Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Who is a Saint?

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 2, 2025

Scriptures: Dan 7:1-3, 15-18; Ps 149; Eph 1:11-23; Lk 6:20-31

The story is told of “…a church where the preacher and the minister of music were not getting along. As time went by this began to spill over into the worship service.

“The first week the preacher preached on commitment and how we all should dedicate ourselves to the service of God. The music director lead the song, “I Shall Not Be Moved”.

“The second week the preacher preached on tithing and how we all should gladly give to the work of the Lord. The director lead the song, “Jesus Paid It All”.

“The third week the preacher preached on gossiping and how we should all watch our tongues. The music director led the song, “I Love to Tell the Story”.

“With all this going on, the preacher became very disgusted over the situation and the following Sunday told the congregation that he was considering resigning. The musician led the song, “Oh Why Not Tonight?”.

“As it came to pass, the preacher did indeed resign. The next week he informed the church that it was Jesus who led him there and it was Jesus that was taking him away. The music leader led the song, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.”

(Rev. Tim Wilson, http://www.preacher’s illustrations,jokes,andquotes.com, 10.30.2025

Now this story is pretty funny, isn’t it?    It’s something we might expect of people who dislike each other.    Thankfully, Bonnie, Joy, and Alice and I all get along well.    I can’t see them trying to sabotage me like the music director in this tale.    I think they know they can just talk to me instead of choosing hymns and songs to put me in my place. 

Today we celebrate All Saints Day, a serious day on the church calendar, a day set aside to remember those faith-filled followers of Jesus Christ who have gone before us. Almost from the beginning of the Church, Christians desired to honor the memories of believers who either lived exemplary lives or who were martyred for their faith.    So who is a saint?

The New Testament refers to believers as saints, hagios—those whose lives set them apart as persons sold out to Jesus. The date of their death was the day set aside to remember them.     However, these holy ones became so numerous over time that it was decided to honor them all on one day set aside each year, the day after “All hallows Eve,” or Halloween.     

Our readings today can all be seen to refer to the saints of the wider Christian Church—the Church throughout history and across denominations.

A. Our Gospel lesson (Luke 6:20-31) contains the Lucan Beatitudes from “The Sermon on the Plain.”  You will remember that Matthew’s beatitudes are embedded in Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7). Luke’s are a quarter of Matthew’s length (they are briefer).    This sermon takes place on “level” ground (v.17)—Luke sees “the mountain” as a place of prayer for Jesus, while the “plain below” is where Christ goes to be with the people.

Lacking video-taping capabilities, or social media, Jesus taught the same material in a number of different locations or settings.    Non–believers mistakenly assume that because there are discrepancies between the messages, this proves the Bible is a fraud. However, I have worked in churches with multiple services on Sunday, preaching the same sermon several times. My sermon was never exactly the same from service to service! Sometimes it’s due to the differences in the congregation at each service. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit changes the message.    Jesus makes similar points in both sermons, but there are these natural differences between the two.

There was a huge crowd at the Sermon on the Mount. This crowd, too, was apparently quite large and was comprised of apostles, disciples, and people from Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon. It included both Jews and Gentiles, which indicates Jesus’ teachings are meant for all of us.    Interestingly, He healed people and cast out demons prior to this teaching, perhaps as a way of gaining their attention, or of gaining their respect and belief. 

He presented Blessings and Woes (vv.17-26) [also termed “sorrows”]. These are Jesus’ ethical expectations for His followers.    They contain 4 blessings and 4 woes (whereas Matthew lists 9 blessings, and no woes). Jesus is proclaiming how life is to be lived both in and outside of the Kingdom of God.  (They are also very reminiscent of His mother, Mary’s Magnificat from Luke 1:46-55)

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,      

 when they exclude you and insult you    

and reject your name as evil,  

because of the Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day                                                             

and leap for joy                                                                        

because great is your reward in heaven

for that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Blessings declare God’s grace and favor to those who are righteous (vv. 20-22), those who act rightly. God has compassion on…

a.) the poor–>Jesus is not excluding the rich (for instance, Zacchaeus, (Lk 19:1-10).    But the poor have a special place in God’s heart because they have to depend upon Him, and because they know they have little control over life.    

I once heard a Bishop from Nigeria (he may have been among the 52,000 Christians murdered by Moslems in Nigeria over the past 4 years) tell us in seminary that we Americans have a wealth of insurance: house, car, life, health, travel, etc., but that Nigerian Christians have no insurance except the love of Jesus.

b.) the hungry usually a result of poverty &/or persecution.

c.) the sad/the dispairing    (often the poor and hungry) God sees them and knows their suffering.

d.)    the persecuted    a choice for Jesus then meant being ejected from the synagogue, meaning they lost their community and their status.

Jesus says they are to rejoice because God’s grace will help them overcome their suffering.

Woes indicate God’s displeasure. They are directed at those who oppose Jesus’ blessing or who persecute His disciples. They consist of 4 descriptions of the same type of person:

a.) the rich because they often take advantage of the poor.    They believe they don’t need God because they have “made it” on their own. They tend to be uncaring toward others.

b.) the well-fed    they will be hungry on Judgment Day.

c.) callous participants in the “good life”    they too will mourn and weep on Judgment Day.

d.) those who prefer men’s good opinion to God’s    they do not see themselves as accountable to the Lord.

A saint tries to live out the Beatitudes.  We demonstrate our set-apartness, our sainthood, by living according to these principles.

B.    Daniel’s vision (Daniel 7:1-12) is prophetic:    It tells of 4 successive empires to rule the known world:    (1) The Babylonians, as depicted by a lion with 2 wings; (2) The Medo-Persians, as represented by a bear; (3) The Greeks under Alexander the Great, a leopard; (4) And the Romans, a terrible beast with iron teeth (The Romans had iron weapons).

Rome’s 10 horns represent ten successive evil empires, arising from the ashes of the former Roman empire through the ages. The final “little horn” will be the antichrist. But most relevant to us today is the portion from vv. 13-18.  Jesus, one like a Son of man, comes into the presence the Ancient of Days [God the Father], where He is given authority, glory and sovereign power.    Daniel is told by an angel that these vast evil empires will pass away, but Jesus’ followers—the saints—the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever.

This is the hope for which all we saints live. Our God, Jesus, is coming again to restore earth to a Garden of Eden-like environment.The saints will come to live there forever.

C. As a result, according to Psalm 149, we are to praise our Maker and King. He (v.3)  takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with victory. And He (v.7)    inflict[s] vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples [who have been the enemies of His followers, the saints].

D. Finally, in Ephesians 1:11-23, Paul reminds the Ephesian Church, and us, that we who follow Jesus were all chosen and sealed by the Holy Spirit to (vv.11-13)    …be [God’s] own people…so we would praise and glorify Him.    Paul prays we saints might (1) grow in wisdom and in the knowledge of God; (2) understand more deeply the great spiritual inheritance we have through Jesus; (3) as well as the tremendous power of God available to us through the Holy Spirit; and (4) that we might realize that (v.23) God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things…. Jesus is sovereign over every nation, every empire, and every being. Nothing happens without His knowledge. And nothing—not even death—can separate us from His love for us.

If we love and follow Jesus, we are saints. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.   Alleluia! Alleluia!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Doulos or Servant of Christ

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 4, 2025

Scriptures: Lam 1:1-6; Ps 127; 2 Tim 1:1-14; Lk 17:5-10.

