[Propertalk] Sermon Resources for November 30 - Part 2A

[Joe Parrish]

Subject: Fwd: SermonResources for November 30 - Part 2A
 
Where Is Authority?
The British writer Arnold Lunn tells about one time he was on aboat trip when a certain lady was plaguing him with theological questions. Heanswered her with quotes from the Bible and from the teaching of the Church butthe woman would not accept what he said. Then he interrupted her to say,"you must be a very inexperienced boat traveler. As you got on the boat Inoticed that you put your left foot on board first. Everyone knows that youwill have bad luck if you step on a boat with your left foot first!" Thenext time she came on board he noticed that she nearly tripped into the waterin her effort to step aboard right foot first.
Lunn thought it remarkable that she would believe the infallibleLunn in something that he had just made up, and that she would not accept theauthority of the Church or the words of Scripture. So, too, we tend tocomplicate our lives and our prayer by looking for the extraordinary, when theLord is to be found most often in the simple and in the ordinary.
Father Gerry Pierse, The End of the World....Again?
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Watchfulness
In Frankfort, Kentucky it is said that the city was enthralled ina big debate many years ago about placing a water fountain in a public square.The argument became heated in the legislature and at the governor's mansion.Finally, a decision was made to ask three contractors to bid on the project.
The first contractor was from Western Kentucky. When asked whathis bid was he replied, "$3,000." Then he was asked to break it down,to which he replied, "$1,000 for labor, $1,000 for materials, and $1,000for me." The next contractor was from Eastern Kentucky. When asked to givehis bid and to break it down he said, "$6,000. $2,000 for labor, $2,000for materials, and $2,000 for me."
The last contractor was an established contractor from Frankfortwho usually got all of the bids for the capital. When asked to give his bid, hereplied, "$9,000." Then they asked him to break it down. He closedthe doors, looked around cautiously, and then said, "$3,000 for YOU,$3,000 for me, and we give the bid to the guy from Western Kentucky!"
Now, they had bigger problems in Frankfort than deciding on awater fountain. But so often we can get sidetracked by things that seemimportant. Much like the disciples being more concerned with the temple beingdestroyed and the world coming to an end than they were with the things thatmatter most in life: character, integrity, compassion, and preparedness forChrist's return. This is what Jesus means when he tells his Disciples to watch!
Tim Carpenter, Sermon Illustrations
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Living in Hope
The Christian lives in the Hope. We look to tomorrow withconfidence, even absurd confidence. As the White Queen told Alice, "Why,sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things beforebreakfast." There is an exuberance in the Christian Life, an exaltationwhich passes logic. Why? Because we belong to Christ. Listen to Leo Tolstoy:
I believe in God, who is for me spirit, love, the principle of allthings.
I believe that God is in me, as I am in Him.
I believe that the true welfare of man consists in fulfilling the will of God.
I believe that from the fulfillment of the will of God there can follow nothingbut that which is good for me and for all men.
I believe that the will of God is that every man should love his fellow men,and should act toward others as he desires that they should act toward him.
I believe that the reason of life is for each of us simply to grow in love.
I believe that this growth in love will contribute more than any other force toestablish the Kingdom of God on earth. 
To replace a social life in which division, falsehood and violence areall-powerful, with a new order in which humanity, truth and brotherhood willreign.
Warren T. Smith, Journey in Faith
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