Sermons & Worship by Rev. Dr. Louise Barger (Page 6)

Scripture: Judges 4:1-5; Psalm 31:1-3; Romans 16:1-5 Recently there has been a series of commercials built around the heritage that we have from our mothers and grandmothers. The commercials end by asking, “Who are the strong women in your life?” Today we salute the mothers of our nation, and I want to add to that number the women who may not have had children of their own but who served as teachers and mentors to many children whom they guided…

Scripture: Exodus 13:1-8; Psalm 136:1-4; Luke 22:14-20 Grace Greater Than Our Sin is the hymn written by Julia H. Johnston in 1911. Listen to some of the words: Marvelous, infinite, matchless graceFreely bestowed on all who believe!You that are longing to see His faceWill you this moment His grace receive?Grace, grace, God’s graceGrace that will pardon and cleanse within;Grace, grace, God’s grace,Grace that is greater than all our sin! Every first Sunday of the month, and at other special times…

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-3; Matthew 28:1-1 Jesus had died at three o’clock in the afternoon, the exact time of the sacrifice offering for sin at the Temple. Jesus had made the last and only sacrifice necessary for the sins of people throughout the ages. No other sacrifice would ever be necessary. It would only be the responsibility of the individual to admit that they had sin in their lives, ask forgiveness, and ask Jesus to be the Lord of their life.…

Scripture: Leviticus 23:4-8; Zechariah 9:9; Psalm 31:1-5; John 12:12-19 The air was electrified with the events of recent days. If anyone was looking for a sign from Jesus, they could not have missed the miracle at Bethany. The drama had played itself out before the eyes of family and friends who had gathered to mourn the death of Lazarus. Four days had passed before Jesus arrived. All hope had been abandoned. Moved to tears because of the death of his…

Scripture: Exodus 12:21-28; Psalm 27:1-6; John 2:13-22 We are now in the fifth week of Lent. Today we will reach Jerusalem with Jesus. Today we look at how easily we can prioritize other things over our true worship of Jesus. We find ourselves sometimes identifying with the people in our biblical accounts who found Jesus to be an impediment to what they really wanted to do. Today our biblical stories focus on Jesus being the presence of God among us…

Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95:1-5; John 4:1-14 We can live without many things, including food, for a long time, but we cannot live without water. We must have fluids to hydrate our body. We have the sensation of thirst to serve as a reminder that it is time for fluids. It has always been so, and this morning was read the story of how desperate the Hebrews were for water as they were led through the desert by Moses. That…

Scripture: Nehemiah 10:34-39 Psalm 89:1-2 Matthew 6:1-4 In this third Sunday of Lent we are looking at almsgiving. In the scripture that was read from Nehemiah this morning, we find that God’s plan for caring for the needs of people was to require that each person give a tithe (10%) of their possessions to the Temple to be used by the priests. They brought not only money, but a tithe of their crops and their fruit, their grain and their…

Scripture: Nehemiah 9:16-21 Psalm 130:1-4 Matthew 6:9-15 We have now entered the second week of the Season of Lent. Lent is a time of prayer, penitence, and almsgiving. Today we shall look at penitence. Penitence is a holy sorrow and the asking for forgiveness for sin and fundamentally changing our behavior. Unfortunately, none of us is exempt from the possibility of sin. John reminds us that “if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the…