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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Sermons for Easter 3</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Luke 24:35-48 - <strong>"See My Hands and My Feet" </strong></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Luke 24:35-48 - <strong>"Red, White and Pink"</strong> by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span></span><span>Luke 24 the sermon title "See My Hands and My Feet"<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Tolstoy once told a
story of a Czar and Czarina who wished to honor the members of their
court with a banquet. They sent out invitations and requested that the
guests come with the invitations in their hands. When they arrived at
the banquet the guests were surprised to discover that the guards did
not look at their invitations at all. Instead they examined their hands.
The guests wondered about this, but they were also curious to see who
the Czar and Czarina would choose as the guest of honor to sit between
them at the banquet. They were flabbergasted to see that it was the old
scrub woman who had worked to keep the palace clean for years. The
guards, having examined her hands, declared, "You have the proper
credentials to be the guest of honor. We can see your love and loyalty
in your hands." <br>
<br>
A similar story is told of the great missionary
to Burma, Adoniram Judson. Judson went to the King of Burma to ask him
if he might have permission to go to a certain city to preach. The King,
a pagan, but quite an intelligent man responded, "I'm willing for a
dozen preachers to go but not you, not with those hands. My people are
not such fools as to take notice of your preaching but they will note
those calloused, work scarred hands." <br>
<br>
After his crucifixion, the
disciples of Jesus were trying to sort out the meaning of the reports
they had been receiving about appearances of the risen Christ. It was
most confusing to them. Was it a hoax? They were not completely immune
to superstition. Perhaps it was some kind of ghost. Suddenly it
happened. Jesus himself stood among them. The disciples were startled
and frightened. Then Jesus said to them, "Why are you troubled and why
do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it
is I myself..." The response of the disciples is a sermon in itself.
Luke tells us that they "disbelieved for joy..." It was simply too
wonderful to be true. He was alive and he was with them right there. No
wonder they had difficulty believing. Some persons still have that
problem today. Many desperately want to believe but something holds them
back. "See my hands and my feet..."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>1. It Is Difficult to Believe God Cares That Much.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2. It Is Difficult to Believe Life Goes on Beyond the Tomb.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>3. We Have Trouble Processing the Implications of These Two Truths.</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__1730891622__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><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__1730891622__href="http://www.Sermons.com" target="_blank">www.Sermons.com</a>.</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Members: Luke 24 the sermon titled "Red, White and Pink" 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>Have you done time in the "pink aisle"? </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>If you've been
there, you know what I mean. It's that entire section in Target or
Toys'R'Us or wherever you shop, that glows with a Pepto-Bismol-bright
pink haze. The corridor you trundle your shopping cart down is awash in
pinks . . . </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>there is Barbie and all her accessories, </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>there are dolls of lesser nobility and parentage, </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>there are fingerpaints, Frisbees, . .. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Whatever sits on
those shelves, they all give off a ghastly pink glow. Stores really
should provide special protective eyeshades to their shoppers before
letting them venture down those dreaded "pink zones." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The problem with
the "pink aisle" isn't really its color (although, let's face it, YES it
is!) The problem with the "pink aisle" is that somewhere along the line
some marketing executive determined that all the "girl stuff" would be
relegated to a "pink zone" and branded with that awful shade of pink. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>What had been a
sweet "pink-for-girls, blue-for-boys" baby-shower tradition has become a
hide-bound marketing mantra. Pink is a pre-requisite for marketing
success. Pink is an absolute requirement. Pink is the dictator of what
is acceptable for selling to a certain segment of the economy. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>In short, pink is
no longer a color. Pink is now a religion. Individuality and the rainbow
of color possibilities are martyred to the iron law of "pink."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Unfortunately, what
happens in the toy store doesn't stay in the toy store. What happens in
the "pink aisle" doesn't stay in the "pink aisle." The dictates of
convention and conformity, of cultural expectations and day-to-day
demands, forces all of us to "put on the pink" if we want to get-along,
go-along, and get-ahead. We become human pack animals. We live lemming
lives. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Bring together a
group of five-year-olds and ask how many of them sing. Every hand will
go up. Bring the same group together when they're twelve, and ask how
many of them sing. One hand will go up, the young "professional" singer
and performer. What happens between five years of age and twelve that
our children lose their song, the one-of-a-kind, unrepeatable,
irreplaceable song God made them to be? </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Teenagers are those
most actively struggling to find their own identity. They invest huge
amounts of psychic energy breaking free from authority figures and
childhood expectations. They struggle to be completely "themselves." So
why do they end up looking alike? </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The power of ruling
"cliques" and the yearning for popularity and acceptance end up
homogenizing all but the most daring. I remember as a teenager
thinking----I might not be doing what I'd really like to do, but at
least I'm not doing what is expected of me either. I remember the day
when I realized I was conforming, but to a kind of "conformity" that was
driving my parents crazy. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>And this is not
something that just goes on when we are kids. Moms and Dads "martyr"
themselves to their children's lives and needs. Too many career
professionals martyr free time and family time to rungs on a corporate
ladder. Athletes martyr their bodies and their health to gain one more
goal, eke out one last season, make one final shot. Musicians martyr
their creativity and muse to a contract and record label.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As we take on college, careers, families, relationships, and responsibilities we increasingly all become "martyrs"</span><span> - </span><span>we
sacrifice our dreams; we don't take "the road less taken;" we martyr
our uniqueness to live predictable, conventional, acceptable versions of
our lives. We martyr our energy to collecting baubles and trinkets. We
martyr our originality to the pink aisles of consumer culture and
celebrity worship.</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__1730891622__href="http://www.sermons.com/signup" target="_blank">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span></div>
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<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 Are Made for God</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Jesus knew that if his resurrection was going to do the world any good</span><span>-</span><span>if the disciples were really going to be able to proclaim a message of Good News that the world could hear and accept</span><span>-</span><span>then
the resurrection had to be seen as something more than just the world's
greatest divine parlor trick, more than just the ultimate surprise
ending that would startle and jolt everyone who heard about it. No, the
truth of Easter and the reality of Jesus' return from the dead had to be
the capstone on a much larger story that went all the way back to the
beginning. It must be seen as something toward which God has been
working all along because then and only then can we understand that this
has something to do with the core purpose for which we all were created
in the first place. Somehow Easter does more than just offer the kind
of generic "new beginning" and "fresh start" that some churches seem to
reduce it to each year.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Easter does not
mean that a better day is coming by and by, that with a little bit of
luck we can turn things around in our lives, or that there is no
situation so difficult that God cannot cause a bright new day to dawn
upon us. No, Easter means we were made for God. Easter means we were
made for flourishing before the face of our God. And Easter means that
the sin and evil that put up obstacles and caused a gaping chasm between
us and God will not stand. God will bring all things back to their
created intent. God will restore all things to himself. Easter is not
only about the end of the cosmic story but is also a vindication of the
beginning.</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Scott Hoezee, Comments and O</span><span>bservations </span></div>
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