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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Sermons for Epiphany 4</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Luke 4:21-30 </SPAN><SPAN>- <STRONG>"Epiphany: The Tragedy of Rejection" </STRONG></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Luke 2: 22-40, Luke 4:21-30</SPAN><SPAN>- <STRONG>"Prayer-Conditioning Your Life"</STRONG> by Leonard Sweet</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>_________________________________________</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>[Members: Please see Luke 4 the sermon title "The Tragedy of Rejection"] </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>In the church, most of us think of Epiphany simply as a season on the church calendar, and sometimes as a season we don't understand too well. We may recall that we are celebrating particularly the revealing of Christ to the Gentile world, via the Wise Men, but not much more. The dictionary, however, adds further dimension to the word, listen: "a sudden, intuitive perception ... into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience." That definition applies in a profound and unique way to our Lord Jesus Christ. We have good reason to write his Epiphany with a capital "E" because it is not only a special day on the calendar, but a revealing which sets the pattern for all other revealings. <br>
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True to the literary definition of the term, Jesus brought perception "into the reality or essential meaning." He stripped the superficial away from life and the artificial from religion. What we need, he told Nicodemus is a new birth: not just a reformation or higher resolves, but an utterly new start. To the woman of Samaria he prescribed water which would satisfy the deep, eternal thirst. For the rich young ruler, he commanded a whole new set of values, a change which the man, unfortunately, was unwilling to make. <br>
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But in every case, Jesus went below the surface -- down to reality... </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <A target=_blank shape=rect __removedLink__112124258__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ey9ge5Wnv9HtNezSbVyQ7p3vcmqSAfhlW1qofebtZay1SlvEJZwpA_WaRC1s1cT2fYincMLwOqAZr8VoCMo_mxkqBrlkjkxkaP470d9_KUWgfopOuBxgFpELCtV-A5-v"><SPAN>http://www.sermons.com/signup</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>Luke 4, the sermon titled "Prayer-Conditioning Your Life" by Leonard Sweet </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Today is a national day of prayer. </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Okay, not "officially." Not sanctioned by any denomination or government decree. But there will still be more prayers hurtled heavenward today than on any other given Sunday. </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Yes, it is Superbowl Sunday - and there are prayers going up for that favorite team by player, family members, coaches, investment brokers, and, of course, fans, all over this country. And, like the pizza-hawker "Papa John's," who promised a free pizza to anyone who correctly calls the "head or tails" coin toss that starts the game, half of the people will have their prayers "answered." Half will not.</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Sorry. Coin tosses and football games are not the testing grounds for our prayer life. "Hail Mary's" aren't the only way to connect with the divine. "Arrow prayers - "Dear God, please let me pass this math test," "Dear Lord, Please keep the car on the road," "Dear Jesus, please find me a job," aren't really "prayers" at all. They are heart- and soul-felt pleas. </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Prayer is something different. Prayer is paying attention to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. Praying is an attitude that embraces amplitude. Prayer elevates us to the portals of eternity and opens us up to the presence of the divine. A prayer-conditioned life is a Spirit-filled life...</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <A target=_blank shape=rect __removedLink__112124258__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ey9ge5Wnv9HtNezSbVyQ7p3vcmqSAfhlW1qofebtZay1SlvEJZwpA_WaRC1s1cT2fYincMLwOqAZr8VoCMo_mxkqBrlkjkxkaP470d9_KUWgfopOuBxgFpELCtV-A5-v"><SPAN>http://www.sermons.com/signup</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>______________________________</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Tell the Cats to Turn Around</SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>We despise people who challenge our cherished myths and kick us out of our comfort zones. The truth is that when Jesus sets about the task of saving us, he has to heal us of any myth or prejudice that is contrary to the spirit of Christ. Billy Sunday was the Billy Graham of a previous generation. He was conducting a crusade in a particular city. In one of his sermons he said something critical of the labor conditions for workers in that area. After the service, several prominent businessmen sent a message to him by one of the local pastors. The message was this---Billy, leave labor matters alone. Concentrate on getting people saved. Stay away from political issues. You're rubbing the fur the wrong way." Billy Sunday sent this message back to them: "If I'm rubbing the fur the wrong way, tell the cats to turn around."<br>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, Sermons.com </SPAN></div>
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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><SPAN>Moving the Margins</SPAN></div>
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Jesus lived on the margins and moved the margins to include all people, and hence invited hostile crowds to want to edge him out of existence. Today the church wants to edge Jesus out of our worship anytime the margins are made too wide and include too many who are not like us. Recently I was sitting at my computer, contemplating the way Jesus offended so many people so quickly in his ministry. I asked, "Why?" The answer was at the top of my screen. My word processing instructions at the top read: "Drag the margin boundaries on the rulers." That is why he upset people so much: in his life he dragged the margin boundaries of race, creed, and color to include all people. He dragged the margin boundaries when he gave a common meal, which we have made a holy meal symbolic of his inclusive love for all people. Jesus is dragged to the edge of a cliff to be put out of the lives of his townspeople because no one wants the margins of daily living to be inclusive of strangers.<br>
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Richard W. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World, CSS Publishing Company <br>
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