[Propertalk] Fw: SermonWriter: May 9 (Easter 6C) John 14:23-29

[Joe Parrish]

The following are SermonWriter materials for May 9 (Easter 6C). They focus 
on the Gospel lesson, John 14:23-29, where Jesus promises his disciples the 
gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of peace.


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/05-09tr/John.14.23-29.doc

HTML file (web page):
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-09tr/John.14.23-29.htm

WordPerfect file:
http://www.lectionary.org/SW/05-09tr/John.14.23-29.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.


<>
TELL YOUR FRIENDS:  Your colleagues are looking for good resources too. 
Please mention SermonWriter to them.  Thanks!

Dick Donovan


A THOUGHT ON PREACHING:  Zan Holmes suggests that preachers establish a 
Preacher's Gallery -- pictures of your favorite preachers or theologians or 
your mother or your severest critic or anyone else whose presence will keep 
you honest.  Hang their pictures on your office wall.  Invite them to look 
over your shoulder as you prepare your sermon.


TITLE:  Peace Forevermore


SERMON IN A SENTENCE:  Jesus promises his disciples (including us today) two 
things:  (1) The gift of the Holy Spirit and (2) peace.


SCRIPTURE:  John 14:23-29


<>

CHILDREN'S SERMON:  Peace I Leave with You

Copy of the poem, "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson is available at:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-swing/


<>

FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT, GO TO:

http://www.lectionary.org/SermLinks/NT/NT04john.htm

Scroll down to John 14.  There are links to several sermons on this text 
posted there.


TRUE STORIES:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was executed by the Nazis, said, 
"Peace is the opposite of security."  That's provocative, isn't it!  "Peace 
is the opposite of security."

Most of us would answer, "No, you've got it wrong!  If I just had this or 
that or the other thing, I would feel secure -- and then I would have peace. 
But I can't be at peace while I am out of a job -- or deep in debt -- or 
living without insurance."

But I suspect that Bonhoeffer would answer, "No.  You wouldn't feel 
peaceful.  Once you met that particular need, you would find another need. 
Peace isn't what happens AROUND you.  Peace isn't what happens TO you. Peace 
is what happens INSIDE you-- down deep, at the core of your being."

Bonhoeffer knew whereof he spoke.  Arrested for opposing Hitler, Bonhoeffer 
knew that his chances of surviving the war were slim -- but he knew that 
there was a chance.  The war was going against the Nazis, and it was just a 
matter of time.  But Bonhoeffer knew that his jailers were likely to come 
for him one day, and that would be it.

Living like that could destroy a person -- could reduce him to a pitiful, 
shrunken, shell of a person.  But that did not happen to Bonhoeffer.  He did 
what he could, never knowing if it really mattered.  He did what he could, 
never knowing what would come next.  He wrote.  He prayed.  He ministered to 
the other prisoners.  And when the guards finally came for him, he was able 
to go bravely.  He was able to do that because he had peace -- the peace 
that surpasses understanding -- the peace that comes from having God at the 
center of your life.  That's the peace that Jesus offers us.


James Rowe was a prisoner of the Vietcong for five years -- one of the first 
Americans to be captured (1963).  He was held, not in Hanoi in the far 
north, but in the U Mihn Forest, a Vietcong stronghold, in the far south. 
Often held in cages just three feet high -- not even tall enough to sit, 
much less stand, Rowe and his fellow prisoners suffered from malnutrition 
and diarrhea -- a double-edged sword that killed several of Rowe's fellow 
prisoners.

But on Christmas Day, the Vietcong gave the prisoners an extra ration of 
rice -- some fish -- a cup of milk -- a little sugar.  It was really a 
political ploy -- an attempt to prove to the world that the prisoners were 
being well treated.  But the Vietcong told the prisoners that the extra 
rations were a sign of their good will -- a sign that they were willing to 
allow the prisoners to practice their religious beliefs.  But Rowe said, "I 
don't believe that any of us interpreted that as an opportunity to 'practice 
our religious beliefs,' because you can't ever stop a man from praying" 
(James N. Rowe, Five Years to Freedom, 250).

"You can't ever stop a man from praying."  Even in that hellish place, Rowe 
felt a heavenly presence.  Even after being so absolutely cut off from the 
world he had known, Rowe felt able to speak to God.  Even in the midst of 
his suffering, Rowe knew that God cared.  Even when everything seemed 
hopeless, Rowe continued to hope that God would help him.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it,
by vigorously willing to have it.
Peace is a margin of power around our daily need.
Peace is a consciousness of springs
too deep for earthly droughts to dry up.
Peace is the gift not of volitional struggle
but of spiritual hospitality.

Harry Emerson Fosdick

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

First put yourself at peace,
and then you may the better make others be at peace.
A peaceful and patient person
is of more profit to himself and to others, too,
than a learned man who has no peace.

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

God takes life's broken pieces
and gives us unbroken peace.

Wilbert Donald Gough

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

If you've made a habit of communing with God
when the sun is shining,
you'll find it much easier to sing in the rain.

Bill Pannell

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Give me courage to show the dove
in a world so full of serpents.

Henri Nowen, A Cry for Mercy

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

<>
HYMN STORY:  Trust and Obey

One night at a Dwight L. Moody evangelistic meeting in Brockton, 
Massachusetts, a young man stood up to testify about his confidence of 
salvation.  He said, "I am not quite sure," meaning that he wasn't really 
certain that God would save him from his sins -- and then he continued, "But 
I'm going to trust, and I'm going to obey" -- meaning that he planned to 
trust God for his salvation and to do what he could to obey God's will.

"I'm going to trust, and I'm going to obey."  Daniel Towner was the song 
leader for that meeting.  He was so impressed by the young man's testimony 
that he wrote down those words and stuck them in his pocket.  Later, he 
wrote a friend, John Sammis.  In his letter, he told about the young man's 
testimony and included the young man's words:  "I am not quite sure, but I'm 
going to trust, and I'm going to obey."

Sammis quickly transformed those words into a hymn chorus:  "Trust and obey, 
For there's no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey." Soon 
he had five stanzas to go with the chorus, and he sent them to Towner, who 
composed the tune that we still sing today.

When I read that story, I thought about the young man whose quiet, 
spontaneous testimony inspired a hymn that has meant so much to millions of 
people all over the world.  No one knows his name.  I seriously doubt that 
the young man ever knew that his testimony had borne fruit.

I find that encouraging, because it reminds me that God can use every 
faithful word that we utter and every faithful deed that we do in ways 
beyond our imagining.  I believe that, when we get to heaven, God will show 
us how much he has done with the little deeds and kindnesses that we have 
long since forgotten.

"I'm going to trust, and I'm going to obey."  I can't think of a better 
life-plan than that.

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


www.sermonwriter.com

www.lectionary.org

Richard Niell Donovan