Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Passing God’s Tests

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 8, 2026

Scriptures: Ex 17:1-7; Ps 95; Ro 5:1-11; Jn 4:5-42

There is an anonymous story told of an Ohio State University student who was academically competent but tended to need time to complete assignments (he was smart but not speedy). He was troubled by a Calculus class he needed to pass—and wasn’t—taught by an annoying professor. The guy seemed to delight in frustrating his already discouraged students (You know the type. They seem to dislike students and should never be allowed to have authority over them.) During exams, he would walk around, watching them like a hawk, hoping to discover someone cheating; and he would frequently announce the amount of time left just to interrupt their trains of thought and to agitate everyone. In a class of 1,000 students, the slow-but-steady young man was the only one not to turn in his exam when time was called. The prof waited impatiently and then, an hour later, when the young man finally finished his test, the prof asked him what he thought he was doing. The young man answered, “Turning in my exam.” The prof replied, “Your exam is an hour late. Congratulations! You’ve failed it. So, I will see you next term when you repeat my class.” 

The student smiled and asked, “Do you know my name?” The professor replied gruffly, “What?” The student rephrased his question, “Do you know what my name is?” With irritation, the prof replied, “There are 1,000 students in this class. What makes you think I would know your name?” The student then smiled, and, lifting up a tall stack of test booklets, placed his completed test in the middle of the pile and casually exited the huge lecture hall.

Life sometimes presents us with tests–and authority figures– like that one. We may think our prospects are slim and we don’t have much of a chance at succeeding. The truth is that if we have a relationship with the Lord, we can make it through about any trial that might come. Let’s see what light our passages today have to shed on this issue: 

A. Our OT lesson comes from Exodus 17:1-7. The context is that God is leading His people from the Wilderness of Sin—and doesn’t sin truly place us in a wilderness?–to a placed called Rephidim. The Children of Israel have already experienced God’s miraculous deliverance of them from Pharaoh’s Chariots at the parting of the Red Sea. Three days into the desert, they come across a pond of bad water which the lord empowers Moses to turn good. He then leads them to an oasis with 12 delicious fresh water springs, so they can load up their water skins. By the 15th day out of Egypt, they have run out of food (except for their herds), but God supernaturally supplies them with manna. Now they find themselves at Rephidim where there is no water.

Having apparently learned little about trusting in the Lord for His provision, they fail to pray and ask for His assistance. Instead, they turn on Moses. It’s a test which they flunk. God has provided for them already, at least 3-4 times! Psychology tells us the best single predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Jehovah Jirah truly is our provider. By now, they should have trusted in the Lord and sought Him out in prayer. Moses, afraid for his life, pleads with God to intervene. And God uses him to lead them to the Rock at Horeb, at the base of Mt. Sinai (where they will soon receive the Ten Commandments).

There God makes water rush out from the rock, enough to satisfy 2 million people and only Heaven knows how many animals. Moses names the place Massah—which means testing—and Meribah—which means quarreling. It becomes a monument to their lack of faith in God.

It is also a testimony to their rebellion, their hard hearts, their ingratitude, and their self-pity. Many centuries later, Paul will write 1 Corinthians10:1-4-→I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. And he followed up in verses 9-10-→Do not…put Christ to the test, as some of them did and… don’t grumble as some of them did….Because Massah and Meribah is also a reminder of God’s gracious and abundant provision—in spite of His peoples’ attitudes and behavior! Unlike the calculus professor at Ohio State, God is for us, not against us. Our Lord tests us to help deepen our faith and trust in Him.

B. Psalm 95 picks up the same theme! This is one of the psalms that memorializes the Israelites’ rebellious lack of faith. Verses 8-10 state (NLT)-→The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried My patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts turn away from Me. They refuse to do what I tell them.” Other psalms say essentially the same thing: Psalm 81:7-→You cried to Me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Psalm 105:40-41(NIV)-→They asked and He brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of Heaven. He opened the rock and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert. Psalm 106:13 (NLT)-→Yet how quickly they forgot what He had done! They wouldn’t wait for His counsel!  In the desert their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience in that wasteland.

