And Jesus calls him a hypocrite for leading his animals to water on the Sabbath, but denying a woman freedom from her crippled condition. 

So our passage is sandwiched between two important notions: (1) Your hearts are not right with God (including Jesus). Do something about this now, as your time for changing is short. And (2) your hearts are not right with your neighbors. In other words, “You’d stress the letter of your interpretation of the Law over this woman’s welfare? Really?”

Then He moves on to two examples from real life: Some listeners (believers? Scribes, Pharisees?) relate to Him the latest of Pilate’s atrocities. We tend to think of Pilate only in the context of Jesus’ crucifixion, but he was a weak leader, “sentenced” to serve Caesar in Judea as a last chance to prove himself. Thus he was highly reactive and overly sensitive to whatever might displease Caesar. Apparently Pilate exacted capital punishment on some Jews from Galilee as they were in the act of worshipping at the Temple. To the Jewish mind, then, this was pretty horrific. Furthermore, whatever happened to the notion of “sanctuary”? Like if terrorists stormed Wellborn Methodist Church and killed us all while we were singing or praying together, we and others would be outraged.

These tale-bearers then ask, Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus?

They want a judgment call. The prevailing thought at that time was that all misfortune—disease, financial struggles, relationship problems, premature death—was due to your being an extreme sinner. They really believed that you could recognize a sinner by the amount of tragedy in his/her life. They perhaps wanted some assurance they are not as bad as the slain worshippers.Note Jesus’ answer: I tell you, No [they were not worse sinners]; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Does that answer strike you as a little strange? Jesus responds to their question—NO—then redirects them from the issue of whose sin is worse. Just as back in Chapter 12, He wants them (and us) to remember they (and we) are all sinners.(a) We need to get right with God and others; (b) We are all going to die someday, somehow; (c.) So, right now we need to admit our sin, confess it to God, and ask His forgiveness. And by the way, He probably didn’t miss that they had pointed out that the unfortunate citizens Pilate had executed were—like Jesus—Galileans. Some scholars posit that they were either being dismissive of Jesus —like saying He was a hick from Wellborn or Live Oak! Or, even more subversive, they were trying to set Him up to condemn Pilate so they could then rat Him out to the Romans. By this point in Luke’s Gospel, the gloves are off between the Jewish religious leaders and Christ.

Then Jesus brings up another tragic account: the tower that fell, killing 18 workers.This may have been a portion of an aqueduct that Pilate was having built in Jerusalem—so, back at you with the Pilate provoked deaths of Galilean Jews. This time the persons killed were residents of Jerusalem. Jesus poses their question back to them, Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo’am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you NO; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.With an economy of words, Jesus deflects from the issue about the degree of sin because it distracts from the weightier, more important issue: Don’t worry about who sinned more than whom; it’s not a contest as every sin separates us from God, so there are no degrees of sin. But right now, you (we) need to look to the evil in our own hearts. Do we love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength?Do we love our neighbors as ourselves?

Then He follows up with the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree. In the Old Testament, vineyards and orchards were metaphors for the nation of Israel.Fig trees were often planted in vineyards. They typically took three years to mature (bearing fruit, when mature, 10 months out of 12); Then another 3 years to bear fruit that God would not allow them to use; But, by the 7th year, (4th year with fruit), this fruit belonged to God; This barren fig tree has not produced fruit for 7 years (seven means completion in the Hebrew numbering system)! The tree’s time was complete.

The Vineyard owner is God (representing God’s justice).The Lord is disappointed that the Jewish religious leadership has not been more fruitful. He is ready to cut them down!They’re hogging soil nutrients that could go to the vines, the people.The vinedresser is also God (representing God’s mercy), and asks for patience, grace. Let me dig about it, aerate it, water it; let me pour manure on it, and offer it more time to change. Jesus is making a point the religious leaders would have well understood! “You are helpless to help yourself! Heart-changing help must come from outside yourself —we/you are all sinners in need of a Savior.”And whether they accepted it or not, Jesus was giving them a limited time to repent/to accept He is God.We know they ultimately rejected Christ and so God allowed the Romans to destroy the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD.

So what does this mean to us? Jesus is sharing us the truths that (1) We are all sinners! (2) Sin kills. It cuts us off from God, and it warps our relationships with others. Consider the example of pornography—a self-change project that several of my male students embarked upon.

It objectifies the person viewed.It tends to result in the viewer becoming angry with the object of their lust, blaming her for posing for the picture.

And it sends every thought through a sexual filter. (3) We all need to repent.(4) We need to invite the Holy Spirit to do radical surgery on our hearts.

Jesus gave these hardhearted, religious leaders another chance. Let’s remember this week how gracious and patient He is with each of us. Then let’s humbly and sincerely thank Him for His grace, His mercy, and His forgiveness. AMEN!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Connected to Christ

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 16, 2025

Scriptures: Gen 15:1-18; Ps 27; Phil 3:17-4:1; Lk 13:31-35

Last week, I preached about how to avoid temptation.  I hope a number of you were able to follow Jesus’ example and thwart the evil one as he tried to lead you astray.  This week, I would like us to focus on keeping our eyes on Jesus—and remaining connected to Christ.

Emily Compagno, of Fox News, has written a book called Under His Wings: How Faith on the Front Lines has Protected American Troops (Fox Books, 2023).  Her 1st story is of an Army Colonel she met in Iraq, in 2009, while on a USO tour as an NFL cheerleader.  Col. Tim Karcher was responsible for hosting and protecting Emily and her team as they visited our troops in the war zone to bring greetings from home and to boost morale.  She learned he was a committed Christian who led Bible studies in his home when stateside.  He was also the proud father of 3 girls, and the devoted husband to Alesia, a woman he believed God had given him 20 years earlier.  Emily met him his 3rd duty tour in Iraq.

Three days after Emily had returned to the US, he was in an army vehicle, stopped at a corner in an Iraqi town, when an IED exploded.  He checked to see if everyone else in the vehicle was OK and told his crew both his legs were broken.  The truth was both his legs had been blown off just above his knees!  He died once as they worked on him in the field, and again, several times, as they medivacked him to an Army trauma hospital in Germany, then on home to Walter Reed Army Hospital in DC.  He later wrote to Emily,

“I died there as well.  I remember as it was happening that I was really, really sad.  Not scared, because I knew where I was going.  I was sad to leave my wife, my daughters behind.  I was going to miss out on walking my daughters down the aisle, that kind of stuff.  But I also knew this:  hundreds and hundreds of people were praying for me.  And it was a rough, rough time.  I had all kinds of infections, a fever of 105,” (p.19).

Col. Karcher leaving hospital

He survived yet again to spend 2 years in military rehab in San Antonio, Texas, learning to walk with 2 prosthetic legs.  His last Army assignment, prior to retiring in 2015, was to serve as Director of the Army’s Wounded Warrior Program at Ft. Belvoir in Virginia.  St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:4 We comfort [others] with the comfort by which we have been comforted.  As a double-amputee, he was the perfect person to encourage other soldiers who had lost their limbs.  (I have included slides of him leaving Walter Reed and also of him walking 100 miles in a fund-raiser to benefit our wounded warriors.)

Col. Karcher’s 100 mile walk.

Col. Karcher is clearly a heroic and a determined guy who credits his faith—His connection to Christ–his family, and the prayers of hundreds with pulling him through.  

II. Body▶️Let’s see what our Scripture passages have to say today about having the faith to pull through tough times.

A. In Genesis 15:1-19—in His 4th appearance to him— God tells Abram, who is still awaiting the Child of Promise that He, the Lord, is Abram’s shield and greatest treasure.  In other words, God is Abram’s king or sovereign (shield) Who protects him (as He does us).  The Lord, too, is the best reward Abram, or us, could ever receive—greater even than the Child of Promise.  And, because the Lord keeps His promises, an heir, Isaac, is coming, as are many, many other descendants (v.3)▶️…look up at the heavens and count the stars—indeed if you can count them…So shall your offspring be.  All who believe in Christ Jesus are descendants of Abram, grated in to the line of Jewish believers.  And so also is the gift of property coming to this wandering Aramean, land stretching from the borders of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

In today’s passage, Abram has not yet seen either of these come true, but he believes God.  Verse 6 says▶️Abram believed the Lord, and He [God] credited it to him as righteousness.  Jesus had not yet come to earth to save us, yet God saved Abram due to his faith. Will we see Abraham in heaven?  YES! 

Notice one other point: God reiterates His promises to Abram by literally “cutting a covenant” with him.  In the Ancient Near East at that time, when you made a binding agreement with someone, you literally cut animal sacrifices in two and walked between them.  You were saying that, in effect, if I break this agreement, may I die as have these animals.  God was swearing an oath to Abram on His own life.  Remarkable!  Also, the forms He used to represent Himself (God is Spirit) are symbolic of the coming Christ:

The smoking firepot represents the judgments Jesus will make at His 2nd Coming; the burning lamp signifies Jesus as the light of the world.

We could say, then, that God as the Pre-incarnate Jesus, swore an oath with Abram.

Much later, Abram died a wealthy man with an heir from his own elderly body, Isaac, and a huge amount of property.  Good things come to those of us who trust in the Lord.  Like Col. Karcher, we may not move through our lives without pain and suffering, but Jesus holds our lives in His able hands and blesses us.

