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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Sermons for Trinity Sunday:</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> John 3:1-17 - <strong>Nicodemus</strong></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> Romans 8:12-17 - <strong>Don't Be Childish, Do Be Child-like</strong> - by Leonard Sweet </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>John 3<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon titled "Nicodemus" </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>For years, the
opening of "The Wide World of Sports" television program illustrated
"the agony of defeat" with a painful ending to an attempted ski jump.
The skier appeared in good form as he headed down the jump, but then,
for no apparent reason, he tumbled head over heels off the side of the
jump, bouncing off the supporting structure down to the snow below.<br>
<br>
What
viewers didn't know was that he chose to fall rather than finish the
jump. Why? As he explained later, the jump surface had become too fast,
and midway down the ramp, he realized if he completed the jump, he would
land on the level ground, beyond the safe sloping landing area, which
could have been fatal. Surprisingly, the skier suffered no more than a
headache from the tumble. To change one's course in life can be a
dramatic and sometimes painful undertaking, but change is better than a
fatal landing at the end.<br>
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This is the problem Nicodemus is
having. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he is facing a fatal landing if he
does not change directions...</span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>1. First, Nicodemus was a religious man.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2. Secondly, Nicodemus was a powerful person.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>3. Third, Nicodemus was a man of pedigree.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>4. Fourth, Nicodemus was an educated man.</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 the sermon can be found by joining Sermons.com. </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>Romans 8<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon titled "Don't Be Childish, Do Be Child-like" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Why is it that one of the most typically "child-like" things we do is to try and to act like an adult? </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Little children dress up like Mom and Dad. (My brothers and I did "fashion shows" for our parents wearing their clothes.)</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Kids a little older pretend to drive the car. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Older kids still play with pint-sized pots and pans, play-doctor kits and miniature tool sets.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Some of us are even
old enough to remember playing with perhaps the worst child-oriented
product ever invented - candy cigarettes. Does anyone remember those?
These were facsimile red-tipped replicas that let us "smoke" just like
grown-ups. Gives you the shivers now, doesn't it? </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The hard truth is children want to imitate and emulate the adults around them -- whatever those behaviors might be...</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 the sermon can be found by joining Sermons.com. </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>Prayer of Nicodemus </span></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>God of second
chances, who is patient with our confusion and who leads jus into
greater understanding if only we have ears to hear and souls willing to
search, grant that we may be born anew each day into hope, born anew
each day into joy, born anew into your realm. When we become legalistic
in our living, teach us the language of forgiveness. When we become
concrete in our thinking, lift us into the ways of your Spirit. When we
become stuck in religious patterns that lead us away from you, bring us
back to living faith. May your grace become the context of our days.
Amen.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Sarah M. Foulger</span></div>
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