[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: Luke 2:41-52

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for <> Luke 2:41-52 -- the story of 
the boy Jesus visiting the Jerusalem temple.


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<>

Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  We should be like the cock.  When he is crowing, he 
first of all sensibly claps his wings and strikes his side, in order to make 
himself more vigilant.  Likewise preachers, when they are about to deliver 
the Word in public, should first exercise themselves in spiritual devotion. 
(Gregory of Nazianzus)


TITLE:  You Are a Child of God


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  When we accept our identity as children of God, that 
will shape our lives in Godly ways.


SCRIPTURE:  Luke 2:41-52


<> I came across the story of George Washington Carver.  You might not know 
of George Washington Carver, because he lived so long ago -- born during the 
Civil War and died during World War II.  But Carver was an important fixture 
in American history.  An African-American, he was born in slavery, but rose 
to become an eminent scientist.  At a time when people in the South were 
ruining the soil raising cotton, he became the chief advocate for raising 
peanuts, which improve the soil.  He did a great deal of research to 
determine how people could use peanuts, and developed three hundred products 
that could be derived from peanuts.  He was one of those rare scientists 
whose work truly transformed people's lives -- helped to effect a dramatic 
shift in the agricultural practices of the South.

In 1921, Carver was called to appear before the Ways and Means Committee of 
the U.S. Senate.  Others had been called to testify before that committee as 
well, and Carver was shocked to see how poorly the Senators treated them.

Being a black man -- Negro was the polite word in those days -- Carver was 
called last.  As he walked to the microphone, someone called out, "I suppose 
you have plenty of peanuts and watermelon to keep you happy!"  One of the 
committee members demonstrated his contempt by wearing his hat and putting 
his feet on the table.  When the committee chairman asked him to remove his 
hat and to take his feet off the table, the man replied:

"Down where I come from,
we don't accept any nigger's testimony,
and I don't see what this fellow can say
that has any bearing on this committee."

In his autobiography, Carver said:

"I started to walk away
and then I thought to myself,
'Whatever they say of me,
I know I am a child of God,'
and so I said to myself inwardly,
'Almighty God, let me carry out your will'."

The committee chair gave Carver twenty minutes to tell about his work.  At 
the end of that time, he granted Carver another twenty minutes.  At the end 
of that time, he granted another extension.  Dr. Carver ended up talking for 
several hours.  At the end, he received a standing ovation.

We might imagine that the reason for Carver's success was his grand vision 
and his hard work -- and those certainly played a part.  We might imagine 
that people responded so favorably to him because he had achieved so much --  
and that played a part.

But the secret of Carver's success was elsewhere.  Even in the face of great 
adversity, he was able to say:

"Whatever they say of me,
I know I am a child of God."

And that understanding of himself gave him the determination as a young man 
to seek an education.  That understanding of himself gave him the strength 
to persevere until he found solutions to the overwhelming problems that he 
saw.  That understanding of himself gave him the strength to give compelling 
testimony in front of a Senate committee where one man called him "Nigger" 
and another man put his feet on the table as a sign of contempt.

"Whatever they say of me,
I know I am a child of God."

Adopt that as your motto.  Let it shape your life.  Adopt that motto and let 
it determine what you will do and how you will do it.

"Whatever they say of me,
I know I am a child of God."

Believe it!  It's true!  Live it, and God will help you.


FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:
http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT03luke.htm

Scroll down to the correct chapter and verse.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

The right, practical divinity is this:
Believe in Christ, and do your duty
in that state of life to which God has called you.

Martin Luther

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

As the print of the seal on the wax is the express image of the seal itself,
so Christ is the express image --
the perfect representation -- of God.

Ambrose

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The Christian Church stands or falls with this simple proposition:
that Jesus is nothing less than God's self-communication to man,
and the only certain source of our knowledge of God.

W.A. Visser 't Hooft

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The problem with Christians in America
is not that Christians aren't where they should be;
the problems in that they're not what they should be
right where they are.

Os Guinness

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Behind much of the rat-race of modern life
is the unexamined assumption
that what I do determines who I am.
In this way, we define ourselves by what we do,
rather than by any quality of what we are inside.
It is typical in a party for one stranger to approach another
with the question "What do you do?"
Perhaps we wouldn't have a clue how to reply to the deeper question,
"Who are you?"

James Houston,
The Transforming Power of Prayer

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


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