Tom Skinner - Sermon Untitled 11:00am (February 8, 1976) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

♪ Elevates them to a presence ♪

1:30

♪ As with this voice they cry ♪

1:38

♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

1:45

♪ Alleluia, Lord most high ♪

1:54

(organ music)

2:07

(singing inaudible)

♪ Praise to the Lord ♪

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♪ Oh, let all that is in me adore him ♪

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♪ All that have life and breath, come now ♪

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♪ With praises before him ♪

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♪ Let the amen ♪

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♪ Sound from his people again ♪

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♪ Gladly forever adore him ♪

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♪ Amen ♪

6:09

-

In the year that King Josiah died, I saw the Lord

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sitting upon a throne high and lifted up.

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And the foundations shook and the house was filled

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with smoke, and I said, woe is me.

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For I am lost.

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For I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell

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in the midst of a people of unclean lips,

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for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.

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In the presence of God, and in the company of one another,

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let us confess our sin as we pray together.

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Our loving God, who by your love hast made us,

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and through your love has kept us

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and in your love would make us perfect,

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we humbly confess that we have not loved you

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with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.

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And that we have not loved one another as Christ loves us.

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Your life is within our souls, but our selfishness

7:39

has hindered you, we have not lived by faith.

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We have resisted your spirit.

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We have neglected your inspirations.

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Forgive what we have been.

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Help us to amend what we are,

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and in your spirit direct what we shall be,

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that you may come into the full glory of your creation,

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in us and in all people through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

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And the Lord touched Isaiah and said, behold.

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This has touched your lips.

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Your guilt is taken away.

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And your sin forgiven.

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Through Christ our Lord, amen.

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(organ music)

9:18

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

10:24

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

10:27

♪ His works are marvelous ♪

10:30

♪ By his grace ♪

10:37

♪ And his might ♪

10:40

♪ He has exalted us ♪

10:44

♪ Alleluia ♪

10:50

♪ Alleluia ♪

10:57

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

11:03

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

11:07

♪ His works are marvelous ♪

11:11

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

11:19

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

11:22

♪ His works are marvelous ♪

11:25

♪ By his grace ♪

11:32

♪ And his might ♪

11:35

♪ He hath exalted us ♪

11:38

♪ Alleluia ♪

11:45

♪ Alleluia ♪

11:49

♪ Alleluia ♪

11:52

♪ By his grace ♪

11:58

♪ And his might ♪

12:01

♪ He hath exalted us ♪

12:05

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

12:12

♪ Praise the Lord ♪

12:15

♪ His works are marvelous ♪

12:19

♪ By his grace ♪

12:25

♪ And his might ♪

12:29

♪ He hath exalted us ♪

12:32

♪ Alleluia ♪

12:38

♪ Alleluia ♪

12:42

♪ Alleluia ♪

12:45

♪ By his grace ♪

12:51

♪ And his might ♪

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♪ He hath exalted us ♪

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♪ We shall not die ♪

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♪ But live forever ♪

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♪ And shall praise, shall praise the works ♪

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♪ Of the Lord ♪

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♪ We shall live to praise the works ♪

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♪ Of the Lord ♪

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♪ We shall not die ♪

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♪ We shall not die ♪

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♪ We shall not die ♪

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♪ We shall not die ♪

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♪ But shall live and praise the works ♪

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♪ Of the Lord ♪

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♪ Shall praise the works of the Lord ♪

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♪ We can praise ♪

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♪ Shall praise the Lord ♪

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♪ Praise the Lord ♪

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♪ Works of the Lord ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

15:15

♪ Alleluia ♪

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-

Would the congregation please rise

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for the reading of the gospel?

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The scripture lesson this morning is from Luke four,

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verses 16 through 21.

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And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up

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and he went to the synagogue as his custom was

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on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read.

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And there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah.

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He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

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the spirit of the Lord is upon me,

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because he has anointed me

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to preach good news to the poor.

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He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

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and recovering of sight to the blind,

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to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim

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the acceptable year of the Lord

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and he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant

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and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue

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were fixed on him, and he began to say to them,

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today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

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May the Lord add a blessing to the reading of this word.

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(organ music)

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♪ Glory be to the father ♪

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♪ And to the son and to the Holy Ghost ♪

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♪ As it was in the beginning ♪

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♪ Tis is now and ever shall be ♪

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♪ World without end, amen, amen ♪

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-

As with one voice let us affirm our faith.

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We are not alone.

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We live in God's world.

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We believe in God who has created and is creating,

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who has come in the truly human Jesus to reconcile

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and make new, who works in us and others through the spirit.

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We trust God, who calls us to be the church.

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To celebrate life and its fullness, to love and serve others

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To seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus

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crucified and risen, our judge and our hope,

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in life, in death, in life beyond death,

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God is with us.

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We are not alone, thanks be to God.

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Would you be seated please?

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This evening at seven o'clock,

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the chapel concert series is pleased to present

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in concert Mr. Francis Perry, artist in residence

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at the University this year.

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You will find on the back of the bulletin the program

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for the concert tonight, an outstanding musician

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who will be accompanied by, among others,

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the Chiampi quartet.

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You are invited to come and share in this special concert

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tonight at seven.

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Next Sunday morning, we invite you to come prepared

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to make a special offering.

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Last year, some 200 or more families in the Durham

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community were supplied with emergency money

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to help buy fuel to keep their homes warm during

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the wintertime,

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this money was over $22,000 and was supplied

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from the federal budget, it has been cut this year,

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there are no funds available.

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Operation Breakthrough, Women in Action and other groups

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and church groups in the community are trying to raise

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some money to help provide funds, emergency funds

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for families that need fuel to keep warm

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the rest of this winter so I invite you to come

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with some special offerings and some additional offerings

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next Sunday morning.

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This afternoon at four o'clock, we will be privileged again

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to have a service of worship in this place,

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when Dr. Skinner will preach for us again

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and when there will be special music provided

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by the Russel Memorial CME church choir,

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The Damascus Road Experience, and the Reverend

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and Mrs. John Borens and perhaps others.

