<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'><font color="black" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4">
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">
<div id="AOLMsgPart_1_f1939ce7-717b-4f46-81ee-b8218ac2b3cf">
<font color="black" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4">
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="COLOR: black">Resources for Proper 12</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="COLOR: black"> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="COLOR: black">Matthew 13: </span><span>31-33, 44-52</span> - <strong>"What Does Heaven Look Like?"</strong><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><span style="COLOR: black">Romans 8:26-39 - <strong>"</strong></span><strong>Super-Size Your Faith" </strong>by Leonard Sweet </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="COLOR: black"> </span><span> </span></div>
<span><span style="COLOR: black">Matthew 13<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon title "What Does Heaven Look Like?"<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font></font></span></span>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I
believe we human beings have a perception problem. We often think we
have the proper perspective on an issue when in fact we are way off.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">There's
a charming story that Thomas Wheeler, CEO of the Massachusetts Mutual
Life Insurance Company, tells on himself: He and his wife were driving
along an interstate highway when he noticed that their car was low on
gas. Wheeler got off the highway at the next exit and soon found a
rundown gas station with just one gas pump. He asked the lone attendant
to fill the tank and check the oil; then went for a little walk around
the station to stretch his legs.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As
he was returning to the car, he noticed that the attendant and his wife
were engaged in an animated conversation. The conversation stopped as
he paid the attendant. But as he was getting back into the car, he saw
the attendant wave and heard him say, "It was great talking to you."</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As
they drove out of the station, Wheeler asked his wife if she knew the
man. She readily admitted she did. They had gone to high school together
and had dated steadily for about a year.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Boy, were you lucky that I came along," bragged Wheeler.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"If you had married him, you'd be the wife of a gas station attendant instead of the wife of a chief executive officer."</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"My dear," replied his wife, "if I had married him, he'd be the chief executive officer and you'd be the gas station attendant."</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Yes,
we often think we have the proper perspective on an issue when in fact
we are way off. Jesus understood this propensity for us humans to get it
wrong. Especially when it comes to things spiritual. So he told a few
parables. He said the kingdom of heaven is like:</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">1. A Small Seed</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2. A Hidden Treasure</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">3. And a Pearl of Great Price</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="COLOR: black">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a style="COLOR: #0000ff" shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__1817724565__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aelnpceab&et=1106641582398&s=45429&e=0016_IJFg7HkcKI7Y6Pd6INQJZ9HeOph0AIodvIYdWP7BJYbT48m9uJs8n14BH5dJ28cJ6iifT9HARijPjVI2eTnC-FEFno_Qle8os26xIiYun93Q21BZLgJYxMy3nUMZ22">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><span style="COLOR: black"> </span></span></div>
<span><span style="COLOR: black">____________________</span></span>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><span style="COLOR: black"> </span></span></div>
<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">R</font></font><span><span style="COLOR: black">omans 8<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon titled "Super-Size Your Faith" by Leonard Sweet </span></span>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down...in a most delightful way" </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">How many of you can hear Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) singing that? </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">How many of you have no idea who Mary Poppins is?</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">There's
the generational divide right in front of us...although Broadway has
just introduced a new "Mary Poppins" musical to catch those of you who
only know the more postmodern Nannie McPhee version of the story.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nanny
Mary Poppins sang this song in the 1964 movie to get her employers'
closed-mouth children to open up and swallow down their daily dose of
nasty-tasting stuff. Could any nanny get away with that today? Given the
skyrocketing rate of childhood obesity, I suspect that any child-care
worker caught shoveling spoonfuls of sugar down their charge's throats
would be instantly sacked.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Still,
we "sugarcoat" everything. "It smells like money" is how we sugarcoat
the sickening stench of a slaughterhouse or the cloud of sulphur dioxide
that spews out of paper-mill smoke stacks. Ironically, in the case of
pulp mills, we are sugar-coating the release of sugars (and sulphur) in
the wood. </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Sugar-coating"
is our attempt to disguise that which is truly awful with an artificial
top-coat of sticky sweetness. We do this with everything from
chocolate-dipped grasshoppers to 5 mpg SUV's that run on Big Diesel. We
love to take our sourest lemons and turn them into lemonade.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But
this attempt to "sugar-coat" the negative is not a part of biblical
faith. A faith that is founded on the crucifixion of its founder as a
blasphemous criminal cannot be good at cutesy coverups. </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Jesus
never sugarcoated. He spoke openly to his admittedly uncomprehending,
sugar-jonesing disciples about his impending arrest, conviction, and
execution. Jesus baldly declared that "the poor will always be with you"
and advised the rich, young man that the cost of discipleship was to
"sell everything" if he wished to follow Jesus. Discipleship was never
advertised as anything but a big-ticket item by Jesus, a commitment
that, as its reward, demanded that followers "take up their cross,"
embrace the real probability of suffering and death. </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Paul had first-hand, hard-core, hard-time experiences of the "hardship" that discipleship could bring to one's life...</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span style="COLOR: black">Click here: <a shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__1817724565__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aelnpceab&et=1106641582398&s=45429&e=0016_IJFg7HkcJdxcMaDGpEgos-sr4fgwqYL0LvT1LW9YuULSJepIAZXVfH0a7i_rEn8VP5d3Dg9-0x0jHoOKmo3-xV76oPtwD1_0M6yqhx0yinx1u78MhEfCScjvsdsLMD">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a> or call 1-800-777-7731 to join.</span><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><span style="COLOR: black">_____________________</span></span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Holy Grail</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In
Tennyson's tale of the Holy Grail, a knight searches high and low for
that which lasts for eternity and gives ultimate meaning. He comes upon a
singing brook, with deep meadows and wonderful fruit trees. But even as
he ate the fruit, it turned to dust, for no feeding of the flesh could
still his deepest hunger. Riding on, he saw a home, its opened door a
promised welcome and in the door there was a beautiful woman, her eyes
innocent and kind. Surely the love of a woman and the sweet shelter of
home are my heart's desire, reasoned the knight; "But when I touched
her, Lo! She too, fell into dust and nothing, and the house became no
better than a broken shed." His soul still craving, he traveled on. He
found a warrior clad in golden armor. But he also turned to dust. Then
he came upon a city that sat upon a hill. Surely civic service and the
affection of his fellow men will mean his journey's end. But when he
reached the crest, there was neither city, man, nor any voice, so that
he cried in grief. "Lo, if I find the Holy Grail itself, and touch it,
it will crumble into dust."<br>
<br>
Are you tired of chasing pretty
rainbows? Are you tired of spinning round and round? Gather up all the
broken dreams of your life and at the feet of Jesus, lay them down. Find
the pearl of great price.<br>
<br>
J. Howard Olds, Faith Breaks, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc. <br>
_______________________________</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sowing Tiny Seeds</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nancy
Cornice remembers as a child hearing the tip-tap of a cane on the
sidewalk. It was an old man "bent from the years " his rough, knotted
hand purposefully clutching a cane." But this old man had a peculiar
custom as he roamed the streets of this small town. When this gentleman
saw a child he would stop, reach into his pocket and give the child a
picture of Christ. "He would thrust it into the child's hand and
continue on his way, never speaking a word."<br>
<br>
What this gentleman
did certainly doesn't seem like a big deal. However, this small act of
kindness made a world of difference to Nancy. Over 40 years later, she
tells us, she still has the picture he gave her. The picture is of Jesus
surrounded by a flock of sheep, with a river running through the middle
of the picture. On the back of the card in a shaky hand is written,
"Psalm 23."<br>
<br>
It wasn't until Nancy was an adult that she realized
what this man was doing. In his own way he was planting tiny seeds of
faith in the children on his street. It worked for Nancy. "His faithful
commitment," she says, "helped fashion a stone in the foundation of my
own faith."<br>
<br>
Whoever would have thought that giving a child a
picture of Jesus would eventually lead that child to faith? Whoever
would have thought that a tiny, little seed would produce such a big
shrub? For that matter whoever would have thought that the Messiah would
come from such a small, unlikely town as Nazareth? It is often from
small, seemingly inconsequential beginnings that great good emerges.</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">King Duncan, The Greatest Discovery of All</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">____________________________</span></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </span></div>
<br>
</font>
</div>
<!-- end of AOLMsgPart_1_f1939ce7-717b-4f46-81ee-b8218ac2b3cf -->
</div>
</font></font>