[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: June 27 (Proper 8C) Luke 9:51-62

Tue Jun 22 10:42:46 EDT 2010



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                  THE FOLLOWING are SermonWriter materials for June 27 (Proper 8C). They focus on the Gospel lesson, Luke 9:51-62, where Jesus says, "the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."


                  NO PASSWORD REQUIREMENT: We are posting these materials on the web with no password.  To access those files, you MUST use the following links.  If clicking on the link fails to work, copy the link and paste it in the address window near the top of your browser.  Then hit the ENTER key or click GO.


                  Microsoft Word file:  

                  http://www.lectionary.org/SW/06-27qu/Luke.9.51-62.doc


                  HTML file (web page):

                  http://www.lectionary.org/SW/06-27qu/Luke.9.51-62.htm


                  WordPerfect file:  

                  http://www.lectionary.org/SW/06-27qu/Luke.9.51-62.wpd


                  A TIP: If you want the Word or WordPerfect files, LEFT-CLICK on the link and see what happens.  That should bring up a dialog box that asks if you want to open the file or save it.  Choose OPEN.  Then save it wherever you like on your hard drive.

                  If that doesn't work, RIGHT-CLICK on the link.  You should get a sub-menu.  Hopefully, "Save Target As" will be one of the options.  Click on that.  Then save the file wherever you want on your hard drive.


                  A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:   "Never use illustrations that swallow up sermons.  Never use illustrations simply because they are so good they just have to be used....  Avoid sentimental, Reader's Digest illustrations" (John McClure)

                 
                  TITLE:   Demanding Discipleship

                 
                  SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Jesus calls us to a demanding, uncompromising discipleship.

                 
                  SCRIPTURE:  Luke 9:51-62 

                 
                  SERMON stories:


                  One of those whom Jesus saved was Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.  Wilson was an alcoholic -- a hopeless drunk.  Then, in 1934, he had a religious experience that put him on the road to recovery.  Nearly three decades later, he wrote a letter to the famous psychiatrist, Carl Jung.  He told Jung how Jung's earlier treatment of an alcoholic, Rowland H., contributed to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous.


                  Jung had treated Rowland H. for alcoholism, but Rowland had repeatedly relapsed, as often happens with alcoholics.  Finally, Dr. Jung told Rowland that neither medicine nor psychiatry could help him.  Rowland's condition was essentially hopeless.  But Dr. Jung held out one small ray of hope, which was this -- a genuine religious or spiritual experience might save him.  That was Rowland's only hope.


                  Rowland respected Carl Jung so much that he decided to try the religious route.  He joined the Oxford Group, an evangelical Christian fellowship that introduced him to Christ and led him to the religious conversion that he needed.  As a result, he was saved.  He was able to stop drinking.


                  At about the same time, Bill Wilson was having a similar experience.  His physician, Dr. Silkworth, pronounced him hopeless too.  But, learning of Rowland's experience, Bill Wilson prayed for God's help -- and got it.  He said:


                  "In that moment I knew I was healed. 

                  In that moment I knew that the addiction was broken, 

                  that I was a free man, 

                  maybe for the first time in my whole life."


                  FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

                  http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT03luke.htm 

                  Scroll down to the correct chapter and verse.  There should be links to several sermons on this text posted there.
                 
                 
                  THOUGHT PROVOKERS:  


                  Someone asked William Booth to explain the success of the Salvation Army.  He responded:


                  I'll tell you a secret.  

                  God has had all there was of me.  

                  On the day I caught a vision 

                  of what Jesus Christ could do with the poor of London, 

                  I made up my mind that God would have all of William Booth there was.  

                  And if there is any power in the Salvation Army today, 

                  it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, 

                  all the power of my will, 

                  and all the influence of my life.


                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


                  The person who offers to God a second place 

                  offers him no place.


                  John Ruskin


                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


                  I'm going to heaven 

                  and I believe I'm going by the blood of Christ.  

                  That's not popular preaching, 

                  but I'll tell you it's all the way through the Bible 

                  and I may be the last fellow on earth who preaches it, 

                  but I'm going to preach it 

                  because it's the only way we're going to get there.


                  Billy Graham


                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


                  All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass -- 

                  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.


                  Archibald Alexander


                  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *


                  Jesus blew everything apart, 

                  and when I saw where the pieces landed 

                  I knew I was free.


                  George Foster

                 
                  HYMN STORY:  Jesus Calls Us


                  Cecil Frances Alexander (her married name) was an outstanding young woman by virtue of ability, education, and service.  While still quite young, she and her sister operated a school for the deaf, and she also published a highly successful book of hymns for children -- designating the profits for the benefit of the school.


                  She married William Alexander, an Anglican clergyman who later became the Anglican Archbishop for all of Ireland.  Impressed by her hymns, he asked her to write a hymn for use during the coming Sunday worship based on the call of  Simon, Andrew, James, and John (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-18).  She wrote this hymn, "Jesus Calls Us," for that occasion.  She wrote 400 hymns during her lifetime -- mostly children's hymns -- but "Jesus Calls Us" and "All Things Bright and Beautiful" are the best known.


                  The first verse of this hymn begins, "Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild, restless sea" -- acknowledging the call of those first disciples by the Sea of Galilee.  A recurring theme is "Christian, love me more" -- "Christian, love me more than these" -- "serve and love thee best of all."  Those words were inspired by John 21:15, where Jesus, after the resurrection, asked Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"  The hymn therefore acknowledges Jesus' claim, not only over the lives of those first four disciples, but over the lives of every Christian.


                  NOTE:  See other hymn stories at http://www.lectionary.org/hymnstories.htm

                 
                  www.sermonwriter.com

                  www.lectionary.org

                  Richard Niell Donovan


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