Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Trouble with Judging

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 27, 2025

Scriptures: Hosea 1:1-10; Ps 85; Col 2:6-19; Lk 131:1-17

I have a good friend in ministry, a Pentecostal pastor, who preaches whatever the Lord lays on his heart.  In our tradition, however, we tend to preach the readings already chosen for us and listed in what is known as “the Revised Common Lectionary.”  Back in 1983, representatives of 19 Christian denominations in the US met and agreed upon 4 Scripture passages—one from each of the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament, and Gospels–to be read each Sunday in each of their churches.  Typically, Methodist (United and Global), Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Episcopalian, and Roman Catholic pastors preach from these selections.  They allow us to touch on much of Scripture over the course of 3 year cycles.

In my 24-25 years of ministry, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover the appointed readings often meet a congregation right where they are that very moment.  We could say that they are Holy Spirit inspired, and they are!  But so too is the method of asking the Lord what to preach.  Back before I went to seminary, in the 1990’s, I was doing nursing home mental health work in Tallahassee, Florida.  There was a very well run nursing home, called Miracle Hill, in the African American section of town that my team and I visited once a week.  All the patients and all of the staff were African American.  We learned they had a preacher come in on the day we visited to hold a service for the residents.  We heard him a time or two and discovered he did an excellent job.  So, we planned our time to complete our paperwork around his sermon time.  He would tell the patients that he and his wife had “gone before the Lord” to get the message he was to present to them.  I had never heard of this before, but I was very impressed with the wonderful messages he brought them weekly. 

This week, I have used both traditions: I have drawn the first 3 readings from the Lectionary.  But the Lord directed me to exchange the 4th reading, the Gospel, for an alternative.  That’s why it’s not what was printed in your bulletin (I know I drive a number of people crazy when I do this).

But when the Lord directs me to focus on a specific passage, I must comply.

He apparently wanted me to preach this morning on the problems with making judgments about others.  Consider the following true story:

“GUILTY AS SIN the headline read just a few years ago. The banks in New Jersey had been robbed systematically, one after the other. What made the robber stand out was his politeness. He just gave the tellers a note which said, “Please place your money in this bag. Thank you.” The newspapers called him the Gentleman Bandit!

“The widespread publicity led to a very unlikely arrest – the suspect was a Catholic priest. His church was appalled but stood beside him, saying they knew he could not be the bandit. They signed petitions, held protest marches and came up with his bail. But the police were certain they had their man. All of the eyewitnesses positively identified him. And the news media dug into his past, to find that in a previous church he had left under a cloud because of financial irregularities in the parish. For a priest he had a pretty expensive lifestyle – his own apartment and a fast car. People whispered his church was probably standing up for him because otherwise they looked like dupes.

“As people across the country watched the story unfold on the news, they were positive this priest had pulled a fast one. He probably had a sociopath personality so he could rob banks during the week and preach the next Sunday without feeling any guilt. No one outside his congregation was standing up for this guy. But then a funny thing happened. The real Gentleman Bandit was caught red-handed. As it turned out, he was the spitting image of the priest. It’s just that he wasn’t the priest. The priest was released, his church threw him a big party, and the news media and those who had prematurely judged him moved on to the next story.”   (Contributed by Pastor Sheila Crowe, http://www.sermon central.com, 7/2017.)

Obviously, one problem with judging others is that we often lack all the facts necessary to make an accurate assessment.  We may think we have correctly discerned the truth—at least from our point of view; but we can do damage to peoples’ relationships and to their reputations by passing along falsehoods we mistakenly think are true.  We especially need to be careful when sharing our views within the hearing of non-Christians.  Unbelievers tend to have heard of Jesus’ words from His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:1-2): Judge not lest you be judged, or as the New Living Translation rephrases it: Do not judge others and you will not be judged.  For you will be treated as you treat others.  The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.  The Bible comments on judging over 180 different times, so we can correctly infer from this that the topic is important to God.

In fact, in the Gospel the Lord told me to address today (Luke 13:1-17), Jesus teaches about our tendency to make judgments about others.  The context is two horrendous events that had recently occurred in Jerusalem:  Pilate had some men from Galilee killed as they offered sacrifices (i.e., were worshipping in the Temple).  The crowd was understandably upset and wanted to know how God could have allowed that to happen.  Many assumed the dead men must have been terrible sinners.

Additionally, 18 men constructing a tower near the Pool of Siloam were killed when the tower collapsed (they must not have had a qualified structural engineer overseeing the build).  Again, the people were wondering if the 18 dead men had been terrible sinners to deserve their fate.  Notice, Jesus does not answer their questions about the victims’ spiritual states.  Instead, He redirects them to consider their own spiritual condition (Matthew 7:3, NLT: Why worry about the speck in your friend’s eye when you have a beam in your own?)

Jesus then tells the crowd the parable of the Fig Tree:  It appears to be barren, yielding no fruit, at the very time the owner should be able to expect a harvest. The owner makes a judgment:  Cut it down.

The gardener (Jesus) offers another perspective:  Let’s be patient, tend it another year, and then decide.  Our Lord recommends grace instead of judgment, continued care instead of condemnation.

There are actually several morals to this story:

1.) Trouble doesn’t always come to a person due to their sins.

My first year of seminary, I saw my savings of $30,000 go up in smoke due to having no health insurance and a house that was a money pit (despite a home inspection stating it was fine prior to purchase).  I would not be so arrogant as to say I was sinless during that time, but looking back, I believe the Lord wanted me to learn He would provide for me when my resources were exhausted.  It was one of a number of similar lessons He provided until I decided I really could trust in Him regarding money-matters.  Additionally, I learned He can only fill us when we are empty (of ourselves and our own resources)!

2.) Another important lesson is that becoming a follower of Jesus does not inoculate us from trouble.  Instead, the evil one paints a target on us.  We need to persist in our faith that the Lord protects us and sees us through whatever trouble the devil sends.

3.) Finally, when trouble comes to someone else, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that we are morally superior to them.  Consider the Central Texas floods.  Did you at any time wonder what they had done to experience such widespread death (135 by the latest count), with over 60 still missing?  Do you think they thought the same thing last year when our area experienced 3 hurricanes?  We are not to judge others.  Instead, the Lord expects us—as with the barren fig tree–to extend prayer and  compassionate care as we are able.

Finally, Jesus demonstrates His compassion for the bent over woman.  She doesn’t even approach Him.  She has been bent over, almost in half, for 18 years.  How uncomfortable and inconvenient this must have been for her.  He sees her in the synagogue, and has mercy on her (on the Sabbath).  He tells her (v.12), Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness [such wonderful words!].  And she stands straight up (no weeks of physical rehabilitation for her!).

The guy in charge of the synagogue gets mad.  Notice he doesn’t directly address Jesus but instead tells the crowd to come any other day to be healed.  He has judged that the Sabbath is for worship alone, so Jesus and this woman are in the wrong.  Jesus correctly calls him—and those who value rules over a person’s well-being–a hypocrite.  He has missed the point of God’s mercy (remember the parable of the barren Fig Tree.)

Now, compare this with the adult life of the Prophet Hosea:  God calls him to be a prophet (1 of 7) to the morally corrupt Northern Kingdom.  But He gives him an especially tough assignment. He is to live out for the Israelites how God feels being in covenant relationship with them.  He is told to marry an unfaithful woman—actually a prostitute (YIKES!  This is a pretty strong statement about how the Lord regards Israel at this time.) Hosea’s lived experience is to remain faithful to someone who is not faithful—with all the attendant heartbreak, humiliation, and public shame and ridicule that entails.

Hosea is remarkably obedient.  He marries Gomer and they have one child, a son.  Some scholars believe this child was truly his son, but others are not convinced.  God tells Hosea to name the child, Jezreel, which means the Lord will scatter—clearly a warning of the invasion and captivity to come.  But it also means not pitied, and bastard.  Poor kid!  None of these translations would be easy to live with.  Since Gomer is adulterous, Hosea has no idea if the next two kids are biologically his:  A girl named Lo-Ruhamah, or Not Loved; and a second boy named Lo-Ammi, not My People.  God is making some strong statements to the wayward Israelites.

Are Hosea or his children to blame for Gomer’s infidelity/sin?  No, God is using them as object lessons to His people—they represent His pain due to their spiritual adultery.  Imagine what Hosea’s neighbors probably had to say; imagine their judgments of Him.  He would have been a laughing stock and considered a weak, spineless man, a “cockhold.”  Imagine what they probably said about each of his children.  They were no doubt bullied and ridiculed by the other kids.  This is yet another reason why we want to be cautious of judging others. 

Think of the falsely condemned Catholic priest.  Thank God the true bank robber, his look-alike, was found and arrested!  Let’s remember we will be judged by God according to the measure we used with others: (Matthew 12:37, NLT): The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.

Let’s pray:  Lord Jesus, we need Your help with this!  Help us to see others with Your eyes.  Help us to speak words of grace and mercy, rather than of judgment and condemnation.  Help us to leave the judgments to You, the One Who sees and knows all, and Who judges with righteousness.  Amen! 

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

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 w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Getting Plumb with God

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 13, 2025

Scriptures: Amos 7:7-17; Ps 82; Col 1:1-14; Lk 10:25-37

The three best professors I ever had—in 12 years of post-high school education–were all from my seminary. My Church History prof, Dr. Les Fairfield, was exceedingly knowledgeable, was a great story teller, and had a wonderful sense of humor. The other two men were Old Testament scholars. I learned to sign up for any class they taught. Dr. Alan Ross, from whom I took  a class on Isaiah, read from the ancient Hebrew, simultaneously translating into English as he taught us. As I listened to him, the tears would slowly run down my face; I knew he was revealing to me the truth of God’s immense and patient love for all of us. Dr. Paul House, wrote the book, Old Testament Theology (InterVarsity Press, 1998), which describes what God conveyed to us from every book of the Old Testament.  As with Dr. Ross, I have found his insights to be spot-on-accurate, and I credit them both with helping me to fall in love with the God of the Old Testament.  I frequently use Dr. House’s book as a preaching/teaching resource.  If I struggle with trying to figure out what a passage means, both of these two men—plus the biblical commentator, Rev. Dr. J. Vernon McGee—always seem to point me in the right direction.

Dr. House says that God sent the prophet Amos to convey to the Northern Kingdom (Israel) that He was done with their idolatry and their blatant disregard for their covenant relationship with Him.

God, as a lion, was about to roar against Israel’s sin (house, p.35-359).

In our passage appointed for today (Amos 7:7-17), God shows Amos a plumbline, an Old Testament symbol of coming judgment. God is measuring His chosen people and tells the prophet they are out of plumb. He has given them 2 centuries to repent and straighten up (930-760). He has sent them prophet after prophet to warn them of the judgment to come.  But as we can conclude from the snarky accusations of the apostate priest, Amaziah, they have not listened to God.

Consider this:  Amaziah is leading them in worshipping a golden calf at Bethel (the name means house of God). He is a false priest, who has rejected the words of the One True God.  Thinking Amos is a false prophet, or perhaps threatened by Amos’ words of truth, he dares to spin-doctor Amos’ God-given, plumbline words.  God had told Amos that He was going to bring King Jeroboam’s dynasty to an end.  Amaziah tells the king Amos has hatched a plot to kill him, and falsely claimed the people will be exiled. God hears these lies, is totally fed up with Amaziah’s misrepresentation of His prophet, and roars His judgment on Amaziah (YIKES!): Amaziah, deported, will die outside the Promised Land.  His sons and daughters will be killed by the invaders (Assyrians, 722 BC). His wife, with no one to support her, will be reduced to prostitution to live.  His estate will be taken over and occupied by others. And what remains of Israel will be exiled—and all of this happened! (The mark of a true prophet.)

It’s not wise to ignore God.  Whether or not a person chooses to believe in the Lord does not nullify His existence or His rule.  Our God is still large and in charge, sovereign over all things. This could very well be a warning to America and to us, individually….We too, like Israel, began as a country in a covenant relationship with God.  Like Old Testament (and modern) Israel, we have broken our agreement and drifted away from Him.

We have become a nation of idolaters, worshipping many things other than the One True God, and His Son, Jesus Christ.  And we have ignored His Words, preserved for us in the Bible.  Our nation is currently out of plumb with God.  Amos wants us to realize that God’s patience with us will eventually wear out.

Our other readings today reinforce this lesson from Amos and point us toward how we can live so as to avoid God’s judgment:

A. Psalm 82, penned by Asaph, is a prophetic reminder that God will judge the judges.  Whether these leaders/judges are human persons or demonic entities influencing the corrupt judges, God views them as oppressors. They lack integrity. They have made decisions based on their desires to please certain people; or they have bowed to political-pressure; or they’ve been bought and paid for. Doesn’t this sound amazingly contemporary? (As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, There is nothing new under the sun.)  They have not pleased God by rendering righteous judgments, defending the weak and the fatherless, the needy, or those oppressed.  

We know the Law of Sowing and Reaping will eventually see them get what is coming to them.  But this psalm prophesies that Jesus will judge them when He establishes His reign on earth. Verses 7-8 are a judgment from God: I [the Lord] say, ‘You are gods [human leaders and demonic influencers], you are all children of the Most High.  But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’

The Lord means for this psalm to reassure us in the midst of the lying, corruption, and injustice we witness around us. We worship the God of justice. We can take comfort in the fact that (Ps 34:15-16, NIV):  The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 

In our Gospel lesson (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus once again demonstrates the principle of love (for God and others) through the Parable of the Good Samaritan.   Another foolish religious leader, a lawyer, tries to test Jesus before a crowd by asking Him, (v. 25): What must I do to inherit eternal life?   Jesus knew the guy knew the answer;

So He uses the Socratic Method (answer a question with a question), and answers the guy with a question of His own (v.26): What is written in the Law?  How do you read it?  The guy does a great job: Love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself.  But the man is trying to make points to the crowd at Jesus’ expense, so he then probably snidely asks (v.29): And who is my neighbor?

This famous parable is Jesus’ answer.  In it, He reveals three classes of people, or three philosophies of life:

(1) The thieves who robbed and beat the man. Their philosophy was, What you have is mine—everything should be shared.  Sounds like Socialism or Communism, doesn’t it?  No one has the right to private property.

(2) The religious leaders who were unwilling to aid the man as doing so would make them ritualistically “unclean.”  Their philosophy was, What I have is mine.  We might say this is godless capitalism—Nothing is to be shared; simply look out for #1.

(3) The Good Samaritan, the despised enemy who had compassion on the injured man.  His philosophy was, What I have is yours if I can help you.  This is an example of Christian love for a neighbor, because a neighbor—according to Jesus—is anyone in need.  (McGee, Through the Bible commentary on Luke, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, p.138.)  I wonder when the snarky lawyer realized that Jesus had accurately understood him? And had outsmarted him?

C. Finally, Paul, while praying for the Colossian Church from prison in Rome (Colossians 1:1-14), actually tells us how to live a life that is plumb with God:

(1) He thanks God (v.4) for their faith in Jesus, and their love for Jesus and others: may our faith and love be as strong as theirs.

(2) He asks God to (v.9) fill them with the knowledge of God’s will.  He wants them to have both spiritual wisdom and understanding so that they may live lives that produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because this is pleasing to God.  May this be true of us as well.

(3) He bids God that (v.11) they be so strengthened by His power that they might patiently endure any trials, and be filled with joy. Wwho among us does not need patience and more joy?

(4) And he encourages them to thank God (v.12) for rescuing them (and us) from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom of glorious light.

In a nutshell, here is how we can come to measure up to God’s expectations of us and avoid His punishment: Have faith in Christ—this is key, this is most important! Live out Christian compassion, loving God and our neighbors.  Ask the Lord for spiritual wisdom and then understanding to know His will. Bear spiritual fruit.  Be patient and joy-filled.  Have an attitude of gratitude to God. Amen! May it be so in our lives!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

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 w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Come, Holy Spirit

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 8, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

But, What’s Next?

Pastor Sherry’s message for April 27, 2025

Scriptures: Acts 5:27-39; Ps 150; Rev 1:4-8; Jn 20:10-31

The true story is told of a mom of two small children helping them dye Easter Eggs several days before Easter Sunday (Yes, I realize Easter Sunday was last week). Her children were 3YO Dan and 2YO Debbie. As they worked at this craft activity, she taught them the meaning of Easter. She also taught them the Easter acclamation: She said, “Alleluia, The Lord is Risen!”  And the children learned to repeat, “The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!  It turns out their father is a Presbyterian minister.

Dan, the 3YO, wanted to impress his Dad with what he had learned.  So, on Easter morning, he burst into his dad’s bedroom, shouting, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, God’s back!”  Isn’t that adorable?!  Don’t you love the way small children interpret life events?

Yes, Jesus came back from the grave, But, What’s Next? Where does this leave us?  What are we supposed to do now?

As always, our readings today point us in exactly the right direction:

A. Let’s start with our Gospel from John 20:19-31.  We remember from our Gospel lesson last week that some women disciples of Jesus had gone to His tomb to pay their final respects to the Lord—only to find His tomb open, and His body gone.  Before they could get too upset, however, 2 angels appeared to tell them Jesus had been resurrected, and that they were to go report that miraculous news to “the-12-minus-Judas,” which they did.  The guys were of course skeptical, because none of them expected to see Jesus as anything other than dead. 

In today’s passage, it is the evening of Resurrection Day and Jesus appears to the “11-minus-Thomas.”  He suddenly materializes through a locked door.  He has to say (v.19)  Peace be with you! because they were no doubt shocked and afraid. He shows them his wounded hands and feet to assure them He is real and not a ghost. But notice what he does next:  He says again (v.21)—Peace be with you!  Then, He says, As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.  He calms their fears and their excitement.  Then He announces that He is sending them. Of all the things He could have chosen to say to them, He gives them their But, what’s next?  Here’s what’s next for them and for us: They (and we) are to tell others who do not know Jesus, the Good News.  We are to teach them about who He is and what all He did.  We are to pray for them for faith and healing.

B. Our Acts lesson (5:27-39) tells us that this is exactly what the Disciples began to do.  Rather than continue to huddle in the Upper Room, they went to the Temple and began to preach and teach about Jesus. In chapter 4, Peter and John were arrested for this and for healing a beggar.

Peter boldly declares to the Sanhedrin (4:10)—It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified but Whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Peter did not mince any words did he?  The Jewish religious authorities tell them they are not to preach anymore about Jesus.  But again Peter bravely responds (4:19-20)—Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.  For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.  The authorities let them go.

By the time of today’s passage, the word has spread that the Apostles are doing what Jesus did, preaching, teaching and healing.  Crowds flock to them. The jealous religious leaders once again have them arrested and jailed. An angel sets the Apostles free, and they resume teaching and healing again the next day. The jealous leaders, who are mad enough to kill them, arrest them again.  Bold Peter again proclaims they have to keep bringing people to Jesus because they are obeying God!  Even if it means being arrested or persecuted, they won’t stop.

At this point, the highly respected Rabbi Gamaliel (Paul’s teacher) wisely speaks up.  He counsels the Sanhedrin to leave the Apostles alone.

If they are zealots acting on their own, their movement will die a natural death; but if they are indeed doing God’s will, the Sanhedrin will not be able to stop them.  Worse yet, they will find themselves fighting against God. His wisdom prevails.

Now, we did not live with Jesus for three years, hear His words, or witness to His healings and deliverances.  But because of what we know from the Bible, and from what Jesus modeled and taught, we realize Jesus is worthy.  As the beginning verses of Revelation (1:4-8) reveal to us, He is our sovereign and everlasting God.  He is worthy of our attention.  He is worthy of our obedience.

D. And our Psalm (150) dramatically proclaims He is worthy of our praise and worship.  Only the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are worthy of our worship.  Our culture now worships money, power, influence, sex, even fashion and one’s social media presence.  We need to be mindful of who or what we worship. The story is told of how the brother of the famous American preacher named Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), came to his church one Sunday to substitute for him. 

A large audience had already assembled to hear Beecher, and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit, several disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits. That’s when the minister stood and said loudly, “All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep your seats!” 

(Lou Nicholes, November 28, 2017, as presented by  http://www.SermonCentral.com ,4/20/2025).

Hopefully, we come to church to worship none other than our Lord, Jesus Christ.

So, What’s Next?  We cannot just occupy the pews of our church building. The What’s next is to tell those who aren’t connected to Jesus about Who He is, why they need Him in their lives, and how to go about getting connected to Him.  It’s the first thing He told the Eleven—so it must have been very important to Him. One of the purposes for coming to church on Sunday is to become strengthened and equipped to bring others to Jesus. Another purpose for coming to church is to worship Him.

We need to obediently respond to Christ’s command that we tell those we encounter about Jesus. This will require we have God’s peace in our hearts and spirits. We need not stand on street corners or go door to door passing out tracts. Instead, we look for opportunities that the Lord gives us to connect with people, as well as the words to say.

This reminds me of something I heard from Graham Cooke, an Anglican priest, at a healing conference he held some years back at a Vineyard Church in Gainesville, Florida. He said he was in America, somewhere in New England, when he walked into a Starbucks. As he entered, he heard the Lord tell him, See that man seated over there.  I want you to go tell him I will heal his daughter if he prays for her daily. Graham obediently went up to the man to convey this message. The guy asked him not to bother him as he had had very bad news and wasn’t up to talking to anyone. Graham said he had a message from God for him. The guy replied that he was an atheist and didn’t believe in God. Graham replied to him, “Well God believes in you.”  He then told him the Lord knew that he had just learned that his daughter, his only child, had dropped out of college and was prostituting herself to earn money for drugs. The Lord also knew he was broken-hearted. God promised to heal her if the man would pray for her daily for 6 months. The man told Graham that he didn’t know how to pray.  So Graham Cooke wrote a prayer out on a Starbuck’s napkin and directed him to say that to Jesus daily. He also gave him his card so the man could report back whatever happened. Four months later, the guy contacted Graham Cooke to tell him his daughter had left her life of drugs and prostitution, that they were reconciled, and that he was both thrilled and grateful. In fact, both of them had become Christ-followers as a result of this. This is such a great example of (1) a divine appointment, an opportunity set up for Rev. Cooke by the Lord, and (2) also of how the Lord gave him the words to say. As a result, both this man and his prodigal daughter became believers in Jesus Christ.

Finally, we remember that our motivation to tell others about Jesus comes from our devotion to Him and our worship of Him.

Alleluia, He is risen!  The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Crucifixion

Pastor Sherry’s message for Good Friday 

Scriptures: Isa 52:13-53:12; Ps 22; Heb 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

Have you considered recently that we date our lives from the birth of Jesus?  Whether folks believe in Jesus or not, we all—believers and nonbelievers alike– date our checks, emails, letters, our own birthdates, any contracts we sign, from Jesus’ birth.  The Latin expression is Anno Domini, or AD, and means the year of our Lord.  Time before Christ’s birth is designated as BC, Before Christ.  We thus might think of today as April 18, 2025 AD, or April 18th in the year of our Lord 2025. This certainly commemorates Jesus’ 1st Advent, but truly we might more properly number our years from the date of His Crucifixion, 33 years later.

Why would I say this?  Because Good Friday marks the day we were all saved.  On this day, we commemorate the fact that our precious Savior atoned for all of our sins, past, present, and future.  His passion, His suffering, His shed blood washed us clean.  He traded our guilt for His righteousness; our punishment for His purity.  He won for us the right to go to Heaven when we die, and He made us adopted sons and daughters of God the Father, grafted into the line of God’s Chosen People.  Good Friday is a very special day.

(Leith Anderson, www.PreachingToday.com, 4/15/2025.)

Our Scripture passages assigned for today all try to communicate some aspect of Jesus’ Crucifixion:

A. The Isaiah lesson was written 700 years before the events came to be, and describes them so accurately.  If you want a sense of what the crucifixion was like for Jesus, Isaiah 52:13-53:12, the 4th and final Suffering Servant Song, is the place to start. Biblical scholars call this Messianic prophesy the Gospel in the Old Testament.

Isaiah tells us Jesus will be raised high, lifted up (on the Cross) but also highly exalted (when it is all over).  No one would think so as they observed Him carrying His Cross.  He will in fact startle or surprise the whole world—even render them speechless—because it will be through the paradoxical loss of all things that He gains all things.

Jesus’ suffering included the fact that though King of the Universe, He will be/was (v.3)—despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering… beaten beyond recognition; pieced, crushed, oppressed, afflicted; executed in the worst possible way–like a common criminal–hung between true felons.  He will die childless—“cut off,” which was to the Hebrews evidence of a tragic, futile existence.  People will think He got what He deserved, but He didn’t…verses 4-5—Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows….the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.  

A preacher named Leith Anderson describes it this way, “On the cross Jesus was stained with our human sin. He had never personally experienced sin before in his life, and now he was overwhelmed with sin in his death. God dumped on him the concentrated sum total of every murder, every lust, every envy, every rape, every theft, every profanity, every act of racism, every injustice against the poor, every sin of every person from every generation.” 

(Leith Anderson, www.PreachingToday.com, 4/15/2025.)

Despite all this pain and suffering, however, Isaiah also predicts Jesus will ultimately be vindicated.  Isaiah tells us that the Father will richly reward Him—verse 11—After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life [resurrection], and be satisfied…Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong.  God the Father intended to reward Him as though He were a king sharing in the spoils of a great victory, because (1) He went willingly to death, and because (2) He graciously interceded for our sins.

B. The Passion narrative of John (18:1-19:42) describes exactly what took place during Jesus’ arrest, disreputable trials, torture, crucifixion, and burial.  We can all discern how closely it fulfills Isaiah’s prophesy.  What wasn’t made evident ahead of time, however, is how clearly Jesus controlled events.  They sent 500 men to arrest Him!  (Temple guards and Roman soldiers.)  He bravely stepped up and asked who they sought and they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  Verse 6 tells us that when He answered, I AM He —They all drew back and fell to the ground.  Perhaps it was due to the fact that He said “I AM,” the Hebrew name for God.  Or maybe they were suddenly afraid of the unarmed Christ!  He asked again who they came for, they said again, “Jesus the Nazarene,” and He replied (impatiently?) (v.8)—I told you that I AM He…and since I AM the One you want, let these others go.  He safeguarded His disciples.

