Look to Jesus for the Best Help and the Only Way to Salvation
Excerpts from sermons to be delivered around Orange County this week:
THE ONLY WAY: Jesus is better than everyone in every way. . . . The spiritual help we get from Jesus is far better than anything offered by Moses, angels, prophets or Levitic priests. But when I say that Jesus is better than all, a better avenue for getting us safely to God, I am really saying that Jesus is the only way. . . . “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to Father except by Me.”
--The Rev. John McFarland, speaking at the 10 a.m. service at Christ Our King Fellowship, a new Reformed Presbyterian Church meeting in the Community Room of the Anaheim Memorial Medical Plaza, near Weir Canyon and Santa Ana Canyon roads, Anaheim Hills.
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TRUST THE UNKNOWN: “For far too long, religious organizations have confused ‘beliefs’ and ‘faith.’ Today in our postmodern, post-quantum physics, multidimensional, multi-sensory and timeless reality, many of us hunger for a new understanding of faith. Faith, however, cannot hide behind religious beliefs and doctrines that are all too often built on ancient mythology, superstition and tradition, in part because we humans are uncomfortable with unknowns. For faith is never certainty. Faith embraces mystery. Faith invites us onto the water, into the mist even into the darkness. It means learning to trust the unknown and the unknowable. It offers no proof, only a direction. For most of us that can be scary.”
--The Rev. Fred Plumer, speaking at 9 and 10:30 a.m. services Sunday at Irvine United Church of Christ, 4915 Alton Parkway.
The Message highlights excerpts from sermons to be delivered in Orange County houses of worship in the coming week. Submissions should be delivered by noon each Thursday to Orange County religion editor Jack Robinson, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Fax: (714) 966-7711. E-mail: jack.robinson@latimes.com Submissions must include name and title of the clergy member delivering the sermon, date and time of service, name and address of the church or synagogue, and a telephone number.