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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Forwarded:</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sermon for Christ the King:</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> John 18:33-37 – <B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">“Kingdoms in Conflict”</SPAN></B> </SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John 18, the sermon titled "Kingdoms in Conflict"</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Perhaps you have heard this story. It's a great story: Many years ago, when Hitler's forces occupied Denmark, the order came that all Jews in Denmark were to identify themselves by wearing armbands with yellow stars of David. The Danes had seen the extermination of Jews in other countries and guessed that this was the first step in that process in their countries. The King did not defy the orders. He had every Jew wear the star and he himself wore the Star of David. He told his people that he expected every loyal Dane to do the same. The King said, "We are all Danes. One Danish person is the same as the next." He wore his yellow star when going into Copenhagen every day in order to encourage his people. The King of Denmark identified with his people, even to the point of putting his own life on the line.</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It's a wonderful story with a powerful point. The only problem is it isn't true. It's an urban legend. It's been around for a long time and told thousands of times over. And now with the internet we are getting a lot of these legendary stories retold. Too bad! What an image for a king, identifying with his people. </SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked. "Is that your idea," Jesus said to him, "or did others talk to you about me?" That's how these legends get started. Other people talking about what other people have said. Jesus was essentially crucified on gossip and rumor. An urban legend had developed around his ministry that he was going to lead a revolt against Rome.</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In his conversation with Pilate, Jesus finally does imply that he is a king. "My kingdom," he explains, "is not of this world." Not of this world. That's what it takes. That's what it takes to find a King who identifies with his people. A King of heaven, a King of kings from some place other than this world.</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Pilate and Jesus. Kingdoms in conflict. There are great lessons found in the tension between these two. Let's take a look at...</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">1. The Kingdoms of this World.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2. The Kingdom not of this World.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT color=black size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">3. And the Truth we learn from the conflict of the two.</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div 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>www.eSermons.com</A>.</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________________</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What Pilate Believes</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In the NIV, the first part of v. 37 is a declaration by Pilate: "You are a king, then!" In the NRSV (and my Greek text) it is a question: "So you are a king?"</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In some ways, this is another wrong question. Jesus turns it around: "You are saying that I am a king." With that statement is Jesus again putting Pilate on trial: "You have said it, but is it what you believe?"</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Here is a story that illustrates what is going on in this dialogue between Jesus and Pilate:</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">An Amish man was once asked by an enthusiastic young evangelist whether he had been saved, and whether he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior?</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The gentleman replied, "Why do you ask me such a thing? I could tell you anything. Here are the names of my banker, my grocer, and my farm hands. Ask them if I've been saved."</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Jesus could tell Pilate anything. What is important is what Pilate believes.</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">__________________</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Ordinary People</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In the story of the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus we do not have a rascally, villainous cast of characters. We have ordinary soldiers, policemen, officials, priests, magistrates, and citizens - all doing what soldiers, police, officials, priests, and zealous citizens do every day. It is the usual "morality play," with a suspected criminal, arresting officers, prosecutors, a trial, and sentencing. With the exception of Jesus, none of the actors appear to be sterling characters. They are ordinary human beings, with a fair measure of hypocrisy and callousness. But each carries out with fidelity the role that society has assigned to him or her.<br>
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"The fundamental reason why Jesus has to die makes the question of responsibility for his assassination pointless. Every society, Jewish or Gentile, that is founded on money, power, and law, condemns him. He puts people first, making economics and politics less important than men and women. In contrast, society, even when it says the opposite, deceiving others as well as itself, considers individuals simply as a means." (Sulivan, Morning Light, p. 75)<br>
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John C. Purdy, God with a Human Face</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 5.0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></FONT><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Part of the Ritual</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness. Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, "I thought it was part of the ritual."</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I am here to tell you that your king was stabbed in the foot . . . and the hand, and the side and the head and that WAS part of the ritual. And, you and I are the ones who held the staff. I ask you. Will you beg the King's forgiveness?</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Brett Blair, <A href="http://www.esermons.com/" target=_blank>www.eSermons.com</A></SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Jesus Wins</SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">George III of England, America's enemy in the Revolutionary War, felt terrible about the loss of the colonies. It was said, in fact, that for the rest of his life, he could not say the word "independence" without tripping over it. He was an odd duck in many ways, but he had good insights. When the fighting in America stopped, King George and all his royal cronies in Europe were sure that George Washington would have himself crowned "Emperor of the New World." That's what they would have done. When he was told, on the contrary, that Washington planned to surrender his military commission and return to farming at Mt. Vernon, George III said, "Well, if he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world." There is power in giving up power, in emptying oneself. Jesus knew it, Pilate didn't. </SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Jesus wins, Pilate loses. </SPAN></FONT></div>
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<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">William R. Boyer, A Confusion of the Heart</SPAN></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_________________</SPAN></FONT></div>
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