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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px">Mark 8:27-38<span> - "Why Must We Carry a Cross?"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px">James 3:1-12 <span>- "</span>Good Gossip<span>"</span><span> 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>Mark 8<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon title "Why Must We Carry a Cross?" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
</font></font></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"></font></font>Mark 8: </span><span>You
might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. When he first came to the
United States from Russia he was not prepared for the incredible variety
of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On
my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk--you just add water, and you
get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice--you just add water, and you
get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself,
"What a country!"<br>
<br>
Smirnoff is joking but we make these
assumptions about Christian Transformation-that people change instantly
at salvation. Some traditions call it repentance and renewal. Some call
it Sanctification of the believer. Whatever you call it most traditions
expect some quick fix to sin. According to this belief, when someone
gives his or her life to Christ, there is an immediate, substantive,
in-depth, miraculous change in habits, attitudes, and character. We go
to church as if we are going to the grocery store: Powdered Christian.
Just add water and disciples are born not made.<br>
<br>
Unfortunately,
there is no such powder and disciples of Jesus Christ are not instantly
born. They are slowly raised through many trials, suffering, and
temptations ...<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
</font></font></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
</font></font></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining </span><span><a __removedlink__1495534194__href="http://www.sermons.com/signup" target="_blank">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span></div>
</span><span>
<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>Mark <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">8, </font></font>the sermon titled "Good Gossip" 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>One of the most
popular shows from last season is returning this fall with ads asking
potential audiences, "What would you do if your weren't 'handicapped' by
sight?" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>"The Voice" is a
talent show that keeps the judges in the dark, so to speak. It requires
them to judge all the contestants only on the quality of their voices.
The judges' backs are turned and they never see the performer. Power,
poise, presence, emotion, erudition, excitement - it all has to be
conveyed to the judges only by the sound of the voice - not by any
see-me-showmanship. The power to convince, convict, and control is not
in the contestants own hands. It is in their tongues.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The power of the
tongue was of central concern to James in today's epistle text. And what
power it has. Did you know the tongue can lift up to 80 times its own
weight? In fact, did you know the strongest muscle in the body is the
tongue? The only other muscle that comes close is the masseter muscle -
that's the thick muscle in the cheek located at the back of the jaw that
opens and shuts your mouth. But it's not technically a muscle, since
it's also made up of bones. It does, however, clamp the mouth shut, and
the need to clamp the mouth shut is the theme of our text from James
this morning...</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__1495534194__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></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>Music in the Soul</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Paganini, the great
violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery
just as the applause ended that there was something wrong with his
violin. He looked at it a second and then saw that it was not his famous
and valuable violin, but a cheap substitute. He felt paralyzed for a
moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some
mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the
curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered
that someone had stolen his violin and left this old secondhand one in
its place. Paganini remained back of the curtain for a moment, then came
out before his audience and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I will show
you that the music is not in the instrument but in the soul." And he
played as he had never played before; and out of that secondhand
instrument, the music poured forth until his audience was enraptured
with enthusiasm, and the applause almost lifted the roof off the
building, because the man had revealed to them that the music was not in
the machine but in his own soul.<br>
<br>
Don't let anyone tell you that
the soul does not exist. We were created in the image of God. That
doesn't mean God looks like us. It means there is something divine
within us.<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>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>________________________________<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Hill of Crosses</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The people of
Lithuania take cross bearing a little more seriously than we do. For
them the cross symbolizes faith, hope and love. There are crosses are
everywhere in the countryside, on roads, in city parks and village
squares. Communities and individuals erect crosses to bring them health
and to commemorate events like weddings, births and christenings.
Crosses are also erected to commemorate historical events. One of these
is the Baltic Way, in which millions of people linked hands stretching
across the Baltics from Estonia to Lithuania on August 25, 1989. About 9
monuments commemorate this extraordinary event. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The nation's pride
is the Hill of Crosses, located north of Siauliai. Lithuanians erected
crosses there as early as the mid-19th century. The Soviet government
couldn't tolerate that kind of spiritual expression, so they totally
destroyed the hill in 1961, then again in 1973 and 1975. But people kept
erecting more crosses, until in 1980 their destruction stopped. Today
the crosses number in the many thousands. They are different sizes and
shapes, some simple, some ornate, but they immortalize Lithuania's
troubles, misfortunes, joys, hope and faith. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>For them, the cross
is more than a symbol in the church. It is symbol for the world to see.
A symbol that will not go away. It is a symbol of sacrifice. A
sacrifice that gives each and every one of us hope and faith and
courage. <br>
<br>
Billy D. Strayhorn, At Cross Purposes</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>
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