Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Transformed by Love

 Pastor Sherry’s message for July 5, 2026

Scriptures: Gen 24:34-67; Ps 45:10-17; Ro 7:14-25a; Matt 11:16-19, 25-30

I read the following story the other day and was pretty amazed by its content:

“A couple of weeks ago [in 1977] Eldridge Cleaver was telling me about his days as a Black Panther. He said that while he was a Black Panther, he was filled with a terrible, roiling feeling of hatred and violence against any law enforcement agency [and against Whites].. He couldn’t help himself. Every time he would get with them he would feel this terrible sense of anger and murderous rage within him. It made him the leader of the Black Panthers, the violent militants of the early 60s.

“But a year or so ago [around 1976] , in the south of France, in a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, he had a vision, an inner view of the face of Jesus Christ, coming out of his boyhood to him. It drove him to reading the scriptures. He read Psalm 23 over and over again. He said that ever since that time on the balcony, he never had a feeling of hatred again. He has looked for it and expected it but instead there has been a feeling of love for everyone he meets.”

(Sermon by Ray C.Stedman, “The Night is Nearly Over,” 4/10/77, as cited in www,ThePastor’sWorkshop.com, 7/2/26.)

How many of you remember the Black Panthers? I was a newly minted high school social studies teacher when I first encountered a Black Panther in 1970. I was entertaining a small group of seniors at my home, serving them sodas and cookies. One of my favorites, an African American named Valerie, brought her older brother, Kenneth along. Kenneth told me he was a member of the Black Panthers, so I asked him what they were about. He told me they hated white people and had sworn to kill them. Now I was only 22 at the time—so I cannot claim I had developed much wisdom and discernment—but I sat there digesting what he said and wondered, “What’s wrong with this picture?” So, I said to him, “Kenneth, do you mean to tell me you are in my home, eating refreshments I have set out for you, and enjoying my hospitality, but you intend to murder me?” I was asking him to help me understand because that just made no sense to me. He thought it through and admitted he had no animosity towards me personally (praise God!). His sister, my student, later told me he had dropped out of the movement shortly after our dialogue. In a similar vein, I was heartened to hear that Eldridge Clever encountered Christ 20 years before he died in 1998.

Our Scripture lessons today all comment on the transformational power of love:

A. In our OT passage, Genesis 24:34-67, we read of the love story between Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac, Abraham’s “child of promise,” born to him when Abe was 100YO, is now about 40. It’s almost beyond time for him to marry. Abraham calls forth his loyal and trusted steward, Eliazar, and sends him to Haran to locate a bride from his extended family.

Eliazar, arriving in Haran, prays to Abraham’s God to ask for a sign so that he might recognize God’s choice of a bride for Isaac. The sign is that the young woman will give him water and offer to water his camels. Watering the live stock (and the household) was a task delegated to women in those days. We know that camels are uniquely qualified for that arid climate in that they can go long distances without requiring additional water. Apparently each one can take in about 200-300 gallons of water at a time (weighing about 2085 pounds!) (See New Living Translation of the Bible, p.38.) Imagine how long this would take and how many times a young woman would have to dip up buckets full of water to fill up 10 camels. It’s a “big ask,” but Rebekah takes it on.

Eliazar goes home with her to ask for her hand in marriage for Isaac. She probably overhears the wedding negotiations—they lived in tents, so eavesdropping was pretty easy–and is intrigued by Isaac’s miraculous birth, the fact that God saved him from being sacrificed, and that the family is very wealthy. Her brother Laban (the same one who will eventually cheat her son, Jacob) tries to forestall her departure, but she is willing to leave immediately (Smart girl! No telling what that wiley man was up to!). After days on the road, she sees Isaac at a distance, and literally falls for him (the Hebrew implies she fell off her camel at the sight of him). And Isaac falls in love with her as well-→beautiful love story!

She becomes a beloved bride, and Isaac is comforted by her when his mother, Sarah, dies.

B. Our Psalm (45:10-17) describes the love of the princess bride (Rebekah) for her prince (Isaac). It’s actually a maschil [instruction] psalm, and a love song, predicting the love of Christ’s bride, the Church, for our Messiah, Jesus. Verses 1-9 deal with Jesus’ person and kingly power at His 2nd Coming.

But the portion we read this morning deals with the Bride: Verses 10-11 read-→Listen to me, O royal daughter, take to heart what I say. Forget your people and your family far away [Rebekah]. For your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord. It also predicts Jesus’ delight in His bride, the Church, but the “nearer fulfillment” probably refers to Rebekah and Isaac. Nevertheless, both the near and the far fulfillments speak to the transformational power of love.

C. I don’t know about you, but I feel a great sense of relief to know Christ’s love is transformational! As Paul points out in Romans 7:14-25a, we appear to caught in a horrible dilemma: We love Jesus and want to please/obey him, but our old fleshly natures keep on dragging us/clawing us back into sinful behaviors. YIKES! It’s true, isn’t it?!! We do the very thing we really don’t want to do, and we don’t do the thing we want to do, the thing we know would please Jesus. Paul writes, (NIV v.24)-→What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Poor Paul and poor us! Then, knowing the answer, he goes on to say (v.25)-→But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

D. Jesus provides us with the antidote to our sinful natures in the Gospel lesson from Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30. First, though, He points out that we are doubled-minded, exactly as Paul contends in Romans 7. We don’t know what to do—weddings vs. funerals—and we don’t know how to discern properly, both with regard to John the Baptist, nor to Jesus. As Jesus’ half-brother, James will go on to write (NIV,1:8)-→…[a double-minded man is] unstable in all he does. Again, we do what we don’t want to do and can’t seem to make ourselves do what we know we should do.

Jesus’ loving solution for us begins in verse 28 (NLT)-→Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. That’s where our transformation begins. We have to stop trying to do things in our own power and take our burdens to Jesus. He goes on to say (v.29)–>Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. We are to surrender to Jesus, becoming yoked to Him. He then promises us to teach us (He’s currently in Heaven, but He will teach us through His Holy Spirit.) If we can take in His lessons for us, we will find rest, because (v.30)-→…My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. When we pull in the same direction He is going, the going is both easy and light.  He is our burden-bearer. His help and His love make what frustrates both us and Paul less difficult and more doable.

It all really comes down to obedience, doesn’t it? But we are not being obedient to Someone who will abuse us. Nor are we capitulating to a cosmic killjoy! We are allowing ourselves to be mentored or tutored by the Lover of our Souls! Because of His great, transforming love for us, He will truly bless us!

Jesus’ great love for Him transformed Eldridge Cleaver’s murderous hatred into love. If we are yoked to Christ, we can let go of hatred, rage, jealousy, a desire for revenge, the need to gossip, addictions of all sorts, and that carnal body of flesh that Paul bemoans. The love of Jesus truly transforms people if we will allow Him to work in each of our hearts.

Consider the example of Fred Stallard:

“Turned off by school. Very sloppy in appearance. Expressionless. Unattractive. Even his teacher, Miss Thompson, enjoyed bearing down her red pen — as she placed Xs beside his many wrong answers. If only she had studied his records more carefully. They read:

1st grade: Ted shows promise with his work and attitude, but (has) poor home situation.

