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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>What's the Good Word?</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A student from
Korea was complaining about how difficult it is to learn the English
language. He felt that American idioms were particularly difficult to
comprehend. He said that he had studied English for nine years in
preparation for attending the University of Illinois at
Champaign-Urbana. On his first day at the school, as he was walking
across the campus, an American student casually greeted him with, "Hi,
What's the good word?" The Korean boy stopped dead in his tracks. He
thought to himself: "I don't know the good word! You would have thought
that after nine years of studying English, someone would have told me
what "˜the good word' was!"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
Later, trying
to solve this puzzle, he decided to turn the tables and ask an American,
"What's the good word?" and listen to his reply. So, approaching a
fellow student, he repeated, "Hi! What's the good word?" The quick
response was, "Oh, not much. How about you?"<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>It was obvious that
neither of these students knew what the good word was. It's a rather
plastic greeting. But I can tell you the good word for today: Christ the
Lord is risen. That's the Good Word. And because it is; it says a great
deal about our lives.<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Brett Blair and King Duncan, 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> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Greatest Scar Story </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I can think of no
better modern-day illustration of the sacrifice Jesus made for us than a
recent scar story I heard from a tennis friend of mine. As we were
waiting for another match to finish, she was relating how badly her
knees hurt. This friend is the most fit 30-something-year-old I know.
Yet she sat beside me with a brace on each knee. I pointed to the open
hole of her knee brace and asked if her scar was from knee surgery. She
told me, "No, it's from my son, and I actually have an identical scar on
my other knee."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>You see, several
years ago she scooped up her toddler son from the swimming pool and
began to walk towards a lounge chair. As she stepped onto the tiled
patio, her foot slipped on the wet slick surface. She was also seven
months pregnant, and it was one of those moments where you feel like
you're moving in slow motion but there's nothing you can do to stop the
fall. Within a split second, she knew her momentum was toppling her
forward, and she could either face-plant and land on top of both her son
and her unborn child, or she could fall on her knees.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Of course, as any
loving parent would do, she chose to fall on her knees directly onto the
unforgiving concrete. Her knees immediately burst open and blood went
everywhere. She ended up needing stitches, which resulted in scars, but
her son and unborn child were both unscathed. It is hard for me to tell
this story without tearing up, because to me, it serves as a miniscule
example of the immense sacrifice and love of Jesus Christ for us. You
see, we are the beloved children of God for whom Jesus took the fall.
Christ suffered on the cross and endured unimaginable pain for us. His
is the greatest scar story ever told.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Christi O. Brown, Scars of Hope</span><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>A New Shalom</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When Jesus appeared
to the disciples, his greeting was, "Peace be unto you." The Hebrew
word shalom, for "peace," is a most comprehensive word, covering the
full realm of relationships in daily life and expressing an ideal state
of life. The word suggests the fullness of well-being and harmony
untouched by ill fortune. The word as a blessing is a prayer for the
best that God can give to enable a person to complete one's life with
happiness and a natural death. If the concept of shalom became all too
casual and light-hearted with no more significance than a passing
greeting, Jesus came to give it new meaning. At Bethlehem God announced
that peace would come through the gift of God's unique Son. The mission
and ministry of our Lord made it quite clear that Jesus had come to
introduce the rule of God and to order peace for the world. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Harry N. Huxhold, Which Way To Jesus?, CSS Publishing</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>____________________________<br>
<br>
</span><span>The Prelude to Faith</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Several years ago I
spoke on a university campus, and when I finished speaking, a young man
accosted me in the hall. He said, "I don't like what you had to say in
there." I asked him to tell me which part he didn't like.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"He replied, "Actually, I didn't hear you. I just don't like preachers." I agreed that I have some trouble with preachers too.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I said, "Well, what are you?"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>And he said, "I'm a seeker."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I said, "That's interesting. Where do you meet?"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>He said, "We don't meet."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I said, "What are you seeking?"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>He said, "We're seeking truth."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I said, "Well, what have you read?"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>He said, "I haven't read anything in particular."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>We went on with the
conversation for a short while. Finally, I looked at him and said, "I
don't think you are a seeker. I think you are a runner. I think you are
hiding. For you see, not to decide is to decide. You have decided that
you want to hide in unbelief."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The disbelief and the doubting for Thomas was not something that was rooted in fact. It was something that was inside of Thomas.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Doubt is like a front porch. All of us go through it before we get into the house of faith.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>William L. Self, The Prelude to Faith</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>Peace Be With You...It Already Is!</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Theologian Karl
Barth once remarked that to say the old line from the creed, "I believe
in the Holy Catholic Church" does not mean that we believe in the
church. It means rather to believe that God is present and at work in
the church, that "in this assembly, the work of the Holy Spirit takes
place. ... We do not believe in the Church: but we do believe that in
this congregation the work of the Holy Spirit becomes an event." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Barth's words rang
true for me some years ago, when I was invited by a church in a nearby
town to be the worship leader at a special evening communion service.
