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<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=2> </FONT>
<DIV align=left>“losing one’s life” is appropriate for discipleship in
another</DIV>
<DIV>sense. It means life can be used up, spent, on others.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><A
href="http://www.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/14-3_Sex/14-3_Juel.pdf">http://www.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/14-3_Sex/14-3_Juel.pdf</A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><BR>Donald H. Juel, 1994</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Life in the kingdom of God is not about preservation. It’s
about laying down your life. It’s about surrendering your self totally to God
and taking the road of the Cross. But the amazing thing is, the good news is,
that life is found in that very surrender. Real life. Everlasting life. </DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><A
href="http://www.nph.com/nphweb/html/pmol/webjun25.htm">http://www.nph.com/nphweb/html/pmol/webjun25.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Preacher's Magazine, Editor<STRONG> </STRONG>Stefanie
Hendrickson, 2006 </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>About 30 years ago Pope John XXIII popularized the expression "reading the
signs of the times" as a way of doing theology. According to this method, before
saying anything about God one should first listen to the situation, to what is
going on in the world around us, to hear what it may be telling us about the
creator. The assumption here is that God is active in the world and in people's
relationships and by reflecting on these we can learn much about God. This was
in contrast to the "a priori" method which assumed that "somebody up there" had
all of the answers already worked out and it was up to the faithful to just
implement them. </DIV>
<DIV><BR><A
href="http://www.bible.claret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleB/B_24thSunOT.htm">http://www.bible.claret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleB/B_24thSunOT.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Gerry Pierse</DIV>
<DIV>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 2pt 0cm" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><FONT face="Times New Roman">For those who do not
suffer persecution, the words of Jesus may seem less relevant. However, most
people have a cross of one kind or another: illness or disability -
addiction - an unhappy family-life - bereavement - and more... For them, being
willing to endure and persevere requires as real a commitment as those facing
persecution. In the eyes of the world they may not seem as heroic - but their
fidelity and perseverance form their path to eternal
life.</FONT></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><A
href="http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/weekly_wellsprings/year_b/sunday_24.htm">http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/weekly_wellsprings/year_b/sunday_24.htm</A><BR></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Catherine McElhinney and Kathryn Turner, 2006</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>If today's 'elders' (ordained & lay, them & us) see
preserving the status-quo as the essence of keeping the faith, those already in
the margins will be alienated further & still further. Are we taking on
board the kind of Messiah Jesus is, with all the implications flowing from that,
any better than those of old? Are we, any more than Peter, <I>grasped by</I>
what it means that Jesus is Messiah? </DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><A
href="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/marginallymark/MMK83138LENT2.html">http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/marginallymark/MMK83138LENT2.html</A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Brian McGowan</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>- - - - -</DIV></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoBodyText><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT size=4>Preaching the
Gospel—Evangelizing—is neither optional nor seasonal; it is <I>fundamental</I>
to the heart of our relationship with God. We “are not allowed” to either
keep the Good News to ourselves or change the King’s message to appeal to the
crowd.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 18pt">2 Timothy 4:3-5</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 18pt" class=MsoBodyText><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT size=4>[3] For the time will come when they will
not endure sound doctrine; but {wanting} to have their ears tickled, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; [4] and
will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. [5] But
you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry. (NAS)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><A
href="http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/Mark/mk_08_27-38.html">http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/Mark/mk_08_27-38.html</A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>This study may be freely distributed, as long as it bears the
following attribution: Source: Jerry Goebel: 2005 © <A
style="COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; text-underline: single"
href="http://onefamilyoutreach.com">http://onefamilyoutreach.com</A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>The New Revised Standard Version, out of a commendable desire
to be gender-inclusive, transposes Jesus’ singular formulations into the plural
("If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves," etc.). But this
paraphrase loses the original’s sense of immediacy, of personal address -- the
impression that each and every individual is confronted by Jesus’ call and must
say either yea or nay to it.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify><></DIV>
<DIV align=justify>
<P>There is a price to be paid for such assurance; it involves looking death
coldly in the eye. But that is a price that we will all eventually have to pay.
In <I>The Gulag Archipelago, </I>Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes how he learned
to do this amid the starvation and brutality of a Soviet prison camp:</P>
<DIR>
<P>"From the moment you go to prison you must put your cozy past firmly behind
you. At the very threshold, you must say to yourself, ‘My life is over, a little
early, to be sure, but there’s nothing to be done about it. I shall never return
to freedom. I am condemned to die -- now or a little later. . ."’ Confronted by
such a prisoner, the interrogator will tremble. Only the man who has renounced
everything can win that victory.</P></DIR></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><A
href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1997">http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1997</A></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify>Joel Marcus, 2006</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>