B.  King David wrote Psalm 27.  In the first 6 verses, David notes how God provides confidence and encouragement for those of us who love Him.  In verses 7-12, he then goes on to pray for deliverance from treacherous enemies.  Interestingly, these enemies have leveled false charges against King David.  This is so like what we witness today, where we observe people on social media and in politics so ready to fabricate lies aimed at discrediting/running down others.

But in verse 4, David articulates his primary desire:  One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:  that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. King David desires full-on access to God:  He’s got wealth and political power—his throne; he’s got either a land at peace, or military victories; he’s got wives and concubines and a bunch of children; but more than these usual things people yearn for, before anything else, David desires intimate communication/connection with the Lord.  This fervent desire to seek God’s face and to develop a deep relationship with Him is what carries us through hard times and helps us overcome our tough circumstances.

C. Our New Testament passage today is from Philippians 3:17-4:1.  Just prior to today’s reading, in verses 13-14, Paul asserts▶️…but one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  What goal is he talking about?  Intimate connection with Jesus.  He wants to be as close to Jesus as possible because (v.20)▶️Our citizenship is in heaven.  This earth is not our final home.  All that goes on here is a testing, a proving ground for rewards given us later in heaven.  Those who don’t pass the tests are what Paul calls (vv.18-19)▶️…enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach [meaning satisfying their physical or their emotional needs], and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

Paul exhorts us not to be like these kinds of folks.  He wants us to keep our focus on The things of God; And to remain closely connected to Jesus.

D.  And if we were not clear on this, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, in Luke 13:31-35.  Jesus is praying as He overlooks the city from some height.  He is grieved because he knows what is to come–His betrayal, the trumped up accusations, the fraudulent trials, the beatings, and His crucifixion.  The city He has come to die for will soon reject Him.

He is grieved because he knows that Jerusalem, the capital city of God’s chosen people, was not desperate enough to seek His face.  They preferred to protect their idea of God while rejecting and discarding the One Who was God. 

Jesus has since gone on to glory, while His enemies in Jerusalem and Judea have no doubt met a far worse end.  We know He loves us and died for our sakes.  We know He has hidden us in the shelter of His wings.

On this, the 2nd Sunday of Lent, as we continue our spiritual house-cleaning, we should be asking ourselves, “Are we deeply connected to Jesus?”  The truth is that we need Him.  Consider this poem:

At my lowest, God is my hope.
At my darkest, God is my light.
At my weakest, God is my strength.
At my saddest, God is my comforter.”

Author Unknown

(Kathy Keller, “Stay Close to God,” www.sermonillustrations.com, 12/18/ 23).

This week, let’s focus on getting and remaining connected to Christ.  AMEN!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Conquering Temptations

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 9, 2025

Scriptures: Deut 25:1-11; Ps 92:1-15; Ro 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright of the mid to late 1800’s once said, ”I can resist everything but temptation.”  Probably many of us can say the same.  Another fellow from the Funny Papers complained to a pastor, “How come opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats down my door every day?”

(Charles Swindoll, the Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, pp.560, 562.)

It would seem that there is no end to things that tempt us:  Perhaps you have given up cussing for Lent, then accidentally trip over your dog, or close your hand in your car door?  Immediately you find yourself swearing away

Or, you plan to forgive a certain aggravating person, do so, and then find they aggravate you all over again the very next time you meet up with them?  I was once told by a person enrolled at one of the service academies that their honor code was so widely adhered to that you could leave a $100 dollar bill out on a desk and no one would take it.  I truly hope our war-fighters-in-training are as honorable; but I have to wonder if laying out a temptation like that—even among honorable persons—is very smart.

Our adversary, the Devil, comes at us with temptations.  He loves to try to make us doubt God’s goodness.  But if that doesn’t work, he’ll come up with a temptation to pull us away from our part in God’s story.  (Think of the word history.  As a former high school history teacher, I have come to the conclusion that the passage of time carries God’s story—He oversees history; it is His story and He invites us to participate.)  The Apostle Peter knew this well.  He famously warned us (1 Peter 5:8, NIV)  Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

So how are we to avoid the traps he sets for us?  What’s the secret to frustrating the evil one?  What strategies does Jesus model to enable us to conquer our temptations?

Let’s take a look at our Gospel lesson (Luke 4:1-13) for some valuable pointers.

Today’s passage begins with Jesus being sent—by the Holy Spirit—into the wilderness for a time of testing.  The Father knew our Lord needed to be tested before He began His earthly ministry.  Both Jesus and the Father knew He needed to prove that He could recognize Satan’s temptations and resist them.  In a sense, the Father had Jesus begin His public ministry just as Adam and Eve had begun the human story, with a test.  They were commanded not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  And we now know they failed the test.  Satan seduced or tempted them; and to their and our everlasting regret, they fell for it.

If we read Dr. Luke’s genealogy of Jesus at the end of Chapter 3, we see that Jesus, the Son of God, is descended from Adam (on His mother’s side).  He could be said to be the Son of God and also a descendant son of Adam.

Paul and others call our Lord the 2nd Adam.  Will He be taken in like the 1st Adam was?  Will he fall for Satan’s ploy to feed Himself by turning stones into bread?  Notice the situation is similar, but the setting differs.  Adam and Eve were ensconced in a beautiful garden where all their needs were met.

But Jesus is tempted in a barren wilderness.  His ancestors, the Israelites, wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  God is inviting Jesus to re-enact, in 40 days, not only Adam and Eve’s trial, but that of Jesus’ Israelite ancestors as well.  And we see—Praise God!—that the 2nd Adam, the perfect Israelite, does it better.

Normally, our Lord would want Jesus to eat when He was hungry. But during this 40 days (the precursor to Lent), He had dedicated Himself to a fast.  (This is why so many Christians decide to spend these 40 days of Lent in some sort of fast.)  Jesus was focusing all His attention on His relationship with His Heavenly Father.  But He was most likely also physically and emotionally depleted.  Isn’t it just like Satan to come at us when we are particularly vulnerable because we are tired or hungry?  He was also alone, away from the potential support of home and family.  I think this latter factor plays into marital affairs on business trips. There is no one around and a person becomes vulnerable due to fatigue and stress and no reminders of a family waiting at home.

So Satan’s first temptation to Jesus was to have something He was not meant to have.  There nothing sinful about bread, in and of itself.

But eating at this time would have distracted Him from His retreat with His Heavenly Father.  So it is with us, isn’t it?  There’s nothing wrong with good food, nice clothes, a beautiful home, a snazzy car, a prestigious job—unless our pursuit of them comes between us and God.  Jesus knew He wasn’t to eat then, so He refused Satan’s temptation, and quoted Scripture to him🡪NLT, Deuteronomy 8:2 & 3 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these 40 years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey His commands.  Yes, He humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown by you and your ancestors.  He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.     

Jesus’ 2nd temptation was to be someone He was not meant to be.  Satan thought to tempt Jesus with becoming an earthly ruler.   Satan is the Prince of this world, but He did not then and does not now have the power to make someone king of the world.  Only God can do this.  So, notice, Satan was lying, wasn’t he?  He will also lie to us.  Jesus says in the Gospel of John that Satan is the Father of Lies and that lies are his native language. 

He will tempt us to become something we are not meant to be.  It might be to become popular, famous, rich, or influential.  It might be to be married, or to raise a household of kids.  God may even have these things in mind for us—but not just now, or not under our current circumstances.  Additionally, the cost of caving in to the temptation is turning our backs on God’s plan for our lives.

Again, notice that Jesus quotes Scripture in his response to Satan: (NLT, Deuteronomy 6:13 & 14) You must fear [revere, worship] the Lord your God and serve Him.  You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, for the Lord your God, who lives among you is a jealous God.  Jesus wisely only wanted to please God.  Jesus wisely determined only to worship God.

His 3rd temptation was to do things He was not meant to do.

Satan wanted Jesus to perform a miracle and save Himself from falling/suspending the law of gravity.  But our Lord knew He was not to get ahead of the will of the Father.  Satan believes he has the victory when he tempts us to act carelessly or recklessly, assuming God will rescue us from whatever is foolhardy.  Jesus knew it is not our place to test God by taking ridiculous risks to see if He rescues us from our own foolishness.  We were not meant to abuse our bodies and minds with alcohol or drugs; engage in sexual relations outside of marriage; explode with anger; cheat, steal from, or lie to God or another, etc.

The truth is that each of Satan’s temptations—of Jesus and of us—is to shortcut God’s plans for us.  He wants to seduce us away from God’s story for our lives.  He promises the easy way of no hardship, no suffering, and no Cross.  But Jesus stood strong against Satan.  He said, essentially, that His life was about more than satisfying His bodily appetites;more than having worldly power; and more than personal safety.   He made it clear that His life was about doing His Father’s will.

A preacher named Bryan Wilkerson once wrote, “So Jesus was tempted along these three lines—to have something, to be somebody, and to do something other than [what] God intended. In other words, Jesus was being tempted to break away from God’s story.”  And so are we.