Today’s Gospel (Luke 17:5-10) consists of what is known as the “Faithful Service” parable: Jesus is speaking to those who believe in Him, rather than to nonbelievers. Using the example of a servant’s relationship to his or her master, He makes the point that our obedience to God is not a matter of merit but of duty. We don’t rack up “brownie points” with the Lord by living out the 10 Commandments or by donating to the poor. After all, like a good servant, we are just doing what the Master (our Lord) expects us to do. And if we are obeying God’s will, we shouldn’t be looking for an immediate reward.

This seems like another of those hard sayings of Jesus. He is stating, essentially, that we need to hold on to our faith–even through tough times–by remembering that our salvation is a gift to us from God. We don’t work to earn it; but we express our gratitude to the Lord for it by our service to Him and to others. The word in the Greek for servant is doulos. If we love Jesus, we gladly become His doulos, just as He became like a servant, going to the Cross for our sakes.

Our other passages assigned for this Sunday offer a contrast between what life is like for us when we surrender and become a doulos of Christ vs. when we don’t:

A. In our Old Testament lesson (Lamentations 1:1-6), we find the prophet, Jeremiah, grieving for what has happened to the disobedient and rebellious Southern Kingdom. The prophet is inconsolable! He weeps and laments for Judah and Jerusalem, personalizing the city as a desolate woman. He witnessed the destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians in 586BC. He saw his countrymen and women killed, wounded, or carted off into slavery. They had abandoned being servants of the Most High God, and instead were forced to become servants of the pagan empire of Babylonia.

In his grief, Jeremiah reveals to us the heart of God. Our God is heartbroken when we veer off into sin and apostasy. God had had Jeremiah repeatedly warn the people of His coming judgment. But they chose to disregard all the prophet’s admonitions to return to return the Lord. So, in 586BC, the Lord severely chastised them, at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar and his army.


B. Psalm 137 continues this tragic narrative. The captives in Babylon remember Jerusalem and their formerly magnificent Temple with grief and sorrow. It was common knowledge in the Ancient Near East that as many as 100,000 worshippers might raise their voices in unison to praise God during the great feasts in Jerusalem. King David had amassed an orchestra of hundreds of musicians. Hearing the gigantic choir together in combination with the huge orchestra must have been a sensational experience!

Now their captors urge them to sing as they used to do. Can’t you just hear them egg them on? Come on, come on! Sing for us! But they are too bereft to sing! Instead, they hung their harps on willow trees (now called weeping willows), and wept, insisting they could only sing as they once did if they were back in Jerusalem. None of the historical books of the Old Testament describe for us what the experience of captivity was like for the common Israelite. Daniel narrates the fate of princes; Esther, that of the queen and her uncle, a scribe; but no where do we see described what life was like for the ordinary Jew taken into Babylonian slavery—except in this psalm. They were slave laborers whose job was to dig irrigation canals in this dry land. Remember Babylon was noted for its lush hanging gardens, possible only with massive and effective irrigation. 

(J.Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Psalms, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.149.)

Furthermore, these slaves recognize by now that they are captive laborers in Babylon because of their rebellion against God and their idolatry. They are too sad to sing. And they are too angry with their enemy captors to entertain them! In verses 7-9, they call down revenge on two enemy groups:

(1) The Edomites, descendants of Esau, the carnal twin brother of their patriarch, Jacob (distant cousins). Their Edomite kin had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and had ridiculed these Judeans in their defeat. The Jewish captives were furious with this betrayal by extended family members. They wanted God to avenge them. (2) And they certainly wanted vengeance against the Babylonian army! Perhaps they seen their babies ruthlessly killed by enemy soldiers, so they pleaded with the Lord to do the same to Babylonian infants.

This is called an imprecatory psalm because it calls for revenge arising from bitter hatred. This side of the Cross, we know we are not to hold bitter hatred in our hearts. Instead, Jesus expects us to pray for our enemies and to forgive them. At least these slaves knew they were in no position to pay their enemies back. They realized God is the only One Who could bring them justice. Sure enough, less than 50 years later, the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians under King Cyrus in 539 BC. It was Cyrus who agreed to allow the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. He even sent them back with the golden implements from the Temple, with money, and with soldiers to protect them. What a miraculous move of God!

It is well for us today to note that we can take our anger and our desire for revenge to the Lord. Vengence is Mine, says the Lord. Furthermore, in Galatians 6:7 (NLT), Paul reminds us : Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. We tend to remember this as, You will reap what you sow. My experience over the years has shown me that we often reap exactly what we sowed, almost like our actions boomerang back to us. I am thinking of a woman I know, the first wife of a man married four times. He told her she needed to pay off a debt of $300 before their wedding. She did. He found out his fourth wife, after he married her, had maxed out 3 credit cards, borrowed against two life insurance policies, and took out a mortgage and a second mortgage on a home that had been willed to her totally debt free! His focus had been on indebtedness as he entered his first marriage. How interesting that he found himself so encumbered in his 4th one. 

Now contrast these two passages with Pauls’ admonitions to Timothy (2 Tim 1:1-14). Paul is writing to Pastor Timothy(around 67AD),  his disciple, who he has left in charge of the Church in Ephesus. Paul is providing this dearly beloved [spiritual] son with instruction on how to become a successful minister of the Gospel. He wants Timothy to note that he is at the top of Paul’s prayer list—what an amazing place to be!–and that he appreciates the faith of Tim’s mother (Eunice) and grandmother (Lois) in helping form him as a Christian believer. Especially in this 2nd pastoral letter (also his final letter before being beheaded in Rome), Paul warns Tim about the afflictions that can beset a congregation and its pastor—especially apostasy. Apostasy is the willful turning away from the principles of the Christian faith. It is a rejection of God not due to ignorance, but due to the human choice to turn one’s back on the Lord and on one’s faith. 

This is what the Jews of Jerusalem and Judea had done in the time of the Babylonian Exile. 

To prevent against apostasy, Paul wants Timothy to continue to preach the Word of God and the Gospel:

1.) No matter if people turn away; 

2.) No matter if congregational size dwindles (which had happened all over since the Covid epidemic, but may be turning around as a result of Charlie Kirk’s assassination); 

3.) No matter if people don’t feel sufficiently entertained by church; 

4.) No matter if folks don’t want to hear the teachings of Jesus. 

Paul is saying, in so many words, “Make it as attractive as you can, but don’t skimp on presenting the reality of the Gospel. No matter what forces come against you, Timothy,” Paul exhorts him, “you remain strong!” In verse 7, he famously reminds him, For God did not give us a spirit of timidity [fear, cowardice], but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline [a sound mind, some translations substitute]. Paul is saying, when the world comes against you—and it will—remember that you have a spirit of power: The Holy Spirit is in you, to guard, guide, teach, and strengthen you!  Additionally, the love of Jesus and of God the Father enfold you and stand behind you so that, rather than fearing people’s bad opinions or getting angry and becoming vengeful, you can operate out of Spirit-induced self-restraint and self-control.  

Paul knew Timothy lacked self-confidence—and we may as well. So he told him (and us) this to provide assurance and to help us all to recognize the true source of our strength.

Finally, like an excellent coach, Paul inspired Timothy with his own example of bearing up under persecution, hard times, and trials. Paul wants us all to be aware that tough days, weeks, or even seasons may assault us. These happen to all of us—especially if we love and serve as servants (doulos) of Christ. The evil one doesn’t bother those he already holds in his hands, such as non-believers and the apostate (like the folks in Jerusalem in 586BC). Make no mistake, as the enemy of God, he comes after true believers, tooth and nail, trying to make us so discouraged that we abandon our Lord. Knowing this, we don’t want to give the evil one a victory over us. 