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It will be a time of real celebration

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and a time when we can share as a community of believers

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the word of God as it comes to us in many ways.

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It's a real privilege this morning.

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To welcome again to the Duke campus Dr. Tom Skinner.

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He was here in January of 1973 and preached.

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We have invited him back again so that many of us

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may hear him again and many who have not heard him

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may hear him for the first and the second times.

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Dr. Skinner was born in Harlem, reared there.

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For over two years was head of the Harlem Warlords

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street gang, a gang of 130 or so young men

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bent on destroying others or at least ruling

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their communities, he was a fighter

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and as he said to my wife and one of our sons last night,

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a dreamer.

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He was indeed a leader and a thinker.

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And then he was converted to the lordship not of himself

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as king of the Warlords but to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

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As some of us learned last night, he is a man

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with a keen mind.

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He is a man who cares.

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He is a man committed to preach and to live

22:40

the whole gospel.

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Among his diverse responsibilities, he is chaplain

22:47

to the Washington Redskins football team.

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A witness that has profound effect not only upon

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a small group of men and their families, but otherwise.

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He is head of Tom Skinner associates.

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But most of all, I think all of us at the end

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of the service today will agree,

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he is a man who has been called by God and claimed by Christ

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to preach the word.

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So after we have the pastoral prayer,

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and the lord's prayer, it will be our privilege again

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to hear Dr. Tom Skinner, and Brother Tom, on behalf

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of all of us and this university committee,

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in the name and in the spirit of Christ, I say welcome

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and we look forward with eager anticipation

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and hopefully with open hearts and minds to the word

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which you will bring to us.

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The Lord be with you.

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-

And with your spirit.

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-

Let us pray.

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For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,

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for the love which from our birth over and around us lies,

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Lord of all, to thee we raise

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this our hymn of grateful praise.

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Oh, God, we thank you for this day,

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for this place, here of renewal and recommitment,

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for this time of worship, for this hour when we can

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come together in your name and in the name

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and in the spirit of your son Jesus Christ.

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Oh, yes, God, we thank you for life and health and food,

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for minds to think and bodies to work and spirits to feel.

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Help us.

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Help us to realize that all that we have and all that we are

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comes from you.

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It is indeed a time when we stop to realize it,

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a time to be thankful.

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For we can hear your word, we can sing your praise

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and we can receive your love and we can be drawn closer

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to you and closer to one another in Christ.

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It is a time for us to rejoice in the good news

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that Christ cares for each of us and for all of us.

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That Christ loves us and wants us to love one another.

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Hear our prayers, oh God, in your mercy,

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not only for ourselves, but for those whom we are to love

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even as we love ourselves, that is our neighbors.

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God we ask for a special blessing of your Holy Spirit,

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your living spirit to be in the ruins of Guatemala.

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We know not, we understand not the mystery of destruction

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and devastation, when it is caused by nature

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or often, oh God, even when it is caused by human force

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and so we only cry out for mercy or peace of mind,

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for healing, and strength to those who suffer.

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Oh, God, help each of us to be an instrument of peace.

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Where there is bitterness, let us bring love.

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Help us to be instruments of justice so that where

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there is discrimination, we may bring understanding.

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Help us to be instruments of joy

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so that where there is sadness

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we may bring a song of hope.

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And God, may we truly care for those who are lonely

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in prison, those who are sick and suffer,

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those who hunger, are naked, or weary and lost.

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Now oh God, by the power, the mysterious but very real

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power of your spirit, speak to us one by one,

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draw us together in a bond of love and commitment

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which will make of us one mind and one spirit in this hour.

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May we hear your word as your servant speaks to us.

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Hear us now as we pray the prayer which our Lord

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has taught us to pray, saying,

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our father who art in heaven,

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hallowed be thy name.

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Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

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on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread

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and forgive us our trespasses

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as we forgive those who trespass against us

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and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

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For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory

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forever, amen.

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-

May I begin at the outset of our message this morning,

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to say that I am very happy to have the opportunity to

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share in this worship service with you.

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At the turn of this decade, the late '60s, the early '70s,

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a great number of people had come to the conclusion

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that in our society Humpty Dumpty had fallen off of the wall

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What most people could not agree on is how we were

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to put him back together again.

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Many voices in our society that spoke to the moral

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and spiritual decadence were considered to be prophets

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of doom, most of the people said speak to us good things,

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things can't possibly be as bad as you say.

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We made the sad mistake in our country of comparing

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ourselves with other people and convincing ourselves

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that we were still numero uno, ahead of most societies.

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We had greater technological advancements,

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we had mightier armies, we had more missiles,

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more destruction, we had higher standards of living.

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But there were others who kept saying that a nation

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cannot be measured by its technology, it cannot

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be measured by its defense, it cannot be measured

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by its affluence, but that it must be measured

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by its character, its morality, its spiritual maturity.

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And suddenly, all of the props that we had traditionally

29:50

been dependent upon began to...

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Fall beneath us.

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One scandal after another rocked our nation.

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We soon learned that all the things that we had been taught

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in our history books about how the system really functioned

30:04

wasn't the way it really was.

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We soon discovered that we had been consistently lied to,

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deceived, we soon discovered that the people

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who had been elected to high offices in our society,

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that their moral and spiritual character

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did not meet the demands of those offices.

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And a tremendous amount of insecurity and lack of trust

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has set in our nation and people began to

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look for alternatives.

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One group said that the best way to change the world

30:35

in which we live is to simply destroy it

30:37

and start all over again.

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Their argument was that the society was too decadent

30:42

in its present structure to do anything about it

30:45

and their argument was that we must bomb the system out

30:49

and begin again and you will remember those people.

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Some idiot would put a bomb

30:55

underneath a General Motors plant, blow it sky high

30:56

and feel that he had changed the system.

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He soon discovered that that wasn't the case

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because the executive committee of General Motors

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would meet the following morning, make plans

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to build a new plan at a new location,

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they would double production facilities

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in the existing plants to make up for the loss

31:13

of production in the one that was bombed,

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the insurance would cover the rebuilding of a new plant

31:17

and what the insurance didn't cover would be written

31:20

off of next year's income tax, but all they had done

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was inconvenience General Motors,

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they really didn't change it.

