Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3426 to 3450 of 4963 results

3426. Will You Join the Jesus Team?

Exodus 24:12-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... is foreshadowed by Joshua's subtle presence in this text. Although still basically an "unknown" at this point in the Exodus story, the young Joshua is introduced as Moses' "assistant," "servant" or even "minister." God's kabod was no longer going to remain accessible only to Moses - the Spirit's presence was moving on to a different kind of team model. When Joshua finally inherited Moses' leadership position, however, he was not expected also to be the sole spiritual spokesman to the Israelites. By this ...

3427. The Well That Will Never Run Dry

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ). We are not to alter Christ's living water. We are not to add to it or mess with the contents in any way. What we are to do is to get people to drink it from containers that they can pick up. The important point is this: The CONTENT remains the same while the CONTAINER changes. It's time for the church to get wet! In fact, if the church is to survive, it had better get wet in ways it has heretofore never even dreamed of. For only water quenches people's eternal thirst. Alternative Sermon Structure your ...

3428. Would You Believe...?

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... while Mary sits quietly at Jesus' feet listening to him speak. In Luke's story, Martha typically gets "bad press" - her busy-ness is less valuable than Mary's piety. In John's story of Lazarus' resurrection, Martha is once again on the move. Instead of remaining seated in her house of mourning, as custom instructed her to do, the moment Martha hears Jesus is nearby, she is out the door. At this stage, Martha has already witnessed her brother's death, prepared his body for burial, placed him in a tomb and ...

3429. Rock-Bottom Living

1 Peter 2:2-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you own, or whether you are highly educated, or whether you are old or young. Meyers has discovered that while per capita income in America more than doubled in real terms between 1957 and 1990, the number of Americans who reported being "very happy" remained the same at one-third. In other words, having more is not "the real thing." More does not answer our deepest yearnings or fulfill our deepest needs. The American Dream, defined in terms of material things, has become The American Nightmare. The best of ...

3430. The Longest Journey Is the Shortest Distance

Acts 17:22-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... truth, Paul revealed, had been present among them for a long time. God's design for humanity was outlined in God's creation and defined in the holy Scriptures. Paul rejects the Athenians' vague searching for some unknown, out-of-sight god that remains forever evasive. The God Paul knows so well had not only been eternally close, the divine had been underfoot. In the person of Jesus Christ, God had become touchable, audible and visible for every man, woman and child. What kept the Athenians from experiencing ...

3431. The Five Habits of Highly Spiritual Leaders

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... first- generation believers the beginning of the Gentile church in Asia Minor. 1 Peter understood how tense, how testing, how tender the cultural situation these Christians had to learn to thrive in. The "five habits" he suggests offered these believers a way to remain in the midst of a foreign culture, yet stand apart as members of the distinctive church community. 1. DREAMS Don't be afraid to dream God-sized dreams. Keep alert. Be attuned to everything happening around you without getting sucked into any ...

3432. Holy Spirit Holes

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... were read each Sunday. The church calendar shaped the daily lives of the people. Festivals, saint's days, holy days, all lived and breathed in the world of the medieval church. It was the church's job to see that the marking of these days remained the dominant guiding force in daily life. Professor Eck has discovered that Pentecost was one of the most unique and creatively celebrated days on the church's calendar. In 10th-century Rome, for example, the church really knew how to throw its own birthday party ...

3433. Anywhere Goes

Romans 14:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... very old? bringing Christ "on-line" as well as "off-road?" Our natural human tendency is to homogenize our surroundings and our acquaintances so that they are virtually indistinguishable from ourselves. But this is not a healthy environment for a body of Christ. In order to remain fit, we've got to stretch and grow, reaching out to and welcoming all God's children home to Christ even those we dislike and find distasteful. While walking along a street with one of his disciples, a sage met his rival. The sage ...

3434. Paying Dues to God

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , race, gender, economic status notwithstanding. Nothing other than justice matters when it comes to receiving justice. Alas, legal loopholes, bureaucratic snafus and insidious ingrained inequalities all work together to sometimes thwart justice. Yet the ringing phrase "justice for all" remains the thread that ties together our social fabric. Even if we don't always see it functioning, we are familiar with what it means to "do justice" to other human beings. St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, church patriarch ...

3435. Grow Old Grace-fully

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... him. Are we open to doing the same? Are you looking forward to "retirement" as a time with a slowed pace, a quiet house and a lot of golf? Not if you're to grow old "grace-fully." The Spirit of Christ in you does not molder with age it remains as fresh and sweet and surprising as on the first day we received it into our hearts.

3436. Rules for the Road

Joshua 3:7-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996), 9. The scenery on the way to the future will leave no one unsurprised. But as long as we stay on the road of the Scriptures and the tradition, and not get seduced into taking side roads and short-cuts, we can remain confident. Imagine how surprised the Israelites were when their march forward took them straight into the raging torrent of the rain-swollen Jordan. Surely there were other places to cross that were narrower. Why didn't Joshua find a sandbar somewhere near Jordan's ...

3437. God Is Faithful

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... time. I am called to the cot to see your focus shift, take tendril-hold on a shaft of sun, explore its dusty surface, climb to an eye you cannot meet. You have a sickness they cannot heal, the doctors say: Locked in your body you will remain. Well, I have been locked in mine. We will tunnel each other out. You seal the covenant with a grin. This first Sunday of Advent proclaims God's faithfulness to the human race. Regardless of our disabilities, our failures, our weirdness, our belligerence, a faithful God ...