(Sermon on Jesus’ Temptations, http://www.PreachingToday.com, 3/5/25.)

Fortunately, He also teaches us to conquer temptations by asking ourselves the following:

1.  Is what we want something God would not want us to have?(Or not to have yet, at this exact moment?

2. Is it to become something God does not mean for us to be?

3. It is to do something God would not want us to do?

In studying this passage, I firmly believe that all of our temptations can be put in one of these three categories.  Just stopping to consider which category a given temptation exists in might be just enough to help us avoid it.

Jesus also models…

1. Relying on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

2. Knowing and following Scripture,

3. And checking things out in conversations with the Father. There are some excellent strategies for turning away from temptation.  May we remember these this Lent, and always.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alleluia, Alleluia!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Transfigured to Transform

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 2, 2025

Scriptures: Ex 34:29-35; Ps 99; 2 Cor 3:12-4:2; Lk 9:28-43

Today the Church celebrates Transfiguration Sunday. What does it mean that Jesus was “transfigured”? The story is told of a Sunday School teacher trying to explain our Gospel story to a group of young children:

She noticed one little boy seemed confused.  When she was finished [reading] she asked him, “Johnny, why don’t you tell us where Jesus was in this story” He replied, “Oh, he was on a mountain.”

“Yes, that’s right; said the teacher, “Do you remember why he was up there?”

Johnny answered with a confused look, “I guess that’s where his arithmetic class was held .”

The teacher looked at him and wondered what he meant. “What do you mean, arithmetic class?”

“Well” Johnny replied, “The Bible said, ’Jesus went up on the mountain and there he BEGAN to FIGURE.”

(Tim Zingale, “Transformed,” 2/11/02, www.sermons.com)

Don’t you love the unique and literal way that little kids think?  The child obviously didn’t get it—the teacher needed to explain further.

There is a story told about Napoleon that comes closer to describing it.  It took place during his disastrous invasion of Russia (1812).The Emperor“

“… somehow got separated from his men and was spotted by his enemies, the Russian Cossacks. They chased him through the winding streets. Running for his life Napoleon eventually ducked into a furrier’s shop. Gasping for air and talking at the same time he begged the shopkeeper to save him. The furrier said, “Quick hide under this big pile of furs in the corner.” Then the furrier made the pile even large by throwing more furs atop of Napoleon.

“No sooner had he finished when the Russian Cossacks burst into the shop. “Where is he?” they demanded to know. The furrier denied knowing what they were talking about. Despite his protests the Russian Cossacks tore the shop apart trying to find Napoleon. They poked into the pile of furs with their swords but did not find him. The eventually gave up and left the shop.

“After some time had past, Napoleon crept out from under the furs, unharmed. Shortly after Napoleon’s personal guards came into the store. Before Napoleon left, the furrier asked, “Excuse me for asking this question of such a great man, but what was it like to be under the furs, knowing that the next moment could surely be your last?”  Napoleon became indignant. “How dare you ask such a question of the Emperor Napoleon?” Immediately he ordered his guards to blindfold the furrier and execute him.  The furrier was dragged out of the shop, blindfolded and placed against the wall of the shop. The furrier could see nothing but he could hear the guards shuffling into a line and preparing their rifles. Then he heard Napoleon call out, “Ready!” In that moment a feeling the shopkeeper could not describe welled up with him. Tears poured down his cheeks. “Aim!”  Suddenly the blindfold was stripped from his eyes. Napoleon stood before him. They were face to face and Napoleon said, “Now you know the answer to your question.”

“The lesson here is obvious: How can you describe a near death experience? You can’t. It has to be experienced. Jesus’ transfiguration falls in the same category of events which cannot be described. I think that is why Luke says that they kept it to themselves and told no one what they had seen. How do you describe it? It had to be experienced.”

(Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, 2/27/2025.  Adapted from a story from Wayne Heyer.)

It’s interesting, isn’t it?  People can talk around it, but apparently the experience was difficult to describe.   Jesus’ transfiguration means that, for a brief time, He appeared to His closest friends in all His heavenly glory.  He had metamorphosized before their eyes.  Blinding light emanated from Him— His whole body radiated light   So Jesus shines bright as the brightest sunlight; He blazes brighter than a raging bonfire.  This gives new meaning to the praise song, “Shine, Jesus Shine,” doesn’t it?  Also, consider the Aaronic Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26, NIV):  The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.  Remember, the book of Revelation (21:22-24) tells us that Jesus and God the Father will be our light sources in the New Jerusalem, following Jesus’ 2nd Coming, as there will be no more sun, moon, or stars.  Paul tells us that we too will undergo this kind of transformation when we enter heaven.  We too will shine in the reflection of the Lord’s presence…but more about this in a minute.  (By the way, the three friends did not talk about what they saw because Jesus told them not to.  If you had seen Him in His heavenly state, wouldn’t you have kept quiet if He required it of you?)

II. Body—>Did you notice that all of our readings today focus on Jesus’ Transfiguration?

A. In our Gospel passage (Luke 9:28-43) Peter, James, and John are eye-witnesses to Jesus’ transfiguration.  By this third year of their “seminary experience” with Him (seminary normally takes 3 years), they probably thought they knew Him pretty well.  They have only seen Jesus as the itinerant rabbi from a humble, back-water town.  Yes, they have witnessed Him perform miracles.  They have been astonished by His wise but counter-cultural teaching.  But they have not, prior to this, been exposed to Him in all His heavenly glory.

Now, He metamorphosizes before them into the God He really is. Seeing Him this way should have convinced them that He truly is the Son of God.  Furthermore, they recognize Him talking with Moses, the deliverer and Law-Giver, and Elijah, the great prophet!  Finally, in the coup de grace, they hear God the Father say (v.35)—>This is My Son, whom I have chosen.  Listen to Him.  Surely these special friends realize in this experience that they have massively underestimated Jesus!  This very special event should have helped move them to the awareness that they were friends and comrades of the long-awaited Messiah.  The two figures with Him were both divinely favored heroes of Israel:  Moses, like Jesus, had lead God’s people out of bondage—>he foreshadowed Jesus as savior and redeemer.  Elijah was a great prophet who, like Jesus, held power over nature, performed wonderful miracles, and defeated 850 priests of Satan.  God the Father, in His proclamation, makes it clear that He sees Jesus as similar to but superior to them both.

You might be wondering how they knew it was Moses and Elijah who conversed with Jesus.  The Holy Spirit probably just revealed their identities to them, because they just seemed to know.

B.  Speaking of Moses (Exodus 34:29-35), he too briefly reflected God’s glory whenever He visited with the Lord.  Let’s consider first the backstory to this event: Just 3 months after crossing the Red Sea and escaping the pursuing Egyptian army—as well as having been fed, watered, and protected by God in the meantime–the Israelites are  encamped at the base of Mt. Sinai.  They have violated their covenant with God by worshipping a golden calf.  They have thus already broken the 1st (No gods before Me) and 2nd (No graven images/no idols) commandments which Moses is bringing to them.  Biblical scholars tell us had he brought the two tablets into the camp, their punishment would have been death to every one of them!  But, in anger and grief—and to protect them from the death penalty–Moses breaks the original tablets containing the 10 Commandments before returning to the camp.  God then commands the Levites faithful to Him to go throughout the camp, killing those guilty of worshipping the golden calf (spiritual adultery).  The guilty parties die (surely God discerned who offended and who did not), but how does the rest of the community get back into God’s good graces?

Moses journeys back up to meet with God a 2nd time.  He goes to beg the Lord to forgive His people. He hopes to try to repair the broken Covenant.  And, of course, he needs to request a new set of stone tablets.

God, in response, identifies Himself as patient, loving, faithful, forgiving, and just; and He demonstrates to Moses and to us that His covenant promises depend more upon His unchanging nature than on Israel’s (or our) unfaithfulness to Him.  Then He writes, a 2nd time, His Laws on new stone tablets.

As a result of this extraordinary encounter, Moses’ face shines!

He has experienced God’s glory and it is reflected on his countenance.

At first, he appeared not to have been aware; but in verse 30, we are told—>When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.  He had to call them to himself to convince them it was still Moses that they saw, and that he was all right.  Interestingly, he then veiled himself as the glow wore off.

He spoke to God and to the people bare-faced, but he “masked up” afterward, to prevent anyone from seeing the glow diminish.  It appears he was trying to manage their perception of him.  He may have wanted their respect.  He may have wanted them to remember he spoke frequently with the Lord.

C. But Paul tells offers us an alternative explanation in 2nd Corinthians 3:12-4:2.  He asserts that Moses veiled himself…not because the people were afraid of him—at least not after the 1st time; but instead because Moses wanted them to focus on the Lord and not on Moses’ face (another form of idolatry).  He wore a veil until the shine dimmed.  He wore a veil because the people’s hearts were hard and not yet ready to draw close to God.  What Paul is saying in our passage today is that because Jesus has come and revealed Himself as our Messiah, we do not veil the Gospel but teach it freely and openly (Vv.16-17, NLT)—>But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  We teach the Gospel without any gimmicks or tricks.  Additionally, neither Paul nor any of us is veiled because the Lord wants all to see His glory reflected in us. He wants others to see the life-giving Holy Spirit at work in our lives, and reflected in the faces of all believers.

