Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 676 to 700 of 1182 results

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... might call this new recognition of an old fact "minding your heart" bringing the strength of intellect together with the power of emotions in order to aid us in all our decision making processes. The Old Testament lesson for this week describes a classic example of what happens when "heart knowledge" runs rampant. When he saw Bathsheba David reacted without considering the consequences. He didn't mind his heart. Undoubtedly David intentionally closed down his mind for a time so that he could listen to the ...

677. Tweed Jackets, Sweat Pants and Wet Suits

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... phase focuses on the rudiments of faith. Wearing the tweed jacket enables the established community of faith to transmit the tradition and "heritize" its faith. At its best, there is established a bedrock of basics and the tradition of classical Christianity is fully embraced. At its worst the tweed suit becomes a straightjacket, unable to allow for creativity, unreflective of one's unique style, incapable of adjusting to new sets of cultural circumstances. However serviceable, indeed indispensable, the ...

678. Gutsy Joy

Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... read: "Mr. Dumbleigh presents his compliments and praises God that he is sick so he has to be cared for by two tender, loving fairies. Was ever a man so blest?" In the closing days of his life, Stevenson wrote this prayer that has become somewhat of a classic: "We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies that make our lives delightful ...

679. A Lovehope Faith

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... goes wrong with our blood, we are in big trouble. Leukemia, sickle-cell disease and the frightening new specter of AIDS are all fought and lost on the battlefield of the blood. So it is for Paul and love. Emil Brunner's classic discussion of the intersection between the love that Paul so ardently underscores, and the two other "abiding" virtues, faith and hope, still remains an outstanding guide to our understanding. (See Emil Brunner, Faith, Hope, and Love [Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956].) Brunner ...

680. Let It Breathe...

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of the Spirit' (John 3:8). Jesus is God's second kiss (or in the words of Bernard of Clairvaux, 'Jesus is God's kiss'). The Spirit is the breath of God in the body of the church" (299). In one of John Wesley's most classic sermons, "The New Birth," Wesley draws graphically on the Genesis vocabulary of breathing and respiration to describe the meaning of "regeneration" and "being born again": God is continually breathing, as it were, upon his soul, and his soul is breathing unto God. Grace is descending into ...

681. The Compleat Christian

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... without confusing the gift of grace with the works of the individual. Yet the contemporary church remains coltishly skittish about incorporating "virtues" into any discussion of Christian life. When was the last time your people looked at the current demands the classical virtues (temperance, justice, wisdom, courage and, some would add, piety) make on us at the close of this 20th century? We tend to think of virtues as the concerns of quaint religious sects or sequestered elderly widows - certainly not for ...

682. Thunder in the Mountains, Silence in the Soul

1 Kings 19:9-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in the mountains and the thunder, and in the dark, quiet interior of our souls. To Moses, God spoke through the mountains with a roar; to Elijah, God spoke in a cave, in a soul-centered whisper. It is the same God, only different manifestations. In classic psychoanalysis, caves or caverns typically symbolize the hidden depth of the unconscious mind. Elijah's flight to that dark crevice on Mt.Horeb and his unique encounter there with God is an image that might be more useful to us today than in any other age ...

683. FaithRace

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of various world series, super bowls and playoffs, four words, representing important sports concepts keep cropping up: Groove, Ambition, Momentum and Enthusiasm. They are easy to remember, for they shamelessly form the acronym GAME. Groove: An exultant Joe Montana commented after the classic Super Bowl XIX how "We got in sort of a groove. Once you get going like that you gain confidence, and it carries over to the defense, and then back to the offense. It is a snowball kind of thing" (P. Zimmerman ...

684. Is Your Christmas Spirit a Controlled Substance?

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of and is eternally reborn in the redeeming, renewing spirit of Christ. My sermon is going to close this morning by putting your “Christmas spirit” to the test. I’m going to show you a 6 minute, 41 second cartoon of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic Christmas story, “The Little Match Girl.” You can find it on YouTube: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSzQBaWq0Q). First of all, if you can watch this and not be moved, you need help because you have no spirit. But what does “The Little Match ...

685. Build a Bridge and Get Over It

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... me from some of your followers." F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that the test of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the head at the same time and still be able to function. Or to paraphrase James M. Cain's classic noir thriller, "The Postmodernist Always Rings Twice." Postmodern pluralism has created a world of double takes, a world that faces in at least two directions at the same time. The patron saint for the postmodern era might as well be Leonardo da Vinci, who sketched with ...

686. Plaque Buildup

Romans 5:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... away from any dint of battle and sight of blood. Besides, the economic boom-times that followed on the heels of this "war to end all wars" seemed to suggest that "happy days are here again" and even "better times" were just around the corner. The classical "liberal" church, with its optimistic assessment of human nature, was ill-prepared for the second half of the 20th century. How could any of us foresee the kind of events that would claw away at these decades and leave our faith in human goodness and the ...

687. Self-Fulfillment Through Self-Sacrifice

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of the most creative work in advertising and imaging promotes beer or sports items? A recent string of commercials for Miller "Lite" shows that its promoters are right in touch with what captivates our postmodern culture and tickles our postmodern fancy. In these ads, the classic "tastes great" vs. "less filling" two-in-one idea is taken one step further. Patrons at a local pub argue over what sporting event to watch on the bar TV football or golf. The argument is solved when a bottle of their favorite brew ...

688. The Four R's

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... like in the rest of the animal kingdom. I see being 'human' as the unique opportunity to use our minds and wills to act in ways that elevate us above the animal kingdom.' Schlessinger then closes her point with an illustration from the film classic The African Queen: Humphrey Bogart as Charlie, the solitary sailor, tries to invoke the 'only human' excuse when he attempts to explain his prior drunken evening. Katharine Hepburn as Rosie, the missionary, peers over her Bible and aptly retorts, 'We were put on ...