The church staff had planned this service to be educational as well as
worshipful. The idea was that, first, the congregation would gather in
the sanctuary and I would give a brief talk about the meanings of the
Lord's Supper. Then, we would go into the fellowship hall and be seated
around tables for the service itself.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>At each table there
would be the flour and other ingredients to form the dough for the
communion loaves. The plan called for each table to prepare a loaf and,
while the loaves baked in the ovens of the church kitchen, the people at
each table were to engage in various exercises designed to get them
talking about their experiences in the faith.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>It was a good idea,
but like many well-planned events, things looked better on the drawing
board than they turned out in reality. There were problems. Children at
many tables began to play in the baking ingredients, and white clouds of
flour floated around the room coating everybody and everything. There
were delays in the kitchen, and the communion bread baked with agonizing
slowness. Some of the tables ran out of things to say; children grew
weary and fussy; the room was filled with commotion and restlessness.
The planners had dreamed of an event of excitement, innovation, peak
learning, and moving worship. What happened was noise, exhaustion, and
people making the best of a difficult situation. In other words, despite
the rosy plans, it was the real church worshipping down there in the
church basement.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Finally, the
service ended, and, with no little relief, I was able to pronounce the
benediction. "The peace of Christ be with you all," I said, and just as I
did, a child's voice from somewhere in the room called out strong and
true, "It already is."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Just that -- "It
already is" -- but with those words the service was transformed into an
event of joy and holy mystery. That small voice captured what the Gospel
of John is trying to say. In the midst of a church that can claim
nothing for itself, a church of noise, confusion, weariness, and even
fear, the risen Christ comes to give peace. The peace of Christ be with
you? Because the risen Christ comes to inhabit our empty places, then,
as the child said, "It already is," and the church with nothing becomes
the church with everything. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_________________________<br>
<br>
We Want Proof</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>There is a reason
why many Christians around the world have latched so quickly and
tenaciously onto the discovery of what may be the ossuary or burial box
for James, the brother of Jesus. There's a reason why every time
archaeologists discover some inscription referring to King David,
Pontius Pilate, or some other biblical figure that this news immediately
makes a splash in the pages of Christianity Today. Here, we are told,
is further "proof" that the stuff in the Bible really did happen!
There's a reason why there is now a huge enterprise that is literally
scouring the universe for evidence that the formation of the cosmos
required the hand of a Creator God. It's not just that we want to meet
evolutionary and atheist scientists on their own turf--most folks also
quietly hanker for something tangible that can bolster the confidence
they have in their faith. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Over and again we find ourselves wanting more. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Jesus himself knows
that faith is both a blessing and a miracle. That's why he says in
verse 29 that while it was one thing for Thomas to believe with Jesus
standing right in front of him, it would one day be quite another thing
to believe without such undeniable physical proof standing in the same
room.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Scott Hoezee, Wanting More </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>__________________________<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Honey...It's Me</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Perhaps you've
heard the story of the Yugoslavian judge who was electrocuted when he
reached up to turn on the light while standing in the bathtub. No, I'm
not cruel or weird, let me tell you the rest of the story. This guy's
poor wife found his body sprawled on the bathroom floor. He was
pronounced dead and was placed in a preparation room under a crypt in
the town cemetery for twenty-four hours before burial. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Well, and this is
the part I love, in the middle of the night, the judge came to. The
judge looked around at his surroundings and suddenly realized where he
was. He got pretty excited and rushed over to alert the guard. But
instead of being any help, the guard was terrified and promptly ran off.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Fortunately,
though, the guard returned with a friend, and they released the
newly-revived judge. The judge's first thought was to phone his wife and
reassure her that he really wasn't dead. Unfortunately, he got no
farther than, "Honey... it's me," when his wife screamed and fainted.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>So, he decided that
the best course of action was to enlist some friends. He went to the
houses of several friends; but because they all had heard the news from
his distraught wife, they all doubted that he was really alive. They
were all convinced he was a ghost.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Finally, in a last
desperate effort, he contacted a friend in another city who hadn't heard
about his death. And that person was able to convince his family and
friends that the judge really was alive.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>That story almost
sounds like one of the Gospel writers could have written it, doesn't it?
It sure sounds like the passage from John this morning. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Traditional Story. We have not been able to verify the veracity of this story.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>____________________<br>
<br>
Watch and You'll See</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>This story is about
three accountants who doubted their three engineer friends. They were
traveling by train to a conference. The accountants bought three
tickets, but the engineers only bought one. "How are three people going
to travel on only one ticket?" an accountant asked.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"Watch and you'll see," said an engineer.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>They all boarded
the train. The accountants took their seats, but the three engineers
crammed into a restroom and closed the door behind them. The train
departed the station and soon the conductor came through the car asking
for tickets. He knocked on the restroom door and said, "Ticket, please."
The door opened a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand.
The conductor took it and moved on.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The accountants agree that this is a rather clever idea so after the conference, they decide to duplicate the engineers' feat...</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 illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons can be accessed at <a __removedlink__1711637904__href="http://www.Sermons.com" target="_blank">www.Sermons.com</a>.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
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