You see, our God tests our faith in Him. As we develop in our spiritual walk, He tests us to discover whether we love Him for what He does for us or because of Who He is. As Paul reminds us in Romans 5:3-5-→We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know they they help us develop endurance [patience, persistence]. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

Returning to Psalm 95, God provided for that generation, but—because they repeatedly failed His tests, (v.11)—So in My anger I took an oath: They will never enter my place of rest [the Promised Land]. He did not detest them, but He was angry and grieved with and disappointed in them. They wandered in the wilderness because they did not trust God. He waited for the last of that adult generation to die before leading the people into the Promised Land. 

C. Our Gospel lesson (John 4:5-42) relates Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman around her need for living water. First, we note that He had to go through Samaria. Jews normally avoided traveling through Samaria.

The Samaritans had intermarried with non-Jewish northern people after 721BC, and were considered mongrels by their Jewish kin in Judea. Nevertheless, Jesus stopped there to fulfill a divine appointment with this woman. (Never believe that women are second class citizens in God’s eyes! Jesus, the King of Glory, went into Samaria precisely because the Father told Him to meet with this woman.)

She comes looking for water at noon, a time when other women would have been elsewhere. No doubt she hoped to avoid them, and their “snarky” comments. Additionally, she was probably lonely, discouraged, and feeling empty and weary.

She encounters Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, the Living Water. He engages her first, thus overcoming barriers of gender, race, religion, religious practice, and morality. He meets her where she is, with compassion and love. He steps into her reality, promising her water that…becomes a spring gushing up to eternal life. She is curious and asks Him to give her this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. But one thing stands in her way: her sinful lifestyle. Unlike the student from Ohio State, she is known to Christ. He knows her sinful history of 5 husbands and a 6th paramour. When He calls her out on her sins, she believes He is a prophet. But He reveals Himself to her as the promised Messiah. Thrilled, she abandons her water jugs and brings her whole village to Him. She and they all partake of the true Living Water, the Word of God, Jesus Christ. She and they—considered by the Jews to be no better than feral dogs—are transformed and saved!

We need to be aware that God will test our faith. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we should expect the testing to begin and not be surprised. Further, we don’t want to be stubborn and stiff-necked like the ancient Israelites, repeatedly failing God’s tests. No, we want to be like this Samaritan woman, realizing we are lost, unfulfilled, and desperate without Jesus. We want to learn from the tests to deepen our faith. We want the Holy Spirit to develop in us endurance and patience; to mold and shape our characters to look more and more like that of Jesus; to transform our attitudes and behaviors; to increase our hope; and to discover if we can continue to love Him even when He doesn’t give us what we want.

So the question really is, Will we pass God’s tests? When we experience deprivation, loss, a heart-breaking health diagnosis, or some trauma, will we doubt God’s presence and His provision, like the ancient Israelites? Or will we like Moses, go to Him in prayer for help, trusting in Him to rescue us? Or will we, like the Samaritan Woman, open ourselves to His loving correction and transforming power?

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams  

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Forgiving the Unforgivable

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 22, 2026

Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35

Yesterday and the day before that, I led a women’s retreat on forgiveness. In three talks, I focused on “Forgiving Others,” Forgiving Self,” and “Forgiving God.” All of human forgiveness takes its cue from our God who sacrificially forgave us through the atoning death of His Only Son on the Cross. I’m not going to recapitulate for you what I had to say during the 2-day retreat. However, I do want to bring to your attention the documentary film work of Laura Waters Hinson. Back in 2006, she debuted her 53 minute, masters thesis film, called “As We Forgive,” a treatment of the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. I was present at a church conference where her film debuted and was amazed at the story she had to tell.

