[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for January 18 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Sermons for Epiphany 2
 
John 1:43-51 – Something Good Can Come from Nazareth
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 - Traveling Tables
 
John 1, the sermon title “Something Good Can Come from Nazareth”
 
I like the story of the young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."

In our text for this morning, Phillip comes to Nathanael and proclaims that he has found the one whom Moses wrote about. He is Jesus of Nazareth. While we do not know what expression Nathanael had on his face when he responded, I think that it is safe to say that his response revealed a cynical sneer. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Answered Phillip: "Come and see."

You see, the church has the same problem. The church is full of those sure of themselves. We may even get to the point where we believe very little that we are told. We sit back under the fig tree with the sneer of a Nathanael and we ask, "Can anything good come from , Can anything good come from our Youth Group; can anything good come from ." People come in and out the doors of this church with a critical eye. Skepticism is not a modern virtue. Doubting Thomases have been around since the dawn of time. By nature we don't want to be led. We want to lead. But, in the church, it is imperative that we have followers. In fact it is imperative for all of us to be followers.

Nathanael learned this. He was skeptical at first but he was transformed. He became a follower because Phillip invited him.

Let me ask you: What was it that Phillip saw in Christ that moved him to follow, that stirred him so to invite his friend Nathanael. Come and see what? What did Phillip see in Jesus of Nazareth? I want to attempt to answer that question this morning. Come and see what?
 
1. Come and see souls redeemed.
2. Come and see lives transformed.
3. Come and see the heavens opened.
 
The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining Sermons.com athttp://www.sermons.com/signup 
___________________________
 


1 Corinthians 6, the sermon titled “Traveling Tables”
 
On average, you and I gained six pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. That is just the “average.” Some of us gained a lot more. No wonder the past few weeks every other commercial on TV or banner-ad online is about some kind of weight loss program. We are a nation collectively cringing about our six weeks of binging  and feasting.
 
I bring you good tidings of great joy: don’t feel guilty about it. Here’s an “indulgence” for your indulging. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s we have more face to face meals with families, co-workers, community members, and even strangers, than we do at any other time of the year. We eat together. We join together. We share food and ourselves, together. We party together. We bake together. If that costs us a few extra calories, it is not a bad thing. As J. R. R. Tolkien put it in The Hobbit, "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
 
One of the newest words in this year’s new lexicon is “al-desko.” That is the term used for describing a busy office worker who is forced to eat their lunch and/or dinner at their desk. When we cannot find the time to break away and have a meal with family or friends, we dine “al-desko.” Dining “al-desko” is by far a worse problem than any holiday weight gain. The fact that dining “al-desko” is now an actual definition, reveals a new epidemic, one even worse than the flu.
 
In this week’s Corinthians’ text we also cringe and shy away from Paul’s message because to our ears it sounds like a long lecture on moralism. Paul starts out talking about food rules. Then he shifts over to issues of sexual morality. Here are two things we surely do not want to hear about. But really what Paul is emphasizing to the Corinthians, and to every future generation of Christians, is that what we do with our physical body matters. Matter matters…
 
The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining Sermons.com athttp://www.sermons.com/signup 
 
_____________________________
 
A Weapon of Love

Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrate this week, spoke with some frequency during his years of ministry of putting on the “weapon of love.” Responding to those who resisted the emerging civil rights movement, King asserted, “We will counter your force with soul force, we will match your ability to hate with our ability to love.” And King reminded us that at the heart of Jesus’ life and message is the call to be peacemakers and reconcilers. Violence, said King again and again, “never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problems; it merely creates new and more complicated ones.”

We live in a world thirsty for this gospel of peace. With Martin Luther King, and with Jesus before him, we need to announce with integrity, “The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. It is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than on love. It destroys community…Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”
 
Joel D. Kline, Come and See
___________________________
 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20150116/0d208331/attachment.htm>