2nd grade: Ted could do better. Mother seriously ill. Receives little help from home.

3rd grade: Ted is good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.

4th grade: Ted is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest whatsoever.

“Christmas arrived. The children piled elaborately wrapped gifts on their teacher’s desk. Ted brought one too. It was wrapped in brown paper and held together with Scotch Tape. Miss Thompson opened each gift, as the children crowded around to watch. Out of Ted’s package fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half of the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker. But she silenced them by splashing some of the perfume on her wrist, and letting them smell it. She put the bracelet on too.

“At day’s end, after the other children had left, Ted came by the teacher’s desk and said, “Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother. And the bracelet looks real pretty on you. I’m glad you like my presents.” He left. Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her and to change her attitude.

“The next day, the children were greeted by a reformed teacher — one committed to loving each of them. Especially the slow ones. Especially Ted. Surprisingly — or maybe, not surprisingly, Ted began to show great improvement. He actually caught up with most of the students and even passed a few.

“Time came and went. Miss Thompson heard nothing from Ted for a long time. Then, one day, she received this note:

Dear Miss Thompson:

I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my [high school] class.

Love, Ted

Four years later, another note arrived:

Dear Miss Thompson:

They just told me I will be graduating first in my [college] class. I wanted you to be first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it.

Love, Ted

And four years later:

Dear Miss Thompson:

As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year.

“Miss Thompson attended that wedding, and sat where Ted’s mother would have sat. The compassion she had shown that young man entitled her to that privilege.”

(Jon Johnston, Courage – You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear, 1990, SP Publications, pp. 111-113..)

This lovely story demonstrates so clearly the transformative power of Christ-like love. This week, let us be mindful of seeing others through the eyes of Jesus and loving others as Christ loves us. Amen! 

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

It Should be Obvious

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 28, 2026

Scriptures: Jer 28:5-9; Ps 89:1-4, 15-18; Ro 6:12-23;Matt 10:40-42

Chuck Swindoll tells the following story:

“Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, ‘Look, I’m going to leave. And while I’m gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I’m away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip.’ Everyone agrees. 

“He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess–weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, ‘What happened? Didn’t you get my letters?’

“You say, ‘Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We’ve even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have ‘letter study’ every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters.’ I think the president would then ask, ‘But what did you do about my instructions?’ And, no doubt the employees would respond, ‘Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!’”

(Chuck Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, Thomas Nelson, 1987, p. 242.)

I wonder if God ever considers us and thinks that way. After all, He has left us the Bible for our instruction and edification. Do you ever wonder what He thinks when He observes you or me? The employees in the Swindoll story would all have been fired, right? But our God continues to offer us grace—chance after chance after chance. (Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, says our God is the God of the first and last chances, the fat chance, the slim chance, and the no chance—meaning His love for and patience with us is inexhaustible.)

Now compare that to this true story about the Dallas Cowboy quarterback, Roger Staubach:

“Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in ’71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a “genius mind” when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.

“Roger later said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.”

      (Source Unknown, but quoted in www,Sermons.com., 6/18/26)

I saw Stauback play quarterback, in person, and beat Army, his senior year at the US Naval Academy (I was a college freshman). If you know anything about the service academies, their training to do whatever they are commanded to do is very rigorous. They, without question, learn how to obey a superior, or endure some pretty painful consequences. Since Coach Landry preferred to call all the plays, it’s a good thing for him that Coach had a quarterback who had been trained to follow orders. Staubach had been a Heisman Trophy winner for being a superb quarterback. But, even so, he obediently submitted to his couch’s will during 11 seasons in the NFL.

Our Scripture passages today all touch on the topic of obedience. Let see what each has to tell us:

A. Our Old Testament reading (Jeremiah 28:5-9) contains a stern warning. The prophet Jeremiah has a competitor for the people’s trust—a false prophet named Hananiah.  Earlier in the chapter, Hananiah has told the king and the citizens of Jerusalem that the people and the loot stolen by Babylon will be returned to the land very shortly (Their return came 70 years later!). The false prophet is selling them lies to improve their morale. Jeremiah, the true prophet of God, was at that time imprisoned with a wooden yoke about his neck, knows this is not so and says, “Not so fast my friend!”

To speak for God, a prophet must actually hear from God! Furthermore, what he relates as God’s words must actually come true—this is the mark of a valid prophet. Jeremiah is later told by the Lord to tell the false prophet that he will die that very year (which did happen 7 months later). The warning is not to speak for God unless the words you speak actually come from God Himself. Like Stauback’s pro coach, God calls the plays and even prophets must be obedient.

That should be obvious, shouldn’t it?

B. Psalm 89 is a maschil psalm, or a hymn of instruction. The psalmist, identified as Ethan the Ezrahite, is a Levite who worked in the Temple.

In verses 1-4, he begins with praise to God for His faithfulness and love, and he also reminds us of God’s Covenant Promises to King David that a descendant of his would always sit on the throne of Israel. This side of the Cross, we know this descendant to be Jesus. In verses 15-18, we are taught that God is our strength and our protector.

In the entire psalm, the faithfulness of God is mentioned 10 times! Remember, in those days they had no bold key on the computer, no emoji’s and no exclamation points, so to demonstrate that something was important, it was repeated time and again. Ethan the psalmist is teaching us that we can and should trust in God, and we can and should obey Him, because He is completely trustworthy. I suspect this fact was very obvious to Ethan the Ezrahite.

C. St. Paul, in Romans 6:12-23, makes a similar point but comes at it from a different angle. Because we live and move and have our being due to God’s love and grace, we are not to think—or act—like we can still live sinful lives!No, we owe God our obedience. Jesus said in John14:15-→If you love Me, obey My commandments. The Christian life is not about living according to a bunch of rules and regulations. We can probably all think of people we have known who live according to what they consider the rules—don’t smoke or drink, or cuss, or wear short skirts, or attend movies, or dance, put on too much make- up—but do not really behave like Jesus. In their private lives, they explode with anger, or they gossip destructively, or they behave immorally, etc.  They have missed the important point—which should be obvious–that to be a Christian is to behave like Jesus did. The word, Christian, after all means little Christs. 

However, we can’t do this in our own strength—our fleshly natures, the culture, and the devil are all too persuasive. We need the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. And we need to be obedient to His nudges. Paul makes the point that we are all obedient to some kind of master. We could subject ourselves to the tyranny of pleasing other people, or to pleasing ourselves! But Jesus set us free from all of these influences. As Paul writes, (vv.22-23, NLT)-→But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are saved by faith and we are to live by faith—not so obvious, but true!

D. Finally, in the Gospel (Matthew 10: 40-42), Jesus teaches us 4 ways to reap a reward in Heaven. Now to my mind, going to Heaven is enough reward in itself, but apparently there are other rewards given out once one is there. Jesus says some rewards are given out based upon whether or not we were (1) kind and generous toward children or others without much influence; (2) we recognized and were hospitable to righteous persons; (3) we welcomed and were loving and grace-filled toward a prophet; and (4) welcomed anyone who came in Jesus’ name. We will somehow be rewarded in Heaven for exhibiting these behaviors—all Christ-like behaviors. They involve our being obedient to Jesus, not to our own wills, to our self-interest, or to the demands of the world or of the devil.

