Isaiah 2:1-5 & Matthew 24:36-44

Sunday, November 30, 2025

Beverly Dempsey preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• Seamus Heaney, The Cure at Troy (1991)

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Wisdom (Part 11)

Job 38 & Job 42:1-6

Sunday, November 23, 2025

The Book of Job ends with a bracing monologue from God, who berates Job from a whirlwind, followed by Job's humble submission. Job was sure that if he could get an audience with God, his case would be vindicated. In the end, God says nothing that might help Job better understand his suffering. What does this tell us about our own suffering? What does this tell us about God?

Bryant Anderson preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job (1992)

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Wisdom (Part 10)

Job 1:1, 6-22; 3:1-4, 20-26

Sunday, November 16, 2025

The Book of Job is a fable of an innocent sufferer—but it is unlike any other fable you've ever read. It is a poetic masterpiece that wrestles with the deepest conundrums of human experience, giving voice not only to the great pain of suffering, but also to the outrageous yet undeniable reality that suffering so often befalls the undeserving. Job leads us into a head-on collision with these issues, but always in conversation with a God who is never far away.

Bryant Anderson preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• Byung-Chul Han, The Spirit of Hope (2024)
• Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss (2013)

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Wisdom (Part 9)

Luke 10:25-37; Proverbs 1:1-7; Ecclesiastes 12:13

Sunday, November 9, 2025

Pastor Emeritus Tom Walker preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• Philip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed (1994)

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Wisdom (Part 8)

Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

Sunday, November 2, 2025

The Book of Ecclesiastes cannot be understood in its fullness without an honest appraisal of death, which looms large in the mind of Qohelet, its author. But the same could be said of life: Life cannot be understood in its fullness without an honest appraisal of death. What does it mean to live well in light of the fact that we will die?

Bryant Anderson preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• L.S. Dugdale, The Lost Art of Dying (2020)
• Bobby Jamieson, Everything Is Never Enough (2025)
• Byung-Chul Han, Saving Beauty (2017)

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Wisdom (Part 7)

Luke 7:11-17

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Beverly Dempsey preaching.

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Romans 12:1-13

Sunday, October 19, 2025

Guest Dr. Mark Douglas preaching.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

About Dr. Mark Douglas

Mark Douglas is an ordained PCUSA minister and the J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary, where he directs the Center for Theology and Contested Publics and is lead professor for the Master of Theology degree. His most recent books include Christian Pacifism for an Environmental Age (Cambridge UP, 2019) and Modernity, the Environment, and the Christian Just War Tradition (Cambridge UP, 2023).

Wisdom (Part 6)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Sunday, October 12, 2025

The Book of Ecclesiastes points to a poignant contradiction that exists in every human heart: we have a longing for eternal, abiding things, but the world we inhabit just can't satisfy that longing. It is only by recognizing the limits of our existence in this world that we can find fulfillment.

Bryant Anderson preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• Bobby Jamieson, Everything Is Never Enough (2025)
• Byung-Chul Han, The Scent of Time (2017)

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Wisdom (Part 5)

Ecclesiastes 1:2-9 & 9:7-12

Sunday, October 5, 2025

The Book of Ecclesiastes has a very different take on traditional wisdom—rather than extolling wisdom's virtues, it candidly explores its limits. The author of this unique text tries to zero in on what really gives life meaning in the midst of all of life's uncertainties, and determines that it ultimately all revolves around joy.

Bryant Anderson preaching.

Referenced in this sermon:

• "Taylor Swift's Fairy Tale Is Over" by Spencer Kornhaber

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.

Wisdom (Part 4)

Matthew 13:18-23

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Beverly Dempsey preaching.

Current Series: Wisdom

Some of the most intriguing texts in the Bible are those belonging to the genre known as Wisdom Literature. These books explore some of life's deepest, most pressing, and most unanswerable questions—questions of meaning, happiness, fulfillment, and suffering. While the world has changed immeasurably since these texts were written, the concerns they voice and the challenges they pose are just as relevant today as they were then. The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job have much to teach us—even today—about what it means to live well in a complex world.

Palms Presbyterian Church is a church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. To learn more about us, visit us at palmschurch.org.