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Showing 351 to 375 of 747 results

351. His Last Command ... Our First Concern!

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... all that Christ commanded us. Notice he didn't call on us to make converts or church members, but baptized, obedient disciples! Nietchze, the German philosopher, said, "God is dead and the stench of his corpse is all across Europe." He advocated humanism and proposed the development of a "superman" of Aryan heritage protected by selective breeding and superior education. The Nazi Party picked up his idea, and men like Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Mengle, Himmler, and Rommel set about building such a society ...

352. Trapped in Paradise

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... swimming holes, fishing expeditions, and real fun. In the last year everything from tsunamis to hurricanes to earthquakes has beaten "Be Prepared" into our psyche. But what all the FEMA, Red Cross, and other emergency and governmental response groups really seem to be advocating is . . . "Have a Plan." " Households need to have a plan in the event of a natural disaster. " " Cities need to have a plan in place to deal with all the challenges and emergencies they will face. " " States need to enact a plan to ...

353. Low Carb Christianity

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... eating fat? That's the trouble with common sense, however. In appealing to the lowest common denominator it too easy simplifies complexities and lets the status quo rule everyone's status. It takes backbone and back-talk to rise against some common-sense conventionalities to advocate the uncommon and uncharted. It goes against common sense to steer into the direction your car is sliding on any icy street to bring it out of a tailspin. It goes against common sense to eat fat in order to lose fat. Jesus was a ...

354. An Uncomfortable Comforter

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... modern concept of comfort was unknown throughout the Low and High Middle Ages. Comfort was not a concept of cushiness or luxurious lounging. Instead, comfort was a verb. To be a comforter was not to be an overstuffed down blanket. It was to be an active advocate for another, offering aid and succor as it was needed. Comfort was not rest and repose. Comfort was response and reaction. Listen to a historian explain how we got our meaning of the word comfort today as we traveled from the medieval world to the ...

355. From Ha-Ha's to Ah-ha's

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... suddenly make sense. The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus through his words and "Aha," the presence of the risen Jesus would be real and eternally in their midst. Today's text is full of "Aha's." Jesus had already spoken of the paraclete, the Advocate, which would be sent to the disciples after he was gone. But now this Spirit is revealed not just as some holy tape recorder, reciting and reiterating Jesus' previously preached words to a post-resurrection gathering of disciples. Surprise! There will be new ...

356. Building Bridges While Getting Shot at from Both Shores

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Get Away from the Texts," Times Literary Supplement, 23 Jan 2004, 24.) And late in the first-century, two Roman magistrates and a band of Roman citizens in the Macedonian city of Philippi approved the vicious beating and imprisonment of two Jews because they were advocating customs not proper for "us as Romans" to observe (verse 21). Paul and Silas quietly bore the brunt of this fish-like "pick at the stranger in our midst" behavior. There's no record of them offering any words in their own defense. There ...

357. Show and Listen

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of New Jersey, there are ordinances against door-to-door solicitations. That means that Christians making cold calls on homes can be ticketed and fined for unsolicited visits. Even among Christians, there are some calling for the "Death of Evangelism." As one advocate of evangelism's demise has put it, "Many Christians think of evangelism the same way they think of visiting their aunt with Alzheimer's: something they know they're supposed to do, but are always finding ways of putting off. The thing about ...

358. Atlas or Jesus?

1 John 1:1-4

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... whole, and self-reliant. They saw no need for divine help or intervention. They felt completely capable of living a perfected, righteous life without the continual need to acknowledge any (nonexistent) sins, without relying upon the merciful petitions of the advocate God had provided in Jesus Christ. These "on their own" self-righteous ones were the Atlases of the first-century church. They felt capable of shouldering the entire burden of their sins and shortcomings upon their own newly righteous shoulders ...

359. Are You Running?

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... from the voice of our own conscience when we sit alone in front of a ballot. We can only manage to keep the heart of our own faith pure and beyond the reach of crowd-controlled judgments and conclusions by returning to the only size crowd Jesus advocated--where two or three are gathered. Two or three is too many for a dictatorship, too few for a crowd. It is, however, just enough for worship and for the living presence of God. Want to ruin your popularity in a hurry? Start telling the truth. Start living ...

360. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to their future life in Christ. God's work through Christ is the new focus of a disciple's life, not their prior status in this world. In today's text Paul continues this discussion and subtly undermines the sense of spiritual superiority held by those advocating celibacy. First, despite his own celibate lifestyle, Paul offers his personal opinion (verse 25) that "if you marry you do not sin" (verse 28). But the choice to marry or not to marry isn't the most important issue for Paul. Rather it's the radical ...

361. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... century (Stoicism, pantheism, Gnosticism), Paul identifies a continual state of joyfulness as one of the particular marks of the Christian faithful. 2) Next the apostle directs the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing identifying yet another definitive Christian attitude. All religious advocates identified prayer as a means of addressing the deity. But Paul emphasizes that for Christians prayer isn't so much an activity as it's an enduring attitude and life posture (see 1 Thessalonians 1:2 and 2:13 as ...

362. 2 Peter 3: 8-15a

2 Peter 3:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of Jesus followers is passing away, with no arrival of the promised parousia. Second, the appearance of false teachers (pseudodidaskaloi) within the Christian community threatens the unity of community by the teaching of destructive heresies (2:1). These false teachers advocate a lifestyle that 2 Peter denounces as immoral (2:2) and are accused of lining their own pockets through their preaching (2:3). What is more, these false teachers are also attacking the traditional end times expectations of the second ...

363. Advent 3

Psalm 146:1-10, Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-12, Matthew 11:1-19

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