[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for August 5 - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

Spiritual Awareness
 
In a broadcast address in London, T. S. Eliot talked about "spiritual awareness." He observed that many persons aspire to become Christians and believe, presumably, in the efficacy of the Christian faith, but never reach the stage of actually experiencing it. Aspiring towards real belief, i.e., becoming truly Christian, is one thing, whereas complete awareness of it is another. Aspiring can easily become an end in itself. And, as Charles H. Duthie of Edinburgh remarked: "It is a matter of living forever in the preface and never becoming involved in the story."
 
This condition of spiritual awareness is clearly defined by Jesus in the words of our text. It is a state of soul devoutly and eagerly to be aspired to, in contrast to what Lord Cecil of Britain once referred to as "believing in God in a commonplace sort of way." And, it becomes the gift and possession of any persons who are utterly dissatisfied with themselves, and who decide to fulfill those important requisites that make them completely satisfied in Christ.
 
Donald MacLeod, Know The Way, Keep The Truth, Win The Life, CSS Publishing Co.
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A Messy Kitchen
 
Recently, I received an e-mail about real signs found in the real kitchens of real people.
 
"A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen and this kitchen is delirious." 
"A clean house is a sign of a misspent life." 
"If we are what we eat, then I'm easy, fast, and cheap." 
"Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator." 
"My next house will have no kitchen, just vending machines." 
"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand."
 
These sayings point to some of our society's attitudes about food: 'only junk food is enjoyable', 'food is meant to satisfy us', 'if I had to cook it, it doesn't taste good', and 'as long as it's not good for me, I should eat as much as I want'. We stuff ourselves, trying to fill the hole inside of us with food, as if we could eat something that would satisfy us. But we could stuff ourselves at every meal and still be hungry for something deeper! 
 
Staff, www.eSermons.com
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Are You Hungry?
 
There’s a story found in the Chronicles of Narnia. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the fifth volume of that series, Mary, Edmund, their cousin Eustice, and some of the colorful creatures of Narnia, come upon a crystal clear pool of water with what appears to be a golden statue of a man at the bottom. Only, they discover that it is a magical pool that turns everything into gold that touches the water. It appears that the statue at the bottom of the pool is a man who either didn’t know about the pool’s magic powers, or he was so consumed with accumulating gold that he ignored its dangers. Even though the characters of the story are awed at the magic of the pool, they recognize that such a place is far more dangerous than it is beneficial, and so they swear themselves to secrecy and wipe their memories clean of that place. 

You see, when you waste your energies seeking to fulfill the hunger for things that perish, what you’ll find all too often is that you’ll still be dissatisfied, and your dissatisfaction will usually put you deeper into the hole you’re digging for yourself. Whatever piece of the pie that you’re hungering for – whether it’s a bigger slice of acceptance or riches or gratification of your urges – you’re going to find yourself hungry for more and more and more, until you’re so out of control that you can’t back-peddle fast enough. In our consumer-driven world, in which many people literally work themselves to death accumulating a never-fully-satisfying abundance of things, Jesus’ words challenge our society’s misguided substitutes for "life."

Steve Wilkins, Are You Hungry?
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God-shaped Vacuum
 
"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ." 
 
Blaise Pascal
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Searching for Jesus 

Some searches take people to unexpected places and give surprising results. For example, Columbus searched for a new route to Asia and found America instead. Louis Pasteur tried to find a way to keep wine from souring and came up with the pasteurization process instead. Alexander Graham Bell wanted to improve the telegraph but wound up with the telephone. Roentgen worked to find a better light for photography but invented the X--ray instead. Sometimes we do not find what we are searching for. 

In today's text the people had been with Jesus and were fed. But the Lord had many other people to feed so he left the place where the miraculous feeding had occurred. Apparently not satisfied with one miracle, the people set off in search of Jesus.

Don M. Aycock, Searching for Jesus
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A Time to Remember
 
In his book The Swann's Way, the French novelist Marcel Proust wrote of returning home late one evening on a dull winter day when he faced the prospect of a depressing tomorrow. The maid greeted him and, seeing that he was tired, brought him a cup of hot tea and some cake. Being both tired and depressed he at first refused them. Only at her insistence did he finally begin to drink the tea and eat the cake. Proust wrote that an unexplainable delight suddenly came over him. His anxieties and troubles seemed to vanish. Suddenly, he wrote, I had "ceased to feel mediocre, accidental and mortal."
 
What caused this wonderful sensation to come over him? He was at a loss to explain it. How could a taste of tea and cake produce this feeling of peace? He drank and ate more but he still could not decipher the secret. The truth, he guessed, must be in himself and not in what he was eating and drinking…
 
The rest of this illustration, as well as many additional illustrations and sermons for the whole year, can be accessed at www.Sermons.com. 
 
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