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Romans 11:25-32; God Still Believes in You: One Goal, Different Stories; Carl Crouse

3/25/2013

A college freshman, Candi, braced herself for her final exam of the year. All answers were yes or no. Candi had not studied, and now that she was staring at the test she was overwhelmed. Then, in a moment of inspiration, she began flipping a quarter answering "Yes" for heads and "No" for tails. She zipped through the test and sat back while the rest of the class kept sweating out their answers. However, during the last few minutes of the exam period, Candi began to frantically flip the coin again. The instructor, concerned about Candi’s odd behavior, stopped by her desk and asked if she was ok. "Oh yes, I'm fine." Candi said. "I finished the exam a half hour ago, but I'm going back through it to check my answers!" (this is a joke! a few people asked me afterwards how it ended, and one person told me he really did flip a coin for answers for some questions and did better than the questions he "knew")

How much would you value a coin that always lands on the side you call? There is such a coin. On the one side is “Justice.” On the other “mercy.” (demonstrate the coin till it is “wrong”…..)

Today’s scripture highlights one truth: MERCY. READ Rom. 11:30-32. Mercy is always found with its companion, justice. Like two sides of the same coin. Something is wrong, there will be consequences: will it be justice, getting what you deserve, or mercy, not getting what you deserve. (I wish I could make this coin work….)

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Rom. 11:17-24 ~ God Still Believes in You: The Ugly Duckling ~ Pastor Carl Crouse ~ Mar. 17, 2013

3/18/2013

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You know the story of the Ugly Duckling. The “Duck” that did not feel like it belonged. None of us deserve God’s salvation, yet he loves us anyway. Here is a shortened version of the story. BTW, I read Hans Christian Anderson was a lanky awkward boy growing up, the other kids would make fun of him; when he grew up he had a beautiful singing voice and was an outstanding actor… I think most of us fall into the ugly duckling trap. The story…

It is a beautiful summer day. The sun shines warmly on an old house near a river. Behind the house a mother duck is sitting on ten eggs. "quack, quack." One by one all the eggs break open. All except one. This one is the biggest egg of all. Mother duck sits and sits on the big egg. At last it breaks open. Out jumps the last baby duck. It looks big and strong. It is grey and ugly.
The next day mother duck takes all her little ducks to the river. She jumps into it. All her baby ducks jump in. The big ugly duckling jumps in too. They all swim and play together. The ugly duckling swims better than all the other ducklings. - Quack, quack! Come with me to the farm yard! - says mother duck to her baby ducks and they all follow her there.
The farm yard is very noisy. The poor duckling is so unhappy there. The hens peck him, the rooster flies at him, the ducks bite him, the farmer kicks him. At last one day he runs away. He comes to a river. He sees many beautiful big birds swimming there. Their feathers are so white, their necks so long, their wings so pretty. The little duckling looks and looks at them. He wants to be with them. He wants to stay and watch them. He knows they are swans. Oh, how he wants to be beautiful like them.
Now it is winter. Everything is white with snow. The river is covered with ice. The ugly duckling is very cold and unhappy. Spring comes once again. The sun shines warmly. Everything is fresh and green.
One morning the ugly duckling sees the beautiful swans again. He knows them. He wants so much to swim with them in the river. But he is afraid of them. He wants to die. So he runs into the river. He looks into the water. There in the water he sees a beautiful swan. It is he! He is no more an ugly duckling. He is a beautiful white swan.

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No Hopeless Cases ~ Romans 11:11-16 ~ SACC ~ Pastor Carl Crouse ~ Mar. 10, 2013

3/12/2013

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If you declare somebody as hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God. You know what it is to have a slammed door: not welcome, don’t apply here. I was once told to never return to a store/// an art gallery/shop in Laguna, California. The shop specialized in Norman Rockwell prints and images. For some silly reason, I tried to get into a conversation with the shopkeeper that Norman Rockwell presented an image of American history that was an unreal slice of America that depicted an innocence that did not reflect real life... The shopkeeper had no idea what I was talking about; she was annoyed by my silly idea. The more she objected the more I tried to explain myself and the more she became annoyed. By this time Sally and Lucia had wandered outside to go to the next shop, so I told the shopkeeper I had to go…. “Good” she said, “and don’t come back.” ~ bam. A slammed door.

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God Still Believes in You: Feeling All Alone; Rom. 11:1-10, Mar. 4, ’13, Pastor Carl

3/5/2013

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Nobody likes rejection. Here is a silly rejection letter: Dear Sir: If it is any consolation, we feel that if we had hired you, by now we would have been forced to let you go. Sincerely, Human Resources

Rejection. Not welcome in the group. Not fitting in. loneliness. Depression. The struggle many people face is where to fit in. the worst of all: when you feel abandoned by God. When I read the question posed by Paul in Rom. 11:1, the word that leaps off the page to me is REJECT.

Paul is talking to the church in Rome that is feeling rejected/small. There is a great irony: the basic problem in the Church at Rome is that they are such an exclusive group, they have such high standards of becoming a member of their church, they regularly exclude people from fellowship. This is why Paul goes to great lengths to remind the people all have sinned and nobody is worthy of the salvation of Jesus Christ. This is why there is emphasis on grace, not what we do to earn salvation, but a free gift through Jesus Christ who died on the cross…You can’t go far in Romans without running into grace…. I once read you are never more than three feet from a spider, in Roman’s you are never more than a few verses from grace. READ Rom. 11:6.

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Romans 11:25-32; God Still Believes in You: One Goal, Different Stories; Carl Crouse

Rom. 11:17-24 ~ God Still Believes in You: The Ugly Duckling ~ Pastor Carl Crouse ~ Mar. 17, 2013

No Hopeless Cases ~ Romans 11:11-16 ~ SACC ~ Pastor Carl Crouse ~ Mar. 10, 2013

God Still Believes in You: Feeling All Alone; Rom. 11:1-10, Mar. 4, ’13, Pastor Carl

Carl Crouse, Pastor

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