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<div><span style="font-size: 12pt">Resources for Proper 25</span> </div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 22: 15-22 - "<b>The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer</b>"</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">1 Thessalonians 1:1-8 - "<b>The Science of Happiness</b>" by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt"> Matthew 22 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">- </font></font>the sermon title “<b>The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer</b>” </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Isidor
Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers
of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi
replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about
his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned
that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always
inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?"<br>
<br>
"Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist."<br>
<br>
In order to ask a good question I think you need to have noble motives
behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees,
by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they
already knew the truth. How many times have we had it in for someone,
asking a question designed to trap them? We do it to our loved ones all
the time. In a moment like this we are not trying to learn; we are
trying to injure.<br>
<br>
The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do
damage to the reputation of Jesus. And once again Jesus proves he is
equal to the task. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the
greatest? Now, even though this question was used to test Jesus, it is
nonetheless an important question. Perhaps in the life of Israel at that
time it was THE most important question. But Jesus had a question of
his own. A question, which signified that the times were changing; a new
theological season had come. He put this question to the same Pharisees
who had tested him: “What do you think of the Messiah. Whose son is
he?”<br>
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These were the two most important questions of that era and my friends
they are the two most important questions of our time. Let us consider…</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">1. Which Commandment Is the Greatest?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">2. What Do You Thing of the Messiah?</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" __removedlink__1898360460__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8GAwUFAAVRDUkDCABKDAtXUVw%3D"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt">1 Thessalonians 1 the sermon titled "<b>The Science of Happiness</b>" by Leonard Sweet </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">“The pursuit of happiness.” </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">It’s
a phrase with which every school child is familiar. But what a phrase .
. . a phrase that is foundational to our national identity and part of
the introductory insistence of our Founding Fathers’ Declaration of
Independence.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">“Happiness”
is an extraordinary “demand” for political revolutionaries. Equality.
Democracy. Liberty. Freedom. Those are what we expect from our fiery
ancestors. But life, liberty . . . and “the pursuit of happiness?” No
matter how intellectually gifted, how democratically on fire, or how
socially revolutionary, at some crucial point, at some heart of our
humanity, all we want to do, all we want to feel, all we want is to be
happy. No wonder Jesus started one of his most famous sermons with a
litany of “Happy are those who . . .” (Matthew 5:1-12). </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Perhaps
the greatest sadness of Martin Luther, the simple monk who brought the
hurricane winds of reformation to the entire continent of Europe, was
that towards the end of his long and momentous life, he confessed that
he could count on the fingers of one hand the days of complete happiness
he could remember.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Luther
measured “happiness” by the length of days. But happiness does not come
neatly packaged in 24 hour increments. Happiness comes in unexpected
spurts and momentary bursts. Happiness is woven into the tapestry of our
life as an infusion of grace. Happiness is not something we “find.”
Happiness is something we cultivate on a daily basis, not for itself,
but as part of a larger mission, a mission which, joyfully, sometimes
gifts us with an unexpected bumper crop of happiness.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">In
the eighteenth century, when that “pursuit of happiness” phrase was
coined, the buzzword “happiness” was loaded with meaning and merit.
While Enlightenment figures applauded the pursuit of life, liberty, and
the “pursuit of happiness,” another Enlightenment figure, the founder of
Methodism John Wesley, equated “happiness” with the way to “holiness.”
His phrase was “holiness is happiness,” and over 70 of his sermons
referenced and recommended “happiness” as the goal of the Christian
life. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">But
for Wesley “happiness” means more than “feeling good.” “Happiness”
means “pleasing God.” In today’s epistle text Paul makes an important
distinction. It’s a distinction many people never make their whole life
long. It’s a distinction between living one’s life trying to “please
people” and living one’s life to “please God.” </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Paul
has no interest in living to please people. Paul seeks the stamp of
“approval” from none but God. Neither offering flattery to others nor
gaining praise for himself is part of Paul’s mission. Paul’s mission
lays out what matters most: Pleasing God…</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">For the rest of Leonard Sweet’s sermon click here: <a target="_blank" __removedlink__1898360460__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8GAwUFAAVRCkkDCABKDAtXUVw%3D"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a> <br>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Two Hands</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Lewis
L. Austin, in This I Believe, wrote: "Our maker gave us two hands. One
to hold onto him and one to reach out to his people. If our hands are
full of struggling to get possessions, we can't hang onto God or to
others very well. If, however, we hold onto God, who gave us our lives,
then his love can flow through us and out to our neighbor."</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Lewis L. Austin, This I Believe</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Staying in Line</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">At
the entrance to the harbor at the Isle of Man there are two lights. One
would think that the two signals would confuse the pilot. But the fact
is, he has to keep them in line; as long as he keeps them in line, his
ship is safe. It is the same with these commands of Jesus: love of self,
the love of God, and love others. When we keep them in line, we remain
safe and well in the channel of the Christian life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt">Jerry L. Schmalemberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Co., Inc. </span></font>