So Paul reminds Timothy (and us) to (v.14) : Guard the good deposit [of faith and love] that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. This is what makes us and keeps us a servant of Christ. Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Without Regrets!

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 28, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 32:1-15; Ps 91; 1 Tim 6:6-19; Lk: 16:19-31

Before I begin this morning, I want to apologize to you for a mistake I made last Sunday. I really do my best to be sure what I preach and teach from Scripture is accurate and supported by the scholarship of noted Christian authorities in whom I trust. But last Sunday I wasn’t paying proper attention to the names of the two men in Jesus’ parable. I erroneously stated that the rich man was Lazarus and the poor man was Dives, when the opposite is true! The word divies means rich man in the original Greek of the New Testament. So that guy is really unnamed by Jesus—we just know him by his position, by his wealthy life style. And the poor man is named Lazarus (a possible clue that he is valued more by Jesus than the other guy?). Again I apologize for the mistake (I never claimed to be perfect, just forgiven!)

Unlike Jesus’ good friend, Lazarus, who He raised from the dead, and who was well off financially, this Lazarus was a poor, sick beggar. However, the two men were similar in that they were righteous believers in God. So the poor beggar finds himself in Paradise while the rich, entitled, godless Dives finds himself in Hades or Hell. Dives lived a life sold out to money;

In Jesus’ parable, Dives becomes the beggar—though with an arrogant attitude—while Lazarus has become the rich man.

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Luke, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.207.)

Do you think Dives regretted the ungodly way he lived his life? It seems pretty clear that he did. He’s living in torment and is desperate for a drop of water. If we don’t want what is happening to him to happen to us, we need to live our lives—beginning today if not before this—without regrets.

Our passages today suggest how we might accomplish this:

A. Both the Gospel passage (Luke 16:19-31) and Paul’s admonitions to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:6-19) warn us not to be tempted by the love of money. Focusing our thoughts and efforts on money will squeeze out or replace our single-minded devotion to God. Paul states in verse 10 (NLT) For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It may or can make life easier this side of eternity, but it doesn’t really satisfy. Being wealthy doesn’t guarantee us good health or gratifying relationships. What does ultimately satisfy is what Paul exhorts Timothy to do in verse 11—Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. By righteousness and godly living, he means live a life pleasing to God. Remember the “WWJD” bracelets from the 1990’s? If we would think before acting, “What would Jesus do?” we would find ourselves on the right track.  By then listing faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness, he is saying live a life that demonstrates the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22—…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control).

Paul goes on to urge young Pastor Timothy to (verses 17-19)—Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, Who rightly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life. In other words, it’s not having money that is the problem for us humans. The problem is do we spend our resources on just doing for ourselves—better and grander homes, better and grander vacations, more extravagant clothing, vehicles, toys and entertainments—or do we see the needs of others and give to them generously from our extra?  I participated in a weekly Bible Study small group for 5 years while I was in seminary. One couple in the group included a physician whose spouse invented and sold medical equipment. They were very wealthy. I wondered as we studied this very passage how they did not feel condemned. It was because they generously funded a number of charitable concerns.

Jesus tells us Dives lived in luxury, while Lazarus lay at Dives’ gates, a sick beggar, hoping for crumbs from Dives’ table. Apparently Dives knew of him but never offered to help him. He could have offered him medical treatment, but he didn’t. He could have provided him some “take out” from his table, but he didn’t. Dives was selfish and self-focused. His love of money blinded him to the needs of others. He did not love God. He did not love others. No wonder he found himself in the bad place, enduring eternal regrets! As I said last Sunday, this is not where we want to find ourselves.

B. Psalm 91 is extraordinarily comforting, isn’t it? Iff (this is an indicator of an important “if” clause) we (v.1)— live in the shelter of the Most High…and iff (v.2)—[God] alone is my refuge, my place of safety…my God, and I trust Him…Then (v.3)—…He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.  He protects those who trust in Him. We who do trust in Him are protected from enemies, disease, the wicked, and fear…because He assigns His angels to watch over us. Friday I talked to someone who had prayed—like I did—for God’s protection over their home during the worst of our three hurricanes last year. As with me, trees were blown over all around them, but none fell on their house or car. I prayed for safety from 11:00pm until 2:00am (the time the hurricane was raging over my neighborhood)—and even heard the sound of a tornado (striking the chimney of a neighbor 2 houses away), but my home stayed safe. I had a pastor friend who lived in a coastal Mississippi town during Hurricane Katrina. Her home was the only one left standing in her neighborhood. She told me she was embarrassed before her neighbors. I replied that her home was a monument/an Ebenezer to the goodness of God to those who love Him. Hers is an example of the safety that this psalm speaks of. This is the result of our faith in a God who keeps His promises.

In verse 14, the psalmist writes—The Lord says “I will rescue those who love Me. I will protect those who trust in My name.” If you can say this and believe it, God holds you in the palm of His hand.

Truly trusting in God is a way to live life without regrets.

C. But you may point to our Old Testament lesson (Jeremiah 32:1-15) and say, “But what about them?” As we tune into the prophet, the year is 587 BC and Jerusalem is under siege by the Babylonians. For over 30 months, their army starved the city into surrender and then swept in through the broken down walls and gates, overcoming any remaining opposition. They destroyed the Temple of God. They set fire to the city. They slaughtered the old and the infirm, and carried off most of the rest into slavery in Babylon. The godless king, Zedekiah, escaped but was captured by Nebuchadnezzar in Jericho. He was forced to watch all his sons put to the sword; and then he was blinded and led off to Babylon.

Prior to this, Jeremiah had been imprisoned by the heretical king, because Zedekiah hated hearing the prophet’s accurate predictions of Jerusalem’s coming defeat. I wonder if he regretted having blown off Jeremiah’s warnings. 

Curiously, in the midst of the siege, God tells Jeremiah to buy property in his hometown, Anathoth. Doesn’t it seem strange to buy property—a sign of hope in the future—in the midst of wartime and defeat? But God is thereby saying to Jeremiah and the people of the Southern Kingdom that “this too shall pass.” Have you ever said this to yourself? I have. My mother died just before my comprehensive exams, tests over every class I had taken in my doctoral program. I was grieving as I had to dedicate time to study, but consoled myself saying, “This too shall pass.” I did the same while undergoing childbirth, surgeries, and other painful things—and so can you! The Lord is intimating, through this real estate transaction, that His chastened people, cleansed of idolatry, will return to the Land. And 70 years later, the king of Persia, Cyrus, frees them to return and to rebuild Jerusalem. Of course, Jeremiah has long since perished, but God’s restoration of His people came to pass. The point is that our God redeems His people. He may discipline us, but we can hope in the future because of His love for us.

Let’s have no regrets!  Let’s choose to live our lives in such a way that we please our all-powerful, loving and grace-filled God. The psychologist Erik Erikson postulated that we are presented with a series of developmental stages as we progress through life. He believed we are confronted with a crisis at each stage that we must master in order to enjoy good mental health thereafter. The first one, at about age 2, is “Trust vs. Mistrust”. By that point have we learned to trust others or not? If not, we will be emotionally crippled as we move through the remainder of our life. Interestingly, he named the final stage before death, “Integrity v. Despair.” To be emotionally healthy in old age, we need to be able to look back over our life and decide that despite our flaws, we actually did the best we could. In other words, we can say we have few regrets. Those who, like Dives, see a number of instances where we made fatal mistakes will find ourselves in despair. Let’s determine now, today, to live so that we die without regrets.

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Lost, but Found

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 14, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 4:4-12, 19-28; Ps 14; 1 Tim 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-10

Perhaps you have been more discerning than I have as you have read the 15th chapter of Luke. In studying our Scripture passages this week, I realized I had never quite put it together that the 3 parables Jesus provides the Pharisees about “lost things” are each a response to their grumbling criticisms. They notice that He hangs out with and even eats with notorious sinners.  They are critical of Jesus because He does not behave as they do–He does not always go along with the status quo, the expected way they think people, especially rabbis, should behave. He dares to do something different, something unexpected.  Rather than consider that they might be wrong in their attitudes and behavior, they find offense and reject Jesus. Nevertheless, He shares 3 stories (parables) that perfectly demonstrate God’s attitude toward “the lost.”

The Pharisees could easily grasp the need to locate a lost sheep.  A sheep represented money on 4 hooves. Any economically shrewd shepherd would go search for this absent asset–perhaps not because they valued the particular sheep per se, but because they valued the asset it represented. They could also understand the imperative to search for a missing coin of significant value. What was lost to them, however, was the Lord’s priority to locate and bring into His Kingdom people who had wandered far from God—people whom He knew needed Him.

Jesus wanted them…”to make the leap from sheep and coin to tax collector and sinner.”  (borrowed from www.Sermons.com, 9/9/2025.)

Our Lord knew that our values drive our behaviors. He knew that the Pharisees, God’s spiritual shepherds, did not value lost people.  He knew that God the Father did, as did He.  He taught these parables, hoping the religious leadership of His day would get it. Our God is a God of grace, love, and mercy. But they stubbornly held to their notion that He is a rather heartless God of rules.

At one time or another, we have all been lost. Aren’t we grateful we have a God who searches for and saves the lost? Consider this true story:

“Nine hundred miles out to sea, on an ocean liner headed to the Middle East, a sail was sighted on the horizon. As the liner drew closer, the passengers saw that the boat—a small sloop flying a Turkish flag—had run up a distress signal and other flags asking for its position at sea. Through a faulty chronometer or immature navigation the small vessel had become lost. For nearly an hour the liner circled the little boat, giving its crew correct latitude and longitude.  Naturally there was a great deal of interest in all the proceedings among the passengers of the liner.  A 12 year-old-boy remarked aloud to himself—‘It’s a big ocean to be lost in.’

“It’s a big universe to be lost in, too.  And we do get lost—we get mixed up and turned around. We despair, we make mistakes, we do evil to each other [e.g., the man who killed the Ukrainian refugee woman on the train in Charlotte, NC, and the assassin of Charlie Kirk].  We deserve the wrath of God and that is what the Pharisees who criticized Jesus maintained.  But Jesus understood God more.  He knew God as a Shepherd in search of the one lost sheep.  He knew God as if He were] a woman searching in the dark, in the crevasses, for that valuable coin.  In the end it was Jesus’ view of God which prevailed and not his critics. 

(Brett Blair, Christian Globe Network, as presented by www.Sermons.com, 9/9/25.)

Thank God our Lord is concerned about the very least of us—those without wealth, influence, popularity, and looks. Thank God our Lord loves us despite our sin and how often we disappoint Him.Thank God our Lord seeks to find and save the lost.

Hear the cry of God’s heart for the lost:

A.  In our Old Testament lesson (Jeremiah 4:4-12, 19-28), beginning back in verse 1, the lord makes it clear that He wants the people of Jerusalem and Judea to give up their idol worship and return to Him.  As J.Vernon McGee states, “He is vitally interested in them and He wants to bring them back into right relationship with Him.”  (Mc.Gee, Through the Bible commentary on Jeremiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.42).  God wants them to (v.4)  surrender your pride and your power.  The situation is dire:  Unless they obey God, He is going to unleash a lion of destruction upon them (The Babylonian Empire).

While Jeremiah weeps as he gives his countrymen this dreadful prophesy, God says in verse 22 (NLT)  My people are foolish and do not know Me…they are stupid children who have no understanding.  What would He say about us in America today?  Don’t you think His message would be similar?  We tend to believe we can proceed as a country indefinitely into the future.  But our founders at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts made a covenant agreement with the Lord.  We would be a city built on a hill, a light to the nations.  They dedicated our country to God.  We have over the past 250 years broken this covenant.  The choice facing the folks in Jerusalem during the 580’s is the same one we face today:  Pray, repent, fast, turn back to God, or face the destruction, the ruins, the barrenness Jeremiah predicted in verses 23-28.  There is a cost to stubbornly, willfully remaining lost.

     B.  In Psalm 14, King David is also prophesying, but about the depravity of humans in the last days.  He agrees with God’s assessment, as I just reviewed and as was stated later in Jeremiah 4:22, asserting  Only fools say in their hearts, there is no God.  They are corrupt, and their actions are evil.  None of them does good.  David predicts that in those days many will turn against God.  Without God, neither their intellects nor their academic credentials (nor their money or their influence) will save them.  David predicts people will turn against God and against each other.

However, due to God’s mercy and His pursuit of the Lost, in verse 7, David concludes that salvation will come out of Zion’s hills  Jesus will arrive, riding on the clouds.  (Look up on YouTubeMusic the contemporary Christian song, “These are the days of Elijah.”  Listen and see how the writer incorporated verse 7 into the chorus.)  Even when things appear the darkest ever, our God has a plan for our redemption.  Jesus, in His 2nd Coming, will once again rescue those who have survived the Great Tribulation, believing in Him.

    C.  Finally, we see in Paul’s 1st letter to Timothy (1 Timothy1:12-17)– who he brought to faith and mentored—that Paul is exceedingly thankful for God’s grace-filled pursuit of his lost self.  He admits that he was saved by grace; he knows that Jesus Christ Himself put him into the ministry.  This was nothing he had earned or merited.  He had been an enemy of the infant Christian Church.  In verse 14, Paul praises the Lord for filling him with faith in and love for Jesus.  And then, in verse 15 (NLT), he asserts so beautifully and so famously—This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it.  “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.”  How honest he is with Timothy and with us!  How many of us would be willing to admit—especially to someone who looks up to us–that we are terrible sinners?

Paul realizes that he was lost, and then found and redeemed by Jesus.  He admits he was a sinner who repented, and that the Lord has used him in ministry as both a preacher of the Gospel and an example of the Gospel in action.  (J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on First Timothy, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.32.).

Essentially, what Paul is saying to encourage Timothy is that he was lost and now found, and so can anyone be who believes in Jesus!  He admits he was a sinner who repented, and that the Lord has used him in ministry as botha preacher of the Gospel and as an example of the Gospel in action (J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on 1st Timothy, Thomas nelson, 1001, p.32.).

Our Lord Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  That’s us…each one of us in the words of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” I once was lost but now am found.”  This is why we need to be mindful of the God-ordained opportunities that present themselves to us to tell others about Jesus, and to pray for their faith and their situations.  Thank you, Jesus, that You seek us until You find us. We are all so grateful!  We praise You, we bless You, and we adore You. Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Living by God’s Grace

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 7, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 18:1-11; Ps 139:1-6, 13-18; Phi 1:4-21; Lk 14:25-33

Consider the following true story:

“Missionaries Robert and Mary Moffat labored faithfully in Bechuanaland (now called Botswana) ten years without one ray of encouragement to brighten their way.They could not report a single convert.

