<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE>
<META content=text/html;charset=UTF-8 http-equiv=Content-Type>
<STYLE type=text/css>BODY {
FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 11px
}
A {
FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: #ff6600; FONT-SIZE: 11px; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
A:visited {
COLOR: #666666
}
A:hover {
TEXT-DECORATION: underline
}
P {
FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: #666666; FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
H1 {
FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: #666666; FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
H2 {
FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: #666666; FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
H3 {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: #666666; FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
H4 {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: #666666; FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
HR {
WIDTH: 100%; HEIGHT: 1px; COLOR: #ff9900; size: 1px
}
.forwardform {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
.forwardinput {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
.forwardsubmit {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
DIV.emailfooter {
FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 11px
}
DIV.emailfooter A {
FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: #ff6600; FONT-SIZE: 11px; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
</STYLE>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18904"></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV>Sermons for Easter 7: </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> John 17:20-26 –
<STRONG>“A Strange, New Math” </STRONG></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> John 17:20-26 –
<STRONG>“Fingerprints and Lovemarks”</STRONG> by Leonard Sweet</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">John 17 the sermon titled "A Strange, New Math"
</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">We have a wonderful mystery to contemplate this
morning, and it is summarized in a strange formula. It's not really all that
complicated, but it is worthy of reflection for it has implications for our
lives together. Here is the formula, an equation, really: 1 + 1 + 1 = One.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Rather strange math, isn't it? Well, it's God's
math, so let's see how it works.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">That strange formula really comes from the
gospel text for today. For the past several weeks during this Easter season, our
gospel readings have come from that section of John's gospel known as the Final
Discourse of Jesus. This last speech, if you will, that Jesus makes to his
disciples concludes with these verses from the 17th chapter. It is really a
prayer of Jesus to his Father in heaven and has often been called the High
Priestly Prayer of Jesus. In a sense, it is Jesus' last will and testament, his
parting shot, his last effort to teach, to exhort, to encourage, to empower his
disciples.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Now for the math part. Listen to Jesus' words:
"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe
in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me
and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you
have sent me." Did you hear it? 1 + 1 + 1 = One. It's not too difficult, once we
understand the parts of the equation. Let's unravel the mystery slowly.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">1. The Father and
Son Are United.<BR>2. You and I Are United.<BR>3. The Holy Spirit Unites Father,
Son, and Us.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The rest of this sermon following the outline
above can be obtained by joining <A title=blocked::www.eSermons.com
href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/admin/FCKeditor/editor/dialog/www.eSermons.com">www.eSermons.com</A>.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">_______________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">John 17:20-26 the sermon titled “Fingerprints
and Lovemarks” </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Fingerprints are nothing new. The delicate
swirls, ridges, and patterns that lie at the tips of our fingers have long been
recognized as a form of personal identification.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The ancients might not have realized the
extreme uniqueness of every person’s fingerprints. But as far back as the reign
of the Babylonian King Hammurapi (1792-1750 BCE), convicts were fingerprinted.
In China as early as 246 BCE, fingerprints were used to “sign” legal contracts.
In 1788 a German anatomist, Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer, proved and published
that fingerprints are unique to each individual. The idea caught on so fast that
by the mid-nineteenth century, data banks of fingerprints were being collected
all over the world for identification purposes.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Any CSI buffs here? You know micro-processors
race and run at breakneck speed through millions of fingerprints in order to
catch the bad guys or exonerate the good guys.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Science has revealed other ways we are unique
and singular. Our DNA is our own. Each cell of our body is genetically coded
just for us. High tech gadgetry has made it possible for us now to open sealed
doors just by looking at them. Okay, more accurately just by looking through a
retinal scanner, because the shape, diameter, and surface bumps of your baby
blues (or browns, or greens) is completely unique to you.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Oh, if you happen to have an x-ray of your
skull lying around, check out the shape of your nasal sinuses. Those too are
unrepeated in any other person.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">God made us in so many ways wholly and totally
different from one another. Yet as Jesus offers up to the Father his own
personal “Lord’s Prayer,” he closes by praying for “oneness” among all those who
follow him as his disciples. Does this mean that Jesus prays for us all to be
the same? To be a body of “beige believers”? Is this a call for “cloned
Christians”? A franchise faith? A lemming life? A monotone mission? Is every
follower of Jesus expected to keep the same pace, have the same stride, move to
the same rhythm?</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Read again. When Jesus prayed for “oneness” he
was not just looking around the Passover table at twelve individuals — none of
whom were learned scholars or Torah experts, by the way. Yes, Jesus was praying
for those who had followed him for the past three years. But he was also praying
for the next generation and the next. Jesus was also praying for those who would
come to faith because of the words and witness of those first twelve. And Jesus
was praying for the generation after that one . . . and for the generation after
that one . . . and for all future generations . . . until the end of time…</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon can be
obtained by joining <A title=http://www.sermons.com/
href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT
color=#800080>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">___________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Human Porcupines</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The German philosopher Schopenhauer compared
the human race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s
night. He said, "The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for
warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with
our sharp quills. And in the lonely night of earth’s winter eventually we begin
to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our
loneliness."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">As humans we have been created with the need
for companionship. I am always fascinated how Adam, when He enjoyed sinless
fellowship with His Creator, still had a desire for one of his own kind (Gen.
2:20). God has created institutions such as marriage and family and church to
meet these needs for human intimacy and belonging….</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Jesus was well aware of our need for intimate
human companionship, and He was also well aware of the challenges and "sharp
quills" we face in the process. So in His final prayer to the Father, just hours
before He would be suspended on the cross, Jesus prayed for the unity of His
church. Second only to the concern for His glory was this longing that His
disciples would be united. He knew how much supernatural help we as sinners need
in this area. He also knew how an ununified church would fail to bring Him the
glory He so much desires.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Randy Smith, Jesus Prays for His Church</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">________________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Futility</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">A myriad of men are born; they labor and
sweat and struggle;...they squabble and scold and fight; they
scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon
them; infirmities follow; ...those they love are taken from them, and the
joy of life is turned to aching grief. It (the release) comes at last--the only
un-poisoned gift earth ever had for them--and they vanish from a world where
they were of no consequence,...a world which will lament them a day and
forget them forever.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Mark Twain shortly before his death.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">__________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">God and Creation Are Always One</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">There's a story told of respected astronomers
at the Vatican Observatory who presented the church with evidence of another
planet having the characteristics of our own, possibly to the extent of
supporting sentient life. Two schools of thought emerged: the first advised the
immediate dispatch of missionaries to bring the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to
those aliens, presumed to be very much like us. The second school advised
against an expedition. Jesus came to us at the right time and place, they
argued, and he will go to them when the time is appropriate, too. The
astronomers allowed the debate to rage for a while before advising that the
light from the new planet had taken so long to reach us that our cousin planet
had actually ceased to exist several millions of years ago.<BR> <BR>If God
is immutable, however, can nothing ever change? We know that to be patently
untrue. Theologians have a lot to say on these subjects and I suppose the most
straightforward answer is that God and creation are always "one" no matter what
part of creation we are looking at, or the era we are
considering.<BR><BR>Anthony Jewiss
<BR>_____________________________________<BR><BR> </DIV></BODY></HTML>