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Because the people who were arguing for the destruction

31:30

of the system had made the same mistake that the people

31:32

who ran the system made, and that was to assume

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that the system is made of facilities

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and that simply by destroying the facilities

31:41

of the system, you could change the system.

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Unfortunately, we suffer from the same problem

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even within the church, we suffer in American society

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from what I call an edifice complex.

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We worship our structures and our buildings

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and our institutions without really understanding

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that that is not where the real problem lies,

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it lies with people.

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We make the sad mistake even within the church

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of talking about attending church, going to church,

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but very seldom do we talk about being the church.

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The church becomes something that we go to

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or that we attend, it becomes wrapped up in our structure

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but we do not come to the point where we understand

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that spiritual renewal and revival does not lie

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in rearranging the furniture, it lies in radical change

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within people.

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But there was a second alternative.

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The second group of people said the answer does not lie

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in simply seeking to destroy the structures of the system

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but the answer lies by going inside the system

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and changing it from within and you will remember

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those people, they were the fair haired children

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of the late '60s and the early '70s who had become

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baffled, fatigued with all of the activism of the '60s.

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We were tired, we had marched, demonstrated,

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prayed in, sat in, swam in.

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We had faced up to all kinds of challenges,

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we had lived through the assassinations of John Kennedy,

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Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers,

33:17

Malcolm X, we had lived through the civil rights movement,

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the feminist movement, the ecology movement

33:23

and the disaster of the Vietnam war

33:26

and by the time we came to the end of the '60s

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we were tired and battle fatigued and those of us

33:32

who had been the activists of the system

33:35

began to become disturbed.

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We looked on the other side of the fence

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and we saw those young people who had gone to school with us

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who had decided not to become involved,

33:44

we had noticed that they were succeeding,

33:47

they were climbing the business and social ladder,

33:48

they were making more money, they had moved into

33:52

communities of affluence, they were working

33:54

on their second homes, buying their summer cottages.

33:57

They had four or five cars in the garage.

34:00

They were taking their trips to Europe.

34:02

They were saving their money, they were not involved.

34:04

They looked at us with sympathy while we struggled

34:07

and sacrificed and something within us wanted

34:09

at one point to maintain integrity to the movement

34:13

to try to change the world, on the other hand,

34:16

we noticed how green the grass looked on the other side

34:18

of the fence and so we decided that the best way

34:22

to enter a compromise was to argue that we wanted

34:25

to go in the system in order to change it from within.

34:28

The problem was that after several years, we are yet

34:33

to meet one who has succeeded because we had discovered

34:37

that in order to change the system from within,

34:41

that first we had to get within the system.

34:43

Then we had to work ourselves up to a position of authority

34:46

and power so we could effect change and the question became

34:50

what degree did we have to prostitute ourselves

34:54

on the way up that when we got to that position,

34:57

we forgot what we came there for

35:00

and so we continued to look for alternatives.

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It was kind of summed up on the parts of those of us

35:08

who while in college preparing for the ministry

35:11

used to sit in the student lounge and have those

35:14

tremendous rap sessions on how we were going to change

35:17

the church when we became leaders in the church.

35:20

We argued in those days that when we got into

35:24

positions of leadership,

35:27

we were going to make the church relevant.

35:28

Now as I travel across the country and I run into guys

35:32

that I went to school with, who are now pastors

35:35

of strategic churches, leaders of their denominations,

35:38

heads of church agencies, bishops of various councils

35:43

and I ask them how they are doing on the basis

35:46

of the conversations we used to have in school,

35:50

most of them don't even remember the conversation,

35:53

not less are they doing it, because we soon discovered

35:56

it was very difficult to change an institution

35:59

that was writing out our paycheck.

36:02

But there was a third alternative

36:06

and the third alternative was based on the fact

36:09

that almost everything that one learns how to do

36:12

that requires any degree of physical skill,

36:16

we learned because someone showed us.

36:19

I learned how to play golf because someone showed me

36:23

how to keep my head down and my left arm stiff

36:25

and to swing in a pendulum form.

36:28

I learned how to play tennis because someone showed me

36:30

how to serve and how to volley.

36:33

I learned how to play baseball because someone

36:36

showed me how to throw and how to catch and how to bat

36:39

and how to slide, I learned how to play football

36:42

because someone showed me how to block

36:45

and how to tackle, in other words, I had a model

36:47

that I could look at and say that's what I want

36:50

to become.

36:52

The issue that we face today is simply this.

36:55

If we are to be the difference in the world

36:59

in a world that's filled with hunger and oppression

37:02

and racism and broken relationships,

37:05

in a world of injustice, the question is

37:09

where is there a model of what the world ought to become?

37:11

All of us know that we live in a world of injustice,

37:17

but the question is where is there a model

37:20

of what justice looks like?

37:22

We all know that we live in a world of hate,

37:25

but the question is, where do I turn to to find a model

37:28

of what love looks like?

37:31

It is illustrated in the picture entitled Billy Jack,

37:36

story of a young man, part Indian, part Caucasian,

37:41

served in the Vietnam conflict, was an expert in karate

37:46

and judo, returns to his hometown to find the town

37:51

filled with animosity and hate and most of the people

37:54

seeking to pick fights with him day after day.

37:57

Finally one day, a group of fellas

38:01

in town rape his girlfriend.

38:04

Livid with anger, he decides that he's going to march

38:07

into town and take them all on and tear them to pieces.

38:10

His girlfriend seeks to intercede by saying Billy Jack,

38:14

you can't do it, we've got to leave here and go someplace

38:18

in the world where there is peace and where there

38:21

is justice and where there is love and where people care.

38:24

Billy Jack's response was, you lead me to one square inch

38:29

on the face of this earth where there is such a place.