689. Paying Dues to God

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 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, and according to his own words, the classic "bad boy" turned good (or at least turned toward God) was also arguably the church's greatest theologian in the tradition of justice. In both his Confessions and The City of God, Augustine found the theme of justice a recurring one. While he denied ...

690. Just Showing Up Doesn't Get the Job Done

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... all, John Wayne. The rough-and-tumble, heart-of-gold, good-guy character John Wayne perfected on-screen never failed to embody the qualities of honor, loyalty, bravery and commitment. John Wayne's cowboys didn't just look good. They were good. In the classic, "Rio Bravo," Wayne's character summed up the essence of his cowboy philosophy by declaring to a less-than-perfect sidekick "Just showing up doesn't get the job done!" Matthew's parable-allegory of the 10 bridesmaids seems to emphasize this same kind ...

691. God Is Faithful

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of God cannot participate in redemptive activity. God's providence is also bound up in God's faithfulness for a providential God to work out the divine plans according to the Divine Will requires unswerving faithfulness. The classic Calvinist understanding of Divine Providence insists that God's constant, providential governance of all that occurs directs creation toward a preordained and salvific end. Unless God is faithful to this providential trajectory, Calvin rightly insisted, all creation ...

692. DisArming Christmas

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... we think will protect us from the enemy and position us properly alongside our neighbors. In children, the arms race of consumerism is manifested by Christmas outbreaks of the "gimme, gimme" syndrome "gimme the coolest clothes," "gimme the hottest toys," etc. A classic case records a little kid working on his Christmas list, who honestly expects Santa to bring him . . . "one of everything on pages 219 and 226." In adults, the arms race of consumerism causes credit-card fever, fraud and shopper's fatigue ...

693. The Oblivious Obvious

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the main thing the main thing." And you know what, that is "The Main Thing." (Note: Use something local that is obvious to your congregation and add here.) Retired professional athletes often move into a second career as sports announcers. Here is a classic example of someone getting paid for restating the obvious. In the days before television, sportscasting was more of an art _ drawing pictures with words for people tuned to their radios. But what can a sports announcer possibly add to the surround-sound ...

694. The Devil's Sermon

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Lord is in This Place. The Devil says: "Keep up." Jesus says: "Keep on keeping on." 3. Keep Your Options Open. What the Devil means by this is that you've got the right to choose, and to choose without commitment. Cover all your bases. In a classic 1994 "Dear Abby" letter, one woman wrote: Dear Abby: I am 45 years old, financially comfortable and would like to get married. I would like to meet a man, about my age, who enjoys going to church. I belong to the First Methodist Church, Blessed Angels Catholic ...

695. The Cream of the Crop, or The Skimmed Milk of the Earth

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... from others. Fishing for compliments, ingratiating oneself to powerful, transparent self-deprecation these are all marks of false or bumbled humbleness. The great Russian author/playwright Anton Chekhov, in a letter addressed to a younger brother in 1879, gave the classic response to the phenomenon of false humility. He had received a letter in which the brother had signed himself as "your insignificant and obscure little brother." "Do you know," Chekhov asked in reply, "before whom you should confess your ...

696. Out of the Box Gifts

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... were only valuable, only meaningful, when they were let out into the world. *Gold is only good when it provides food, shelter, and sustenance for the family holding it. The fate of the miserable miser is the inspiration for many classic fables and stories. *Frankincense resin, the harvested drops called “tears,” were only useful when “shed” or when burned to release their restorative scent. Frankincense was also ingested in the ancient world, a practice validated by a recent Johns Hopkins/Hebrew ...

697. John 3:1-17

John 3:1-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 6-8 show with glaring, galling clarity how wide the chasm is between God (born of the Spirit) and human beings (born of the flesh). Emphasizing the distance between the Spirit and the flesh gives greater impact, more vital importance, to the most classic words of Jesus' ministry. Jesus responded to Nicodemus' first "how" question with the skeleton of God's salvation plans: Be born anew with water and the Spirit. Verses 11ff. contain the answer to the Pharisee's second "how?" The synagogue wants an explicit ...

698. Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... simple qualities of kindness and a forgiving nature are in reality a call to let membership in the body of Christ change the sinful heart of humanity into a commitment to selfless, sacrificial love. Relating the Texts From the Old Testament comes a classic story of treachery and ignominious death. Verse 5 of 2 Samuel 18 clearly articulates King David's command to "deal gently" with the traitorous Absalom. Despite all of Absalom's rebellion and his utter contempt for his father's rule and reputation (see ...

699. Mark 8:27-38

Mark 8:27-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and he and his disciples start moving spiritually and physically towards Jerusalem. On the course of this journey Jesus begins a series of lessons on discipleship. Jesus begins these lessons by initiating a discussion about his identity leading to Peter's classic confession that Jesus is "the Christ." But Jesus has much more to reveal to his disciples before they are really able to confess his messianic identity and comprehend what that actually entails. So Jesus silences the disciples, curtails any pride ...

700. John 18:33-37

John 18:33-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... - "to testify to the truth" - a mission that includes Jesus' passion, crucifixion and resurrection. Indeed this is Jesus' answer to Pilate's earlier question, "What have you done?" He has come into the world to save it. John's rendition of this classic confrontation between Pilate and Jesus clearly demonstrates Jesus' growing in strength and glory as the hour of his death approaches. John's penchant for irony lies behind his recording here of Pilate's final words. The official invested with the most civil ...

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