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<DIV><FONT size=4>I like what old Rowland Hill said, when some one told him that
he was "moderately religious." "Well then, you are irreligious, for a man that
is moderately honest is a rogue for certain; and so the man that is moderately
religious is irreligious." If religion be worth anything it is worth everything;
if it be anything it is everything. Religion cannot go halves with anything
else, it must be <I>all.</I> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT size=4><></FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>If you make your own business God's business, you will do your
business well; and you will be useful in your day and generation. Never shall we
see any great revival in the church, or any great triumphs of religion until the
Christian world is more touched with the spirit of entire consecration to
Christ. When the world shall see as in earnest then God will bring men in; not
before. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0122.htm"><FONT
size=4>http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0122.htm</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The REV. C. H. Spurgeon, March 15, 1857</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>He is twelve and just been through the bar mitzvah.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Jesus was missing for three days. Not one, not two, not four,
but three days. Three days is important in this gospel because Christ was in the
grave for three days, the temple was supposed to be destroyed rebuilt in three
days, and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days. Luke knew the way
he was going to use the concept of “three days” later in the gospel. “Three
days” are important to the story.<O:P> </O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><O:P><></O:P></FONT></DIV><O:P>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT size=4>Jesus first words. <></FONT><FONT
size=4>, I MUST ["is binding to me" - Greek] be in my Father’s house.
</FONT></DIV></O:P>
<DIV><FONT size=4><O:P><></O:P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>Jesus said, “Didn’t you know that I must be in my
Father’s house?”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The first thing
that Jesus says about himself that God is his Father. My Father is not Joseph
but my Father is God. … </FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_age12.htm">http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_age12.htm</A></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>Edward F. Markquart</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>Passover was eight days long and a grand vacation from
school and work. Hundreds of thousands, maybe a million people, jammed into
Jerusalem for the party.</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>The two words, MY FATHER, was said by Jesus 43 times in
the first four gospels, especially in the Gospel of John. </FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>The primary reason that the Jewish leaders plotted to
kill Jesus was because of those words. They didn’t try to kill Jesus because he
taught that “God is love.” They didn’t try to kill him because that he taught
there were two great commandments, to love God and neighbor. Those teachings
didn’t get him into to trouble. But when Jesus said, MY FATHER, implying that he
was the Son of God, they decided to kill him. </FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>I believe that Jesus was a child prodigy in spirituality
and his relationship with God. </FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_age_12_in_the_temple.htm">http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_age_12_in_the_temple.htm</A></FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>
<DIV><?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P><FONT size=4>Edward F.
Markquart</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></O:P></DIV>
<DIV><O:P><FONT size=4></FONT></O:P> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000 size=6><FONT color=#000000 size=4>W</FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, sans-serif, serif, Arial">hile devotion to the Sto. Nińo
has done much to sustain the faith of the people there are those who argue that
it has not helped them to mature. It is an image that has Jesus as an infant and
yet dressed as an adult. It seems to indicate by-passing the difficult and
necessary formative stage of adolescence. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><></DIV>
<DIV>Very often we do not have listening in a family because there is fear.
There may be fear of appearing weak, of losing face or authority, or of being
refused or punished. This fear leads one to want to control by threat or
violence so that the other person then becomes afraid. If, on the other hand,
there is honest listening there will be a realization that there is a fearful
human being at the other side. It is very hard, but necessary, for parents to
admit their own fears and weakness sometimes to their children. They begin this
process by listening to what is going on in their own hearts in prayer. Having
listened to the fears within they can begin to listen to the fears of others and
that is the beginning of love.<BR></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.bible.claret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleC/C_Feast%20of%20StoNino.htm">http://www.bible.claret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleC/C_Feast%20of%20StoNino.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Gerry Pierse</DIV>
<DIV>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kids grow up awfully fast these days. It seems like one minute you are
trying to encourage your child to go faster on his bicycle, to get up enough
speed to stay balanced, and the next you are pleading with the same boy now at
the wheel of a car, pleading with him to slow down and live. One minute you're
urging a shy daughter to say hello to strangers, and the very next, you're
trying to discourage her from responding to strangers on the Internet.</DIV>
<DIV><></DIV>
<DIV>...a very small classic by J. B. Philips entitled Your God is Too Small.
That was one book that I never really got around to reading. The title told me
what I needed to know--the God I had been trying so hard to believe in was not
God but the figment of a small child's imagination. The Jesus I could not follow
was the creation of popular religion and not the Jesus of the New Testament.
Jesus is growing up fast in Luke's Gospel. The irony of faith is that to grow
with Jesus we have to slow the story down. To grow with Jesus, our living Lord,
we must give one another and we must allow ourselves the time to ask our
questions, to seek in order that we might find, to doubt our doubts.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://day1.org/654-question_time">http://day1.org/654-question_time</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sid Burgess, <SPAN lang=en-us>2000</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV>- - - - -</DIV></FONT></O:P></DIV>
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