38:33

You see we have done a tremendous job in American society

38:39

of reciting the rhetoric about justice and tranquility

38:42

and peace and happiness and joy and liberty and fraternity

38:46

and all the other beautiful things that we so nobly aspire,

38:50

but the question is where is the model of that?

38:54

If I wanted to find justice, where people are practicing

38:57

justice day by day, what community could I go to,

39:02

where could I find on your campus or your neighborhood,

39:06

a group of people who have entered into a covenant

39:09

relationship to practice justice.

39:12

If I wanted to discover love aside from reading it

39:16

poetically in books, aside from Shakespeare or Bacon

39:20

or any of the other great poets or writers who talked

39:24

about love, where could I go where I could see by watching

39:28

and observing a group of people in their relationship

39:32

with each other, day by day, demonstrating what love

39:35

looks like?

39:39

In other words, where is the model?

39:42

It was this that Jesus had in mind

39:46

when he had finished praying in the fourth,

39:50

rather in the 11th chapter of Luke.

39:53

And his disciples came to him and said, Lord,

39:55

why don't you teach us to pray as John taught his disciples?

39:58

And someone said that the disciples in observing the way

40:04

Jesus prayed discovered that he prayed as naturally

40:07

as he breathed, that prayer was not an extracurricular

40:11

activity in the life of Jesus.

40:16

Jesus didn't wake up in the morning and on the way out

40:19

of the door say oh, I forgot my quiet time.

40:23

Rather, prayer was a natural process in the life of Jesus.

40:28

He prayed as naturally as he breathed.

40:32

It was like exhaling and inhaling, and his disciples,

40:35

noticing the degree to which he was free to converse

40:39

with his father, asked to get in on it, so Jesus said,

40:43

when you pray, here is what you will lay on the father.

40:48

You will say our father who art in heaven,

40:52

hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,

40:56

your will be done, on earth the way it is in heaven.

41:01

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth

41:08

the way it is in heaven.

41:12

Which meant that obviously in the mind of Jesus

41:16

there was something going on in heaven

41:19

that he wanted to happen on earth.

41:22

Now if for a moment you could forget the gates of pearl

41:26

and the streets of gold and the crystal fountains

41:29

flowing forever, heaven would be defined

41:33

as that sphere of influence where God is in control.

41:36

What makes heaven heaven is that in heaven

41:41

Jesus is Lord and heaven is that sphere of influence

41:44

where everything is happening precisely the way God

41:49

wants it to happen, in heaven, Jesus is Lord.

41:52

He is owner, he is ruler, he is having his way.

41:55

So that in heaven, there is no poverty, no hunger,

42:01

no racism, no broken relationships, no prejudice,

42:05

no oppression, no war and no violence.

42:10

Because all the things that I just listed to you

42:15

are the works of the devil and the Bible tells us

42:18

that the devil has no influence in heaven.

42:21

But that is obviously not true about earth.

42:26

Because on earth there is violence and there is war

42:30

and there is oppression and there is conflict

42:33

and broken relationships, because on earth,

42:37

Jesus is not Lord.

42:41

Jesus is not owner.

42:44

Jesus is not ruler.

42:46

Now for most of us in American society who live under

42:50

a form of civil religion, it is very difficult

42:54

for us to accept that.

42:58

Because we have created a certain kind of Americanism,

43:00

in the name of religion and God, which sanctifies

43:04

our system in God's name.

43:07

You see, we have very cleverly stuck God's name

43:10

in the salute to the flag, which says one nation under God.

43:13

We have even put his name on our money.

43:18

It reads, in God we trust.

43:21

We all know that deep down within that that is not true,

43:24

it may be what we want, it may be what we like,

43:28

it may be what some of us aspire to,

43:31

but we are not one nation under God.

43:35

God does not run our society, he does not run the Senate

43:38

or the Congress or the state legislature or the city council

43:42

He does not run the boards of education of our cities,

43:46

he does not run most of the major businesses

43:50

in American society, we are not one nation under God.

43:54

If it were true, it would mean that God is an awful

43:58

administrator, he's fouled up his own system,

44:01

polluted his own air, polluted his own water,

44:04

massacred all of those Indians, instituted slavery

44:08

and is in the process of creating a society

44:11

where one percent of the population has 45%

44:14

of all the dollars, 1% of the population has 43%

44:18

of all the common stock invested in the major corporations

44:23

and that 1% of all businesses make 75% of all profit.

44:26

Not only is he a horrible administrator

44:33

he cannot even balance a budget.

44:35

The fact of the matter is that God doesn't run our society.

44:41

It is not one nation under God.

44:45

The inscription on our coin may be a noble aspiration,

44:49

in God we trust, the fact of the matter is,

44:52

we do not trust God, it is the money we trust.

44:55

We trust our missiles and our bombs and our defense.

44:58

We trust our national security council.

45:02

We do not trust in the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

45:04

We do not have the faith of the scripture which says

45:09

that the angel of the Lord encampeth around those

45:11

who trust him, rather our trust lies in our radar systems

45:15

and our abilities and our anti ballistic missiles

45:18

and our bombs, it lies in our defense budget

45:21

but not in the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac

45:24

and the God of our Lord Jesus Christ who promises

45:27

to be with those who trust him.

45:31

And so the prayer of Jesus, Lord, your kingdom come,

45:37

your will be done on earth the way it is in heaven,

45:41

is because obviously God does not have the option

45:44

to do on earth what he is doing in heaven

45:48

because there are not the vehicles available to him

45:51

to do so.

45:53

Which means when he prays, Lord, your kingdom come,

45:58

your will be done on earth the way it is in heaven,

46:01

is that it is the will of God to put together

46:04

a community of people on earth, called the church,

46:08

who are to be the live models on earth of what is

46:13

happening in heaven so that any time anybody wants to know

46:17

what is happening in heaven, all they have to do

46:22

is watch us, it is the function of the church,

46:25

then, to become the fifth columnist of the kingdom of God,

46:29

the saboteurs in Satan's world for the purpose

46:34

of producing on alien territory what it looks like

46:37

in heaven, to model on earth, on enemy turf,

46:42

what is going on in heaven.

