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<div style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Sermons for Proper 25</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Matthew 22:34-46 </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">– <b>“</b></span><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">”</span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Matthew 22:34-46 – <b>“Last Impressions”</b></span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Matthew 22, the sermon title “</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">”</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?"<br>
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"Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist."<br>
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In order to ask a good question I think you need to have noble motives behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees, by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they already knew the truth. How many times have we had it in for someone, asking a question designed to trap them? We do it to our loved ones all the time. In a moment like this we are not trying to learn; we are trying to injure.<br>
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The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do damage to the reputation of Jesus. And once again Jesus proves he is equal to the task. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Now, even though this question was used to test Jesus, it is nonetheless an important question. Perhaps in the life of Israel at that time it was THE most important question. But Jesus had a question of his own. A question, which signified that the times were changing; a new theological season had come. He put this question to the same Pharisees who had tested him: “What do you think of the Messiah. Whose son is he?”<br>
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These were the two most important questions of that era and my friends they are the two most important questions of our time. Let us consider…</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">1. Which Commandment Is the Greatest?<br>
2. What Do You Think of the Messiah?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining Sermons.com at</span><a target="_blank" href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8GBwALCwRUCgZJAQcCAU5QW1YECA%3D%3D" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">http://www.sermons.com/signup</span></a> </div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Matthew 22, for the sermon titled Living “Last Impressions” </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Last week we spoke of the power of “first impressions.” From a chronological standpoint, Paul’s “First Letter to the Thessalonians” was his first written words that have come down to us. It is the “first impression” of a life of Jesus discipleship written in the New Testament.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In this week’s gospel text from Matthew, we have a kind of closing bracket to that “first impression,” a bookend “final impression,” a last word from Jesus to the various Temple authorities. We have the third and final confrontation with those whom Jesus encountered as soon as he entered Jerusalem for his final visit into the Temple in Jerusalem.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">His first encounter was with the Herodians (who were egged on by the Pharisees) when he was grilled about the question of paying taxes to Rome.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">His second encounter was with the Sadduccees where his views on resurrection and eternal life were sized up and audited.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Now in this third encounter Jesus is confronted by what appears to be an organized, formal assembly of Pharisees. These were those Jewish authorities who were most devoted to imbedding the force and focus of written Torah law into the fabric of every jot and tittle of everyday life.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Pharisees had cataloged a list of 613 commandments or laws, which all faithful Jews should follow. But these 613 laws were also divided into those that were “weighty” and those that were “light.” “Thou shalt not commit murder” was one of the “Big Ten.” Written by the hand of God on stone at Sinai, this commandment was definitely weighty. Making a fire on the Sabbath, striking up some firelight, that was definitely “light,” and in an emergency, absolutely expendable. The Pharisees’ question to Jesus was tried to get him to name which of the most “weighty” commandments were the “hefty, hefty, hefty” ones. What commandment was #1, the big boss with the hot sauce.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Jesus’ response was his “final word,” his “last impression” in this series of Temple confrontations…</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining Sermons.com at</span><a target="_blank" href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8GBwALCwRUCgZJAQcCAU5QW1YECA%3D%3D" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">http://www.sermons.com/signup</span></a> </div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Two Hands</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Lewis L. Austin, in This I Believe, wrote: "Our maker gave us two hands. One to hold onto him and one to reach out to his people. If our hands are full of struggling to get possessions, we can't hang onto God or to others very well. If, however, we hold onto God, who gave us our lives, then his love can flow through us and out to our neighbor."</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Lewis L. Austin, This I Believe</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Staying in Line</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">At the entrance to the harbor at the Isle of Man there are two lights. One would think that the two signals would confuse the pilot. But the fact is, he has to keep them in line; as long as he keeps them in line, his ship is safe. It is the same with these commands of Jesus: love of self, the love of God, and love others. When we keep them in line, we remain safe and well in the channel of the Christian life.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Jerry L. Schmalemberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Co., Inc.</span></div>
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