He prevented widespread bloodshed.

Later, He corrected the High Priest’s guard for hitting Him, thereby demonstrating how dishonorable were His 3 trials:

1.) In Hebrew jurisprudence in those days, no trial could begin at night as this one was;

2.) No trial could begin and end within one day, as this one did.

3.) No one could strike a prisoner who had not yet been found guilty.

4.) No one could be sentenced without 2 or more eye-witnesses.

And when Pilate demanded, (v.10)—Don’t you realize that I have the power to release You or crucify You?  Jesus replied (v.11)—You would have no power over Me at all unless it were given to you from above.

He even determined the moment of His death (v.30)—He said, “It is finished,” bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. 

Jesus allowed everything to take place as it did out of obedience to His Heavenly Father, and to fulfill more than 28 prophesies.

C. Psalm 22 reveals to us Christ’s thoughts on the cross:  From noon until 3:00pm, He felt forsaken by His Father. The Father was with Him when He was arrested.  The Father was with Him during His outrageous trials. The Father was with Him when He was beaten.  The Father was with Him when He was nailed to the Cross.  But His Father—because a holy God cannot tolerate the presence of sin–turned His back on Him when He became sin for us. The most awful moment of Jesus’ crucifixion came when he cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”  Those words are in Jesus’ native tongue of Aramaic and mean, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

He also admits to feeling like a worm.  The word for the term for worm that He uses is, in the Hebrew, a Coccus worm.  When smashed, the Coccus worm emitted a substance used to make red dye.  This is symbolic of Jesus’ blood poured out for us. 

Additionally, He feels the scorn and hatred of His enemies.  From the Cross He feels surrounded and besieged:  The soldiers are like many bulls…the strong bulls of Bashon (a region known for cattle production) .  

His tormentors from the foot of the Cross—scribes, Pharisees, the hostile mob—resemble (v.13)— roaring lions tearing their prey; and verse 16— dogs have surrounded Me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.  

Nevertheless, despite pain, suffering, and the loneliness of feeling abandoned, Jesus trusts in the love of His Father.

D.  The writer to the Hebrews (10:16-25) wants us to remember 2 additional facts:  (1) As Christ breathed His last breath, the curtain in the Temple—a large curtain of finely woven linen—was torn from top to bottom.  No human hand accomplished this.  God in Heaven tore it to indicate that Jesus’ death has granted us access to Him.  We may freely enter into the Holy of Holies (God’s presence) through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

(2) Jesus’ death also ended the sacrificial system that had begun with Abel.  The shed blood of bulls, sheep, goats, etc., was required for centuries to atone for human sin.  God set it up so that something had to die to make up for or redeem us from our sin.  But with Jesus’ Once-and-for-all-perfect-sacrifice-of-Himself, these were no longer needed.  In this sense, Jesus’ Cross became an altar.

On this Good Friday, let us sincerely and truly thank our Lord Jesus for all He endured to save us.  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 w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Despite Rejection

Pastor Sherry’s message for January 26, 2025

Scriptures: Jer 1:4-10; Ps 71:1-6; 1 Cor 12:12-31a; Lk 4:14-30

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln…

“…was defeated seven times for elective office before winning the Presidency of the United States. He certainly defied the odds. And he did not give up.

“Then there was Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh earned all of $85 from his paintings during his lifetime. One hundred years after his death, just one painting alone, Dr. Bachet, sold for the incredible sum of $82.5 million.

“Then there was this itinerant, middle eastern preacher who lived some 2,000 years ago — his ideas were definitely rejected by the people of his hometown, as well as the religious leaders of his time and country. Yet he continued his ministry as he understood it to be — Divine Defiance?

“The point is clear. If Abraham Lincoln, Vincent van Gogh, or Jesus of Nazareth had let rejection rule their lives, and let it keep them from doing and saying what they felt sure to be right — our world would be incredibly impoverished today.”

(Dianne O’Connell, “Divine Defiance,” www.esermons.com, 1/20/2025)

Consider how often these three must have felt discouraged, frustrated, or ready to give up?: Yet, what great examples to us of the importance of persevering in the face of repeated rejection.

Two of our Scripture passages today illustrate this theme of persevering despite rejection:

A.: Our Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 1:4-10, and recounts the divine call to Jeremiah to become the Lord’s prophet.

Jeremiah was probably between 17-20 years old when this takes place.  He was already serving God as a priest in his home town of Anathoth, located just North of Jerusalem. King Josiah was about 22 then, in 626BC, and reigned until he died at age 39.: He and Jeremiah were contemporaries, and likely became friends. Jeremiah served all during the remainder of Josiah’s reign, and continuing also during the reigns of kings Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim (sons of Josiah), Jehoiachin (Josiah’s grandson), and Zedekiah (a third son of Josiah).

Josiah, a good and godly king, had led his people in a revival to turn their hearts back to God; but his sons and grandsons were another story.

Because of their idolatry and wicked behavior, God allowed the last to be defeated and carried off into slavery by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Notice how God calls Jeremiah into His service: verse 5: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.: This is amazing and also a bit intimidating, isn’t it?: It implies that God knows us before we are even conceived, and that He has a plan for our lives—He has given us life for a purpose.: The Lord tells Jeremiah He had determined–even before the young man’s birth–that he would become a prophet and deliver to His people whatever God told him to say.: Jeremiah is a humble young man who replies to God, (v.6): I am only a child, meaning, Yes, I will do it, but I am young and lack much life experience.

In other words, I wouldn’t know what to say!: God’s response must have been very reassuring (v.7): Do not say,’ I am only a child.’: You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.: The Lord assures him He will tell Jeremiah what to say; and He promises to take care of him, even though He was calling him to prophesy divine judgment on Judah and her heretical kings.

If we skip ahead 40 years to the end of Jeremiah’s life and career, we would find that he apparently never made a single convert; after King Josiah, the people ignored or ridiculed his preaching entirely.: He was rejected by his people because of his message, hated, beaten, put in stocks, imprisoned, and charged with being a traitor. He was later called “the prophet of the broken heart” because God’s judgments on his people—and their rejection of God–were so distressing to him.: Actually his emotional response to his rejection mirrored God’s own saddness.: Once, King Jehoiakim cut his hand-written, prophetic scrolls up.: He destroyed them by throwing them into the fire (but God just retold the contents to Jeremiah so he could write them again).

I don’t know about you, but though I would have been proud to speak the Lord’s words to His people, I would also have been exceedingly distressed to have had been so unsuccessful in changing peoples’ behavior.: Jeremiah may have been just as distressed, but he persisted!: He may have been disappointed, but he kept on giving out God’s messages.: He may have been discouraged, but he never gave up!: I think that he stands as an excellent example to us:: He trusted in God’s promise to him and he persevered despite what he probably considered his limited impact.

And, as Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.: Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.: Those lousy kings after Josiah are no longer remembered by anyone, but Jeremiah’s two books of the Bible (Jeremiah and Lamentations) remain available today, 2700 years later!

With what in your life are you struggling today?: With a relative, a co-worker, or an unfair boss?: With an illness or a chronic condition?: With a lack of money or a lack of peace? Jeremiah’s obedience to God, and his perseverance in the face of repeated rejection, inspire and encourage us 

(1) to put one foot after the other, continuing to try to do good where we can; and (2) not to give Satan the victory by caving in to dejection and perceived defeat. 

B.: The same is true of Jesus (as per our Gospel lesson, Luke 4:14-30).: Jesus reads His job description from Isaiah 61:1, and tells His friends and neighbors in Nazareth that they are witnessing the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy in Him.: At first, they were impressed with His knowledge and wisdom–until someone spoke up who reminded everyone that Jesus was the carpenter’s son.: This person had placed Jesus in a box and would not consider that He might in fact have become “more than a carpenter.”

His former neighbors were eager to see Him work some miracles, but they were unwilling to alter their perceptions of Him.: John Mark tells us in Mark 6:5: He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them…due to their lack of faith.

Jesus really gets them riled up when He reminds them (v.24): I tell you the truth…no prophet is accepted in his hometown.: Then He further incenses them when He gives them two examples of “outsiders,” Gentiles whom God had provided for, rather than bless Israelites.: There were many widows in need in Israel during the famine and drought of Elijah’s day, but God sent the prophet to minister to a Phoenician woman.: He provided her with a continuous supply of food, and even resurrected her son when he died.: There were lots of Israelite lepers, but God chose to heal the Syrian general, Naaman.: In other words, Jesus is warning them that God will not bless them if they do not believe in His Son.

By this point, they are so enraged that they attempt to kill Him by tossing Him off a cliff.: The fact that He could just disappear from an angry mob should have stretched the box in which they had confined Him.: Surely Jesus was disappointed with their rejection of Him.: He was obviously willing to heal many, but their contempt and anger, their lack of faith, limited what His heavenly Father would allow Him to do there.: Just as with Jeremiah, His own did not believe Him.: So, He moves His base of operations to Capernaum.

I think what is most instructive for us is that is the example Jesus gives us in the face of rejection:: (1) Respond honestly, if given the opportunity.: He was admitting to them that He was the Messiah by saying He fulfills the Isaiah 61:1 passage.: He did not deny the truth even thught hearing it incited them to violence against them.: Don’t deny the truth as you know it, but also (2) don’t reply with anger, name-calling, or physical intimidation.: Years ago, I worked for a woman pediatrician in Tallahassee who gathered several social workers into her practice.: She worked with kids whose conditions did not resolve through the usual medical interventions, so instead, she involved the kids in counseling. I was there to supervise several interns she had working toward licensure, and I counseled some of the parents.: The longer I was there, the more it became evident to me that one of the women I was supervising (though she was married to a man) was having a lesbian affair with the doc.: The woman was good with the kids she counseled, but she viewed their parents as the enemy.: I repeatedly told her she needed to align sufficiently with the parents to change the social and psychological environment they created for their children. She resisted this vehemently.: I told her I could not then recommend her for licensure.: Our boss—and her lover—then demanded I do so despite my reservations.: I had to resign and leave that practice. As my Christian therapist friends helped me move my office, I walked out the door and “shook the dust off my sandals.” (3) Like Jesus, I remained calm, and moved on. The Lord provided me another location to do what He had gifted me to do…and He will do the same for you.

We cannot allow rejection to rule our lives.: We will not win over everyone we encounter.: Let’s remember how Lincoln, Van Gogh, Jeremiah–and even President Trump, whether you like him or not—as well as Jesus, all persevered despite being repeatedly rejected.

In Galatians 6:9, St. Paul encourages us (NLT): So: let’s not get tired of doing what is good.: At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.:  We are not meant to just, “Be calm and carry on,” but to continue to do our best to please God and to trust in Him.

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 w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Touched by God

Pastor Sherry’s message for December 22, 2024

Scriptures: Mic 5:2-5a; Lk 1:46-56; Heb 10:5-10; Lk 1:39-45

The story is told of a man, a nonbeliever, with cancer, who was being treated in the hospital.  His prognosis was poor.  He had been raised to know Jesus, but had quit going to church when his complaints about church and church goers multiplied.  You’ve heard what non-attenders say about us:  (1) The church is too small—I can’t hide out. The folks there are too nosy; the folks there are too judgmental.  (2) The church is too big—I’m lost in the crowd; no one knows my name, or cares if I am there or not.  (3) The people there are hypocrites—acting loving on Sunday, but knifing you in the back Monday-Saturday!  I don’t like the hymns–they are too old fashioned–or I can’t stand the multiple repetitions of contemporary Christian music. (4) All those people want is my money!  (5) YIKES!  They’ve got a woman preacher!  I don’t know this guy’s particular criticism but he had given up on church long before he was diagnosed with an incurable cancer.

One day a hospital chaplain entered his room.  The fellow hadn’t called for a visit from a clergy-person, so he was surprised.  The chaplain addressed him by name and asked if he would like some prayer.  The man thought, “Why not?  What could it hurt?”  The chaplain proceeded to pray for his comfort, freedom from pain, a miraculous healing, and that he might know and trust Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  When the visit ended, the man felt moved to write the following:

“Lying on my narrow, hospital bed, feeling the oil of gladness and healing, I knew I had little time. More importantly though, I felt by a wondrous grace that this was the first time in my memory that the Church was paying attention to me, individually, by name, naming me, praying for me to deal with my painful circumstances and my suffering, the suffering that is uniquely mine. All of a sudden I realized, I matter, I really matter. I still can’t get over the power of this feeling of mattering, of being an irreplaceable individual.”

(Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com, 12/18/2024.)

Praise God the guy experienced being touched by God.  Though he referenced being attended to by the church, he learned that he mattered to Jesus.  Despite his previously negative judgments against churches and church-goers, he learned our Lord touched him, thorough a clergy-person, in his time of need.

Our Scriptures today all center on folks who were touched by God in very unique and important ways.  Let’s see what we can learn from them.

A.  Our Old Testament lesson is from the minor prophet, Micah (5:2-5a)—again minor because his book is short, not because his message is unimportant.  He served as God’s spokesman to both the Northern and Southern Kingdom capital cities from 750-686BC.  He correctly predicted the fall of Samaria (Northern Kingdom) to the Assyrians in 722-721BC; and that of Jerusalem and Judea later in 586.  He then went on to correctly predict Jesus’ birthplace, 700 years before His birth (NIV, v.2)—But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah [Bethlehem and suburbs], though you are small, out of you will come for Me [God the Father] One [Jesus] who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. 

Though Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, Jesus was born in Bethlehem–due to Caesar’s census–fulfilling this prophesy.  A number of Pharisees rejected Him as Messiah because they did not realize Jesus had actually been born in Bethlehem as predicted.  Furthermore, the prophet states that though Jesus arrived on earth as a baby, His origins are from old, from ancient times, meaning He dwelt with the Father from before the creation of the world.  Remember, the Apostle John wrote in the very beginning of his Gospel (NLT, 1:1-3)—In the beginning the Word [Jesus, God’s word made flesh] 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.  Creation was the Father’s idea, but Jesus spoke everything into existence.  This is why He could accurately say to the Jewish religious leaders later, (John 8:58)—I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!

From Jesus’ place of birth, Micah then jumps across the eons to predict the events of Jesus’ 2nd Coming.  At that time, God’s Chosen People will be scattered throughout the world, as they are now (It is said that there are more Jews in New York City than there are in Israel). The Jews will have suffered centuries of travail.  But the Lord Jesus will return to earth to re-gather them (and us, we who are grafted into Jesus’ line) and to shepherd them (v.4)—He will stand to lead His flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.

Jesus will care for His people powerfully.  They will accept Him as their Messiah, and He will usher in a time of world-wide peace.

Micah was certainly touched by God, inspired by Him to speak these truths to the people of Israel and to us. Through Micah, the Lord tried to touch His people.  Through the book of Micah, the Lord touches us today.

B. The writer to the Hebrews is adamant that Jesus was no afterthought, no Plan B because God’s Plan A had failed.   In Chapter 10, verses 5-10, the author makes it clear that the Lord always knew the blood of animal sacrifices could only temporarily atone for our sins. They covered the sins that were confessed, but did nothing toward any future sins—or even unacknowledged past sins.  So sacrifices would have to be made again and again.  Under that system, you would have to once again purchase or raise an unblemished animal, take it to the Temple, pronounce all your sins upon its head, and watch the priest kill it and sprinkle its blood over the horns of the altar.  But because Jesus was the only perfect, sinless man, the sacrifice of His shed blood covers our sins for all time.  He is the Once and for All Perfect Sacrifice for our Sins!  All of us who are “in Christ”—who believe in Him and who love Him—are credited by the Father with Jesus’ righteousness.  Praise God we have all been touched by God—redeemed–through Jesus!

C. Our psalm or song this morning is Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56).  Mary was, of course, very intimately touched by God.  She was no doubt awe-struck at the thought of having God’s Son.  This was the hope/the dream of every Jewish young woman…Will I be the one to bear the Messiah?  The Greek Christians later called her the theotokis—the God-bearer.   And so she celebrates this honor in 3 verses:  (NLT) Vv.46-49—Oh how my soul praises the Lord!  How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!  For He took notice of His lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed!  For the Mighty One is holy and He has done great things for me.

But the remainder of her Psalm is focused on what God is doing for His people through the arrival of the long awaited Messiah:  She praises God for being merciful to those who respect/revere Him; she reminds us of His past works of power; she celebrates His surprising propensity to reverse worldly expectations:  the lowly are raised up, while the lofty are brought low.  And she applauds God for fulfilling His promises to Israel: He is bringing forth a Messiah who will bless all the earth.  This King comes from King David’s essentially extinct dynasty.  Mary’s genealogy in Luke places her in David’s lineage, though as a very poor relation, and Joseph, as per Matthew’s genealogy, also comes out of this diminished promised line.

Mary is such a great model for us, isn’t she?  She is humble and obedient.  God’s favor upon us is often unexpected, but she immediately complied with God’s plan.  She said “Yes” to God; may we say “yes” to Him as well.

D. Our Gospel lesson today is the passage just before Mary’s song of praise (Luke1:39-45).  The angel, Gabriel, tells Mary her elderly cousin Elizabeth is expecting a child too.  I think he gently gave the unwed Mary a good reason to leave town for a spell. Did he mean to prevent her from being stoned?  Fornicators and adulterers were to be stoned in those days, according to the Law of Moses.  As far as her neighbors were concerned, Mary had conceived as an unwed person and was liable.  Or did God mean to provide her some respite from being judged and condemned by her friends and neighbors, and even her family?  Perhaps all of this, as well as to help her feel affirmed by someone who loved her and who also appreciated the miraculous touches of God.

Elizabeth greets her (v.42) Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!   Without their even having shared Mary’s condition, Elizabeth—inspired by the Holy Spirit—declares—(NLT) Vv.42-45—God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed.  Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me?  When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.  You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what He said.  Mary, you believed God, despite the awkward and dangerous position this placed you in at home.  Mary, your faith and trust in God to see you through will ever be a model to the rest of us.  Elizabeth has clearly been touched by God!

Do we all realize that our God so loves us that He broke into human history, as a helpless baby, to live among us and to die for us?  What a fabulous Christmas gift!  As we celebrate His birth this week, may we each be fully aware that we matter to Jesus.  And may we each come away from Christmas believing we have been touched by God. 

Amen!  May it be so!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Recognizing Everyday Saints

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 10, 2024

Scriptures: WMC, 11/10/24; Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17; Ps 42; Heb 9:24-28; Mk 12:38-44

I heard this story just the other day.  It appears to describe a large Catholic parish in the Midwest:

“A priest once asked one of his parishioners to serve as financial chairman of his parish. The man, manager of a grain elevator, agreed on two conditions:  (1) No report would be due for a year, and (2) No one would ask any questions during the year.

“At the end of the year he made his report. He had paid off the church mortgage of $200,000.  He had updated the church’s interior. He had sent $1,000 to missions [he could have been more generous here], and he had put $5,000 in the bank’s savings account.

“How did you do all this?” asked the priest and the shocked congregation.  Quietly he answered, “You people bring your grain to my elevator. As you did business with me, I simply withheld 10 percent [in other words, he overcharged them by 10%] and gave it to the church. You never missed it.”

(Contributed by James S. Hewett, http://www.Sermons.com, November 5, 2024)

Now please don’t get alarmed.  I am not going to launch into a sermon on tithing, or your monetary giving to our church.  Too many people just happen to visit a church on the very day the pastor encourages everyone to contribute more money.  They walk away believing the church is only interested in digging into their wallets.  My son attended a non-demoninational church of 22,000 members in Texas.  He said at one point the pastor preached on tithing every week.  I guess he had a large facility and an equally large staff to support, so money was uppermost in his mind.