46:46

It's perhaps illustrated by a study of certain

46:50

colonial powers in contemporary history.

46:53

The British were such a power.

46:58

It is safe to say that when the British arrived in Africa,

47:00

the average African had never been to England.

47:04

But by watching the lifestyle of the British in Africa,

47:08

the Africanssoon learned what was going on in England.

47:11

He watched the recreational habits of the British

47:16

and he noticed that they would take this ball,

47:19

go out on a field and kick it up and down the field

47:21

trying to knock it through these

47:24

two uprights with a crossbar

47:25

and they called the game soccer

47:29

and the Africans soon learned that in England,

47:31

they played soccer, he watched them at another

47:33

recreational activity where they took to the field

47:36

with a flat bat and an individual would stand near

47:40

a thing with three sticks coming up out of the ground

47:43

with a pug sitting on the top, 75 feet away

47:46

would be a gentleman with a ball who would pace

47:50

about 15 feet towards this wicket and he would

47:53

throw the ball and try to knock the pug off of the wicket

47:56

and the batsman would try to hit the ball

48:00

before it hit the wicket and they called the game cricket

48:02

and the Africans soon learned

48:05

in England, they played cricket.

48:06

He watched the social habits of the British

48:09

and he noticed that every afternoon at four PM,

48:12

the British stopped to have a spot of tea

48:15

and so he soon learned that by watching the habits

48:18

of the British he could learn what was going on in Africa.

48:21

In a real sense that is God's mission for the church.

48:25

It is the function of the church to colonize earth,

48:29

to become the colony of heaven on earth,

48:33

on Satan's territory, on enemy turf

48:36

where there is injustice and hate and oppression

48:39

and violence and war and poverty and hunger.

48:43

It is God's purpose that the church

48:46

be the colony of heaven on earth

48:49

so that any time anybody wants to know what God is doing

48:52

and what God is about and what is going on in heaven,

48:56

all they have to do is check with us.

48:59

Who are these people who are the alternative communities?

49:05

Who are these people called the church who are to model

49:10

what the kingdom of God looks like?

49:14

And it is obvious that it is a tragedy that the average

49:17

churchman doesn't realize that their function is to model

49:20

on earth what is happening in heaven.

49:24

Most of us see our responsibility as churchmen

49:27

to put in our one hour on Sunday morning,

49:30

to give a few dollars to some good noble causes.

49:33

We might memorize a few verses of scripture

49:37

and some of the hymns and maybe some sections

49:39

of the catechism, but for most of us,

49:42

we do not see ourselves

49:45

as the fifth columnist of God.

49:47

We do not see ourselves placed in the world

49:49

to be salt and light, to model what God is about.

49:52

Let me suggest to you in the first place

50:00

that this new order, this new community called the church

50:02

has to be made up of new people.

50:07

You cannot have a new order without new folks.

50:11

We continue in the world in which we live

50:14

to try to change the world simply by rearranging

50:17

the furniture, we call people to reform.

50:21

We call people to social change without understanding

50:24

that change cannot occur until first changes occur

50:28

in the deep recesses of man's being.

50:32

It was this that Jesus had in mind in his dialog

50:36

with a certain gentleman in the third chapter

50:40

of John by the name of Nicodemus.

50:42

Nicodemus was one of the rulers of the Jews,

50:46

a ruler of the Sanhedrin council, the most powerful

50:49

religious and political council among Jews.

50:53

Nicodemus was a very religious man, fasted twice a week,

50:57

prayed three times a day, gave 10% of all of his earnings

51:02

to the synagogue, and never missed a sabbath go to meeting.

51:07

He comes to Jesus by night and begins his dialog

51:12

by saying, master we know that you are a teacher

51:15

come from God because no one can pull off the things

51:20

that you're pulling off except God be with him.

51:23

And noticed he said we, which meant that back

51:26

at the Sanhedrin, we have discussed you.

51:30

Your name has been on the agenda at numbers

51:33

of our meetings and all of us have come

51:36

to the conclusion that you are a teacher come from God.

51:39

And the logical question is if they agreed

51:43

that he was a teacher come from God,

51:46

why then were they giving him so much flack?

51:48

Why were they fighting him, why were they resisting

51:51

this new order that he was building, this new teaching

51:54

he had come which was radicalizing the hearts

51:57

of so many people?

52:00

Well, it was very simple.

52:02

What Nicodemus was saying is that Jesus, we have no argument

52:05

or fight with you, we think that the things

52:08

that you are doing are really groovy.

52:11

Blind people seeing, dead people coming alive,

52:14

lame people walking.

52:19

We have no argument with that, we think that's heavy stuff.

52:21

We think that's groovy stuff.

52:24

There is no argument with the miracles you are performing.

52:25

We even like your welfare program, thousands of folks

52:28

eating off of a couple of loaves and fishes, I mean,

52:32

we have no problem, Jesus, with what you are about.

52:34

The problem, Jesus, is that you are not one of us.

52:38

You are not a member of a council, you don't come out of

52:41

our social group and all we're asking you

52:44

is that you come and join us, become one of us.

52:47

After all, we have a lot in a common.

52:51

You're a Jew, we're Jews.

52:55

You can trace your family heritage back to Abraham

52:58

and so can we.

53:01

You come from one of the 12 tribes of Israel and so do we.

53:03

I mean, man, we are brothers, we need to get together.

53:07

We want to change the world, you want to change the world.

53:13

Now we have different words for it.

53:16

We call it social reform, political change,

53:18

economic evolution, you call it something

53:23

called the kingdom of God,

53:27

but what's a few words among friends?

53:29

I mean, what's semantics among people who are about

53:32

the same task, you want to change the world,

53:35

we want to change the world.

53:38

You want a better place to live and we want

53:39

a better place to live, we call it social reform

53:41

and you call it the kingdom of God,

53:44

but it's the same difference.

53:46

It's at this point that Jesus understands

53:49

that Nicodemus doesn't understand, so Jesus says

53:52

to Nicodemus, Nic, I don't want you to climb a wall

53:56

when I lay this on you and don't get uptight

54:00

when you tell you this, but except a man be born again,

54:04

he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.

