Sermon Series: The Gospel of Dr. Seuss
Message 2 of 6: Green Eggs and Ham
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:14-20
Notes from a message offered Sunday, 1/27/19 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota Florida.

Dr. Seuss Trivia
1. What is the first Dr. Seuss book to be published? And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. It was rejected 27 times before it was finally published by Vanguard Press in 1937

Top 5 Best Selling Dr. Seuss Books

• #5           Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990)
• #4           Dr. Seuss’s ABC (1963)
• #3           The Cat in the Hat (1957)
• #2           One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1960)
• #1           Green Eggs and Ham (1960)

Bennett Cerf, Dr. Seuss’s editor, bet him that he couldn’t write a book using 50 different words or less. (The Cat in the Hat used 225 different words) He took the challenge and came up with Green Eggs and Ham, which uses exactly 50 different words.

The 50 words, by the way, are: a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

Read of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

Sam-I-am is…

• Determined
• Offering something good, believes it down to his bones
• In it for the long game
• Inventive
• Creative
• Joyfully Persistent

Joyful Persistence
Have you ever been determined to offer someone something good?

• Would you, could you buy this house?
• Would you, could you be my spouse?
• Would you, could you eat your greens?
• Would you claim sobriety?
• Would you could you come to Why?
• Or drive for Fish, give that a try?
• Or serve our preschool families?
• Or come to this week’s POV?

What if Green Eggs and Ham represented the Good News? What if all followers of Jesus Christ were as joyfully persistent as Sam? (Dr. Seuss did not intend this interpretation)

• Would you, could you come to Christ?
• Repent, be baptized, claim new life?

Sam takes his calling seriously – He goes, goes, goes therefore to make disciples of those who like green eggs and ham. He is convinced they are good. Sam is joyfully persistent in staying in relationship, offering, inviting, entreating. He is an ambassador for green eggs and ham. We are ambassadors for Christ.

What drives Sam to try again and again – what would drive us?

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ urges us on because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

We understand resistance. Resistance to try new things, to understand a different perspective, to meet new people, to go to new places. Why does everything have to keep changing?

We know it takes time to open ourselves to something new. It takes many invitations before we say, “yes.” So why do we give up so quickly in offering something so needed and so good, a saving relationship with Jesus?

We know it takes many invitations, so let’s just expect it and do it. Let’s be joyfully persistent so others can know salvation in Christ Jesus.

Reading of 2 Corinthians 5:17-20  So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

• Go therefore and claim your call
• Share Good News with one and all
• Listen deeply, share your story,
• Point to Christ for all the glory.
• Try and try and try again
• What’s there to lose, so much to win
• Would you, could you come to Christ?
• Repent, be baptized, claim new life?

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Green Eggs and Ham Sermon © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
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