Sermon Series
Week 3
Lakes and Streams: 1 2 Kings 5:1-14
Preaching Commentary
For purposes of practicality and relatability, this series considers the Sea of Galilee to be a lake and classifies other fresh or mostly fresh water locations together under the same banner. The point is to relate our present-day affinity for lakes, rivers, streams, etc.…
Sermon Resources
Key Quotes
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Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.
Sermon 19 on the New Testament
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The doctrines of grace humble a man without degrading him and exalt him without inflating him.
Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers: A Cyclopædia of Quotations from the Literature of All Ages, Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, ed. (W.B. Ketcham, 1895).
Key Illustration
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The Construction of Utopias
One of the seductions that continues to bedevil Christian obedience is the construction of utopias, whether in fact or fantasy, ideal places where we can live the good and blessed and righteous life without inhibition or interference. The imagining and attempted construction of utopias is an old habit of our kind. Sometimes we attempt it politically in communities, sometimes socially in communes, sometimes religiously in churches. It never comes to anything but grief. Meanwhile that place we actually are is dismissed or demeaned as inadequate for serious living to the glory of God. But utopia is literally “no-place.” We can only live our lives in actual place, not imagined or fantasized or artificially fashioned places.
A favorite story of mine, one that has held me fast to my place several times, is of Gregory of Nyssa who lived in Cappadocia (a region in modern Turkey) in the fourth century. His older brother, a bishop, arranged for him to be appointed bishop of the small and obscure and unimportant town of Nyssa (a.d. 371) Gregory objected; he didn’t want to be stuck in such an out-of-the-way place. But his brother told him that he didn’t want Gregory to obtain distinction from his church but rather to confer distinction upon it. Gregory went to where he was placed and stayed there. His lifetime of work in that place, a backwater community, continues to be a major invigorating influence in the Christian church worldwide.
Liturgical Resources
Call to Worship
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The voice of the Lord is over the waters
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
the heavens were torn open and the Spirit descended
And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
Adapted for liturgy from Psalm 29, Mark 1:11, Isaiah 43:1.
Bible Translation: ESV English Standard Version Crossway PublishingScripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
Prayer of Confession
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Merciful God, we humble ourselves in your presence, confessing our unworthiness and our sinfulness in your sight. We have broken your holy law. We have not sought first your kingdom and righteousness. We have been anxious and troubled about many things, and have neglected the things that belong to our peace. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves, or done to others as we would that they should do to us.
Most Gracious God, our heavenly Father, who hast given your Son, Jesus Christ, to save your people from their sins; forgive us, we pray; cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and renew a right spirit within us; through the grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen.
The Book of Common Order, Language Modernized by Stuart Strachan Jr.
Assurance of Pardon
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Leader: The good news in Christ is that when we face ourselves and God with the awareness of our need, we are given grace to grow, and courage to continue the journey.
Friends, believe the good news of the gospel.People: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
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Benediction
- Psalm 34:19-22View
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. He protects all of their bones. Not one of them is broken. Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.
Go now in this assurance in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Adapted for liturgical use.
Bible Translation: WEB World English Bible eBible.orgScripture quotations marked (WEB) are from the World English Bible. The World English Bible is in the public domain.