54:08

Now Jesus didn't mean that Nicodemus would never see

54:13

heaven, the gates of pearl and the streets of gold

54:18

and the crystal fountains flowing forever,

54:21

but what Jesus was saying is that Nicodemus,

54:25

except a man is reborn in his spirit, he will never be able

54:28

to see, to comprehend, to understand that in the middle

54:32

of all of the violence and war and poverty

54:37

and greed and hunger and self interest

54:40

that exists in our world, that amidst all of the headlines

54:44

that speak of despair and disillusionment,

54:48

that God has his own agenda, that God is doing his own thing

54:51

That God is building his own kingdom.

54:56

Except a man be born again, he will never see that.

54:59

But Nicodemus was an intellectual.

55:05

He was a member of the academic community,

55:08

a man well schooled and versed in the philosophies

55:12

and religions of his time and Nicodemus, this great scholar,

55:15

turns to Jesus and says, born again?

55:21

You mean that I am to go back into my mother's ovule

55:27

and start all over again?

55:30

You see, the amazing part about an intellectual

55:34

is that no matter how intellectually sophisticated he is,

55:37

how academically and scholastically inclined he may be,

55:41

if he starts on the wrong premise, he can be awful dumb.

55:46

(audience laughs)

55:49

Of course, the tragedy with most so called intellectuals

55:52

today that it is not really important that they think

55:55

through the basic issues, it is only necessary

55:58

that one sounds sophisticated.

56:01

It reminds me of my days at school.

56:04

In those days it was necessary to put on

56:07

a certain academic attire.

56:11

In those days it was a kind of a tweed sports jacket

56:13

with padding on the elbows and we wore a certain kind

56:17

of Ivy League type tie, button down shirt

56:21

and we had a pipe, the pipe of course being

56:25

the epitome and highest symbol of intellectualism.

56:28

We walked around with our pipes, pontificating

56:33

on our navals, never really speaking to the real issues

56:36

and so when we spoke, we said, hithertofore it has been said

56:40

existentially speaking, that when one considers

56:44

the rationalistic approach of Jean Poissot

56:48

or even Socrates or Plato, one comes to recognize

56:52

the all encompassing philosophy then of Kierkegaard

56:57

when he spoke of the need of man to face

57:00

existential reality, and as you see,

57:03

that was a very profound statement.

57:06

(audience laughs)

57:08

Now Nicodemus was such an intellectual

57:09

who could not grasp was Jesus was talking about

57:13

when he said a man has to be reborn.

57:17

And what Jesus was saying is that just as you were born,

57:20

years ago, physically of your mother's ovule

57:23

and you came alive biologically and mentally and emotionally

57:26

your spirit was dead, your spirit can only come alive

57:30

when it is infused by the life and the power of God.

57:35

And to be reborn, Nicodemus, is to take all that you are

57:39

and all that you have and make it totally available

57:44

to all that I am.

57:47

So that my spirit is able to saturate the common clay

57:49

of your humanity and that your humanity becomes the vehicle

57:53

through which I express myself.

57:58

The urgent message of today is that in spite of all kinds

58:04

of very good attempts at changing the world legislatively,

58:08

politically and economically, with all of the great

58:13

sociological dissertations being written

58:16

on the tremendous problems and crises of our time,

58:19

our society must understand that there can be no change

58:23

in an oppressive social structure until we radically change

58:27

human nature, until we bring dead men

58:31

into live confrontation

58:35

with the resurrected Christ, until a man is prepared

58:37

to come and to say to Jesus, I hereby renounce

58:40

all rights to myself and I give to Jesus Christ the right

58:44

to own me, there will never be significant social change.

58:48

There was some other ingredient about this new order.

58:55

That this new order is then not just made up of people

58:59

who decide to join church, to become Methodists

59:01

or Baptists or Episcopalians.

59:05

They're not simply people who recite catechisms

59:07

or creeds or who sing hymns, but they are a people

59:10

whose loves will become saturated by the life of Jesus,

59:14

who have renounced all rights to themselves,

59:17

who have turned their backs on all personal ambition

59:20

and personal goals to adopt the goals of Jesus Christ,

59:24

to allow him to become the Lord and owner of their lives.

59:28

But then this changed people, this reborn people

59:34

come together to create what the scripture calls

59:41

a fellowship or the church

59:44

and the word fellowship means exactly what

59:47

the word says, it's fellows in the same ship,

59:49

it's a group of people who have entered into

59:53

a covenant to hurt together, bleed together,

59:55

celebrate together, rejoice together, overcome together.

59:59

Jesus set the pace by saying a new commandment I give you

1:00:05

in the new order, that you love one another.

1:00:08

Now if he would have stopped there, that would have been

1:00:13

great because I would have been

1:00:15

left to my own interpretation of what love is.

1:00:17

But Jesus closes the door and says a new commandment

1:00:21

I give you, that you love one another the way I love you.

1:00:24

Now I have a problem because I have to then discover

1:00:29

how God loves Tom Skinner.

1:00:33

And I soon discover that God loves me the way I am,

1:00:36

that God does not require that Tom Skinner go through

1:00:40

any changes in order for him to love me,

1:00:43

that he loves me the way I am and he calls upon me

1:00:46

to enter into a covenant relationship with other people

1:00:49

where I am committed to them on the same basis

1:00:52

that God is committed to me.

1:00:55

Now I must confess to you that I tried to talk God out of it

1:00:58

I thought it was utter nonsense for him to demand of me

1:01:02

that I love people the way he loves me

1:01:06

because after all, he didn't have to live with them.

1:01:08

I tried to explain to him that sitting in all of his

1:01:11

pomp and glory in heaven, he didn't understand

1:01:14

what it meant to live with a lot of those folks.

1:01:17

I tried to explain to him that I really had nothing personal

1:01:19

against that Indian moving into the neighborhood

1:01:23

except I couldn't deal with him pitching a teepee

1:01:26

next to my $50,000 split level, and God didn't seem

1:01:29

to understand that, I tried to argue with him

1:01:33

that I had no problem but that some of those people

1:01:36

were wild and boisterous, that when they moved

1:01:38

into the neighborhood, they had the tendency to

1:01:41

run the property values down and he wasn't going to work

1:01:43

every day like I was and that God didn't save that money

1:01:47

like I did and that was my hard earned money

1:01:50

and my hard earned property and how dare he require me

1:01:52

that I love all men the way they were?

1:01:56

After all, one day one of them might come over

1:02:00

and want to marry my daughter, and he didn't have to deal

1:02:02

with that, I did.

1:02:05

And the more I argued with him and the more I fought

1:02:07

with him, the more he resisted my fight, calling me

1:02:10

to take on his nature and his attitude towards all men.

1:02:13

He goes further and says, by this all men will know

1:02:20

you are my disciples, by the way you love one another.

1:02:23

In other words the only way that the world will ever know

1:02:28

that you and I are the disciples of Jesus Christ

1:02:31

is not that they see us enter these walls

1:02:34

or that they see us going to church

1:02:37

or that they hear us recite the creed.

1:02:39

They will only be able to know that we are disciples

1:02:41

by virtue of the way we commit ourselves to one another

1:02:45

and then he puts the cream on the cake by saying,

1:02:51

there is no greater love than one person laying down

1:02:55

his life for another, that what the church is about

1:02:58

is that the church is made of people who have been reborn

1:03:02

by the spirit of God who enter into a covenant

1:03:05

with one another, to belong to each other,

1:03:08

to be committed to each other, to lay their lives down

1:03:11

for one another, may I ask you a question this morning?

1:03:14

Outside of your immediate family, your mother,

1:03:19

your father, your sister, your brother, your husband,

1:03:22

your wife, who in the church, what group of people

1:03:25

in the church fellowship are you in covenant with

1:03:30

that you are prepared to die for?

1:03:33

That is what the church is about.

1:03:36

We discovered at my home church we had no fellowship,

1:03:39

no relationship with each other.

1:03:42

We entered the church on Sunday morning

1:03:45

and we handed the people a program which told them

1:03:47

what God was going to do in the next 59 minutes

1:03:49

with one minute for chimes.

1:03:52

When the service was over,

1:03:54

we would shake the preacher's hand and tell him

1:03:56

what a marvelous message and we would wave at each other

1:03:57

in the parking lot as we got in our cars to drive away,

1:04:01

but we had no fellowship, no relationship with each other.

1:04:03

Occasionally there would be an announcement

1:04:07

at the close of the service which would say

1:04:09

immediately after this evening's service

1:04:11

we will retire to the basement of the church

1:04:13

or to fellowship hall where we will have a time

1:04:15

of fellowship, namely Christian booze,

1:04:18

tea, coffee and cookies and we called that fellowship.

1:04:20

Once a year there would be a fellowship supper

1:04:24

at our church where we would all bring potluck dinners

1:04:27

and we called that fellowship but none of us

1:04:30

knew each other, none of us hurt together

1:04:32

or bleeded together, none of us celebrated together,

1:04:34

none of us were involved day by day in each other's lives.

1:04:36

But the church as God intends it to be

1:04:42

is a community of people who are prepared

1:04:45

to lay their lives down for one another.

1:04:47

And then this church fellowship does something

1:04:52

very significant, it is not only a reborn community,

1:04:54

it's not only a fellowship of people who are prepared

1:04:58

to die for each other, but then this community

1:05:01

called the church breaks huddle and goes out into the world

1:05:03

to commit sabotage on that world in the name of Jesus.

1:05:07

Now I realize that some of you this morning

1:05:12

are more politically inclined than you are kingdom inclined

1:05:14

and the use of my words such as infiltration,

1:05:18

saboteur, and fifth columnist

1:05:21

conjures up political connotations

1:05:24

in your own mind.

1:05:27

That is not my intent.

1:05:28

I am talking about the kingdom of God,

1:05:30

I am not talking about capitalism or communism

1:05:33

or socialism, I'm not talking about being democrat

1:05:35

or Republican, I'm not talking about being left, right,

1:05:38

I'm not talking about being conservative or liberal.

1:05:42

I'm talking about the fact that the function of the church

1:05:45

is to be the colony of God in the world, to commit

1:05:49

sabotage on Satan's world for the purpose of the building

1:05:52

up of the kingdom of God

1:05:56

so that the reason you are a student at Duke University

1:05:59

is not simply to get an education, that's part of it,

1:06:03

but you are here to destroy the works of the devil

1:06:06

on this campus, you are here to model the kingdom of God

1:06:09

on this campus.

1:06:13

The reason you work in the business you do and the reason

1:06:14

you are to go into business is not simply to make money

1:06:18

because if money were the problem, God could dose that out

1:06:22

with no sweat, but the reason you're in business

1:06:24

is for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil

1:06:27

in business, the reason that you go into education

1:06:30

is to destroy the works of the devil in education.

1:06:34

The reason that you go into law is to bring

1:06:37

the kingdom of God to bear on the legal system

1:06:39

in our society, your job is not the place to make a living.

1:06:43

Your job is not in existence so you can pay your bills.

1:06:48

Your job does not exist for you to pay your mortgage

1:06:51

or your car or your education or whatever else there is.

1:06:54

Those are only the side effects.

1:06:58

The job you have or will have is the place that God

1:07:00

has put you to model the kingdom of God, to be God's

1:07:04

representative in Satan's world, to be the salt

1:07:07

that goes and penetrates the world and salts it

1:07:11

and lights it in the name of Jesus.

1:07:14

Finally, it is the function of the church

1:07:20

to take those people who respond to its witness

1:07:24

because if we truly become the colony of heaven on earth,

1:07:29

if we truly become salt in the middle

1:07:32

of a decadent society, if we truly go into the world

1:07:35

to destroy the works of the devil for the building up

1:07:38

of the kingdom of God, there are people who will respond

1:07:41

to our witness and our lifestyle and like the Christians

1:07:44

of old, they will come running to us saying brothers,

1:07:48

sisters, what do we have to do to be saved?

1:07:50

It is then the function of the church to take those people

1:07:55

who respond to its witness and disciple those people

1:07:59

and build those people up in the faith.

1:08:03

So that they become mature followers of Jesus Christ.

1:08:07

There is no area in the church in which the church

1:08:11

is most sick and more immature

1:08:14

than in the area of making disciples.

1:08:19

Most of us have not grown any further in our relationship

1:08:22

with Jesus Christ than the day we first acknowledged him.

1:08:26

A great number of us have never entered into the experience

1:08:30

of daily growth and development where Jesus becomes

1:08:33

more of a reality in us today than he was yesterday.

1:08:37

It is like bringing a newborn baby home from the hospital.

1:08:42

He's five days old, we place him in the bassinet

1:08:45

on the kitchen table and we say welcome home, Junior,

1:08:49

glad you could make it. Now Junior, the refridge is right

1:08:52

behind you, and we keep lots of goodies there,

1:08:56

chicken and meat, vegetables and fruit and dairy products,

1:08:59

and Junior, when you get hungry, the need arises,

1:09:03

just open up the refridge and help yourself.

1:09:05

Oh, by the way, Junior, you're gonna be needing

1:09:08

a lot of change of clothing these days and we keep

1:09:10

all of your clothes in the linen closet down the hall

1:09:13

in the right, as the need arises, just crawl on down

1:09:15

and help yourself.

1:09:18

Oh, yes, Junior, you will be doing a lot of sleeping

1:09:20

these days, we knew you'd be a boy, we've got your room

1:09:22

all decked out in blue, when the need arises,

1:09:25

and you feel sleep coming on, just make your way

1:09:28

into your room and climb in.

1:09:29

Now we know that that's ridiculous because at five days

1:09:31

of age, Junior cannot feed himself, clothe himself

1:09:34

and teach himself and help himself to grow.

1:09:37

That's the reason he has to have parents who feed him,

1:09:40

give him love and affection and discipline him

1:09:43

and correct him and feed him and give him love and attention

1:09:45

and discipline and correction until the day comes

1:09:48

when Junior is presented to the world as a man.

1:09:51

The function of the church is to take people as they

1:09:54

commit themselves to Jesus and take them through

1:09:57

those steps, the tragedy is that most of us assume

1:10:00

that because people are sophisticated in their vocational

1:10:04

lives that they will bring to the kingdom of God

1:10:07

the same degree of sophistication.

1:10:10

It doesn't occur to us that a man in our fellowship

1:10:12

who's a brilliant surgeon knows little about what it means

1:10:16

to walk with God, he's brilliant in medicine

1:10:19

but he doesn't bring to his understanding of the word of God

1:10:22

and his understanding of the scriptures

1:10:25

and his understanding of the kingdom of God

1:10:27

the same sophistication that he brings to medicine.

1:10:29

We look at the businessman, the multimillion dollar

1:10:32

businessman in our church fellowship and we assume

1:10:35

that he is as sophisticated about the kingdom of God

1:10:38

as he is about management and how to run a business

1:10:41

and we fail to recognize that in management

1:10:44

he's sophisticated and mature but when it comes to

1:10:46

the scriptures and his understanding of the operation

1:10:49

of the spirit of God in his life, he's like a newborn baby.

1:10:52

But the tragedy is that when we must elect trustees

1:10:57

and deacons and elders in our churches, we go pick

1:11:00

the sophisticated businessman, the sophisticated surgeon,

1:11:03

the sophisticated astrophysicist, the people who have

1:11:07

succeeded in the vocations because we assume that because

1:11:10

they are sophisticated and successful in their business

1:11:13

that they will know how to sophisticatedly run the church.

1:11:16

And we never check out which side of the argument

1:11:21

they're on, which is why the church has been on

1:11:22

the wrong side of every major social argument

1:11:25

in recent times because the leaders of the church

1:11:28

vote on the side of their business interests

1:11:31

and not on the side of the kingdom of God.

1:11:33

Simply because we have not developed them and matured them

1:11:37

to be disciples of Jesus, to make them as mature

1:11:39

and sophisticated in their walk with God

1:11:43

as they are in their vocations

1:11:45

and so there you have it.

1:11:49

It is the function of the church then to be

1:11:51

a group of people who have been reborn by the spirit of God

1:11:54

where Jesus becomes the priority in their lives,

1:11:57

to enter into relationships with each other

1:12:00

where they're prepared to lay their lives down

1:12:02

for one another, to break the huddle and go into the world

1:12:04

to become salt and to commit sabotage on Satan's world

1:12:08

for the building up of the kingdom of God

1:12:11

and then to take those people who respond to Jesus Christ

1:12:14

and build them up in the faith so that they become

1:12:17

sophisticated, mature disciples of our Lord Jesus

1:12:19

and then we set loose in Satan's world, a world of violence

1:12:24

and injustice and poverty and hunger

1:12:28

and a world of decadence and spiritual immaturity.

1:12:31

We turn loose in that world men and women

1:12:34

who walk with God and who turn the world upside down

1:12:36

so that the prayer of Jesus may come to reality

1:12:41

in our lives and in our time.

1:12:44

May it happen in our hearts beginning today, shall we pray.

1:12:47

Father, it is our prayer that your kingdom will come

1:12:56

on this campus.

1:13:01

And that your will be done in this neighborhood.

1:13:04

That it will be on our campus in our places of business

1:13:11

the way it is in heaven, we ask it in Jesus' name,

1:13:14

amen.

1:13:20

(organ music)

1:13:24

(singing unintelligible)

Tom Skinner - Sermon Untitled 11:00am (February 8, 1976)

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1. Tom Skinner - "A sermon" (February 8, 1976)

2. Tom Skinner - Sermon Untitled 4:00pm (February 8, 1976)

Duke University Archives

Tom Skinner - Sermon Untitled 11:00am (February 8, 1976)

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Item Info

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Duke University Archives