Understanding the Jesus of the Gospels
Sermons from the Gospels
1-corinthians-12 all-saints-day bible chalenge christianity commentary-on-luke-12-13-21 communion cost-of-salvation diversity Easter faith fear god gospel-of-luke gratitude healing holy-spirit jairus jesus john-17 John 20 Lazarus lords-supper love-in-the-darkest-hour luke-16-13 luke-17-11-19 luke-18 luke-24 mark-5 matthew-6 my-fathers-house pentecost prayer resurrection say-thank-you talents temptation the-dishonest-steward the-rich-fool the Empty Tomb to-whom-do-you-belong unity witness witnessing world-communion-sunday
Category: Uncategorized
-
John 6: 24-35 I had spent my working career as a salesman. Dirty word, I know. But I was one of the good guys. As a salesman, the question, “What have you done for me lately?” was the reality check that sales managers would use to bring a successful salesperson back down to earth. You…
-
Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA Luke 24 What we do here at this table is an extraordinary thing. Granted the elements that we begin with are quite ordinary – common bread, grape juice or wine, ordinary plates & cups, a cloth and a wooden table. Ordinary things – “signs” Augustine would have called them. In ancient…
-
Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA Luke 12: 32-34, Offered to the Berkshire Valley Presbyterian Church, August 10, 2025 Jesus’ comments at the beginning of today’s good news story from Luke start with the words, “Do not be afraid…for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” That is the starting point isn’t it,…
-
Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA Offered on the Second Sunday after Pentecost 2010 I did something unusual [this morning] with the readings. If you noticed I placed the Gospel text first before the Psalm followed by the readings from Acts and the Revelation of John. I did that for a specific reason. It is that when…
-
Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA Presented during Easter Season in 1995 Last week we listened to a reading from the gospel of Luke. It retold the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. And if you listened closely, you know that Jesus stopped before ascending and turned to his disciples. He blessed them and as he began…
-
Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA Taken from Luke 12: 13-21, offered on August 3, 2025, at Hilltop Presbytery Church, Mendham, NJ The Story of the Greedy Farmer [I am providing the text from the Message – of particular interest is the transcription of verse 21] 13 Someone out of the crowd said, “Teacher, order my brother to…
-
Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA This message was delivered at a Vesper’s service back in 2014. My reference and commentary resources were from William Barclay’s writings on the Gospel of Mark. This is quite a turnaround, isn’t it? Just two weeks ago, we were celebrating Jesus’ victory over death and God’s great gifts of mercy and…
-
Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA First, let me begin by admitting that a lot of this message below comes from out of my studies of the commentaries of William Barclay on the Gospels and the in specific here of the Lord’s Prayer. So, if I spark interest on your part to discover more, I recommend Barclay’s…
-
Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20 Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA In this passage in Luke this morning, we see Jesus considering the task he has at hand. Jesus is looking ahead at the many opportunities and possibilities that lie before him in his ministry. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” At the same time,…
-
Luke 8: 26-39 Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA This passage in Luke’s Gospel this morning is a difficult one to preach on. To phrase it succinctly, there are two issues that we modern day readers come up against here that make it difficult to see the forest for a couple of trees that get in our…
