Dialogue Sermon

Proverbs 22:6; John 3:16

Jerry: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Paul: What are you talking about?

Jerry: Talks about how faith comes first.

Paul: Tell story about Miss Antell.

Jerry: "You don't need to prove the existence of your friend."	Also, what kind of God do we have?

Paul: Even though faith is very important, knowledge is also	very important to have.

Jerry: That's why Xn. Ed. is important. Right questions lead to	the answers. "Train Up a child..."

"There's opportunity for all ages..."

Duck:	"Wait a minute! I thought S.S. was only for ducklings.

Cat:	No, it's not! etc.

Ask people in congregation to show their participation in S.S. by a show of hands.

Jerry: What the Bible means for our Christian life is also	important. etc. "But, even more, there's another important factor: Wisdom.

Paul: The Bible not only talks about the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but the Old Testament, and especially the book of Proverbs, also mentions another figure: a female personality, called Wisdom. In Proverbs 3 we see the words, "Happy is the person that finds Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding. For the gain from it is better than gain from silver and its profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her."

The people of God in ancient times believed that if you knew God then you would achieve Wisdom; that Wisdom was something that centered upon a person's life as God revealed God's self to that person. And how does God reveal? Well, as far as the Hebrews were concerned, Creation, itself, was the greatest way through which God reveals God' self. And, so, this is why Proverbs says, "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens."

The Greeks had a similar understanding of Wisdom. They called the nature of God to reveal God's self "Logos," which literally means Word. And like the writer of proverbs, the author of the Gospel of John wrote that the Logos, the Personality of God to reveal God's Self was with God in the beginning at creation. That's what we're saying when we read the First few verses of John: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him."

Jerry: Logos=Word=Jesus Word of God, etc. (He will start	to wax eloquent)

Paul:	We need to get a little more concrete for the kids, so that they will get a better idea of what Wisdom is about. Tell parable of of the talents. 1, 2, and 5 are given. 1, 4, and 10 are earned. Which of the two men were wise in the way they used their money? Also, mention that a similar parable is told in Luke, but that 10 servants are given 1 talent, each, but only three are called into account. So, or a homework assignment for today, try to figure out what happened to the other seven who didn't have to tell their rich master what they had done with their money.

Jerry Concludes.

Also, mention that in