INTRODUCTION:

"An applicant was being interviewed for a job.

"The employer held a glowing letter of reference and complimented the applicant on such an impressive letter.

"With modesty the reply came: 'I'm glad you liked it. I wrote it my self.'" ⁽¹⁾

1. This is self-endorsement.
1. We do it all the time.
2. When was the last time someone asked, "Who are you?" and you answered with what you do?

MAIN BODY:

1. That leads to this question.
1. What do Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Tiger Woods, David Duval, Martha Stewart, and God have in common?
1. The first 8 makes millions of dollars each year endorsing various product lines.
2. What does God have to do with this group of people?
3. Are they Christians (I don't know)
4. Are they believers? (I don't really know)

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2. What products do they endorse?
1. L.A. Gear is endorsed by added Paula Abdul (who formerly represented Reebok) to a celebrity lineup that includes Michael Jackson, whose own line of L.A. Gear shoes was introduced last summer "to coincide with the back-to-school season." Both stars are part of a $60 million promotion campaign called "Unstoppable." L.A. Gear also sponsored an MTV Museum of Rock & Roll show that traveled to hundreds of malls, well-known teen hang-outs.
2. Reebok is in negotiation with Madonna. It has also associated its product with Nintendo, one of the most popular kid games, by becoming a sponsor of the Nintendo World Championships and advertising that relationship to kids on Saturday morning TV and other children's programming.
3. Nike is also spending approximately $60 million on advertising campaigns featuring Spike Lee, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Bo Jackson, Andre Agassi, and John McEnroe, among others. (According to a recent study by the Girl Scouts of America, Michael Jordan is one of the three living Americans whom kids most admire.)
4. Converse will spend $10 million on advertising and promotion for a line of athletic shoes and clothes endorsed by Magic Johnson.
5. KMART will spend considerable money to have Martha Stewart endorse her line of household items and linens.
2. We are flooded with endorsements of all shapes, colors, kinds and motivations.
1. People with ideas to promote.
1. Hugh Hefner - Sexual Morals, 75^th birthday
2. Timothy Leary - Drug Culture Turn on, Tune In, Drop Out
3. Ousamma Ben laden - Religious based violence
4. Open Marriage Nena O'Neill George O'Neill, 1972
5. Jesus Seminar - Bible

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2. Companies with products to sell.
1. George Foreman - Mean Lean Fat Burning Machines!
2. Shoe Inserts
3. Cookware
4. Kitchen Utensils
5. You name it, its for sale.
3. Politicians (I use this word in its best sense) with elections to win.
1. The Governors race here in Wisconsin is a point.
1. Governor McCallum and Attorney General James Doyle.
2. Who endorses and why?
3. What is the motivation for endorsing?
4. What difference does it make?
5. Are we influenced by the endorsements?
3. How do we make sense from all these endorsements and promotions.
1. Shoppers come in basically two categories.
1. It is not women or men.
2. It is impulsive or thoughtful.
3. It has nothing to do with sex.
2. What do Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Tiger Woods, David Duval, Martha Stewart, and God have in common?
4. Does God ever give any endorsements?
1. You might be surprised.
2. Check out Matthew 3:16 through Matthew 3:17 (NRSVA)

¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

1. This is my Son, the Beloved.
2. With whom I am well pleased.
1. God is well pleased with Jesus
2. You can't get more pleased than this.

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3. Check out Luke 9:29 through Luke 9:36 (NRSVA)

²⁹And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³⁰Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. ³¹They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³²Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. ³³Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. ³⁴While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. ³⁵Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" ³⁶When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

1. This is my Son
2. This is the Chosen.
3. You can't get more chosen this this.
4. Check out John 12:27 through John 12:32 (NRSVA)

²⁷"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." ³⁰Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

1. Jesus is requesting that God's name be glorified.
2. A voice from heaven
1. The voice was not for Jesus sake
3. It was for the sake of those listening or those who would read
4. You can't get more glorified than this.

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5. The divine endorsement of Jesus serves a very specific purpose.
1. It provides for us not only an identity, but also a source of confidence and trust.
1. What about Savior
1. Who is going to save us.
2. Save us from what?
2. That's the question.
1. Save us from terrorism
2. Save us from economic collapse
3. Save us from moral decay
2. Jesus Saves!
1. Jesus opens doors
2. Jesus breaks down walls
3. Jesus opens us to the potential for life.

CONCLUSION

1. Jesus comes highly recommended with impeccable references.
1. Paul endorsed Jesus and he would seek to exhort us to do the same.
2. In Acts 17.18, we find Paul in Athens speaking to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who were debating with him.
3. His speech to them is so very different that his average approach to the common people of the locals where he preached.

Acts 17 ^22bAthenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. ²³For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, ²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ²⁶From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, ²⁷so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.' ²⁹Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. ³⁰While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

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4. He had little success with the Athenian educated elite.
5. Later in 1 Corinthians 2:1 through 1 Corinthians 2:5 (NRSVA) he would proclaim:

¹When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. ²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. ³And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. ⁴My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

6. I DECIDED TO KNOW NOTHING AMONG YOU EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED, RAISED, LIVING.
7. What a ringing endorsement.
8. This is one that we can in truth accept and grow within.

   1. Quoted in Homiletics, October 6, 1991, Global Warming. Used with permission

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