Perhaps you are familiar already with the genocide. The Hutu tribe—mostly farm workers—had gained power over the wealthy, landowning, and cattle breeding, but smaller tribe of Tutsi. The Hutu waged a campaign of hatred against the Tutsi, first dehumanizing them, then urging disaffected Hutu to search out and kill them. They had been neighbors for years, living together peacefully in the same villages. But in 100 days, the Hutu killed over a million Tutsi’s, mostly hacking them to death with machetes. Twelve years later, the Rwandan government decided to let the over 40,000 incarcerated, men who had murdered their countrymen and women, go free. Many were very worried about what would happen when convicted murderers returned home to their villages. 

At this point, several Christian Churches stepped in. They trained men as reconciliation counselors to meet with victims of the massacre, as well as with perpetrators of the violence. In Hinson’s documentary, she traces the stories of two women: (1) Rosario, a woman of faith, who had lost her husband and 4 children. She had been pregnant when the murderers found her family. They macheted her left shoulder, stabbed her in her left thigh, rammed her chest with rifle butts, and left her for dead. 6 months later, she gave birth to her daughter and named her the Rwandan word for “gift.” It is clear that her faith helped her cope with the heinous tragedy. She was going about life and seemed at peace. (2) The other woman in the film was Chantele. Her father had been ambushed and killed, by 3 men, two years before the genocide. During the genocide her husband and 28 members of her family were killed. She felt God had failed her, left the Church, and appeared to be embittered and depressed. 

A man named Saveri admitted in the film that he had killed 7 people. He said what he had done had “shattered his heart,” and that he was left with “terrible guilt.” When the reconciliation counselors approached him, he seemed to sincerely ready to apologize to Rosario and to do what he could to make amends to her. He, with others, helped build her a new home and joined with other villagers to harvest her sorgum crop. She was grateful to him and was able to forgive him. John was one of the men who had killed Chantele’s father. He felt very guilty and ashamed, saying he could not look her in the face, and that he was afraid to talk to her. With the assistance of a counselor, he did ask her to forgive him. She refused, adamantly, for 3 years, but was eventually convinced—perhaps by observing the difference in others who had reconciled—to grant John forgiveness. Her village friends cheered as she stated her forgiveness, and she, John, and John’s wife became friends. Her depression has lifted, her bitterness is gone, and her face seems lighter and brighter. This is demonstrated in a second short film (7 minutes long), a 3-year-later epilogue to “As We forgive.”  [I showed this epilogue in church this morning and recommend that you locate it and the longer film and watch them.] 

These Rwandans have truly forgiven the unforgivable. They have taken very seriously Jesus’ admonition in the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor (or the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant). I am including it below in the New Living Translation:

Then Peter came to Him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” [The rabbis taught that 3 times was enough, so Peter was being generous.]

“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!” [490 times, essentially meaning an infinite number]. 

“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars [10,000 talents; scholars say the amount was worth $400,000,000 in today’s money—an inconceivable number; currently more than the Gross National Product of 80% of the countries in the world].  He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt. 

“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all’ [an offer of impossible retribution; notice he did not ask for forgiveness]. Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. [So who absorbed the debt? The king did, just as Father God did through Jesus’ atoning death for our sins!]

“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars [100 denarii, about 100 days’ wages for a working man then]. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded [notice his statement is almost the same as the unforgiving debtor].. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king [like modern day whistle-blowers] and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 

“That’s what My Heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.“

This is Jesus speaking! We will be tortured if we do not forgive. He’s not referring especially to hell, though unbelief and unforgiveness can land us there. He is implying that our own focus on what was done to us will continue to torment us unless we forgive. Remember, refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the wrong-doer to die. It is also giving them, and what they did or failed to do, space in our brains rent-free. We stay preoccupied with them and what they did to us; we ruminate over it, stay stressed, run up high levels of hydrocortisol, impair our immune system, and leave ourselves unprotected against opportunistic illnesses and diseases like flu, colds, cancer, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, etc. We unforgiving ones suffer while the wrong-doer may not care or may not even remember what they did or did not do.

The Koine Greek word Jesus uses in this parable is aphime which means—among other things—cut em loose. You see the Romans had another horrible way to exact capital punishment besides crucifixion: they would chain a cadaver to your back. It would stink and begin to break down until you became diseased and died. Imagine trying to sleep at night while attached to a cadaver. Jews in those days would be forbidden from attending synagogue (unclean due to touching something dead) and expelled from the village or town to live isolated and alone. It was a slow and horrible way to die. Jesus is saying “cut yourself free from the cadaver of offense and forgive.”

Notice, at the end of the parable, Jesus says our Heavenly Father forgives us in the measure to which we forgive others. If we fail to forgive, well we aren’t forgiven. YIKES!! No wonder those brave Rwandans cooperated with the Christians counseling them to forgive. They too wanted forgiveness. If you watch Rosario and Chantele, you can see by the end of the epilogue that they are transformed persons. So too can we be. Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Alleluia, alleluia!

(Side note: The Irish have contacted the Rwandans to learn how their two tribes came to reconciliation; so too have some other nations.)

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Closing the Loopholes

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 15, 2026

Scriptures: Deut 30:11-20; Ps 119:1-8; 1 Cor 3:1-9; Matt 5:21-37

Do you know there are entire websites devoted to reporting stories of people who located loopholes and benefited their finds?

A. In the following real life example, a daughter reports: 

  “My Dad’s Lexus was stolen right out from his carport, so he reported it as stolen to the police and insurance company. After two weeks, when the car never turned up, the insurance company paid him for the car. Another week goes by, and he gets a call from the police saying they found his car parked two towns away. There wasn’t a single scratch on it, and not a lot of miles had been put on it either. So now the insurance company owns the car, and they put it up for auction. My dad goes to the auction and bids on his car to get it back. He won the bid with $10,000 to spare. So he drove home in his car with an extra $10,000 in his pocket.”

(As shared on http://www.Buzzfeed.com, 2/12/2026)

Isn’t it just in our nature to enjoy a tale in which a “little guy,” an average citizen, outsmarts the “big guys”—in this case Corporate America/the insurance company? We think, “How clever of this dad!” But wait a minute! As Lee Corso (the college football coach and commentator) used to say, “Not so fast my friend.” That clever dad defrauded the insurance company! He should have told the company that his car was found, returned the money they paid him, and retrieved his car. This kind of behavior raises all of our insurance rates.

And aren’t there loopholes that are even more damaging? Consider the court cases in which a guilty party gets off due to a technical error on the part of the District Attorney’s office or the police. For the past two weeks, the news has been full of speculation surrounding the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie. Friday night, I heard several police and FBI experts criticize the sheriff of Tucson, Arizona, for having released the crime scene—her house–too soon. They claim that that gave the opportunity for news reporters, neighbors, and curious “lookey-loos” to contaminate evidence. Should the kidnapper be apprehended, any evidence collected from the house after the crime scene was no longer secure would be suspect, and could not be admitted into court. There is always the possibility that someone planted that evidence. This is a kind of a loophole, isn’t it? If they lack sufficient evidence to get a conviction when the crime scene was closed off, a guilty party could get off “scott-free.” There would be no justice for Nancy Guthrie nor for her family.

Several of our Scriptures passages today address God’s view of minimum standards and loopholes. Let’s take a look.

    A. In Deuteronomy 30:15-20, God Himself speaks to the Israelites, giving them two choices (He is speaking through His prophet Moses). The former Egyptian slaves are about to go into the Land of Promise without him.

He puts before them two choices: Life and prosperity/blessings, or Death and destruction. The choice God lays out is an either/or choice, with only 2 options: If they/we love God and obey Him, if we walk in His ways and keep His commands, decrees, and laws, they and we will reap blessings. If, however, they/we abandon God or are disobedient, our lives will turn out badly; we will live with regrets over lost opportunities. Notice how straight forward this is—no both/and; no loopholes.

    Then He reminds them, in v.20 , they/we want to do this because…the key to their life, as individuals and as a nation, is absolute commitment to the Lord. Or as Jesus says in John 15, …apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. There it is again, in the New Testament, choose life or choose death.

If we want to be productive, if we want to make a difference in this life, if we want to leave a meaningful legacy, we need to love God and obey Him. Again, God leaves us no loopholes. 

  B. In our Psalm, Psalm 119:1-8, the author, inspired by God, lays out what happens to the persons who make the right choice: Verses 1-2–> state that they are joyful. Verse 3–>says they do not compromise with evil, like seeking out loopholes. Instead, they walk in a way that pleases the Lord. Verses 4-5–>assert they desire to keep God’s commandments and obey His decrees. Verses 6-8-→indicate that the man or woman who pleases God has an obedient, surrendered attitude toward God and a desire live out the Lord’s will.

And, at the very end, he pleads that God not give up on him, knowing we are all unable to do all of this perfectly–knowing there are no loopholes by which we can wiggle out of being held accountable; knowing we need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to live holy lives.

  C. Paul, in our 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 lesson, lectures the Church in Corinth—a true sin-city like Las Vegas or New Orleans–on having chosen Jesus but continuing to live a carnal life. They are living like “Baby Christians,” persons new to the faith, trying to live a life that reflects knowing Jesus, but also looking for loopholes that allow them to behave as they did before confessing Christ. Paul is not having it! In chapter three, he confronts them on their jealousy, their quarreling with one another, and their division into factions.

He wants them to be united in Christ, recognizing that Paul may have planted the seed—won them to Jesus—but Apollos came after to disciple them, and God has made their faith grow. Who did what is not as important as is God. In fact, Paul and Apollos are both servants of God. Back to what the Lord said in Deuteronomy: Choose life or death; no loopholes!

     D. In our Gospel lesson, Matthew 5:21-37, Jesus expands upon several of the 10 Commandments, with a view toward how we please our heavenly Father. This is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. Prior to this passage, He has told us the kinds of heart attitudes that please God/result in blessedness (the right choice): (1) Humility; (2) Self-restraint and self-control because we are obedient to God; (3) Sincerity, integrity; (4) Caring deeply for the welfare of others; (5) Being merciful toward others; and (6) Living at peace with them. He has also encouraged us to be salt and light in the world.

     Today He turns His attention to what it would look like if we truly lived by Biblical principles, teaching what is at the heart of God’s commands and decrees.

In verse 21 He says, You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder’…but I tell you…He is digging down into the 6th Commandment. He says, don’t allow yourself to get angry; it’s the start of an escalation that can destroy you and others. Catch anger as it intensifies. Stop yourself and back down from seeking revenge or escalating to bitterness and unforgiveness. Don’t even allow yourself to use abusive language toward another. Instead of name-calling, as much as it is dependent upon you, be reconciled to others. Forgive others before you present your worship or gifts to God.

  In verses 27-32, He deals with adultery and divorce. He is digging down into the 7th Commandment. He is holding up the marital ideal: No adultery; No divorce. He is saying we need to guard our primary relationships because they are foundational to our children’s security and to our society. He is making the point that adultery and marital unfaithfulness begin with lust. He wants us work intentionally to overcome lust–not to literally blind or maim ourselves, since a blind or lame person can still lust. Those are exaggerations for effect. God allows divorce to prevent cruelty or even murder. The Rabbis were teaching that a husband could divorce if his wife burned the dinner. Jesus is saying the grounds must be much more severe than that.

In Verses 32-37, He deals with oaths. He is addressing the 3rd & 9th Commandments He says, don’t swear on God’s name and don’t lie or bear false witness. We are to be honest in our dealings with others. If we live with integrity, there is no need for us to take oaths at all. Sister Judith, my first principal back in 1970, when I first taught high school Social Studies used to say to me, “Say what you mean and mean what you say.” High School students respect that, and so do others.

Jesus sets very high standards, doesn’t He? No loopholes. In the Sermon on the mount, He spells out for us some lofty expectations about how we are to love God and love others. However, He also knows we cannot achieve living this way on our own. In our sinfulness, we will blow it. We will get angry. We may engage in lust. We might make vows and break them. We need to help of the Holy Spirit to live into these new heart-attitudes. Fortunately, we can be assured that God forgives what we confess to Him. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 1:8-9 , If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. God has so set things up that we can take any sin to Him, ask His forgiveness, and He will grant it—an infinite number of times. That is God’s grace and mercy in action. But as we continue to walk with the Lord, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us. We learn the rough lessons from our sins that way lies pain, shame, despair, and isolation. Violating God’s laws, without confession and repentance, is spiritual (as well as emotional and even physical) death. And we also learn the wisdom of God. He desires to lift us up, out of the miry pit. He wants to heal us, to bless us

God has set out His standards for us—and they are not minimums.

He does not want us to search out loopholes. As we attempt to be salt and light, as we prepare for Lent (which starts on Wednesday), make it your goal to walk the walk. No one said it would be easy; God’s standards are high. But He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us move more and more into compliance with them. When you fall short—and we all do—ask God’s forgiveness and believe He gives it to you. AMEN!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Where is Jesus in the Car of Your life?

Pastor Sherry’s message for February 1, 2026

Scriptures: Micah 6:1-8; Ps 15; 1 Cor 1:15-31; Matt 5:1-12

Years ago, when I was in seminary, my home church in Tallahassee flew me to Camp Weed (in Live Oak, Florida) to attend a women’s retreat. The speaker was a woman named Norma Dearing. She worked at the Christian Healing Ministry in Jacksonville, Florida, alongside Fr. Francis MacNutt and his wife, Judith. Norma, like the MacNutts, was able to pray for a person while hearing from the Holy Spirit exactly what they needed healing for. I remember we were all seated in rows and she came behind us, placed her hands on our shoulders, and proceeded to lift to God—without having spoken to us beforehand—exactly the issue most on each of our hearts. At first, I could hardly believe it! She had absolutely zeroed in on my needs. Then she accurately summarized those of my friends seated near me. I was so amazed—yet still skeptical—that I got up and took a seat near other friends so check to see how dead-on she would be for each of them. Wow! She blew me away! I had never heard of such a thing before. It was as though she knew us all intimately and yet she’d only just met us! I figured out that the Holy Spirit was downloading our needs into her mind as she prayed for each one of us. What a gift! 

She was also just as effective and memorable in the talks she presented. I’ll never forget that she asked us to consider where Jesus was in the “car of your life?” Is He a hood ornament? Or a bumper sticker? A decoration for show, but with no real impact on our driving. Is He in the trunk?

Perhaps we’ve taken Him in but it’s as though He’s bound and gagged–He’s along for the ride, but we don’t listen to or attend Him. Maybe He’s in the backseat, trying to direct us, but we don’t tune in or pay attention. Or is He in the passenger seat? We think of Him as our friend, but again, He has no real influence on the direction we take, the speed with which we drive, or how skillfully or carefully we manage our life. Well, the point is that Jesus should be in the driver’s seat of our lives. Occasionally you may still see a bumper sticker that says, “God is my copilot.”  But the truth is, He should be the pilot.

This is where the Beatitudes, today’s Gospel lesson (Matthew 5:1-12), clearly place Him. The first four put Him clearly behind the wheel.

We accompany Jesus where He wants to go. Our hearts are surrendered to His direction. As a result, our attitudes and behaviors are more Christ-like. The last 5 help us demonstrate Christ-like behaviors to others. Together the 9 beatitudes of Matthew constitute a road-map which directs us to a transformed and a blessed Christian life.

All nine begin with blessed-→makarioi in the Greek. It means supreme blessedness; ultimate well-being; genuinely fortunate! It can also mean jump for joy! Or Celebrate! These are Scriptural promises of both ultimate and present day blessings for persons who demonstrate these behaviors in their lives.

Let’s examine them together according to the New Living Translation (NLT):

1. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Because we know that all good things come from God, we surrender our need to control our progress. Instead, we put Jesus in the driver’s seat of our lives. We say, in our hearts, “Lord, I can’t go anywhere without YOU!” And Jesus replies, “When you let Me drive, you will journey alongside Me and toward heaven.” The reward is that God reigns in our hearts, and we experience/live out the fruit of the Spirit.

2. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Mourners care deeply. They have lost someone (or a pet, a relationship, or a job that was very dear to them. They may also be mourning their sinfulness. Sin separates us from God (leaving Jesus in the trunk or left out on the roadside.)

An ancient prayer of confession says, “…we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time have grievously committed.” Mourners may also grieve the evil and sin that abounds in our world today-→abuse, betrayal, desertion, abandonment, massive fraud, acts of revenge, violence, etc. Suffering teaches us compassion and strengthens our faith. Some has said, All sunshine makes a desert, and it’s true isn’t it. We need some rain in our lives to learn to consider the needs of others. Eugene Peterson has written, “Suffering hallows out a place in us for God and His comfort which is infinite joy.”

Jesus in His grace says such mourners will be comforted. The reward for grieving is God’s comfort. In other words, we will be snuggled up with Jesus in the front seat.

3. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.  Meek does not mean weak-→Jesus says (Matt 11:29)-→for I am meek and lowly in heart. It means He has a gentle spirit, He is unassuming, unpretentious, not proud. Our Micah lesson (Micah 6:8) says,…Oh People, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  This means we are to be self-disciplined and self-controlled. This position of obedient trust and submission to God’s will puts Jesus in the drivers’ seat. Jesus in His grace says that such persons… will inherit the earth! The reward for being humble or meek is inheriting the blessings of God! These blessings include God’s peace, provision, and power.

4. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. While we may seek after food, love, money, influence, etc., this is instead a longing to be right with God and to want to see God’s righteousness prevail. St. Augustine and later, Henri Nouwen, referred to…a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill-→This is a spiritual hunger. Matthew 6:33 says, Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. Our reward is to to be filled to overflowing.

5. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Our love of self is replaced by our love of God and for others. We are kind, compassionate, forgiving. We live out the behavior of the Good Samaritan—helping a wounded enemy–and that of Jesus on the Cross—forgiving His murderers. In His grace, then, Jesus rewards us with extending grace to us.

6. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. The Hebrews believed the heart was the location of cognitions, decisions, motives, and the will. So a pure heart would be one that is sincere and truthful, whose motives are good. If we are pure in heart, we live our lives with integrity. In His grace, Jesus then rewards us with being able to discern Him in other people, and to enter into His presence through prayer and worship. Our Psalm (15) today was written by King David. In it, he maintains that only those with pure hearts or godly character can dwell in God’s presence.

7. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. Like Jesus, we have been given a ministry of reconciliation. God’s peace, His shalom means perfect welfare, serenity, prosperity, complete good. We are to wage peace with everyone-→Romans 13:18-→If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. This includes being at peace with God, with others, and even with yourself. We are not to harbor self-hate, but to cultivate a healthy self-love. In His grace, Jesus declares that such behavior labels us as sons (and daughters) of God. In other words, being a peacemaker renders us God-like!

8 & 9. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are My followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember: the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. If we are living out Christian lives, we will e persecuted. Right living convicts those not living right. Right living riles Satan. Peterson says, “To be persecuted is to be take seriously as a Christian.” Our gracious reward is that we are in great company! Romans 8:17 says, If we suffer with Christ, we shall be glorified with Him. And Paul goes on to state in 2 Timothy 2:12-→If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.

So, are you aware of where Jesus is in the car of your life? We tend to puyt ourselves in control, and may bring Jesus along somewhere. But the Beatitudes teach us to put Him formly in the driver’s seat. These Beatitudes are a road map for Christian transformation, which place us on the route to true happiness. May we each, with the help of the Holy Spirit, learn to live them out. 

©️2026 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

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

Do you have JDD?

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 20, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.) The nearly pagan Israelites rob the poor;

2.) They trample the needy;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Celebrate Freedom

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 6, 2025, 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So he ends the psalm with praise and sincere gratitude. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

We don’t have to live in Fear!

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 29, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(1) Sexual immorality tops the list.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(1) Love,

(2) Joy, 

(3) Peace,

(4) Patience, 

(5) Kindness, 

(6) Goodness,

(7) Faithfulness, 

(8) Gentleness,

(9) and Self-control.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams