Rev. Zach

“Bearing the Word” The Rev. Zachary S. Sasser Chester Presbyterian Church Memorial Day: May 28, 2006 Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year A Scripture Texts: Acts 1:15-26 John 17:6-19 Theological Thrust: To be a Christian means to bear the very presence of God and to connect with God through others. This is not something we do on our own but something God does through us. We still make choices to make, but those choices are in response to God’s action. At the end of the day God’s will works through all things, even those choices that are not in keeping with God’s will as we understand it. Sermon Text: Being a Christian I tend to think of most things in light of faith. I don’t mean to say that I so pure and pious that I do nothing but contemplate the mystery of God. Rather it’s just a natural thing to think about how a movie, an event, or a commercial reminds me of my faith and of God’s activity in my life. So far one of my favorite commercials for this type of activity are the commercia...

“Sinless” The Rev. Zachary S. Sasser Chester Presbyterian Church April 30, 2006 Easter 3B Texts: 1 John 1:8-10 1 John 3:1-7 Today’s texts are two of the truest statements in the Bible.  Taken individually they could almost be seen as a summary of the Gospel.  All of us are in need of God’s forgiveness and if we remain in our sin we can not know and experience God’s love.  Sounds simple enough, but they also seem to represent a double standard.  You have to be without sin to know and experience God, but all of us sin so we can not know God.  The simple answer to this problem is, of course, that faith in Christ cleanses us from our sins when we confess them.  But what about the sins we will commit today, tomorrow, and the next day?  Can any of us really say that we will not sin?   Can we who are human, and imperfect, and wired for self preservation really say that we are going to put the interests of other peo...