D. Finally, Psalm 99 enjoins the people of all nations to worship the Lord, the King of all the Earth, who rules from Mt. Zion (the Temple Mount in Jerusalem).  We are reminded that Moses and Aaron served Him.  They called out to Him for help and He answered them.  He punished idolaters and the rebellious.  And He has always acted justly and righteously.  We will be able to gaze upon Him in heaven.  Again, our faces will be unveiled, and our eyes will be able to behold His brightness.  

So What are we to take away from Jesus’ Transfiguration?  First of all, clearly He is God.  Jesus shone with His heavenly glory and if we had been there, with Peter, James, and John, we would have seen it.  Moses picked up some of God’s reflective glory whenever he visited with the Father either on top of the mountain, or in the Tent of Meeting.  But Paul wants us to reflect Jesus’ glory in the way we look, the way we act, and in the way we speak to others.  Jesus transfigured so that we might be transformed more and more into His image and likeness.  We can do this as we allow the Holy Spirit to continuously mold and shape us more and more into the image and likeness of Christ.

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Forgiveness: A Difficult Command

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 23, 2025

Scriptures: Gen 45:3-15; Ps 37:1-11, 39-40; 1 Cor 15:35-38, 42-50; Lk 6:27-38

Dr. Harry Ironside (1878-1951) was a gifted pastor who first served in the Salvation Army, then became the long term minister, and famous preacher, at the Moody Baptist Church in Chicago.  He told the following story:

On the Lord’s day a group of missionaries and believers in New Guinea were gathered together to observe the Lord’s Supper. After one young man sat down, a missionary recognized that a sudden tremor had passed through the young man’s body that indicated he was under a great nervous strain. Then in a moment all was quiet again. The missionary whispered, “What was it that troubled you?” “Ah,” he said, “But the man who just came in killed and ate the body of my father. And now he has come in to remember the Lord with us. At first I didn’t know whether I could endure it. But it is all right now. He is washed in the same precious blood.” And so together they had Communion. It is a marvelous thing, the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Does the world know anything of this?” 

(Borrowed from http://www.sermons.com, 2/20/25.)

I heard a similar story told by a man involved in Chuck Colson’s Prison Ministry.  He said a young fellow had killed this woman’s son, and was tried and sent to prison for the murder.  Some months later, she felt compelled—perhaps she had read this very Gospel account—to write to him and tell him she forgave him.  That’s extraordinary, isn’t it?  She send him 5 letters, and he returned each one to her unopened.  Finally, he responded to her following her 6th attempt to reach him. He was amazed that she would be willing to forgive him for his crime and wanted to know what compelled her to do so.  She wrote back, telling him about Jesus Christ.  They corresponded for a time and she led him to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  They then decided to lead a Bible study in the prison, together, helping others come to a place of confession and forgiveness.  By several years after this, they had become such good friends that the woman asked to adopt the man who had killed her son.  He agreed.  This is the kind of extraordinary forgiveness that can only be accomplished by those who love Jesus and are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Demonstrating forgiveness is difficult for any of us.  It’s easy enough to talk about, but very hard to practice.  I have said here before that it often feels like the emotional equivalent of curling your toe-nails backward.  We hope there is an easier way. I remember a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon from some years back in which the 6YO Calvin was telling his stuffed Tiger—who came to life when the two of them were alone—how bad he felt for calling a little girl names and hurting her feelings.  Hobbes was a very wise tiger and so he suggested that Calvin apologize to her.  Calvin thought about it for a moment then said, “I keep hoping there is a less obvious solution.”  Like Calvin, we just don’t want to experience the emotional pain of subduing our pride and admitting our fault.  In other words, we hate to humble ourselves, because forgiveness strikes at our pride.

Two of our passages today deal directly with the difficulty of forgiving another, or even ourselves. 

A. Jesus gives us His take on forgiveness in our Gospel lesson, Luke 6:22-38, , a continuation of His Sermon on the Plain.  Our Lord directs us to (v.27, NLT)—…love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.  This is really a difficult command, isn’t it?  At the least, would just like to avoid them forever.  But at our worst, we want to avenge ourselves.  The typical human response is to want revenge.  The young man in Dr. Ironside’s story had to forgive the cannibal who killed and ate his father–YIKES!  Forgiveness like this is truly beyond our human abilities.  It requires the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit.

Additionally, in verse 29, Jesus commands us to famously “turn the other cheek.”  J. Vernon McGee tells the story of an Irish prize fighter who was converted and became an itinerent pastor. 

“He happened to be in a new town setting up his evangelistic tent when a couple of tough thugs noticed what he was doing. Knowing nothing of his background, they made a few insulting remarks. The Irishman merely turned and looked at them. Pressing his luck, one of the bullies took a swing and struck a glancing blow on one side of the ex-boxer’s face. The former boxer shook it off and said nothing as he stuck out his jaw. The bully took another glancing blow on the other side. At that point the preacher swiftly took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and announced, “The Lord gave me no further instructions,” Whop!” 

(As related by J. Vernon McGee in Charles Swindoll’s Tale of a Tardy Oxcart, 1998, p 214.)

Jesus later, in Matthew 18:22, tells Peter the trouble with forgiveness is that we are to forgive the same person not 7 times but 70 X 7—or an unlimited # of times.  He sums it up in today’s passage by charging us to (v.31)—Do to others as you would like them to do to you.  We are not to seek revenge or repay evil with evil.  Instead, we are called to treat everyone– even enemies– with love and mercy. 

Furthermore, He exhorts us just beyond this passage (vv.37-38)—Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

In A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World, “Ron Lee Davis retells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a much- loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God’s forgiveness.

In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and He with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he said, “The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.” The woman agreed. A few days later the priest asked, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?”
“Yes, he did,” she replied.
“And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what did he say?”
“He said, ‘I don’t remember'”


We all need to remember that whatever God forgives, He chooses to forget.  The God who knows everything—He is omniscient—choses to forget our sins when we confess them and ask for His forgiveness.  The poor priest was hanging onto to guilt that God had excused years ago. 

According to Jesus, we are blessed in the measure to which we bless others.  The trouble with un-forgiveness—even of ourselves–is that it blocks our ability to receive the blessings our Lord wants to give us, including healing.  Additionally, when we forgive others, and even ourselves, we experience a deep release of tension we might not even know we were holding in. 

B.  Jesus’ admonitions to forgive, not judge, and not condemn are so beautifully lived out by Old Testament Joseph (Genesis 45:3-15).  Recall that Joseph’s 10 brothers by other mothers had sold him into slavery (at age 17).  They fully expected him to die in Egypt. They then compounded their sin by lying to their father about Joseph’s supposed death, causing Jacob inordinate grief.   Joseph, after 14-15 years of slavery, correctly interprets Pharaoh’s dreams–Remember, 7 years of plentiful crops, followed by 7 years of devastating, region-wide famine. Two years into the famine, his 10 treacherous brothers arrive in Egypt to purchase food.

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 fail to recognize him because he is clean shaven rather than bearded; dressed in Egyptian clothing, wig, and jewelry; 39 years old, 22 years older than when they last saw him; and speaking the Egyptian language while talking to them through an interpreter.

Now, with his brothers gathered around him in all his splendor as Prime Minister of Egypt, he sees/discerns/and reveals God’s purposes in the brothers’ crime against him.  At first, they can’t believe it is their brother.  Then they fear his retribution.  But in a truly Christ-like way, he reassures them, [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, his brothers, and his extended family (90 folks), as well  untold numbers of Egyptians and other gentiles in the region. 

Forgiveness, though difficult, is imperative.  Christ requires it of us.  Jesus modeled it for us, forgiving His murders from the Cross.  And He tells us in several places in Scripture that He forgives us to the degree we forgive others.  If we want God to forgive us, we need to be willing to forgive others.  Both OT Joseph and Jesus saw the blessings that flow to us from our forgiveness of others.

Finally, think about this story from the life of Martin Luther (1483-1546):

“In a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther’s sins, and held it before him. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, “Is that all?” “No,” came the reply, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third. But now the devil had no more. “You’ve forgotten something,” Luther exclaimed triumphantly. “Quickly write on each of them, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleanses us from all sins.'”

(Kurt Koch, Occult Bondage and Deliverance, Knegel Publishing, 1972, p. 10.)

Without a doubt, the main blessing is that God forgives us.  He covers our sins with the blood of Jesus Christ and he remembers them no more!  I attended a healing conference at the church of a friend of mine Friday night and Saturday morning.  The speaker said that not all illnesses are caused by forgiveness, but a great many are.  We tend not to think there could be spiritual roots to some diseases, but I have experienced for myself, as well as seen others healed when they made a list of all those they have not yet forgiven and pray forgiveness for them.  It’s a great practice!  Make a list of those you know you resent and need to forgive.  Then forgive them and watch and see what God does.

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Live Like a Tree beside Water

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 16, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 17:5-10; Ps 1; 1 Cor 15:12-20; Lk 6:17-26

For several weeks, I have been preaching about what God wants from us, behavior-wise:  He wants us to love others abundantly and to remain humble.  Today I want to focus on trusting in Him.

Consider this true story:

“There is no situation I can get into that God cannot get me out. Some years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor told me to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out-of-control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity, my mind began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation.

“Immediately I turned to the instructor and began to vent my fearful frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, “There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again.” At that moment God seemed to be saying to me, “Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get yourself into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust me, you will be all right.”  That lesson has been proven true in my ministry many times over the years.” 

(Pastor James Brown, Evangeline Baptist Church, Wildsville, LA, in Discoveries, Fall, 1991, Vol. 2, No. 4.)

Many of us have learned this over the years, but we need to be reminded of the fact occasionally, don’t we?  We say we trust God with our finances until we discover we owe IRS a bundle with no foreseeable way to pay it.  We say we trust God with our health, until we get the cancer or heart disease diagnosis.  We say we trust God with our relationships until a spouse cheats on us or dies. We seem to trust God as long as He is arranging our lives the way we want them.  It’s when life throws us a curved ball that our faith is stretched and strained. But the wise person trusts in God no matter what comes!

Our Scripture passages today all encourage us to keep trusting in God, no matter the scares we face in life:

A.  The portion of Jeremiah we read today is from chapter 17,verses 5-10. Remember that Jeremiah is the “weeping prophet”, called to pronounce God’s judgment on His disobedient people.  God had warned him ahead of time that no one would listen to him and that no one would heed his words. He was called to a mission of failure–by worldly standards–yet he persevered.

Perhaps he did so because he knew these verses.  God sets out curses and blessings in verses 5-8:  Curses if you put your trust in what human beings say is right; but blessings if you trust in what God says is right.

Jeremiah says those who trust in the Lord are like (v.8, NLT)…trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.  Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.  What an amazing promise!  Like Jeremiah, we might not experience our blessings this side of heaven, but we can trust in God’s word that if we have been faithful, these blessings are coming.  We want to trust in God, not in news casters, weathermen, climate consultants, economic prognosticators, political analysts, pollsters, etc.  They are only human and can get things wrong.  But God (vv.9-10): search[es] all hearts and examine[s] secret motives.  He knows that the human heart (the Hebrews thought the heart was where we made our decisions, rather than our brains) can be the most deceitful of all things.  We humans can justify to ourselves whatever dishonest or immoral thing we decide to do.  The Lord sees when humans are tripped up by their own dishonorable motives or flawed thinking.  Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee puts it this way: “Unfortunately we all have heart trouble …”(Through the Bible Commentary on Jeremiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.81).  In other words, only God sees and knows the Truth all the time.  We need look no further for an example of this than the corruption, fraud, and waste of taxes, recently uncovered by DOGE, and perpetrated by unelected bureaucrats.  These unknown persons dishonorably diverted our tax payer dollars into favorite causes of their own—some even contrary to US interests! Cheating the government is not new. The Israelites at the time of Jeremiah were doing the same or similar things

This passage reminds me of Proverbs 3:5 (NLT): Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

B. Given the remarkable coherency of Scripture, Psalm 1 says essentially the same thing:  Joy comes to those who (v.1): do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  These are all folks who proudly assert they are correct.

They don’t trust in God or God’s judgment.  Righteous people, on the other hand—those who love the Lord and try to follow His ways–(v.2):  are like trees planted along a river bank bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do.

Again, we are reminded in Proverbs 1:7: Fear [awe, reverence] of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  And in Proverbs 3:6: Seek His [God’s] will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.  Human wisdom is limited but God’s wisdom is eternal and infinite.  We would all do well to consult with the Lord prior to making an important decision.

C. St. Paul is still arguing for the truth of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20.  He is asserting that because over 512 eye witnesses saw and interacted with the Risen Jesus, we can trust that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Reports of this event are trustworthy and true.

Jesus’ resurrection did happen.  If that were not so—and Paul utilizes the word if six times—then none of what we believe as Christians would be worth much.  Since it is true and has been verified, however, it is a truth worth dying for! Over the centuries since Jesus ascended to Heaven, hundreds upon thousands, even millions of Christians have died for this truth.  In 2025, we can stake our lives on its truth as well.

D. Finally, we have Jesus’ words of truth in His Sermon on the Plain, Luke 6:17-26 (Luke’s version of Matthew’s “The Sermon on the Mount”).  Because there were no electronic nor any social media at the time, Jesus had to repeat His primary teachings over and over again to different audiences.  He wanted to be sure folks heard His Words/His Truths.  Though many probably came to be healed or to witness healings, many also wanted to learn from this increasingly famous, itinerant rabbi.  And since there were Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon in this crowd, Jesus focused on sharing His expectations of all of His followers for ethical or righteous living.

He pronounces blessings on those who currently suffer.  He has special compassion on the poor, the hungry, and those who grieve.  They will—at some future time and because they believe in Him—experience total provision, satisfaction, and joy.  And if they experience persecution for Jesus’ sake, they can be (1) greatly reassured, for the prophets were treated the same way; and (2) they can rejoice because they are promised a wonderful reward in heaven.  His message is one of hope: Hold on, because the righteous will be blessed.

But He also pronounces curses or “woes” on those who neither care for God nor for other people.  If they were not generous to others with their wealth, their riches while they were alive will have been their total reward—not to be carried over into the afterlife.  If they are solely focused on the good life now, they will not enjoy their life on the other side.  If they are carried away with mirth, pleasure, and entertainment now, they only will grieve later.  If they enjoy accolades now and do not realize they are accountable to God, they will find themselves on the outside of heaven later on. 

Jesus’ message is clear:  Live your life in such a way now that you clearly demonstrate that you love God as well as your fellow human beings.

So how can we live like a tree planted by water?  Remember our three hurricanes of the past year?  We lost many trees in Suwannee County, Florida, blown over by hurricane-force winds and even some tornadoes spawned by the storms.  Many Water Oaks, whose root systems are shallow, running just undergrown and spreading wide, were felled.  Live Oaks, however, which have roots that grow deep into the ground, remained upright.  Trees planted by water tend to send their roots deep.  Our trust in God is like that—it keeps us anchored, no matter what storms blow around us.

The Bible says over and over again that Fools reject God, but those of us who love Him, trust in Him and His Word.  Consider the following  poem:

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,

Trust Him when thy strength is small,

Trust Him when to simply trust Him

Seems the hardest thing of all.

Trust Him, He is ever faithful,

Trust Him, for his will is best,

Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus

Is the only place of rest.

We believe in God.  We remember there is more evidence for the truth of Christ’s Resurrection than there is for the existence of Julius Caesar. 

(Josh McDowell, More than a Carpenter, Tyndale House, 1977, pp.96-97)

Jesus expects us to demonstrate our love for God and our love for others in the way we live.  Let us live a life that shows us firmly planted and well watered.  Let us live a life that reflects well on God and on other Christians. Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Profiles of Humility

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 9, 2025

Scriptures: Isa 6:1-13; Ps 138; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Lk 5:1-13

Remember Muhammed Ali?  The famous boxer who used to humbly claim, “I am the greatest!”?  Well, the story is told that he was seated on a plane getting ready to take off, and the flight attendant noted he wasn’t using his seatbelt.  She politely asked him to fasten it.  He replied, ”I’m Superman and Superman don’t need no seatbelt.”  To which she responded, ”Superman don’t need no airplane either, so please fasten your seatbelt.”   

 (Steve Jones, “God’s Spiritual Stimulus Plan—Humility, www.sermomcentral.com, 2/6/25.)  

By the way, a parishioner of mine told me (following this sermon) that her father was a city bus driver in Louisville, Kentucky, for years, and that Muhammed Ali (aka, Cassius Clay) rode his bus daily as a child going to school.  Her father said the great boxer had always had a tendency to brag about himself.

 A second story regarding humility involves Benjamin Franklin:  Apparently he once… “made a list of character qualities that he wanted to develop in his own life. When he mastered one virtue, he went on to the next. He did pretty well, he said, until he got to humility.  Every time he thought he was making significant progress, he would be so pleased with himself that he became proud.”

(“Illustrations on Humility,” the Disciplers Blog, 2/7/2025.)

It’s hard to be humble, isn’t it?  But our Scripture passages today provide us with some pretty strong reminders that the virtue of humility pleases God.

A.  Let’s look first at the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-13).  This story recaps his call, by the Lord, to become a prophet.  The context for Isaiah is the death of the good king, Uzziah.  Uzziah had ruled the Southern Kingdom (Judea and Jerusalem) for 52 years, from 791-740 BC.  He subdued Israel’s traditional enemies, the Philistines (ancestors of today’s Palestinians), the Arabs, and the Ammonites.  And, as long as Uzziah sought God and did not get too proud, he led the country into a period of peace and prosperity.  When Uzziah died, however, Isaiah was grieved and worried for the future of Judea.  Fortunately, Isaiah took his worry to the Temple, where he placed it on God’s altar through prayer.  No doubt he was lamenting. “Lord, what shall we do? What will happen to us all now?”  

The Lord responds to him with a vision and a calling.  The vision is of God on His throne.  The Lord is so immense that the train of His garment fills the Temple.  God wants to reassure Isaiah that all is well:  Isaiah’s earthly King is dead, but his heavenly King is alive and well and sovereign over all things.

Isaiah also sees 6 seraphim—in the Hebrew, the name means to burn—flying about the Throne.  While the job of the cherubim is to protect the holiness of God, the job of the seraphim is to seek out sin and destroy it.

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Isaiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.68.)

This is important because Isaiah immediately becomes aware that he is a sinful man who has seen God himself.  He knows from Moses’ dialogue with God in Exodus 33:20, that—No one may see Me and live.  No sinful being may exist in the physical presence of the Living God.  So he cries out (verse 5, NLT)—It’s all over!  I am doomed, for I am a sinful man.  I have filthy lips and I live among a people with filthy lips.  Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  Isaiah is honest—he admits and takes responsibility for his sinfulness.  He doesn’t blame his environment, his parents, or any sinful associates.  He humbles himself before God.

God then directs a seraph to cleanse Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal from the altar where sacrifices for sins are carried out.  Prior to Jesus’ once- and-for-all-perfect sacrifice of Himself, an animal was chosen to be offered in one’s place.  The sinner consigned his/her sins to the animal’s head, the priest slit the animal’s throat, drained its blood, and placed its body on the sacrificial altar to be burned.  The life blood of the animal paid for the sin of the human.  The burning or live coal the seraph brought to Isaiah came from the altar at which such atonement for sin was made.  McGee goes on to assert that this act foreshadowed the coming cleansing we would all experience through the shedding of Jesus’ blood (Ibid., p.71).  Remember the words of the old hymn, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”  Instead of hurting Isaiah, Christ’s future (to him) finished work on the Cross cleansed and healed him.

Then the Lord calls Isaiah to a frustrating work in which he will convey God’s words to a people group who will neither listen to nor receive what the Prophet has to say.  Again, Isaiah humbly agrees to answer the call–Here I am; send me–even though it is to a mission that will feel very frustrating.

B.  In Psalm 138, King David offers thanksgiving to the Lord for His love and protection.  He says in v. 1—I will sing your praises before the gods.  By gods, David was referring to the false gods of Israel’s neighbors, Egyptian, Philistine, and Canaanite gods.  For us, today, the meaning is anything we put ahead of God in our lives (McGee, p.156 of his commentary on the Psalms).  This could be money, power, status, influence, certain relationships with people, and addictions.

In verse 2, he goes on to praise God for His love and His trustworthiness.  In verse 6, he insists—Though the Lord is great, He cares for the humble, but He keeps His distance from the proud.

There it is, the theme of humility and how it pleases God.  Later, James, the half-brother of Christ, will write (James 4:6)—God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Similarly Peter will state (1 Peter 5:6)—So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. 

C.  St. Paul, in his 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians (verses 1-11), refutes the first heresy to arise in the infant Christian Church: That there was no resurrection.  He carefully enumerates all the folks who saw and interacted with the risen Jesus.  There were more than 512 eye-witnesses.  Then he, himself, saw Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Next, he humbly recounts (vv.8-10, NLT)—Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw Him.  For I am the least of all the apostles.  In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted the Church.  But whatever I am now, it is because God poured out His special favor on me….

Some say Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was the greatest of all the apostles; but here he humbly reminds us that if he is so, it is only due to the grace and forgiveness of Christ.

D.  Finally, we have the example of Peter (also of James, John, and Andrew, Peter’s brother) in Matthew 5:1-11.  Jesus uses Peter’s (and Andrew’s) boat to address the crowd of His followers.  The fishermen are cleaning their nets, but they are also listening to Jesus.  He dismisses the crowd and urges Peter to pull away from the shore and launch his nets again.  It’s daylight and they have already fished all night with no results.

They are tired, and Peter seems crabby.  He knows from experience that the fish they sought tend to swarm only at night.  He must wonder, “What’s the point of going back out now that it’s daylight?”

But Peter does as Jesus says and is amazed to haul in a gigantic haul of fish!  They bring in enough to tear their handmade nets.  They land enough to nearly sink Peter’s boat and that of the Zebedee brothers, James and John.  Peter recognizes both the miracle of the catch and that Jesus has the surprising power to accomplish miracles.  Like Isaiah before him, he immediately becomes aware of his sinfulness.  He humbles himself.  He feels so unworthy, he even asks the Lord to leave him.  But Jesus instead invites him—all 4 fishing partners, in fact–to become “fishers of men/people.”

Peter humbles himself and Jesus makes him a disciple—an apostle.

The Prophet Micah (6:8) has asserted that the way we please God is…”to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”   Ali lacked humility, Franklin–like us–struggled to attain it, but Isaiah, King David, Paul, and Jesus’ Apostles all demonstrated it.  It is a virtue we can develop.  It is something we can intentionally cultivate and attain.

How do we do it?  King David was right:  (1) Put God first in our lives.  We decide to try to please Him.  (2) Then we recall James 1:17 (NLT)—Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, Who created all the light in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow [meaning He is not mercurial but is the same yesterday, today, and forever].  Whatever we do that might make us proud is actually something God prompted in us, inspired, or helped us to do.  Then, we must willingly give Him the praise for every good thing we accomplish and every good thing we experience.   Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alleluia, Alleluia!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Pastor Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

All you need is Love

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 2, 2025

Scriptures: Isa 62:1-5; Ps 36:5-10; 1 Cor 13:1-13; Jn 8:1-11

A few weeks ago, I told you I had gone to college with Bob Dylan (not physically, but his music saturated my college experience).  In a similar way, I could say I went to high school with the Beatles.  Their lyrics were simpler than Dylan’s (e.g., She loves me, yeah, yeah, yeah…)—and sometimes didn’t even make sense–but their melodies were catchy.  A good example is their song, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, called, “All you need is love.”  The verses are somewhat nonsensical, but the chorus has stuck with me for years:

“All you need is love;

All you need is love;

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.”

You can see where this chorus could get into your mind and replay itself for so long that it drives you nuts!

Now we know that God is love.  He loves us with a steadfast, loyal love.  And He wants us to try to love others, even when they don’t appear to us to be very lovable.  Think about the fellow who cuts you off in traffic, or the woman who is loudly cussing out her kids in Walmart, or the person who confronts you in anger and with shouting and intimidation. In these cases, we need more than the intention to love others.  We need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to love the irritating, the irritable, the grumpy, and the disagreeable.  We need love and a supernatural boost to exhibit it.

All of our Scripture lessons today focus on God’s ideas of love.

A.  Let’s begin with our New Testament lesson from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.  St. Paul has just taught us about spiritual gifts in the 12th chapter.  He names a few and says we are all given at least one in order to contribute to the Church, the Body of Christ.  He even says we can ask for more.  But, in chapter 13, he insists that no spiritual gift is more important than love.  If we, for instance, have a gift of prophesy or of healing others, but are not exercising these out of love, then these gifts have no value in God’s eyes.  Someone has said, “Even the most impressive sacrificial gifts mean nothing if not motivated by love.”  (www.bibleproject.com, 1/28/2025)

St. Paul also wants us to know that to the Christian, love is not self-centered.  It is not self-focused.  It’s not a “quid pro quo” I do what you need or want for you so that you will do what I need or want for me.  That’s a transaction, not a gift.  That kind of love is motivated by my self-interest.

That’s also where a lot of married people get love wrong, feeling they are owed certain behaviors by their partners in order to love them back.  Instead, Christian love is the “willingness to give up one’s own desires for the good of others.”

(www.bibleproject.com, 1/28/2025)

It is a way we serve or bless others.  It is exactly what Jesus does, over and over in the Gospels.

B.  Let’s look at John 8:1-11, the story of the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus is teaching in the Temple and is rudely interrupted by some religious leaders.  They don’t have a theological issue for Him, like healing on the Sabbath or which commandment is the most important.  Instead, they have set a trap for Him and, because as God He is omniscient, He knows it.  Rather than taking Him aside privately, they throw a woman they’ve caught in the act of adultery onto the ground before Jesus and the crowd, and demand to know what He believes should happen to her.  The woman is clearly guilty. 

But where’s her partner?  No one commits adultery all by her or himself.  These hypocrites don’t care about the male partner or about justice.  Rather, they are hoping to make a public scene in which Jesus will violate either the Torah or Roman Law.  It’s a lot like current congressional hearings where the representatives or senators pose questions that can only be answered by “yes” or “no.”  The trap is this:  If Jesus says, “You are right, stone her,” they can run to the Romans to accuse Him (only the Romans could authorize the death penalty).  But, If He urges mercy for her, they can claim He violates Jewish Law.  

What’s interesting is that in trying to trap Jesus, they have themselves violated the spirit of the Law:  Leviticus 20:10 reads If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—the wife of a neighbor—the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.  The same sense is replicated in Deuteronomy 22:22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die.  You must purge the evil from Israel.   Notice, the means of death is not specified in either passage—there is no mention of stoning.  And also notice the Law is aimed at the male and they have not bothered to drag him in.

Finally, notice Jesus doesn’t say a word —THEY CAN’T TRAP HIM IF HE DOESN’T SPEAK!  Jesus is so brilliant as He outsmarts them and their plot.

Instead, He begins to write in the dirt with His finger.  What could He have been writing? Isn’t it a shame that we have no record or the only thing Jesus Christ ever wrote?  I think He looked at them one-by-one and wrote their name next to a big, secret sin, and perhaps the name of the person they had sinned with.  This makes sense because, after having apparently listed their major sins, He then states, (v.7) —IF any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.  The only sinless person there is Jesus.  One-by-one, they leave, in age order (maybe the older ones had accumulated more sins?  Or maybe they were just willing to admit to them?)

So then Jesus turns His attention to the woman:  Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?  She respectfully replies, No one, Sir.  And Jesus responds, Then neither do I condemn you.  Go now and leave your life of sin (sin no more).  The only one who could have legitimately judged her did not.  Instead, Jesus recognizes her sin, but also offers her grace—unmerited, or unearned favor–and forgiveness.  This is a powerful example of love in action.

C.  Our Old Testament lesson and our Psalm provide two more examples of how the Lord views love:

Psalm 36 (verses 5-10) was written by King David.  In it, he describes how he has experienced our God:  To David, God is merciful and faithful; God is righteous and always delivers right judgments; and God is trustworthy and relates to us through His loving kindness.

In verse 7, he writes —All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of Your wings.  David references God’s assertion in Exodus 19:4 —You have seen what I did to the Egyptians.  You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.  David is teaching us that–for those of us who love God—the Lord offers protection, security, rest, and love.

In Isaiah 62:1-5, the Messiah is speaking to Jerusalem from the standpoint of His 2nd Coming.  Jesus will be ambitious for Jerusalem —He will give her a new name.  She will no longer be called The Forsaken City or The Desolate Land.  Rather, her new names will be Hephzibah (The City of God’s delight) and Beulah (the Bride of God).

Since, at Jesus’ 2nd Coming, the Jews of Jerusalem will have come to realize that Jesus is their Messiah, she too—along with the Christian Church—will be the bride of Christ.  The Lord’s love for Jerusalem will be returned to Him, and He will rejoice over her!

The Beatles would have us believe that all we need is love.  But we know that human love—while wonderful—is not enough to nurture and maintain relationships and life.   We need to experience God’s love in our lives.  We need to act out God’s version of love.  We need a boost from the Holy Spirit to love others, especially the seemingly unlovely ones.  And we need to love generously, without expecting something in return.

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Despite Rejection

Pastor Sherry’s message for January 26, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 1:4-10; Ps 71:1-6; 1 Cor 12:12-31a; Lk 4:14-30

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln…

“…was defeated seven times for elective office before winning the Presidency of the United States. He certainly defied the odds. And he did not give up.

“Then there was Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh earned all of $85 from his paintings during his lifetime. One hundred years after his death, just one painting alone, Dr. Bachet, sold for the incredible sum of $82.5 million.

“Then there was this itinerant, middle eastern preacher who lived some 2,000 years ago — his ideas were definitely rejected by the people of his hometown, as well as the religious leaders of his time and country. Yet he continued his ministry as he understood it to be — Divine Defiance?

“The point is clear. If Abraham Lincoln, Vincent van Gogh, or Jesus of Nazareth had let rejection rule their lives, and let it keep them from doing and saying what they felt sure to be right — our world would be incredibly impoverished today.”

(Dianne O’Connell, “Divine Defiance,” www.esermons.com, 1/20/2025)

Consider how often these three must have felt discouraged, frustrated, or ready to give up?: Yet, what great examples to us of the importance of persevering in the face of repeated rejection.

Two of our Scripture passages today illustrate this theme of persevering despite rejection:

A.: Our Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 1:4-10, and recounts the divine call to Jeremiah to become the Lord’s prophet.

Jeremiah was probably between 17-20 years old when this takes place.  He was already serving God as a priest in his home town of Anathoth, located just North of Jerusalem. King Josiah was about 22 then, in 626BC, and reigned until he died at age 39.: He and Jeremiah were contemporaries, and likely became friends. Jeremiah served all during the remainder of Josiah’s reign, and continuing also during the reigns of kings Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim (sons of Josiah), Jehoiachin (Josiah’s grandson), and Zedekiah (a third son of Josiah).

Josiah, a good and godly king, had led his people in a revival to turn their hearts back to God; but his sons and grandsons were another story.

Because of their idolatry and wicked behavior, God allowed the last to be defeated and carried off into slavery by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Notice how God calls Jeremiah into His service: verse 5: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.: This is amazing and also a bit intimidating, isn’t it?: It implies that God knows us before we are even conceived, and that He has a plan for our lives—He has given us life for a purpose.: The Lord tells Jeremiah He had determined–even before the young man’s birth–that he would become a prophet and deliver to His people whatever God told him to say.: Jeremiah is a humble young man who replies to God, (v.6): I am only a child, meaning, Yes, I will do it, but I am young and lack much life experience.

In other words, I wouldn’t know what to say!: God’s response must have been very reassuring (v.7): Do not say,’ I am only a child.’: You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.: The Lord assures him He will tell Jeremiah what to say; and He promises to take care of him, even though He was calling him to prophesy divine judgment on Judah and her heretical kings.

If we skip ahead 40 years to the end of Jeremiah’s life and career, we would find that he apparently never made a single convert; after King Josiah, the people ignored or ridiculed his preaching entirely.: He was rejected by his people because of his message, hated, beaten, put in stocks, imprisoned, and charged with being a traitor. He was later called “the prophet of the broken heart” because God’s judgments on his people—and their rejection of God–were so distressing to him.: Actually his emotional response to his rejection mirrored God’s own saddness.: Once, King Jehoiakim cut his hand-written, prophetic scrolls up.: He destroyed them by throwing them into the fire (but God just retold the contents to Jeremiah so he could write them again).

I don’t know about you, but though I would have been proud to speak the Lord’s words to His people, I would also have been exceedingly distressed to have had been so unsuccessful in changing peoples’ behavior.: Jeremiah may have been just as distressed, but he persisted!: He may have been disappointed, but he kept on giving out God’s messages.: He may have been discouraged, but he never gave up!: I think that he stands as an excellent example to us:: He trusted in God’s promise to him and he persevered despite what he probably considered his limited impact.

And, as Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.: Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.: Those lousy kings after Josiah are no longer remembered by anyone, but Jeremiah’s two books of the Bible (Jeremiah and Lamentations) remain available today, 2700 years later!

With what in your life are you struggling today?: With a relative, a co-worker, or an unfair boss?: With an illness or a chronic condition?: With a lack of money or a lack of peace? Jeremiah’s obedience to God, and his perseverance in the face of repeated rejection, inspire and encourage us 

(1) to put one foot after the other, continuing to try to do good where we can; and (2) not to give Satan the victory by caving in to dejection and perceived defeat. 

B.: The same is true of Jesus (as per our Gospel lesson, Luke 4:14-30).: Jesus reads His job description from Isaiah 61:1, and tells His friends and neighbors in Nazareth that they are witnessing the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy in Him.: At first, they were impressed with His knowledge and wisdom–until someone spoke up who reminded everyone that Jesus was the carpenter’s son.: This person had placed Jesus in a box and would not consider that He might in fact have become “more than a carpenter.”

His former neighbors were eager to see Him work some miracles, but they were unwilling to alter their perceptions of Him.: John Mark tells us in Mark 6:5: He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them…due to their lack of faith.

Jesus really gets them riled up when He reminds them (v.24): I tell you the truth…no prophet is accepted in his hometown.: Then He further incenses them when He gives them two examples of “outsiders,” Gentiles whom God had provided for, rather than bless Israelites.: There were many widows in need in Israel during the famine and drought of Elijah’s day, but God sent the prophet to minister to a Phoenician woman.: He provided her with a continuous supply of food, and even resurrected her son when he died.: There were lots of Israelite lepers, but God chose to heal the Syrian general, Naaman.: In other words, Jesus is warning them that God will not bless them if they do not believe in His Son.

By this point, they are so enraged that they attempt to kill Him by tossing Him off a cliff.: The fact that He could just disappear from an angry mob should have stretched the box in which they had confined Him.: Surely Jesus was disappointed with their rejection of Him.: He was obviously willing to heal many, but their contempt and anger, their lack of faith, limited what His heavenly Father would allow Him to do there.: Just as with Jeremiah, His own did not believe Him.: So, He moves His base of operations to Capernaum.

I think what is most instructive for us is that is the example Jesus gives us in the face of rejection:: (1) Respond honestly, if given the opportunity.: He was admitting to them that He was the Messiah by saying He fulfills the Isaiah 61:1 passage.: He did not deny the truth even thught hearing it incited them to violence against them.: Don’t deny the truth as you know it, but also (2) don’t reply with anger, name-calling, or physical intimidation.: Years ago, I worked for a woman pediatrician in Tallahassee who gathered several social workers into her practice.: She worked with kids whose conditions did not resolve through the usual medical interventions, so instead, she involved the kids in counseling. I was there to supervise several interns she had working toward licensure, and I counseled some of the parents.: The longer I was there, the more it became evident to me that one of the women I was supervising (though she was married to a man) was having a lesbian affair with the doc.: The woman was good with the kids she counseled, but she viewed their parents as the enemy.: I repeatedly told her she needed to align sufficiently with the parents to change the social and psychological environment they created for their children. She resisted this vehemently.: I told her I could not then recommend her for licensure.: Our boss—and her lover—then demanded I do so despite my reservations.: I had to resign and leave that practice. As my Christian therapist friends helped me move my office, I walked out the door and “shook the dust off my sandals.” (3) Like Jesus, I remained calm, and moved on. The Lord provided me another location to do what He had gifted me to do…and He will do the same for you.

We cannot allow rejection to rule our lives.: We will not win over everyone we encounter.: Let’s remember how Lincoln, Van Gogh, Jeremiah–and even President Trump, whether you like him or not—as well as Jesus, all persevered despite being repeatedly rejected.

In Galatians 6:9, St. Paul encourages us (NLT): So: let’s not get tired of doing what is good.: At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.:  We are not meant to just, “Be calm and carry on,” but to continue to do our best to please God and to trust in Him.

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams  

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Invite Jesus!

Pastor Sherry’s message for January 19, 2025

Scriptures: Neh 8:1-10; Ps 19; 1 Cor 12:1-11; Jn 2:1-11

Remember the old TV show, “The Tonight Show” with comedian Johnny Carson?  He was hilarious, wasn’t he?  You can probably recall some particularly funny episodes (You can locate reruns on www.YouTube.com).

One night he featured an interview with an 8 year old hero.  The child had rescued two friends who had gotten trapped in a West Virginia coal mine.

As Johnny continued to talk with the boy, it became obvious that the child was a Christian.

So Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school. When the boy said he did Johnny inquired, “What are you learning in Sunday school?” “Last week,” came his reply, “our lesson was about when Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine.” The audience roared, but Johnny tried to keep a straight face. Then he said, “And what did you learn from that story?” The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he hadn’t thought about this. But then he lifted up his face and said, “If you’re going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!” 

(Borrowed from www.Sermons.com, 1/14/2025)

The child was wise beyond his years!  We are told in Ecclesiastes 4:12 a cord of three strands is not easily broken.  This passage (4:9-12) is often read at weddings.  The bride and groom represent two of the three strands.  The marriage is strengthened if the third strand is Jesus.

Again, the child said, “If you are going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus.” 

Our Gospel lesson today (John 2:1-11) recounts the wedding at Cana—to which Jesus had been invited.  Weddings were important events in Israel in the time of Christ.  They often involved feasting, dancing, and visiting with friends and family for up to a week!  It was time off for everyone to celebrate!  The couple didn’t take a Honeymoon in those days.

Instead, in the place of what we would call a Wedding Reception, the newlyweds would share their joy, and strengthen their ties, with their relatives and neighbors, with feasting and fun. 

Now the village of Cana was just over the hill from Nazareth.  Some scholars believe Mary, Jesus’ mother, had relatives there, so she, Jesus and the rest of her family had been invited.  You can thus see how, if a couple were poor, there was a real danger of running out of food and/or wine.  Wine to them was a staple with meals.  Perhaps the alcohol content helped kill bacteria in their unfiltered water.  However, drunkenness was universally condemned.  This couple, in our story today, does run out of wine, and the bridegroom is about to be publically embarrassed.

So Mary brings their dilemma to Jesus’ attention.  She says, They have no more wine.  Jesus responds, Dear woman, why do you involve Me?  Scholars are undecided about why she would ask Him to do something for them in this setting.  Jesus knew His Heavenly Father had not yet told Him to begin His public ministry, so He was reluctant to perform a miracle—He says, My time has not yet come.  I have heard this passage preached where the minister claimed Mary was a pushy, Jewish mother.  I could be wrong, but I think because she was His mother, she knew of knew His capabilities and His compassion. She had empathy for the couple.  Thus it is very likely that God the Father nudged Mary to “jump start” Jesus.

Whatever the case, He honors her by resolving the crisis.  He has servants gather 6 large water jars, each holding 20-30 gallons.  This would have been water set aside for ritual purification.  He then transforms the water into the best wine ever—somewhere between 6X20=120 gallons to 6X30=180 gallons!  This was an audaciously generous amount of delicious wine.  The one we would call “the wedding planner” or the master of the banquet, is amazed!  In so doing, Jesus has just offered the first sign of His divinity:  He can transform matter/material world.

We know from this side of the Cross that Jesus only did what His heavenly Father told Him to do.  So why unveil His divine powers at a wedding?

Our Psalm (19) celebrates God as our creator and redeemer. The Hebrew word used for God in the first 6 verses of this psalm is Elohim—it is the plural form of El—the Mighty One, or God the Creator [indicating that all 3 persons of the Trinity were involved in creation].  He created grapes and led someone at some point to ferment grape juice into wine.  The Vineyard is one of several metaphors God uses to describe the nation of Israel. The wedding takes place within the vineyard, Israel, and the groom has need of more wine. Perhaps God is saying, Jesus will meet your need, and what He supplies is better than the best.

In the 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 passage, Paul lists 9 spiritual gifts potentially given– through the power of the Holy Spirit–to those of us who love Jesus. These gifts are not given to us for our personal enjoyment, but for us to help with building up God’s Kingdom here on earth.  Among these is miraculous powers.  Jesus demonstrated His miraculous powers at the wedding in Cana.  Some believe this signaled His endorsement of the marital union.  (Since God the Father invented marriage in Genesis, we can be sure God the Son would support the Father’s idea.)  Other scholars make the distinction between Moses and Jesus: Moses’ first miracle was to turn Nile River water into blood (representing the Law);  Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into fine wine (indicating grace and mercy).  Still other Biblical experts assert that Jesus took something old and battered (the jugs/water pots) and filled them with something new designed to meet their needs. In other words, He took a good thing from the past—water—and turned it into a good thing for the future–good, new wine. This way, we can begin to see the wine as a metaphor for the generous blessing of God.

Additionally, we have paired with these readings the Old Testament lesson from Nehemiah 8:1-11, which takes place in Jerusalem in 445BC.  Jewish POW’s of first the Babylonian, then the Persian Empires, had been set free by the Persian king, Artaxerxes, to return to their homeland.  Under the oversight and direction of their governor, Nehemiah, they have completed the massive rebuilding of the city walls in just 52 days.  Ezra, their priest, had begun the sad reconstruction of the Temple—which would take many more years.  We find them today assembled–on the equivalent of their New Year’s Day—inside the Water Gate (1 of the 12 refurbished gates of the city).  You may remember that business, legal, and political matters were debated and decided, in those days, at the city gates. So this wasn’t just some narrow passageway. It was, instead, a gate opening into a sizeable square or assembly area.

Ezra and Nehemiah had convened a “solemn assembly” of all the returning citizens.  Scholars estimate some 49,000 men, women, and children of an age to understand, had gathered there.  After 70 years of exile in a foreign nation, they were probably starved for God’s word.  They may have held Bible studies while in captivity, but they had not really been formally taught the Torah (the Law). Ezra and Nehemiah did not want the people to be ignorant of God’s Law. Their parents’ and grandparents’ ignorance and rebellion is what got them transported to Babylon in the first place.

Notice what happens: Ezra proclaims God’s word, in a loud voice, from a raised platform (perhaps the first pulpit). The people remain standing, and quiet, and as they listen for some 4-6 hours!  This is where the synagogue tradition of standing for the reading of Scripture began.  Standing is a sign of respect, of reverence.  I went to 4 years of Catholic Girl’s School (though not a Catholic) and learned quickly that one stood when called upon by one of the nuns. These Israelites are hearing God’s Law, Torah read to them—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—perhaps for the first time.  There are Levites/priests available to walk among the crowd and explain what God’s Word means.  This is probably the most important job we pastors do—explain the meaning of Scripture, as best as we can.  The pre-Reformation Catholic Church had moved away from this important duty, focusing instead on the dictates of “holy mother church.”  The Protestant Reformers were thus insistent that we preach and explain God’s word.  Like the people of Nehemiah’s day, we cannot obey God’s Word if we don’t know or understand it.

The people respond with AMEN, AMEN! May it be so, hands lifted, praising God.  We say, Thanks be to God! following the reading of Scripture in our worship services, and hopefully we mean it.  They then, as the Word sunk in, became convicted of their sinfulness.  They now knew the standard, and could gage how far short of it they fell.  So, they prostrate themselves and cry tears of repentance.  But Ezra, Nehemiah, the 13 on the platform, and the Levites among them, tell them not to grieve or mourn…a. They were to celebrate their deliverance from captivity by God.  He once again (remember 400 years in Egypt) freed them and restored them.  He hadn’t turned His back on them!  And now they had had a new chance to get it right.  This was an occasion to celebrate, to rejoice about the goodness and mercy of the Lord!

We are just 2 and ½ weeks into the New Year.  Let’s invite Jesus—not just to the wedding—but into our lives.  Let’s also commit ourselves to reading and studying Scripture, God’s Word.  Let’s allow God’s Word to cleanse us, or as Paul puts it in Ephesians 5:26–>wash us with the water of the Word.  God’s Word transforms us, if we are open to Him.  God’s Word leads, guides, and directs us. Finally, let’s look for the miracles, or blessings, He has for us, and be sure to thank Him for them.  Amen!  May it be so!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams