Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4476 to 4500 of 4972 results

4476. Settle for an F

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of postmodern culture seems to be a frenzied attempt to escape boredom by continually pushing out the borders and boundaries of experience. Why else would people voluntarily go "bungee-jumping" (leaping off bridges with only stretchy bungee cords lashed about their ankles to stop their free-fall), or spend $100 per person for a meal of nouvelle cuisine's "toy food," or watch the hollow excesses of sex and stardom portrayed in Madonna's "home video" Truth or Dare? Fear of the too familiar feeds our negative ...

4477. Shame on You

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... those evils, there are things we can do individually. Guilt as a goad might motivate us to do something as simple as recycle or as ambitious as working to see that tough environmental protection regulations get passed. Guilt as a goad cannot stop senseless violence against innocents, but it can empower us to demonstrate and offer the love of Christ and a life of service as an alternative example to others. Professional athletes have always boasted through torn ligaments and strained muscles, "No pain, no ...

4478. The Necessary Book

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... "necessary" appeared on a road sign, it served as a code-word for travelers, letting them know that the next town was the last one capable of meeting all their basic necessities for perhaps many, many miles. Thus the town was a stop "necessary" for the well-being, even survival, of the travelers. (Some towns in Pennsylvania and Virginia still have "Necessary" in their names.) Until quite recently, one could buy at a local stationery supply store a volume entitled "The Necessary Book." Indeed a thoughtful ...

4479. FaithRace

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... wavering" (12:12-13, NEB); and earlier, "Do not then throw away your confidence, for it carries a great reward. You need endurance, if you are to do God's will and win what he has promised" (10:35-36, NEB). Jitters of self-doubt must not cause us to stop or look back once we have begun to run. Saul Alinsky asserted that if we are to avoid inertia and immobilization, we sometimes need to go ahead when we are only 51 percent sure as if we were 100 percent sure. God blesses our best. No matter how weak of ...

4480. Jesus, The Light of the World

John 1:3-9

Illustration

John H. Townsend

... ; Jesus on the cross; Jesus triumphant in Resurrection glory. The silent sermons of light and stained glass spoke an eloquent message. The Gospel of John puts it this way: The true light that gives light of every man was coming into the world. People who passed by the church would stop reverently, silently. They found themselves filled with new resolve and encouragement. They saw ever more clearly in that age of sickness the light of Christ glory which was coming into the world.

4481. Good Advance People

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Illustration

Alex Stevenson

... every hand and kiss every baby he could. To handle this most important public relations part of the campaign he had a very good friend. The problem was his friend wasn't very good. Often times the advertisements were muddled and even wrong. Once during a whistle stop tour no one showed up, not even the mayor of the town they were in and the mayor was a supporter. The problem was that this advance man had failed to tell anyone that the candidate was coming. The others who worked for the candidate began to ...

4482. Too Big to Be Understood

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

I often stop at a certain restaurant in town which has a first-class aquarium. It contains a glorious assortment of tropical fish with colors so extraordinary that only God's personal coloring set could have decorated them. It takes a lot of work to run an aquarium. The owner monitors the oxygen ...

4483. Five Steps to Takeoff

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... making any headway in our search for God's kingdom. Sometimes, like the airplane chocks, these can be seemingly ridiculously small matters of attitude or style that appear utterly insignificant to others. But in our own lives, these small matters can easily stop us from reaching out and "believing" in the power that the gospel offers over sin and death. Before we can hope to begin our own journey into discipleship, these "stumbling blocks" must be removed, and genuine repentance must be experienced. 2. The ...

4484. Dare Care

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... nervous about taking that first step onto a moving escalator. He hesitates, halts, hovers on the edge, reluctant to step off that edge. That first step is difficult. But once you take it, the movement of the escalator carries you along effortlessly. When Thane plays stop and go at that first step, there is the greatest danger. We all topple over him, or he panics and bolts forward, dragging others with him. Thane is safer taking the risk of getting onto something beyond his control than he is holding back ...

4485. Build a Bridge and Get Over It

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... from a doorway. He wandered over to where the music was being played and there saw a lad playing a flute. The music was beautiful, but the flute was the weirdest looking instrument he had ever seen. He got as close as he could properly get when the lad stopped playing, smiled and handed him the instrument. It was not until he picked up the flute did the journalist understand. For what this young Lebanese boy had done was to find in some field a discarded rifle, re-bore holes in the barrel of that rifle and ...

4486. Take an Ember Day

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... we live in "the recline of Western Civilization." Not "decline," but "recline." Some symptoms of "recline"? You're sitting in your family room, parked in a La-Z-Boy, a proverbial couch potato. The perpetual motion of your remote control is suddenly stopped by an infomercial. It is selling one of dozens of "ab crunchers/ toners/ tighteners/ flexers." Your own tummy flab involuntarily flinches as you sit watching the world's flattest, hardest stomachs do record-shattering numbers of killer sit-ups. You are ...

4487. UpTime

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... "Christ is risen" on Easter morning. In his book Breakfast at the Victory, James Carse writes, "The highest achievement of the spiritual life is within the full embrace of the ordinary. Our appetite for the big experience sudden insight, dazzling vision, heart-stopping ecstasy is what hides the true way from us." It is the extraordinary in the ordinary that can become prayer. In the Buddhist tradition there is an expression, "Chop wood; carry water," which is a way of saying that spiritual meaning can ...

4488. God's in Charge (so shut up!)

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , there is no rush to spit out something, anything, in order to fill up the silence. Ecclesiastes fronts the admonition to "let your words be few" with the observation that "to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools" (Ecclesiastes 5:1). Only when we stop up our mouths and open up our hearts, can we hope to hear God's words for us. "God's in charge, so open up!" It is only once we close our own mouths, and shut off the clamor of our own insistent neediness, that we can open up ...

4489. How Do You Sell A Vacuum Cleaner?

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... she kneels, holds the handle like a microphone) It's a karaoke machine for the vertically challenged. (sings in falsetto, "It's a small world after all," till he leaves) Steve: Well, since you've obviously gone insane, I'll be going. Goodbye. Shirley: (she stops singing, stands and looks at the vacuum) Rats. They said this thing would sell itself. (she kicks it; injures her foot) Owww. (limps off, leaving the vacuum center stage) Scene 3 The Demo Narrator: The nightmare is not over. We delve deeper into the ...

4490. The Double Cross

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... call Bethany Suppers. These were occasions filled with the presence of good friends and family. Bethany-type suppers offered Jesus, and his disciples, a moment of rest and renewal. A Bethany Supper offered Jesus a kind of spiritual and emotional "pit stop," a refreshing place that prepared him for Jerusalem. At these restful moments, Jesus enjoyed the company of some of his best friends Mary, Martha, Lazarus. Bethany was a place where he could hang out, where he could eagerly engage people in conversation ...

4491. The Widow's Might

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ? Would you find yourself "rich" or "poor"? As Christians, recipients of the greatest gift of love ever given, the sacrificial gift of Jesus Christ for our sake, we are truly rich beyond imagination. Can we, like the poor widow, find the courage to share the wealth we hold? Can we stop dribbling out our stores of love and selflessness and sacrifice and compassion and dare to pour out our whole heart, our whole being, our "whole life" into the love-starved coffers of this world?

4492. Would You Believe...?

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... told. Our parents, our teachers and our pastors were unimpeachable sources of truth and integrity. If any one of them said something, it must be true. But when we grew older in years and more "sophisticated" in thoughts, we learned to stop believing things simply because an authority figure told us it was true. Our own intelligence, skepticism and curiosity forced us to go out and make inquiries for ourselves. While this process results in the gradual development of a healthy, well-informed, personalized ...

4493. Stand Against or Walk Alongside?

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of us, he never had any baggage he needed to check. Before we set out on a journey, we are sure to "fill'er up." We fill the gas tank to the top so that we may travel as far and as fast as possible before we are forced to stop. We also "fill up" the trunk with luggage, the back seat with junk, the glove compartment with maps and flashlights. We tuck in somewhere an emergency kit with flares and jumper cables and first-aid basics. And, of course, we throw a big bag of munch-while-you-drive goodies ...

4494. Easter Completes

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the generational debate about which comes first attending the early "sunrise service" that celebrates the dawn of Jesus' resurrection, or scampering about the house look- ing for celluloid "grass" nests filled with brightly colored eggs and candy treats. Did you ever stop to think how the "secular" customs surrounding Easter are truly bizarre? First, there is the Easter Bunny himself. A big male rabbit that carries nests of eggs. Yes, rabbits are extremely good at carrying out that "be fruitful and multiply ...

4495. Strength's Weakness

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... athletes make their livelihood off their Herculean bodies and physical abilities. Yet those very bodies are finally an athlete's downfall. Tendonitis and arthritis slow down a pitcher's arm. Torn ligaments and floating cartilage cripple a running back's knees. Tennis elbow stops all "ace" servers cold. That which was once an athlete's source of power and pride becomes the weakest, most vulnerable part of his or her body. There comes a time in every athlete's life when no longer does "practice make perfect ...

4496. Fighting Fire With Fire

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the speeding wall of fire, he realized they were in a losing battle. In desperation, the crew leader decided to risk trying on the spot a new method of fire control no smoke-jumping team had yet employed. Instead of running away, the squad leader stopped, turned and started another fire a so-called "safety fire" between himself and the blaze that followed. Most of the other smokejumpers thought their team leader had gone berserk. Surely they had more than enough fire already. He yelled for them to join him ...

4497. And Again I Say...Amen!

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor." - When Jesus showed honor: he picked out rather than picked on those most "put-down" and "down-and-out." - When Jesus showed honor: he honored people's needs. Jesus would stop what he was doing and allow others to waylay and interrupt him. For Jesus, no importance was unimportant. - When Jesus showed honor: he honored others by his needing them. Jesus affirmed people by demonstrating and acknowledging his need of them (the disciples ...

4498. Say Amen, Somebody

Psalm 1:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , the kingships need to be ratified with an affirmation: AMEN. With the new Moses, Jesus, came grace _ but the grace and the community of grace need to be ratified with an affirmation: AMEN. The Amen is not some rubber stamp, some automatic stop. It is rather the precise ratification of the statement. An "Amen" means an affirmation. Psalm 1 begins with such an Amen with the affirmation, "Blessed are those ...." Indeed, most people are desperate for affirmation in their lives. Newsweek not too long ago did ...

4499. Never Give Up

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... posters hanging in the post office or stapled to neighborhood telephone poles? Look carefully, and you will be shocked to see that the "last seen" dates on some of these pictures are 1986, 1983, 1982, 1979. Even when over a decade has passed, a parent cannot stop the search. "Some time back, a brief news story recounted how a 2-year-old boy had wandered off and become lost in the woods outside a certain Southern town. Hundreds of local townspeople searched all night for the lad. The next morning, the family ...

4500. Just Say Know

Philippians 3:4b-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... instead of gathering us into communities. - There are the "theys" of presentism narrowly fixating us on what we want today instead of what our children will need tomorrow. What you don't know can hurt you if what you don't know is Jesus Christ. Stop pouring your energy into stockpiling knowledge for the sake of gaining possessions in this world. Start by knowing Christ and by making Christ known to the world, and the genuine treasures of this life and the next will decorate your life. If the church were ...

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