<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'><font color="black" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4"><font><font color="black" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span>The "Samaritan Problem"</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span>The most direct route
north to Galilee was through the region of Samaria. Yet a good Jew of
Jesus' day would often be inclined to avoid this region. The problem
with Samaria was the people who lived there. They were not good Jews.
They were not pure Jews by heredity; they were Jews who had been
ethnically mixed over generations of mixed marriages with the Arab race.
The people of Samaria were not even faithfully practicing the Hebrew
religion, but were mixing Judaism with vestiges of their earlier roots
in pagan religions. Such religious practices made them (ritually) impure
in the eyes of a Jew of Jesus' day. When it came to religious and
social matters it was better for a Jew to avoid them.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span>Mark Ellingsen, Preparation and Manifestation, CSS Publishing </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span>________________________</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span>Some Things Must Be Shared</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span>A Mercedes-Benz TV commercial
shows one of their cars colliding with a concrete wall during a safety
test. Someone then asks a Mercedes engineer why their company does not
enforce their patent on their car's energy-absorbing car body. The
Mercedes' design has been copied by almost every other car maker in the
world in spite of the fact that they have an exclusive patent. <br>
<br>
The engineer replies in a clipped German accent, "Because in life, some things are just too important not to share." <br>
<br>
Wow! What a great statement. Some things are just too important not to
share. As Christians we believe that the good news of Jesus Christ is
one of those things that is too important not to share. No, that is an
understatement. We believe that Jesus Christ MUST be shared with our
friends, our neighbors, the world. The work of sharing the news of Jesus
Christ we call evangelism. The Christian faith has been advanced
through the ages by people who were willing to take upon themselves the
responsibility of being evangelists - those who spread the good news of
Christ. <br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span>King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <a href="http://www.sermons.com/" target="_blank">www.Sermons.com</a></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span>__________________________________</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">An Unexpected Evangelist</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">This
wonderful man was not well educated and his manner was somewhat rough
and crude. He became a Christian and took the Lord's requirement
seriously. He kept pestering his pastor to put him to work. Finally, the
minister handed him a list of ten names with this explanation: "These
are all members of the church, but they seldom attend. Some of them are
prominent people in the community. Contact them about being more
faithful. Here is some church stationary to write letters. Get them back
in church."</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">The
man accepted the challenge with rugged determination and
enthusiasm. About three weeks later a letter from a prominent physician
whose name had been on the list arrived at the church office. Inside was
a large check and a brief note: "Dear Pastor, Enclosed is my check for
$1,000 to help make up for my missing church so much, but be assured
that I will be present this Lord's Day and each Lord's Day following. I
will not by choice miss services again. Sincerely... P.S. Would you
please tell your secretary that there is only one `T' in dirty and no
`C' in Skunk."</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">Ah,
those unexpected evangelists. To this day, that nameless Samaritan
woman, the first unexpected evangelist, is revered in many cultures. In
southern Mexico, La Samaritana is remembered on the fourth Friday in
Lent, when specially-flavored water is given to commemorate her gift of
water to Jesus. The Orthodox know her as St. Photini, or Svetlana in
Russian. Her name means "equal to the apostles," and she is honored as
apostle and martyr on the Feast of the Samaritan Woman.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">Can you do what she did? Invite friends and neighbors? Of course, you can.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.<br>
______________________</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">What Words Do You Speak?</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">My
uncle Ed ran an American Oil service station in a small town in South
Carolina. He was a wonderful man. He hunted and fished and told loud,
uproarious jokes and people loved him. While he was still a young man,
his big heart failed him, and the family gathered for the funeral. I was
a young teenager at the time. The minister at Ed's church was on
vacation, and despite assurances from the family that he needn't come
back for the service, he insisted and interrupted his time away to
return.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">He
drove half the night and all the next morning, arriving just in time to
come by the family home and to accompany us to the church for the
funeral. I will never forget his arrival. Indeed, as I look back on it
now, it created in me one of the first stirrings toward ministry. The
family was all together in the living room of Ed's home, and through the
big picture window we saw the minister arrive. He got out of his
stripped down Ford, all spindle-legged, wearing a cheap blue suit,
clutching his service book like a life preserver. Now that I am a
minister myself, I think I know what was going through his mind as he
approached the house: "What to say? Dear God, what to say? What words do
you speak when words seem hardly enough?"</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">What
he did not know, could not know, is how the atmosphere in that living
room changed the moment we saw him step out of his car. It was
anticipation, but more than that. His arrival was, in its own way, a
call to worship. This frail human being, striding across the lawn in his
off-the-rack preacher suit, desperately trying to find some words of
meaning to speak, brought with him, by the grace of God, the presence of
Christ. In his presence and in his words -- words, words, words -- was
the living Word.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">And
because the Word became flesh and dwells among us, so will it be for us,
too. When we suck up our fear and venture out in faith into the tempest
of confusion and hurt and try to find something -- anything -- gracious
to say to people in need, the promise is that, by the mercy of God, our
frail words become the earthen vessels for the Word so desperately
needed, the Word that is Christ. So will it be for all of us.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing.<br>
<br>
_____________________<br>
<br>
We All Have Skepticism</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">We
all have skepticism in us. Think about these phrases: “Open wide now,
this isn’t going to hurt a bit.” “It is easy to assemble. Just follow
the directions.” “Please, daddy, I’ll walk him. I’ll feed him. I’ll do
everything.” “Hi. I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help you.” “Mother is
only staying for two weeks. You’ll hardly know she is in the house.”
People may come to Jesus with some of that same skepticism. That’s OK,
as long as we are willing to listen. Because gradually people realize
that when Jesus opens His mouth, the only thing that comes out is the
truth.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style="color: black;">George Clark, A Step of Faith<br>
<br>
____________________<br>
<br>
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;">Criticizing Evangelistic Efforts</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;">One day a
lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting
to win people to the Lord. Moody's reply was "I agree with you. I don't
like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady
replied, "I don't do it." Moody retorted…</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;">The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations and sermons for Lent and Easter can be accessed at </span><span style="color: rgb(127, 127, 127); font-size: 8pt;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sermons.com/"><span style="color: purple; font-size: 12pt;">www.Sermons.com</span></a></span><span style="color: black;">.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </div>
</font></font>
<div> <br>
</div>
<div style="clear: both;"></div>
</font></font>