Wellshire Presbyterian Church Sermon Archive

This is the ninth sermon in the UNBELIEVABLE Blockbuster Stories from the Bible summer sermon series. Here Dr. Bell talks a bit about The Plagues of Egypt. He admits the plagues challenge him, but the story is clearly about God's desire for people to be free.

Focusing on the story of David and Goliath, the sermon explored how Davids use of five smooth stones drew on his life experience, asking how we trust our own life experience to face the giants of our day.

Gods promises are beyond our expectation and beyond all evidence. Everything God has promised is possible -- but not everything is promised.

This sermon on Noah is offered as part of the UNBELIEVABLE sermon series. In his sermon, Dr. Bell focuses on the rainbow and God's promise never again to destroy the earth with a flood, suggesting God chooses other means to redeem us.

Samson and Superman? Same or different? While there are some similarities between these two superhero-like characters, Samson was no Clark Kent. Despite his rather wild lifestyle, in his moment of greatest weakness, Samson remembered the call God had placed on his life and cried out in faith and trust to God one more time. In our human failures and in our moments of greatest weakness, we too can call on God one more time.

In this challenging sermon based on the Battle of Jericho, Dr. Bell speaks seriously about Biblical interpretation and changing attitudes towards God.

To love God and love each other is the guidepost for all of our choices. Gods love is the lens through which we are commanded to see the world and upon which to base our actions. The Ten Commandments are not finger-wagging strict rules but more like light poles or lamps that light our way and show us how to live in and create a community of justice and peace. They are the signs to others that we are the people of God. Let them know we are Christians by our love.

This is the third sermon in the UNBELIEVABLE summer sermon series. In this sermon, Dr. Bell focuses on Moses and the Burning Bush, making several divergent points about call, holy ground, and the nature of God.

On June 21, Dr. Bell spoke about the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt, suggesting that freeing and saving are Gods primary business.

This sermon on The Binding of Isaac speaks to times of testing and the struggle for faith.

The Rev. Katie Robb Davis explored the story of Daniel in the Lions' Den from the perspective Daniels groundedness in prayer. What was the source of his courage? How exactly did God deliver Daniel?

The Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence visited the Wellshire pulpit, delivering a sermon based on Acts 826-40 -- the passage in which Philip, the newly minted apostle, unexpectedly finds himself in the wilderness at the bidding of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Florence delves into how God places us in exceptional experiences right out of a parable, resulting in transformation -- finding water in the desert within ourselves.

The Rev. Katie Robb Davis preaches on our interconnectedness as vines on the branch and how we bear the fruit of love to be shared with others.

This post-Easter and Earth Day-week sermon parrots points made by Holmes Rolston and others which suggest the 'first' creation may be more implausible than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This Easter sermon focuses on Heaven, as the resurrection of Jesus provides hope for future and present bliss.

Even for the most faithful followers of Jesus, the resurrection and the events leading up to the resurrection were a mystery that was not clearly understood. Jesus, both fully human and divine, understands their and our disbelief and our failure to fully grasp the events however, as the forgiving Christ, one with God, he does not rebuke disbelief, but instead he offers us Peace. God loves us even in our disbelief and forgives our inequities.

In this sermon, Dr. Bell concludes Wellshires Lenten series on Prayer. Using the Lords Prayer as a framework, he speaks to various issues regarding prayer, notably the relationship between prayer and healing.

The Rev. Katie Robb Davis explored how the Palm Sunday crowds shouts of Hosanna! to Jesus were a word of hope for a new world. We, too, are called to show up and shout out, name injustices, and help to usher in a new kingdom.

Psalm 51 teaches us no matter where we are coming from to come to God as we are -- whether that is messy, confused, lost, or anything else -- but we are to come as we are with our hearts in whatever shape they are in and offer them. We look at this text thinking about prayer in the form of intentional listening. The word intentional is defined as deliberate, calculated, conscious, intended, planned, meant, on purpose. Therefore, we are to purposefully come to God to listen -- in any and all conditions of heart.

On March 15, Dr. Bell continued the Lenten emphasis on prayer with a sermon on Jesus prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.