Difference between revisions of "Sermon for September 21st, 2014"

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Romans 12:1-8

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Ministries: Exhortation

Today we'll be talking about the spiritual gift of exhortation. To exhort simply means to encourage. Now, I am fortunate to be the pastor of a congregation full of great encouragers. But not all pastors are so lucky.

A preacher had just finished preaching his heart out one Sunday, and in the line of people greeting him after the service, one woman stopped him, praised him highly, and suggested that he should publish his sermons. The preacher, trying to be modest, told her he planned to have them all published posthumously. The woman replied, "Good. The sooner, the better!"

The next person to greet him in line was a little boy who told the preacher, "Someday when I grow up, I'm going to give you a lot of money." The preacher responded, "Thank you very much, but why do you want to give me money?" The little boy replied, "Because my dad says that you are the poorest preacher we've ever had."

Another congregation member stopped to shake the minister's hand and told him, "You know, pastor, every sermon you preach is better than your next one."

Finally, one of the last people in line to greet the pastor told him, "Pastor, that sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!" The pastor was ecstatic. "No-one has ever said anything like that about one of my sermons before! Tell me, how did it remind you of the peace and love of God?" "Well", said the congregant, "it reminded me of the peace of God because it passed all human understanding and it reminded me of the love of God because it endured forever!"

Last week we talked about the spiritual gift of teaching, and I shared how that, as a former high school teacher, that particular gift is near and dear to my heart.

-From Dr. Seow: "Neal, I love the way you research and think and write. This is the rare student paper from which I have also learned, and I spent more time on it than I could spare. A mark of your success, too, is that I find myself wanting to follow up on a number of your ideas—especially those you laid out as areas for further research."

-Word gifts vs. deed gifts?

-If Teaching aims for the head, exhortation aims for the heart.

-Mary had grown up knowing that she was different from the other kids, and she hated it. She was born with a cleft palate and had to bear the jokes and stares of cruel children who teased her non-stop about her misshaped lip, crooked nose, and garbled speech. With all the teasing, Mary grew up hating the fact that she was "different". She was convinced that no one, outside her family, could ever love her ... until she entered Mrs. Leonard's class.

Mrs. Leonard had a warm smile, a round face, and shiny brown hair. While everyone in her class liked her, Mary came to love Mrs. Leonard. In the 1950's, it was common for teachers to give their children an annual hearing test. However, in Mary's case, in addition to her cleft palate, she was barely able to hear out of one ear. Determined not to let the other children have another "difference" to point out, she would cheat on the test each year. The "whisper test" was given by having a child walk to the classroom door, turn sideways, close one ear with a finger, and then repeat something which the teacher whispered. Mary turned her bad ear towards her teacher and pretended to cover her good ear. She knew that teachers would often say things like, "The sky is blue," or "What color are your shoes?" But not on that day. Surely, God put seven words in Mrs. Leonard's mouth that changed Mary's life forever. When the "Whisper test" came, Mary heard the words: "I wish you were my little girl."

It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states, and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what the letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply, "Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School." She said, "While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I am writing you simply to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."