[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for March 27 - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

The "Samaritan Problem"
 
The most direct route north to Galilee was through the region of Samaria. Yet a good Jew of Jesus' day would often be inclined to avoid this region. The problem with Samaria was the people who lived there. They were not good Jews. They were not pure Jews by heredity; they were Jews who had been ethnically mixed over generations of mixed marriages with the Arab race. The people of Samaria were not even faithfully practicing the Hebrew religion, but were mixing Judaism with vestiges of their earlier roots in pagan religions. Such religious practices made them (ritually) impure in the eyes of a Jew of Jesus' day. When it came to religious and social matters it was better for a Jew to avoid them.
 
Mark Ellingsen, Preparation and Manifestation, CSS Publishing 
 
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Some Things Must Be Shared
 
A Mercedes-Benz TV commercial shows one of their cars colliding with a concrete wall during a safety test. Someone then asks a Mercedes engineer why their company does not enforce their patent on their car's energy-absorbing car body. The Mercedes' design has been copied by almost every other car maker in the world in spite of the fact that they have an exclusive patent. 

The engineer replies in a clipped German accent, "Because in life, some things are just too important not to share." 

Wow! What a great statement. Some things are just too important not to share. As Christians we believe that the good news of Jesus Christ is one of those things that is too important not to share. No, that is an understatement. We believe that Jesus Christ MUST be shared with our friends, our neighbors, the world. The work of sharing the news of Jesus Christ we call evangelism. The Christian faith has been advanced through the ages by people who were willing to take upon themselves the responsibility of being evangelists - those who spread the good news of Christ. 


King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
 
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An Unexpected Evangelist
 
This wonderful man was not well educated and his manner was somewhat rough and crude. He became a Christian and took the Lord's requirement seriously. He kept pestering his pastor to put him to work. Finally, the minister handed him a list of ten names with this explanation: "These are all members of the church, but they seldom attend. Some of them are prominent people in the community. Contact them about being more faithful. Here is some church stationary to write letters. Get them back in church."
 
The man accepted the challenge with rugged determination and enthusiasm. About three weeks later a letter from a prominent physician whose name had been on the list arrived at the church office. Inside was a large check and a brief note: "Dear Pastor, Enclosed is my check for $1,000 to help make up for my missing church so much, but be assured that I will be present this Lord's Day and each Lord's Day following. I will not by choice miss services again. Sincerely... P.S. Would you please tell your secretary that there is only one `T' in dirty and no `C' in Skunk."
 
Ah, those unexpected evangelists. To this day, that nameless Samaritan woman, the first unexpected evangelist, is revered in many cultures. In southern Mexico, La Samaritana is remembered on the fourth Friday in Lent, when specially-flavored water is given to commemorate her gift of water to Jesus. The Orthodox know her as St. Photini, or Svetlana in Russian. Her name means "equal to the apostles," and she is honored as apostle and martyr on the Feast of the Samaritan Woman.
 
Can you do what she did? Invite friends and neighbors? Of course, you can.
 
David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
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What Words Do You Speak?
 
My uncle Ed ran an American Oil service station in a small town in South Carolina. He was a wonderful man. He hunted and fished and told loud, uproarious jokes and people loved him. While he was still a young man, his big heart failed him, and the family gathered for the funeral. I was a young teenager at the time. The minister at Ed's church was on vacation, and despite assurances from the family that he needn't come back for the service, he insisted and interrupted his time away to return.
 
He drove half the night and all the next morning, arriving just in time to come by the family home and to accompany us to the church for the funeral. I will never forget his arrival. Indeed, as I look back on it now, it created in me one of the first stirrings toward ministry. The family was all together in the living room of Ed's home, and through the big picture window we saw the minister arrive. He got out of his stripped down Ford, all spindle-legged, wearing a cheap blue suit, clutching his service book like a life preserver. Now that I am a minister myself, I think I know what was going through his mind as he approached the house: "What to say? Dear God, what to say? What words do you speak when words seem hardly enough?"
 
What he did not know, could not know, is how the atmosphere in that living room changed the moment we saw him step out of his car. It was anticipation, but more than that. His arrival was, in its own way, a call to worship. This frail human being, striding across the lawn in his off-the-rack preacher suit, desperately trying to find some words of meaning to speak, brought with him, by the grace of God, the presence of Christ. In his presence and in his words -- words, words, words -- was the living Word.
 
And because the Word became flesh and dwells among us, so will it be for us, too. When we suck up our fear and venture out in faith into the tempest of confusion and hurt and try to find something -- anything -- gracious to say to people in need, the promise is that, by the mercy of God, our frail words become the earthen vessels for the Word so desperately needed, the Word that is Christ. So will it be for all of us.
 
Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing.

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We All Have Skepticism
 
We all have skepticism in us. Think about these phrases: “Open wide now, this isn’t going to hurt a bit.” “It is easy to assemble. Just follow the directions.” “Please, daddy, I’ll walk him. I’ll feed him. I’ll do everything.” “Hi. I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help you.” “Mother is only staying for two weeks. You’ll hardly know she is in the house.” People may come to Jesus with some of that same skepticism. That’s OK, as long as we are willing to listen. Because gradually people realize that when Jesus opens His mouth, the only thing that comes out is the truth.
 
George Clark, A Step of Faith

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Criticizing Evangelistic Efforts
 
One day a lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody's reply was "I agree with you. I don't like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady replied, "I don't do it." Moody retorted…
 
The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations and sermons for Lent and Easter can be accessed at www.Sermons.com.
 
 


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