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<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Sermon Resources for July 26th</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sermon Resources for Proper
12:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <SPAN class=style3><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">John 6:1-21 - </SPAN></B></SPAN><STRONG><B><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand</FONT></B></STRONG><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><BR><SPAN class=style3> </SPAN>John
6:1-21<SPAN class=style3> </SPAN>- Small
Saves<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT color=#1f497d size=2 face=Calibri><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=2 face=Calibri><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Calibri; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">by
Leonard Sweet<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John 6, the sermon titled "<STRONG><B><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Jesus Feeds the Five
Thousand</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG>"]<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Lance Armstrong. Going for his eighth Tour de
France. His heart is nearly one-third larger than that of the average man. At
resting, it beats an average of 32 times per minute, during peak performance,
200. He burns up about 6,500 calories every day for three weeks while in the
race. One of the stages of the race is 120 miles long-that day he will burn
10,000 calories. You and I burn 3,500 and that’s on a good day. His lungs can
take in twice the oxygen. His body fat level is 4 percent. Yours is 16. He has a
weird femur bone. It’s longer than the average man’s. That gives him more torque
when peddling his bicycle for 2000 miles through French mountains. This year he
is older than most of the other competitors, yet it is as if he was built to
ride. <BR><BR>Looking at this man it is unbelievable that cancer struck him in
September 1996. He went through brain surgery and later chemotherapy so
aggressive that it destroyed some of his muscle structure, burned parts of skin,
and gave him permanent kidney damage. And yet the best bicyclists in the world
have chased him for years. He is the pacesetter. He is the measure by which all
others gauge their success. He is the unique one. All others are taught by his
example.<BR><BR>Philip stood looking out at the masses that were now
approaching. I’m not sure what was on his mind, perhaps thrilled by the success
they were having. Jesus, watching over Philip’s shoulder, asks, “Philip, where
shall we find bread for these people to eat?” Philips gives a realistic
appraisal of the situation: Eight months wages would not be enough to feed
everyone so much as a little nibble. But we are let in on a little secret. Jesus
is testing and I think teasing Philip a bit here. Jesus already knows he will
feed them by multiplying five small barley loaves and two small
fish.<BR><BR>Jesus is ahead of Philip. He is the pacesetter. He is out in front
of them all, minutes ahead sizing up the situation providing the solutions
before we even know what the problems are. He is the unique one, the measure by
which all others gauge their lives.<BR><BR>The feeding of the five thousand is a
miracle on a grand scale but if we concentrate too hard on the miracle we will
miss the message in the background.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">1. What are we to learn from a small meal?
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2. What are we to learn from this big
miracle?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">3. What are we to learn from the long awaited
messiah?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can
be obtained by joining <A title=blocked::www.eSermons.com
href="www.eSermons.com">www.eSermons.com</A>.<FONT color=#1f497d><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><BR></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">__________________________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Second Sermon by Len Sweet<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John 6, the sermon entitled “Small Saves"
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A box came in the mail the other day. It was a surprise
free gift from the local power company. Or I should say two free gifts.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The power company sent every one of their customers a
new “low flow” showerhead, designed to cut down on water usage, but still feel
like a real shower. The second free gift was four of those new curly-q
fluorescent light bulbs, the kind that last longer and use less electricity
while putting out the same amount of light. This small act cost the power
company a few thousand dollars. But according to their figuring, in the long run
if everyone replaced their showerhead and a few light bulbs, the savings would
be in the tens of thousands of dollars. It was a small act, but it was a start
to a big savings. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Small is big. From architectural trends like “The Not So
Big House,” to backyard food sources (“Fresh Food from Small Spaces”), to
down-size is the new up-grade. In fact, down-sizing has become a big business.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Not too long ago only a few hippie-holdout co-op markets
offered a small selection of scruffy-looking “organic” fare for the few
“fresh-niks” among us. Now just about every big super-market offers about as
much space to certified “organic” produce as they do for the other options.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Did you know you can buy all sorts of other “organic”
products — ketchup, frozen pizza, macaroni and cheese mixes? What started out
looking like a small and stunted sideline has become a major force in the food
industry. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">God has an MO: Modus Operandi. God’s MO is to start
small. God loves starting small, and then from small beginnings grow something
amazing. From cosmic dust to a Big Bang? The next time you consider taking a sip
from a fresh, cold mountain stream, remember how much the divine delights in
single-celled organisms. There are millions of them floating in one glass of
water. Consider how there are more insects than any other class of critters and
more beetles than any other kind of insect, each fitting neatly into its
particular ecological niche.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Jesus carried on the family tradition. Jesus had a
fascination with all things small and humble. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Mustard seeds. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sparrows. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Grains of wheat. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Yeast. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Pennies. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sprouting seeds. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Hebrews.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Children. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">And in today’s text from John, the remnants of a little
boy’s lunch box…<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon can be obtained by
joining <A title=blocked::www.eSermons.com
href="www.eSermons.com">www.eSermons.com</A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Click here: <A
title=blocked::http://www.esermons.com/signup
href="http://www.esermons.com/signup">http://www.esermons.com/signup</A> or call
1-800-777-7731 to join.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">________________________________
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Jesus Takes Command<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Only one miracle made it into all four gospels. It
transpired on the grassy hills by the shores of the <st1:place w:st="on">Sea of
Galilee</st1:place> at a time when Jesus' popularity--and also his
vulnerability--was cresting. Wherever he went, a throng that included many
deranged and afflicted trailed behind.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The day before the big miracle, Jesus crossed the lake
to elude the masses. Herod had just executed John the Baptist, Jesus' relative,
his forerunner and friend, and Jesus needed time alone to grieve. Doubtless,
John's death provoked somber thoughts of the fate awaiting
him.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Alas, there would be no secluded retreat. A huge swarm
of yesterday's multitude made the ten-mile journey around the lake and soon
hundreds, even thousands of people clamored around Jesus. "He had compassion on
them," says Mark, "because they were like sheep without a shepherd." Instead of
spending the day renewing his spirit, Jesus spent it healing the sick, always an
energy drain, and speaking to a crowd large enough to fill a modern basketball
arena.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The issue of food came up. What to do? There are at
least five thousand men, not to mention the women and children! Send them away,
suggested one disciple. Buy them dinner, said Jesus. What? Is he kidding? We're
talking eight months' wages!<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Then Jesus took command in a way none of them had seen
before. Have the people sit down in groups of fifty, he said. It was like a
political rally--festive, orderly, hierarchical--exactly what one might expect
from a Messiah figure.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Unavoidably, we moderns read Jesus' life backwards,
knowing how it turns out. That day, no one but Jesus had a clue. Murmurs rustled
through the group on the packed hillside. Is he the one? Could it be? In the
wilderness, Satan had dangled before Jesus the prospects of a crowd-pleasing
miracle. Now, not to please a crowd but merely to settle their stomachs, Jesus
took two salted fish and five small loaves of bread and performed the miracle
everyone was waiting for.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Three of the Gospels leave it at that. "They all ate and
were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces
of bread and fish," reports Mark with masterful understatement. Only Jon tells
what happened next. Jesus got his time alone, at last. As the disciples rowed
back across the lake, fighting a storm all the way, Jesus spent the night on a
mount, alone in prayer. Later that night he rejoined them by walking across the
water.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew,
175-176.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Lowered Expectation<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Would it surprise you to learn that everything in your
life right now is pretty much the way you made it? That from hundreds of options
you chose your responses to whatever situations presented themselves? Would you
agree that you have exercised the capacity to choose what you have received? If
so, doesn't it stand to reason that if you made the choice in the first place,
you can change it?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What a powerful notion! Whatever happens to you, you can
say, "I am the master of my life."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But just as the good that comes to you is a
demonstration of your mastery, so is the negative. Consider how hopping fleas
are trained. The fleas are put into a glass jar. As they try and jump in the
jar, they bump their heads on the lid. Over time, they forget they can jump and,
for fear of bumping their heads, never go beyond the limits of the jar, even
though the lids have been removed. Through continued failure they have become
conditioned to confinement. So it is with us, if we let it be. Our self-made
limitations sometimes cause us to forget that we can fly. WE RESPOND LIKE THE
DISCIPLES, "WE ONLY HAVE FIVE SMALL LOAVES OF BREAD AND TWO FISH. We often
needlessly confine ourselves to glass jars. We may yearn to use our lives
creatively, but our invisible prisons remind us: "You can't do that. It isn't
practical. You're not smart enough. It will cost too much. People will laugh at
you. You're too young. You're too old. Your health won't allow it. Your parents
won't allow it. It will take too long. You don't have the
education."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But suppose we could remember that we were made to
achieve? SUPPOSE THAT<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">WE COULD REMEMBER THAT MIRACLES DO HAPPEN? Suppose we
really believed that we are children and heirs of this magnificent universe?
Would we then still allow our jars to limit us to hopping just so far and no
further? Suppose we became aware that resentments, hurts, hates, grudges,
illness, greed and the like are glass jars that have been, or can be, removed,
that, indeed, we may be hampered by the illusion of our own self-imposed
limitations? We attract to ourselves whatever our minds are focused
upon.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Once aware, we can change and then we will no longer be
confined to that glass jar. We will be ready and able to
achieve.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John Marks Templeton, Discovering the Laws of Life,
Continuum, 1995, 242. Capital words added.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">____________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">We Can't Afford It<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">William Easum is a church leader who's dedicated his
life work to helping churches thrive and engage in real mission. He thinks we
ought to deal with things that get in the way of fullness of God and mission, he
wrote a book called "Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers". The title says a lot! He
begins the book's first chapter with this statement, "Established churches
worship at the feet of the sacred cow of CONTROL." Personally, one of the most
often used controlling statements I've heard over the years in any church I've
served is, "We can't afford it." That is merely the echo of Philip the disciple,
who told Jesus there simply wasn't enough money to buy food for all those
people. We don't have enough money. Or, there isn't leadership potential. Or, we
just ordinary folks. Or, we can't do it. Or, we like things just the way they
are. Leave us alone! I think that's what we really mean whenever we say, "We
can't afford it". <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">David G. Mullen, There is a Boy
Here... <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">______________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I’d Like to Be Possible<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A minister was making a
home visit to one of the younger families in his parish. A five-year-old boy
answered the front door and told the minister his mother would be there shortly.
To make some conversation, the minister asked the little guy what he would like
to be when he grows up. The boy immediately answered, "I'd like to be possible."
"What do you mean by that?" the puzzled minister asked. "Well, you see," the boy
replied, "just about every day my mom tells me I'm impossible!"<BR><BR>What
seems to be impossible in your life these days, my friend? Some task you are
facing in your personal life? Or maybe as you look out on our weary world and
society today, you are prompted to ask, "Who is going to accomplish all the
things that seem so impossible in our world today?"<BR><BR>In such times Jesus
Christ is asking you and me to join with him in being partners in the
impossible. To his friend and follower, Philip, Jesus says, "Where can we buy
enough food to feed all these people?" An impossible task, indeed!<BR><BR>But as
we look at this question of Jesus in the Bible this morning, let's try and take
hold of the encouraging truth that emerges, and it is this: Christ never asks us
to do the impossible unless he himself provides the power and resources to get
the job done. So today let us confidently answer his call, for he is our divine
partner in doing the impossible.<BR> <BR>Richard W. Patt, Partners in the
Impossible, CSS Publishing Company
<BR>______________________________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Walking in Circles<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">You may know the famous
story of Jean Henri Fabre, the French naturalist, and his processional
caterpillars. He encountered some of these interesting creatures one day while
walking in the woods. They were marching in a long unbroken line front to back,
front to back. What fun it would be, Fabre thought, to make a complete ring with
these worms and let them march in a circle.<BR><BR>So, Fabre captured enough
caterpillars to encircle the rim of a flowerpot. He linked them nose to
posterior and started them walking in the closed circle. For days they turned
like a perpetual merry-go-round.<BR><BR>Although food was near at hand and
accessible, the caterpillars starved to death on an endless march to
nowhere.<BR><BR>That seems to be the story of many people today. They are on a
march that leads to nowhere. We need to stop for a moment, and sit down in the
presence of Jesus.<BR><BR>Then we need to receive what Christ has to offer us,
just as the multitude received the loaves and fish.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">King Duncan, Collected Sermons,
www.Sermons.com<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">____________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Fear Not<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Our fear is a hump we have to get over, and we have to
get over it before we can go very far with Jesus. To help an alcoholic or a drug
addict, we must first get him or her off the stuff. That is the first step, the
first lesson (if you will): to stop drinking or using. Only then does it make
sense to talk about other things. Jesus knew that people, from the day they are
born, are slaves to fear, just as much slaves as a drunkard is to his bottle or
an addict to his needle. And, until we can stop being afraid, and trust God,
nothing else works. We are simply too consumed by fear and worry and anxiety to
think about anything else. For that reason Jesus spent a great deal of time
telling us not to be afraid -- telling us directly, and acting out God's grace
by feeding people who were hungry and rescuing those in trouble on the sea. God
will be there when we need him. Fear not. It the first lesson in the Christian
primmer, the one on which all the others build.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">William R. Boyer, Four Miles
Out<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">______________________<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Looking at God<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In his excellent little book, How Can It be All Right
When Everything Is All Wrong?, Professor Lew Smedes says that one source of our
salvation is to cultivate a sense of wonder. He reminds us that Jesus was a
source of wonder to all who came into contact with Him, from the humble
shepherds who were struck with wonder at the sight of blazing angels sashaying
around the Judean hills to the Wise Men from the East who came and laid their
gifts at Jesus’ feet and wondered. All His life Jesus made people
wonder…<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The conclusion to this
illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons for Proper 12 can be
accessed at <A title=blocked::http://www.sermons.com/
href="http://www.Sermons.com">www.Sermons.com</A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>