“Finally the directors of their mission board began to question the wisdom of continuing the work. The thought of leaving their post, however, brought great grief to this devoted couple, for they felt sure that God was in their labors, and that they would see people turn to Christ in due season. They stayed, and for a year or two longer, darkness reigned.  [They worked there for 12 years!]

“One day a friend in England sent word to the Moffats that she wanted to mail them a gift and asked what they would like.Trusting that in time the Lord would bless their work, Mrs. Moffat replied, “Send us a communion set; I am sure it will soon be needed.” God honored that dear woman’s faith. The Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of the villagers, and soon a little group of six converts was united to form the first Christian church in that land. The communion set from England was delayed in the mail, but on the very day before the first commemoration of the Lord’s Supper in Bechuanaland, the set arrived.”

(Robert J. Morgan, ed., Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes (Thomas Nelson, 2000, p.138).

At first brush, it would seem this is a story about the persistent faith of the missionaries, Mary and Robert Moffat.  It clearly is a great example of trusting in God no matter your circumstances. But let’s not miss that it is also a lesson about God’s grace.  Remember grace is unmerited favor, undeserved and often unexpected blessing. It was by God’s grace that their English friend offered to send them something right then to help them with their missionary work. It was by God’s grace that—after 12 years without a convert—6 Botswanans were ready, at that time, to choose to follow Jesus. It was by God’s grace that the communion set arrived just in time for their first communion service.

And so it is with all of us…instead of the Humpty Dumpty poem, let’s consider this version on grace:

Jesus Christ came to our wall,

Jesus Christ died for our fall;

So that regardless of death and in spite of our sin,

Through grace, He might put us together again.

(Anonymous entry in Chuck Swindoll’s The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Word Publishing, 1998, p.251.)

You may recall in the original poem that, “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty back together again…” but Jesus can!

Paul wrote long ago in Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT) God saved you by His grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  Grace is a gift from God. And grace is also a choice we make:  We can choose to offer it to others; Or we can choose to withhold it.

Our Scripture lessons today are all about what it means to be a true disciple of Christ.  As we review them this morning, let’s examine them through the lens of giving or withholding grace.

A.  Our OT lesson is from Jeremiah 18:1-11.  God directs the prophet to go observe what takes place at a potter’s shop. Then, as now, potters worked moist clay on a wheel. As the wheel spun, the potter would use his hands to shape the clay into a bowl or pot to then be fired or hardened in a kiln. The image of a potter with wet clay is a metaphor for God’s relationship with Judah, back then, and with us now. If the clay (we) are malleable, then the potter (God) can mold and shape according to His plan.

Notice, the power of the Potter is absolute!  He has a plan, a purpose as He works in and with us. If we allow Him to do so, He has the power to shape us into vessels of honor.  This requires us to be totally cooperative and totally committed.  True disciples say “yes” to this process. But perhaps even better, if we turn out rebellious or flawed in some way, He can rework cracked pots like us, as a result of His love, mercy and grace. Disciples and followers of Jesus Christ cooperate with God, the Potter, because we realize He approaches us with grace.  He has chosen to be grace-filled toward us.

God has chosen to offer grace to us. As a consequence, we should be willing to offer grace to others.

B.  Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 gives us a perfect rationale for becoming a true disciple of Christ.  In Verses1-4, King David affirms He has searched us and He knows us. He knows who we are.  He knows our thoughts. He knows what we intend to say before we say it. He knows everything we do. There is no hiding from Him!  We may hide things from our friends and families, but not from God! And yet He loves us and offers us His grace. 

Since He is omniscient (knows all things) and also omnipresent (is everywhere), There is nowhere that we can run to escape Him or His knowledge of us.  If His intentions for us were bad, this would be excruciating for us.  But He is patient with us.  He loves us and offers us His grace.

And, verses13-16 He made us (knit me [us] together in my [our] mother’s womb).  He ordained how long we would live.  And He envisioned a plan and a purpose for each of us.

This psalm assures us that God knows us intimately—better and longer than anyone else—and despite our faults and flaws, wants us to form a deep, loving relationship with Him.  Doesn’t it just make so much sense for us to want to fall into step with God’s plan? Those of us who have ignored God’s plan for our lives, and walked our own way, know that pathway leads to turmoil and trouble. Truthfully, aren’t we both surprised and gratified by God’s grace toward us?

Again, as a result, true disciples of Christ choose to offer grace to others.

C.  Our NT lesson this morning is from Philemon—such a little jewel of a letter!  Paul is in prison, waiting to be executed (about 60AD), but he takes the time to write a Christian friend, Philemon, who lives back in Colossae (present day Turkey).  Remember, most all of Paul’s epistles were to churches.  A few, like his letters to Titus and Timothy, were intended to teach and to encourage new pastors of the infant Christian Church.  But Philemon is the one personal letter included in the canon of Scripture to teach us about grace.

Paul, who had persecuted the infant Church, knew he had been a proud, wicked, wrong-headed, man saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. As a result of having been shown grace, he uses the word grace over 100 times in his writings (Jesus and the other disciples use it about 40 times).

Here he addresses Philemon, the slave-owner of Onesimus, both of whom Paul had led to Christ.  Instead of insisting Philemon accept Onesimus back without vengeance, Paul blesses the man and asks him to accept Onesimus back as a freed brother-in-Christ.  He is asking Philemon—out of love for Paul and as a true disciple of Jesus—to offer grace and freedom to Onesimus. In those days, slave owners had life and death control over their slaves and slaves were considered their property.  However, as the Apostle John reminds us, (John 8:36) So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  Paul is urging, not demanding, that Philemon offer forgiveness to Onesimus. This is no longer an economic  or property issue, but a moral and a spiritual one.  In those days, the Roman Empire was said to have a population of 120 million, 1/2 or 60 million of whom were slaves.  The practice to own another person was common, but Paul wants the members of the Church to choose grace.  Again, true disciples of Christ seek to please the Lord by freely offering grace to others.

D.  Finally, in today’s Gospel lesson (Luke14:25-33), Jesus draws our attention to the cost of discipleship. Believers or followers should think through committing themselves to being disciples, as the cost is high.  Nothing is to come before Jesus in our hearts–not spouses, children, parents, siblings, self, etc.  We don’t have to hate these relationships. There is a place for them in our lives, but all of them need to take back seat to Jesus.  This is one cost to consider.

Additionally, just as a builder considers his/her resources before planning construction, and just as a king considers his resources before engaging in battle, so too must we estimate or count the cost of becoming a disciple of Christ.  If you can’t commit all, then remain a believer, a follower. But being Jesus’ disciple, a true disciple, means being willing to give all of one’s self to the effort, including carrying a cross.  It also means offering grace to others, even though you might be angry with or disappointed in them.

We offer grace to others not because they deserve it, but because God has offered it to us when we did not deserve it. True disciples of Jesus allow God to mold and shape us, like a potter with clay. True disciples of Jesus understand that since God made us, knows us, and knows the future, it makes good sense to fall into line with His plans for us. True disciples of Jesus learn to let go and let God. True disciples of Jesus have reviewed the potential cost, but commit to Christ, choosing to live by God’s grace, and choosing to extend grace to others.  Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Humble Yourself in the Sight of the Lord

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 31, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 2:1-13; Ps 81:1,10-16; Heb 13:1-8,15-16; Lk 14:1-14

I begin today by playing the acapella version of “Humble Yourself in the Sight of the Lord” (by The Acapella Company; see YouTube music).  These folks have very effectively combined the verse from James 4:10 (NRSV) :  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you!—with our Gospel lesson and with verses from “Amazing Grace.”  It’s beautiful, isn’t it?  It seems that the way to elevate ourselves in God’s eyes is to be humble.

Consider this example from, “A radio conversation between a US naval vessel and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland.

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER  USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS.  I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER- MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.”

(Borrowed from www.thepastor’sworkshop.com, 8/28/25)

Slightly embarrassing, wouldn’t you say?  The aircraft carrier captain had to humble himself or risk running aground on rocks, sandbars, or perhaps icebergs.  Having come from three generations of US naval personnel, I know that the worst offense one can commit in the Navy is to run your ship aground.  Any ship captain unfortunate enough to do this is immediately relieved of his command and can kiss his career in the service goodbye!

The Proverbs often point out that God hates human pride (8:13) and the Psalms(149:4) insist that He…crowns the humble with victory.

This is the point of all of our readings today.  Let’s examine them together.

A.  In Luke 14:1-14. Jesus appears intent on teaching the Pharisees a lesson on etiquette—but it’s more consequential than that.  He has been invited to dine at a Pharisee’s house. The Gospels record several of these occasions, each of which provides a lesson for the haughty religious leaders.  In this case, the host has set a trap.  It’s the Sabbath. They produce a man with “Dropsy”—what we today call “Edema,” serious swelling of the arms and legs—and watch to see what Jesus will do. This side of the Cross, we know Jesus will heal the guy, because He came to bind up the broken-hearted and to set the captives (of illness) free.

He asks the religious leaders (vv.3-4, NLT): Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?  When they remain silent, He asks them another question (v.5): Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath?  If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?  Of course events and needs occasionally necessitate that they work on the Sabbath.  (They defined healing as work.)  The religious leaders remain silent because their hearts are hard—they are blinded by their sin of pride.  They believe they know better than God’s own Son how folks are to behave on the Sabbath. 

The Lord then provides a lesson for the guests at the dinner, the “Parable of the Impolite Guests”:  In those days, there were no place cards to reserve seating.  Think about wedding receptions today.  The bride and her mother work tirelessly to be sure those seated next to each other are friendly and get along.  Woe be unto anyone who comes in and moves the place cards around to suit themselves! But Jesus observes that in their pride, these guests rush to put themselves in the seats of honor, the 4 middle of three seats on each side of a table; or if the seating arrangement were U-shaped, the seat of honor was at the bottom of the U.  Jesus watched these guests exalting themselves; each one was only thinking of himself.  Jesus instructs them to seek the least favored place and then be happily surprised when the host invites them to accept a more honored place.  He then summarizes His lesson in verse 11—>For those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled.  We please God by being and behaving humbly.

(Darrell Bock, The NIV Application Commentary, Zondervan, 1996, pp.392-393.)

Jesus’ lesson for the hosts is similar: Serve the needy, not those for whom you feel a social obligation, for such humble service pleases God.

B. The writer to the Hebrews (13:1-8, 15-16) lists out for us behaviors, such as the following, that should characterize all Christians:

1. Love each other, as we are all brothers and sisters;

2. Show hospitality to strangers (and entertain angels?).  A clergy wife told me recently that her pastor husband encountered a homeless man at the mall, playing a guitar with an open guitar case to catch donations.  The young man was an excellent musician, and the pastor—a guitar player himself—was impressed.  So he complimented the man and dropped a $10.00 bill in his guitar case, and then walked away.  Thinking the young man may have been an angel, his wife asked him when he recounted the incident, “Why didn’t you invite him home for a shower and a meal, and offer to allow him to wash his clothes?”  She had remembered this verse from Hebrews 13

3. Remember those in prison and those mistreated;

4. Remain faithful in marriage;

5. Do not love money, but be satisfied with what you have;

6. Have no fear, because the Lord is our helper;

7. Remember your leaders who taught you the Word of God;

8. Praise Jesus often because…(v.8):  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

We are also to continue to humbly do good, and to share with those in need, because (v.16): These are the sacrifices that please God.

C. In Jeremiah 2:1-13, the Lord is lamenting, through His prophet, how His Chosen People have deserted Him.  He poignantly reminisces about the “springtime” of their relationship with Him.  He protected them in the wilderness.  He brought them into a rich land.

But once they inherited the Land, they forgot Him (Read the books of Joshua and Judges).  Even the priests and the pastors deserted Him!

The people of Jerusalem and Judea fell into the 3 evils that universally and historically lead to a nations’ collapse:  (1) Spiritual apostasy—they abandoned the One, True God; (2) Moral awfulness—instead of behaving like a people group set apart, they joined into pagan sexual rituals and chose to serve false gods they could manipulate; and (3) Political anarchy.  As we think about these three causes of national collapse, consider where we are as a country today: Spiritual apostasy?  Check.  Moral degradation?  Check.  Political anarchy?  Almost.  In recognizing this, we can appeal to the Lord to help our country turn back to Him.  This takes concerted prayer and country-wide revival.

(Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, p.29.) 

So how did the Southern Kingdom specifically and thoroughly offend God?  They rejected Him for idols and pagan deities, and they built shrines to these false gods and worshipped them.

Interestingly, God Himself humbly asks them (v.6): What did your ancestors find wrong with Me that led them to stray so far from Me? They worshipped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves.  This is certainly a strong condemnation from the Lord!  Almost again, as in a law court, He is asking what He’s done or not done that justifies their defection.  He, the Creator of the Universe, is humble.

So too was Jesus, as He humbled Himself and endured a criminal’s death on the cross for our sakes. 

God concludes, in verse 13, that in their pride and arrogance, “My people have done two evil things:  They have abandoned Me—the fountain of living water, and they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.”  Rather than humble themselves in the sight of the Lord, they adopted gods they could manipulate, gods whose worship included sexually immoral behavior, gods made in their image rather than in that of the Lord.

D. The portion of Psalm 81 that we read today (1, 10-16) is a call to celebrate God because He delivered them from bondage in Egypt and blessed them.  But as the author, Asaph, continues, it is clear that God is severely disappointed in them (vv.11-12): But no, My people wouldn’t listen.  Israel did not want Me around. So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas.  Who had become their God?  Just like Satan in his fall from heaven, just like Adam and Eve who wanted to be like God, they succumbed to their pride and decided for themselves who they would let act as their gods.  And like the lamenting Lord in Jeremiah 2, God states that if they would just return to Him, He would both subdue their enemies (protect them) and provide for their needs.  Humility before God is key. 

Remember Micah 6:8: He has shown you, O man [O woman], what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.   There it is: Be just and merciful toward others, and walk humbly with God.  Our pride has no place in our relationship with God.  Our God could rightly shine forth with all pride and arrogance, but He doesn’t.  We are to be like Him in this, to be humble.  Like the aircraft carrier’s captain, we hold onto our pride at a serious potential cost.  Like the impolite banquet guests at the Pharisee’s house, we are to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord so that He may lift us higher and higher.  Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Reading the Signs of the Times

Pastor Sherry’s message for 8/17/2025

Scriptures: Isa 5:1-7; Ps 80:1-2, 8-19; Heb 11:17-40; Lk 12:49-56

It’s pretty difficult for ordinary persons—those who lack the gift prophesy—to predict the future, isn’t it? One of my favorite stories about this phenomenon concerns a guy named Moshe, a medieval Jewish astrologer:

Moshe unwisely “…prophesied that the king’s favorite horse would soon die. Sure enough, the horse died a short time later.

