Sermons from Pleasantville Presbyterian Church

"No matter how broken we feel, Jesus is here beside us, carrying the load, letting us rest awhile." -Pastor Debbie "‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’" --Matthew 11:28-30 (Originally Preached on Saturday, March 29, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

This week, after the state of New York calls for a quarantine, Pastor Debbie asks us to find a time to reset, and refocus our life. "By the rivers of Babylon—    there we sat down and there we wept    when we remembered Zion.  On the willows there    we hung up our harps.  For there our captors    asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,    ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’  How could we sing the Lord’s song    in a foreign land?" --Psalm 137:1-4 (Originally Preached on Saturday, March 22, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

"The truth is, we are always a little thirsty, in need of refreshment that comes at the feet of our Lord. And sometimes, we are thirsty enough to ask someone else to pull over." "Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’" --John 4: 13-14 (Originally Preached on Saturday, March 15, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie asks us to remember that we are called to join God in the act of creation--after all, we have been blessed so that we may be a blessing to the world. "Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’" --Genesis 12:1-3 (Originally Preached on Sunday, March 8, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie asks us to remember that during this season of Lent, we are called to set aside any idols or temptations we face and to re-center our lives on Christ. "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ... Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’" --Matthew 4:1, 10 (Originally Preached on Sunday, March 1, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastoral Associate Justin Hylden asks us to remember that God is continually revealing Godself to us anew, because God wants us to love us wholly, no pale imitation will do. "Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white." --Matthew 17:1-2 (Originally Preached on Sunday, February 23, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie asks us to remember that despite our differences, despite where we came from, we are more together than we can be apart. "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." --1 Corinthians 3:5-7 (Originally Preached on Sunday, February 16, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie challenges us to think about "the fast we choose" that will help us live, again, as generous, caring, people of God. "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? " --Isaiah 58:6 (Originally Preached on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Eileen Walton reminds us that it doesn't matter what the world requires of us, freedom comes from faith in Jesus. "Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a den of robbers.’" --Matthew 21:12-13 (Originally Preached on Sunday, February 2, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Associate Justin Hylden reminds us that oftentimes the work of the Gospel is best accomplished not inspite of life's difficulties but in the midst of them. "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people." --Matthew 4:23 (Originally Preached on Sunday, January 26, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie asks us to ponder what it is we are looking for, and what Christ will invite us to come and see. "‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed)." --John 1:42b (Originally Preached on Sunday, January 19, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie reminds us that the "good news" of the Gospel applies to everyone; all will receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ--and ALL means ALL. "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’" --Acts 10:43 (Originally Preached on Sunday, January 12, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pleasantville Presbyterian Church Associate Katelyn Westerveldt shares God's "epiphany" in her life, and challenges us to enter the new year seeking a new epiphany of God in our own. "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." --John 1:16-17 (Originally Preached on Sunday, January 5, 2020 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie Bronkema tells us what it really means to "keep Christ in Christmas" and encourages us to invite Christ to be Emmanuel, with us, this season and every season. "‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant." --Luke 1:46-48 (Originally Preached on Sunday, December 22, 2019 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastor Debbie asks us to keep awake for the coming of the Christ! As with all things in life, we only find that which we are open to receive. "But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." --Matthew 24:43-44 (Originally Preached on Sunday, December 1, 2019 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)

In this sermon, Pastoral Associate Justin Hylden reminds us that God wants to meet us in the very places we have resigned ourselves to the stuck categories and deeply engrained routines--if we only are willing to look to God. "By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." --Luke 1:78-79 (Originally Preached on Sunday, November 24, 2019 at Pleasantville Presbyterian Church)