EPIPHANY 4A

EPIPHANY 4A    January 29,2017                                                     

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SCRIPTURES     

• Micah 6:1-8. Micah: The Lord has a controversy with Israel.

• Psalm Response: Psalm 15 (UMH 747). Tone 1 in C major.

• 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. Paul says, "Consider your own call . . . not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."

-Foolish God who loves the wise; Wise God who loves the foolish. Weak God who loves the strong; strong God who loves the weak. 

• Matthew 5:1-12. The Sermon on the Mount — The Beatitudes section.

SCRIPTURE

-The Beatitudes tell us the shape of our character when we are ruled by the purposes of God and not by credentials, status, or the bottom line

- It's what we are that really counts , not what we possess or have done.

-Beatitudes is not exclusively for a distant future.  Rather, it is for the present

- The Beatitudes talk about the real world.

- Spiritually bankrupt = poor in spirit

-One N.T. scholar suggests that "congratulations" might be better than “Blessed”

sermon/ Lindy  A. there is bad news all around us (new paper, suffering, wars, etc.)/ media 

                     loves it

                B. There was bad news in Jesus' time,  suffering, tyranny, immorality, betrayal, 

                    Jesus; life, etc.

                C. Jesus climbed that mountain and said:  There is Good News 

                     notwithstanding!  The Beatitudes. 

-"Be-Attitudes" or "Attitudes for Being."

-Most  think they are familiar with the Beatitudes, but how many can name half of them, much less really understand them? . I don't think "familiarity breeds contempt" so much as "familiarity breeds inattentiveness." We think we know all that's worth knowing, so we tune them out. Is there any way we can hear these beatitiudes with new ears?  Tom Welbers

-Where the Ten Commandments offer clear guidelines for behavior - what is and what is not allowed - the Beatitudes speak more of an inner disposition.

-This may be the same occasion as "The Sermon On The Plain" . Lk 6:17-49

-This sermon has been called., The Magna Carta of His Kingdom or The Manifesto of the King

QUOTES-

- The paradox of strength through weakness. 

-Our attitude more than our aptitude determines our altitude  Carter

-If actions speaks louder than words than attitudes speak louder than actions

- Instant gratification, fast foods, high speed internet, etc. not exactly what Jesus was talking about.

- People look on the outside but God looks on the heart.  1 Sam. 16:7

-  Are we having fun  yet?  Zippy comic strips. 

-  You can become what you already are. (merciful, meek, etc.)

-Christians are guilty of secularism when they think and act like the world about them. We fall into the evil of secularism when we attempt to go about doing the work of God in the world’s way. We have succumbed to secularism when we adopt the same attitudes, values, and goals as those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It is to this matter of secularism that our Lord first directs His attention in the Sermon on the Mount. Bob Deffinbaugh

-The last human freedom is to chose ones attitude. Frankyl

ILLUSTRATIONS

-  The Be Happy Attitudes, by Robert Schuller....discuss pros and cons of Schuller's approach to the Beatitudes.

- Discuss how popular television programs reveal a particular definition of success. There's  a sharp contrast between Jesus' notion of blessedness and that of the wider society.  "Blessed are those who drive large sport vehicles for they shall be seen powerful and successful".

• Once, when I was a teenager, I excused my self by saying to my father,   “But Dad, I’m only human”.   My Dad didn’t buy it.  He quickly responded, “No, you’re not human enough”. Dad’s father was a minister and evidently some of Grandpa’s  preaching about Jesus rubbed off onto Dad.  I didn’t exactly know what Dad meant when he told me I wasn’t human enough until I became a minister myself and then learned just how fully human Jesus was. Lindy

• CHILDREN

- Invite children to look at the church from a different angle. (lie on their backs;  look through their legs)  How does it look different?  What things do you notice that that you never noticed before?   Then talk about the beatitudes and how they make us see things differently.  Jesus made everything look different. In Jesus' day they believed that poor people were being punished by God.  You might want to find a children's version of Beatitudes.

-The Song "If You're Happy"

song:

-- "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)  

-- If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.  (clap, clap)  

-- If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it, 

-- if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)  

I wonder how that song would go if a bunch of birds sang it?  Maybe it

would go like this, "If you're happy and you know it, flap your wings. 

What do you think a dog might do to show that he was happy?  Wag his tail?  

-- If you're happy and you know it, wag your tail. (swish-swish)  

-- If you're happy and you know it, wag your  tail.  (swish-swish)  

-- If you're happy and you know it, then your tail will surely show it,

-- if you're happy and you know it, wag your tail.  (swish-swish)

-I heard a story about a little puppy that noticed that whenever he was

happy, his tail wagged, so he thought he had discovered the secret to

happiness.  One day he shared the secret of happiness with an older dog.

He said, "I have learned that the best thing for a dog is to be happy, and

that happiness is in my tail.  So I am going to chase my tail; and when I

catch it, I shall have happiness.  

The old dog replied, "I too believe that happiness is a marvellous thing

for a dog, and that happiness is in my tail.  But I have noticed that

whenever I chase my tail, it keeps running away from me; but when I go

about my business, it follows me wherever I go.

  Many of us are like the little puppy chasing his tail - trying to find true

happiness that is always just out of our reach.  What we need to do is

learn that if we will just go about our business and trust in the Lord,

happiness will follow us where- ever we go.Charles Kirkpatrick, www.Sermons4Kids, 2002

HUMOR

-You shall know the truth and it shall make you odd.

-A woman was walking along the street one night and came upon a man parked outside of her apartment building walking around under the streetlight and gazing intently at the ground. She inquired as to what he was doing and he replied that he was looking for his car keys. She offered her help and started looking. After about 15 minutes of intense searching she asked, “Are you shure you dropped them over here?” “No, I dropped them near my car”, he replied. “Well, why are we looking over here”? she responded, barely able to hide her sarcasm. “Well, because we’d never find them over there. There’s no light over there!” (The dominant image of Epiphany is light)

-Someone has said that we are either like a potato or an egg. Boiling water hardens eggs and softens potatoes. 

PRAYER PHRASES

- ....after we have seen the real world You offer to us, give us the courage to come forth and be part of Your world, your kingdom....

-  May our love be as simple as what you've made us to be.  May our knowledge be as simple as the wisdom that comes from our hearts and may our righteousness be as simple as, Doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with You, our God.  Lindy

THOUGHT BUBBLES FOR THIS WEEK

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