Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2926 to 2950 of 4884 results

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... ! Within minutes they encountered the blackness of space. Within hours he saw the earth floating like a jewel, reduced to three colors - brown land, blue water, and white clouds and snow. Duke was second out of the lunar lander. They stayed on the moon three days. "We felt perfectly at home," he said. "We weren't afraid of aliens with ray guns. Everything was just like we'd seen in pictures hundreds of times." If you look up at the face of the moon, they landed right in the center of what you see. I recall ...

2927. Once More with Feeling!

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... sugar cookies that you made last year, the ones with the sprinkles." Yes, it's Thanksgiving week, and I'm supposed to preach on gratitude. And you're supposed to be thankful. Ah, but the civil courtesy of gratefulness does not come with the picture-perfection of a Currier and Ives print. The years can be hard. Disappointments crowd in. Thankfulness can be hard to muster. The text tells us it happened to nine out of ten people in Jesus' day. Remember the story? Ten men. Ten severe cases of leprosy. Chalky ...

2928. Don't Make Me Come Down There

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... do something?” he wailed. “He has,” said that wise pastor. “He has created you.” And so Desmond Tutu, now the archbishop of South Africa, became the answer to his own question. That’s a good lesson for you and me. While we are waiting for God to bring in a perfect and just society, you and I are God’s answer to the injustice in our world. That’s what it means to take up a cross and follow Jesus. It’s not a comfortable position to be in. It’s not popular. But it is Christ’s way. Bible ...

2929. Worship Wars!

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... to church." "That's right." "Could you tell us what happened in there?" "Oh, that's easy! I saw God. We were singing the hymn, 'Immortal, invisible, God only wise. In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes.' I tell you, I can get lost in extolling the marvelous perfections of Almighty God! Yes, and what's more, I saw God in the scriptures and in the sermon. Seems I learn something new every time I come into his presence." "Can you tell us about how you saw yourself in church?" "You bet! It's like this. Last ...

2930. Trip Questions

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , you lose." At this point it suddenly dawns on the younger child that this is truly a no-win situation. Whatever way the coin lands it's going to land in their sibling's pocket. In this week's gospel text the Pharisees think they've concocted the perfect no-win question to present before Jesus: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" If Jesus says yes, he'll alienate all those who continued to struggle against Roman rule and who ardently believed Israel must only be obedient to God and God's ...

2931. The Great I Am

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Joe Kay was headed to Stanford after graduation. On the night of February 6, 2004, he was leading the basketball victory of Tucson High School against their arch rivals. A glorious last moment slam dunk by Joe and the game was won. It was the perfect pinnacle of his high school career. But as the buzzer sounded the crowd of crazed, deliriously happy fans rushed to their hero, chanting "JoeKay! JoeKay!" the sport changed from basketball to football. Joe Kay wound up crushed on the bottom of a heap of adoring ...

2932. Can You Hear Me Now?

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... crowd. It's those Medes, Elamies, and residents of Mesopotamia (and all the rest) who first understand what was going on and the significance what was being proclaimed: God's deeds of power. What sounds strange and foreign to the disciples' own ears, makes perfect sense to these representatives of the world. The Holy Spirit's first appearance brought an intelligible word to the rest of the world through the new voices of the disciples. There has never been an age when people have been able to communicate so ...

2933. Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in absolute silence. "You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math and perfect their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you have the brains, and follow your heart, and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you must pay no attention because they just didn't learn." Susan paused and then continued, "You ...

2934. The Difference between Happiness and Joy

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of the board); and while fame is reached by doing obviously great, note-worthy activities (flying to the moon, developing a cure for warts!): the happiness portion of the equation is reached by doing seemingly silly things. You can earn lots of hearts by watching a perfect sunset in Tahiti, or by falling in love in college. It was apparently so difficult of the game's creators to think of events worthy of true happiness that they came up with a not-so-subtle cheat. For a fee, any player can earn happiness ...

2935. From Real Life to Resurrection Life

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of real life when the hyper reality of resurrection life is there as a gift? Are you so captivated by a real life - a life that finds meaning in a steroid house, a Kate Spade handbag, Gianni Versace jeans, a nose-bleed title, a nose-jobbed, perfectly sculpted, wrinkle-free face - are you so captured by the unrealities of a real life that you're running away from the possibilities and promises of a resurrected life? If so, then this Easter's for you. This Easter, let resurrection return life to life. Let ...

2936. Are You Willing to Be a Donkey?

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , and includes her in the procession. Matthew doesn't want anyone to misread the identity of Jesus' mount and suppose that this colt was some young, high-spirited horse, a far more obvious noble steed. No, Matthew wants readers to be perfectly aware of the incongruity between the crowd's shouts, the royal processional, and the humble, simple beast of burden upon which Jesus rode. Donkeys were work horses. Donkeys were the common pack animals used by hard working laborers, landowners, and merchants alike ...

2937. No Bones about It

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... we remember the prophet Ezekiel - "Dem bones, Dem bones, Dem . . . Dry bones. Now hear the word of the Lord." That African-American spiritual, which doubles as a crash course in anatomy, caught both the peculiarity and the power of Ezekiel's bony vision so perfectly, and put into such an unforgettable and fun tune that we all love to hear and sing about "Dem bones, dem bones, dem . . . dry bones." (Depending on how long kids needed to be entertained, that Sunday school song could go into greater or lesser ...

2938. Boxing Day

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the borders of respectable Jewish culture, there existed those whom Jesus identified with the most: the poor, the sick, the weak, the outcast, the hated, the feared. Jesus refused the pre-packaged theology that preached God's love and acceptance for the pure, the perfect, the righteous, the socially acquiescent and approved. On this Boxing Day, it's time to put aside all the boxes and start living outside the box. Can you live outside what in my childhood was called "the devil's blinking box?" Can you live ...

2939. Come Back

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , News 28.) Yet despite our own personal, painful experiences with being betrayed by those we have trusted and loved, depended upon and believed in, not one of us can escape the fact that we're ourselves betrayers. Not one of us can claim to being a perfectly faithful follower of Jesus, a disciple who never fails to proclaim Christ with our every step. There are many ways to betray our Lord, and each other: We can betray our Lord, and each other, through our mouths. We can betray our Lord, and each other ...

2940. The Seven Deadly Fears

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... notice in the paper for people who didn't come to see us when we were alive, to come and see us now that we're dead. 6. Fear of Difference. Instead of celebrating a salad bowl or mosaic or smorgasbord existence, we opt for a carefully filtered, perfectly homogenous lifestyle and life experience. 7. Fear of Being Different. When you hear that someone's out there, what do you immediately thing? Positive or Negative? "She's out there!" So, YOU don't wanna be out there. You wanna be in here. That's our problem ...

2941. Yes!

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... unequivocal call by God to a particular life, to a particular course of action, to a particular speech? Yet Jeremiah's first instinct, his immediate gut reaction to God's signed special delivery, is "No!" Quick as he can, Jeremiah comes up with not one but two perfect reasons why he can't possibly do what God has just announced to him. First, he protests, "I don't know how to speak." But he carefully further qualified his no by additionally noting a second reason (as if the Lord were somehow unaware of this ...

2942. The FUD Club: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and scenarios have changed throughout the centuries, the headline has always been the same: bad news. Can you think of one example in history of a newspaper headline that reads “Things are just keep getting better and better” or “Everything is perfect and heaven is here.” Even Grimm’s fairy tales only offered a one-generation promise that the characters “lived happily ever after.” But in spite of the “bad news” headlines, there was hope and promise for the future. Can anyone else ...

2943. An Uncomfortable Comforter

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... trapped in your car in some massive, hours-long traffic jam. We happily pay extra for comfort--more leg room, in-flight movies, and better meals to take our minds off our in-flight discomforts; lavish leather seats, surround-sound stereo systems and perfect climate-control for our private commute-mobile. We want to be surrounded in comfort: we sit down to comfort food (mashed potatoes), we wallpaper our lives in comfort noise (Muzak and ambient sound), etc. In scientific circles the word comfort means the ...

2944. Crack Open Some Easter Eggs and Be Cracked Open

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , and you're saying okay? You say, "Great, Tommy!" ' Murray, looking at Lasorda like he was a maniac, seemed at a loss for words. Lasorda tried again, `You say it: "I feel great!" ' So Eddie started saying, `I feel great!' " --Quoted in Michael G. Moriarty, [15]The Perfect 10 (Zondervan, 2000), 133. Christ Is Risen, church. All your sins are forgiven. You're on your way to heaven. Jesus is alive and living in you. Say it like you mean it: "I feel great." Say it like you mean the world out there to hear it ...

2945. Move Life from Duty to Destiny

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with the eschaton nowhere yet in sight. Jesus’ “bad news/worse news” is more than offset by the ultimate good news he finally brings. In v.13 he declares that as his disciples stand before all these establishment enforcers, they will have the perfect opportunity to be “witnesses,” a word which originally carried the double meaning of “martyr” and “messenger.” This Lucan declaration will come to fruition again and again in Acts (3:15; 4:33; 5:32; 20:26) as the disciples do “bear witness ...

2946. Don't Forget the Mustard

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Grey Poupon?"). But except among a few knowledgeable chefs, mustard's subtleties and strengths are virtually disregarded. Mustard is such a common, everyday, ordinary ingredient that it doesn't even register. But Jesus saw differently. Jesus knew better. For Jesus mustard presented a perfect picture of the kingdom of God and the faith of those who would reside there. It is no accident that Jesus picks the mustard seed in today's example of faithfulness (Luke 17:5-6) as well as in his parable of the kingdom ...

2947. Experience the Mystery

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... mail asking us about how we were treated and how well our needs were met. Please, please, please, the salesman repeatedly implored us, DON'T throw it away. DO fill it out favorably. What else can we do for you to make sure you give us a perfect score? It seems that car dealership get the numbers, varieties, and best selections of vehicles based on how well they rate on these customer surveys. It's in their best interest, therefore, to do everything they can to make buyers feel that they are among "friends ...

2948. Generations

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... what you say. You are what you do! Only those who establish an emotional connection with busters will reach them. Busters hate the archetypal boomer Martha Stewart, not because of what she does, but the way she does it – it's too perfect? Where the struggle? Where's the pain? Where's the messed-up hair in the kitchen? "Get Real." Busters hate overstatement, self-importance, spectacle, and hypocrisy. Proctor and Gamble is marketing to this demographic group a detergent called "Bold Plus." Pitched directly ...

2949. God for Dummies

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... help and talk about "God for Dummies." The problem with self-help books or do-it-yourself guides is that in real life everything just seems so much messier. Particularly galling are the remodel it yourself programs on those snooty PBS stations. Joe and Sally Perfectly Proportioned redo their bathroom in the course of a half-hour broadcast. But when you or I take out the grout of our badly-in-need-of remodeling bathrooms, the nuclear-powered mildew growing behind it rips out all the subwall as well. Why didn ...

2950. Hands On

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... on a two-page layout in a series of Renaissance paintings depicting Jesus' life, Soren found a mystifying addition. "Daddy," she asked, "why does Jesus always have a plate on his head?" Her stubby purple-painted fingernail was pointing at the perfectly round golden halo that surrounded Jesus' head in all the paintings. Before I could attempt an explanation of the difference between a piece of china and an artistic representation of divinity, Soren's attention was suddenly snagged by one different picture ...

Showing results