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<div><span style="font-size: small">Sermons for Proper 24</span><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Mark 10:35-45<span style="color: black"> - <strong>"</strong></span><b>The Three Poison Pills of Position, Prestige, and Power</b><strong><span style="color: black">"</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Mark 10:35-45 <span style="color: black">- <strong>"</strong></span><b>Not So With You</b><b><span style="color: black">”</span></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Mark 10<font size="4">,</font> the sermon title <b>“</b></span><b>The Three Poison Pills of Position, Prestige, and Power</b>” </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">During
the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of
soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting
instructions, but making no attempt to help them. Asked why by the
rider, he retorted with great dignity, "Sir, I am a corporal!" The
stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted
soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, "Corporal,
next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do it, go to
your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again." With that
George Washington got back on horse and rode off.</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Where
did Washington learn such leadership skills? I have no doubt he learned
them here. In these words of Jesus: Whoever wants to become great among
you must be your servant. The young corporal had these words modeled to
him from the man at the top. The disciples, likewise, receive from
their leader a picture of servant hood.</span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">And it is high time they start imitating their leader…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">Mark 10<font size="4">,</font> the sermon titled <b>“</b></span><b>Not So With You</b><b><span style="color: black">”</span></b><span style="color: black"> by Leonard Sweet </span></span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">How
many of us here this morning were born BC? By “BC” I mean “Before
Cell-phones?” The first cell phone was invented in 1973 by Martin
Cooper. My kids were born AC, but I was born BC. In a world of 7 billion
people, there are now 5 billion cell phone subscriptions. Pretty
amazing for something under 40 years old. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">In
the last forty years the cyber-cellular age has changed the way we do
business, the way we get our education, the way we socialize. The world
has never been so closely connected, and there has never been this much
immediately accessible information as there is with our new online
universe. Each cell phone is almost the equivalent of having the Library
of Congress in our hands. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Unfortunately
all that easily accessed info has also led to an epidemic of a new kind
of crime — identity theft. With just a few bits of our personal
information, an online burglar can electronically hijack anyone’s
identity and drain bank accounts, take out huge loans, run up mountains
of credit card debt. Once your identity is stolen your name is no longer
your own. No matter your name, your name is mud…</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining </span></span><span style="color: black"><a target="_blank" __removedlink__1139451768__href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8CBQcHDgRRCkkNAAJKDAtXUVw="><span style="font-size: small"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></span></a></span><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black"> </span></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Everybody Wants to Be Somebody</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Everybody
wants to be somebody. Since the dawn of history, human beings have been
trying to move up the scale of importance. The clincher used by the
serpent to tempt Adam and Eve was "when you eat of , your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5).
Henri Nouwen says that ever since then, we have been tempted to replace
love with power. "The long painful history of the church is the history
of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over
the cross, being a leader over being led." This is a theme running
through the Bible, through human history and through our own psyche.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Kenneth L. Carder, The Call to Downward Mobility, The Christian Century, Oct. 8, 1997, p. 869</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">One Positive Thing</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">"There
are many negative things that can be said about James and John," writes
William Barclay. "They were nakedly ambitious and proud: they wanted,
and believed they deserved, places of honor in Jesus' kingdom. They were
ignorant and insensitive: their request for places of honor came right
after Jesus had told of His coming suffering and death. But there's one
positive thing you can say about James and John: they believed in Jesus.
Here was a poor, homeless, persecuted carpenter and yet James and John
believed Jesus was a king. They believed that He would conquer the power
structure of Rome." Even their crude ambition reflected their faith in
Christ. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, pp. 254, 255.</span></div>
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