[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for November 27

Wed Nov 23 12:02:08 EST 2011

Begin forwarded message:

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> Resources for Advent 1 
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> Mark 13:24-37 - "Getting Ready"
> Mark 13:24-37 - "The Four Sacred Chords of Home"

> Mark 13 the sermon title "Getting Ready"] 
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> It is hard for us to understand Jesus' delay in his coming. God's time clock is certainly out of sync with ours as Little Jimmy learned one day as he was laying on a hill in the middle of a meadow on a warm spring day. Puffy white clouds rolled by and he pondered their shape. Soon, he began to think about God.
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> "God? Are you really there?" Jimmy said out loud.
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> To his astonishment a voice came from the clouds. "Yes, Jimmy? What can I do for you?"
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> Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy asked, "God? What is a million years like to you?"
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> Knowing that Jimmy could not understand the concept of infinity, God responded in a manner to which Jimmy could relate. "A million years to me, Jimmy, is like a minute."
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> "Oh," said Jimmy. "Well, then, what's a million dollars like to you?" "A million dollars to me, Jimmy, is like a penny."
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> "Wow!" remarked Jimmy, getting an idea. "You're so generous... can I have one of your pennies?"
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> God replied, "Sure thing, Jimmy! Just a minute."
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> Little Jimmy wasn't ready for that response was he? Our text this morning seems an unlikely scripture for Advent. It has nothing to do with Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, of shepherds watching their flock. Instead it is story about a wealthy landowner going on a trip. The servants left behind were given charge of the estate and when the master returned he would check on their stewardship. It is a story about being prepared, getting ready. In that sense then this is an Advent story, for this is the season of preparedness. Consider with me a moment that...
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> 1. God Identifies with the Human Situation.
> 2. Advent Is Time to Get Ready for the Return of Christ.
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> The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining http://www.sermons.com/signup
>   
> Click here: http://www.sermons.com/signup or call 1-800-777-7731 to join.
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> _______________________
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> The full text of the following sermon is available at www.Sermons.com.
> Sign up today at: http://www.sermons.com/signup Or call: 1-800-777-7731.
>  
> [Members: Mark 13 the sermon titled "The Four Sacred Chords of Home" by Leonard Sweet]
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> Salmon do it. Hummingbirds do it. Butterflies do it. Turtles do it. All these creatures, and many more: they all . . . go home again.
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> Salmon find their way from the vast ocean back to whatever tiny tributary in which they were hatched. Hummingbirds fly over 6000 miles to find their nesting sites. Butterflies congregate in the same trees, generation after generation. Migrating turtles closed down whole runways this past summer (2011) at JFK Airport as they made their way back to home ground.
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> The instinct to “go home” is world-wide, widespread in creation and often times unstoppable. 
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> Forget the stockpile of stuff you gathered during last weekend’s “Black Friday” madness. Remember as you thought about this Christmas that twinge of home-sickness? There is in each of us a “homing instinct” that Christmas draws out of us. Why?
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> There is, for each of us, a “homey place” where some part of our soul and psyche long to return, year after year. Why else is Barbara Streisand right now singing in your head “I’ll be home for Christmas?” By the way, that song is one of the most recorded Christmas songs, not to mention a favorite “Hallmark Specials” theme songs.
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> We all get a bit homesick at Christmas time — even if we are “home.” We get homesick for our childhood homes. We get homesick for our own homes filled with our children. We get homesick for homes we never had. We get homesick for the homes we left behind.
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> Did you hear about the teary kindergartner on the first day of school: “You aren’t homesick already, are you?” the teacher asked. “No, I’m here sick.”
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> Who first said “home is where the heart is?” Home is not just where the heart is. Home is our main hope of having a heart to begin with.
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> But is it really the “heart,” our true and pure emotional yearnings, that drives our homing-instinct? If an emotional fix was all we needed, then a few smarmy Christmas specials should suffice. But what if “home” is where our soul soars and our spirit is fulfilled? What if “home” has as much to do with our Heavenly Father and the future that awaits us as it does with our earthly family and relationships? What if our “homesickness” is as much about our eternal home as our earthly home?
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> What if instead of finding our fulfillment in establishing a home, a family, a career, a reputation, a community standing, a professional expertise, a Klout score of over 50 -- what if what we need to be truly “at home” is something different? What if “coming home” is the indwelling and ingathering of the presence of God? What if “coming home” is to be gift-wrapped in the God of love?
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> In this week’s gospel text Jesus assures his disciples that after the hard times comes a holiday, that there will be a “welcome home” party. The triumphant return in “great power and glory” of the Son of Man ushers in a new era, ushers in the fullness of the kingdom of God…
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> For the rest of this sermon by Leonard Sweet click here:  http://www.sermons.com/signup or call 1-800-777-7731 to join.
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> ____________________________
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> Funny Things Are Everywhere
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> There’s an interesting quote - from an unexpected source - that applies to this First Day of Advent, from a book you may have read to your children or grandchildren, or that you may remember from your own childhood. The book is by Dr. Seuss, and is entitled ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.’ The quote to consider today is brief:
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> From there to here,
> from here to there,
> funny things
> are everywhere.
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> Funny things are everywhere! And there are two things funny about this First Sunday of Advent, the start of a new church year. The first of them is that, here at the start of a new year, we don’t look back to the beginning, but we look forward to the end. Here on the first day of the new church year, we do not focus on the past, but we anticipate the future where Christ promises to meet us.
