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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Counting Down</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Jesus' time in the
wilderness for forty days is, in fact, our model for Lent. Like Jesus,
we seek to spend a special time - a span of forty days - preparing,
reflecting, praying, readying ourselves, knowing the hard path that
comes and anticipating the joyous Easter celebration that follows. In
our hurried world, I don't want us to rush through these forty days. We
are always rushing through things as it is - we're already always
counting down to something else, counting the days until birthdays (mine
is 8 weeks from today, for example), or until Christmas, or until
payday or until school is out, or until vacation - we're always biding
our time until something else happens. I hate to do that with Lent too -
just count down until Easter, and waste the time we have, miss the
opportunity for digging deeper spiritually, skipping over the process of
looking inside of ourselves, trying to remake ourselves, letting
ourselves be remade by God. I don't want our Lent experience to be worth
only two sentences - I don't want everything we experience in the next
several weeks to impact us only enough to be worth a passing comment. I
want more from Lent, for all of us, and I want more from Mark on this
time in Jesus' life, this time where we can see the human Jesus,
struggling to make right choices, just like we do.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Beth Quick, Getting on with It</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> Lent: A Time to Re-think </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>This is Lent 2012,
and if ever there was a year in which to re-think, re-imagine and re-do
our Lenten disciplines, this surely is it. Our beloved Lenten
disciplines work for us privately, personally, individually. But they
tempt us, even as so many of our favorite Lenten hymns and gospel songs
tempt us, to remain captured and captivated by the personal and
individual dimensions of our faith in Christ. Mark's is a Gospel of few
words. He tells us very little of his vision of God's new Kingdom and
new Covenant that has come to be in Christ. But all through his Gospel,
Mark shows Jesus resisting the political and religious authorities of
the day, just as he resists Satan here in today's reading. And by the
same token, Mark's Gospel shows Jesus standing in solidarity with those
who are outside and beyond the normative social structures: the poor,
women, the sick and the possessed -- just as he stood in Jordan's waters
with the repentant sinners of the Baptist's movement.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Angela V. Askew </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>Lent: Giving Up</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Self Denial is
about making a sacrifice that makes a difference, focusing on the Cross
and reminding ourselves what Christ gave up for us. Rev. Craig Gates of
Jackson Mississippi has a great list of suggestions. He says we should: </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP grumbling!
Instead, "In everything give thanks." Constructive criticism is OK, but
"moaning, groaning, and complaining" are not Christian disciplines. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP 10 to 15
minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and
personal devotion. A few minutes in prayer WILL keep you focused. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP looking at
other people's worst attributes. Instead concentrate on their best
points. We all have faults. It is a lot easier to have people overlook
our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP speaking
unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It
costs so little to say something kind and uplifting or to offer a smile.
Why not check that sharp tongue at the door? </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. "Love covers a multitude of sins." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP your
worries and anxieties! They're too heavy for you to carry anyway.
Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on
something we can do nothing about: like tomorrow! Live today and let
God's grace be sufficient. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP TV one
evening a week! Instead, visit someone who's lonely or sick. There are
those who are isolated by illness or age. Why isolate yourself in front
of the "tube?" Give someone a precious gift: your time! </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP buying
anything but essentials for yourself! Instead, give the money to God.
The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet basic
needs. We're called to be stewards of God's riches, not consumers. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>GIVE UP judging
others by appearances and by the standard of the world! Instead, learn
to give up yourself to God. There is only one who has the right to
judge, Jesus Christ. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Billy D. Strayhorn, Cross Eyed: Focus</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> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>We Haven't Been Up To Bat Yet</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Temptation tries to
blind us to other possibilities. A business man driving home from work
one day, saw a little league baseball game in progress. He decided to
stop and watch. He sat down in the bleachers and asked a kid what the
score was. "We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"Really," he responded. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Brett Blair, <a shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__1670520345__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109344114134&s=45429&e=0010vduTf8Nv5RkbTmEpMOYPaTGqQozr7SXzWb9BLBOxQXAqQ5JNAH5IOaCjwN-uNoyPQ-XfeFTd7TVmR8CMyNiXWU26i-5cIOJjj7YyqwrnKdm9PzFnTqskA==">www.eSermons.com</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>_________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Lent: Spring Training For Christians</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When I was a boy, I
was told, "Baptists don't do Lent." No one knew why. I suspect that it
was an anti-Catholic thing which I pray we are over. It was the old
argument, "whatever they do, we don't!" - a curiously convoluted,
twisted and unhealthy way to decide on religious practices. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Whatever the reason
for "not doing Lent," I think it is a great loss for any Christian not
to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. Every spring the baseball players
prepare for the season with spring training; every spring ordinary
people prepare for summer by doing "spring cleaning." So why shouldn't
Christians prepare for the most important events in Jesus' ministry -
what he did for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, what he did for us
on Golgotha's cross and at the empty tomb?</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring training and spring cleaning.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>John Ewing Roberts, Remembering and Forgetting</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>How Can a Christian Become a Christian?</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Soren Kierkegaard
once asked how a person who is already a Christian can become a
Christian. Think about that for a moment. How can a person who already
is a Christian become a Christian? Kierkegaard was directing his
thoughts toward those of us who have grown up in the church. He was
saying that second-hand faith is not enough. It is easy to take the
faith we have grown up in for granted, isn't it? After all, it is like
the air we breathe. It's always been there. We need something more than
that. Baptism reminds us that a fresh experience of God's grace and
God's love is always available to us if we seek it.<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <a __removedlink__1670520345__href="http://www.Sermons.com" target="_blank">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> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Sermon Closer: God Has Called Your Name</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Harry Emerson
Fosdick was one of the greatest American preachers of this century. He
described his preaching as counseling on a large scale. Few people knew
that as a young seminary student he reached the breaking point after
working one summer in a New York Bowery mission. He went home and was
overcome by deep depression. One day he stood in the bathroom with a
straight razor to his throat. He thought about taking his own life. And
then -- and then he heard his father in the other room calling his name,
"Harry! Harry!" It called him back. He never forgot it. It was like the
voice of God calling him.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>So I want to remind
you today that in those times when you are in the wilderness, trying to
find your way through, and when temptation comes and offers you the
wrong answer, the wrong choice -- the wrong use of power, the way to
popularity, the wrong kind of partnership -- then you remember that God
has called your name: "This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in
whom I am well pleased." And, you remember that because God has called
your name He will see you through.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span>Many additional illustrations and sermons, including our sermon series for Lent, can be accessed at <a __removedlink__1670520345__href="http://www.Sermons.com" target="_blank">www.Sermons.com</a>.</span></div>
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