Tag Archives: Desire

Sermons and Preaching

Envy

Read James 3:13 – 4:6 to start.

Before I get to my topic for this morning, or rather as a lead up to it, I want to talk about stupid internet memes. Specifically, I want to talk about Tide Pods, and the eating of them. I wanted to bring one along this morning as a visual aid, but we don’t actually use them at home, and I was hardly going to go and buy a box of them to use as a prop. In short, Tide Pods, or for that matter other brands of laundry pods, have become popular over the last several years because they are really easy to use, no measuring required, just biff one of those puppies into your washing machine and away you go. The fact that they look like candy probably hasn’t hurt sales either. Of course, the fact that they look like candy is also a big problem, because when something looks like candy there is a temptation to eat it. About a year ago there was a trend of people posting videos of themselves doing the so-called Tide Pod Challenge, which involved a biting down on a laundry Pod and recording the results.

Continue reading Envy →
Sermons and Preaching

The Tenth Commandment

Read selections from 1 Kings chapter 21 to start.

Who here can recite the ten commandments? Probably most of us are pretty familiar with those. We’re going to look at one of those this morning. It’s not one of the really high profile commandments, not one that gets a lot of attention, such as “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” or ‘Thou shalt not kill.” We can see several of the commandments being violated in the passage we just read, such as bearing of false witness, and stealing, and obviously thou shalt not kill went right out the window. Those are obviously good and important commandments to follow. But those are not the ones I want to look at today. Frankly, we all know that it’s wrong to kill, that shouldn’t need any explaining. We all know it’s wrong to lie, and it’s wrong to take what belongs to others, and hopefully as adults we all understand this, although we might need reminders from time to time, and if you have children you probably need to remind them of those things on a more regular basis. But we know those commandments, and we understand what they are about.

No, the commandment I want to look at today is the 10th and final commandment – thou shalt not covet. Continue reading The Tenth Commandment →

Sermons and Preaching

The Problem of Anger

Read Psalm 37:1-9 1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. 7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

Sometimes I choose a sermon topic a week or so before speaking. This time, I had my subject picked out a while ago, pretty much from the last time I spoke, as it was a topic that’s been on my bulletin board as a possible sermon topic for a while now. So having decided, I looked up a number of scripture verses to act as possible starting points, which is always a good place to start when you are preparing a sermon. Wouldn’t you know it, more than one of the passages I chose has been spoken on, or at the very least referenced, from this platform, since I came up with my list. As recently as last Sunday one of the key verses I had found was featured in the Sunday sermon.

Continue reading The Problem of Anger →