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<div><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black">Resources for Epiphany and The Baptism of Our Lord </span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"> </span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black">Mark 1:4-11 - <strong>"Back to Basics: The Three R’s of Baptism"</strong></span></span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Matthew 2:1-12 <span style="color: black">- <strong>"</strong></span><b>Prophesy Your Way Forward<strong><span style="color: black">"</span></strong></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black">Mark 1 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">- </font></font>the sermon title "Back to Basics: The Three R’s of Baptism" <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font></font></span></span></span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Baptism
is a powerful force in the life of a Christian for two reasons. It is
something we share in common. Christians all over the world can say that
they were baptized in Christ. You met a Catholic in Ireland. He was
baptized. You met a Pentecostal in Nigeria. She was baptized. The second
reason Baptism is a powerful force is that baptism takes us back to the
basics. Now let me set these two ideas up for you with a couple of
stories.<br>
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You perhaps at one time or another have seen on TV the old black and
white video footage of the civil rights marches in the sixties. Martin
Luther King often at the front received his share of stinging
high-pressured water hoses. Rev. King once remarked that he and the
other marchers had a common strength. He put it this way, as "we went
before the fire hoses; we had known water. If we were a Baptist or some
other denomination, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist, and some
others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water."<br>
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You and I know the water. All of God's children know the water. We share
by our faith this common symbol, this initiation, this rite, this power
of God over the deep and often raging chaos of life. We know water! All
over the world Baptism unites us.<br>
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It also brings us back to the basics. Perhaps in our lifetime the most
public statement of repentance was that of President Bill Clinton's. The
one he made before a Prayer Breakfast on September 10, 1998. He summed
up the task perfectly when he said, "I don't think there is a fancy way
to say that I have sinned." Then he quoted from a book given him by a
Jewish friend in Florida. The book is called "Gates of Repentance."<br>
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Clinton read this passage from the book: "Now is the time for turning.
The leaves are beginning to turn from green to red to orange. The birds
are beginning to turn and are heading once more toward the south. The
animals are beginning to turn to storing their food for the winter. For
leaves, birds and animals, turning comes instinctively. But for us,
turning does not come so easily. It takes an act of will for us to make a
turn. It means breaking old habits. It means admitting that we have
been wrong, and this is never easy. It means losing face. It means
starting all over again. And this is always painful. It means saying I
am sorry. It means recognizing that we have the ability to change. These
things are terribly hard to do. But unless we turn, we will be trapped
forever in yesterday's ways."<br>
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Clinton's quote ended with this prayer: "Lord help us to turn, from
callousness to sensitivity, from hostility to love, from pettiness to
purpose, from envy to contentment, from carelessness to discipline, from
fear to faith. Turn us around, O Lord, and bring us back toward you.
Revive our lives as at the beginning and turn us toward each other,
Lord, for in isolation there is no life."<br>
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What ever you might think of Clinton and his sincerity, he understood
that he needed to do something very basic before the nation. He needed
to repent. It's amazing isn't it? Not even a president can escape the
basic truths of life. It's like in elementary school. Our parents and
teachers understand the importance of building a strong foundation for a
child's future. So, we were taught the basics, the three R's: Reading,
writing, and arithmetic. Ever notice that only one of those begins with
an R. I always thought the fellow that came up with that one needed to
go back to school.<br>
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As parents and teachers and leaders today we would do well to remember
that life is still composed of basics. That is why, when Mark chose to
open his Gospel, he did so with the Baptism of Jesus at the Jordan.
Baptism reminds us of the three R's of the soul: Repentance,
righteousness, and revelation. So, don't be amazed when a president of
the United States repents before the nation for even Christ himself, as
we have just read, began his ministry identifying with the basics:
repentance, righteousness, and revelation. Christ submitted himself to
the basics. You ask me, Pastor, why should I be baptized? My answer is,
Christ himself was baptized, so should you. Baptism begins the most
basic elements of the Christian walk: Repentance from sin, a life of
righteousness, and an understanding that God has revealed himself in
Christ.<br>
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Let's take a look at our Lord's Baptism and what it tells us about the three spiritual R's:</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">1. The first R is Repentance.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">2. The second R is Righteousness.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">3. The third R is Revelation.</span></span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black">The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" __removedlink__1609700140__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8FBAcDDQ9RCUkCAwNKDAtXUVw%3D">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black">Matthew 2 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">- </font></font>the sermon titled "Prophesy Your Way Forward" by Leonard Sweet </span></span></span>
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<div><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">The worst thing about January 1? </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Not that it marks the “official” end of the holiday season.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Not that it means school starts the next day.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Not even that it signals we all just got a year older. </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">The worst thing about January 1 is that we are immediately inundated with two of the most depressing messages imaginable. </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">First, we are barraged and berated online, on tv, on buses, with the fact that it is high time to lose weight. </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Second, we begin to get reminded that it’s time to do our taxes. </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">As if January weren’t dark enough on its own. </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Is
it that our consumer culture doesn’t have anything else to hawk in
these maxed out credit card winter days except sleek new diet plans and
snazzy new tax prep programs?</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Happy New Year!</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Every
new beginning deserves to be heralded as “good news,” not “more work.”
We don’t celebrate an engagement announcement by be-moaning the price of
wedding cakes. We don’t rejoice at the news of a new child by adding up
the lost hours of sleep ahead. We don’t embrace a new career with the
thought that it will take over every moment of our life. </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">We don’t buy a new “house” with a hefty mortgage and iffy plumbing and a drafty attic. We buy a new “home” to love and live in.</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">In that respect we are all “magi.” We are all the “wise men” of the Nativity…<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
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<div><span style="font-size: medium"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="color: black">The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" __removedlink__1609700140__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8FBAcDDQ9RCUkCAwNKDAtXUVw%3D">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span></span></span></div>
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