Understanding the Jesus of the Gospels
Sermons from the Gospels
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Tag: faith
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Offered to the congregation at Mine Hill Presbyterian Church on World Communion Sunday October 5, 2025 John 17: 20-24 / 1 Corinthians 12 [selected verses] World Communion Sunday is meant to be a special day in the life of our denomination and for Christians around the world. It is meant to symbolize a gathering together…
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Luke 16: 19-31 Offered by Elder Mel Prestamo PCUSA to the congregation of the Wharton United Community Congregation Today’s lectionary begins with another of Jesus’ many parables which in one way or another deal with affluence and wealth. This series of parables begins in Luke 12 with a person calling out to Jesus from the…
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Luke 16: 1-13 Offered to the Rockport Presbyterian Church on Sunday, September 21, 2025 by Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA This parable in Luke is a difficult one to understand – especially if we run Luke’s text all together as the lectionary does. If we look at this reading today as one single unit it is…
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Gospel Lesson: John: 14-1-14 Offered to the Highlands Presbyterian Church on November 7, 2021 by Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA This morning is Reformation Sunday and perhaps a preacher with a stronger background in the Reformation and Martin Luther would be speaking to you today about the great history and theological meaning of the Reformation. Or…
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Luke 14: 25-33 / Offered to the Rockport PC, Port Murray, NJ Well, there you have it. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, you have to hate your father and your mother, and your spouse and children, and your brothers and sisters, and even your life itself. You have to measure the…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
