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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">What If A Stranger Came to Church?</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">One Sunday morning, a college student
volunteered to help in worship by doing the children's sermon. She wanted to
talk about how to be a friendly church, so after getting the children up front,
she began by asking the question, "What would you do if a stranger came to our
church?"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Immediately, one of the kindergartners raised
his hand and said, "I'd run away and find my mom."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Another chimed in, "I'd say 'NO!' and go tell
my Sunday School teacher!"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">One after another the children told the young
woman how they would avoid making contact with this stranger. She tried another
tactic.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"Well, what would happen if a new child in town
was visiting our church for the first time? Wouldn't you be nice to him?"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"Sure!" one of the children said. "But if he
was a stranger, I wouldn't be nice to him!"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"What would happen if you were the stranger?"
the young lady tried for the third time. You know that look of desperation you
get on your face when you know what you're trying to do is going down the drain
in a hurry? Well, that was the look she had on her face. "How would you like to
be treated? Wouldn't you want them to smile at you and greet you like a
friend?"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"Well, yes," replied one of the more thoughtful
children, "but not if they were strangers!"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Alexander H. Wales, The Chain Of Command, CSS
Publishing Company</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">Priorities</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">An expert on the subject of time management was
speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an
illustration those students will probably never forget. As this man stood in
front of the group of high-powered over-achievers he said, "Okay, time for a
quiz." Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on a
table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and
carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to
the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"
<BR><BR>Everyone in the class said, "Yes." <BR><BR>Then he said, "Really?" He
reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some
gravel in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down
into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he smiled and asked the group once
more, "Is the jar full?" <BR><BR>By this time the class was onto him. "Probably
not," one of them answered. <BR><BR>"Good!" he replied. And he reached under the
table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in, and it
went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he
asked the question, "Is this jar full?" <BR><BR>"No!" the class shouted.
<BR><BR>Once again he said, "Good!" Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began
to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the
class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" <BR><BR>One eager
beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule
is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!"
<BR><BR>"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this
illustration teaches us is this: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll
never get them in at all.<BR><BR>Hmm. Jesus says, "Follow me." BIG rock. We
respond, "I will follow you, Lord, but..." Priorities. Get the big rocks in
first. How to make sure the priorities are appropriate? A good start will be a
commitment to ‘Ban the Buts’, then all the rest will fall into place.
<BR><BR> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, <A
href="http://www.esermons.com/"><FONT
color=#ff6600>www.eSermons.com</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT color=#ff6600></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">__________________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Don’t Look Back</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Frankly, none of us are going to make the cut
to follow Jesus. Our desires for soft pillows and comfortable beds, for
fulfilling family and social obligations, will frequently have higher priorities
than following Jesus -- especially following Jesus all the way to the cross. We
might be willing to give up some evils in our lives to follow Jesus, but to give
up all these good things -- to put them as a lower priority than Jesus? That is
radical discipleship, but Paul writes about doing this in Phil 3:4-11. He
considers all his past, good, religious deeds as "rubbish".</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Perhaps the image of putting one's hand to the
plow and not looking back (or driving forward in a car while not looking out the
back window) refers to looking back both at all the very good things in our
lives (and in a congregation's life), like family and friends, comforts and
satisfactions, "successful" programs; but also all the sins in our lives, which
have been forgiven by Christ. We can neither wallow in our past sins nor boast
of our past successes if we are to be fit for the kingdom of God.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">__________________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Discipleship Occurs Only In Community</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Very few people are expert in anything all by
themselves. They need a supporting community. Do you know a good musician who
was not trained, nurtured and sustained by the music community? Show me an
athlete who achieves excellence all alone, apart from the athletic community.
Very few wise men become so without the accumulated wisdom of the centuries as
expressed in colleges and universities and libraries. Medical people are more
like ensembles and symphonies than soloists. What business tycoon does it all on
his own without dedicated experts in finance, engineering, personnel, and
marketing? Excellence requires participation in, and support of, a community of
like-minded people.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Likewise in the church -- a forerunner of the
new kingdom. Very few achieve Christian maturity all by themselves. Seldom is
the Bible studied diligently without the aid of scholars and teachers. Rarely
are people led to generosity by their own impulses.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Maurice A. Fetty, The Divine Advocacy, CSS
Publishing Company</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">Hide and Seek</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Do you remember playing "Hide & Seek" when
you were a child? You would close your eyes and count to a hundred if you were
"it" while all the other kids would run and hide. And then when you reached a
hundred, you would yell, "Ready or not, here I come!" <BR><BR>Jesus was on his
way to Jerusalem whether they were ready or not. For thousands of years, the
Jewish people had been counting the passing days thinking they were ready for
his coming, and then when he came they ran to hide and never really came out to
welcome him. <BR><BR> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Rosemary Brown, Hide and Seek</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">_______________________</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">On Training Disciples</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">It is better to train ten people than to do the
work of ten people. But it is harder.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Moody</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">Moving On</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Some people are not able to enjoy the present
or prepare for tomorrow because they are still living in the past. Dr. Warren W.
Wiersbe has put it like this: "Do not say, "˜Why were the former days better
than these?' You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror.
The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you down. We must learn
from the past but not live in the past." Or as Thomas Holdcroft once put it,
"The past is a guide post, not a hitching post."<BR><BR> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <A
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">Consider Paul's Commitment to the Kingdom</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Five times I have received at the hands of the
Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I
was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been
adrift at sea; on frequent journeys; in danger from rivers, dangers from
robbers, dangers from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city,
danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and
hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without
food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there is the daily
pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches (2 Corinthians
11:24-28).</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Apostle Paul</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">Dad, Shouldn't We Stop?</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">There was a father and his family heading home
from church on a lonely highway when they passed a car with its hood up,
obviously in trouble. The owner of the car looked dirty and unshaven and was
sitting on the ground before his rusty vehicle. His young son saw the man and
said, "Daddy, aren't we going to help him?"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The father, who knew of the dangers of stopping
to help strangers on a highway, said, "No, we have to get to the restaurant
before they stop serving lunch."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The little boy continued, "But he looks like he
could really use some help. Shouldn't we help?"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">"We just don't have time," the father snapped
back.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The boy then queried…</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 8 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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