“The king got really angry at Moishe, certain that his prophecy had brought about the horse’s death.

“He summoned Moishe and commanded him, “Prophet, tell me when you will die.” Moishe realized that the king was planning to kill him immediately no matter what answer he gave, so he crafted a careful response.

“I do not know when I will die,” he answered. “I only know that whenever I die, the king will die three days later.”

“Moishe lived a long life”.  (I am sorry that I cannot credit the source as it was unlisted in some old papers of mine.)

It is a good thing to be able to think quickly in times of trouble! Hopefully Moshe learned not to make pronouncements of future events unless directed to do so by the Lord.

In this morning’s Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 5:1-7, the prophet Isaiah is told by God to share the “Song of the Vineyard” with His Chosen People. It is an indictment against the Southern Kingdom. They have not learned anything from observing their Northern Brothers and Sisters get killed and captured by the terrifying Assyrian Army in 722BC. The 10 northern tribes had become idolaters. They lacked faith in God and they were not obedient to Him.  So He removed His longstanding protection (of 500 years) and they were devastated. Rather than look at that experience and determine to do better, the 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin to the South, blithely fell into the same behavioral trap.

So God convenes court and invites Jerusalem and Judah to judge between Him and them.  He shares, in poetic form, a tale of how He (the pre-incarnate Jesus) worked to establish a lovely vineyard. All throughout the Old Testament, the vineyard is a metaphor for Israel. He says He planted His people on a fertile hill. As such, the vineyard would have good drainage, and no problem with the soil.  He removed the stones—probably using them to create a wall about the property. He built a watchtower, from which to guard it from predators, enemies, or squatters. He prepared a winepress, anticipating a good crop of grapes…but sadly, the grapes that grew were bitter. The Lord asks Jerusalem and Judah (v.4, NLT)—What more could I have done for My vineyard that I have not already done? The obvious verdict is Nothing. The Lord did His part, but the Southern Kingdom did not do theirs.

The prophet relays, in verses 5-6, what God’s judgment will be (NLT)—Now let me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:  I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed.  I will break down its wall and let the animals trample it. I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns.  I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it. YIKES! Not only is the Lord going to neither prune nor weed among His people; but He is removing His hand of protection from them.  He had protected them from invasions for over 6oo years.  Now, there would be no walls or hedges to keep trampling or destructive animals like wild hogs or invading armies out.  Additionally, He will also deny it rain—it will experience severe, longstanding drought!  Israel profited from Fall and Spring rains.  Even today, the Fall rains have returned but the Spring ones have not. 

Why is God so put out? Why is He willing to lower the boom on them? How have they earned such costly judgments? Remember Micah 6:8, NIV—What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. He expected them to act justly toward others, but instead found them oppressing the less powerful, those without influence.  He expected them to be righteous (love mercy), but instead found them acting with violence (v.7). 

Now, if we were to read the remainder of Chapter 5, we would see specifically the charges the Lord brought against them (think about modern day America as I present their sins to you):

1. They coveted what others had (Lust of the Eyes). Bigger businesses swallowed up smaller ones. Making a profit became their god—this is idolatry. So (vv.9-10) God sent famine into the land.

2. They habitually engaged in drunkenness and immoral pleasure-seeking (Lust of the Flesh). Like Jeffrey Epstein and P. Diddy, they indulged their carnal natures. Their punishment (v.12) was captivity and death.

3. They continued to sin without shame or conscience (v.18).

4. They attempted to destroy God’s standards of right and wrong (v.20).

5. They were proud of their rebellious selves (v.21)—Proverbs 6:16—There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes [pride; this is listed first, even before murder], a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

6. They had lost all sense of godly values.

The combined punishment from God for #3-6 (human pride and disregard for God’s standards of right and wrong) was God’s judgment, the Babylonian Captivity. If you observe our culture today, all 6 of these offenses against our Lord are rampant. I’m not a prophet, but I believe we are in the last days. We have no idea how long they will last. But, because we worship a merciful God, I also believe we can prevail upon Him, through our prayers and devotion, to give our nation more time to return to Him. 

Now contrast what the Father said through Isaiah with what Jesus says in today’s Gospel, (Luke 12:49-56):   Jesus is rebuking His disciples for making accurate predictions from weather signs,  while neglecting to consider the pain and destruction of the coming judgment upon the earth and all people. Remember, after the Great Flood, God told Noah He would never send flood waters to destroy the whole earth again.

Instead, what does Jesus say will happen (v.49)—I have come to set the world on fire and I wish it were already burning!  It sounds like He is referring to both the fire of Judgment, and the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit.  Remember, at Pentecost, tongues of fire rested over the heads of the disciples. The Bible says our God is a consuming fire. 

Instead, I think the Lord is getting at something more positive for us here. Remember John the Baptist said (Luke 3:16)—I baptize you with water, but Someone [Jesus] is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be His slave and untie the straps of His sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus came the first time to save us, not to judge. Judgment will characterize His 2nd Coming. So this fire He references is Holy Spirit power, a great move of God—a revival–drawing many hearts to Him. 

This won’t happen until after His crucifixion and resurrection. The disciples will see this manifested in them at Pentecost, 50 days later.  What the Lord is saying here is that He wants us to burn with passion for God!

Jesus forces us to make a decision for or against Him. This decision can and does separate us from members of our families and from former friends.

We no longer engage in the same activities. We no longer talk, dress, or even think the same way.  We may not even laugh at the same jokes.  Jesus says this as He is moving toward the Cross. He wants us to be able to discern spiritual truths and separate these out from whatever is circulating in the culture. He wants us to be aware of our relationship to God and to make the necessary adjustments now before it’s too late.         

The Signs of the Times suggest our time to decide to live for Christ—like that of Jerusalem and Judah in the late 500’s BC—is drawing to a close. We don’t want to be guilty of the kinds of things the Lord charged His vineyard with. I guess you could say that how we choose to live our life provides critical evidence of how sincere we are in our commitment to God. 

Consider the following parable written by the playwright, Oscar Wilde:  Jesus was walking through the streets of a city. In an open courtyard. He saw a young man feasting gluttonously and growing drunk with wine. “Young man.” said Jesus. “why do you live like that?” “I was a leper.” said the young man, “and you cleansed me. How else should I live?” Jesus went on and he saw a young girl clad in tawdry finery, a girl of the streets, and after her came a young man with eyes like a hunter. “Young man,” said Jesus, “why do you look at that girl like that?” “I was blind.” said the young man. “and you opened my eyes. How else should I look?” “Daughter.” said Jesus to the girl. “why do you live like that?” “I was a sinner.” she said. “and you forgave me. How else should I live?” Here were three people who had received priceless gifts from Jesus and who used them like that”. (William Barclay. And Jesus Said. Westminster Press, 1970, p. 141). 

Our church sign outside says we have been bought at a price.  Let’s be neither a rebellious nor an idolatrous vineyard.  Let’s read the spiritual signs of the times correctly and live like we know Jesus died for us. Let’s stay under the shelter of our Lord’s wings, close enough to hear His heartbeat. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Celebrate Freedom

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 6, 2025, 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So he ends the psalm with praise and sincere gratitude. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

We don’t have to live in Fear!

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 29, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(1) Sexual immorality tops the list.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(1) Love,

(2) Joy, 

(3) Peace,

(4) Patience, 

(5) Kindness, 

(6) Goodness,

(7) Faithfulness, 

(8) Gentleness,

(9) and Self-control.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Holy Trinity Sunday

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 15, 2025

Scriptures: Pro 8:1-4, 22-31; Ps 8; Ro 5:1-5; Jn 14:15-29

The following two stories illustrate the fact that the Trinity is just too big and too deep for us to get our mortal minds around:

In the first, a young American woman is traveling in France.  She goes into a bookstore and asks the small, elderly Frenchman who waits on her for a map of France.  He spends some moments in the back of the store and then he proudly presents her with an armload of maps, including one for Paris, a 2nd one of Marseilles, and a 3rd one of Lyons. 

The young woman is dismayed and says to the Frenchman, “But I just want a single map of the whole of France.” The older gentleman pulls himself up to his full height and proudly responds, “But Mademoiselle, France is too big to be captured in just one map.”

(Fairless & Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Yr. C, 2015, p.195.)

The second concerns a family from India who visited with friends in California.  While there, the parents left their 11 year old daughter with their Christian friends, as they participated in a professional conference.  The family invited the girl to attend church with them on Sunday.  She went along and  quietly took in all she saw and heard.  

When they got back home, the host asked the girl for her impressions.  She then told him, “I don’t understand why the West Coast isn’t included too,” she replied. When they inquired what she meant, she added, “You know, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the whole East Coast.”

(Contributed by Ann Spivack, Reader’s Digest, as shared on www.sermon illustrations.com, 6/10/25.)

Today is both Father’s Day and Trinity Sunday.  Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers, and especially to God our Father!  We know that God the Father has both created all creatures on earth and has provided for them.  As our Proverbs lesson tells us (Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31), He also created wisdom.  We can, like King Solomon, ask God to give us wisdom.  Initially, wisdom is personified as a woman, but as we see in verses 22-31, if you examine these proverbs carefully, it’s clear that Jesus, the architect of Creation, is God’s wisdom (“I am the way, the Truth [wisdom], and the life.”  John 14:6).  The Son has redeemed us and reconciled us to His Father.  In our Psalm today (Psalm 8), King David both celebrates the 

Father’s creation and the Son’s second coming in power, when He will put all things into subjection under His feet (Hebrews 2:5-8).   And the Holy Spirit, according to our Gospel passage today (John 14:15-29), is our Advocate, like our defense attorney.  He reminds us of all that Jesus taught, leads us into all truth [wisdom; Jesus], and guides us and sanctifies us (helps us or heals us to) become like Jesus. .

That’s roughly how the three persons of the Trinity separate out their work.  However, we want to bear in mind that St. Augustine of Hippo once wrote,  

“WHOEVER DENIES THE TRINITY IS IN DANGER OF LOSING HIS SALVATION :”  “ YET ON THE OTHER THE SIDE OF THE COIN.”  HE SAID, “WHOEVER TRIES TO UNDERSTAND THE TRINITY IS IN DANGER OF LOSING HIS MIND.”

(As quoted in www.sermoncentral.com, 6/10/2025.)\

Any analogy or metaphor we might use to try to explain the Trinity is probably too simplistic.

So, let’s instead focus today on our passage from Romans 5:1-5.  Paul wants us to be sure we understand all of the benefits we derive from having been saved by Jesus Christ.  He lays it out for us in just 5 pithy verses:

(1) First, (v.1) we have Peace with God the Father.  We all know of folks—and perhaps have experienced ourselves—being cut off emotionally from some family members.  We are related by blood, but for a myriad of reasons do not have any real or meaningful contact with each other.  Maybe they were abusive.  Perhaps their addictive behaviors or their cruelty were just too dangerous for us to be around.  Maybe they lied about us or believed the lies about us told to them by others.  Perhaps every time we are around them, they wound us again.  We or they have decided that spending time together is emotionally dangerous and damaging.  We or they have decided to act like the other person is dead to us to avoid additional pain.  It’s not what God would want from us, but it is a way to keep ourselves emotionally–and perhaps even physically–safe.

But we don’t want to, or have to, live that way with God the Father. Whether we knew it or not, we were cut off from Him, due to our sinfulness, until we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. In other words,  God loved us but was against us until then. However, now, as believers in Jesus, we are justified by our faith. Jesus effected for us a complete and total reconciliation with God the Father.  Remember, God cannot abide sin. Our sin cuts us off from God as though we are the toxic relatives.  But through Jesus’ atoning death on the Cross, He paid the penalty for our sins, past, present, and future.  Our redemption by Jesus saves us from hell, but even better enables us to have an intimate and loving relationship with the Father. This peace with God is a huge blessing!

(2) Next (verse 2), Paul says we now have access to God the Father through prayer.  This is also a tremendous blessing! This is so big that many non-believers mock it. They say things like, “For real!  You really think Almighty God would care about the fact you are worried about your grandchild or that you have an ear ache?”  But we know that He is “the God of the Big Picture” but also “the God of the Details.” He loves hearing from us and wants to share in our lives, even down to the minutia.  If something bothers us and we bring it to Him, He listens.  And if we ask for His help, He responds.

(3) Third (verse 2), we have hope.  I love the way retired Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright puts it: 

“As a result of being justified by faith, we are, in the old phrase, ‘in a state of grace,’ a status, a positon where we are surrounded by God’s love and generosity, invited to breathe it in as our native air.  As we do so, we realize that this is what we were made for; that it is the beginning of something so big, so massive, so unimaginably beautiful and powerful, that we almost burst as we think of it.  When we stand there in God’s own presence, not trembling but deeply grateful, and begin to inhale His goodness, His wisdom, His power and His joy, we sense that we’re being invited to go all the way, to become the true reflections of God, the true image-bearers, that we were made to be.  Paul puts it like this:  we celebrate the hope of the glory of God.”

(N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone, Romans, Westminister John Know Press, 2004, p.83.)

Later in Romans (8:25), Paul will write, And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.  Since we can trust that God works all things together for our good, we can always have hope, despite our circumstances.   After all, we worship “the God of all hope!”

(4) Fourth (verses 3-4), we have Triumph in times of trouble (i.e., we can celebrate in our suffering!). YIKES! This is a hard one to understand! The point Paul is making is that our God uses our suffering—which we will endure in this broken world—to prune us, to transform us, to mold and shape us into the best version of ourselves. The process helps us develop patience or endurance, as we hold on to our faith and hang in.  Patience/endurance, in turn, toughens our character.  And strong character fortifies our ability to hope, even against hope. 

Think about it, we live in a world that wants everything instantly: TV reception, microwaved dinners, and immediate answers to texts!  But God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and God the Holy Spirit call to us to swim against this cultural current. Patience is both a virtue and a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Our God wants us to develop patience, to strengthen our character, and to always have hope.

(5) And lastly (verse 5), our salvation proves how much God the Father loves us.  He sacrificed His only Son to save us.  We suffer when one of our children or other loved ones have to endure painful medical procedures—imagine how the Father suffered as He watched His only Son endure excruciating pain through His beatings and his crucifixion.  And now, while the Father and His Son dwell in Heaven, He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

Thanks be to God for the creative love of our Heavenly Father, the redeeming love of His Son Jesus, and the sanctifying love of the Holy Spirit.  Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams