Ada Presbyterian Church Pulpit Podcast

As Jesus enters the dog days of Holy Week, he is met with resistance.  In response, he tells the parable of the vineyard to show how shocking and offensive it is to resist the son of God.  We often speak of the benefits of receiving Jesus, and to be sure, there are many.  But we also need to realize that when we reject him, we are not taking a neutral stance, we are opposing the thrust of God's ac...

The stage is set for Holy Week.  Jesus entered Jerusalem as its king.  He is about to overthrow the tables of the moneychangers in the temple.  But on the way, he stops to curse a fig tree.  Some complain that Jesus was being petty.  Like so many things in the Bible, there's more going on beneath the surface.  Join us this week for our Lenten Series on the days of Holy Week.

Our Lenten Series kicks off today with a deep dive into the days of Holy Week.  As we get close to Easter, we start to see articles and news pieces exploring the identity of Jesus -- who is this guy who changed the world?  Today, as the crowds line the road to Jerusalem, and see Jesus ride in on a donkey, we learn he is the King Coming Home.

When you're on the run, you can sometimes feel like you've run right off the edge of the earth.  Nobody sees you; nobody knows you, or cares.  But when we run from God, we find that he is never so far away that we can't come back.  In fact he invites and empowers us to come back to him.  Join us today as we wrap up our series on Deuteronomy.

Some people describe themselves as cursed.  They have wandered very far from God, and they feel as if they're in spiritual exile with no way back.  It is true that when we follow God's law we are more likely to find blessing than not.  But it'a also true that God has provided a way out of our sin-cursed lives through the gracious work of Jesus. 

The 8th commandment tells us not to steal.  Many of us think we're pretty good at keeping that one, but when we look at Moses' expanded version of this command, we find that it also touches on issues of economic justice.  Do we promote the welfare of the poor?  Do we see them as people?  Do we care about those trafficked?  Once again, Deuteronomy strengthens the law and surprises us with its moder...

Is the Bible for women, or against women?  The modern narrative tends towards the latter answer, namely that the Bible is oppressive.  At first glance it might appear that today's passage confirms those suspicions, but when we dig a little deeper, we find that the Bible is again ahead of its time in its support of women. It does more to protect them than our current cultural "rules" surrounding se...

When we "do right by" someone, we treat them fairly, as they ought to be treated.  Today we see how the seemingly disconnected commands in Deuteronomy 21 are actually linked together by the idea of doing right by someone.  Do right by your neighbor; do right by yourself; and do right by the creation.

It seems surprising that the Bible has an entire chapter devoted to the practice of war.  But war is a human reality, and the Bible deals with the world, not as we wish it to be, but as it actually exists.  Join us today as we see God's law mitigating the worst excesses and human cruelties of war.

In the face of crime, it's easy to go all "law and order."  And the Bible does tell us, as we learned last week, that the guilty are to be brought to justice.  But today we learn that the accused and the guilty are also given a fair shake in the Bible.  They deserve a fair hearing of the facts and a punishment that fits the crime.  Join us for our ongoing study of God's law in Deuteronomy.

God's law often gets a bad rap--many view it as negative and oppressive.  But as we get into the latter part of Deuteronomy, we get a chance to take a closer look at the law, and we find that God's law is concerned with just treatment for both victims and the accused.  Join us this week as we learn why motive and intent matter when it comes to breaking the law.

In our mini-Advent series, we look at Christ, anointed to be a prophet, a priest, and a king.  Join us this week for our second sermon in this series, Christ Our Priest.  (Note: due to audio problems, the third and final sermon in this series did not get recorded.)

During Advent, we remember that Jesus Christ came to the earth.  But what did he come to do?  The Bible points to three major roles that Jesus takes on in his life:  he came to be a prophet, a priest, and a king.  Join us for this special Advent series as we examine each of these aspects of Jesus' work.

God instructs Israel to give, and there are multiple avenues to giving described in Deuteronomy.  Join us as we see the connection between happiness and giving in all the ways God calls us to give.

This Sunday we put our study of Deuteronomy on hold to focus on baptism.  God gave us the privilege of baptizing one adult and one child this weekend.  Our text is from Colossians 2.  

Israel's laws governing worship are surprisingly relevant to modern times.  As we continue our overview of Deuteronomy, we will see the many ways that worship in the old covenant era informs our worship in the new.

It's nice when people are clear in their expectations for us.  In the passage today, God is clear in telling Israel what he asks of them.  It turns out that he asks a lot, but he also provides a lot in the end.  Join us to learn more.

It's easy to get worked up by the evil and folly we see "out there" in the world.  But what about "in here," in our own hearts and actions?  Think of the passage today as the Old Testament equivalent to Jesus telling us to take the log out of our eyes before taking the spec out of someone else's. 

God often tests his people, but who is the test for?  Does God need to figure out something about us, or do we?  We often expect testing to come in times of trial, but what if there's a unique test that comes in times of abundance?  Join us for more.

When we read the Old Testament, we read of war and conquest.  We read of God's people moving into the Promised Land and removing other people from that land.  It's natural to wonder about this and to question what God is doing here.  Today's message attempts to tackle this question as we seek to understand God on his own terms. 

The most famous prayer for Christians is the Lord's Prayer.  It is something every Christian knows and prays; it binds believers together across the world.  In the Old Testament, God's people had a similar prayer--known as the Shema.  Faithful Jews everywhere still prayer this prayer:  "Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is one."  Jesus himself reaffirmed this valuable prayer in Mark 12.  Jo...

As the world grows increasingly secular, one of the roles for the church is to retain the memory of God, even as others forget God and our connection to him.  We keep the teaching about God alive among us by living it out.  In doing so, we bring light into increasingly dark places.  We learn how that was true for God's people in the Old Testament and for God's people living today.

When we reflect on our lives, sometimes it's easy to focus on times of failure.  But one of the things we learn about God in today's message is that he continues to bless us even after failure.  That's what makes Christianity so refreshing - grace is at the heart of how God relates to us.

God gives us certain gifts that come from his grace.  But it remains for us to take hold of those gifts and to make them our own.  Clearly we want to receive and make use of God's gifts, but fear can get in the way of faith, as it did for Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 2.

We all find ourselves facing critical times in life--crossroads--when we have to decide whether or not to follow the Lord. In the Bible, God speaks to his people at such a time in the Book of Deuteronomy.  Join us in a series that gives an overview of this important book.