Posted on by Cheryl Norman

The Necessity of Prayer

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 4, 2024

Scriptures: Isa 40:21-31; Ps 147:1-11, 20c; 1 Cor 9:16-23; Mk 1:29-39

Some time back, the devotional booklet, Our Daily Bread, ran the following story:

“A father took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunchtime arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, “Son, we’ll just have a silent prayer.” Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, “What in the world were you praying about all that time?” With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, “How do I know? It was a silent prayer.”

(As repeated on the website, www.sermoncentral.com, 2/2/2024.)

Isn’t that just like a little kid? So literal: “If it’s truly silent, even I don’t know what I’m praying.” Whatever was on his mind and heart, I’m sure that it brought a smile to God’s face.

I believe that Jesus is taking us—and His disciples–to school today on the necessity of prayer. Prayer is talking to God or conversation with Jesus.

Technically, it’s our pleas or our praise directed to God, through the intercession of His Son, Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s see what our readings today have to add to this topic:

A. Our Gospel is from Mark 1:29-39—In it, Jesus gives us a great model for prayer. Remember, Biblical scholars believe Mark is actually Peter’s Gospel. Peter was too busy doing ministry, so he has his apprentice, John Mark, write down for him Peter’s experiences with Jesus. (I did this once for a friend from seminary. He was pioneering in bringing drug dealers, addicts, prostitutes, and pimps to Christ on the south side of Jacksonville, Florida. He had a substantial collection of hair-raising stories about such folks coming to Christ. I offered to write them down for him as he was too busy doing the work of ministry himself. I wrote, he edited, and we published a book called, Gospel Chains: Inspirational Stories of Changed Lives through Chains of Relationship, Anglican Revitalization Ministries, 2022. Peter was trying to win over a Roman audience to Christ. He focuses on something Roman soldiers would relate to and appreciate: the authority of Christ.

He reports in Chapter 1 that Jesus successfully overcomes the temptations Satan presents to Him. He then returns to Capernaum to recruit his first disciples, and to worship in the Synagogue there. As Jesus is teaching and preaching in the synagogue, a demon manifests in a man in the congregation. Jesus muzzles it with a minimum of fuss and casts it out of the man. The worshippers of Capernaum were amazed—and so too would have been the Romans—that Jesus has authority over the spiritual realm.

And so we find Him in today’s passage, leaving the Synagogue with James and John to visit at Simon Peter’s house. Let’s focus on 3 noteworthy points: First, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law. This indicates that He has authority over physical illnesses. Second, the word travels after Sabbath just as you might expect in a small town—Jesus has freed a demonized man and now He has healed Peter’s wife’s mother. Imagine if our church offered a service in which we prayed for folks from Wellborn (which I hope we will begin doing later this year). Next imagine that many were healed due to our intercessory prayers for them. Needless to say, the very next time we offered prayer, people would crowd in, bringing their sick 2nd cousins, neighbors, and friends for healing. Verses 33-34 state it this way—The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but He would not let the demons speak, because they knew who He was. Somewhere reputable I read that the 4 Gospels list 31 healings. But the truth is that Jesus healed many, many more than Scripture describes. The Apostle John writes at the end of his gospel (21:25)—Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would have room for the books that would be written.

The 3rd important point is that Jesus, the Son of God, also operated under authority—that of God the Father. Verse 35 tells us—Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. (I used to wonder, “Wasn’t He worried He might be assaulted by bad-actors, by Himself in the dark?” Then I realized, “Of course not. He’s God! Who could mess with Him and win?”). We do not know how often He did this, but I would bet that He checked in with His Father daily. Bu doing so, He nurtured their relationship, plugged back into His power-source, and He got His directions, His marching orders for the next step.

When Peter and the others look for Him, because a morning crowd has formed, they urge Him to return to the house to meet these additional needs. But Jesus does not bow to their demands; He’s not a people-pleaser. He asserts instead (v.38) Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come. Capernaum may be His headquarters, but He will not be limited to ministering there only—the mission the Father has given Him is broader than what the disciples considered. This fact, too, would have appealed to a Roman military audience, as they too served a mission greater than one duty station warranted.

B. Our Isaiah lesson (40:21-31) reminds us of God’s limitless power. Peter and John Mark—if they had thought of it–should have attached this reading to the Gospel account to impress the Romans. It is the Christian God who sits enthroned above the earth, not the Roman panoply of arrogant and merciless master-manipulators. Verse 23 tells us—He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. God the Father (and God the Son) (v.26) made and named the stars. God the Father (and God the Son) created (v.28) the length and breadth of the earth. It is He and Jesus who set things into motion and it is He and Jesus who sustain all things.

Furthermore, (v.29)—He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. We renew our strength when we abide with Him. Jesus knew this and so sought the Father in prayer. Have you ever noticed how un-frazzled you become after a time of prayer? Seeking the Lord calms and relaxes us.

We are also renewed when we hope in the Lord! Now Roman soldiers would have loved to have known that secret. This would have eliminated the need to use drugs to stay awake. They would have had no need to rely upon substances to increase strength. Evidence has been uncovered that indicates the Nazis used drugs to amp themselves up before an offensive action. We also know that the Hamas terrorists, who stuck Israeli kibbutzim on October 7th, were strung out on some drugs that gave them energy for days with no sleep, and also lowered their inhibitions so they could commit the atrocities they did. We don’t need to resort to such as God is willing to renew our strength in righteous causes. To quote Psalm 62:6, the Lord is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Additionally, Roman soldiers should have become impressed to learn that our God truly is the Commander in Chief, sovereign over all the earth!

C. Psalm 147:1-11 reiterates essentially the same message as the Isaiah passage: Verse 5 states—Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. Verse 3 promises, like Isaiah 61:1—He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He is both all-powerful and yet extremely compassionate. Verse 11—The Lord delights in those who fear Him [look to Him with awe], who put their hope in His unfailing love. It just makes sense to worship and to pray to an all-powerful God who loves us and cares for us.

D. And in our 1st Corinthians passage (9:16-23), the Apostle Paul wants us to know that his relationship to God compels him to preach the Gospel far and wide. Paul admits he is as winsome as he can be in an effort to appeal to all to accept the truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ. He did not want any impediments to exist in him that would inhibit spreading the Gospel to those who had not heard it. He doesn’t mention prayer per se, but we know he was a mighty man of prayer. He prayed for the wisdom and stamina to travel and to deliver the message. He ended many of his epistles by asking God to bless those who labored with him in this great endeavor around the Mediterranean Sea basin. I think we can safely assume he sandwiched all of his efforts at kingdom building with prayer.

Our readings today are telling us that daily prayer for us is a necessity. We need to communicate with the Lord to understand His will for us. We need to abide with or stay connected to Him to have the power to do His will. We need to pray to Him so as to remain attached to Him.

Firm attachment to the Lord renews our strength. Residing in God’s pocket (I like to think of myself as settled into His breast pocket where I can hear His heartbeat) allows us to soar like eagles. Amen. May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Come and Hear for Yourself!

Pastor Sherry’s message for January 21, 2024

Scriptures: 1 Sam 3:1-20; Ps 139:1-6, 13-18; 1Cor 6:12-20; Jn 1:43-51

This weekend, I attended a Retreat put on by my former church in Gainesville, Florida, Servants of Christ Anglican Church. The retreat leadership had texted me in early October to ask me to come and graciously offered to pay my expenses. Later, I learned this was the same weekend of the inaugural conference in Florida of the Global Methodist Church. My head told me I should cancel the healing conference and attend the meeting of our new church peers. But I believe the Holy Spirit protested and insisted I attend the healing retreat instead. Sometimes that is exactly what happens: The Holy Spirit urges you to do one thing while your practical, cognitive mind argues the opposite. I have learned over the years to always obey the leading of the Spirit.

The retreat was held in Steinhatchee, Florida, a fishing village on the Gulf Coast. For the past week and a half, I had been experiencing pain in both hips—pain when walking and pain on trying to rise from a chair or to navigate steps. By the time I arrived Friday evening, I could hardly walk. By Saturday afternoon, when they held their healing service, I had figured out that my feet, my knees, and my hips all needed healing from pain. At night when I laid down to sleep, my legs throbbed. It occurred to me that Satan was trying to either handicap me or to take me out of active ministry. The team I approached for prayer agreed that he was attacking me from the ground up. They prayed that the Holy Spirit would then flood me with a healing anointing from my head down. I immediately felt relief, especially in my hips. No more pain! They had bound the powers of hell from inflicting pain upon me and they prayed that the Lord Jesus would heal and restore me. Like the woman with the 12 year issue of blood (Mark 5:21-43), I had the faith that the Lord had healed me. Since then, with any twitch or ache in my feet, legs, or hips, I have audibly affirmed that I have been healed and have observed that the pain then desists. Clearly the Holy Spirit wanted me to attend that retreat and I am so glad I listened.

This brings me to an important set of questions for you: Do you hear from the Holy Spirit? Do you hear from the Lord? Do you have a place where you can go to be alone and communicate with or hear from the Lord? Many people refer to this special place as their “prayer closet.” It’s separate from other spaces in a house. When you are there, you can count on not having your prayer time disturbed. It’s lovely if you can dedicate a small room or even a walk in closet for this effort. If not, your prayer closet may be your car or your shower; it may also be your garden or your daily jog or walk, or even when you do the dishes. The main point is to locate a space and visit it regularly so you can talk to God and hear back from Him.

In this vein, I want to focus on today’s Gospel, Psalm 139, and our 1st Samuel reading.

A. In our Gospel lesson today (John 1:43-51), Jesus is calling His disciples. In verses 35-42, just prior to today’s reading, Jesus calls the first 3: Andrew and Peter, Andrew’s brother–both from Bethsaida; and a third un-named one who Church tradition says is John, the Gospel’s author. In today’s passage–which takes place 1 day later–Jesus calls Philip. Philip then locates his friend, Nathanael, and tells him (v.45) We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathanael responds rather sarcastically Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? Philip then invites Nathanael to come and see for himself.

Now let’s take a deeper look at Nathanael. He is also known in Scripture as Bartholomew. Confusingly for us, his names are used interchangeably in the New Testament. Scholars believe Bartholomew may have been what we would call his “last name.” Remember Peter had been known as Simon Bar Jonah, son of Jonah. Nathanael may have been called Nathanael Bar Tolmai, or son of Tolmai, which eventually morphed into Bartholomew.

We don’t know much about him except that he was honest–even perhaps to a fault—and skeptical. It appears he was from Cana, a rival village just over the hill from Nazareth, so he may have been calling on village prejudice when he doubted the Messiah could ever come from Nazareth. It is his honesty that impresses Jesus, Who calls him (v.47) …a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile/nothing false/no deceit.

Jesus is saying that, unlike the Jewish patriarch, Jacob, who was a schemer and a cheat, Nathanael is not. Jesus recognizes him as a guy who calls a spade a spade. He has integrity; he’s authentic; he is not an insincere fake.

Nathanael is naturally curious about how Jesus recognized him and read his character so correctly, since they had never met before. Jesus tells him that He saw him (v.49) …when you were under the fig tree. Fig trees grow out kind of round with branches that may dip to the ground. If a man crawled inside, he could lean against the trunk and be nearly hidden. Or, if the tree were older and larger, he could find respite from the sun and support for his back as he sat beneath it. This is where Jesus had a vision of him. Afterall Jesus, as God, is omniscient, knowing all things. Jesus knew this is where Nathanael had gone to study Scripture and to pray. As He does with any of us (see Psalm 139), Jesus knows our thoughts. There is no place we can run to and hide from Him. Nathanael had been studying Scripture in his “fig tree prayer closet,” seeking to know God better. So Jesus calls him as a disciple.

We can also safely assume, I think, that Nathanael had accurate insight or spiritual discernment. In verse 49 he says Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel. In that moment, in that brief interaction, Nathanael realizes Jesus’ true identity. Jesus is more than a Rabbi. Jesus, referring back again to the patriarch, Jacob, tells Nathanael he will …see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (v. 51). The pre-incarnate Christ is the one Jacob saw in his dream of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. Here He is telling Nathanael that He, Jesus, is the ladder [the bridge; the mediator] between God and humankind. Philip invited Nathanael to come and see; but Jesus drew him near to see and hear for himself.

B. Oh, that we all might be such serious readers of Scripture, such dedicated followers of Christ. Our Old Testament lesson from 1 Samuel 3:1-20 describes another person who came forward and heard for himself. In gratitude to God, the barren Hannah, when she conceived and bore Samuel, obediently took him to be mentored and trained up for service to the Lord by Eli, the priest. Samuel was probably 3 years old when Hannah delivered him to Eli, as Hebrew women tended to nurse their babies for that length of time. Unfortunately, Eli was not a good father. His two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were notoriously evil men. They served at the temple, but had contempt for the Lord and for their father. Eli rebuked them but did not remove them from their priestly duties. Later, God Himself pronounced a death sentence on them and had them killed by the Philistines.

Despite his lack of success as a father, Eli functioned as Samuel’s mentor. Samuel was about 12 or so when God called him twice. Samuel thought he was being paged from sleep by Eli because he did not at this point discern the Lord’s voice. We are told in verse 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Him. This does not reflect at all well upon Eli as a priest. Shame on him! Samuel has been serving God in His Temple at Shiloh for 9 years, but Eli has not taught him about God! YIKES! Telling people about God is the primary job of a priest. No wonder the Lord is going to strip the priesthood from Eli and his descendants. We find in this passage that God is initiating a long-overdue relationship with the young man who had been destined to serve Him since before his birth.

The third time God called him and Samuel mistakenly responded to Eli, Eli figured out that it was the Lord Who was summoning Samuel. Eli tells him to listen to and respond to God the next time He calls his name. Sure enough, God calls him a 4th time and this time Samuel says,(v.10) Speak, for your servant is listening. God then declares a judgment against Eli and his descendants. He also installs Samuel as his prophet, now replacing judges and priests as God’s spokespersons.

So what does this mean for us? Psalm 139 assures us that God knows us and knows our thoughts even before we express them. He seeks us out for relationship. He delights in responding to those of us who have sought Him. And He reveals Himself to those who are ignorant of Him.

If we want to have an intimate relationship with the Lord, we need to spend regular time communicating with Him. We need to locate or set up a prayer closet. We need to spend time reading and thinking about God’s Word.

In closing, I want to share a Christian song with you. It’s sometimes used at funerals—in fact, I would love to have it sung at mine—but it also refers to having attuned your ears to hear from the Lord. In 2010, I went with 9 others on a mission trip to Turkey. This song became our theme song. We sang it to a house church of 40 Iranian Christians, who had already worked a 12 hour day, and yet who crammed themselves into a hot, unairconditioned room in a town in Turkey to worship God and to hear from us. Please listen as we play this acapella version of “There’s a Stirring” from YouTube:

There’s a stirring deep within me

Could it be my time has come

When I see my gracious Savior

Face-to-face when all is done.

Is that His voice I am hearing,

“Come away my precious one”?

Is He calling me?

Is He calling me?

I will rise up, rise up.

Then I’ll bow down

And lay my crown at His wounded feet.

May we all come forth and hear (and respond to) the Holy Spirit when He calls us.

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

The Transforming Power of the Holy Spirit

Pastor Sherry’s Message for January 14, 2024

Scriptures: Gen 1:1-5; Ps 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mk1:1-11

The story is told that Dwight L. Moody—the great American evangelist who lived in the later part of the 1800’s—while witnessing to a large group of folks, asked how he might get the air out of a simple drinking glass. One listener shouted out that he should pump all the air out. Moody listened attentively, but replied that pumping the air out would create a vacuum, which would result in shattering the glass. He patiently heard some other suggestions, then took a nearby pitcher of water and calmly filled the glass. “’There,’ he said, ‘all the air is now removed.’ He then went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not accomplished by “sucking out a sin here and there,” but by being filled with the Holy Spirit.”

(Illustration borrowed from Today in the Word, September, 1991, p. 30.)

Our Scriptures today each provide examples of the power of the Holy Spirit, perhaps as a way of encouraging each of us to be filled with the Spirit:

A. The Genesis account cited this morning (1:1-5) places the Holy Spirit at the beginning of creation. We are told that the Spirit hovered over the face of the water. Let’s read Peterson’s modern paraphrase of these 1st two verses (The Message, p.20) First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

Then God (the Apostle John tells us this was Jesus) spoke the first element of creation into existence. What came first? Light. He formed light and separated it from darkness. The Holy Spirit empowered the formation of day and night. The Holy Spirit is God’s power source. A former pastor of mine used to explain the Spirit as the electricity that flows behind our walls. We plug into it, and become empowered. But then we sin and pull our plug out and lose our power. The analogy is helpful but somewhat simplistic as the Holy Spirit is not just confined to our walls. Nevertheless, the metaphor poses the question: Are you cooperating with the creative, transformative power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you staying plugged in?

B. Our psalm (29) compares the powerful voice of the Lord to a storm in nature. We’ve had a few of these this week, haven’t we? We could hear the wind, a very strong wind (65-75 mph; some reported gusts to 105).

We could see our long, leggy, Florida pine trees bending over from the wind’s force. We saw the sky darken, as rain clouds rushed in. The rain commenced and quickly turned into a torrent. If you were in it, you wanted out of it; if you were in your house, you expected the lights to flicker or go out. Some of us did experience temporary power outages.

King David wrote Psalm 29 and it is clear that he is familiar with the voice of the Lord in all its manifestations: (1) Like in Genesis 1, (v.3)—the voice of the Lord is over the waters. (2) (V.4)—the voice of the Lord is powerful. (3) (V.5)—The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. (4)

(V.7)—The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. (5) (V.8)—The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. (6) (V.9)—The voice of the Lord twists the oak and strips the forests bare. David wants us to be aware of God’s mighty power, which He tends to use to (v.11)—…give strength to His people. His Holy Spirit power could function as a massive destructive force. But instead, He intends the Holy Spirit (1) to lead us to the Truth; (2) to heal us; (3) to help us understand Scripture; (4) to be our companion and friend; and (5) to remind us of the teachings of Jesus.

C. On his 3rd missionary journey, Paul traveled to Ephesus from Corinth. He stayed for 2 years, teaching folks at the Greek School of Tyrannus about Jesus. When he realized that 12 disciples (who had come to Christ through the teaching of Apollos) had been baptized by water, but lacked the Holy Spirit, he saw to it that they were also baptized with the Holy Spirit. The baptism of John the Baptist, which was the only one Apollos knew of at the time, is a baptism of repentance for sins, and places us under the leadership of Jesus. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is what changes our behavior, our attitudes, and even the words that come out of our mouths. Paul wanted the Ephesian disciples to have the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, but can you discern a difference in yourself as a result of His presence? Do others see evidence of the Spirit’s transforming power in your life?

D. Finally, in our Gospel lesson, the baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:1-11), we see that the power of the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as He submitted to John’s water baptism. Jesus was without sin—He did not need a baptism of repentance, but He underwent the ritual in order to identify with our humanity. When He did, the heavens opened and…the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, empowering Him for His public ministry. He also heard His heavenly Father bless and affirm Him, saying (v.11)—You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.

Even Jesus, the 2nd member of the Trinity, needed the power of the Holy Spirit at work in Him—energizing Him to teach and preach, and empowering Him to do miracles.

Before leaving Florida to attend seminary, I asked some Christian friends to pray with me for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We went out to the beach at night and prayed in a pergola perched in the sand. It took a while, but I felt a strong wind come up and blow in my face. It didn’t exactly howl, but it did moan. If you have ever walked the beach during a “nor-easter,” you know the wind comes at you so strongly that you can hardly take a breath. That’s what it was like for me. Afterward, I asked the others if they heard the moaning wind and if they had had trouble catching a breath. They told me they had neither heard nor felt what I did. God had directed that wind of the Spirit just to affect me. In a similar way, when the Bishop laid hands on me to ordain me much later, I felt a huge weight descend on my head. I wondered if the Bishop was trying to push me through the floor. Later I realized the Hebrew word for God’s holiness is kavod, which also means the weightiness of God. The Lord conferred on me both His Holy Spirit power and His sign that He had set me apart for ministry. Praise God!

Todays’ readings compel us to ask, “Are you cooperating with the creative, transformative power of the Holy Spirit in your life?” Our Lord wants to make us more and more like Jesus—and He has the power to pull it off! Are we assisting this process in ourselves, or are we hindering it? He will not force Himself upon us. We have to agree to baptized with the Spirit. Are we willing to take charge of what comes out of our mouths, instead of just allowing ugliness to slip out? Are we willing to restrict our own behavior, doing what will bless but not harm other people? Do we believe that God is with us in the storm, and that He will see us through it? Do we listen for and hear the voice of the Lord in our lives?

Today, let’s pray for a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit on each of us, as we continue to move in 2024: Father God, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—our true Lord Jesus Christ—that you would send your Holy Spirit to anoint each of us with Holy Spirit power. Power to do the ministries You have set out for us. Power to cooperate with the Spirit and be molded and shaped into better people. Transformative power to become more and more like your son, Jesus. We pray this in Jesus’ precious and most powerful name. Amen!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams