Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Our God is a Straight Shooter

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 9, 2025

Scriptures: Hab 1:12-2:9; Ps 145; 2 Thess 1:1-5, 17-21; Lk 20:27-40

The story is told that…

“Shortly after the Communist Revolution, a spokesman for the party visited one of the peasant villages and began to promote communism. He said, ‘Thanks to the party, we have increased wheat production by 100 percent.’ One little man stood up in the back and said, ‘My name is Menski, and I would like to know where all that wheat is.’

“The next year the same official returned to the same village and began the same litany of propaganda, except in this case he said, ‘I want you to know by now we have increased the wheat production 200 percent.’ A little man in the back stood up and said, ‘My name is Menski, and I have one question. Where is all that wheat?’

“Third year came. Same official approached these people and began his same talk. And he said, ‘The communist party has increased the wheat production 300 percent,’  A little fellow stood up in the back. And the official said, ‘I know, you’re Menski, and ….’ The fellow responded, ‘No, my name is Polaski and I have a question. Where is Menski?’”

(Chuch Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, pp.588-589.)

This story is a reminder to many of us that communists are not known for being truth-tellers. They reject Biblical truth, indeed they reject God altogether. Instead, they replace truth with propaganda, lies intended to subvert the truth—Where’s the wheat?–and make their godless rule look much better than it is. In George Orwell’s prophetic book, 1984, the agency that produced propaganda was called “The Ministry of Truth.”

Perhaps you are nervous over the fact that New York City has just elected a Moslem Communist (aka, a “Democratic Socialist”) as mayor. Perhaps you are wondering if this is an indicator of what is to come in our country, a trend in liberal big cities? Or is it exactly what is needed to alert conservatives and others to vote more toward the center in the midterm elections next year?

Rather than worry, let’s look to the truth of God’s word to see what our God has to say about the situation: 

A. In our Old Testament lesson, Habakkuk 1:12-2:9, the prophet—a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah– reminds us that (v.4, NLT) The righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. That means we are to remain faithful to our Lord, no matter what comes.

The book of Habakkuk is noted for relaying the prophet’s own experiences with God. As in the book of Jonah, it is the way the prophet interacts with the Lord that teaches us how to live and how to think. Jonah did not want to do what God directed him to do, and he paid a scary price. When he did finally comply with the Lord, he helped usher in a massive revival in the huge pagan city of Nineveh. 

Habakkuk, on the other hand, has questions for God and he poses them to the Father. He first asks God, in Chapter 1, verse 2 : How long, O Lord, must I call for help? He really wants to know where God is in the midst of so much evil around him. He wants to know why God hasn’t done something. We might say today, “Lord, how have You allowed a democracy-hating, Christian-hating, America-hating, and Jewish-hating person to be elected mayor of America’s largest city” (and a city with the largest concentration of Jews outside of Israel)? “How could someone whose beliefs are in every way opposite those of our Christian ideals exercise power over such a big and influential locale? 

God answers him in v.5 :Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe, even if someone told you about it. Perhaps God is doing a new thing in our day too. The truth is that our God is still sovereign over our nation and over the entire universe. We can trust in the fact that He has a plan and that He has not abandoned us. The Lord goes on to say to Habakkuk (vv.6-11) :I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. In other words, the Lord is doing something for them as well. He is going to use the pagan Babylonians to discipline His wayward people.

Earlier, Isaiah called the Assyrians, who defeated the Northern Kingdom, (10:5) :the rod of God’s anger.  So too, it appears, are the Babylonians. 

In the section of Habakkuk read today, the prophet then asks God why He would use wicked, evil, brutal, heartless people for this task? But he then says he will wait to see what God does. He will watch, remaining faithful to the Lord, even if it pains him, even if he doesn’t understand.

In this way, he anticipates 2 Corinthians 5:7 :For we live by believing, not by seeing. [NIV, We live by faith, not by sight.] He does not understand, but he trusts the Lord who promises (v.4) He will later punish the Babylonians. 

This is a great lesson for us in these difficult times! Let’s trust in our God’s plan and purposes. The first new thing He did for them was to sustain them in captivity and then return them to the Land. The second, and best, was to send Jesus to earth to redeem us all. Let’s look forward with faith and patience as we await this new thing He is doing in our time.

B. King David exhorts us, in Psalm 145, to praise God for what He is—our Lord–and for what He does. We praise Him for all that He has done for us in the past and we trust in Him for what is to come. But we can also trust in Him for all that is past and praise Him for all that is to come. Both are true. He has cared for us all of our lives. Since the single best predictor of future behavior (outside of an intervention from God) is past behavior, we can also trust and praise Him for what is yet unknown to us and off in our future.

C. Luke 20:27-40, our Gospel lesson, chronicles how Jesus rebukes and redirects the Sadducees.  Remember, the Sadducees were the rich, urbane, religious liberals of the day. They dismissed the Pharisees as too conservative, and probably too “red-neck,” and they arrogantly cultivated favor with the Romans. They approach Jesus with a ridiculous issue: How likely is it that a woman would marry one brother after the elder brother had died, on and on through 7 brothers? Brothers 3-7 would no doubt decide she was cursed and would avoid her–or barren and would avoid her. We see this played out with Judah’s 1st two sons. Back in Genesis 38, Tamar married Judah’s 1st son, Er. He was so wicked he was put to death by God. Then, by the Levirate law intended to protect widows, Tamar married Judah’s 2nd son, Onan. Onan was also very evil so the Lord put him to death as well. Judah refused to allow Tamar to marry his 3rd son, Shelah, believing she might cause his death too. These Sadducees should have been familiar with this story, so they would have known their example was preposterous. Additionally, Sadducees didn’t even believe in the afterlife or in bodily resurrection.

Matthew and Mark both report that Jesus told them they did not either know Scripture, nor understand the power of God (they didn’t believe in the supernatural or in miracles). Jesus doesn’t really address their ridiculous case, but instead demonstrates from Exodus 3 that Our God is the God of the living. He says to them (v.37) :But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.

He is the God of all of us on earth and also of those who go on to heaven to dwell—in a different life form–with Him there. He rebukes them for their ignorance of God’s Word and their wrong perceptions of God, and reasserts for them to the reality of resurrection.

Our God is a “straight-shooter.” As Scripture says (James 1:17) :[God] never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He is a consistent truth-teller. Hebrews 13:8 further clarifies that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can and we should trust in Him, no matter what is going on in the American or the world’s political arena. He has a plan, He is aware of our concerns, and He is clearly in control. Thus, we can let go of our worry and trust in His purposes.

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

Do you have JDD?

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 20, 2025

Scriptures: Amos 8:1-12; Ps 52; Col 1:15-29; Lk 10:38-42

I just saw this the other day:  a new diagnosis…just what we need, right?  It’s called JDD, or Jesus Deficit Disorder. 

In our Gospel lesson today (Luke 10:38-42), Jesus identifies what may be the first recorded case of this mental and spiritual condition. Jesus and His retinue are gathered for dinner at Lazarus’ house in Bethany.  Sister Mary—and we assume Lazarus and the 12—are seated at Jesus’ feet, absorbing His teaching; while Sister Martha is bustling around in the kitchen, trying to pull a meal together.  She is anxious, nervous, worried…she fears she won’t be able to manage it, or that it won’t be good enough—you know, the biscuits will burn before the meat or the veggies are done. She looks around for help from Mary, but finds her hanging out with the Lord. At this point, she is perhaps even angry. Because she knows Jesus loves her, she looks to Him to send Mary back to the kitchen to assist with the work.  But what a surprise when the Lord says (v.41): My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!  There is only one thing worth being concerned about.  Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.

Jesus correctly diagnoses Martha as being too worried about the details of His visit.  He prescribes the remedy to her anxiety, fear, and irritation: It is to come sit at His feet (to listen and learn).   Seriously, He fed the 5,000 from 5 loaves and two fish—He could have miraculously provided the meal.  We also know that Lazarus was financially well off—no doubt she could have left servants to manage the culinary details.

I’m not going to ask for a show of hands, but how many of us realize we, like Martha, have JDD?  Are we too preoccupied with work, relationships (especially the ones that aren’t going well), what’s on our phones, what’s on Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat—or any of a number of other activities and behaviors—to spend daily time with Jesus?  Have we developed a habit of taking time out daily to read the Bible or to engage in a conversation with the Lord?  If we don’t want to develop JDD, these two spiritual disciplines are crucial to our spiritual—and even our mental—health. 

In fact, this is the point of all our readings today:

A. Our Old Testament lesson (Amos 8:1-12) is a continuation of what we read last week.  God is telling the Northern Kingdom of Israel that He is done giving them more time!  His judgment is upon them!  Because they worship false gods, like a golden calf; because they don’t love Him and don’t love others; and because they don’t listen to or believe His prophets.

Most people then did not have access to written Scripture.  Local Rabbis and Pharisees may have had Biblical scrolls to study from, but the ordinary person did not have daily access to these.  So, God’s word was mostly spoken, spoken to them through folks He sent to them, like Amos. 

Last week, we focused on how the people then (and now) are out of plumb with God.  The image He uses this time is a bowl of ripe fruit.  Ripe fruit speaks of harvest time; but it’s also indicative of spoilage/rapid deterioration (vv.4-6).  God is saying the Israelites have turned rotten:

1.) The nearly pagan Israelites rob the poor;

2.) They trample the needy;

3.) They can’t wait for the Sabbath to end so they can continue to cheat the helpless in their businesses;

4.) They force the poor into slavery to pay off debt.

So (v.7), God swears on the name of His coming Messiah (the Pride of Jacob), that He is about to punish them severely (Now a promise like that will for sure take place). He will transform their land from lush green to barren, rocky brown.  Worse yet, He will cease talking to them—which He did for the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.

The Israelites had a case of GDD, God-Deficite-Disorder. We would be wise to see this as a lesson for us too. God’s patience with us can also come to an end. We may gain a stay of execution by demonstrating our love for and faithfulness to Him by frequent prayer and Bible reading. 

B. Psalm 52 is a teaching psalm (a maschil) by King David, the first of four on the end-times. This one focuses on a prophesy of the antichrist (the spirit of the end times is a spirit of deception/delusion). David was himself betrayed to King Saul by someone named Doeg the Edomite. When David and his men were starving in the wilderness, he approached the priest at Nob (1 Samuel 22), who fed them from the 12 loaves of showbread reserved for God. Doeg ratted David out to Saul, who then avenged himself by murdering the 85 priests there and the entire town of Nob. David makes the point that, like Doeg, (vv.1-4) the antichrist will use deceitful words to destroy people.  People, like King Saul, will be deluded and act immorally.  But God tells the prophet to say He (v.5): …will strike you [the antichrist] down once and for all. He will initiate a reign of terror for 7 years—the Great Tribulation—but when King Jesus arrives in all of His power and majesty (2nd Coming), He will destroy the antichrist.

David concludes this psalm (vv.8-9) by reminding himself and us that righteous persons will renew their commitment to God and feel secure.  We who have a close relationship with Jesus will not fear the end times, but rejoice.  Again, the implication is that we need to habitually nurture our relationship with the Lord through prayer and Bible Study. 

C. Paul, in our Colossians lesson (1:15-29), spells out why we want to stay in frequent touch with Jesus.  It’s not just so we can avoid JDD, but because of how immeasurably important Jesus is:

1.) He is (v.15) the image of God the Father, in the flesh. 

2.) He Who came out of eternity (the prototokis), takes priority over like the firstborn) of every other living creature.

3.) (V.16) Through Him, God created everything!  He is the creator of the visible and the invisible. The Apostle John says in John 1:1-4 (NLT): In the beginning the Word already existed.  The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He existed in the beginning with God.  God created everything through Him and nothing was created except through Him.  The Word gave life to everything that was created and His life brought light to everyone. 

4.) Everything, including us, was created through Him and for Him. We were created for His pleasure. Mostly we tend to disappoint Him, but hopefully we sometimes bring a smile to His face.

5. (V.17) He existed before anything else and He holds all creation together.  Jesus is…”the superglue of the universe.”  Think of the power that is released when atoms are split in an atomic bomb, yet Jesus has the power to hold those atoms together.

(J, Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Colossians, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, pp.133-134.)

6.) (V.18) Christ is the head of the Church, His body.

7.) He is supreme over all who rise from the dead.  So He is the first in everything.

8.) He now resides in Heaven, at the right hand of the Father, but the time is coming when His will is going to prevail over all of creation.

9.) He was and is 100% God, both now and when He came to earth.

We need to be like Mary of Bethany, Lazarus and Martha’s sister.  We need to sit at Jesus’ feet so our souls and spirits can be nourished with His spiritual food.  We want to take time to be with Christ, despite our anxiety or frustrations.  We want to take time to be with Jesus, so as to be geared up and fearless during the judgments to come.  We need to make time in our busy schedules to spend with Jesus so we will not be deceived by the antichrist or the spirit of the age, the spirit of deception or delusion. There is no reasoning with deluded persons. They persist in believing what they do, despite logic or common sense to the contrary. To avoid the diagnosis of JDD, we need to sit at Jesus’ feet through our practices of daily prayer and Bible reading. Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, help us to do just that.

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

Celebrate Freedom

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 6, 2025, 

Scriptures: 2 Kings 5:1-14; Ps 30:1-11; Gal 6:1-16; Lk 10:1-20

This morning, we pledged allegiance to our flag, heard a wonderful rendition of our national anthem, and prayed about the blessings we have as Americans. Hopefully, we have each thanked God in our hearts for our country and for the freedoms we enjoy based on His provision, our constitution, and our Bill of Rights—and also for those who fought and died to keep us free.

Contrast this, however, with this week’s opening of Alligator Alcatraz, a detention center for violent, criminal, illegal aliens. Located in about the middle of the Everglades, in Ochopee, and hemmed in by alligators and pythons–both apex predators–it is not a place I would ever want to go, would you?  I heard some commentator on TV say that neither gators nor pythons will attack a person.  I immediately thought guy is not from Florida.  I know people who have lost pets to Gators, and who have even had a bull gator chase them into their pickup, attacking their truck bumper in rage, and crushing it. There’s been a meme on social media, featuring a line of gators with Ice hats on their heads, as unofficial, unpaid government agents. Talk about a deterrent!  I would not want to encounter a gator there.  I would self-deport rather than be sent to “Gator Gitmo.”

We don’t have to worry about this, though, do we? One of our members from Thailand is already a naturalized citizen, and another from the Philippines has almost completed the process toward becoming an American citizen. The rest of us in this congregation were born here and are grateful to God for the freedoms we enjoy in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Did you notice that our readings today, coming so soon after July 4th, also focus on freedom, but not political freedom. Instead they stress spiritual freedoms:  

A.  Our Old Testament lesson, from 2 Kings 5:1-14, focuses on one important Gentile (Naaman, commander of the Syrian armies) and two Israelites (the prophet Elisha and a young slave woman serving Naaman’s wife).  Naaman, even though an enemy of Israel, is by every secular criterion to be acclaimed. He has won many battles, so he is a competent professional; he is esteemed by his king and his troops; and he is wealthy.

What he is not is healthy. He has a skin condition all over his body.

Scripture calls it leprosy, but it may not have been what we today called “Hanson’s Disease.”  It may have been psoriasis or eczema.  The young, Jewish slave girl mentions there is a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, in Samaria (Elisha), who could heal the man. Naaman’s wife listens and gets word to Naaman, who confides in the king.  The king then gives Naaman leave to go and gifts with which to seek a healing.

But notice his response when he finally locates Elisha’s headquarters:

He becomes incensed over three affronts to his dignity: (1) The prophet never came out to greet or to meet him. So, (2) he did not see Elisha perform any kind of religious rituals.  And (3) the prophet sent him to wash himself 7 times in the muddy trickle of river called the Jordan.  His pride has been offended and-–before God heals him—He wants him freed of this sin.

We know that our God hates human pride:  Proverbs 16:18 (NLT) states, Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.

In James 4:6-7 (NLT) we are told—God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.  So humble yourselves before God….Naaman had to humble himself and follow what he thought were ridiculous directions.

He had to be freed from his pride before God would free him from his leprosy.  Our loving God wants to free us from our sins.

B. The message is very similar in Psalm 30:1-11. This psalm of thanksgiving was written by King David.  Biblical scholars believe David wrote it following being plagued by some profound sickness.  He feared he would die and cried out to God to heal him.  J. Vernon McGee, who was himself cured of cancer, says this is his favorite psalm.  He prayed it daily as he underwent his cancer treatments.  He refers to it as not the “Halleluia Chorus,” but rather, “The Cancer Chorus.”

(McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Psalms, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.168).

King David says the Lord brought him (v.11)—…from mourning into joyful dancing…and clothed me with joy.  Apparently the Lord healed him, freeing him from his illness as well as his grief over being debilitated.

So he ends the psalm with praise and sincere gratitude. 

C. Our Galatians lesson (Galatians 6:1-16) is a continuation of last reading.  Remember, Paul taught the Galatian Church that they no longer had to live as slaves to the Law, but rather by the Christian principle of love—love of God and love of people.   He shared a list of sins we might commit that demonstrate we are not living out the love principle.  And he also taught that there are 9 fruit of the Holy Spirit that indicate we are living out the love principle:  love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, patience, faith, and self-control.

In today’s lesson, he focuses on the fact that (v.8, NLT)—You will always harvest what you plant.  If we sowed peanuts, we will harvest peanuts, not wheat or watermelon.  In other words, we have another Christian principle—we reap what we sow.  Paul goes on to spell it out more fully:  (v.8) Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.  But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.  We are rewarded or punished according to the way we live out our lives here on earth.  This is not an issue of salvation.  If we are in Christ, we are saved.  It does, however, have some impact on the rewards we receive later in Heaven.

As I said last week, this principle frees us from trying to work way into heaven—which we cannot do.  Neither rule-keeping, nor doing good works, nor even circumcision will guarantee our heavenly rewards.  We just need to believe in Jesus and then try not to grow tired of doing good, Loving God and others, and manifesting the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

D. In today’s Gospel lesson (Luke 10:1-20), Jesus sends out the 72—His 2nd batch of disciples told to practice and do what He did.

He warns them (v.3) He is sending them into potential danger—so they should expect trouble.  He directs them to minister where they are received (vv.-9).  But where they are rejected, they are to say (vv.10-12)—We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show we have abandoned you to your fate.  And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!  In other words, Jesus did not expect them to succeed with everyone.

Jesus Himself did not succeed with everyone to whom He preached repentance or healed or delivered from demons.  Thus, neither should we get discouraged when we talk to others about Jesus and they reject our efforts.  We sow the seeds, God grants the growth.  I believe Jesus is hereby freeing us from ministry-related guilt.

As we think about July 4th and our national freedoms, let’s also be aware of and grateful for our spiritual freedoms in Christ.

(1) Sometimes being healed from disease requires our agreeing to be set free from a besetting or habitual sin.  It could be pride, or some other negative emotion or behavior.  Whatever it might be, we can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to us, and then ask the Lord to forgive us and set us free of it.

(2) When the Lord heals us or frees us from an illness, we should always remember to give God the credit or the glory.  We should always express our gratitude to Him for answering our prayers.

(3) If we can focus on loving God and loving others, we can feel freed from fearing the negative consequences of the Law of Sowing and Reaping.

Believing in Jesus gains us our heavenly reward.  Living out the fruit of the Holy Spirit shows God and others we are trying to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord.  Living out a Christ-like life attracts others to Jesus and somehow positively impacts (in ways I honestly don’t know yet but will when I get to heaven) our rewards in Heaven.

(4) And, while we want to witness to others about our faith in Jesus, whether or not they accept Him depends upon them, not us.  We do not have to feel guilty.  As Jesus says in Luke 10:16 Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting Me.  And anyone who rejects you is rejecting Me.  And anyone who rejects Me is rejecting God, who sent Me. 

On this 6th of July, let’s celebrate our spiritual freedoms!  Amen!  

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

We don’t have to live in Fear!

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 29, 2025

Scriptures: 2 Kgs 2:1-15; Ps 77:1-3, 11-20; Gal 5:1, 11-25; Lk 9:51-62

Among the “Joys and Concerns” we offer up to the Lord each Sunday is a request that He bring down the incidence of violent crime in our country.  Thursday of this week, we were confronted with gang-related shootings and a high speed police chase—not in New York, LA, or Chicago—but just a few miles away from us in Lake City.  Perhaps you have even purchased a meal at the Arby’s restaurant where this went down.

My understanding is that two 20 year olds and one 18 year old rode in from Jacksonville with the intent to kill a former felon, Jayden Randall, working at Arby’s on a Department of Corrections work-release program.  The older two entered the restaurant at 11:30am, dressed in black, with guns drawn.  They located Randall, then chased him into the kitchen, shooting him seven times.  He was air-lifted to a trauma treatment center in critical condition.

We pray for his full recovery.  They also shot a high-school student, an innocent by-stander, also employed at the restaurant.  He was treated and released the same day.  We pray he has no residual PTSD.  All three suspects were caught by the Florida Highway Patrol as they gave chase at speeds of 125MPH going north on I-75.

(The Lake City Reporter. Jun. 26, 2025.)

Reading about this made me grateful that none of my loved ones were in that restaurant at that time.  I’ve eaten there and probably many of you have, too.  I was also hopeful that the high school student is okay—that could have been one of our children or grandchildren.  I was also relieved that no other vehicles crashed during the police pursuit on I-75. 

In thinking about the incident since, several things have occurred to me:  (1) We really can’t predict what might happen to us in a given day.  (2) This is the kind of behavior we might expect of people who do not know or love Jesus.  The three suspects were exacting some sort of revenge.  We are taught not to seek revenge, but to pray for them and give them over to Jesus.  (3) Thank God we do know and love Jesus.

Thank God because we know a better way to live—St. Paul calls it a more excellent way– and thank God because He protects us.  As a result, we don’t have to live in fear!

In Galatians 5:1, 13-25, the Apostle Paul reminds us that because we are in Christ—i.e., we put our faith in Him as His followers—we have perfect freedom from having to slavishly live by the Law.  We are saved by God’s grace, through Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of Himself on the Cross.  As Paul says in verse 1, NLT—So Christ has truly set us free.  Now make sure that you stay free and don’t get tied up again to slavery to the Law.  We don’t have to follow a lot of rules to earn our salvation (known as works righteousness).  In fact, we can’t earn our salvation on our own efforts.  We need a Savior and we have one:  Jesus Christ.  He has done all the work for us.

Paul goes on to insist (vv.13-14, NLT) —For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters.  But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.  Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.  For the whole law can be summed up in this one command:  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  In other words, we don’t live according to Laws, but rather according to Christian principles:

We’re to deny our sinful natures.  We are to focus, instead, on loving others.

And we are to (v.16) allow the Holy Spirit to guide our behavior (Be subject to the Holy Spirit rather than the Law).

But, there’s a nearly constant internal struggle going on in each of us, isn’t there?  Do what is right (live by the Holy Spirit) Vs. giving into our sinful desires.  Paul then supplies us with a sin list—If we do any of the sins on this “Works of the Flesh” list, we are not cooperating with the Holy Spirit—J.Vernon McGee says that Christians who do these things are Christian Cannibals  (J..Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Galatians, Thomas Nelson, 1991,p.96)..  They devour others in the following ways: 

(1) Sexual immorality tops the list.

(2) Impurity and lustful pleasures are a close second—these 3 sins use others for a person’s selfish pleasure.

(3) Idolatry—worshipping anything other than God, and dragging others into these practices.

(4) Sorcery—calling on or utilizing power not of God, and recruiting others to do the same.

(5) Hostility and quarreling (offenses against loving our neighbors, and providing a poor example);

(6) Jealousy and envy (we are not to covet the blessings of another person);

(7) Angry outbursts (we’re called to be disciplined in the way we express anger—(Eph 4:26)—Be angry but sin not.);

(8) Selfish ambition (we want to be ambitious for God’s purposes only);

(9) Dissension and division (we encourage peace and unity.  I learned recently of a female ordained deacon who stirred up resentment toward the pastor of the church she was serving.  When he fired her, she went to another denomination, told her “sad story of having been abused by her former pastor,” and was rather quickly ordained a deacon by her new boss.  Neither the new pastor nor the new denomination checked with the former boss to learn she spreads dissension.  Since the single best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, they will undoubtedly discover they failed to do their due diligence.

(10) Drunkenness and wild parties (we do not lose our self-control).

Notice Paul follows this up with a list of 9 characteristics/or fruit of the Holy Spirit.  We can tell a person is walking in the transformative power of the Holy Spirit if we can see evidence in their lives of:

(1) Love,

(2) Joy, 

(3) Peace,

(4) Patience, 

(5) Kindness, 

(6) Goodness,

(7) Faithfulness, 

(8) Gentleness,

(9) and Self-control.

The truth is our Lord wants us to manifest this fruit.  In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus says we are to be fruitful bringing back to Him thirty, sixty, or 100 times what He has given us—and not just with money.  We can’t do this on our own, but we can if we allow Christ to live His life in and through us.

Last week I focused our attention on how Satan uses discouragement as a tool to draw us away from God.  Fear is another very effective tool of his. But we don’t have to fall for it.  We know that [God’s] perfect love drives out all fear (1 John 4:18), and that…God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a strong mind (2 Tim 1:7).  As Paul reminds us (vv.24-25), we can nail our fears to the Cross of Christ.  Think about how we say at the end of our service each Sunday, “All our problems, we send to the Cross of Christ;  All our difficulties, we send to the Cross of Christ; All the devil’s works, we send to the Cross of Christ.”  These are the Bible verses that practice is derived from.  We can go even further and nail our sinful natures to the Cross of Christ.  Additionally, we can ask Jesus to replace our fears, for instance, with love, joy, and peace, the fruit of the Spirit.  In fact, we can ask Jesus to replace all of our sinful tendencies with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I feel sorry for the 3 thugs from Jacksonville who shot those two people Thursday out of a desire for revenge. They are clearly living out their sin nature!  And where has it gotten them?  They are slaves to the devil and bound for prison and—without true repentance—they are headed to an eternity in Hell.  Let’s hope and pray someone in jail reaches out to them with the message of the Good News of the Gospel.  Let’s hope and pray they ask God’s forgiveness and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Let’s hope and pray they nail their sinful mindsets and antisocial life-styles to the Cross of Christ and exchange them for the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Let’s hope and pray that they, like us, do not have to live in fear or as men who are lost in their sins.

  As I prepared this message, I was reminded of the lyrics to the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” written by a Methodist pastor who had come out of a criminal background, back in 1758:  

Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.  

Praise the mount!  I’m fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine *Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I’m come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.

(*An Ebenezer is a physical monument to a significant move of God.)

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

It Doesn’t Have to be This Way

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 22, 2025,

Scriptures: 1 Kings 19:1-15a; Ps 42, Gal 3:23-29; Lk 8:26-39

I believe I shared this story with you some years back, but I have decided to bring it to your attention once again: 

“It was advertised that the devil was going to put his tools up for sale.  On the date of the sale the tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price.  There werh a treacherous lot of implements.  Hatred, Envy, Jealousy, Doubt, Lying, Pride, and so on.  Laid apart from the rest of the pile was a harmless-looking tool, well-worn and priced very high.

“’The name of the tool?’ asked one of the purchasers.

“’Oh,’ said the adversary, “that’s Discouragement.’

“’Why have you priced it so high?’

“’Because it’s more useful to me than the others.  I can pry open and get inside a person’s heart with that one, when I cannot get near him with other tools.  Now once I get inside, I can make him do whatever I choose.  It’s a badly worn tool, because I use it on almost everyone since few people know it belongs to me.’

“The devil’s price for Discouragement was so high, he never sold it.  It’s still his major tool, and he still uses it on God’s people today.”

(Chuck Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, p.164.)

The point, of course, is that Satan uses discouragement to pull us away from trusting in God.  In this, as in so many of life’s crises, we cannot give him the victory.  We want to continue to trust in God despite any and all discouraging circumstances:  Failing physical health; Money or employment problems; Family problems; Struggles with acute anxiety or deep depression; Threats of hurricanes; Threats of wars.  Remember, the Bible says (Hebrews 11:1, NLT)—Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.  Our faith in Jesus helps us to cling to Him when things in our lives are not going well.

All of our Scripture passages today remind us to hold on to our faith in the face of discouragement.  They show us why it doesn’t have to be this way:

A.  Our Psalm (42), a teaching psalm (maschil), provides wise advice to all of us:  In verses 5 and 11, the author writes—Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?  I will put my hope in God!  I will praise Him again—my Savior and my God!  Scholars believe this psalm was penned when the Israelites found themselves taken captive by the Babylonians (586BC).  They were of course distraught that God allowed them to be captured and exiled to a pagan land.  The faithful remnant who still believed in the Lord realized the nation was being punished for its spiritual adultery—idolatry. The faithful and faith-filled reminded themselves, “It doesn’t have to be this way,” realizing that God could also rescue and redeem them (which He did 70 years later).

B.  Our Old Testament lesson from 1 Kings 19:1-15a, gives us the example of the great prophet Elijah, so discouraged that he asked God to let him die.  Think of this, through Elijah God had showed His superiority over the Canaanite god of nature, Baal, as well as the pagan fertility goddess, Ashtoreth.  God had used Elijah to call down heavenly fire on the altar he had made.  The 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Ashtoreth had pled for their gods to do the same on their altar, but with no result.  Elijah had just scored a huge and miraculous victory over the false prophets of Baal.  But then word comes to him that Queen Jezebel, a Baal worshiper—an probably the most evil woman in Scripture–has sworn to kill him for showing up her pagan priests.  Realizing she is a nasty, powerful, and vindictive woman, Elijah temporarily “loses his Jesus” (though he predates Christ by many years) and runs for his life.

Without consulting the God he serves—Elijah, where is your faith?–he then spends sometime in the wilderness, so discouraged about his situation, so burned out—that he decides (without talking to the Lord) he has had it with being a prophet.  True, the life of a prophet is a difficult one.  Later on, Jesus will famously say of the religious leaders of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37)—O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you….If you have ever been the truth speaker into a corrupt system, a badly run enterprise, or a vindictive clique, you know that truth-tellers (we call them “whistle-blowers”) suffer.  So Elijah is burnt out, depressed, and done in, afraid for his life, and at the give up point.

Here it’s important to realize that we often hear two messages after a significant move of God:  (1) The first is usually from the evil one.  Satan has used his tool of discouragement on Elijah.  Elijah surprisingly doesn’t even recognize it.  He just wants to give up, hand in his prophet ID badge, empty out his desk, and die.  (2) But our gracious Lord also always counters Satan’s spin with compassion and truth:  He sends him supernatural bread (manna) and fresh, restorative water; He also blesses him with deep,recuperative sleep.  The divine menu is simple but so nutritious, and the rest so restorative, that he is able to obey God and travel to Mt.Sinai 40 days’ distant.

God meets him there and curiously—since God knows everything—asks him (v.9)—What are you doing here, Elijah?  The Lord appears to want Elijah to figure it out for himself.  Elijah asserts he has been zealous in doing God’s work, but realizes he is afraid because the angry, evil Jezebel has put out a contract on him.  God then reveals Himself to him, not in the great things (ferocious wind, earthquake, and fire, signs of God’s judgment) but in a still, small whisper.  Following this, God asks the same question again, (v.13)—What are you doing here, Elijah?  Notice, the Lord really doesn’t respond to Elijah’s litany of troubles. Instead, He wants Elijah to refocus on his lifetime calling.  God reconfirms this calling, and sends Elijah back to do the work of a prophet:  [1] Anoint two kings, Hazael (over Syria), and Jehu (in Ahab’s place, over Israel); later, Jehu will be told to destroy Ahab’s dynasty (2 Kings 9:1-16), though Elijah will not be there to see it take place.  [2] And anoint his prophet successor, Elisha.  So, the Lord  appears to accept Elijah’s resignation, and reminds the prophet that He has reserved in Israel a remnant of 7,000 who love and worship Him.  Elijah was never really alone.  It was never really as hopeless as he had mistakenly believed.

C.  A truly hopeless case was the Gedarene demoniac in today’s Gospel (Luke 8:26-39).  Remember, the tribe of Gad never crossed the Jordan but liked the land they saw and settled in the Transjordan (east of the Jordan River).  This had the unexpected consequence of separating them, over time, from their Jewish brothers.  With this separation, they also drifted away from their faith to the point that they were now raising pigs—unclean!  Jesus encounters a man of Gad who was tormented by 6,000 demons.  He lived in misery and discouragement among the tombs. The demons within him recognized Jesus’ power and were horrified.  Jesus knew it didn’t have to be this way—He only spoke a word and cast the entire legion out of the man.  The guy was completely restored into who he had been meant to be.  But in what was probably a judgment on the pig industry—or even the descendants of Gad–Jesus allowed the demons to inhabit a nearby herd of hogs, who then rushed off to drown themselves  Meanwhile the previously hopeless man became a Jesus-follower and an evangelist.

D.  Why would Jesus go to this trouble?  Because, as Paul asserts (Galatians 3:23-29), this man’s faith in Christ made him a child of the Father.  All we who believe in Jesus are adopted children of God.  There is no national or racial barrier (Jew nor Greek) to our status; there is no economic barrier to our status (slave nor free); and there is no gender barrier (male nor female) to hinder us from becoming beloved children of God.

We cannot allow Satan the victory in our lives.  When we are discouraged, we need to remind ourselves that “It doesn’t have to be this way.”  We serve an awesome God who is only a prayer away. He holds the antidote to our poor health, financial struggles, family dissension, any struggle with anxiety or depression we are undergoing; also our fears of wars and storms. 

We have the whole counsel of Scripture to… 

1. remind us to put our trust in God, no matter what discourages us (Psalm 42);

2.  remember that even famous prophets like Elijah got discouraged, but God superintended his recovery (1 Kings 19);

3. recall how Jesus rescued and restored the demoniac, a massively discouraged person (Luke 8:26-39);

4. And focus on the fact that we are God’s beloved children, as per Paul in Galatians 3:23-29, due to our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

The next time you find yourself struggling, grab onto your faith with both fists, and tell yourself that discouragement is a tool of the devil and that you do not have to fall for it.  In truth, “It Doesn’t have to be this way!” 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

Come, Holy Spirit

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 8, 2025

Scriptures: Acts 2:1-21; Ps 104:24-35; Ro 8:14-17; Jn 14:9-14

Last week, I preached about the power of prayer.  I drew from our Acts 16 lesson in which Paul and Silas were praising God and praying at midnight from a Philippian jail. In response to their praise/singing and prayer, God sent His supernatural power (the Holy Spirit) to effect a jail break. This Holy Spirit empowered jail-break resulted in (1) an unknown number of fellow prisoners coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ; 

(2) the conversion and baptism of the jailer and his household; and (3) the release of Paul and Silas, after they had been cleaned up, doctored up from their beatings, and fed by the jailor.

Now I hope you agree that this was a pretty impressive lesson on the power of prayer. Our God hears our prayers and responds to them. Though He may not always answer in the way we want (He may say “NO” to what we are asking of Him. He also may not act as quickly as we might like. Sometimes He answers us immediately—I’ve witnessed people being healed in a prayer service immediately, and I myself have been healed a time or two. Sometimes His response comes after a few days—we prayed for rain last week, and voila! That answer was pretty speedy. It has rained almost daily, praise God!  And sometimes we have to be committed to praying for weeks, months, or even years. The point is to not get discouraged and lose faith. The point is to continue to pray, or as the Bible says, pray without ceasing.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birth of the Christian Church (of all denominations) and the impartation of the Holy Spirit to each of us who are “in Christ.”

A.  Our Acts 2:1-21 lesson tells us that the Church was birthed through prayer.  120 disciples of Jesus–men and women–were gathered in the Temple, doing what Jesus had told them to do:  He had instructed them, in Acts 1:4 to stay in Jerusalem and to… wait for the gift my Father promised…in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  So they are obediently waiting and praying.

After 10 days of waiting and praying, the Holy Spirit shows up!

It’s a theophany! A God-sighting! They hear the sound of a big, strong wind, like a tornado; they see the sight of flames over 120 heads. And suddenly they are empowered!

They are empowered to praise Jesus in languages they had never learned and to speak to strangers about the Lord.

What can we conclude from this passage about what the he Holy Spirit can do in our lives?  (1) He empowers us to do things we cannot do in our own strength. Some years ago, I shared the true story of how an Air Force Academy cadet, a woman, lifted a car off of her father.  No young woman is that strong, without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. 

One of my favorite stories of a special empowerment is that of Benaiah from 2 Samuel 23:20-21— Benaiah son of Jehoida was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab’s best men [They may have been giants]. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in is hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. Benaiah, a mighty Hebrew warrior, chases a lion into a pit on a snowy day and kills it.  Why would any sane person choose to do such a thing?  The lion probably weighed 500 pounds and his paws, claws, and teeth were better suited to combat in a slippery environment than a man with no gun (just a spear or club). Nevertheless, Benaiah slays the lion. Subsequently, this feat becomes the most salient feature of his impressive resume: He was later hired by King David, to lead his body guard. Then he rose to become the commander of the King’s armies. The Lord gifted him with his fighting skills with his personal future and that of Israel in mind.

The Holy Spirit empowers us and also (2) inspires us—as with Peter—to preach a powerful sermon, or to say just the right thing (a rhema or healing word) to a person who needs to hear it.  Year ago, I was counseling a mother who had lost her adult son to suicide. She felt so guilty for having missed the signs of his deep despair and for not having done more to prevent his death. I said to her, “When might you be able to forgive yourself for not knowing what you did not know and for not doing what you did not know to do?”  The Holy Spirit gave me that inspiration for her. It was the key to unlock her incredible sense of failure and guilt.

He (3) equips us as well, as with speaking languages we never studied or tried to learn. (I wish He had done so for me when I studied Greek in seminary!) Thousands of worshippers gathered from all the known world heard their own language spoken with no discernable accent that day.

Many in the crowd knew the disciples were working-class folk from Galilee. They spoke Aramaic, a mix of Hebrew and Canaanite dialects; and they spoke Koine Greek—a kind of Hebrew influenced Greek. They may have known Latin, the language of the Romans. But how could they suddenly know so many different, foreign tongues?

B.  Our psalmist (Psalm 104:24-35) reminds us that the Holy Spirit is the creative arm of the Trinity. We worship one God in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Father is the Head, the leader—He has the ideas, the plans.  The Son takes His orders from the Father and, has appeared to us in flesh to demonstrate the Father’s great love for us, and to save us. God the Holy Spirit is the power source, the energy.

So this psalm celebrates God’s creative ingenuity.  He came up with so many different kinds of creatures; (I read Friday that there are 43 species of Toucan birds in Costa Rica.)  Through the Holy Spirit, God the Fathe…

 (4) gave us/them life (in Hebrew, the Holy Spirit is called the Ruach—literally. a current of air, figuratively, the breath). The psalmist writes in verse 30—When You send Your breath [the Ruach], they are created and You renew the face of the earth. The Holy Spirit also (5) sustains us as we live.

C.  In the Romans 8:14-17 passage, Paul wants us to realize it is through the Holy Spirit that we, who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, are (6) adopted as God’s children.  We don’t have to be afraid of God.  Rather, we can approach Him as we would a grace-filled and loving father-figure.

D. And Jesus Himself, makes the astonishing claim in our Gospel lesson (John13:9-14) that the Holy Spirit will assist us to do (7) even greater works than Jesus did as He walked the earth.  The  Holy Spirit will heal people through our prayers. The Holy Spirit will assist us to cast out demons from people. The Holy Spirit will move through us to bring those who are lost to salvation.  How is it possible that we will do more than Jesus did?  Well, for one thing, there are more of us.  And, or another,  we have access to social media as a way to reach people.

We (8) abide with the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Years ago I read two books by Frank Peretti: This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness (I recommend them to you).  In both, he asserted that when groups of Christ-followers prayed, angels massed in the unseen world to do battle against the forces of evil on our behalf.  This notion was new to me then, but it made sense.  God enlists His angel armies to execute His will and respond to our prayers.  Remember the prophet Daniel was told by the Angel Gabriel that God had heard his prayers but that Gabriel had had to fight a powerful demon for 21 days in order to deliver the answer.  Paul was not exaggerating when he said (Ephesians 6:12, NLT)—For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil-spirits in the heavenly places.  No wonder our Lord wants us to pray without ceasing! 

Our prayers ignite the hosts of heaven and our prayer invites the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  Consider this story whose source I have forgotten:

 (Please know, in advance, that I mean no disrespect to either Baptists or Pentecostals).   A Baptist preacher and his wife decided they wanted a dog. Given the scrutiny/oversight from their congregation, they knew it needed to be a well-behaved Baptist dog.  So they went to an exclusive kennel and expressed their needs and reservations to the owner.  He assured them he had just the right dog for them. When the dog was produced, the kennel owner began giving it commands:  Fetch the Bible.  The dog bounced over to the bookshelves, looked them over, located the Bible, and obediently brought it to the man.  Then he said, Find the 23rd Psalm.  The dog, demonstrating amazing dexterity with his paws, leafed thru the Bible, found the correct passage, and pointed to it with his nose.

The preacher and his wife were so impressed that they immediately purchased the dog.  Later, they began to show off to members of their congregation what the dog could do, having him locate several Bible verses.  Folks were amazed, but one skeptic asked, Can he do any normal dog tricks?  “Let’s see,” said the preacher and commanded him to “heel!”  The dog immediately jumped up on a chair, laid his paw on a parishioner’s head and began to howl!  The preacher was shocked and turned to his wife and complained, “Honey, we’ve been swindled!  The kennel owner sold us a Pentecostal dog!”

This Pentecostal dog had the Holy Spirit gift of healing! If the Holy Spirit decides to work through you to heal someone, for heaven’s sake, don’t be alarmed!  Instead thank the Lord for the wonderful gift He has given you!  And use it to build up God’s Kingdom here on earth.

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

The Power of Prayer

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 1, 2025

Scriptures: Acts 16:16-34; Ps 97; Rev 22:12-21; Jn 17:20-26

This morning, I want to focus on the power of prayer.  But first, let’s consider what God is saying to us through our Scripture passages appointed for today:

Jesus is praying for us in the Gospel of John 17:20-26.  As our High Priest, He is praying for us, interceeding—just before going to the Cross.

He asks the Father to (1) keep us as united to the Father as Jesus is;

(2) help us to dwell with both the Father and with Jesus in heaven; and

(3) so fill us with the Father’s love that we might love Him and others as the Father has loved His Son.

The Revelation 22:12-21 Reading reminds us that those of us who love and have surrendered our lives to Jesus are going to heaven,  while evil-doers will be barred from Paradise.

Psalm 97 describes what happens when God the Father shows up (this is called a theophany):  There are big signs like fire, lightening flashes, and earthquakes (which usually mean God is fixing to judge).  Verse 9 reminds us For You, O Lord, are supreme over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.  In other words, nothing and no one in this world is more powerful than our God.   He has the power, total power, to answer our prayers.  And verse 10 states  He [God] protects the lives of His godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

He is our divine rescuer/our Redeemer.   He can and does pull us free from the tentacles of this seductive world. 

Our Acts lesson (16:16-24) provides us with a real life example, an object lesson, in how our God works through our prayers.

But first, consider this:

“A man was being pursued by a roaring, hungry lion.  Feeling the beast’s hot breath on his neck and knowing his time was short, he prayed as he ran.  He cried out in desperation, ‘O Lord, please make this lion a Christian.’  Within seconds, the frightened man became aware the lion had stopped the chase.  When he looked behind him, he found the lion kneeling, lips moving in obvious prayer. Greatly relieved at this turn of events—and desirous of joining the lion in meditation, he approached the king of the jungle.  When he was near enough, he heard the lion praying, ‘And bless, O Lord, this food for which I’m exceedingly grateful!’”

The man would have been better off praying for escape.  I guess the lesson is think about what you really want when you pray. Also consider the child who was asked by the preacher what his mother prayed for at his bedtime each night.  “The youngster replied, ‘Thank God he’s in bed!’”  I wonder how often God is amused by our prayers.

(Chuck Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, p.456.)  

Let’s examine our Acts lesson more thoroughly to discover everything we can about what God has to teach us about the power of prayer.  We find the Apostle Paul and his assistant, Silas, in Phillipi (a Roman colony in present day Greece) to establish a church.  As Paul and Silas are preaching and teaching, they find themselves followed by a slave girl who is able to see into the future.  She hollers a true message: (v.17)  These men are servants of the Most High God and they have come to tell you how to be saved.  She’s right, so what’s the problem?  Well first, she might have drawn unwanted attention to them. Second, she was disruptive and annoying, especially if she kept on screeching while Paul and Silas were trying to teach. And third, Paul discerned her knowledge came from demonic sources, and probably did not want amything from the evil one to taint his ministry. It is likely that the Holy Spirit had already revealed to him that she was being trafficked—used by her owners—to make money. 

So, Paul casts the demon out of her.  There’s a clear lesson here:  We don’t want to be trying to find out what our future holds from any medium or witch. In the 1980’s, before I went to seminary, I let my aunt talk me into making a visit to Casa Dega, a village of mediums near Orlando.  I wanted to know if I might remarry some day. The guy who worked with us called himself “Rev. Jerry,” but looking back, it is clear he was not a Christian. In addition, nothing he told me came true!  I had wasted my time and money.  We are to trust only God with our futures.

Now the Philippian medium’s owners became enraged because it meant a big loss of income for them.  As we see so often in today’s culture, they accuse Paul and Silas as a way of exacting revenge (Don’t get mad, get even!  In fact, ruin the person if you can. This belief is so unchristian!).

They make two false claims that were all too readily believed of Jewish outsiders:  (1) (Verse 20)  The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews.  Really?  There was probably some excitement due to a demon being cast out, but such an event wouldn’t have galvanized an entire city.  (2) (Verse 21)  They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.  Also not really true. The Romans only later began to persecute Christians because they would not affirm that “Caesar is Lord.”  Since Christians would only avow that “Jesus is Lord,” they were seen as intolerant and then caught and punished.  But, since the Romans worshipped a large number of gods, at this point, most figured what’s the problem with one more?   Additionally, Paul and Silas would have known this as they were both Jews who were also Roman citizens.

The city officials side with the slave owners and have Paul and Silas severely beaten and jailed.  They are stripped and beaten with wooden rods. Their backs would have been lacerated, bleeding, and needing medical attention. Instead, they are thrown into the heart of a filthy, unsanitary prison.  To make matters worse, their feet and locked pin stocks, so they could not lay down or rest on their stomachs.

Now, put yourselves in Paul and Silas’ places, and think of how you might have responded to this treatment.  Here’s another clear lesson:

They praise God  they were singing hymns of praise.  Psalm 100:4 says  We Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts [ a step more intimate] with praise.  They knew the “secret sauce”  praise takes us in close to God’s heart.  It also opens our hearts and spirits to draw closer to God.  This is why I begin our pastoral prayer (most all my prayers) with praise and thanksgiving.  Praise puts us into the proper prayer mind-frame.  It helps us remember He’s exalted and all powerful, but we are not.

And because God loves us, He listens to us and He hears us.

Then they pray, and pray without ceasing.  John Bunyon once wrote, “You can do no more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”  (Swindoll, Ibid., p.452).

Someone else once said, “Prayer is not room service.”  In fact, they went on to assert, “There’s something exquisitely luxurious about room service in a hotel.  All you have to do is pick up the phone and somebody is ready and waiting to bring you breakfast, lunch, dinner, a chocolate milkshake, whatever your heart desires and your stomach will tolerate.  Or by another liquid motion of the wrist, you can telephone for someone who will get a soiled shirt quickly transformed into a clean one or a rumpled suit into a pressed one.  That’s the concept that some of us have of prayer.  We had created God in the image of a divine bellhop.  Prayer, for us, is the ultimate in room service, wrought by direct dialing.  Furthermore, no tipping, and everything is charged to that Great credit card in the sky.”  (Ibid., p.453)

Prayer is, in fact, surrender.  Did you notice that Paul and Silas weren’t grumbling. But I’ll bet they were praying for a break through—or a breakout!   Meanwhile, everyone else incarcerated there was listening and perhaps coming to Christ.

Next, notice what God does:  He provides a massive earthquake (a theophany).  Verse 26 states  …the prison was shaken to its foundations.  All the cell doors flew open. An earthquake could have torn them from their walls, but to unlock them was purely supernatural.  All the chains fell off; this was also due to a supernatural intervention.  Furthermore, the prisoners don’t leave (Think about the jailbirds in New Orleans who recently escaped from behind a cell toilet.  They jumped out and fled like roaches do when you turn on the lights.)  These other prisoners had witnessed a miracle.  They appeared to have turned their lives over to Jesus.  Through Paul and Silas, God had brought about a revival in that jail.

Those miracles then bring the jailor (and his family) to a saving knowledge of Christ.  The warden provides medical attention for Paul and Silas.  They then baptize the jailor and his household.  And, finally, he feeds them.  Everyone ends up rejoicing over God’s powerful answer to prayer.

Church, prayer is powerful!  Prayer effects things we cannot. Illnesses are healed.  Addictions are broken.  Relationships are mended.

We need to pray daily, especially if you don’t already.

Not just bedtime or mealtime prayers.  John Wesley and Martin Luther each prayed 3-4 hours per day, and look at what God accomplished through them.  Jesus sometimes prayed all night!  We need to spend significant time with our Lord.

We also need to pray for others.  You can begin with the people on our weekly prayer list.  Pray for your family, coworkers, and any friends who don’t follow Jesus.  There is a team of us who pray each Sunday afternoon for strangers who drive by the front door of our church.  Many of them now honk their horns and wave at us, expressing appreciation for the spiritual help.

Prayer is how we access the power of God.  It’s impact is astonishing.  

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

The Good Shepherd

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 11, 2025

Scriptures: Acts 9:37-43; Ps 23; Rev 7:9-17; John 10:22-30

Back in 2007, I thought the Lord was calling me to plant a new church. I was living in Tallahassee then and did not believe I was in any way gifted to do this. But, intending to be obedient to the Lord, I decided to check out some successful church plants there to see how they did it.

One Sunday, I attended a large Pentecostal Church called “Genesis”—I liked the name—in their 4th year.  At the time, they were meeting in a high school auditorium, and claimed they had 800 adults (+ numerous kids) attending.

The Pastor that Sunday preached about the trials and tribulations their congregation had experienced during their 4 years of existence:

1.) They had 1200 show up for their Easter Service, but were plunged into darkness when a squirrel ate through a power line.

2.) The school board had reneged on and amended their contractual agreement several times, requiring them to spend more than they had budgeted or expected.

3.) The stage lights didn’t work well and had to be jerry-rigged each week.

4.) The heat and AC controls were locked up in another office so they could not adjust them as needed.

5) The weekly set up and take down had wearied their volunteers and robbed them of energy and focus.

In sum, he said, “Being in this high school has been a nightmare!”

At this point, I was sure he was going to launch into a plea to raise more money so they could buy or build their own sanctuary.  But, surprisingly, the pastor reminded them that the Lord had led them there in the first place!  He had prayed and fasted, and believed the Lord had told him to rent the school auditorium. His wife had prayed and got the same response. His staff had prayed about it and came to the same decision.  Perhaps even more convincing was the fact that the principal of the high school had actually approached them to ask if they wanted to rent his space!

They believed they had received a clear direction from the Lord, jumped on the deal, and assumed it would be, “Easy, all would go well, because the Lord had set this up for us!” 

Now I was there to discover, from someone who was experienced, what is required to start up a new church. I was thinking this was all pretty discouraging until I heard the rest of his sermon.  He admitted they had learned that (a.) Sometimes the right place will feel like the wrong place; (b.) Sometimes the right time will feel like the wrong time;

and (c.) Sometimes, when things don’t go well, we will doubt that we heard God correctly.  Yes, they had had their share of troubles in that school auditorium, but they had also brought 600 people to Christ in their 4 years there. I agree with that Pastor that at times like that, the Lord wants us to remember to remain obedient—to persevere—no matter the set-backs and aggravations. Sometimes, what Jesus is looking for from us is that we trust in Him to use even our hard experiences to train us up in the way He wants us to go.  If we can continue to lean into our Good Shepherd, He will not lead us astray.

In our Gospel lesson today, (John 10:22-30), Jesus has a brief but testy interchange with the Scribes and the Pharisees, in which He makes some important statements:

He is in Jerusalem for Hanukkah (Winter-time, perhaps 4 months prior to His death). Jesus is teaching in the Gentile area of the Temple, Solomon’s Colonnade. He is focused on training up His disciples—the 12 and many others—in the few short months He has remaining. Apparently by this time, He has left off trying to convince the religious authorities of His divine identity. The Scribes and Pharisees are trying to get Him to directly state that He is the Messiah, so they can bring Him up on charges of blasphemy (claiming He is God when He is not).  He responds to them (vv.25-27) I have already told you, and you don’t believe Me.  The proof is the work I do in My Father’s name.  [In other words, My actions speak louder than any words].  But you don’t believe Me [In other words, you don’t get it]… because you are not My sheep.  My sheep listen to My voice.  I know them, and they follow Me.

This is brief but very important lesson, so let’s unpack it now:

First, we are His sheep if we believe in Him. FAITH is what it takes to become a Christ-follower. We have read Scripture and we have taken in what Jesus did and said; or we have seen the huge difference He has made in our own life, or in the life of someone else. (For example, I heard yesterday that a man with stage 4 prostate cancer had been healed in his church last Sunday.)  And so we have come to believe in Him.

Second, when we believe in Him, we can begin to talk to Him and hear from Him. Do you talk to Him?  How do you know when God is speaking to you?  How do know you have heard from Him?

There are actually a number of ways God is speaking to us:

1.) Scripture (God’s Word written) A passage may leap off the page when you ask for God’s direction. I was ready to abandon the ordination process when I checked it out with the Lord and was directed by Him to Psalm 110:4 The sovereign Lord has decided and will not change His mind. That did it for me. I stopped trying to back out.

Or you may read a passage that seems to be written exactly for you in your current situation.  Back in 1984, my husband had left me for another woman.  My heart was broken and I was grieving when someone from my church advised me to read Isaiah 54. I did and was amazed!  Verse 4 reads, Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. I was teaching high school at the time and all my students knew about my situation. I felt emotionally naked, vulnerable, and ashamed. In verses 5-6, the Lord says, “For your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.  The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—a wife who married young, only to be rejected.”  That passage had my initials on it. I knew it was meant for me. I took God at His word that He was my husband, and He has faithfully loved me, provided for me, and protected me ever since!

2.) Through others (especially 2-3 unsolicited comments.)  In the case of the Genesis Church, they had agreement among several folks who were praying separately but came to the same conclusion.

3.) Circumstances (closed vs. open doors). Watch for how things work out. God will guide you through the way in which He sets up events. Consider how you met your spouse or how you came to land a good job. Often the circumstances are pretty curious and unlikely, unless superintended by our God.

4.) A nudge in your spirit.  You will feel led to do or say something that’s unusual for you. Years ago, I was walking early in the morning when I had such a nudge:  Pick up a stick! It was insistent and repeated, so I located a large stick I would consider a cudgel. Seconds later, two huge dogs came snarling out of the woods, intending to attack me. But I had my big stick, shook it at them, and they retreated.

5.) Billboards, bumper stickers, and song lyrics.  My son will be thinking about a concern while in his car, then see a bumper sticker on a car just ahead that perfectly addresses his issue.

6.) Dreams/visions.  Jesus still speaks to us in dreams and visions. I encountered an Iranian man, a new Christian, who had fled to Turkey. Through an interpreter I asked how he had come to know Jesus Christ. His name was Navid and he said Jesus appeared to him and spoke to him in a dream. Jesus said something very consistent with what he had said during the day. As a result, the young man accepted Him. 

7.) Angelic visitation.  The writer to the Hebrews says wethen may not know we have entertained angels. I met an older man in New Orleans while at lunch one day. I had never seen him before and did not see him ever again.  He told me I needed to leave New Orleans, as a category 4 hurricane was coming which would flood the city. This happened 4 months before Hurricane Katrina hit. The church I was pastoring took on 10 feet of water during the storm, but the Lord had moved me back home to Tallahassee 2 months earlier.

8.) A strong Knowing.  Some call this a “a word of Knowledge.”  You know something that you can’t explain how you know it.  It seems to just drop into your head and you just know. This happens to me often when I am counseling people. It’s a gift and a blessing, it is always right, and I thank God for it.

9.) An audible word.  These are rare. I have had one. I was awakened by a deep male voice at about 3-4:00 a.m. back in 1988. I awoke to the echo of the word “reconciliation,” not a word I used much at that time. I then wondered who I was to be reconciled with, but later determined that in my counseling work, I was reconciling clients to God, to others, and to their best version of themselves. In seminary, I spent time studying 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, in which St. Paul says we are all called to a ministry of reconciliation.

We have to practice recognizing God’s voice to get better at it. 

The story is told of a young, rather inexperienced pastor who was trying to teach some little kids about Jesus as the Good Shepherd: 

“He told the children about sheep, that they weren’t smart and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd’s job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off and doing dumb things that would get them hurt or killed.

He pointed to the little children in the room and said that they were the sheep and needed lots of guidance.

Then the minister put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, “If you are the sheep then who is the shepherd?” He was pretty obviously indicating himself.

A silence of a few seconds followed.  Then a youngster said, “Jesus, Jesus is the shepherd.”

The young minister, obviously caught by surprise, said to the boy, “Well, then, who am I?”

The little boy frowned thoughtfully and then said with a shrug, “I guess you must be a sheep dog.”

(Borrowed from www.bestcleanfunnyjokes.com, 5/6/25.)

Now bear with me a few more minutes as I attempt to be your sheep dog, leading you consider a few more truths about Jesus, our Good Shepherd:

In Psalm 23, an aged King David essentially summarizes for us what he has experienced the Good Shepherd do for him (and what He will do for us). This time, he sees himself not as a shepherd, himself, but as one of God’s sheep. Like a shepherd would do for his flock of sheep, David says God has…

1.) Protected him from harm.  

“Several years ago, in eastern Turkey in the Van province near Iran, there were shepherds who were caring for a flock of 1,500 sheep. They took a break and neglected the sheep while eating breakfast. During those few minutes the sheep wandered away towards a cliff that dropped off into a ravine 15 meters below. The first sheep fell to his death. The next 399 also followed and fell to their deaths. The remaining 1,100 sheep also followed and fell, but because the ravine was already littered with sheep their fall was cushioned and they survived.”

(Pastor Tim Melton, www,SermonSearch.com, May 6, 2025).

2.) Provided food, water, and rest for him;

3.) He had restored him when he had been discouraged or distressed;

4.) Led him in the right or wise direction;

5.) He had given him physical and emotional comfort;

6.) And blessed him spiritually. 

Just like last week, our Revelation passage (7:9-17) provides a picture of what worship is like in heaven. Believers from all times, places, races, and nations will be present to join with the angels in praising our God. The number will include Old Testament saints, all born again Christians, and Jews who will come through the Great Tribulation to believe in Jesus.

St. John then testifies that (v.17) The Lamb on the throne will be their shepherd.  He will lead them to springs of life giving water and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Jesus has been our Good Shepherd in the past, He is our Good Shepherd now, and He will continue to shepherd us in heaven

The important question now is do you know the Good  Shepherd? Are you on intimate terms with Him?

A famous actor on the level of James Earl Jones or Charlton Heston was asked to recite the 23rd Psalm.  He did so and the folks who heard his recitation were mightily impressed.  Then the famous actor asked the old preacher/”sheep-dog” seated nearby to do the same.  His version was not as smooth or polished as the actor’s, but, “when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room. When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied. ‘I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.”

(Pastor Steve Jones (www.SermonSearch.com, May 6, 2025)

This is a great day to become close friends with the Good Shepherd!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

God Never Gives Up On Us

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 30, 2025

Scriptures: Jos 5:9-12; Ps 32; 2 Cor 5:16-21; Lk 15:1-32

I ask your forgiveness if I have used this story before.  After 10 years here at Wellborn Methodist Church, I have lost track of which stories I have told when.  In this story a guy who committed a crime was sentenced to time in prison:

“ On his first day there he was sitting in the dining hall at lunch and suddenly a man stood up and shouted 37!  And everybody laughed.  After a while another man stood up and shouted 52!  And everybody chuckled and smiled.  After a few more minutes somebody else stood and yelled 86!  And again everyone laughed.  The new guy leaned over toward the man across from him and said, “What’s going on?  Why is everyone laughing at those numbers?” 

“The man said, “It’s like this.  There are only a hundred of so jokes in the world, and in here you hear them all.  We decided to save time and give them numbers.”  Wishing to fit in and win friends, the new convict decided to give it a try.  “17!” he yelled out.  Nobody laughed, nobody looked at him; finally, he sat down mystified.  “What happened?”  he asked his new friend.  The man shrugged and said “Oh, some people know how to tell a joke, and some people don’t.”   

(Fairless and Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary: C, 2015, pp.128-129.)

Sometimes those of us who preach end up feeling this way about certain Bible stories.  They are so well known we could call out their names—like numbered jokes–and you would remember them.  Think of Noah and the Flood, Jonah and the Whale, the Good Samaritan, or the Woman at the Well.  You know these stories, you’ve heard them preached or discussed many times, and you could probably tell us all how they apply to our lives.

So what’s a preacher to do to bring new insights to such well-known tales and keep you all awake during the telling?

Our Gospel today (Luke 15:1-31) certainly falls into this category of famous parables. With the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I will try to bring something fresh to our understanding of these well-beloved Parables.

A. Dr. Luke, the author of our Gospel account, has grouped together three parables of Lost things in Chapter #15.  They all say essentially the same thing, but using 3 different illustrations:

(1) An example directed at men (shepherds), a lost sheep;

(2) An instance directed at women (housewives), a lost coin;

(3) And an image most of us can relate to, a lost child, or son.

These constitute Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees’ criticism that He, a rabbi, hung out with sinners.  He knew they were muttering against Him (v.2) This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.  Jesus’ three examples—especially the final one—contrast the love of God for sinners, against the exclusiveness and snobbiness of the Jewish religious leaders.  Those folks, over time, had established themselves as a “holy club” whose members they considered special while those outside the club were considered losers.  Jesus is saying, among other things, God the Father and He, Jesus, both love the Lost Ones, the losers.. Yes, He also loves those of us who He has already found, and who have accepted Him.  In all three parables, Jesus defines repentance as the acceptance of having been found.  The initiative belongs to God.  He never gives up on trying to reach us.  He really goes out of His way to find us.  And, I could be wrong, but studying Jesus’ model, I think our job, as followers of our God, is to notice those who don’t love Him—or don’t even know about Him–and tell them the Good News of the Gospel:

(1.) Jesus Christ came to save the Lost;

(2.) He died on a Cross, taking upon Himself the penalty for all of our sin, for all time;

(3.) And He rose again, overcoming the penalty for our sins, which is death, and guaranteed to each of us eternal life in Heaven with Him.

Our Lord Jesus hung out with sinners because He hoped to save them.

B. While we’re on the subject, let’s take a look at our Old Testament lesson from Joshua (5:9-12).  The context is that God has safely delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  During their 40 years of wilderness wanderings, He has protected them from illness and enemies; provided them with water from the rock (Jesus) and has fed them with manna (also Jesus); He has disciplined those who were rebellious and ungrateful; and He has now directed General Joshua, their new leader, to lead them across the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

Instead of immediately attacking and defeating Jericho—which you might think He would do–God has Joshua circumcise all the men and boys born since the exodus.  YIKES!  Besides being very painful, this no doubt laid them out for several days as they recovered.  It also required that the Lord continued to protect them as they were vulnerable to attack. Clearly this was important to our God.  Why?  Circumcision was the undeniable, indelible, permanent sign of their covenant relationship with God—a daily reminder that they belonged to Him.  They had not practiced it in the latter years of slavery and didn’t stop traveling to circumcise in the desert.  God was saying to them, You are not lost; you belong to Me; You must carry the sign of our Covenant relationship.

Next, He directed Joshua to lead them in a Passover service.  The Lord wanted them to remember how He saved them from the angel of death—the 10th plague—in Egypt.  He wanted them to remember they were saved by the blood of the Passover Lamb painted over their doorways—a foreshadowing of Jesus.

Having rededicated themselves to God, the Lord discontinued the daily drop of manna and they ate instead of the grain and fruit of their new territory.  

Again, notice the lengths our Lord goes to help us remember we are His.

C. David’s psalm (Psalm 32) is what is called in the Hebrew a maschil, a psalm of instruction.  In Psalm 51:12-13, King David’s great penitential psalm, He promised that if God forgave him for his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah her husband, he would teach others to love and obey God.  Scholars believe Psalm 32 is David’s fulfillment of that promise.  (Obviously, the psalms are not listed in chronological order.)

In verse 1, David writes (NLY, p.671)—Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight.  David is clearly speaking as someone who has experienced God’s forgiveness. He is rejoicing in the fact that God did not give up on him, despite his egregious sins.

He recounts how the Holy Spirit afflicted his conscience (v.3) until he came to a point of repentance.  He celebrates the fact that (v.5)—I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”  And You forgave me.  All my guilt is gone.

He uses the remainder of the psalm to praise God as his hiding place (v.7), and to instruct us that (v.10)—many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.

D. Paul picks up a similar refrain in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.

1st he states that we have no basis for judging others, as we are all sinners, and Christ died for every one of us.  Because of this, we are all new creatures in Christ.  He has pursued all of us. He has redeemed all of us. This fact has resulted in a new relationship between us and our God. Just as the reiteration of the covenant at Gilgal (which means rolled away; at that place God rolled away the shame of their past slavery, through circumcision and Passover) reaffirmed the Israelites as God’s Chosen People, we have—through our belief in Jesus–been reconciled to the Father.

We have also been given a ministry (vv.18-20, NLT)—And all of this is a gift from God who brought us back to Himself through Christ.  And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.  And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  So we are Christ’s ambassadors.  We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

During Lent, as I said last week, as we do our spiritual housecleaning, we must all come to grips with the fact that we are all sinners.   As Paul says (Romans 5:8)—While we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for our sins.  Our Lord Jesus is not satisfied until we Lost Ones are found by Him.  Our God is called The Great Hound of Heaven because He pursues us like a bloodhound until He finds us.  He and all of Heaven celebrate when we turn to Him.  He loves us with a steadfast and faithful agape love.  He is willing to forgive us whenever we repent and ask Him.

Interestingly, in the stories of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, there is an invitation to us to party, but we don’t know if anyone did.  Similarly, in the story of the Lost Son, we know the party takes place, but we don’t know if the self-righteous older son ever participated.  These parables are left open-ended for a reason.  The ending is up to us.  How will each of us respond?  Let us join in with our reconciling Lord, who never gives up on us.  Please also turn to www.YouTube.com and listen to a song by Jesus Culture called “One Thing Remains.”

©️ 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