Because of this, however, I hardly ever say anything tithing.  Instead, I will let today’s Gospel passage speak for itself.

Instead, I want us to focus today on what our Bible passages tell us about how we might go about recognizing everyday saints.

Last week, I distinguished between canonized saints and “everyday saints.”

Canonized saints are those holy people who led obviously Christian lives, may have died for their faith, and often performed some sort of miracle.

Reports about their lives are scrutinized by the Catholic Church.  And if they meet the 3 criteria, they are recognized as true “saints of the Church.” 

Conversely, “everyday saints” are those of us who love Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and who try to model our lives after Him and what we learn from Scripture.  Keeping this 2nd category in mind, let’s examine the passages appointed for today to see how they help us recognize “everyday saints.” 

A.  Our OT lesson is from portions of Ruth 3 and 4.   You may remember that Ruth was from Moab, one of the perennial enemies bordering Israel.  The Moabites originated from the incestuous relationship of a drunken Lot and one of his two daughters.  The girls had seen the destruction of Sodom and feared they would never marry or bear children.  So they got their father drunk and slept with him.  Naturally this was abhorrent to our God (Genesis 19:30-37).  The Moabites also tried to hire a false prophet, Balaam, to curse Israel.  He was not a follower of the Hebrew God, but he obeyed God when He told him he could not curse His Chosen People. (Numbers 22 and 23).  So Ruth was from a nation that Israel despised and avoided.

Nevertheless, she had met and married one of the sons of the Israelite woman, Naomi.  From Bethlehem, Naomi had moved to Moab, with her husband and two sons, to escape a famine.  They had located food in Moab, and jobs, but all three men got sick there and died.  Naomi was once again faced with poverty and starvation and decided to return home to Bethlehem.

She tells her 2 devoted daughters-in-law to return to their Moabite relatives.

One, Orpah agrees and, though sorrowful, leaves her; the other, Ruth, loves Naomi dearly and loyally accompanies her into Israel.

What might this tell us about Ruth, a woman we might term an “everyday saint”?  For one thing, she’s compassionate: She puts her mother-in-law’s needs for companionship and help ahead of her own comforts.  Those of you who have cared for aging parents now or earlier have done the same, haven’t you?   Additionally, she’s loyal enough to accompany Naomi to a land where she might always be considered a despised outsider (Think of what a member of Hamas would experience today if such a person attempted to become a Jew).  Ruth is certainly courageous, willing to leave all she’s ever known to go where she might be treated hostilely.  And, perhaps most important, she has become a follower of Naomi’s God.

As we pick up in today’s reading, Naomi plays matchmaker for Ruth.

Naomi owned land in Bethlehem, land owing what we might call “back taxes.”  Back in Genesis (38: 13-30), the Lord had made provision for widows through the concept of a Kinsman Redeemer.  This male relative could claim the widow’s land if he paid what was owed, and he could marry the dead man’s widow (to continue her dead husband’s line) if she agreed.

Another, closer relation wanted the land but not the foreign widow.  But Naomi knew the kinsman-redeemer, Boaz (who foreshadows Jesus as our Kinsman Redeemer), had signaled he liked Ruth a lot.  So, Naomi has Ruth get all dolled up and approach the sleeping Boaz at a harvest festival.  By placing the blanket at his feet over hers, she signaled to him that she wanted to marry him.  (This may seem a little strange to us today, but that was the custom then.)

They do marry, and happily pick up in chapter #4 where Ruth bears Boaz a son, Obed [servant of the Lord], who will become the grandfather of King David.  Because of Ruth’s faith and character, the Lord establishes from her son, Obed, the line of Jesse, the stump of Judah, from whom Jesus later comes.  The Lord so values Ruth for her faith and character, that He places her—a hated outsider (like Hamas)—in the lineage of the Messiah.

B.  Psalm 42 was written by some sons of Korah.  Though their father had been discredited and killed for leading a rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16), God spared his sons and grandsons.  Those descendants of Korah who had been spared their father’s fate become gate-keepers and choir members in the Tabernacle.

This psalm is called a maschil or a teaching psalm.  Its primary message is that we are to hope and trust in God despite our negative circumstances.  The sons of Korah are certainly evidence that punishment for evil in one can result in good behavior in others, and that people do often recognize and appreciate God’s grace.  The instruction in this psalm consists of realizing that we worship a God of grace and mercy.

C.  The writer to the Hebrews (9:24-28) wants us to be clear that we realize that Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself for our sins was sufficient.  It was enough to clear our debt to the Father for our sins, past, present, and future.  Jesus’ atoning death on the cross was complete, sufficient, and perfect.  We don’t’ have to do anything to assure our salvation except say yes to Christ.  He did all the heavy-lifting, for all time.

Our response to Him should be one of gratitude.

D. Finally, in our Gospel (Mark 12:38-44), Jesus condemns the Pharisees for being fakers, posers, and hypocrites, caught up in appearing righteous to others, while missing out on a legitimate, honest, humble relationship with God.  Everyday saints are sincere.

They don’t just try to look good, but their hearts are good.  They desire to please God more than to please people.  And they, like the widow who gave her last coins to the Temple treasury, are fully trusting and fully committed.

So what are the characteristics of everyday saints?  The Book of Ruth shows us that everyday saints are compassionate, loyal, risk-takers, and courageous.  They are also committed followers of God/Jesus.

Psalm 42 teaches us that everyday saints are grateful to God, trusting in Him, through bad times as well as the good.  As Paul later on states, (Romans 8:28): For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, and who have been called according to His purpose.

Our Hebrews passage reiterates the powerful message that Jesus has done all that needed to be done to assure our salvation.

As He assured us from the Cross, It is finished.  Simply said, we are saved if we agree to believe in Him.

Finally, we demonstrate we are everyday saints if we are humble and sincere.  This means we don’t “put on airs” or fake our devotion to God.  This means we are not religious hypocrites.  Others will recognize we are everyday saints if we practice the Christian virtues our passages outline today

You may be thinking, “That’s a tall order to be compassionate, loyal, courageous, committed followers of Jesus, grateful, trusting, and sincere.”  Yes it is if we try to practice each of those virtues at once.  But we can consider which ones we already do pretty well, and then pick one we are less likely to demonstrate.  For this next week, try to practice one that is not yet true of you.  Psychology teaches us that it takes 23 repetitions to replace a bad habit with a good one. 

May the Holy Spirit empower you to cement these virtues in your life. Lord, make it so!  Amen!   

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams