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<P>Sermon Resources for Proper 23, Part 2 of 2</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Shot in the Wallet<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The devil was on the prowl one day out to get the Christian.
When he saw the Christian he shot one of his fiery darts and it struck the
Christian in the chest. The Christian had on the breastplate of righteousness so
he wasn't harmed. The devil shot at the Christian's head but that was protected
by the helmet of salvation. The devil figured everyone has an Achilles' heel, so
he shot at the Christian's feet that were shod with the gospel of peace so no
harm was done. The Christian smirked and turned around to walk away. The devil
fired an arrow into the Christian's wallet and killed him.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Beth Quick, Mission: Impossible<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>___________________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Do All the Good<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Henry Thoreau said, "Be not merely good; be good for
something." That was Jesus' challenge to the man who wanted to know what he
could do to inherit eternal life. He had been good at making money, in being
morally upright and keeping the commandments; but that is not the ultimate good:
he must also give of himself and what he has in behalf of others. He needed to
also realize that, "The gift without the giver is bare." John Wesley proposed an
excellent guide to goodness. He said, and he practiced what he preached:
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the
ways you can, At all the times you can, As long as ever you can. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Someone else has expressed the ideal of goodness in a
wonderful way, saying, "I expect to pass through this world but once; any good
thing therefore, that I can do, or any goodness that I can show to my fellow
creatures, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not
pass this way again."<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Clement E. Lewis, When It’s Twilight Time, CSS Publishing
Company<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal>____________________________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>Real Wealth -
Priorities<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>God creates us with
a variety of needs, desires, interests, talents, and opportunities. But these
things don't define what we'll be. They're like the bricks, lumber, wallboard,
shingles, and tiles we might see piled on the road near a construction site.
It's what we make from the raw elements of our personalities that defines who we
are; and this is where priorities and choices are crucial.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>Jimmy Carter,
Sources of Strength, Random House, p. 230.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal>____________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>The Failure that
Looked Like Success<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>More than forty years ago, I heard a man describe two
paintings he said he had at his home. I have never forgotten them even though I
never saw them. One was of the figure in Jesus' story of the rich man whose
crops produced so abundantly that he decided to pull down his barns and build
bigger ones, and he said to his soul, "Soul, eat, drink, and have a great time,
for tomorrow you die." The caption under this painting said: "The Failure that
Looked Like Success." The other painting, the companion painting, was of Jesus
dying on the cross, the crown of thorns on his head, his chin drooping against
his chest, the crude nails in his hands, and all his friends off somewhere in
hiding. The caption under this picture said: "The Success that Looked Like
Failure."<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>We would all like to be successful and fulfilled as persons;
it is one of the dreams with which our culture imbues us. But when we listen to
Jesus, we realize that success and fulfillment don't really come the way we
often expect them to. They aren't the direct result of anything we can do to
attain them. Instead, they're a gift from God and they simply happen when we are
doing the right things with our lives. In God's eyes it is a whole lot better to
be a success that looks like failure than a failure that looks like
success.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>John Killinger, The Real Way to Personal
Fulfillment<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>________________________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The Success Syndrome<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal>Harvard Medical School
psychologist Steven Berglas has written a book called <U>The Success
Syndrome</U>. He has found that individuals who in his word "suffer" from
success have arrogance and a sense of aloneness. Insider trader Dennis Levine
was asked by his wife why he needed the money from insider trading and he really
had no answer. Levine says that when his income was $100,000, he hungered for
$200,000, and when he was making $1 million, he hungered for $3 million. Berglas
says that oddly enough people who find that $200,000 did not make them happy
never asked themselves why they thought $300,000 would make them happy. Asked to
prescribe a cure for the success syndrome, Berglas said, "What's missing in
these people (Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, Leona Helmsley) is deep commitment or
religious activity that goes far beyond just writing a check to a charity."
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>King Duncan, Collected Sermons,
www.Sermons.com<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal>______________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>Marketing Gone
Mad<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>At the Coca-Cola
Company, we have built and grown for more than 110 years. Remaining disciplined
to our mission has brought us to remarkable places. Not long ago, we did some
research and came up with an interesting set of facts.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>A billion hours
ago, human life appeared on Earth.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>A billion minutes
ago, Christianity emerged.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>A billion seconds
ago, the Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>A billion
Coca-Colas ago was yesterday morning.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>And the question we
are asking ourselves now is: What must we do to make a billion Coca-Colas ago be
this morning?<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>Address by Roberto
C. Goizueta, Chairman, CEO, Coca-Cola, delivered to the Executive Club of
Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, November 20, 1996. Taken from Vital Speeches of the
Day, January 15, 1997, p. 201.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal>____________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>We Want It Our
Way<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>The story of Faust
by Goethe has become part of our heritage. Faust was a man who longed for
romance, academic success, and wealth. Unable to find these on his own, he made
a pact with the devil. If he could be granted his wishes, have his true worth
made public and enjoy its fruits, then he would give his soul to the devil. Sure
enough, he enjoyed marvelous romances, fabulous successes, and much wealth.
Oddly enough, when the time came, he was unwilling to keep his part of the
bargain. I wonder if there is a parallel here. We put Jesus off, promising,
“Just one more of this and one more of that -- then I will be willing to go with
you, Jesus.” Are we not like little Fausts, wanting to have it our way? After
all, we say, we deserve it! And what do we say to Jesus when he comes to claim
us?<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>Thomas Peterson,
The Needle's Eye, CSS Publishing Company.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal>_____________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>Four Questions for
Church Membership<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>A seminary
professor named Stanley Hauerwas has a novel idea about how churches should
receive new members. A teacher of Christian ethics at Duke University, he has
written about the church's need for honesty and has called us to tell the truth
as a "community of character."<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>To this end, he has
a modest proposal. Whenever people join the church, Hauerwas thinks they should
stand and answer four questions: * Who is your Lord and Savior? The response:
"Jesus Christ." * Do you trust in him and seek to be his disciple? "I do." *
Will you be a faithful member of this congregation? The answer: "I will." *
Finally, one last question: What is your annual income?<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>You heard me
correctly. When people join the church, Dr. Hauerwas thinks they ought to name
their Lord and Savior and tell fellow church members how much money they make.
It is obvious Hauerwas does not serve as a pastor of a congregation. His idea
just wouldn't work, especially in the American church. Most church members
believe salary figures are more sacred than prayer, and would quickly tell an
inquisitive minister to snoop around somewhere else. What's more, parish
experience tempers the questions a minister asks of church members. Most pastors
quickly learn how to dance around the issue of money without ever naming
it.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>William G. Carter,
No Box Seats in the Kingdom, CSS Publishing. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal>_______________________<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal>Are We
Rich?<o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric"
class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The curse of any kind of valuable possession is its capacity
to steal our hearts and souls. The heavier the purse, the tighter the strings.
Is it fair to call most of us rich? According to Methodist founder John
Wesley, it is. He said that the word "rich" in the Bible means to have the
necessities of life (food, shelter, and clothing) and then something left over.
But here is part of the problem of us rich folks…<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The conclusion
to this illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons for Proper 23
can be accessed at <A title=blocked::http://www.sermons.com/
href="http://www.Sermons.com">www.Sermons.com</A>.</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>