Second City Sermons
by Second City Church
Welcome! Here you will find the weekly sermons of Second City Church in Harrisburg, PA. We hope these sermons will help you worship God and celebrate the good news of Jesus.
Podcast episodes
Season 4
Little Light and Surprising Seeds
Growth in the Kingdom of God is a mystery. It seems at once both so entirely connected to us and what we do with what we have heard and at the same time utterly the work of God. Sometimes it seems as though we see it and sometimes it is elusive for years and years. Even so, the Kingdom is like a little mustard seed. Small, seemingly insignificant and Jesus tells us that it will grow beyond our wildest dreams!
Seed and Soil
The Parable of the Sower illustrates how different people respond to God's word through the metaphor of seeds falling on various types of soil. From the path where birds quickly devour the seed, to rocky ground where growth is shallow, to thorny areas where worldly concerns choke out growth, and finally to good soil where abundant fruit is produced. This foundational teaching reveals both the transformative power of God's word and the crucial importance of how we receive it. Understanding our own spiritual receptivity and actively cultivating good soil in our hearts is essential for genuine spiritual growth.
Who are My Mother and My Brothers?
One of the Gospel of Mark's great themes is discpleship and suffering. What Mark often does is ask us if we are willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus, the one who came not to be served but to serve. Here, in chapter 3, Jesus appoints the 12 disciples, reconstituting Israel around himself. In doing so he is making a polical, social, economic, relational statement, claim - a claim that touches on all of one's life! - that he is Lord of all. So, we don't just come to him for what he can give us, but becuas he is Lord. Mark then gives us various responses: He's crazy, he's demonic, people are hardhearted against him and yet some will do the will of God and be his brothers and sisters and mothers. What will your response be?
New Wineskins, Old Sabbath
Sometimes, proximity brings greater animosity. Here in Mark 2 and 3 we have 5 stories in a row where Jesus engages in some conflict with the Scribes and Pharisees. They are near him and yet they don't see him for who he is. Rather, what they see is how he and his disciples live life in the wedding party and in the freedom of the Lord of the Sabbath. They can't stand that. And they are the religious folk. The truth is that this is a warning for us in the church who love our knowledge and love our rules and love our control. So often those things keep us from seeing and savoring Jesus.
