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<P>Fw: Sermons Resources for Nov. 29th - Part 2</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Peace: Good Is Not Far Away<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>What anxious people need more than anything is peace,
especially peace of mind. On Black Friday I went into a Fossil store that sells
watches. The store was crowded and I could barely make my way to the counter. I
was on a mission. I had a fossil watch that needed a battery. I was certain that
the last thing any clerk wanted to do on the busiest shopping day of the year
was to install a new battery in a watch. Much to my surprise the man said he
would be glad to put in a new battery. I could leave it and pick it up later.
When I came back, again much to my surprise, he only charged me $5. In the midst
of all that craziness I experienced the reality that life goes on and the
simplest of things continue in spite of all the craziness. I gratefully left the
store, watch in hand, ticking along, marking time for years to come. I felt a
sense of peace that God is still in the midst of all the chaos.<BR><BR>What this
all says to me is that no matter how anxious the times we live in, God is not
far away. The problem is that we are so afraid we miss God’s presence. We let
those who use scare tactics mislead us. We allow doom and darkness to dominate
our lives rather than hope and light. Jesus is telling us that “to understand
the world’s troubles as omens of doom is to misread them. The world’s
tribulations and our personal trials can be understood as reasons for us to
remain faithful, hopeful and optimistic.” (Homiletics, December, 2006, pg.
33)<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Keith Wagner, Hope for the Overwhelmed<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>Keeping Spiritually Dressed<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>When Eisenhower was president of the United States, he once
visited Denver. His attention was called to a letter in the local newspaper
saying that a six-year-old boy dying with cancer expressed a wish to see the
president. One Sunday morning a black limousine pulled up in front of the boy's
house. Ike stepped out of his car and knocked on the front door. The father,
Donald Haley, opened the door wearing faded jeans, an old shirt, and a day's old
beard. Standing behind him was the boy. Ike said, "Paul, I understand you want
to see me. Glad to see you." Then he took the boy to the limousine to show it to
him, shook hands, and left. The family and neighbors talked about the
President's visit for a long time before the father always remembered it with
regret because of the way he was dressed. He lamented, "What a way to meet the
President of the United States." If we keep in fellowship with God through
prayer, we will keep ourselves spiritually dressed for Christ's coming at any
time.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>John R. Brokhoff, Wrinkled Wrappings, CSS Publishing Company.
<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>When Everything Becomes "Merely"<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Virginia Owens in her book, And The Trees Clap Their Hands,
suggests that we lose the wonder of it all, because along the way everything
becomes "merely." Things are "merely" stars, sunset, rain, flowers, and
mountains. Their connection with God's creation is lost. During this Advent
season many things are just "merely." It becomes "merely" Bethlehem, a stable, a
birth -- we have no feeling of wonder or mystery. That is what familiarity can
do to us over the years.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Owens goes on to say that it is this "merely" quality of
things that leads to crime. It is "merely" a thing -- I'll take it. It is
"merely" an object -- I'll destroy it. It is this "merely" quality of things and
life that leads to war. We shall lose "merely" a few thousand men, but it will
be worth it. Within the Advent narrative nothing is "merely." Things are not
"merely" things, but are part of God's grand design. Common things, such as
motherhood, a birth, a child, now have new meaning. This is not "merely" the
world, but a world that is charged with the beauty and grandeur of God's design.
It is a world so loved by God that God gave his only Son. What is so great about
the Advent season is that everything appears charged with the beauty and
grandeur of God. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>John A. Stroman, God's Downward Mobility, CSS
Publishing.<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>Exchanging Our Eschatological Heritage<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Neill Hamilton, who taught at Drew University for many years,
once observed how people in our time lose hope for the future. It happens
whenever we let our culture call the shots on how the world is going to end. At
this stage of technological advancement, the only way the culture can make sense
of the future is through the picture of everything blowing up in a nuclear
holocaust. The world cannot know what we know, that everything has changed in
the death and resurrection of Jesus, that the same Christ is coming to judge the
world and give birth to a new creation. And so, people lose hope. As Hamilton
puts it: This substitution of an image of nuclear holocaust for the coming of
Christ is a parable of what happens to Christians when they cease to believe in
their own eschatological heritage. The culture supplies its own images for the
end when we default by ceasing to believe in biblical images of God's triumph at
the end.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The good news of the gospel is this: when all is said and
done, God is going to win.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>William G. Carter, No Box Seats in the Kingdom, CSS
Publishing.<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>Sound Theology<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>In the Peanuts comic strip, Linus and Lucy are standing at
the window looking out at the rain falling. Lucy says to Linus, "Boy, look at it
rain...What if it floods the earth?" Linus, the resident biblical scholar for
the Peanuts, answers, "It will never do that...in the ninth chapter of Genesis,
God promised Noah that would never happen again, and the sign of the promise is
the rainbow." With a smile on her face, Lucy replies, "Linus, you've taken a
great load off my mind." To which Linus responds, "Sound theology has a way of
doing that."<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Charles Schultz, Peanuts, adapted by David E.
Leininger<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>Second Coming and Faithfulness<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often
closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the
Connecticut House of Representatives: On May 19th, 1780 the sky of
Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the
windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate
adjournment, Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching
or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I
choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought."
Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns.
Instead of fearing the dark, we're to be lights as we watch and
wait.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Harry Heintz <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>Preparation for Christ's Coming<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Maybe you've heard the story of the little boy who decided to
write a letter to God one Christmas. He started out by writing: "Dear God, I've
been a really good boy this year." Unfortunately, he remembered that God was all
knowing and all seeing and he decided that he couldn't lie to God. So, he
crumpled up that letter and started over. This time he wrote: "Dear God, I know
I haven't done everything I should have, but I really tried to be good." He
stopped and crumpled up that letter, too. It was obvious that he was struggling
with what to write to God.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>As he sat there thinking he looked up and saw his mother's
favorite piece of sculpture on the mantel. It was a beautiful rendition of the
Madonna, the mother of Christ. The boy perked up and ran out of the room. He
came back with a towel and a shoebox. He walked over, carefully picked up the
Madonna, gently wrapped it in the towel, carefully put it in the shoebox and
then hid it in the closet. He immediately went back to the table and wrote:
"Dear God, if you ever want to see your mother again . . ."<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>It's time the Church took back Christmas. And we do. Every
year we take it back and bring back the meaning and the purpose. The world tries
to hold it for ransom each year, with its multiplicity of gadgets and this
year's list of must have toys; the world tries to make demands and hold
Christmas for ransom but it never works. The birth of the Christ child is just
too powerful, even for Wall Street. The sight and the sounds and the remembrance
of this child born so long ago changes all the rules. His very presence makes
the glitter of our Christmas presents pale in comparison.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Billy D. Strayhorn, Stay On Your Toes<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>Luther on Signs of Christ's Coming<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>I do not wish to force any one to believe as I do; neither
will I permit anyone to deny me the right to believe that the last day is near
at hand. These words and signs of Christ compel me to believe that such is the
case. For the history of the centuries that have passed since the birth of
Christ nowhere reveals conditions like those of the present. There has never
been such building and planting in the world. There has never been such
gluttonous and varied eating and drinking as now. Wearing apparel has reached
its limit in costliness. Who has ever heard of such commerce as now encircles
the earth? There have arisen all kinds of art and sculpture, embroidery and
engraving, the like of which has not been seen during the whole Christian era…
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional
illustrations and sermons for Advent 1 can be accessed at <A
title=http://www.sermons.com/ href="">www.Sermons.com</A>.<o:p></o:p></P>
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