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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"><span>Mark 9<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon title "Jesus Transfigured"] </span><span>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Mark 9:2-9 - "Jesus Transfigured" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2 Corinthians 4:3-6 - "Let Your Diamond Light Shine" by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Dr. Jaroslav
Pelikan of Yale University wrote a remarkable study of the significance
of the person and work of Jesus Christ titled Jesus Through the
Centuries. Dr. Pelikan demonstrates how Jesus has been the dominant
figure in the history of Western culture. Each age has made Jesus
relevant to its own needs. Jesus has furnished each new age with answers
to fundamental questions as every generation has had to address new
social problems that tested the more fundamental questions of human
existence. The world had to take note of Jesus as a rabbi, as the Cosmic
Christ, the Ruler of the World, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace,
the Son of Man, the True Image of Man, the Great Liberator. In many
other ways Jesus furnished the answers and the images that affected
society in positive ways.<br>
<br>
Dr. Pelikan's thesis is that Jesus did
not and does not belong to the churches and the theologians alone, but
that he belongs to the world. None of this is to say that we can make
Jesus what we want Jesus to be. Quite the opposite. It is to say that
the Christ is adequate for all our needs and that Jesus transcends
culture in such a way that he is able to belong to each age and to
address the issues of all time. To understand that, we can do no better
than to look to the Holy Gospel for today, which celebrates the
transfiguration of our Lord. In that momentous event we learn how and
why Jesus belongs to the centuries. Look with me for a moment at all the
small elements of this story and you too will see why Jesus belongs to
the world and to the ages. Let's look first at...<br>
<br>
1. The Event<br>
2. The Happening<br>
3. A Reaction<br>
4. Some Gibberish<br>
5. It Was Not To Be<br>
6. Our View<br>
7. Our Hope</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <a __removedlink__1864387115__href="http://www.sermons.com/signup" target="_blank">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_______________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span>The full text of the following sermon is available at <a __removedlink__1864387115__href="http://www.Sermons.com" target="_blank">www.Sermons.com</a>.<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
</font></font></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><br>
<span><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"></font></font></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2 Corinthians 4 the sermon titled "Let Your Diamond Light Shine" by Leonard Sweet] </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>[Begin your sermon
by scanning your congregation intently. After saying nothing for a
period as you scrutinize your people, offer this explanation for your
behavior:]</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I am trying to see if you sparkle more this week than last week. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>How many of you
[or, "it looks like some of you"] celebrated Valentine's Day with a
little bit of "bling!?" The holiday that elevates the warmth of our love
and the softness of our hearts also pushes us to do so with something
cold and hard - a diamond. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Diamonds, we are
continually reminded, are forever. That's why they are worthy of a
significant financial investment. Diamonds are expensive because they
are rare, elusive, and found only in tiny bits and pieces. Yet if you
could travel 50 light years away from Earth, to star BPM 37093, located
in the Centaurus constellation, you would arrive at "Lucy" - a burned
out sun, a "white dwarf," whose entire central core is a planet-sized
chunk of crystallized carbon - a diamond. 10 billion-trillion-trillion
carats worth, to be precise. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>This "space
diamond" was named "Lucy" after the Beatle's hit, "Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds." By comparison, the largest earth-diamond, the Golden Jubilee
Diamond, is 545 carats - a sandal toe full of diamond "sand" on one of
Lucy's dunes. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Diamonds are a
chosen and cherished gem because of their sparkle and glow. They ignite
with a kind of inner fire when the light hits them. Unfortunately for
"Lucy," that means that the solid diamond core of that dwarf star is as
unremarkable and unassuming as any other stone. You could take a drawer
full of exquisite diamond gemstones and dump them in a drawer and -
without the gift of reflective light--you wouldn't know you had anything
different than a box of rocks.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The miracle of
reflected light is what Transfiguration Sunday is all about. In both the
gospel and the epistle texts, it is the miracle of divine light that
"transforms" and "transfigures" the moment and the message. In the
gospel text the brilliance, the purity, of the light that illumines
Jesus - a brightness "such as no one on earth could bleach them" - is
what first attracts the attention of Jesus' disciple-companions to the
mountaintop meeting...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>____________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>On the Mountain Top, In the Valley</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>No great mystery.