3438. A Match Made in Heaven

Isaiah 61:1—62:12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to God's craziest notion yet. God established a sacred covenant, an eternal promise of faithfulness, between the Creator and the creation. Having initially kept heaven and earth at safe distances from each other, God bridged that chasm with God's own promise to remain in eternal relationship with the creation. And yet...still this was not enough for God. Yes, there was a covenant. But there was not yet a connection. Four days ago, we celebrated the day on which the greatest attraction of opposites ever took ...

3439. Be an Energizer Bunny

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 's sermons here in Homiletics, did his doctoral work precisely on the deconstructive character of "children's sermons." No matter how badly we adults botch our chance at communicating the gospel to our youngest members, these moments remain the most potentially energy-releasing for the entire congregation. Why? Because children like automated pink bunnies are natural de-constructionists. They are predictably unpredictable. Their presence changes things. Every husband and wife awaiting the arrival of their ...

3440. Stone Testaments

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... has been reborn as Earth Day, but can you name the date when it is celebrated? Holidays, days set aside to commemorate special events, must continue to straddle the line between private and public importance, communal and individual responsibility, if they are to remain part of the natural ebb and flow of our lives. Special days that are too generic, or that we have no personal or familial investment in, will fade in importance. All those national holidays created in the wake of World War II are suffering ...

3441. Tabloid Testaments?

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... grapevine is strangling us. What it deserves is not our ears, but our shears. One of the due-process reforms of the '60s was the "Miranda Rule." The reading of "Miranda rights" is required for every person arrested; suspects are informed of their "right to remain silent [or have a lawyer present], for what you say can and will be used against you." How many Christians are living a "mirandized" ministry _ whatever we say to one another can and sometimes will be used against us? I shall never forget a ...

3442. Heirs of the Promise

Galatians 3:23-29

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and loyalty of Abraham and David prompted the establishment of these covenants. But there were no requirements spelled out as necessary in order to keep the promise in force. In contrast, the Sinai covenant God established with Israel is termed conditional a promise that remains in force only as long as the "conditions" in this case the Mosaic laws are fulfilled. What excites Paul so completely in this week's Galatians text is the fact that because of Christ, the conditions of the old law have been swept ...

3443. The Kingdom of God Has Come Close

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... might and political power that many expected. Because they could not see a new incarnation of God's love, they let the moment, the kingdom, pass them by. 4. Fear: There are times we know what to do and we know how to do it, but we remain frozen by fear. Fear keeps us immobile while it murders our hopes and nurtures our doubts. The greatness and glory of God does not always descend like a whirlwind. Sometimes greatness passes by with only a tiny whisper. Someone once asked Albert Schweitzer to name the ...

3444. Fan the Flames

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... does it take to fan the flame of the spirit back to a roaring fire of faithfulness within us? It takes three things: Pentecost Power, Love-Perfect Living, and a Self-Disciplined Lifestyle. 1. Pentecost Power: On our own, we are totally incapable of remaining faithful to anyone or anything - not even ourselves. The greatest gift each of us receives as new children in Christ is that special presence Christ sent to be among us - the Holy Spirit. Two images always seem to accompany the Holy Spirit - fire and ...

3445. Learn Your ABCs

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Bible in Church." Unless we read it, study it, learn what's in it and feel comfortable with it in our hands and on our tongues, we cannot truly love the Word of God. Instead, we are intimidated by it, afraid of it, shocked by it or simply remain ignorant of it. Every one of our churches is one generation away from extinction. The church must communicate itself, its essence, so completely to each new generation that its future is ensured in the hearts of each and every member. Each one of us is the future of ...

3446. Do Not Grow Weary in Well-Doing

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... " should not be confused with "wasting time" or "killing time." Pausal time may very well appear to be as filled with the activity of "doing right" as any other moment in your busy day. But there is a qualitative difference. One of the great "gumpisms" that remains from that quirky runaway hit movie Forrest Gump is Forrest's assertion that "When the body is most in motion, the mind can be most at rest." Those of you who jog know exactly what he means: Your body is going one direction (straining, sweating ...

3447. Enemies of Promise

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... it could not even wait to eradicate the promise within all children through a lifetime of tutelage. It blew them up in their day-care center while they were still innocent of hate. The enemy of hate devours promise, leaving only the bones - and charred remains. 4. The Enemy of Pride: Why do so few child geniuses live up to their hype? Why do so few intellectual prodigies become Nobel/Pulitzer/Templeton prize recipients? Why is the world run by C students? My mother thought she knew the answer. She had ...

3448. Dream Reality

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... family and truly dear friends ... means you are willing to give your time, your attention, your heart to others. Dreaming of a more vital, satisfying, spirit-filled church home ... means you are willing to pray and worship with all your spirit while remaining open to the movements of God's Spirit. 3. Holy-Dreamers Even with the right words and the right willpower, our daydreams appear frail and fragile beside the nightmarish tide that threatens to overwhelm us. If the daydreams we offer in defense are ...

3449. Out of the Box Gifts

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , myrrh actually “blooms.” When burned, myrrh expands both its physical and olfactory impact. Releasing myrrh through burning brings added power and pungency to this aromatic gem. The Magi did not give the baby Jesus extravagant, expensive gifts so that they could remain in their boxes, holed up and hoarded. Not one of these gifts were any good in their box. The only thing these boxes, these “cargo-containers,” were good for was to transport these first Christmas gifts from point “A” to point ...

3450. Luke 2:22-40

Luke 2:21-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... message and mission. Typical of Luke, he balances the prophetic words of Simeon with the presence and praises of Anna. She also exemplifies the righteous life. She married once, then lived her life as a widow, devoting herself to a life of fasting and prayer, remaining at the temple mount day in and day out. Although Luke’s text does not explain how Anna knows to come to this particular location in the vast temple complex at precisely the moment the infant Jesus is identified and praised by Simeon, it is ...

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