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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Trying Something
New</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">After falling twice in
the 1988 Olympic speed-skating races Dan Jansen sought out sports psychologist
Dr. Jim Loehr, who helped him find a new balance between his sport and his life.
He also helped Jansen learn to focus on the mental aspects of skating Peter
Mueller became his coach, putting him through workouts that Dan has since
described as the "toughest I have ever known." By the time the 1994 Olympics
arrived, Jansen had more confidence than ever. He had set a five-hundred-meter
world record just two months earlier. The Olympic title in that event seemed to
belong to him.<BR><BR>Unfortunately, Jansen fell during the five-hundred-meter
race. He was disappointed and shaken. But, Dr. Loeher immediately advised him to
start preparing for the one-thousand-meter race. He said, the five-hundred-meter
race is gone. Put it behind you." However the thousand-meter race was Jansen's
weakest event. But, there was no other chance for him to receive a medal. Jansen
won the one-thousand-meter race and did it in record time. Since Jansen had
followed the wisdom of his coach, he had put his failure behind him and tried
something new.<BR><BR>We can play it safe and remain secure in what we know.
Like the fishermen, our lives will remain in the darkness until we are willing
to follow and move in a new direction. Jesus called the disciples to something
that would not only give purpose and meaning to their lives, he called them to a
vocation that would change the world. They followed, and from then on their
lives would never be the same.<BR><BR>Keith Wagner, Ice Fishing,
Anyone?<BR>__________________________________</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Working for
Christ</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Christianity began as a
working man's religion. No, that is not the gospel according to Marx; it is the
Gospel According to Matthew. Matthew tells us that immediately after Jesus began
a public preaching ministry, he took four fishermen as his apprentices. He was
walking by the Sea of Galilee and spied Andrew and Peter casting their nets. He
called them to follow him, promising to make them fishers of men. In Matthew's
Gospel, then, linked tightly together are Jesus' ringing pronouncement, "Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and his invitation to the fishermen,
"Follow me."</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">You and I, who believe
in Jesus Christ and count ourselves his disciples, are not to follow a trade or
profession as though it were the Holy Grail. We are to follow Jesus. Work is to
take a secondary role in our lives. If Christ is truly our Master, then work
cannot be equally important. We may be engaged in work, but never married to it.
And whenever we are pressed or tempted to make work supreme, we are to recall
the story of the four fishermen. We are to remember how they left their nets and
their boats to go and be with Jesus, to do what he would have them
do.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">John C. Purdy, The Call
to Adventure</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">______________________________</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Follow Me...</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Follow me, and I will
make you fishers," said Jesus. Fishing takes practice, preparation, discipline.
One must learn how to best throw the net, how to make the mouth of the net come
open too. I can throw the actual cast net a long way, but I can't always make
the net come open so that it will actually form a circle around the fish. One
must learn how to cast the line on a rod. Again, some folks can cast a long way,
but their accuracy is awful. There may be fish on the right, but they know only
how to cast the line to the left. There may be fish on the left, but they keep
casting to the right. Casting, like discipleship, is an acquired habit. It
rewards practice. <BR><BR> </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Fishing is noticing the
weather, watching the wind and the clouds. Fishing, like the gospel, dear
friends, like the gospel, fishing is always practiced in context. It does no
good to sit at one lake and wish I was on some other lake. It does no good to
stand at the ocean and wish the weather were different. On that day, in that
place, I fish in context according to what the conditions are. <BR><BR>So it is
with the proclamation and the living out of the Christian gospel. It does little
good wishing that we were somewhere else, in a different time or in a different
country perhaps. Our context is this time and this place. Know where the wind
blows. Watch the clouds. <BR><BR> </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Samuel G. Candler,
Follow Me and I Will Make You Go Fishing</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">________________________</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A Job vs. A
Ministry</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Someone has said there
is a huge difference between having a job at church<BR>and having a ministry at
church.<BR>... If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job.
If you are<BR>doing it to serve the Lord, it's a ministry.<BR>... If you're
doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you're<BR>doing it to
the best of your ability, it's a ministry.<BR>... If you'll do it only so long
as it doesn't interfere with other<BR>activities, it's a job. If you're
committed to staying with it even when<BR>it means letting go of other things,
it's a ministry.<BR>... It's hard to get excited about a job. It's almost
impossible not to<BR>get excited about a ministry.<BR>An average church is
filled with people doing jobs. A great church is<BR>filled with people
involved in ministry.<BR><BR>Mickey Anders, The Beginning of
Ministry<BR>__________________________________<BR><BR> </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bridge Building Belongs
to You and Me</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">There were two unmarried
sisters who had such a bitter fight that they stopped speaking to each other.
Unable or unwilling to leave their small home, they continued to use the same
rooms and sleep in the same bedroom. A chalk line divided the sleeping area into
two halves. The chalk divided rooms so that both sisters could come and go and
get her own meals without trespassing on their sister's space. In the black of
night, each could hear the breathing and snoring of the foe. For years they
coexisted in grinding silence. Neither was willing to take the first step to
reconciliation.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Then one night one
sister got up to go to the bathroom and fell, breaking her hip. The other sister
awakened by the fall and the scream of pain jumped out of bed crossed the chalk
line and came to her sister's side. After a few typical sister jabs at why she
would do such a foolish thing as trip on her own feet, the sister held her foe
of the past few years until the paramedics came and carried her to the hospital
with her sister at her side. In those moments of darkness came the truth and
power of love and light. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall told this story
with these words. "The legal system can force open doors, and sometimes even
knock down walls, but it cannot build bridges. That job belongs to you and
me."</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Source
Unknown</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________________</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Fishers of Men
(Witnessing)</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Most of our witnessing
is likely to happen in passing moments of conversation--those occasions when we
show, in relatively minor ways, who we are and to whom we belong. I think of a
suburban woman who was playing tennis with her good but quite secular friends.
In a conversation break between sets she began referring to something she had
read that morning. It would have been easy to say, "I read something this
morning." Instead, with no attempt at piosity, she simply introduced one word:
"In my devotional reading this morning." It was not a major soul-winning
engagement. It was, however, a true sowing of seed. By a word, she had opened
the door for some further conversation.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Perhaps our greatest
problem in becoming Christ's fishermen is that we are not enough in earnest to
grasp the opportunities that come to us; or we are so possessed of the idea that
we must say something dramatic and far-reaching that we fail to say the small,
immediate and potentially significant thing. To put it in the language of our
lesson for the day, most of us really don't act as if we even have a call to
"fish." We're out in the waters of human need every day, but we don't seem to
know it.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The issue is not that we
should become more aggressive about sharing our faith. It is that we should be
more sensitive to the needs of the world around us, and more sensitive to the
subtle prodding of the Holy Spirit. The two sensitivities are wonderfully
intertwined. To be sensitive to the Holy Spirit must mean that we will be more
sensitive to people and their pain; to be more sensitive to people ought to make
us more open to God and his purposes.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">J. Ellsworth Kalas,
Reading the Signs, From Empty Nets to Full Lives, CSS Publishing Company
<BR><BR>______________________</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Essential
Personnel</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Even if we live where it
rarely snows, the phrase is a familiar one. When budget talks collapse and the
government shuts down, this is the phrase that is trotted out. When the earth
suddenly moves under the people of California, often a certain group of people
are called out while the rest are told to stay at home. When tornadoes blow
through the Southwest and disrupt everything in their course, only certain
people should risk the dangers involved. These are maintenance people, road
crews, ambulance drivers, fire fighters, electric and gas company workers, truck
drivers, and a whole host of service people who are taken for granted when
things are running smoothly. We call them "essential personnel."</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Think about that phrase.
Think about what it means to be essential personnel. Then, if you want to be
humbled, think about what it is like to be non-essential personnel. Consider the
fact that the world can go on without some of us. The good news is that in the
church we are all, or at least all can be, essential personnel. We are called to
be a special group of people and to do some important things.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">William B. Kincaid, III,
And Then Came The Angel, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">______________________</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Turning Toward the
Light</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A little boy named Bobby
entered his first science fair in second grade. Because his Mom has a green
thumb, they decided to experiment with the growth of plants. He took two small
green plants and placed one on a sunny windowsill and the other in a cardboard
box. After a couple of weeks, Bobby checked on the two plants. The one on the
windowsill had grown a couple of inches and had vibrant green leaves. The one in
the box had actually grown a bit, but it had lost all of its green color,
becoming almost white and its leaves drooping. Thinking that the plant might
die, Bobby cut a hole in one side of the box, like this, and set the box, with
the plant inside, by the windowsill...with the hole facing toward the incoming
light. Well you know what happened...</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The conclusion to this
illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons for Epiphany 3 can be
accessed at </SPAN><A style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"
href="http://www.sermons.com/" shape=rect target=_blank>www.Sermons.com</A><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">. </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>