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> The second funny thing about today is related to the first. When we look forward to the end, when we anticipate the future, we do not treat this conclusion as some distant, far-off event. It is near at hand. It may be as close as the next second. So imminent is it, in fact, that the future comes and takes up residence in the present. The Christ who will arrive with power and great glory at the end of time comes to us also before the end of time.
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> Charles Hoffacker, Christ Winks at Us
> __________________________
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> Where Is Authority?
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> The British writer Arnold Lunn tells about one time he was on a boat trip when a certain lady was plaguing him with theological questions. He answered her with quotes from the Bible and from the teaching of the Church but the woman would not accept what he said. Then he interrupted her to say, "you must be a very inexperienced boat traveler. As you got on the boat I noticed that you put your left foot on board first. Everyone knows that you will have bad luck if you step on a boat with your left foot first!" The next time she came on board he noticed that she nearly tripped into the water in her effort to step aboard right foot first.
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> Lunn thought it remarkable that she would believe the infallible Lunn in something that he had just made up, and that she would not accept the authority of the Church or the words of Scripture. So, too, we tend to complicate our lives and our prayer by looking for the extraordinary, when the Lord is to be found most often in the simple and in the ordinary.
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> Father Gerry Pierse, The End of the World....Again?
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> Watchfulness
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> In Frankfort, Kentucky (United States) it is said that the city was enthralled in a big debate many years ago about placing a water fountain in a public square. The argument became heated in the legislature and at the governor's mansion. Finally, a decision was made to ask three contractors to bid on the project.
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> The first contractor was from Western Kentucky. When asked what his bid was he replied, "$3,000." Then he was asked to break it down, to which he replied, "$1,000 for labor, $1,000 for materials, and $1,000 for me." The next contractor was from Eastern Kentucky. When asked to give his bid and to break it down he said, "$6,000. $2,000 for labor, $2,000 for materials, and $2,000 for me."
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> The last contractor was an established contractor from Frankfort who usually got all of the bids for the capital. When asked to give his bid, he replied, "$9,000." Then they asked him to break it down. He closed the doors, looked around cautiously, and then said, "$3,000 for YOU, $3,000 for me, and we give the bid to the guy from Western Kentucky!"
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> Now, they had bigger problems in Frankfort than deciding on a water fountain. But so often we can get sidetracked by things that seem important. Much like the disciples being more concerned with the temple being destroyed and the world coming to an end than they were with the things that matter most in life: character, integrity, compassion, and preparedness for Christ's return. This is what Jesus means when he tells his Disciples to watch!
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> Tim Carpenter, Sermon Illustrations
> ____________________
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> Where Are You Going?
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> There is an amusing Hasidic story about a rabbi who crossed a village square every morning on his way to the temple to pray. One morning, a large Russian Cossack soldier, who happened to be in a vile mood, accosted him, saying, “Hey, rabbi, where are you going?”
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> The rabbi simply said, “I don’t know.”
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> This infuriated the soldier. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Every morning for twenty-five years you have crossed the village square and gone to the temple to pray. Don’t fool with me. Why are you telling me you don’t know?” He grabbed the old rabbi by the coat and dragged him off to jail. 
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> Just as the Cossack was about to push him into the cell, the rabbi turned to him, and softly said, “You see, I didn’t know.” 
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> Someone asks, when will Christ return when will history come to a climax and a new world order, an order straight from God, be introduced? The answer is, we don’t know. The early church thought it would be in their lifetime. It’s been 2,000 years. “Why does the Lord tarry?” many ask. We don’t know. We should not be surprised at that. There is much in life that God has not revealed to us. We don’t even know what tomorrow might bring. 
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> King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com 
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> Living in Hope
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> The Christian lives in the Hope. We look to tomorrow with confidence, even absurd confidence. As the White Queen told Alice, "Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." There is an exuberance in the Christian Life, an exaltation which passes logic. Why? Because we belong to Christ. Listen to Leo Tolstoy:
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> I believe in God, who is for me spirit, love, the principle of all things.
> I believe that God is in me, as I am in Him.
> I believe that the true welfare of man consists in fulfilling the will of God.
> I believe that from the fulfillment of the will of God there can follow nothing but that which is good for me and for all men.
> I believe that the will of God is that every man should love his fellow men, and should act toward others as he desires that they should act toward him.
> I believe that the reason of life is for each of us simply to grow in love.
> I believe that this growth in love will contribute more than any other force to establish the Kingdom of God on earth 
> To replace a social life in which division, falsehood and violence are all-powerful, with a new order in which humanity, truth and brotherhood will reign.
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> Warren T. Smith, Journey in Faith
> _____________________________________
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> Jesus Is Coming!
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> One of my dearest friends applied for a position that required him to instruct and inspire younger people. His interviewer and evaluator asked him, "Tell me about your walk with Jesus." My friend replied, "You know, everywhere I go, no matter where or when, I find that Jesus has arrived there first. Wherever I go, Jesus is already there." The evaluator made no reply; he had no idea what to say, and my friend was never offered the job. Was his response too theologically subtle? Jesus is not the Lord whom we discover or define or claim. Jesus comes to us. We do not summon Him by any action of our own. Jesus is God's gift. While we were yet sinners, he was born, died, and raised again for us that we might inherit new life. 
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> Advent announces that Jesus is coming and not through any action of our own. We do not deserve it. Advent happens. Advent means that Jesus comes again and for all time, at Christmas, this Christmas.
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> Edward S. Gleason, In the Time of This Mortal Life
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