After all, life is lived in the valley, not on the mountain top. Things
are different between the two. If you read ahead a bit in Mark's gospel,
the contrasts are stark. [Read Mark 9:14-24] </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
On the
mountain, we encounter almighty God; in the valley, there is an
encounter with the demonic. On the mountain we encounter our faith's
heritage; in the valley, we encounter those who consider questions of
faith as occasions for battle. On the mountain, God's calming voice is
heard; in the valley, human argument is heard. On the mountain,
disciples are in a mood for worship; in the valley, the disciples are
spoiling for a fight. On the mountain, the glory of God is revealed; in
the valley, the power of sin and unbelief is revealed. "O Lord, carry
me away to the mountain," might be our prayer. YES, Lord! But then we
remember the place of our ministry is with those who need our help down
in the valley. <br>
<br>
David Leininger, WOW!<br>
___________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Changing in Preparation: Forty Days of Love</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Have you ever been
confronted with a message that changed your perspective? One church
chose as its Lenten theme, "Forty Days of Love." Each week members of
the congregation were encouraged to show their love and appreciation in
different ways. The first week they were encouraged to send notes to
people who had made positive contributions to their lives. <br>
<br>
After
the first service a man in the congregation wanted to speak to his
pastor. The pastor describes the man as "kind of macho, a former
football player who loved to hunt and fish, a strong self-made man." The
man told his pastor, "I love you and I love this church, but I'm not
going to participate in this Forty Days of Love stuff. It's OK for some
folks," he said, "but it's a little too sentimental and syrupy for me." <br>
<br>
A
week went by. The next Sunday this man waited after church to see his
pastor again. "I want to apologize for what I said last Sunday," he told
him, "about the Forty Days of Love. I realized on Wednesday that I was
wrong." <br>
<br>
"Wednesday?" his pastor repeated. "What happened on Wednesday?" <br>
<br>
"I
got one of those letters!" the man said. The letter came as a total
surprise. It was from a person the man never expected to hear from. It
touched him so deeply he now carries it around in his pocket all the
time. "Every time I read it," he said, "I get tears in my eyes." It was a
transforming moment in this man's life. Suddenly he realized he was
loved by others in the church. This changed his entire outlook. "I was
so moved by that letter," he said, "I sat down and wrote ten letters
myself."<br>
<br>
Receiving that letter was a transforming experience for
Mr. Macho. It came from a mailbox rather than a mountaintop, but the
effect was the same - his perspective was changed. God breaks into our
lives and we are changed. <br>
<br>
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <a shape="rect">www.Sermons.com</a> <br>
_______________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
Why Do You Go Every Sunday? </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A young woman asked
her older co-worker: "Why do you go to church every Sunday? Does
something happen there that can't happen somewhere else? And does it
happen every Sunday?"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The older woman
replied, "What happens is I go to meet the God whom I've come to know in
Jesus. God meets me in other settings than at church. However, I must
confess that I'm sure I miss most of God's appointments with me. I find
that I live most of my days in a daze - as though I'm sleepwalking or on
autopilot. I go to church to be reminded that that's true."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The younger woman then asked, "So you go to church every week and God meets you there?" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The older woman
answered, "I go to church every Sunday and for reasons I can't explain, I
meet God about 1 in every 8 worship services."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The younger woman asked, "Then why do you go every Sunday?" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"I go every Sunday," said the older woman, "because I never know when that one Sunday is going to be."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Mike Ripski, Collected Sermons, <a shape="rect">www.Sermons.com</a> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span>__________________________<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
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