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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org><br>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Sep 24, 2016 9:46 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 22C<br>
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<div 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></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal; mso-mirror-indents: yes;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Money! Money! Money!”
and deals with the Gospel (Luke 16: 19-31).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here it is: </font></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Last week our Gospel
was about caring- caring about God’s concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This week our Gospel is about sharing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Did you hear about the man who died?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had taken out a life insurance policy of $100,000 before he died, and
his wife had just collected the money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As his family gathered around the casket in the funeral home for one
last look, the younger son said, “We have to remember that Father wanted to be
buried with every bit of that $100,000.” “Yes,” responded the middle daughter,
“but we can only put in $75,000 because he wanted a very expensive funeral and
the burial expenses are $25,000.” “Don't forget: We have to deduct the tax,”
the oldest son said. “Enough!” exclaimed the mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Your poor father doesn't deserve this
bickering over money. We'll bury him with a credit card and he can spend
whatever he wants.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">We just heard Jesus
tell the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It seems there was a rich man who had everything he wanted- lots of
friends, expensive clothes, the best food- morning, noon, and night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please note that the rich man is not named.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve heard him called “Dives,” but that’s
just a mistranslation of the Latin word that means “rich.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a poor man who is named- In
fact, he’s the only person named in any of Jesus’ parables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lazarus must have been crippled, because he
was brought to the rich man’s gate every day to beg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When rich people ate greasy food in those
days, they used pieces of bread as napkins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These are the scraps of bread Lazarus had to fight the dogs for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaking of dogs, they licked his sores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hear that both people died- perhaps
Lazarus was killed by his disease or perhaps the dogs killed him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t know what killed the rich man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We heard how Lazarus ended up in heaven and
the rich man ended up in hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s
happening?</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">It isn’t the rich man’s
money that landed him in hell- it was his attitude about his money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul Azinger (golf pro) has a very wise
statement: “I don’t know how big your house is, how much money you have, or how
nice your car is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But…we came into this
world with nothing, and we are leaving with nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything we get along the way is a blessing
from God”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what the rich man
forgot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He acted as if all his material
things were his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth is-
everything we have is really on loan from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He expects us to manage his stuff according to his values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So how does God want his stuff managed?</font></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First of all, give God the top 10% if possible.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From Malachi 3:8-10: “You people are robbing
me, your God. And, here you are, asking, ‘How are we robbing you?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are robbing me of the offerings and of
the ten percent that belongs to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That's why your whole nation is under a curse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I challenge
you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so
there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and
flood you with blessing after blessing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tithing also applies to us, so how do we work it out today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if you can’t give 10%?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well then, give what you can, preferably by
percent- try 1 or 2% and then work toward 10%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The most important point of all of this is- pay God first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When your check comes in, give God his first,
then pay your bills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if right now
you can just afford a quarter or a dollar or whatever from each check, put
God’s in your church envelope first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then at the end of the month, if you have anything left- give God some
of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned this important lesson
about tithing from a very dear friend- Mrs. Lorainetta LeBon, who was choir
director and organist at St. Matthew’s Church in Detroit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mrs. LeBon was an amazingly talented lady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was the first woman and the first
African-American person to be inducted into the Detroit Organists’ Guild.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was about 17 years old when I started
taking piano lessons from her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we
sat down at the piano for my lesson, every once in a while when I gave her my
dollar for my lesson, she would get up from the piano bench and go back to her
bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finally asked her what she was
doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told me that if mine was the
tenth dollar she had received, she would put it in her “God jar” to take to
church.</font></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Next, use your money and other material things to care for your family
and your self.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember, don’t waste
or destroy God’s stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t waste
food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take only what you can eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that, help those in need.</font></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Listening to today’s Gospel, it sounds like we should help everyone who
comes to us, but that’s not what the Bible teaches.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul faced a problem in his Thessalonian church
that speaks to this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Members in this
church were sure that Jesus was coming back soon, like maybe today or tomorrow,
so some of them didn’t see any need to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They quit their jobs and just sponged food from their hard-working
Christian sisters and brothers who had maintained their jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Paul found out about it, he wrote that
under circumstances like these when someone was just being lazy and not using
the gifts God had given them, he gave them this rule: “If you don't work, you
don't eat” (2</font><sup><font size="2">nd</font></sup><font size="3"> Thessalonians 3:10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The lesson for us- don’t let people misuse your goodness, or you will
just enable and weaken them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Help those
who need it, but use good judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Some people would call it “Tough Love.”) and don’t let people con you.</font></font></font></div>
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<div style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="3">Having a little bit of
money is a small test from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having a
lot of money is a huge test from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>May God bless us as we manage his stuff. </font></div>
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<div 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 target="_blank" href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman"></font></u></a><u><font color="#0000ff" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org" target="_blank">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</a></font></u><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> .</font></span></div>
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<div 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></div>
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<div 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></div>
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<div 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></div>
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<div 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></div>
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