These Illustrations are based on John 1:29-42
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Sermon Opener - I've Got a Strong Case of the "Can't Help Its" - John 1:29-42
One of the great celebrative anthems that comes to us from the African-American culture is the powerful spiritual “Ain’t Got Time To Die.” It was written by Hall Johnson and it has these joyfully dramatic words:
“Been so busy praising my Jesus,
Been so busy working for the Kingdom,
Been so busy serving my Master
Ain’t got time to die.
If I don’t praise him,
If I don’t serve him,
The rocks gonna cry out
Glory and honor, glory and honor
Ain’t got time to die.”
In this inspiring and wonderful spiritual song, the composer is underscoring and celebrating the joy and excitement of being a Christian, the joy and excitement of serving our Lord in gratitude for what he has done for us. The point that this spiritual is trying to drive home to us with great enthusiasm is that when we really become Christians, when we really commit our lives to Christ; then, we can’t sit still. We become so excited, so thrilled, so grateful for our new life in Christ that we can’t help but love Him, praise Him, serve Him, and share Him with others.
This is precisely what happened to Andrew. He found the Messiah, he encountered Jesus – and he was so excited he couldn’t sit still. Immediately, gratefully, excitedly, he ran to share the good news with his brother Simon. It reads like this in the first chapter of John’s Gospel…
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Come and See - John 1:29-42
"Come and see." Jesus spoke those words to two of the disciples of John the Baptist (John 1:39). Scholars have learned that the author of the fourth gospel often loads words with meanings that go far beyond what they might mean on the surface. That must certainly be true of this statement.
John tells the story of the calling of the disciples a little differently from the way the other gospel writers tell it. John tells us that soon after Jesus was baptized, John was talking with some of his own followers and he looked up and saw Jesus passing by. John said, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" (v. 36). The disciples heard John call Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." I can imagine the disciples thinking, "I wonder what in the world he meant by that."
Two of the disciples left John and followed Jesus, apparently at a distance, to see what they could learn about him. But Jesus became aware that they were following and so he turned and looked at them. I can imagine there was a little smile on the face of the young teacher who was just getting started in the life work he felt God had assigned to him. He asked, "What are you looking for?" That probably surprised the disciples. Scrambling for something to say, they asked, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" That really wasn't what they wanted to know. They wanted to know much more. There were questions they didn't yet know how to ask. But it was the first thing they could think of. I can imagine that Jesus smiled and waved a hand as he said, "Come and see." They walked off together. They spent the rest of the day together and that was the beginning of something really big.
There are many things we can learn from that little story. First, you can't learn much about Jesus by following him at a distance….
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God’s Kind of Revenge
A young soldier was utterly humiliated by his senior officer. The officer had gone beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior in disciplining the young soldier and knew it, so he said nothing as the younger man said through clenched teeth, "I'll make you regret this if it is the last thing I ever do." A few days later their company was under heavy fire and the officer was wounded and cut off from his troops. Through the haze of the battlefield he saw a figure coming to his rescue. It was the young soldier. At the risk of his own life, the young soldier dragged the officer to safety. The officer said, apologetically, "Son, I owe you my life." The young man laughed and said, "I told you that I would make you regret humiliating me if it was the last thing I ever did." That is God's kind of revenge. "Behold the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world..." Something happened on Calvary that bridged the gap between a holy God and unholy humanity. We see Christ in his majesty but also in his mercy.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Cheap Talk about an All Powerful God
One Christian writer has said, "All cheap and easy talk about a God of sovereign power who is in control of a world in which there is so much poverty, suffering, and injustice is obscene. All self-confident talk about a powerful church that has the mandate and the ability to change society with this or that conservative or liberal social/political agenda or with this or that evangelistic program is increasingly absurd in a disintegrating church that cannot solve its own problems, much less the problems of the world. The only gospel that makes sense and can help… is the good news of a God who loves enough to suffer with and for a suffering humanity. And the only believable church is one that is willing to bear witness to such a God by its willingness to do the same thing" (Shirley Guthrie, "Human Suffering, Human Liberation, and the Sovereignty of God," Theology Today, April 1996, p. 32).
Johnny Dean
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Don't Ever Say That Again
In A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, there is a story about a student who was unlike most students. One day in the 11th grade he went into a classroom to wait for a friend. The teacher appeared and asked him to go to the blackboard. He replied, "I’m not one of your students." The teacher said, "Doesn’t matter. Go to the board anyhow." The student told him he couldn’t do that and when the teacher asked "why not?" the student told him he was mentally retarded. The teacher came over to the student and said, "Don’t ever say that again. Someone’s opinion of you does not have to be become your reality."
It became a liberating moment for the student, a time of great learning. The teacher, Mr. Washington, became the student’s mentor. Later that school year Mr. Washington addressed the graduating seniors. And in his speech he said, "You have greatness within you ….. You can touch millions of people’s lives." After the speech the student went up to Mr. Washington and asked him if he had greatness within him. The teacher replied, "Yes, Mr. Brown, you do." The student thanked him and told him that one day he would make the teacher proud.
In his senior year it happened that Brown was placed in Mr. Washington’s speech and drama class. Although Brown was a special education student, the principal realized that this would be a good match up. Mr. Washington gave Brown a larger vision of himself. While other teachers passed Brown from class to class, Mr. Washington made more demands of him. He made him accountable. He enabled him to believe in himself. Years later the famous, Les Brown, produced five specials on public television. Mr. Washington saw the program and called Les Brown to tell him how proud he was of his achievement.
When others believe in us we gain confidence in ourselves and are able to do great things. Naturally, we still have to apply ourselves. Les Brown had to work hard to finish high school. But, he was now motivated to learn. Our children need to hear from us that we believe in them. Our students, who could be our friends, relatives, or co-workers will be motivated to aspire to greater things when we believe in them.
Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio
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Martin Luther King, Jr. – Captured by the Spirit of Christ
Two months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to his congregation at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta about his death in what would oddly enough become his eulogy.
"Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral," Dr. King told his congregation. "If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that’s not important. I’d like someone to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I’d like someone to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to be able to say that I did try to visit those in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity." Dr. King concluded with these words: "I won’t have any money left behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind."
Did Martin King have that level of commitment when he first began his ministry? It’s doubtful. He had youthful enthusiasm to be sure. He had strong convictions. He was well brought up, with an outstanding Baptist preacher as a father. But people who are truly captured by the spirit of Christ do so generally after years of walking in Christ’s footsteps. Our faith is validated and grows as we "come and see."
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Epiphany Moments
Working in a small town in Latin America, a woman felt despair. She was experiencing marital problems, as well as conflicts with people she worked with. Without warning, an earthquake struck one day. In those moments of panic and fear she ran with other people to the relative safety of a garden plaza as buildings shattered and dust billowed.
"For those moments I saw everything so clearly," she recalls, "how I could become so much kinder to my husband, how other relationships could work out. In an instant--and with such gratitude--I saw how it would be so easy for me to turn things around." In that dramatic moment this woman had glimpsed how the brokenness in her life could be mended. At that moment she saw clearly how she could bring about healing in her life. At that moment it was as if God had spoken to her in a most dramatic way.
God had told John in a personal epiphany, "He on whom you see the spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." When John saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove, he knew without a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. John believed that day because of a personal act of revelation.
Sometimes that happens to people.
The truth of God comes into their lives in such a dramatic fashion that they can scarcely deny that they have been in His presence. That's one way of finding Jesus.
Arthur G. Ferry, Jr., Finding Jesus
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Jesus Calls the Common Man
In May 1855, an eighteen-year-old boy went to the deacons of the church in Boston. He had been raised in a Unitarian church, in almost total ignorance of the gospel, but when he had moved to Boston to make his fortune, he began to attend a Bible-preaching church. Then, in April of 1855, his Sunday school teacher had come into the store where he was working and simply and persuasively shared the Gospel and urged the young man to trust in the Lord Jesus. He did, and now he was applying to join the church. One fact quickly became obvious. This young man was almost totally ignorant of biblical truth. One of the deacons asked him, "Son, what has Christ done for us all--for you----which entitles him to our love?” His response was, "I don't know. I think Christ has done a great deal for us, but I don't think of anything in particular that I know of."
Hardly an impressive start. Years later his Sunday school teacher said of him: "I can truly say that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday school class. I think the committee of the church seldom met an applicant for membership who seemed more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of gospel truth, still less to fill any space of public or extended usefulness." Nothing happened very quickly to change their minds. The deacons decided to put him on a year-long instruction program to teach him basic Christian truths. Perhaps they wanted to work on some of his other rough spots as well. Not only was he ignorant of spiritual truths, he was only barely literate, and his spoken grammar was atrocious. The year-long probation did not help very much. At his second interview, there was only a minimal improvement in the quality of his answers, but since it was obvious that he was a sincere and committed (if ignorant) Christian, they accepted him as a church member.
Over the next years, many people looked at that young man and were convinced that God would never use a person like that. And in doing so they wrote off Dwight L. Moody. But God did not. By God's infinite grace and persevering love, Moody was transformed into one of the most effective servants of God in church history, a man whose impact is still with us today.
Gary Inrig, Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay.
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Landed on Top of a Lamb
A tourist visited a church in Germany and was surprised to see the carved figure of a lamb near the top of the church’s tower.
He asked why it was there and was told that when the church was being built, a workman fell from a high scaffold.
His co-workers rushed down, expecting to find him dead. But to their surprise and joy, he was alive and only slightly injured.
How did he survive? A flock of sheep was passing beneath the tower at the time, and he landed on top of a lamb. The lamb broke his fall and was crushed to death, but the man was saved.
To commemorate that miraculous escape, someone carved a lamb on the tower at the exact height from which the workman fell.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, Original Source Unknown.
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Word of Mouth Evangelism
Everyone knows that the best form of advertising ever invented and the one that is still most successful is word-of-mouth — people telling other people. About sixty years ago there used to be an automobile named the Packard. Packard was the last car manufacturer to get into advertising. It didn’t happen until old man Packard died, because whenever he was approached to buy some advertising for his cars he always said, "Don’t need any; just ask the man who owns one." After his death, "Ask the man who owns one" became the Packard slogan.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is also known through word-of-mouth advertising. That’s how the word about him gets out. Only the Shepherds at the first Christmas heard the good news from angels. Only the Wise Men were led by a Star. Just a comparative few were touched by miracles. Almost everybody came to know Jesus Christ.
Daniel G. Mueller, Just Follow the Signs, CSS Publishing Company
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Jesus the Sin Stealer
The primary emphasis of John's declaration is to say who Jesus is (the Lamb of God) and also to say what Jesus does (takes away the sin of the world). This is all well and good, but the old Adam in me gets nervous when I have an encounter with a "sin stealer." I want to be as graphic and as plain as I can be about this Jesus is the ultimate sin stealer, and that troubles me. You can certainly use language that describes this reality in different terms, like "Jesus removes our sins," or "Jesus washed my sins away," but Jesus "rips us off" as far as our corporate and personal sins are concerned. I am a witness to this, because I was reared by a sin stealer my mother. Now Daddy was a "sin reactor and responder," and I was the not always grateful recipient of his reactions and responses, but Mama was the sin stealer, the one who had the spiritual discernment and psychology to see that I would live in the benefits of John's declaration and Jesus' action.
This sin stealing was shown most clearly on an early spring day long ago, when my mother had made my favorite lunch for school. It was a small container of chocolate milk, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. I went off to Public School 129, but a block and a half away, eager for the morning to pass so I could sink my teeth into one of those delicious cookies, but as I turned from Stuyvesant Ave on to Quincy Street I was face to face with Junebug, the bully of the block.
"Gimmie that lunch, punk!" he said.
"But, Junebug, that's my lunch."
"You better gimmie that lunch!"
"But it's mine. My Mom made it for me, and she made me my favorite--."
Junebug's right uppercut sent me and the lunch to the ground. He picked up the lunch and said, "That's what you get for not listening to me!" and went off to school. I also went off to school with no lunch and lots of anger.
At home that late afternoon I was very silent. Mama, knowing something was up, said, "What happened at school today?"
"I'm gonna kill him!"
"What?"
"I'm gonna kill him!"
"And who do you plan to kill?"
"Junebug. He beat me up, he stole my lunch, and I'm gonna kill him!"
Mama thought for awhile and then said, "Here, have some food. Don't start your homework right away--there is something we need to do together, but you must do it as I say."
The next morning I saw Junebug in front of the school. He pointed to me and said, "Here is that punk who I stole cookies from yesterday!"
I walked up to him, handed him a bag and said, "Junebug, here are some cookies. They're for you. I and my mother made them."
"Whatta you mean, punk?-- Giving me cookies? I can take them from you anytime I want!"
"But we made them for you--take them."
"Are they poison?"
"No, they're okay--take them."
He took the bag from me and handed it to one of his buddies. "Hey, Bootsie, you try them."
"But they just may be poison," said Bootsie.
"Try them anyway, already! They just may be good!"
After one bite, and Bootsie still standing, Junebug passed out the cookies to his buddies, saying, "The punk has brought me, Junebug, some cookies! Isn't that great!"
The next day, I saw Junebug during recess. I walked up to him, gave him a bag and said, "Junebug, here are some more cookies. Take them, they're free."
"Are you messing with me, man? Are you messing with me? These are the ones that are poison! Yesterday was just to set me up!"
"Don't worry, Junebug. They're just fine." He took the bag and backed away from me with a terrified look on his face.
The following day, I saw Junebug in the cafeteria. I said, "Junebug, here are some more cookies. Enjoy them!"
"How can I enjoy cookies if you keep on giving them to me! Now cut it out, man! I didn't even finish yesterday's cookies! No more cookies! (He took the bag anyway.)
On the next day, I saw Junebug at the end of school. I walked up to him and said, "Junebug, here are...." He took one look at that bag of cookies and turned running and screaming all the way down Quincy Street. I haven't even had the notion of taking someone's life ever since. Because Jesus is a sin stealer, My mom stole my intention to sin.
Adapted from a sermon by Michael L. Cobbler, The Trouble With 'Sin Stealers’
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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The Christian's Royal Jelly - 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
“Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word.”
The dream of a new start, a fresh beginning, a blank slate is a big part of something known around the world as the “American dream.” The opportunity to take a new path, to get off old roads and out of deep ruts has brought hundreds of thousands of immigrants to this country.
By the mid-nineteenth century, starting over in America meant moving west. The opening of the rich farming and grazing lands in the prairie, the vast expanse of wilderness beyond the Rocky Mountains, the lure of the Pacific coast, enticed multiple generations of new immigrants to start a new life in a new place. They moved away from the familiar and into the unknown with optimism and hope.
In 1873 Dr. Brewster Higley published a poem entitled “My Home on the Range,” which a few years later was set to music and became the state song of Kansas: “Home, Home, on the Range.” It is a “cowboy song,” a ballad to be belted out beneath the stars while watching over the herds and smelling the smoke of campfire. But Higley’s song about the wildlife and wide-open spaces includes one very human-oriented note.
Home, home, on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Plopped in the middle of Higley’s description of a beautiful, natural setting, he thought it was important to proclaim “seldom is heard a discouraging word.” That is a human thing. Deer and antelope don’t “discourage” one another. But for those early settlers, no “discouraging word” for miles and miles meant that there was no honking hierarchy, no toxic turbo tongues, no nit-picking establishment measuring your every move, no clucking tongues looking over your shoulder and registering their disapproval. No discouraging word meant freedom from a culture of complaint and criticism, and people with a nonjudgmental spirit. No discouraging word meant the opportunity to live day to day doing the best one could without being measured against others and found wanting…
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Daily Discipline
The importance of the counter-intelligence engendered by self-discipline and daily disciplines of life is reflected in this “inside” story of the great African-American theologian Howard Thurman.
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder and spiritual leader of the Jewish Renewal Movement, tells this personal account about his meeting with the African-American theologian and writer Howard Thurman:
“Howard Thurman once came to visit me in Winnipeg. I asked whether he wanted to visit the Trappists, and he did. I asked, ‘Do you want to see the abbot?’ he said, ‘No, the abbot is just a manager. I’d like to talk with the master of novices.’
So we see the master of novices and Howard asks him, ‘What’s the novices’ biggest complaint?’ The master says, ‘they have to be up at 2:30 in the morning to attend matins and lauds. They aren’t too happy about it. They tell me that it’s so much better when they’re out in the fields and they feel ecstasy and love for God and hallelujah and so on. So I say to them, ‘I forbid you to come to any services now except for the obligatory masses.’ Well, after a while they came back and said, ‘We didn’t come here to be farmhands.’ ‘What happened to your ecstasies?’ the master asked. ‘They dried up,’ said the novices.
So the master told them, ‘Of course, now you realize that what you are doing at 2:30 in the morning is what gives you the ecstasy in the fields.’”
As cited in “Great Teachers on Teaching,” Spirituality & Health, March-April 2007, 57.
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Our Misguided Goals
There's an emptiness in pursuing anything less than God's call. Darrell Bock is one of those baby boomers who has entered mid-life. A teacher at Dallas Theological Seminary, he writes in Christianity Today how as a young, idealistic man, headed for seminary, he thought being a successful Christian meant "being a winner for God, taking control, and doing all I could for his kingdom...The essence of our spirituality was to do all we could for God in the 40 or so years we had." Now, at mid-life, he has discovered that such spirituality is empty. Much of it was influenced by American culture with its bent toward independence and self-fulfillment. Darrell writes:
"Many pews on Sunday morning are filled with people seeking God, praying like mad, studying the Word, but who still wonder why God seems so distant. Maybe it is because our culture has taught us to pursue goals that do not bring us closer to him. Perhaps those goals undermine the relationships we are to have with him and with others.
What are some of our misguided goals? "Where our culture says, 'Seek your place in the world!' our God says, 'Seek the kingdom of God.' Where our culture bids us to 'find yourself!' God calls us to 'lose yourself, and so find life.' Where our culture calls us to 'be your own self-made person!' our God calls us to become 'members together of one body...' Where our culture teaches us to 'look to your own needs and interests!' God calls us to have 'the attitude of Christ Jesus, who took on the nature of a servant.' Where our culture promises, 'You can have it all!' God calls us to 'consider it rubbish, that we might gain Christ.' Where our culture mandates, 'Be at the top of your game!' God calls us to 'be crucified with Christ.'
When we perceive our existence as a call from God--rather than as a search for self--we free ourselves from the maelstrom of self-oriented ambition and find our ultimate purpose in life."
That's where clarity is found--not in knowing what we are looking for, but in answering Christ's call and abiding in him.
William J. Kemp
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You Have To Die First
One minister surrounded himself at the church chancel with children during worship and began to talk to them about the upcoming holiday. When asked whose birthday would be celebrated, the well-informed group responded, "Martin Luther King, Jr." The minister inquired further by asking what kind of work King did. How much prompting it took is not certain, but the answer being fished for was given. "Martin Luther King, Jr., was the minister of a church."
In an attempt to draw an obvious parallel, the minister reminded the gathered faithful that was also his life's work. At that point, with a straightening of the necktie and some posturing which made him look a bit taller and a lot more distinguished, the minister wondered aloud about the possibility of a holiday being named for him. Across a couple of rows of pews came an innocent whisper that must have sounded like Jesus himself: "You have to die first."
William B. Kincaid, III, And Then Came the Angel, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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The Can’t Help Its
A minister friend of mine tells about a woman in his church who is so excited to be a Christian. She has a shady past and had pretty much hit bottom when a friend reached out to her… and brought her to church. The church member welcomed her warmly and loved her into the circle of their love and God’s love. She started going to church faithfully. She joined a wonderful Sunday School class. She began studying the Bible daily. She started praying regularly… and in the process was converted. She realized for the very first time in her life that God loved her… even her! She came to understand that even though she had done all those sordid things in her earlier life, that God still loved her, forgave her, accepted her, valued her, treasured her. She was absolutely bowled over by that “Amazing Grace” and she committed herself to Christ heart and soul. Recently she said to her minister, “I’m so excited to be a Christian, that I’ve got a strong case of the “can’t help its.”
This is also true of Andrew. He, too, had a strong case of the “can’t help its.” He was so grateful, so thrilled, so excited about Christ that he just could not sit still. He could not keep Jesus to himself.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Dance the Offering Forward
A missionary in Africa was preaching his first sermon in a mission church. When time came for the offering, the people danced their offerings forward. They danced and sang praise to God as they brought their offerings to the altar. It was a beautiful moment. What do you think? Should we get our ushers to do that?
After the service, he asked one of the people, “Why do you dance and sing when you bring your offering forward on Sunday morning?” Back came the answer: “How could we not dance? We are so grateful to God for what He has done for us in sending Jesus Christ to save us, that we have to dance and sing our thanksgiving and besides it says in the Bible, God loves a cheerful giver.”
Let me ask you something. Do you feel gratitude to God that strongly? Do you have a strong case of the “can’t help its” when it come to gratitude? When you are Christians, gratitude is the spirit of your lifestyle. When you are a Christian, you can’t help but be grateful!
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Miss Donna
Her name is Donna. Donna is a member of our church. She is a mentor in our Kids Hope USA program. Every week she goes to a nearby elementary school to be a friend, encourager, and mentor to a little boy named John. John looks to be 6 or 7 years old. Donna and John have bonded in a beautiful way. Though there is quite a difference in their ages, Miss Donna – as John calls her- has become John’s best friend. Once each week, she visits him at school, helps him with his school work… and then “going the second mile” every Saturday, Donna takes John to do exciting things that without Donna, John would likely never get to do – things like the zoo, the museum, the Galleria.
A few months ago, Donna’s husband died in his sleep. Little John came to the funeral to support his friend Miss Donna in her grief. At the reception in the Hines Baker Room after the memorial service, John stood beside Donna and held her hand. She had been there for him and now he was there for her. He would not leave her side. It was a beautiful moment and people in the room had tears in their eyes, so touched by John’s intense commitment to lovingly stand by Miss Donna, his friend and mentor.
Some of us saw John eyeing the goodies on the reception table – punch and chocolate chip cookies in abundance… and some of us said to him, “John, would you like to walk over here and have some refreshments?” But no, he would not leave Donna’s side. “I want to stay here with Miss Donna.” he would say. The love between the two of them was so radiant and powerful in that room.
Also in the room that day was a man from Chicago. He had flown all the way from Chicago to Houston to be with Donna. Do you know why? Because 38 years ago when he was in first grade, Donna had been his mentor at an elementary school in the Chicago area. He flies from Chicago to Houston every summer to see Donna and to thank her for what she did for him 38 years ago – and then he made this special trip to be with Donna when her husband suddenly died. That man from Chicago says to Donna every time he comes, “I am what I am today because of the love and support you gave me 38 years ago.” He says, “Ms. Donna, you were the first person in my life who believed in me.” And today little John says to her in words and actions: “Miss Donna, I love you. I know you love me. You are my best friend.” Now, where did Donna learn to love like that, to reach out to people in need like that, to make a difference in people’s lives like that? You know, don’t you? The same place the disciple Andrew learned it – from Jesus.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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The One That Will Be Sacrificed
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any [man]. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Those words, spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr., the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, still haunt us. To this day, they generate speculation and debate. Some are convinced that King knew he would be killed. With the kind of turmoil King was creating and the general upheaval that was being witnessed from courthouse squares to college campuses, it doesn't require much imagination to envision a scenario wherein King would be gunned down. King noted on that very night that the "... nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around."
Others are equally certain that King did not have a premonition about his own death. John Cartwright, who holds the professorship at Boston University which bears King's name, believes that King was not predicting his own death. Rather, according to Cartwright, Dr. King was only aware that the arc of justice is long and that significant changes only happen over an extended period of time. In other words, King knew that his words might articulate the dream, but the reality of the dream might not be experienced until generations later.
We have debated the same issue with Jesus. Did Jesus know he was going to die? Did God send Jesus to earth to die? Or, as events evolved and pressure mounted, did it then become evident to Jesus that his faithfulness to God may bring about his own death? There are those who believe that Bethlehem and Calvary were interwoven into Jesus' life from the beginning. When John the Baptist declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God, it sounded like Jesus' crucifixion was certain from the outset. In a culture that sacrificed lambs twice a day in the temple, those words are a kiss of death. "Here is the Lamb of God" can be loosely understood to mean, "Hey, look here, everyone, here's the one that is going to be sacrificed."
William B. Kincaid, III, And Then Came The Angel, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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A Drum Major For Peace
Since our country celebrates the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr day tomorrow, I thought I might share this passage from a sermon of his. Perhaps his words can be an expression of hope for us as well. May we be found to be so faithful in telling the truth that others will know our commitment to Jesus, and they will desire to experience faith for themselves. King preached: "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind."
"And that's all I want to say…if I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, if I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, if I can spread the message as the master taught, then my living would not be in vain." May we all be so fortunate as to live those words.
Carla Thompson Powell, Truth to Tell
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We Would See Jesus
William Willimon notes that in many churches there is a little brass plaque attached to the preacher’s side of the pulpit. It is not something the people in the pew can see, but something that no pastor can miss as he or she prepares to speak. It is a reminder of why people have come to church that morning. It simply reads: "We would see Jesus."
And it’s true, isn’t it? Isn’t that why people come to worship?
Take Oscar for example. He had been in the church most of his life. Like many, he attended more or less regularly, gave as he could, and enjoyed the company of a few friends he had there. But when his wife was diagnosed with MS, his presence in worship took on a different thrust. He came wanting answers for his questions, peace amid life’s uncertainty, healing for his wife’s brokenness. He came wanting to see Jesus.
And we know how that is, don’t we? We too want to see Jesus. But you know what I’ve noticed? A lot of the time we want to see Jesus, but we prefer to do it from a distance.
Take the two followers of John the Baptist in our lesson this morning. They are standing with their teacher when Jesus walks by. John recognizes Jesus, points him out to them, and announces that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Now one would think they would do exactly what they did—that they would drop everything, leave John and follow Jesus. But they do so at a distance. They hang back. They seem to want to watch from afar--to get close, but not too close.
That’s the way a lot of us may look for Jesus
Donald M. Tuttle
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The Little Old Ladies behind the Iron Curtain
William Willimon, professor at Duke Divinity School, remembers when a friend of his visited the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Upon his return he announced that the church behind the Iron Curtain was mostly "irrelevant because the only people there are little old ladies." Dr. Willimon writes, "Looking back now at the collapse of communism, the difficulties of rebuilding the Soviet Union after a long period of spiritual bankruptcy, I hope my friend would now say, `Thank God for the little old ladies.' Their existence provided a continuing, visible, political rebuke to the Soviets."
It would be wonderful if our witness was as effective as that of those little old ladies. It would be wonderful if our witness, like Andrew's, was effective enough to challenge another Simon Peter. That is our task, and what a joyous, challenging task it is. Having found Christ, or more correctly having been found by Christ, we find others--that they, too, may come and see.
Arthur G. Ferry, Jr., Finding Jesus
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Humor: The Parrot Won’t Talk
I read a story about a woman who went to a pet store to purchase a parrot to keep her company. She picked out a beautiful bird that was supposed to be the smartest type of parrot alive. This parrot was guaranteed to be easy to train to talk. She bought a book on training parrots that claimed the technique taught would have her parrot talking within a week. She took the book and her new pet home.
A week went by and she returned to the pet store and complained, "I've followed the book explicitly but that parrot you sold me hasn't said a word yet!"
The storekeeper was puzzled and asked, "Does it have a mirror? Parrots like to be able to look at themselves in the mirror. And then he’ll talk" So, she bought the mirror and returned home.
Two days later she was back, announcing that the bird still wasn't saying anything. The storekeeper thought about it for a moment and then said, "What about a ladder? Some parrots enjoy walking up and down a ladder." So, she bought a ladder and returned home.
Sure enough, two days later she was back with the same story, the parrot still wasn't talking. "Does the parrot have a swing? Birds enjoy relaxing on a swing. If he’s relaxed then he’ll talk." So, she bought the swing and went home.
Well, the very next day she returned to the store and announced that the bird had died.
The storekeeper was visibly upset and said, "I'm terribly sorry to hear that!" And then he asked, "Did the bird ever say ANYTHING before it died?" "Yes," said the lady. "Just as it keeled over dead, it said, 'Don't they sell any food down there'."
Brett Blair, Traditional
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Ain’t Got Time
One of the great celebrative anthems that comes to us out of African-American culture is the powerful spiritual “Ain’t Got Time To Die.” It was written by Hall Johnson and it has these joyfully dramatic words:
“Been so busy praising my Jesus,
Been so busy working for the Kingdom,
Been so busy serving my Master…
Ain’t got time to die.
If I don’t praise him,
If I don’t serve him,
The rocks gonna cry out
Glory and honor, glory and honor…
Ain’t got time to die.”
In this inspiring and wonderful spiritual, the composer is underscoring and celebrating the joy and excitement of being a Christian, the joy and excitement of serving our Lord in gratitude for what he has done for us. The point that this spiritual is trying to drive home to us with great enthusiasm is… that when we really become Christians, when we really commit our lives to Christ… then, we can’t sit still… we become so excited, so thrilled, so grateful for our new life in Christ that we can’t help but love Him, praise Him, serve Him, and share Him with others.
This is precisely what happened to Andrew. He found the Messiah, he encountered Jesus – and he was so excited he couldn’t sit still.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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One Little Act
I read the story recently about a busy airport, where a line of travelers were waiting to buy tickets. The line grew so long and moved so slowly that patience was wearing thin. At the worst possible moment, two boisterous women carrying large suitcases started elbowing their way to the front.
A man near the head of the line saw that the two women were being pushed and shoved and feared that the situation was getting out of control. Consequently he offered them his own position. This response took everyone, including the two women, by surprise. And a great quiet came over the entire scene. The man then picked up his own luggage and walked to the back of the line.
One little act of counter-intelligence turned a disaster into a magical moment . . . all because of one act of genuine humility.
Leonard Sweet, www.Sermons.com
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Life Is Flashing By
“The Los Angeles Times reported (18 February 2007) that a mummified man was found in Southampton, N.Y. He had been dead for a year! He lived alone in a remote area and had apparently died of natural causes as he sat in front of his TV. When the police found him, the TV was still on. Maybe this is a metaphor for our institution. Life is flashing by---great and small events that have profound and accumulating moral consequence — while we are uncomprehending, motionless, and mute.”
F. Thomas Trotter, Circuit Rider, September/October 2007, 23.
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“There is an African story of a tortoise about to meet a leopard in battle. Beforehand he went to the battleground and made marks all over the place, suggestive of a hard struggle. When he was asked what he was doing, he replied: ‘Because even after I am dead, I would want anyone passing by this way to say, ‘A fellow and his match struggled here.’”
I love that turtle.
As cited on p. 70 of What is the Point of Being a Christian (2007) by Timothy Radcliffe.
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The Many Ways to Come and See
William Muehl is on the faculty of Yale Divinity School, and he has spent many years teaching people who are about to become ministers and those who are already ministers. "The roads to Christian faith are as varied as the people who profess it," says Professor Muehl. "There in the congregation is the man who would rather be sitting in the car in the church parking lot reading the sports page of the Sunday paper were it not for the fact that his wife has insisted that he put on a suit and tie and accompany her into the sanctuary. There also is the teenager in the balcony with one ear on the pastoral prayer and the other focused on the whispers of her boyfriend. There is the couple who have come because they were invited by the family across the street and they had no handy excuse not to say yes. There is the young woman who is there because of the music and who reads the hymnbook during the sermon."
The point of all this is that the calling to follow Christ is a pathway which is marked "come and see." It is a pathway which is far more important because of where it leads than because of where it begins. It may begin, as it did for Muehl, as a pain in the body, or, as it has for others, as a longing in the heart, a struggle in the soul, or a wondering in the mind. It is a path which some people enter alone, which others enter by tagging along with friends or family, and down which yet others are dragged, at first reluctantly, by parents or teachers. No matter how we begin, we see as we travel that the pathway has been cleared for us by the Christ who goes before us, making of our many beginnings a common journey. "Come and see," we are told, though the voice which calls us sometimes seems faint, filtered through the voices of the ordinary folk around us. And, for whatever reason, we do go, and, then, we do see. What we see is that, no matter who we were when we started, we end up with a new name, a new identity, given by Christ. What we see is that, no matter how we began our travel, we end the journey resting in the Christ who is all in all.
Thomas Long, Shepherds and Bathrobes, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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A Change in Posture
In a cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark there is a magnificent statue of Jesus by the noted sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. When Thorvaldsen first completed the sculpture he gazed upon the finished product with great satisfaction. It was a sculpture of Christ with face looking upward and arms extended upward. It was a statue of a majestic, conquering Christ.
Later that night, however, after the sculptor had left his fine new work in clay to dry and harden, something unexpected occurred. Sea mist seeped into the studio in the night. The clay did not harden as quickly as anticipated. The upraised arms and head of the sculpture began to drop. The majestic Christ with arms lifted up and head thrown back was transformed into a Christ with head bent forward and arms stretched downward as if in a pose of gentle invitation. At first Thorvaldsen was bitterly disappointed. As he studied the transformed sculpture, however, he came to see a dimension of Christ that had not been real to him before. It was the Christ who is a gently, merciful Savior. Thorvaldsen inscribed on the base of the completed statue, "Come Unto Me," and that picture of the Lamb of God in his mercy has inspired millions.
King Duncan, ChristianGlobe Illustrations
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Carrying Your Sins
One day a saintly African Christian told his congregation about a vision he had the night before. In the vision he was climbing up the hill to the church. Suddenly he heard steps behind him. He turned and saw a man carrying a very heavy load on his back, climbing that hill. He was full of sympathy for this man and spoke kindly to him. Then he noticed that the man's hands were scarred. Suddenly he realized that this was Jesus. He said to him, "Lord, are you carrying the world's sins up the hill?" "No," said the Lord Jesus, "not the world's sins, just yours!"
Jesus' atoning sacrifice reaches out to the entire world, but it begins very personally with me and you.
Bill Bouknight, www.Sermons.com
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What Do You Come to See?
In the northern Portuguese town of Sobrado, a lady has a dog name Preta. Preta leaves her owner's home every Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. and walks 16 miles to a Roman Catholic church in time to take her usual place next to the altar for mass. The dog stands and sits whenever worshippers do the same. She usually walks back home, though some of the parishioners will give her a ride. What is interesting is that the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha has reported that church attendance has grown as many people have attended just to see the faithful dog. Not the faithful God - the faithful dog. Go figure. (from Wesley Taylor, Tualitin, Oregon, Homiletics, January 20, 2002)
What are you looking for? Do you seek God or are you like the people in Sobrado, Italy who go to church to see a dog that worships? When someone misses worship in our church and they meet another member who worshipped they ask, "Who was there?" If the person is a member of a Pentecostal Church and misses worship and then sees a fellow parishioner who worshipped that Sunday they ask, "What happened?"
For some of us our faith is about relationships, friends, relatives and members of the flock. For others it is about what they experienced.
Keith Wagner, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
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Our Children Watch Us Closely
Andrew's act reminds us dramatically of how important children and their resources are to Christ and his church. Andrew's act shows us graphically how crucial it is for us in our words and deeds to bring children into the presence of Jesus.
Many years ago in Missouri, a minister made a bad mistake in moral judgment that later came back to haunt him and to hurt many others. Through trickery, conniving, and scheming, the minister stole a man's dog. That's bad enough, but to make matters worse, he included his two little boys in the deception. The two boys helped their dad disguise the dog so the rightful owner could not claim him. The boys enjoyed the trickery and plotting. The boys thought it was great fun to take away the man's dog.
Some years later, the minister realized that in that one deceitful act, he had taught his sons how to steal and turned them away from the Christ-like spirit of love and kindness and goodness and respect for others. And he said, regretfully: "it was a terrible mistake on my part. I was able to keep the dog, but I lost my sons."
Oh, by the way, the names of those two little boys were Frank and Jesse James! They grew up to become two of the most notorious outlaws and robbers of the old West. Their minister dad never forgave himself. That's a dramatic example, to be sure, but it is true, so true, that our children do indeed watch us closely and learn so much from what we do.
James W. Moore, ChristianGlobe Illustrations
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Party Tonight!
I was once staying in a motel in a large city and was surprised to find, posted to the elevator door, a small, handwritten notice which read, "Party tonight! Room 210. Eight o'clock p.m. Everyone invited!" I could hardly picture who would throw such a party, or for what reason, but I imagined that at 8:00, room 210 would be filled by an unlikely assortment of people - sales representatives seeking a little relief from the tedium of the road; a vacationing couple tired of sightseeing; a man stopping overnight in the middle of a long journey, looking for a bit of festivity; a few inquisitive and wary motel employees, there because of professional responsibility; perhaps some young people who had slipped out of their parents' rooms, anxiously curious about what was happening in room 210.
Alas, the sign by the elevator soon came down, replaced by a typewritten statement from the motel staff explaining that the original notice was a hoax, a practical joke. That made sense, of course, but in a way it was too bad. For a brief moment, those of us staying at the motel were tantalized by the possibility that there just might be a party going on somewhere to which we were all invited - a party where it didn't make much difference who we were when we walked in the door, or what motivated us to come; a party we could come to out of boredom, loneliness, curiosity, responsibility, eagerness to be in fellowship, or simply out of a desire to come and see what was happening; a party where it didn't matter nearly as much what got us in the door, as what would happen to us after we arrived.
Perhaps if there is to be such a party, the church is going to have to throw it.
Thomas Long, Shepherds and Bathrobes, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Who You Are
What you're looking for tells the story of who you are.
Jewel Crowson gave me a Nancy cartoon recently which speaks to the issue of things living up to our expectations. Nancy is out in the snow, waiting for her friend Sluggo to come. She's up to no good. She waits behind a tree getting her snowball ready, and she says, "Here he comes...I can't wait to see the look on Sluggo's face when I cream him with this snowball...I can see it now, the dazed look on his face, the snow all over his head."
She loses herself in laughter as she hides behind the tree relishing what she's going to do, laughing aloud saying, "I can't stand it, I can't stand it. This is going to be great." But while she is hidden behind the tree, lost in glee about what she's going to do, proud about her planned sneak attack, Sluggo passes by and she doesn't even know it. When she overcomes her delight with herself she looks out from behind the tree, but Sluggo is nowhere to be found. She concludes her reverie in a dismal mood saying, "The trouble with my life is that the realities never quite live up to the expectations."
Maxie Dunnam, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com