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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Difficult Sayings</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>That great American
writer, Mark Twain, wrote: "Most people are bothered by those passages
in Scriptures which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always
notice that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those
which I do understand."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I suspect that, at
times, we all would like to walk away from the church and never come
back. We want a God different from the one we find in Jesus. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Flesh and blood? Yes. But demanding? No.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Resurrected? Yes. But crucified? No.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Salvation? Yes. Repentance? No.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Love? Yes. Commitment? No.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Unfortunately you
cannot have one without the other. The rose comes with the thorns. The
pains come with the birth. Night come with day. The best of times can
only be lived because there are those times that are so bad.</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"><span>www.eSermons.com</span></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>Cheap Crosses</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A missionary in
Brazil visited a market town on a religious holiday, and saw a sale sign
in a store's window advertising "Cheap crosses for sell." We may look
for cheap crosses - no sacrifice, no commitment, no cost, no pain - but
there is no such thing. Jesus' disciples have to follow the way of the
cross.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Katherine Fagerburg, Difficult Decisions</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>Humor: I Quit</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A guy joins a
monastery and takes a vow of silence. He's allowed to say two words
every seven years. After the first seven years, the elders bring him in
and ask for his two words. "Cold floors," he says. They nod and send him
away. Seven more years pass. They bring him back in and ask for his two
words. He clears his throat and says, "Bad food." They nod and send him
away.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Seven more years
pass. They bring him in for his two words. "I quit," he says. "That's
not surprising," the elders say. "You've done nothing but complain since
you got here."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>This gentleman at the monastery had something in common with the followers of Jesus: it was just too hard. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Traditional</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>I Am the Path</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Stanley Jones tells
of a missionary who got lost in an African jungle, nothing around him
but bush and a few cleared places. He found a native hut and asked the
native if he could get him out. The native said he could.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"All right," said the missionary, "show me the way."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The native said, "Walk," so they walked and hacked their way through unmarked jungle for more than an hour.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The missionary got worried. "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The native said, "Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I think that it is
here that Peter has one of his more honest and real moments. His guard
was down because so many people were leaving Jesus. They were leaving
because, quite frankly, things were getting a little too difficult. So,
Jesus asks the twelve, are you going to leave me as well? "Lord, to whom
shall we go?" Peter replied, "You have the words of eternal life. You
are the Holy One of God." Peter speaks for us all. Because in this
wrorld there is not path. Peter, you are right. He is the Path!</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"><span>www.eSermons.com</span></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>I Step Out on the Word of God</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
Poet Maya
Angelou recalls the struggles of her grandmother living through the
great depression. She remembers a lot of things about her grandmother:
her wisdom, her stature. But it was her grandmother's faith that Maya
remembers most. Clasping her hands behind her back her grandmother would
look up into the distant sky and say, "I will step out on the word of
God." <br>
<br>
The great depression was a difficult time for everyone,
but "especially so for a single black woman in the South tending her
crippled son and two grandchildren." But when faced with mountainous
burdens, Maya's grandmother would face the sky and say, "I will step out
on the word of God." <br>
<br>
"She would look up as if she could will
herself into the heavens," Maya writes. And because of her grandmother,
Maya Angelou grew up knowing that the word of God had power. And now,
today, whenever she experiences the injustices of this world, Maya
remembers the great faith of her grandmother. God gives us spiritual
armor to protect us from the evil we face daily: He gives us truth,
righteousness, the willingness to speak up for Christ, and, most
importantly, faith. <br>
<br>
King Duncan, <a shape="rect"><span>www.Sermons.com</span></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>A Higher Priority</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>At the Olympic
games in Paris in 1924 the sport of canoe racing was added to the list
of international competitions. The favorite team in the four-man canoe
race was the United States team. One member of that team was a young man
by the name of Bill Havens.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As the time for the
Olympics neared, it became clear that Bill's wife would give birth to
her first child about the time that Bill would be competing in the Paris
Games. In 1924 there were no jet airliners from Paris to the United
States, only slow-moving ocean-going ships. And so Bill found himself in
a dilemma. Should he go to Paris and risk not being at his wife's side
when their first child was born? Or should he withdraw from the team and
remain behind. Bill's wife insisted that he go to Paris. After all, he
had been working towards this for all these years. It was the
culmination of a life-long dream.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Clearly the
decision was not easy for Bill to make. Finally, after much soul
searching, Bill decided to withdraw from the competition and remain
behind with his wife so that he could be with her when their first child
arrived. Bill considered being at her side a higher priority than going
to Paris to fulfill a life-long dream.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>To make a long
story short, the United States four-man canoe team won the gold medal at
the Paris Olympics. And Bill's wife was late in giving birth to her
first child. She was so late that Bill could have competed in the event
and returned home in time to be with her when she gave birth.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>People said, "What a
shame." But Bill said he had no regrets. After all, his commitment to
his wife was more important then, and it still was now.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The story of Bill Havens is a story of how one man paid a high price to fulfill a commitment to someone he loved.</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>NOTE: If the above illustration is used offer this sequel near the end or as the ending of your sermon:</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 sequel
to the story of Bill Havens. The child eventually born to Bill and his
wife was a boy, whom they named Frank. Twenty-eight years later, in
1952, Bill received a cablegram from Frank. It was sent from Helsinki,
Finland, where the 1952 Olympics were being held. The cablegram read,
and I quote it exactly: "Dad, I won. I'm bringing home the gold medal
you lost while waiting for me to be born."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Frank Havens had
just won the gold medal for the United States in the canoe-racing event,
a medal his father had dreamed of winning but never did....</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, as well as many additional illustrations and sermons for the whole year, can be accessed at <a shape="rect"><span>www.Sermons.com</span></a>. <br>
</span></div>
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