[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for June 17 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

June 17, 2012



        
        
    
        
                

    
    
        
        
        
            

        
        
        


Mark 4:26-34 - "The Kingdom and the Seed"
Mark 4:26-34 - "Celebrate the Small Stuff" by Leonard Sweet
 
Mark 4 the sermon title "The Kingdom and the Seed"  
 
Most of us have planted a garden or lived on or near a farm. In my case, I grew up in Chicago where they have to put cows in zoos because so many city people are shielded from agricultural life and would never otherwise get to see one. But for eleven years I served as the pastor of a church in the agriculturally-oriented community of Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is located in Scott County which is Mississippi River land. It is reported to be some of the richest soil in the world. I learned a lot about farming while living there. I learned about soil and seeds. I learned about the need for cooperation and balance between the various parts of nature - the sun, the soil, and the rain. Having returned recently from a trip to Iowa, I was very mindful of the soil
 
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Members: Mark 4 the sermon titled "Celebrate the Small Stuff" by Leonard Sweet 
 
Every book on change says the same thing. Change has changed. Change is no longer incremental. Change is exponential. 
 
Here is what no one will tell you: change is not just incremental, or exponential. Change is infinitesimal. 
 
So you gained a pound or two this year. It happens. Then it happens again next year. And the next year. Suddenly a decade has passed and you realize that "a pound or two" has compounded into two sacks of flour sitting on your hips! Infinitesimal change has caught up with you. 
 
In the early 1950s farmer Clarence Mauerhan was known as the "Chili Pepper King" of Orange County ("Anaheim peppers," anyone?). A mysterious buyer was paying top dollar for all the farms in the area, but farmer Mauerhan would have none of it. He was the lone holdout against payments for land that no one had dreamed were possible...
 
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A Riddle
 
About ten years ago, the youth director on our staff told me a riddle, and then he left town on a week-long camping trip without telling me the answer. He told me the riddle, and then he said "Oh yeah, only 17% of Stanford graduates figured out this riddle, but 80% of kindergarteners knew the answer." And then he left! I could have strangled him! But here' the riddle:

"What is stronger than God, 
more evil than the devil, 
poor people have it, 
rich people don't need it, 
and if you eat it, you'll die?" 
(Repeat)

The answer is: "Nothing." I knew I should have gone to Stanford!

Literally, the word parable means "a riddle." They are stories that leave the listener with the responsibility of figuring out just what they mean. Jesus told more than 40 parables during his ministry, and he only explained one of them to his disciples, so that left the disciples with a lot of figuring out to do. And then Jesus took the answers with him when he ascended into heaven. So here we are, some 2000 years later, still pondering what Jesus must have meant when he told the story of The Wedding Feast, or The Dishonest Steward, or The Good Samaritan.

Steven Molin, Yup, Them Are Mustard Seeds
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