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Sermon Illustrations for Epiphany 4 (2018)

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Epiphany 4 | Ordinary Time 4 - B
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28
Ron Love
Frank Ramirez
Bill Thomas
Bonnie Bates
Mark Ellingsen
Bob Ove
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
God calls forward prophets. In Deuteronomy the prophets are Moses and Joshua, but today God is still calling forth prophets. Who are the prophets in our midst, those empowered by God to preach and proclaim the message of God? These prophets may come from unlikely places: women marching for freedom and equal rights; the Black Lives Matter movement; the peace movement; those spending their lives nurturing the lives of those living on the streets; those seeking veterans benefits or rights for the poor and infirm, the elderly and disenfranchised.
UPCOMING WEEKS
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Epiphany 7 (OT 7)
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4 – Pastor's Devotions
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Transfiguration Sunday
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180+ – Illustrations / Stories
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29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
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New & Featured This Week

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John Jamison
Object: Two small containers or boxes and several pieces of paper. I used two shoe boxes with lids and about fifty pieces of used printer paper. Label one box “Judge” and the other box “Not Judge.”

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The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
For February 23, 2025:

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. (v. 4)

Spoiler alert!

Those two words warn us not to read, listen, or watch any further. Something crucial about a book, show, film, or fact is about to be revealed, and we’re being told if we want to be surprised when we finally get around to reading or watching we’d better stop listening right now.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Frank Ramirez
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Bonnie Bates
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Christal Berns wrote, in a May 23, 2023, article for Christian Learning, about Jacksonville, FL police officer Ike Brown. On May 27, 2002, Brown received heartbreaking news from his colleagues. His sergeant, lieutenant, chief, and chaplain came to his home and told him his son had lost his life in a shooting incident.
Wayne Brouwer
We all believe in justice; we all cry out to have our rights protected. Yet the power of revenge eventually takes us beyond where any of us truly want to go, for two reasons.

First of all, because of sin, we tend to be more zealous in our vindictiveness than we are in our love. I am much quicker to strike out at someone else and seek revenge against him for what he’s done to me, than I am to be that righteous myself.

SermonStudio

Carlos Wilton
Some years back, there was a best-selling book that got a lot of attention in the church, one written by a rabbi, Harold Kushner. The book was called When Bad Things Happen to Good People (HarperCollins, 1982). It is an honest attempt to grapple with the problem of evil. Why is it, Rabbi Kushner wants to know, that good and faithful people sometimes have to suffer?

John T. Ball
The honored dead from our fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a problem for Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. So many have rightly claimed burial in Arlington National Cemetery that the cemetery is running out of space. Rightful burials may soon have to be denied because there is no place for them.

Mary S. Lautensleger
Sibling rivalry. It's the pits. It has been around as long as there have been siblings around. Beginning with Cain and Abel, we see one brother disgruntled because God likes the other brother's sacrificial offering better. We remember, too, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, the prodigal son and his older brother. Life is not fair.
James T. Garrett
When a person enters into any society or any fellowship, he takes upon himself the obligations to live a certain way, by certain standards. If the person fails to live the kind of life necessary, he hinders the purpose of the society.

Once we make the claim that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true then a claim is put on our lives. In today's Scripture lesson, Jesus sets down behavior patterns for kingdom people.

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