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<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><a name=LETTER.BLOCK3><font size=3
color="#cc0000" face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:#CC0000'>FOR MORE SERMONS ON THIS TEXT:</span></font></a><font
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color=black
face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'>Go to </span></font><font color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span
style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'><a
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=8ytu7ycab&et=1106922115005&s=1956&e=0019JlhIdbzJLcpW4WP0oJ0OQ4M4qTfGEXkr0oKZzlan4SrLwKzAajpms7sH1c02WqxyN-vy1tErZ2kxMSgPHXAoTBMbn9coTZc0Gc-vnt5KSn9bKwj-e1w2Q=="
target="_blank"
title="blocked::http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=8ytu7ycab&et=1106922115005&s=1956&e=0019JlhIdbzJLcpW4WP0oJ0OQ4M4qTfGEXkr0oKZzlan4SrLwKzAajpms7sH1c02WqxyN-vy1tErZ2kxMSgPHXAoTBMbn9coTZc0Gc-vnt5KSn9bKwj-e1w2Q=="
shape=rect track=on linktype=link>http://www.lectionary.org/</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color=black
face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'>On the LEFT side, click on the "By Book of Bible" link
under the SERMONS heading.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color=black
face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'>Then click on the "Matthew" link in the right-hand
column.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color="#cc0000"
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#CC0000'>TRUE
STORY:</span></font><font color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span
style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color=black
face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'>In his book, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Jesus' Claims --
Our Promises</span></i>, Maxie Dunham tells a story about Lloyd C. Douglas, the
author of the best-selling book, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>The Robe</span></i>
-- when <st1:place w:st="on">Douglas</st1:place> was still a university
student. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
Times-New-Roman;color:black'>Douglas</span></font></st1:place><font
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'> lived in a boarding house. Downstairs, on the first floor, a
retired music teacher had an apartment. The two of them had a little ritual
that they went through when <st1:place w:st="on">Douglas</st1:place> would come
down the stairs each morning. <st1:place w:st="on">Douglas</st1:place> would
open the old man's door and ask, "Well, what's the good news?" The
old man would bring out his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair,
and say, "That's middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C
tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs
sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>that</span></i> is middle C!"<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color=black
face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'>That old man had found something dependable -- something stable --
something he could count on yesterday, today, and forever. For Christians,
that's what Jesus is -- the one we can count on yesterday, today, and forever.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3 color="#cc0000"
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#CC0000'>THOUGHT
PROVOKERS:</span></font><b><font color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span
style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black;font-weight:bold'> </span></font></b><font
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>We need to forget the imaginary Christ
who has been ours too long<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>and to rediscover the real Christ,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>the Christ of the prophets and the
martyrs and the confessors,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>the Christ who is not only the lover
of souls but also the master,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>a monarch with demands to make in
industry, in finance,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>in education, in the arts,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>in marriage, in the home.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>Bernard Iddings Bell<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=5 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>* * * * * * * * * *</span></font><font
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>The Christian Church stands or falls
with this simple proposition:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>that Jesus is nothing less than God's
self-communication to man,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>and the only certain source of our
knowledge of God.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>W.A. Visser 't Hooft<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=5 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>* * * * * * * * * *</span></font><font
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>If Jesus of Nazareth is not God,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>how is it that, without any help,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>this sacrilegious Seducer has
prevailed against the laws of his country,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>against wise men,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>against the whole universe in
opposition to him,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>against the powers of heaven and hell,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>in fine, against God Himself,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>even so far as to make himself equal
to God,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>to receive honors due only to
Divinity,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>and to fulfill with an infinite
success, in spite of difficulties,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>and the contradictions generated by
long centuries,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>all the prophecies.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>Jerome Savonarola<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=5 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>* * * * * * * * * *</span></font><font
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>Jesus does not merely <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>have</span></i> the Word, <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>He <i><span style='font-style:italic'>is</span></i>
the Word. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>His teaching reveals God's secret.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>Emil Brunner<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=5 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>* * * * * * * * * *</span></font><font
color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-family:Times-New-Roman;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>If Jesus Christ is not true God, how
could he help us? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>If he is not true man, how could he
help us?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><font
size=3 color=black face=Times-New-Roman><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times-New-Roman;color:black'>DietrichBonhoeffer<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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