Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Faith and Glory

Pastor Larry’s message for June 14, 2026

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

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

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

To leave his culture. 

To leave his extended family.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paul then talks about 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Without status
  • Without standing
  • And without significance.

Without Christ, we are without ultimate meaning or purpose! 

And that matters very deeply.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And we have a future destiny that includes:

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

…Because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2026 Rev. Lawrence O’Connell

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Power of Faith

Pastor Sherry’s message for June 7, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

Contrast that story to this one:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Let God Be God

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 10, 2026

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

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

“Why God Will Never Get Tenure At Any University:

1. Only published one book.

2. It was in Hebrew.

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

4. He did not publish it in referenced journals.

5. Some doubt He even wrote it Himself.

6. He is not known for His cooperative work.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Source unknown)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

The Sweet, Sweet Love of God

Pastor Sherry’s message for May 3, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So too do our Scripture lessons today:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus is the only route to our Father in heaven.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Important Questions

Pastor Sherry’s message for 4/19/26

Scriptures: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Ps 116:1-4, 12-19; 1 Pet 1:17-23; Lk 254:13-35

Those of you who have had children probably remember the stall tactics they used to delay their bedtime. They would need another story; a drink of water; one more trip to the bathroom; their favorite plush toy (Heaven forbid if it has been misplaced!); one more hug and kiss; maybe another person or thing to pray for….When my now 51 year old son was a little guy, he had to ask one more “questing,” meaning he had one more question for me to answer before he would close his eyes. It worked pretty well until I caught on that it was less about a need to understand the world than to delay sleep. At this point I began to say, “One more questing,” or “No more questings tonight.”

All of our Scripture readings today present important questions and their answers. Let’s search them out together:

A. I have always loved today’s Gospel lesson from Luke 24:13-25.

These two sad and disappointed followers of Jesus are walking home from Jerusalem, so distressed about the fact that their Lord has been crucified.

Without realizing His identity, they encounter the risen Christ on the road and He asks them, (v.17)-→What are you discussing so intently as you walk along? In other words, What are you talking about? (or What are you worrying about?) Now, Jesus is God, right? As the Omniscient One, He would of course know they are skeptically talking about the claims that He has been resurrected. They have not seen Him for themselves so they don’t yet believe that He is alive.

Then they essentially ask Him this humorous question: Are You the only one in all of Jerusalem who has not heard the improbable stories that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead? Poor folks! They don’t realize Who they are talking to. So then He takes them on a trip though all the Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah’s death and resurrection. What a Bible Study that must have been! Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there to hear Jesus explain how He fulfilled all that had been prophesied about Him.

Notice when they finally discern Who He is: It was when He blessed and broke the bread at supper….He, the Lamb of God, the Bread of Heaven, was showing them that He had to be broken on the Cross to redeem us from our sins.

The Important Question, for them was, What (or Who) are you talking about? They were skeptical about the reports that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. And He proved to them that He had. Christ asked the important question and He answered it. Blaize Pascal, the French philosopher and mathematician (1623 – 1662) once said, “Human knowledge must be understood to be believed, but divine knowledge must be believed to be understood” (McGee, Luke, p.300)

B. A second very important question is asked by Holy Spirit inspired new believers and answered by Peter in Acts 2:36-41. In this continuation of his famous sermon on Pentecost morning–when 3,000 were led to Christ—Peter proclaims v. 36, NLT)-→So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, Whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah! The minds and spirits of many in his audience were convinced by his testimony. Scripture says (v.37)-→Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

What a great question! If we believe Jesus is Who He said He was—God Almighty—what should be our answer? Peter spells it out: First, repent of all your sins; second, be baptized; and, third, receive the Holy Spirit, Hopefully, each one of us here has done exactly that. If not, please speak to me after the service so we can remedy that.)  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the people ask the important question and Peter answers it.

C. Then Peter goes on to add in his letter (1 Peter 1:17-23) the following–as if he is still answering, “What should we do? He said we should live reverently, daily, hourly, keeping in our minds on the fact that Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. In v.19, he coins the phrase-→…the precious blood of Christ—we are washed clean of our sins by Jesus’ precious blood. We tend not to think of blood cleaning up anything. But God set it up such that our sins could only be washed away by the death, the blood of some animal—like a lamb, a calf, a bull, or even some birds. Something had to die to atone for our sins.

Peter proclaims that Jesus was and is (vv.19-20) …the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God…God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake. He goes on to say that because of Christ’s great love for us, we should pass that love on to others; and we should spend time in God’s word, the Bible, getting to know our Lord more intimately.

What should we do? is obviously in Peter’s mind a very important question. So he asks it and answers it.

D. Finally, our Psalm (116:1-4, 12-19) asks the question, What can I offer the Lord for all He has done for me?” In verses 1-2 the composer writes🡪I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live. Whoever wrote this psalm was a person in distress who chose to call upon the Lord for help. He or she believed the Lord did hear and did help. So this psalmist composed this love song to God—it is actually a hymn of Thanksgiving.

As the psalmist teaches us, we respond to God with praise; by keeping our promises to Him; by submitting to His will for us; and by offering to Him gifts of thanksgiving (like tithes and acts of service). We respond with love for Him because He replies to our heartfelt prayers.

The truth is that God needs nothing from us. He has created the universe. He lives in constant loving fellowship with the other two members of the Trinity. He meets His own needs! The best gifts we can give God are our love for and our faith in Him. Other great gifts we can offer Him are our gratitude and praise.

So, the important questions/”questings” in our passages today are the following:

1.) Who are we talking about? Do we really know Jesus? Would we have believed He had risen back then? Do we today?

2.) Realizing He has risen and is alive, What should we do? St. Peter advises us to repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. He also says we should live into Easter, allowing the knowledge that He died and rose again lead us into lives that are transformed/changed, becoming more Christlike. Love others, even if they aren’t very likable—because Christ died for them too. And work on drawing closer to Jesus through Bible reading.

3.) And What can we offer the Lord for all that He has done for us?

Consider the following story:

A man dialed a wrong number and got the following recording: “I am not available right now, but I thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes.”

(Borrowed from www.Ministry127.com, 4/16/27)

The truth is that all these important questions invite us to change. Isn’t it true that we often think of important questions we want to ask God? I have a whole list of questions I want to ask Jesus, St. Paul, King David, Old Testament Joseph, and Mary, Jesus’ mother when I get settled into heaven. If you are like me, we tend to think of what we want to ask the Lord rather than the questions the Lord wants to ask us. Because we believers are covered by Christ’s righteousness, God the Father, at the judgment seat is probably going to ask us how well we did at loving others and how we used the gifts He gave us in service to Him and humankind.

What other important questions might God ask of us? Our lectionary editors today chose several passages for us in which our God—through followers inspired by Him—asks important question of us. How do you intend to respond?

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Complete Restoration

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 22, 2026 

Scriptures: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Ps 130; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45

The story is told that…

“In a remote Swiss village stands a beautiful church–Mountain Valley Cathedral. It has high pillars and magnificent stained glass windows, but what makes it special is the most beautiful pipe organ in the whole region. People would come from far off lands just to hear the lovely tunes of this organ.

“One dreadful day something went wrong with the pipe organ. It released the wrong tones and produced only sounds of disharmony. Musicians and experts from around the world tried to repair it. No one could find the problem. It was uniquely made; it had been customized, so no one really knew how to fix it. They gave up.

“After some time, one old man arrived for a worship service. “Why wasn’t the pipe organ used?” It’’s not playing right” said the church staff. “Let me try to fix it,” replied the man. Since it had been lying there essentially useless, the staff reluctantly agreed to let the old man try his hand at it. For two days the old man worked in almost total silence. The church workers were, in fact, getting a bit nervous. Then on the third day at noon, suddenly music poured forth from what had been a dead instrument. The pipe organ gave off the best music after so many years. The people in the village heard the beautiful music. They came to the church to see. This old man was playing at the organ. After he finished, one man asked, “How did you fix it? How did you manage to restore this magnificent instrument when even the world’s experts could not?” The old man said, “It was I who built this organ fifty years ago. I created it, and now I have restored it.”

(James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1988, pp. 244-245.)

It took the creator of the organ to restore it. The congregation of Mountain Valley Cathedral were totally blessed when the fellow who built the organ showed up. The old fellow had designed and constructed it; so he certainly would know what needed to be done to restore it.

Now think about us. Who is there who is in the best position to restore us?

Medical science knows a lot about the human body—and I am not trying to disparage them, as they have been gifted by God to help–but their medicine doesn’t always heal us does it? We can read self-help books or listen to podcasts by “experts,” regarding what ails us, or even order supplements off the internet said to be healing, but even they often disappoint.

Our divine Creator is both knowledgeable enough and powerful enough to restore us. Nicodemus (from John 3)came to Jesus wanting to know how to enter heaven-→Jesus, the King of Heaven, told him to be “born again”—to develop a personal relationship with His Savior, which he did. The woman at the well (from John 4) wanted water she would not have to draw from the well daily—Jesus told her He is the Living Water, God’s Word made flesh. If she repented of her sins, and drank in His words daily, she would never spiritually thirst again. The man born blind (from John 9) was given his sight by Jesus,

He then gazed upon the Messiah. The skeptical Pharisees missed out, but the newly sighted man perceived the Light of the World. In today’s Gospel, John 11, Jesus demonstrates His power over life and death, revealing Him as the Resurrection and the giver of Life.

Our Scripture lessons today all stress our Lord’s ability to bring us to bring us exactly what we need, to bring us to complete restoration: 

A. Let’s begin with our Old Testament lesson from Ezekiel 37:1-14. The prophet Ezekiel is foretelling the restoration of the nation of Israel. At that time, the Israelites—due to their idolatry and rebellion– had been taken captive by the Babylonians and exiled away from the Promised Land. While still in captivity, God sent His mouthpiece, Ezekiel, to tell them the Lord meant to revive them spiritually, and to bring them home. In a sense, they are just like the dry, desiccated bones lying about in a disconnected disarray. A modern crime scene investigator would have postulated a titanic battle had taken place and the victors had denied their vanquished foes a proper burial (a sign of contempt). But the Lord tells His prophet these bones are what is left of His Chosen People.

The Lord then instructs the prophet to prophesy to the bones—i.e., to tell them God’s truth. As Ezekiel speaks God’s words over the bones, they reassemble in stages: From scattered fragments to cadavers (bodies without life), to a restored and living assembly! The prophet speaks, but it is our God who gives them life. Since our God creates life, like the old organist, He can certainly bring about complete restoration!

B. Our psalmist (Psalm 130) wants us to remember that our God hears us when we call to Him out of our deep distress. Are you grieving? Tell the Lord about it. Are you worried about your health, your adult children, your grands, your finances? Take your anxieties to the Lord. Does the news upset you? Do the wars going on cause you concern. Each negative news item can become for you a prompt to prayer. We need to remember, as Beth Moore says, that when a problem is over our heads, it is always under God’s feet. We can put our faith in Him because He cares for us. He is a God of unfailing love (v.6). Verse 7 assures us that His redemption overflows. Again, the message is clear: Our God has the power to restore us completely.

C. As Paul writes in Romans 8:6-11 (NLT, v.9)-→But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. So we want to honor the Holy Spirit within us and listen to His guidance. Furthermore, we have this blessed assurance (v.10-11)-→And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Hallelujah! We will be resurrected! Hallelujah! We will receive completely restored, resurrection bodies!

D. In our Gospel lesson (John 11:1-45), Jesus calls the 4-days-dead Lazarus out from the grave, alive again! Laz is the third of three folks Jesus resurrected before going to the Cross: The first was the 12YO daughter of the synagogue leader, Jairus, who had just died minutes before Jesus came to her.

The second was the son of the widow of Nain, who was being carried to the grave yard for burial. Since they buried people quickly, due to the heat, he might have been dead a day. Then came Lazarus. As with the man blind from birth, God the Father wanted people to know that His Son, Jesus, had the power to do the impossible. The man said no one had ever heard of a person born blind restored to sight. Similarly, no one had ever experienced watching a person, dead long enough to have begun to decay, brought back to life.

Jesus was giving His followers yet another chance to believe He was/is the Son of God. This, though was the coup de gras! More than merely healing, this was a demonstration of complete restoration power, miraculous resurrection power! Jesus tells Martha (vv.25-26, NIV)-→I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die….If we have Jesus, we have life!

The great novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky learned this first hand and it permanently changed his life. As an educated young man from a wealthy family, he flirted with communist revolutionary thought in pre-revolution 1917 Russia.

The Czar learned of his activities and had him arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by a firing squad. Dostoevsky was blind-folded, dressed in burial clothes, bound, and led into a public square where he was tied to a post. The young writer heard the firing squad cock their guns. The order was given, “Ready, aim….” But just at that moment, a message arrived from the Czar to commute the death penalty to four years of hard labor. Dostoevsky later wrote that he never totally recovered from this experience.

On the train to prison in Siberia, he was given a copy of the New Testament, which he devoured. Realizing it was God who had saved him, he then turned his life over to Christ. Despite witnessing some truly evil things done by his cellmates, he developed the belief that humans are only capable of loving if they believe they are loved. His novels stress the Christian themes of sin, repentance, grace, and forgiveness. In other words, coming so close to death radically altered his sense of what is important in life. The soon -to-be-great Russian author had been profoundly affected by the Lord’s rescue (complete restoration) of him (Original source of this story unknown.)

Do you realize that we are not meant by our God to fear death? Or anything, really? Why would we when we worship a God who can completely restore us to life? Why would we when we realize that our Lord Jesus and Our Heavenly Father are supremely powerful and totally loving? They created us and They know what we need to live life at its fullest and best.

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

Alleluia! Alleluia! 

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Our God, the “Contrarian” 

Pastor Sherry’s message for March 15, 2026

1 Sam 16:1-13; Ps 23; Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41

What is a “contrarian”? Have you ever been accused of being one?According to a number of excellent dictionaries, it means essentially,

“1.One who takes a contrary view or action, especially an investor who makes decisions that contradict prevailing wisdom, as in buying securities that are unpopular at the time.

“2. A person who habitually takes a view opposite to that held by the majority.

“The contrarians in the stock market prefer to sell when most analysts advise us to buy.”

“3. A person who expresses a contradicting viewpoint, especially one who denounces the majority persuasion.”

  1. (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition, as shared on Google.com)

In other words, a Contrarian” is someone who has opinions that differ from those of the majority of folks on certain issues. We tend to think of a contrarian as someone who is rebellious. Perhaps it could be said to describe you at times. I’m sure my ex-husband, and several bosses for whom I once worked said it of me. But, you know, it puts us in good company because it can also be said of both Jesus and of God the Father. We don’t want to be intentionally disagreeable—that would be neither Christian nor reasonable. Nevertheless, as one of my favorite Bible commentators, Rev. John Fairless (of “Two Bubbas and a Bible” fame) puts it:

“We don’t like it when God gets contrary, do we? We like God to color between the lines, to follow the speed limit and to stay in the right lane. And the Bible shows us a God who likes to speed, who can sometimes barely keep it between the ditches, who not only does not color between the lines; it sometimes appears that God doesn’t even know that the lines are there.”

(John Fairless and Delmer Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentarty, Year A,, 2013, p.91)

Fairless has exaggerated for effect, but he is saying that we tend to expect God to behave according to what we think is the one right and only way (usually our own opinion). But God is God and so what He or Jesus does is the true, right, and best way—even if it might not initially look that way to us.

This is clearly illustrated in our Old Testament and Gospel readings today:

A. In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, the prophet Samuel is tasked by God with anointing the continuously disobedient King Saul’s replacement. We learn that Samuel is reluctant to do so. He really loves Saul, despite Saul’s rebelliousness toward God. And he worries that if Saul gets wind of what he is doing in Bethlehem, the King will have him assassinated.

Despite his fears, Samuel gathers Jesse and his sons, under the guise of an impromptu worship service, and looks the seven sons over. He’s impressed with the eldest, Eliab, but God says, “NO, he’s not My choice. You are responding to what you see of his outward appearance”—the problem the people had when they selected Saul, who was tall and good looking. So, God redirects him by saying (v.7, NLT)…Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

He then asks Jesse if he has additional sons. It’s as though the youngest is so insignificant to his father that he has forgotten David. Jesse had other shepherds who could have tended the flock. However, he says in verse 11-→There is still the youngest, but he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats. David’s father had not planned for him to attend the worship service or the banquet to follow. But David, at 16, the youngest of 8, is the one God wants. And when Samuel anoints him as the next King of Israel, the Holy Spirit falls upon him, marking him as God’s choice.

How surprised—and perhaps how envious—the older brothers must have been! Instead of choosing the eldest brother, God–as we saw Him do with Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph—chooses the youngest. This flies in the face of human expectations! We think that the baby son has the least experience and may be spoiled or entitled, having an underdeveloped character. But our “contrarian” God sees things in these younger sons that we might miss. God knows what trials they will face; and He also anticipates the character they will develop. Remember, despite his sins, King David proved himself to be (unlike King Saul) a man after God’s own heart!

B. Our Gospel lesson, John 9:1-41, relates the events surrounding Jesus’ healing of the man blind from birth.

First Jesus addresses the faulty but prevalent belief of the time that if you were somehow physically disabled, it was because you or your folks had seriously sinned. Being blind from birth was not his fate, or his karma–Christians do not believe in either. His condition was meant to provide the opportunity for God to prove that Jesus could heal a never-sighted person (v.3)-→This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

Then He heals him. Here’s where the questions, the doubt, and the fun begin: The neighbors question whether or not this newly sighted guy is truly the blind guy they known for years. He insists he is and that his healing is real, but they don’t believe him. How frustrating for him that he cannot convince them.

My question is “Why is no one rejoicing with him?”  This has never happened before, it’s a miracle. Why are the people who are acquainted with him not rejoicing?!!

Instead, the neighbors take him to the Pharisees. The Pharisees can’t rejoice in his new eyesight either because they get tangled up in the fact that Jesus healed (or did work) on the Sabbath! The Pharisees then argue over whether or not Jesus is from God or is a blatant sinner. They ask the man and he insists that Jesus must be a man of God, a prophet. But, because the whole enterprise contradicts their belief system—their narrative—they discount the man’s testimony and search out his parents. He’s a grown man! Lord have mercy!

They locate his parents and demand to know if the man was truly born blind. The parents have heard the Pharisees are throwing Jesus’ followers out of the Synagogue—the center of Jewish community in that day–so they are cagey with their response. Interestingly, even they don’t celebrate his healing. This makes me wonder if they were already missing the money he made from begging. If you truly loved your child, would you not be thrilled that he was now able to see?!! They wisely, and probably cheekily, tell the Pharisees to ask him for themselves.

The Pharisees call the man back in, saying (v.24)-→God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner. The man honestly states (v.24)-→I don’t know whether He is a sinner…but I know this: I was blind but now I can see! Can’t you just hear his frustration?

No doubt he is thinking, “I’ve never been able to see, but now I can, due to this man you call Jesus. Can’t you just celebrate with me?” So he tells the Pharisees (v.27)-→Look!…I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become His disciples, too? The Pharisees are frustrated too. Their perspective is that Jesus is a sinner, no one with Godly authority. So they curse this man whose only misstep was to have been healed by our Lord! They place their faith in Moses because they don’t trust in Jesus’ origins or His power. The healed man, probably inspired by the Holy Spirit, then takes them to school (vv.30-33)–> Why, that is very strange! He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where He comes from? We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but He is ready to hear those who worship Him and do His will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, He couldn’t have done it. (He reminds me, in his “moxie” of the Samaritan woman at the well.) The Pharisees, however, are outraged—their pride is offended—so they do expel him from the Synagogue.

Jesus comes to his rescue again. He reveals Himself to the man as the long-awaited Messiah. He says He came to give sight to the blind, which He has done for this fortunate fellow (as per Isaiah 63:1); and to try to convince those who are spiritually blind that they do not see. Overhearing, the Pharisees get involved again and ask (v.40)-→Are you saying we’re blind? Now who is the contrarian? Jesus says, If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty [you’d have an excuse]. But you remain guilty because you claim you can see. The short answer is “Yes.” They are able to see physically but not spiritually; whereas the blind man was physically blind, prior to Jesus, but now sees spiritually, and with much more accurate perception than the religious leaders and teachers of his day.

So what might we learn from this? We have learned that life is not fair, and sometimes our God may not seem fair, as judged from our perspective. We say or think that He doesn’t do the things we think He should do, or that He doesn’t do them the way or the time we think they should be done. YIKES! We want to think that through carefully. We are not God and we are not privy to all that He knows and plans for us. If we can trust in His nature, we know He is the Good Shepherd as Psalm 23 tells us: He provides for us, protects us, and blesses us. St. Paul exhorts us (Ephesians 5:8-14) to live as people of the Light. Christ’s light shines out only what is good and right and true. This kind of behavior differs from secular wisdom and contemporary woke expectations. If we don’t see the evidence of God’s blessings in our lives today, we need to trust in His nature and wait—with hope and faith—for what He does in our future.

We have learned that God’s purposes are right and good. The Pharisees misjudged Jesus because He did not present Himself in ways that fit their expectations, their system, their narrative. If we are offended because our God often appears to be a contrarian, we need to remember He is God and we are not.  As a result, we should each probably ask ourselves, “What truth about God or Christ have I missed because it did not fit my view of how things should turn out?”

Just as King David’s family, the prophet Samuel, and the Blind man’s parents and his neighbors, we need to be willing to put our human assumptions aside and look to see what “opposite world” thing our God is doing. Jesus came to save the lost. We are lost—and inaccurate– if we insist that all things should go our way. But we worship a Jesus who is never lost, and who—as the Son of Man, the Christ, the Messiah, the Living Water, the Light of the World—came to show us the unerring way to the Father’s heart.

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

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Our God is a Straight Shooter

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 9, 2025

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

The story is told that…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Without Regrets!

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 28, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our passages today suggest how we might accomplish this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Lost, but Found

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 14, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams