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<DIV>Sermons for Proper 6: </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> Luke 7:36-8:3 –
“<STRONG>Shaping People’s Lives through Forgiveness</STRONG>” </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> Luke 7:36-8:3 –
“<STRONG>Like a Waving Flag</STRONG>” by Leonard Sweet</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Luke 7, the sermon titled "Shaping People’s
Lives through Forgiveness" </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">At the University of Notre Dame in 1981 a
rather prophetic lecture was given that predicted the collapse of the Soviet
Union. The lecturer called Communism “a sad, bizarre chapter in human history
whose last pages are even now being written." A year later the same speaker told
the British House of Commons that the march of freedom and democracy "will leave
Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history." Years later, in 1988, students at
Moscow University sat and listened as this same speaker told them how the
microchip would lead the way in expanding human freedom. Indeed, even that
prediction is coming true. The Internet may be playing a critical role in
dismantling china’s communism. Remember now that this 1988, long before the
advent of the Internet.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Who was this Speaker? This lecturer who looked
into the future and was able to rightly discern where history was taking us? It
was Ronald Reagan. Putting political preferences aside for just a moment I think
all of us would have to agree that on at least a few crucial issues Reagan got
it right. He looked into the future and steered us correctly. What is it that
gives some people the ability to look at a situation and rightly sized it up? It
seems to be a kind of gift doesn’t it?</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This is one of the qualities that separate the
great men from the ordinary. In our story this morning (in Luke 7) certain
insights are being expressed. A gathering of men at a dinner party has just
witnessed a woman, who they all know to be a woman of ill repute, walk into the
room with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume. She walks up behind Jesus and
kneels. She is crying. As she weeps her tears fall onto his feet. She uses her
hair as a towel to dry his feet and then she pours the expensive perfume on his
feet. This is the scene and it is a sudden departure from the evening’s
festivities. But it now becomes the focal point of Jesus’ teachings.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Now, listen to how the Pharisee sizes up the
situation. He has two insights. On the first he is correct and on the second he
is incorrect. Here they are: First he is correct about the lady. She was known
in the community as a sinner. Her sin is not revealed to us but most of us could
come pretty close in guessing it. Whatever it was the Pharisee rightly judged
the woman’s character. But here is where he failed. His insights and perceptions
about Jesus were wrong. He said that if Jesus were a prophet he would know that
this woman was a sinner and he would not let her touch him.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Pharisee was wrong because the character of
this woman was not lost on Jesus. And here is the beautiful part of the passage.
Jesus knew who she was but he had moved beyond that to forgive the woman her
sins. Jesus sizes up the situation and recognizes that grace is needed in this
woman’s life.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Now let’s ask ourselves this question. Whether
we are looking at an incredibly destructive institution or the loathsome
practice of prostitution, whatever sin we find in the world are we able to look
beyond the facts, size up the situation, see down the road and know what kind of
grace is needed? We can do this if we can:</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">1. Be honest and call sin sin.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">2. Use these moments to teach others.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">3. Remember that redemption always wins in the
end.</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"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Luke 7, the sermon titled “Like a Waving Flag”
by Leonard Sweet</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Those of us who live in the United States have
no experience with royalty or with “kingdoms” ruled by kings or queens. We have
no royal family, so we have to invent our royalty.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">We had the “King of Rock’n’Roll,” Elvis
Presley. We had the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson. We had a “King of Soul,”
James Brown. We have a Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. We have a “King of all
Media,” Howard Stern. We have a Queen of Clean, Linda Cobb. We even have a King
of Greasy Goodness” for the Queen of Clean to clean up: Burger King!</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">But in countries like the Motherland, Great
Britain, there is a real royal family. And the public can always keep track of
where their monarch is through an ancient tradition. When the ruling monarch is
in residence, the Royal Standard, the flag of the ruling monarchy of the United
Kingdom, flies above. When the Queen is at Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace,
the Royal standard flutters overhead. When she is NOT in residence, the Royal
Standard is replaced by the Union Flag (the “Union Jack”).</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">At her other residences in Scotland the Royal
Standard flies above Holyrood Palace or Balmoral Castle when she is present.
When she is absent from the grounds, the ancient Royal Standard of Scotland is
hoisted. Long before there was reliable news sources, just one glance overhead
would let the citizens of the kingdom know if their monarch was present, or
where “the king was in the kingdom.”</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Maybe it is our lack of any historical
connection to a “royal residence” that makes us so clueless about the concept of
the kingdom of God when Jesus talks about it. We are not very educated in being
a “kingdom” or even what “kingdom come” means.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Like Simon the Pharisee in today’s gospel text,
we think in political terms that involve reciprocity based on what we can
provide for others because of what they may provide for us. “Tit for tat.” I owe
you, you owe me. We’re “even” as long as we’re evenly indebted to each other. As
long as everything “balances out,” we feel things are fair and just.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">But that is not how a “kingdom” works…</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"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Listening to the Noise</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Some years ago I served as a campus pastor at
Oregon State University, and one of the activities we had each week was a
Wednesday noon study. From time to time we would pick different topics to
discuss, and sometimes we would be hooked. At one of those luncheons we were
discussing the book "The Courage to Teach." We were asked by our facilitator on
that day to share an experience of a teacher who influenced our lives. Vicki
Collins, an English professor, shared an experience of a teacher who changed her
life during high school. She says the classroom in which her teacher was
teaching was located on the side of the building where a main thoroughfare of
the city ran. Traffic was constant, including the sound of emergency vehicles,
throughout each day. At the beginning of each class, the teacher would complain
to the students about the noise from the traffic. The emergency vehicles
especially annoyed him with their sirens.<BR><BR>After one weekend, the teacher
addressed the class at the beginning as he usually did. This day he said he
wanted to apologize to the class. He told them that this weekend his wife had an
emergency situation. The service that the ambulance provided saved his wife's
life and his baby's life. He told his students, "I want to apologize because I
was listening to the noise instead of thinking about the lives."<BR><BR>The
disciples looked at a sinner in the community; they did not see the woman who in
her life was reaching out for help.<BR><BR>In his external world, the teacher
heard noise. The experience with his wife and child caused him to inwardly see
that lives were being cared for by those noisy vehicles. As a result of his
experience, he gained a better perspective of his experiences with the emergency
vehicles. He apologized to his students.<BR><BR>Friends, Jesus is helping these
disciples, and us, to see that there are lives that need care. Sometimes the
"noises" of selfish desires, self-centered desires, greed, or bigotry, keep us
from seeing beyond the sin or the wrongly perceived experiences of life. The
opportunity we have is that of seeing Jesus' way of seeing people, seeing the
possibilities for righteousness in them, forgiving them when they fall short,
encouraging them to go in peace.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Isaiah Jones Jr., Seeing Beyond the
Sin<BR>_____________________________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Getting Out of the Pit</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">There is an old legend about Judas that
Madeleine L'Engle tells. The legend is that after his death Judas found himself
at the bottom of a deep and slimy pit. For thousands of years he wept his
repentance, and when the tears were finally spent, he looked up and saw way, way
up a tiny glimmer of light. After he had contemplated it for another thousand
years or so, he began to try to climb up towards the light. The walls of the pit
were dark and slimy, and he kept slipping back down. Finally, after great
effort, he neared the top and then he slipped and fell all the way back down to
the bottom. It took him many years to recover, all the time weeping bitter tears
of grief and repentance, and then he started to climb up again. After many more
falls and efforts and failures, he reached the top and dragged himself into an
upper room with twelve people seated around the table. "We've been waiting for
you, Judas," Jesus said. "We couldn 't begin till you came."<BR><BR>So many
people are looking for a community of forgiven and forgiving sinners. Would they
find what they are seeking here?<BR><BR>Jimmy Moor, A Place of
Welcome<BR>_________________________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">A Way to God</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Before the Reformation Martin Luther was in his
monk's cell weeping because of his sins. His confessor, a young man, simply
didn't know what to do, so he began repeating the Apostles' Creed.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived
by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again
from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the
dead.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic
Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the . . .
."<BR>"Wait!" Luther interrupted his confessor. "What did you say?"<BR>"What do
you mean, what did I say?"<BR>"That last part. What was it again?"<BR>"Oh, that.
I said, ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.'"<BR>"The forgiveness of sins,"
Luther said as if savoring each word. "The forgiveness of sins. Then there is
hope for me somewhere. Then maybe there is a way to God."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">There is a way to God. Jesus Christ died to
provide that way. We may not be a woman of the city but there are sins that
break our hearts as well. And there is One who sees those broken hearts and
cares, and forgives, and heals, and makes whole.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">King Duncan, Collected Sermons,
www.Sermons.com</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">________________________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">So I Could Stand Beside My King</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">There is an old story about the Greek Marathon.
Muscular, conditioned runners paced nervously near the starting line for the
long-distance race. The time was near. They "shook out" their muscles, inhaled
deeply, and put on their "game faces." In the midst of it all, a young stranger
took his place at the starting line. His physique was awesome.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Taking no notice of the other contestants, he
stared straight ahead. Two prizes would be awarded the winner of the Marathon: a
magnificent bouquet of flowers and the honor of standing beside the king until
the conclusion of other contests. There seemed to be no question among the
runners about who would win the prize. It is alleged that the stranger was
offered money not to run. Someone else attempted to bribe him with property.
Refusing the offers, he toed the mark and awaited the signal to run. When the
signal was given, he was the first away. At the finish line, he was the first to
cross, well ahead of the rest. When it was all done, someone asked the young man
if he thought the flowers were worth as much as the money and property he had
refused. He replied, "I did not enter the race for the flowers. I ran so that I
could stand beside my king!"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Again, the woman who "intruded" into the
Pharisee's house apparently had one thing on her mind. She wanted to stand
beside her king.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Larry Powell, Blow The Silver Trumpets, CSS
Publishing Co.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">___________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">As Grace Opens Up</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I recall the first time I got a glimpse of the
pyramids of Giza on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. I made the van driver stop so
I could take a picture, but after a while as we got closer, I asked that he stop
again for another shot. Several times we went through the same process as the
three grand pyramids opened up before us.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Grace is like that. It opens up wider and
wider, more and more grand. Our first glimpse seems so small compared with
now.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Jerry L. Schmalenberger, Lectionary Preaching
Workbook, Series VII, Year C, CSS Publishing</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">___________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Thou art my righteousness and I am thy
sin</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Martin Luther</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">___________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">A Kiss of Love</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The great pianist, Paderewski, had a friend
whose little girl was going to give a piano recital. Out of respect for his
friend, Paderewski accepted the girl's invitation to her recital. When she saw
the famous pianist in the audience, she got stage fright, forgot her piece, and
broke down in tears. At the close of the concert, Paderewski said nothing to her
but went up and tenderly kissed her on the forehead and left. If she had not
made the mistake and failed, she would not have received a kiss of love and
understanding from the master pianist. Likewise, it is when we stumble and fall
into sin and are complete failures that the mercy of God in Christ is
experienced in terms of forgiveness.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">John R. Brokhoff, Lent: A Time of Tears, CSS
Publishing Company</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">__________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Odor of Sanctity</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">When you enter a synagogue or a church, you
know it is one that is prayed in, because it has the odor of sanctity about it.
You also can tell when you've entered a happy home -- there's something in the
atmosphere. If there has been continual fighting, even the smiles that are put
on for you won't fool you. And so the pain must be addressed.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as quoted in Colin
Greer, Without Memory, There Is No Healing; Without Forgiveness, There Is No
Future, Parade, January 11, 1998, 6.<BR><BR>____________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Cookie Thief<BR><BR>Today's gospel reminds
me of the story of the cookie thief. A woman at the airport waiting to catch her
flight bought herself a bag of cookies, settled in a chair in the airport lounge
and began to read her book. Suddenly she noticed the man beside her helping
himself to her cookies. Not wanting to make a scene, she read on, ate cookies,
and watched the clock. As the daring "cookie thief" kept on eating the cookies
she got more irritated and said to herself, "If I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken
his eye!" She wanted to move the cookies to her other side but she couldn’t
bring her self to do it. With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only
one was left, she wondered what he would do. Then with a smile on his face and a
nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">He offered her half, and he ate the other. She
snatched it from him and thought, "Oh brother, this guy has some nerve, and he's
also so rude, why, he didn't even show any gratitude!" She sighed with relief
when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate,
refusing to look at the ungrateful "thief." She boarded the plane and sank in
her seat, reached in her bag to get a book to read and forget about the
incident. Next to her book was her bag - of cookies.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The cookies they ate in the lounge were his not
hers. She had been the thief not him.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The cookie thief story reminds us, as we see in
today's gospel, that it often happens that the one pointing the accusing finger
turns out to be the guilty one, that the complainant sometimes turns out to be
the offending party. In the cookie story, the woman believed she was such a
wonderful person to put up with the rudeness and ingratitude of the man sitting
beside her. In the end she discovered that she was the rude and ungrateful one
and the man was wonderfully friendly. In the gospel the Pharisee thinks he is
the righteous one who is worthy to be in the company of Jesus and that the woman
was the sinful one unworthy to be seen with Jesus. In the end Jesus showed each
of them where they really belonged and the woman was seen as the one who was
righteous and more deserving of the company of Jesus than the self-righteous
Pharisee.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Brett Blair, <A
href="http://www.esermons.com/"><FONT
color=#800080>www.eSermons.com</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><BR>____________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The Wrong Number but the Right Time</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Wallace D. Chappell tells that following one of
his sermons a little girl came to the front of the church to meet him. He was
the guest evangelist in the church for the week, so he did not know her nor her
older sister who stood close by. The older sister was encouraging her to tell
something to Chappell, the nature of which was not immediately clear. Finally,
after considerable coaxing, the little girl told that on the day before she had
received a telephone call from a lady who was visiting in the city from out of
state. The lady had dialed the wrong number. Although the little girl did not
know who the lady was, she began to talk to her. Reaching to make conversation,
as children often do, the girl remembered that there would be preaching at her
church that evening so she passed along that bit of information and invited the
lady to attend. The little girl, warming to her story as she told it, said, "The
lady said she hadn't been inside a church in 20 years."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Then, with excitement in her voice, the child
said, "She was at church tonight. I talked to her. And when you asked for people
to accept Jesus, she was one of those who came forward."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The lady was from out of state. She was in that
particular city for a particular purpose and had her own agenda. To go into a
strange church and hear a visiting evangelist preach was not a big item on her
list of things to do. It was not a good time. But something about the little
girl's invitation led her to take advantage of the opportunity. Probably a dozen
reasons why she could not go raced through her mind: the circumstances were not
right, she didn't have time; you can imagine the other reasons. At some point,
however, it came to her that although things were not as she would have arranged
them, it was an opportunity and she would seize it.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">When you are waiting on the "right time" to
come to Christ or if you are delaying your commitment until circumstances are
"right," remember the woman in Luke's story who was so full of joy and gratitude
that she would take advantage of any opportunity to praise God for what he had
done for her through Christ Jesus her Lord! Those who are resolved will "catch
as catch can." Those who have no resolve will never catch up to just the right
opportunity. It will always be the wrong time.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Larry Powell, Blow The Silver Trumpets, CSS
Publishing Company, Inc.</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">Nothing Bad That I Do Is My Fault</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">That precocious little boy from the comics,
Calvin, walked into the living room where his father was sitting in a chair
reading. Calvin announces: "I've concluded that nothing bad that I do is my
fault."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Dad's curiosity is peaked, so Dad says,
"Oh?"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Calvin continues: "Right! Being young and
impressionable, I'm the helpless victim of countless bad influences! An
unwholesome culture panders to my undeveloped values and pushes me to
malfeasance. I take no responsibility for my behavior! I'm an innocent pawn!
It's society's fault."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Dad is totally unimpressed and says…</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The conclusion to this illustration and for
many additional illustrations and sermons for the Proper 6 can be accessed at <A
title=http://www.sermons.com/ href="http://www.sermons.com/"><FONT
color=#800080>www.Sermons.com</FONT></A>.</DIV>
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