Rev. Zach

Sermon delivered in Presbiteriana Iglesia Sabanilla, Cuba on May 19, 2019 Revelation 21:1-6 Hello, my people! !Hola mi gente! I have missed you. Les he echado de menos. I have longed to see you. He anhelado verles. I have prayed for you, and I am thankful to God that God has brought me back to you. He orado por ustedes y agradezco a Dios que Dios me haya devuelto a ustedes. I called you, “my people,” because I recently heard a musical artist from Guatemala, and he called his audience, “my people.” Les llamé "mi gente" porque recientemente escuché a un artista musical de Guatemala y él llamó a su audiencia "mi gente". The crowd responded with cheers of joy, and he started introducing his band. One was from Honduras. Another was from Venezuela. Their music had a wonderful Latin American sound! The crowd was swaying, and I thought, “I’ve been to Guatemala, maybe I can be one of his people for a little while.” La multitud respondió con gritos de alegría, y él come...

Acts 9:36-43      Psalm 23:1-6      John 10:22-30 Which comes first, faith or action? You might think that it’s faith, but in reality, it’s not always quite so clear. Sometimes it is the experience of faith that moves us to put it into practice. Sometimes we have to see others put faith into practice before we even begin to see how it might work for us. Let me give you an example that has nothing to do with faith in God, but everything to do with belief. As a child, I believed in a creature called “the Wampus.” It was something like a cross between a raccoon, a mountain lion, and a beaver. It had a terrible disposition. I believed in this creature’s existence because they had one in a cage at a little country store not far from my grandparent’s house in North Georgia. My brother was the one to discover it. On one side of the box you could see in, and you could just make out the raccoon tail. The sign clearly warned you not to open ...

Acts 9:7-20   John 21:1-19 Some of you may remember that back on Epiphany we handed out stars with words on them. These words were intended to be a suggestion for a way to be reminded of God’s self-revelation in Jesus. They were meant to be a guiding principle for the year as we follow Jesus together. My “star word” was “devotion.” You may think that is a pretty easy one for me. To some extent, I suppose it is, but it also acts as a constant reminder that just because I wear a collar on Sundays doesn’t mean that my life has been completely given over to God. I still have to ask myself over and over the same question that Jesus asks Peter. Do I truly love God? Are my actions demonstrating that love? Is the quality of my relationships reflecting that love? These are questions that we must all ask ourselves over and over again. I would even suggest that it’s one of the reasons you are here today. Maybe you came or thought you came, to get some answers and make sense out of ...