During my vacation, I read a book by the Messianic Jewish Rabbi, Johnathan Cahn, entitled The Dragon’s Prophesy. He maintains that the terrorists of Hamas are the new descendants of the Philistines, perennial enemies of God’s Chosen People (and by adoption, all Christians). Their very name, in the Hebrew, means “violence, evil, destruction…brutality, immorality, falsehood, lawlessness, injustice, and acts of cruelty, plunder, murder, slaughter, and terror”—all of which we saw carried out on October 7th, 2023, against civilian Israeli’s (p.139). Cahn makes the point that the terrorist organization, Hamas, is a tool of the Dragon, or the Devil, in his fight against everyone who loves God. This of course includes the Jews, but also we Christians. As Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:12-→For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

And he concludes that all Christians (and Jews) must become “dragon fighters”—not in our own strength, but by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimonies. If you read pages 259-260, you see and remember that all the great world powers who have come against the Jewish people have dropped out of human history. The Jews, targets of tyranny across the millennia, continue to exist because they are still loved (and protected from extinction) by God. We know the final outcome as it is told to us in Revelation. We are on the victorious side! 

Becoming dragon fighters will require our obedience to Christ and our belief and trust in His power and His faithfulness. Amen. May it be so!

©️ 2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Faith and Glory

Pastor Larry’s message for June 14, 2026

Our appointed reading today begins with the word, “therefore.” 

Now, if you walk into a lecture hall and the first word that you hear from the speaker is the word, “therefore,” you know you missed something important, something that was said before you got into the room. So, in a few minutes, I am going to back up and read just a few verses before our appointed reading.

But I first want to talk about Abraham, because those verses are about Abraham, about his faith, and about his trust in God. Abraham was a remarkable man. He was a genuine man of faith. God told him to leave his city. 

To leave his culture. 

To leave his extended family.

God told him to just start walking out into the wilderness…. in obedience to Him:

Genesis 12:1-2 NIV  The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.  (2)  “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

And Abraham, or Abram as he was called then, obeyed God – and he went. He went in trust, without knowing his destination! (So often we say that we will only obey God if He shows us the whole picture in advance.)

Have you ever noticed that there is a direct link in Scripture, and a link in logic, between faith and obedience? Consider this Scripture:

Acts 6:7 NIV  So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.   Obedient to Faith???? 

We only obey whom or what we believe has authority or power over our lives. When we don’t believe that someone or something has authority or power over our lives, then we are not likely to obey.

Abraham left almost everything behind and went in the direction God told him to go. That was obedience, and that was faith!

Then when Abraham and his wife Sarah were far too old to even fear having children, God told Abraham, an elderly and childless man, married to an elderly and childless woman, that he would be the father of nations. 

A pivotal moment in the account of Abraham is this one:

Genesis 15:3-6 NIV  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”  (4)  Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  (5)  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  (6)  Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Now, Abraham was still a flawed man. Twice Scripture records that, in a possible fear for his life, Abraham lied instead of trusting God with his fate. Yet, the overall track of Abraham’s life, his trajectory, was to trust God, and therefore to obey God.

Regarding Abraham’s faith, in the verses just before our appointed reading from Romans today, the Apostle Paul writes this:

Romans 4:20-22 NIV  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,  (21)  being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.  (22)  This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

God desires our obedience because He is God, and also because our lives will be markedly better when you and I obey God. But what God keys in on in the life of Abraham, is the faith that lies at the root of Abraham’s obedience. We might say that “faith is the root, and obedience the fruit.”

And because of that faith God declares Abraham – a flawed man – to actually be righteous!

St. Paul, looking back to Abraham says that this is the same thing that God does with us. To make his point, Paul writes:

Romans 4:23-25 NIV  The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone,  (24)  but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  (25)  He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Abraham believed God – he believed that he, a very old man, would become the father of nations – and God credited his faith to him as righteousness. 

So, what is it that we, that you and I, are to believe? 

Paul says it’s to “believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” 

What Paul is saying is that if we choose to believe that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, and that Jesus was raised to life, that God will declare us, as flawed individuals, to be righteous!

The very next verse begins our appointed reading today. It is the conclusion that St. Paul draws from all we just read… 

Romans 5:1-2 NIV  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  (2)  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Paul is writing to a church, to believers, and he tells them that because of their faith, because of their belief that Jesus died for their sins, through that faith they have been justified – they have been declared righteous by a Holy God.

Paul then talks about 

  • the past, 
  • the present, 
  • and the future benefits of their faith.

About the past, Paul says that they have been justified through faith. He assures them that in Christ and because of Christ, and because of their faith, it is an accomplished fact.

Then, because of that past event of faith and justification – their being declared righteous… Because of that past event, the Roman believers now have peace with God in the present.

Now, this Peace with God is a really big thing! In his other writings, Paul makes it clear that until we know Christ we will not have peace with God. This is not about a feeling, but about a spiritual reality. To the believers in Colossae, Paul writes:

Colossians 1:21-22 NIV  Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  (22)  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—

They now stand in a relationship of grace – a relationship of blessing and of access to God that they do not deserve and could never experience apart from Christ.

And now because of their faith, because God has already justified them, because they have access to grace and access to God they have a future participation in the glory of God!

In Scripture, “glory” has a broad meaning. It can mean an acknowledgement of status. or of importance, of gravitas. It can mean the radiance, the evidence of the very presence of God. Always it the mark of significance, of meaning!

Earlier in Romans Paul has described the human state without Christ in these words:

Romans 3:23 NIV  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  

Among other things, people outside of Christ lack any spiritual significance or meaning in the world to come. 

No matter who we may be in this world, no matter what we have in this world, without Christ, in the spiritual realm and in the world to come, we are…

  • Without status
  • Without standing
  • And without significance.

Without Christ, we are without ultimate meaning or purpose! 

And that matters very deeply.

In 1963, Victor Frankyl, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, who became a psychiatrist, wrote a book entitled, Man’s Search for Meaning.

The book was based, in part, on his reflections on who lived and who died in the concentration camps. Frankyl observed that those who had or who found a sense of meaning, a sense of significance or purpose were more likely to survive than were those who had no sense of meaning, significance, or purpose. We indeed search for meaning!

We tend to gloss over it, but the New Testament tells us that, even in this world, believers actually begin to experience glory!  To the church in Corinth, Paul writes this:

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV  And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

And in Chapter 8 of this book of Romans, Paul will develop this idea of glory further:

Romans 8:17-21 NIV  Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.  (18)  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  (19)  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. (20)  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope (21) that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

As believers we have a present, a now, of increasing glory, of increasing meaning, of increasing significance. 

And we have a future destiny that includes:

  • Participation in an ultimate meaning
  • Participation in an ultimate significance
  • And participation in a future glory that we cannot even begin to imagine!

…Because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice.

And I wish I could stop right here and say, “and everyone lived happily ever after. Amen!” But next Paul talks about suffering – both in Romans chapter 8 that we just read from, and in our appointed reading today, Romans chapter 5. And Paul ties this present and future glory with suffering.

Romans 5:3-5 NIV  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; (4)  perseverance, character; and character, hope. (5)  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Don’t you cringe at the phrase, “character development?” I do. But as God develops our character through what we suffer, we begin to see the changes, and we are encouraged. 

We see that we persevere in faith, and we see that as we persevere in faith we are being changed: We are becoming more like our Savior – we are growing in the hope of glory! We are growing in meaning, in significance, growing in status, we are growing in gravitas in the spiritual realm!

And so Paul says that because of this, we learn to glory in our suffering. And I am again reminded of Paul’s words later in this letter to the Romans:

Romans 8:17-18 NIV  Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.  (18)  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

There are things in this Christian walk that you and I cannot do: 

  • We cannot be good enough to make the cut on our own. 
  • We cannot save ourselves.

But like Abraham, we can believe what God has done and what God has promised. 

And if we really do believe, like Abraham believed, we will obey!

  • And we can keep on pressing forward 
  • and we can persevere through all the “character development,” 
  • and we can persevere on into the increasing glory as we behold Him, as His Spirit sustains and transforms us!

And we can remember. We can remember that, because we have believed, we have access to Grace, and we have access to the Father.

And we can remember that because we have access to Grace and access to the Father, we have 

  • a future of meaning, 
  • a future of ultimate significance, 
  • a future of spiritual gravitas, 
  • a future of glory!

And we can remember that Scripture promises that this future glory will far outweigh all our earthly suffering!

©️2026 Rev. Lawrence O’Connell

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Power of Faith

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 7, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

Contrast that story to this one:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Great Three in One

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 31, 2026

Scriptures: Gen 1:1—2:4a; Ps 8; 2 Cor 13:11-14; Matt 28:16-20

The story is told of a Jewish father who was concerned about his son’s lack of a spiritual life.: The father had never demonstrated what it was to be a practicing Jew.: So, he felt guilty.: As a result, he sent his son to Israel to experience his Jewish heritage, and hopefully to help him develop a lively faith.: The son returned after a year.: He thanked his father for the opportunity to visit the Holy Land and he reported that living in Israel had been both wonderful and enlightening. Then he confessed that while there, he had encountered some Christ-followers and had decided to become a Christian. 

The Jewish father was terribly upset, and in the tradition of the patriarchs, he sought advice and comfort from his best friend. “It is amazing that you should come to me,” said his best friend. “I too sent my son to Israel and he returned a Christian!”: So, again according to long standing tradition, the two friends sought out the wisdom and counsel of a rabbi.: “It is amazing that you should come to me,” stated the rabbi.: ”I also sent my son to Israel and he too developed faith in Jesus of Nazareth.: “What is happening to our sons?”

All three lifted their hands to God and began to wail and pour out their grief.: As they prayed, the heavens opened and a mighty voice exclaimed, Amazing that you should come to Me.: I, too, sent My son to Israel….

(Source unknown)

Today is Trinity Sunday, the day the Christian Church celebrates one of its most central beliefs. We believe in One God in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.: You may recall having sung the hymn, “Come Thou Almighty King” (c.1757), which extols all three persons of the Trinity:

Come thou Almighty King, help us Thy name to sing,

Help us to praise, Father whose love unknown 

All things created own,

Build in our hearts Thy throne, Ancient of Days.

Come thou Incarnate Word, by heaven & earth adored;

Our prayer attend:: Come, and Thy people bless;

Come, give Thy Word success; 

Stablish Thy righteousness, Savior and Friend.

Come, Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear

In this glad hour:: Thou, who almighty art, 

Now rule in every heart, 

And ne’re from us depart, Spirit of Power.

To Thee, great One in Three, the highest praises be,

Hence evermore; 

Thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see, 

And to eternity love and adore.

We believe the Trinity is One Divine God with 3 personalities or 3 roles.: This foundational truth is hard to explain.: We call it a “holy mystery.”

We know that St. Augustine of Hippo took nearly 30 years to write 15 volumes called About the Trinity.: He continued for years to update and revise it.: It is said that he was walking the beach one day, struggling to understand this profound mystery, when he saw a little boy digging a hole in the sand with a seashell. The boy would run to the ocean, fill his shell, and rush back to pour the contents into the hole. St. Augustine said to him, “What are you doing, my little man?”: The boy replied, “I am trying to put the ocean into this hole.” Augustine later wrote that this experience helped him to see that this was what he had been trying to do with his 15 volumes: fit the vastness of the Trinity into the limited container of his mind.

(Source unknown)

The word Trinity appears nowhere in the Bible, but it is implied:: In our Old Testament lesson:Genesis 1:1-2:4:We read the Creation Account: Verses 1-2, In the beginning [time], God created the heavens [space] and the earth [matter]…and the Spirit of God [His creative force] was hovering/moved/brooded [in motion] over the waters. John 1 further informs us: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.: All 3 members of the Trinity were involved in Creation.: Notice, the Bible doesn’t try to prove the existence of God. It just states that HE IS.: Psalm 14:1 declares:The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”: Psalm 19:1:The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Our Psalm for today is a creation hymn. It is quoted 3 times in the New Testament, including once by Jesus (v.6:You made Him [Jesus] ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under His feet.) These words testify to God’s great creative power and His accomplishments.: King David asserts (v.1) O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. In other words, God the Father is the creator of all the earth.: He came up with the idea of Creation. But according to John 1, Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, spoke creation into existence.: In the 1st chapter of Genesis, God [the Son] says, Let there be…10 times, and whatever the Father has envisioned or planned comes into being. Even more fantastic than speaking creation into existence, He (the Son) creates it out of nothing. The Hebrew word for this is bara; in Latin it is called ex nihilo. Only God can create something out of nothing. The rest of us must start with raw materials.

Chapter 1 of Genesis also reveals that the Father is a God of order:

Day 1, He creates light; Day 2, He creates “air spaces” between the waters on earth and the waters in the sky (vertical division); Day 3, He separates dry ground from the seas (horizontal division); Day 4, He creates vegetation, plant life; Day 5, He creates living creatures in the seas and birds of all kinds; Day 6, (vv.24-25), He creates livestock and wild animals.

Then in verses 26-31, He creates humans. Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.: This means we have personality; that we are conscious of ourselves, we can think about ourselves (Psychology calls this “metacognition”), and about our actions; and that we are free moral agents. In other words, we get to decide things for ourselves. Notice how God the Father references the other members of the Trinity in this creative act (let us…our), implying there are more than one divine person involved. 

Continuing, in Chapter 2, God establishes the Sabbath principle our need for rest following work.: This is also evidence that our God is a: God of compassion.: John Wesley reportedly summarized God’s creative acts in Genesis 1 & 2 by stating, “God created the heavens and the earth and didn’t half try.”

Paul provides us with a Trinitarian blessing in our New Testament lesson today (2 Corinthians 13:11-14):May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [the Son] and the love of God [the Father], and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Without calling it the Trinity, Paul presumes its existence. Like a good pastor, he wants believers to experience the blessings of the entire Godhead: grace, love, and the communion/fellowship/family unity of the Trinity.

Jesus, in our Gospel, sends us out to do the work of the Church in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20):…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.: Jesus invokes the names of all three divine persons.

So what do we learn about the Trinity from our passages this morning?: Again, all 3 members of the Trinity existed prior to and were active in the Creation of the world. They are distinct entities but eternally connected in love and community and communication with each other.

God the Father is Immortal, Invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes….Creation was His idea.: He is spirit, therefore lacking a gender but reveals Himself as our Father.: He is also completely transcendent, wholly other; enthroned in Heaven; compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.: Clearly the Father is in command but never dominates or abuses the other two persons. We pray to Him, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. As you may remember, my earthly father was killed when I was 5 years old. My mother remarried, 3 years later, a man who unfortunately was verbally and physically abusive to me. Because of this, I initially had difficulty seeing God the Father as anything other than a remote, critical, punishing, and disapproving God. It is only as I developed further in my faith that I have come to realize He is instead the loving, accepting, generous Father I always wished I had known growing up. 

God the Son, Jesus, is our Brother, Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. He came to earth, God-in-the-flesh, as a vulnerable baby. He demonstrated God’s love by teaching, healing, casting out demons, forgiving, modeling how to live, and by dying for our sins.: He demonstrated God’s power by performing miracles, rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. We sing, What a friend we have in Jesus…and it is the truth, isn’t it!

God the Holy Spirit is the immanence (everywhere-ness) of God, the “with us” God who is always available to us. He is how we experience the Trinity today. He leads, guides, and directs us now; He intercedes for us when all we can do is groan; He sanctifies us and empowers us for ministry.

Our calling today is not to try to figure out the holy mystery of the Trinity—how 3 persons form 1 God—but rather to live out the attributes, the characteristics the Trinity models for us.: As we progress through life, can we demonstrate the love of God for us and for others? Can we reach out to those who need to know the grace, love, and forgiveness of our God? Can we continue to pray for God’s will to be done on this earth, at this time, and in all hearts? Can we echo the great hymn, “To Thee, great One in Three, the highest praises be, hence evermore; Thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore!: 

Amen!: May it be so!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Prayer

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 17, 2926

Scriptures: Acts 1:6-14; Ps 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Pet 4:12-14; 5:6-11; Jn 17:1-11

A number of my clergy friends don’t like Joel Osteen. They say he preaches an unrealistic “Prosperity Gospel,” or a Gospel-lite.” But I like that he is cheerful and encouraging, and really does set out the Good News of life in Christ. Each Sunday he begins his sermon with a joke which often has nothing to do with the rest of his sermon. Taking a cue from him, I have decided to do the same:The story is told that…

“A Christian [horse breeder] supposedly taught his horse to start and to stop, using words from the Bible. When he wanted the horse to go, he would shout, ‘Praise the Lord.’ When he wanted the horse to stop, he would shout, ‘Hallelujah.’ All went well until one day a thunderbolt caused the horse to take off galloping at full speed. Realizing he had lost control, the [breeder] panicked and forgot the words he had trained the horse to respond to. Up ahead was a cliff, and they were headed towards it at full speed. Desperately he tried to recall every religious word he’d ever heard of. He shouted, ‘Amen! Jesus saves! Worthy is the Lamb! Holy!’ Nothing worked. Just as the horse approached the precipice, he remembered and shouted, ‘Hallelujah!’ The horse stopped right there on the edge. Relieved, he wiped the sweat off his brow and said, ‘Whew, praise the Lord!’

(Source: The UCB Word For Today, 2/01/2018.)

I hope the guy knew how to pray. That was the time for what I call an “arrow prayer.” An arrow prayer is brief and intense, like, “Help!” If you were loading an arrow into a bow and shot it into the air, the prayer is the arrow to heaven. It’s all you have time for in an emergency. When I was in seminary in Pittsburgh, I came around a curve, on a dual highway in the winter time, only to confront a collision all over the road in front of me. There were concrete barriers on both sides of the highway, so I saw there was no way for me to avoid the wreck. I downshifted and applied the brakes—on black ice (I was from Florida. What did I know about black ice?) My car spun 180 degrees, only for me to see a large utility van headed straight for me. I figured I was going to die and sent up an arrow prayer: “Lord, who will raise Meredith?” (My daughter was 13-14 at the time.) The van hit me and my front end compressed like an accordion. I was bruised by the air bag, but otherwise unharmed as the third in a collision of about 8-9 cars. Like me, the guy on the horse needed an arrow prayer.

“On the subject of prayer, there’s a funny story told about a family who had the minister over for dinner, and when he got there and sat at the table the Mother asked her five-year-old to say grace. Puzzled, the child asked, ‘What should I say?’ Her mom replied, ‘Just say what you’ve heard me say, dear.’ So, bowing her head, the little girl prayed, ‘Dear God, why on earth did I invite the minister over for dinner?’ Amen.”

(www.accessinspiration.com 5/12/26)

The point is that prayer is simply a conversation with our Lord. We tend to think it’s about asking Him for things, but it can also be an expression of our gratitude/thanks; or even just observations about our day.

Our Scripture passages today all reference the importance of prayer.

A. In John 17:1-11, we are invited by Jesus to listen in as He prays to His Heavenly Father, perhaps better known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” We call the “Our Father,” “The Lord’s Prayer,” but it’s really Jesus’ model for how we should pray to the Father: We begin with praise and a recognition of who God is. Next, we ask for His divine will to be done in our lives and on earth; then we ask for daily provision and protection from evil; we then ask for divine assistance in forgiving others. Now notice, Jesus never sinned. He did not need to request this for Himself. This is what tells us that we normally think of as “the Lord’s Prayer” is actually our Lord sharing a way for us to pray. Finally, we close with praise for God. Effective, reverential prayer is what I call a praise sandwich.

In John’s version of “the Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus is actually bringing His own concerns to His Father. He is reporting to the Father that He had fulfilled His assignment on earth and is asking Him to restore to Him all the kingly prerogatives (His glory) He had left behind in Heaven. He had demonstrated God’s love to His people—teaching, healing, and delivering them from demons. Now He was on His way to Cross to complete His final demonstration of self-sacrificial love for us.

But next, He turns His attention to us—His disciples then and we, His followers, today. Think about this, now: He is on His way to be captured, tortured, and crucified, and He is concerned about us! He asks the Father to keep us safe from the evil one. Jesus intercedes with the Father for us—Our Lord’s prayer for us is a precious gift!

B. He follows this up in His post-resurrection appearances, just as He is about to jet off to Heaven (Acts 1:8-14). In verse 8, He reminds us it is our business to get the Word of God out to the rest of the world, starting with Jerusalem, then to Judea, then Samaria, and eventually to the whole wide world. This is an addendum to The Great Commission from Matthew 28:19-20-→Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. Jesus wants people to be saved. He left this task to us. We are privileged to join with Him in this great enterprise. We start in Wellborn, talking to our neighbors about Jesus. Then we move out to the surrounding county, Judea. From there, we begin to impact what would be our Samaria, Lake City, but don’t tell them I called them that. Then it’s on to the ends of the earth. Very few of us will venture out as long term missionaries—that’s a particular call. But we can partner with the ones who do go abroad, by praying for them and by supporting them financially.

Jesus has called all of us to do the work of evangelism, but not in our own power. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit to empower us and to give us the opportunity and the words with which to tell others about Jesus. We need also to pray for encouragement and stamina to do this work when we experience frustratingly small results. Finally, we need to pray for revival in our country.

C. Psalm 68 was written by King David. It is a hymn of praise for deliverance from enemies and victory over them, something David the warrior would have been very familiar with. Verse 1 actually quotes the prayer Moses used every time he urged the Children of Israel to set out on the next phase of their wilderness march (Numbers 10:35)-→Rise up, Lord, and let your enemies be scattered. Let those who hate You flee before You. Imagine what might happen if we were to say this prayer—or any prayer–upon rising in the morning! It’s a prayer for the start of our day. It’s a prayer expressing confidence that God will be with us throughout our day and in all that we encounter.

Consider the example of our first American President, George Washington.

In the winter of 1777, he and his army were encamped at Valley Forge, PA. It was bitterly cold, with snow on the ground. Valley Forge is now a beautiful park outside Philadelphia. The cold is a damp rather than a dry cold, as in Colorado or Utah. It seeps right through whatever you have on. Washington’s troops were in a world of hurt back then. Their supply lines had diminished to almost nothing so even food was scarce. Some of our troops lacked shoes—can you imagine living barefoot in the snow? Many others were sick or wounded. Morale was bad and some talked of mutiny. We were out manned and outgunned by the British army, one of the best in the world in those days. The outlook was grim.

One day, a Quaker man, Isaac Potts, was out walking in the woods, when he sighted General George Washington some yards away. He reported later that he saw the General on his knees in the snow. Washington’s head was bowed; his hands were folded; and his hat and sword rested nearby on the ground. Potts recognized Washington was praying and later wrote. “If there is anyone on this earth whom the Lord would listen to, it is George Washington. And I feel a presentiment that under such a commander there can be no doubt of our eventually establishing independence.”

Valley Forge was the turning point in our revolutionary war. Supply lines were reestablished, morale improved, and our ragtag army went on to win. It has been said, “Prayer didn’t change the weather. It didn’t instantly solve every hardship. But it changed a man. And that man changed a nation. When Washington prayed in the snow, something moved in Heaven—and the course of history began to shift.”

(Darrell Stetler, II, www.newstartdiscipleship.com. 5/15/2025.)

D. Finally, Peter reminds us (1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11) of two important prayer needs: As J. Vernon McGee summarizes Peter, in chapter four, he writes-→”The word of God makes it very clear that suffering is a part of the Christian life. Suffering is what develops you.” There are no shortcuts to living the Christian life, no easy ways. We are to suffer for Jesus and with Jesus. So there is meaning to our suffering. Our Lord is with us through it and uses it to transform us by smoothing off our crusty edges.

(Mcgee, Through the Bible Commentary on 1st Peter, Thomas Nelson, 1991, pp.91-92.)

Peter assures us in verse 6-→So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. This is a Scriptural promise-→If we humbly undergo times of trials and testings, keeping rather than abandoning our faith, God will raise us up after we have endured the test.

Peter also wants us to be aware that Satan is after us…again, Peter speaks from experience. He refers to the evil one as a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (5:8). So, we need to pray for strength and resilience to withstand trials, as well as to recognize when the evil one and his minions are after us.

Some dear person gave me a devotional at Christmas, and I don’t know who it was but I have truly enjoyed the gift. It’s called The One Year Book of Hymns, published by Tyndale in 2024. The hymn for Friday, May 18th (p.135) is entitled, “Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire.” It was written by a fellow named James Montgomery (1771-1854). Consider these lyrics in the light of our Scripture passages today:

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,

Unuttered or expressed.

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,

The falling of a tear,

The upward glancing of an eye,

When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;

Prayer the sublimest strains that reach

The Majesty on High.

Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice,

Returning from his ways,

While angels in their songs rejoice

And cry, “Behold, he prays!”

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,

The Christian’s native air,

His watchword at the gates of death,

He enters heaven with prayer.

Oh Thou, by whom we come to God,

The Life, the Truth, the Way;

The path of prayer Thyself hast trod;

Lord, teach us how to pray!

Our God is only a prayer away. Whether it’s an arrow prayer, or something lengthier, we can trust that prayer changes things. Jesus modeled consistent, daily prayer and taught us a way to go about it.  This week, let’s practice turning all of our joys and concerns over to the Lord in prayer. AMEN!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Let God Be God

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 10, 2026

Scriptures: Acts 17:22-34; Ps 66:8-20; 1 Pet 3:13-22; Jn 14:15-21

I came across the following list on the internet this week:

“Why God Will Never Get Tenure At Any University:

1. Only published one book.

2. It was in Hebrew.

3. It had no references [footnotes or citations from other sources].

4. He did not publish it in referenced journals.

5. Some doubt He even wrote it Himself.

6. He is not known for His cooperative work.

7. Sure, He created the world, but what has He done lately?

8. He did not get permission from any review board to work with human subjects.

9. When one experiment went awry, He tried to cover it up by drowning all the subjects.

10. When sample subjects do not behave as predicted, He deletes the whole sample.

11. He rarely comes to class and just tells His students to read the Book.

12. It is rumored that He sometimes lets His Son teach the class.

13. Although He only has 10 requirements, His students often fail His tests.

14. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.”

(Source unknown)

I wonder if the author of this list was a believer. It doesn’t seem like it, does it? If the list is meant to be tongue-in-cheek humor, it puts us in the position of negatively judging the Great High God of the Universe! Speaking humbly, who are we to do that? What would make any human bold enough to believe we are justified in thinking we know better than our Creator and our Redeemer? Frankly, as Job learned, judging God is above our pay grade, isn’t it?

If we are going to let God be God, without our interference–which is hard for many to do—we have to allow Him to reveal Himself to us as He is, not as we might like Him to be. We have to take Him at His Word (made flesh, Jesus—the face of God the Father–and written, the Bible). My daughter and I had a friend in Pittsburgh named Mrs. Wilson. She told me that she was a Christian but she also believed in reincarnation. Like many, she thought she could pick the most appealing aspects of the world religions and decide what she liked best, thus fashioning her own religion. But if we make up our own god, and the rules through which he operates, then who is god? Reincarnation is a Hindu concept whereby if we don’t learn in one lifetime what the multitude of gods want from us, we come back after death as another life form to try again. This goes on and on until we finally get it right. She thought this idea was delightful until I asked her what she would do if she were reincarnated as a rat or a cockroach. Hinduism is a “works’ righteousness” religion, in which believers are responsible for their own salvation. She was a non-practicing Catholic who didn’t realize we can’t save ourselves—we all need a Savior to do it for us. So I gently asked her, “Mrs. Wilson, why would you want to go through all that risk and all that work when Jesus Christ has already won salvation for you?”

I think this is what Paul was getting at in our Acts 17:22-31 lesson.

He’s in Athens, at the Parthenon on the highest hill in the city, and he notices all the altars the Greeks have to their many gods. Built in 500 BC, it was originally dedicated to Athena (after whom the city was named), the goddess of wisdom, the arts, literature, and war. In Paul’s day, it contained altars to all the gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon. It was also the place to which Greek philosophers came to debate and discuss the great ideas of their day. Paul noticed they had also included one altar to “An Unknown God.” Were they hedging their bets? Trying to appeal to any god they hadn’t yet discovered? Paul wisely went on to tell them they were “too religious”—too caught up in their own ideas about god without knowing the One True God. He identified their unknown God as Jesus Christ and tells them he both knows of Him and knows Him. He tells them, essentially, that when he came to believe in Christ, he lost many of his ideas about religion.

He wants them (and us) to let Jesus Christ be the One and Only God in their lives. He tells them that God created everything (v.24); that He meets all of His own needs and does not live in man-made temples (v.25); that, in fact, He gave us life and we are His children. He asserts that In Him we live and move and have our being (v.28). He means that we should all have a relationship with Him, as He is, as He has revealed Himself to us. He cautions them to realize that prior to Jesus’ incarnation, God(v.30)…overlooked peoples’ ignorance…but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him [meaning Jesus, the One He raised from the dead].

And He warns them that this God, Jesus, (v.28) is not an idol—He is real! He want us to repent of our sins and turn to Him. As the judge of all humans, He will one day return to earth to evaluate how well they (and we) have obeyed Him.

The Greeks of Paul’s day did not believe in a resurrection—this was a critical tenet of their religion. So some of them laughed at Paul, rejecting what did not agree with their religious notions. But others, including Dionysius, an influential man, and Damaris, a woman, believed him, and accepted Jesus then and there as their Lord and Savior. These two, and hopefully others, were willing to let God be God. This means letting go of what they (and we) may have held as treasured human concepts (like Mrs. Wilson’s fascination with reincarnation), and taking our God as He is, as He has revealed Himself to be.

Our Psalm (66:8-20) is one of thanksgiving, both as a community of faith and as individual believers. We thank God for historically protecting His people, testing us, purifying us, ransoming us from slavery in Egypt (or bondage to sin), and for showing us the way forward. We also individually thank Him for hearing our prayers and for answering us.

Even in Old Testament times, this psalmist knew God answers the prayers of those who confess their sins. If we don’t experience God answering our prayers, it could be because we come to Him as unrepentant sinners. I was in my early 40’s before I realized that the Lord had answered one of my prayers. He had not saved a baby I lost at 5.5 months into the pregnancy; nor did He put my damaged marriage back together. But as my mother lay dying in the ICU from cirrhosis of the liver (she had been a long term alcoholic), I began to pray at her bedside that the Lord would forgive her of her sins and take her home to be with Him. I asked the nursing staff if a Catholic priest had been called, as she had converted to Catholicism back when I was a teen. They called for an anonymous fellow from the Orlando phone book. When he arrived and began to ready himself to pray over her and anoint her, he asked me where I lived (Tallahassee, Florida, at the time), and shocked me when he said he had daughters who lived there. It turns out he was an Episcopal priest who had been accepted into the Roman Catholic religion and was able to remain married to his wife and connected to his children. He said at that time (1988), he was one of only 7 such priests in the country! I realized shortly thereafter that the Lord had sent an Episcopalian for me (my denomination then) who was a Catholic for my mother. She died about 45 minutes after he ministered to her. Prior to 1988, I had not lived a very Christian life style. I was not in the habit of keeping short sin accounts with the Lord. But I had learned to do so by then. If we are going to let God be God, we might want to preface all our prayers with an admission of and repentance for the ways we have offended God.

The Gospel lesson this morning is from John 14:15-21. In this particular passage, Jesus teaches His disciples about the Holy Spirit. (V.16) He is our Advocate, like a defense attorney who will always be there for us. (V.17) Another of His jobs is to lead us into all truth. If you don’t know how to interpret a passage of Scripture, ask the Holy Spirit to open up its meaning for you. If you don’t know who to believe when the news differs from reporter to reporter, ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern who is speaking the truth. The Holy Spirit is God’s still, small voice, speaking wisdom to us in any situation. Jesus wants us to know, however, that our ability to hear from the Holy Spirit depends on our being obedient to His commandments. Just as with Psalm 66, if we are letting God be God, we demonstrate our love for Him by our obedience to Him.

Finally, in our New Testament reading from 1 Peter 3:13-22, the Apostle wants us to remember our Christian lives will not always be smooth—and he should know! As with Peter, the Lord tests us through trials and hard times. He is present with us during our suffering, but He never agrees to always protect us from it-→someone has wisely said, “He invites us to a banquet, not a picnic.”

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on 1st Peter, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.16.)

Peter wants us to (v.15)-→worship Christ as Lord of your life….if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember It is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, then to suffer for doing wrong! Someone else has opined, “The answer is yes, Lord; now what’s the question?”.

(J. Fairless and D. Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, 2013, p.120.)

May we always let God be God, and trust in Him, even when things are not going well in our lives. May we also frequently confess our sins and remain in right relationship with Him. Amen, may it be so!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Sweet, Sweet Love of God

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 3, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So too do our Scripture lessons today:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus is the only route to our Father in heaven.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

In Christ Alone

Pastor Sherry’s message for April 13, 2026

Scriptures: Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Ps 16; 1 Pet 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

We are a people who believe in Christ’s Resurrection. Do we live today—post Easter—as though we really do? If we aren’t sure, our God has shown us how. Our readings today give us 4 vital ways. Let’s unpack them using the verses of (another) contemporary Christian song; It was written in 2002 by Adrienne Liesching and Geoff Moore, ”In Christ Alone.”

Verse 1: In Christ alone my hope is found.

He is my light, my strength, my song.

This cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease.

My comforter, my all in all.

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In our Acts lesson, 2:14a, 22-32, it’s 9:00 am on the Day of Pentecost and the people think the apostles are drunk. Peter, who has recently stumbled in his faith, is powerfully energized! He’d been afraid that he too might be crucified. But now, he preaches the first sermon in what is known as “the Church Age”—leading to the conversion of 3,000 Jews. Obviously, both he and his fellow apostles are Fired Up! They know Jesus is Who He said He was! That He is their light, their strength, their song; that He is the Chief Cornerstone, their solid ground, the source of their (and our) salvation. They therefore trust that He will see them through every problem that threatens them.

If we are living into Easter, we too should be fired up! We, too, can trust that our God is Who He says He is. God did what is impossible for people; He raised Jesus Christ from the grave. So, we too can see Him as our strength and our salvation. Because of Him, we, too, have nothing to fear. Like them, we can affirm, Here in the love of Christ we stand!

Verse 2: In Christ alone who took on flesh-

Fullness of God in helpless babe—

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Til on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied,

For every sin on Him was laid.

Here in the death of Christ I live.

Our Gospel lesson is from John 20:19-31. St. John details two Post-Resurrection appearances to the frightened apostles: Everyone but Thomas is present for the first visit. The 10 see and believe that Jesus is alive! They realize anew that He must be Who He claimed to be: God. They see that He really did accomplish what He said He would: overcoming the power of sin and death over humankind. And they receive from Him (1) His deep shalom peace—not dependent on our circumstances but on our relationship with Jesus; (2) A mission or purpose: As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you (v.21). He was ordaining them for ministry; telling them they would need to pick up their cross, like Him and follow Him; and to be ready to lose their life so as to gain it. (3) Finally, He gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit-→God’s empowerment to do all that He was asking them to do, and God’s discernment for forgiving people their sins, in Jesus’ name.

If we are living into Easter, we too believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. If we believe, we too are born to eternal life! As St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)–>God made Him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. If we believe, we too receive Christ’s peace; life purpose, mission, or ministry; and the powerful assistance of His Holy Spirit. We also realize that, Here in the death of Christ we live.

Verse 3: There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the World by darkness slain.

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again.

And as He stands in victory,

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine…

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Thomas misses out and does not believe their reports. A week later Jesus returns so Thomas can see for himself. How gracious of the Lord to be patient with our unbelief! How sweet of Him to come back for the one (lost sheep) who still didn’t get it. Then look at the lengths to which Jesus goes to prove to practical Thomas what the others already accept. Finally convinced, Thomas confesses, “My Lord & My God!” You see, Jesus doesn’t expect us to park our intellect at the church door. He meets us where we are, and if our hearts are willing, and our eyes are open, He shows us He is alive, living, victorious!

If we are living into Easter, we too share in His victory over sin and death! We, too, can believe that He has defeated Satan’s power over us. We, too, can celebrate our freedom in and through Christ! As St. John tells us, (Jn 3:16, NIV)–>For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ has ransomed us with His life. We, too, can rest assured that We are His and He is ours…bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Verse 4: No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand.

Til He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

Psalm 16 is a prophesy from King David, also known as “The Song of the resurrection.” In it, David foretells of (verses 8-9), Jesus’ life and death. In verse 10, he predicts Jesus’ resurrection (NLT)-→For You [meaning God the Father] will not leave My soul [meaning that of Jesus] among the dead or allow Your Holy One [Jesus] to rot in the grave. Jesus, and David, both put their whole trust in God, and so should we.

In 1 Peter 1:3-9, the never-again-wavering Peter both celebrates Christ’s resurrection and warns us of trials to come. In verses 3-5, He practically dances with joy because of what the resurrection means for us all (NLT)-→All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

But he also warns us—and he should know—to anticipate that we will experience trials that will test our faith, (verses 6-7, NLT)-→So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold….We have all suffered tests of our faith, haven’t we? It’s so tempting to bail on God when things in our lives get rough. But here is Peter exhorting us not to abandon Jesus when we experience times of trial. And difficulties. Remembering this, realizing our hope is “in Christ,” Here in the power of Christ we’ll stand.

Because of Jesus’ death on the Cross and Resurrection from the dead, we believers can live into new Easter attitudes and new, improved Easter behaviors: We can live life fearlessly, trusting in the love and protection of our Lord. We can rely upon the fact that He has paid the price for our sins so we too will be resurrected and live with Him, eternally, in heaven. We can relax in His love, knowing He has redeemed us with His blood. And, we can rest assured that He has the power to help us overcome the worst Satan and the world can throw at us.

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Amazing Love!

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 29, 2026

Scriptures: Isa 50:4-9a; Ps 31:9-16; Phil 2:5-11; Matt 26:14-27:66

Back in 2003, the Newsboys (a Christian boy band) released a song called “You are my King (Amazing Love).” I’ve always loved that song! Here is a link to the video: Amazing Love by Newsboys with lyrics I love this song because it expresses so well what Jesus did for us on the Cross.

Today, the Christian Church celebrates Palm Sunday—the anniversary of the day of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The people hailed Him as their Messiah—and they were right! But in a few short days later (by Good Friday), the palm waving ended in His procession to Golgatha. That’s why we ask Joy, who has such a lovely soprano voice, to sing the “Via Delorosa” today—Jesus did experience such a sad painful journey on the road to Calvary.

From today through Holy Week to Easter Sunday, we move from joy to grief to extraordinary, resurrection joy again. But what was the point? What did God intend for us to learn?

Well first, Jesus’ mission on earth fulfilled about 300 Old Testament prophesies (There are another 25-26 that He won’t fulfill until His 2nd Coming.)

Many prophets said the Messiah was coming. They described exactly what He would do when He arrived on the scene (His job description is foretold in Isaiah 61:1-3). They predicted how He would die (Psalm 22 and the portion we read today from Psalm 31, as well as the 4 “Suffering Servant Songs” from Isaiah—including Isaiah 50:4-9). And they also insisted He would overcome the power of death. One of the more subtle prophesies comes from way back in Genesis 3:14-15, which tells us that the Christ will crush Satan’s head. What’s fascinating about this is that Jesus died at Golgatha, which means the place of the skull.

This demonstrates that Jesus’ death fulfilled God’s plan and purpose. His death was not just a sad outcome of Judas’ lack of faith or of the Jewish religious leadership’s jealousy; nor was it just one of many, many oppressive Roman attempts to ensure peace in a turbulent country. No, it was God’s demonstration of His extreme love for us! Think of John 3:16-→For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life. God sent His sinless Son (see Philippians 2:5-11) to humbly and obediently take our guilt upon Himself and to ransom us from the death penalty we had incurred.

Jesus also went to the Cross for us so that we might, once again, regain the sweet fellowship with God that was lost to us by Adam and Eve when they sinned in the garden. Our God is holy. He will not abide in the presence of sin. When sin entered the world, through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, humankind realized there was nothing we could do on our own to get back into God’s good grace! Jesus’ saving act of dying on the Cross made this possible once again.  If we believe in Jesus, we are covered with His righteousness. (As St. Paul says, we are in Christ). Just as the Temple curtain was torn from top to bottom at Jesus’ death, this ensures that there is now no impediment, no barrier between us and God the Father.

Back in 2005, an American pastor surveyed 100 Christians from several churches in his town. He asked them, “Would it have made any difference in your life as you are now living it, if Jesus had not died on the Cross?”

1. 45% said they did not think so—almost half!

2. 25% (1/4th) said they thought so, but they could not specify how;

3. 20% said it made all the difference in the world to them.

4. And 10% said they had no idea.

(As cited by Jeff Strite in www.sermoncentral.com, 3/19/2005

5. What a sad commentary on the work of the Church! We are clearly failing at convincing folks they need a savior and at bringing folks into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

So what would you say? I hope that each one of you realizes that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. I pray each one of you can say His sacrifice of Himself on the Cross means the world to you! He saved your life and He saved mine! I also pray you live each day in that knowledge and that you allow His tender, self-sacrificial love to gently transform you into the image and likeness of Christ—becoming the best you the Lord meant you to be. Lastly, I pray you live each day of your life praising Jesus for saving you!

©️2026 Rev Dr Sherry Adams