<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body ><div>Forwarded: Part 1 of 2</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="font-size:8px;color:#575757">From my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.</div></div><br><br>-------- Original message --------<br>From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org> <br>Date:02/20/2016 6:51 PM (GMT-05:00) <br>To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org> <br>Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Lent 2C <br><br><div dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Dear Friends,</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Who’s Your God?” or
“Who’s King (or Queen) of Your Hill?” and deals with all the lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">Here it is: </font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Did you hear the story of
the man who died and had to face St. Peter at the Pearly Gates? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">Peter told him, “Before you meet with God, I
thought I should tell you- we've looked at your life, and you really didn't do
anything particularly good or bad. We're not at all sure what to do with you.
Can you tell us anything you did that can help us make a decision?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The newly arrived soul thought for a moment
and replied, “Yeah, once I was driving along and came upon a woman who was
being harassed by a group of bikers. So I pulled over, got out my tire iron,
and went up to the leader of the bikers. He was a big, muscular, hairy guy with
tattoos all over his body and a ring pierced through his nose. Well, I tore the
nose ring out of his nose, and told him he and his gang had better stop
bothering the woman or they would have to deal with me!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">“I'm impressed,” St. Peter responded, “When
did this happen?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">“About two minutes
ago,” came the reply (JokesWareHouse.com Joke of the Day).</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">I hate to tell you, but beating up a gang of
bikers to save a poor defenseless lady isn’t really going to help much getting you
into heaven.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Did you hear </font><font color="#000000">St. Paul</font><font color="#000000">’s statement to
the Philippians (</font><st1:time w:st="on" minute="18" hour="15"><font color="#000000">3:18</font></st1:time><font color="#000000">-19)?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">“I often warned you that many people are
living as enemies of the cross of Christ. And now with tears in my eyes, I warn
you again that they are headed for hell! They worship their stomachs and brag
about the disgusting things they do. All they can think about are the things of
this world.”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Another translation says,
“Their god is their belly!”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">My question
to you this morning is- who or what is your god?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Do you remember the childhood game called
“King (or Queen) of the Hill?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Out of
everything you like and love in your life, who or what is “top dog?”</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Who or what is in competition to be lord of
your life?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">The answer to this question
is really important, because it determines the success of your present life as
well as your future destiny.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Each of our
four Bible lessons today has a candidate for king/queen of your life- i.e. top
idol.</font></font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font color="#000000">Paul’s warning to the
Philippians about the god of the belly is a warning we should all take to
heart, because he’s talking about physical loves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font color="#000000">Is there anyone else in our congregation this
morning who loves to eat?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Did you give
some kind of food up for Lent and then find you’ve already slipped?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Be careful- who’s on the top of the hill of
your life- God or food?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Now before the
rest of us start to feel superior, answer this.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">What about sleeping?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">Is there
anyone who sometimes sleeps in on Sunday in spite of the commandment that says,
“Honor the Sabbath Day and keep it holy”?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000">
</font></span><font color="#000000">Then there are the usual addictions of nicotine, alcohol, money, sex,
gambling, TV, houses, clothes, cars, and who knows what else?</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font color="#000000"> </font></span><font color="#000000">If one of these physical loves is moving up
too high on the hill of your life, Lent is the perfect time to knock it down to size.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;">(Continued in Part 2)</span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">For anyone who is
interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are
posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: </font><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</font></u></a><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> .</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Blessed preaching,</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Judy Boli</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">Saginaw, Michigan</font></span></p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>
<p></p>
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