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Showing 801 to 825 of 1409 results

801. What Is Success?

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Erma Bombeck wrote, "I can't remember the name of the man who spoke at my high school commencement, but I remember what he said. He told us the future of the world rested on our shoulders and he charged us with finding our destiny and fulfilling it. He went on to say we alone must cure disease, hunger and poverty throughout the world, and above all, we must find success. "I glanced over at Jack, the class deficient who couldn't even find his parents after they parked the car, and I got an uneasy feeling. ...

802. As Long As It Is Day!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

French author Victor Hugo has a short story titled, "93." In the midst of this tale a ship at sea is caught in a terrific storm. Buffeted by the waves, the boat rocks to and fro, when suddenly the crew hears an awesome crashing sound below deck. They know what it is. A cannon they are carrying has broken loose and is smashing into the ship's sides with every list of the ship. Two brave sailors, at the risk of their lives, manage to go below and fasten it again, for they know that the heavy cannon on the ...

803. The Process of Love

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

In William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, the actors roam the stage looking for a scarce potion that can make humans fall in love. What with our church splits, divorce rate, homicides, racism, and terrorist wars, such an elixir, such a love potion, could come in handy in our own day. Jesus Christ told us in the Great Commandment to love our neighbor (Mark 12:28 ff). Then he stuck around to show us how it's done. What we have in the Gospels is not just words of love, but the deeds themselves ...

804. The Seven Deadly Fears

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Probably all of us know someone who has a phobia of some kind or another. Someone who is afraid of small, enclosed areas - they're claustrophobic. Someone who is afraid of wide open, sweeping spaces - they're agoraphobic. There are phobias named for fearing heights, depths, snakes, spiders, clowns, dirt, cats, dogs. (You might want to make this a karaoke moment and get your people talking about their own fears.) In fact, almost everything, real or imagined, has rated a phobia listing. FDR even gave fear ...

805. Stirred, Not Shaken

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

On the morning the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, died, a good-sized earthquake hit Hawaii. I know because a group of college students from Linfield College was there (Elizabeth Rennie was one of them), doing a summer studies program at the University of Hawaii. How appropriate it seemed to this group of teenagers to have the whole world around them shake, rattle, and roll as the news of Elvis' death came over the airwaves. Even as he left this world there was a whole lot of shaking going on. ...

806. From Black Holes to Red Holes

Luke 18:18-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Does anyone here know how to snowboard? Anyone here snowboard in cyberspace? Thanks to DVD technology, our eleven-year-old son Thane and his buddies go snowboarding in our living room almost every weekend. I love to eavesdrop while their electronic selves slip and slither down impossible snowboarding courses. It's always an education. The other day Thane started shouting, "How can this guy keep saying 'gravity is my friend!'?" For some reason the character Thane had chosen would perform astounding 720's, ...

807. Hands On

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Our five-year-old Soren was looking at an over-sized art book. It has lots of glossy full-page reproductions of artwork that made it a fascinating "read" for a five-year old. But 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 ...

808. Pay It Forward!

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

There is no place like an island to bring home how vitally interconnected we are to each other. The other night, one lone deer on tiny Shaw Island managed to plunge all the San Juan County islands into complete darkness and powerlessness for about five hours. This deer, it seems, decided to cross the road at the same time some unsuspecting driver (and there are only about 50 cars on the entire island) came around the corner. Whether to save Bambi or the front grillwork, the driver swerved sharply. He ...

809. Poison Control

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It's every parent's nightmare. You walk into the room only to see your toddler happily playing with open bottles of pills. The contents of several bottles spilled across the floor. This was the sight we took in one suspiciously quiet morning when our daughter was about eighteen months old. Somehow she had created a climbing wall for herself that had enabled her to reach a high-shelf basket containing a cornucopia of "cure-it-yourself" vitamin pills. Also nestled somewhere in the bottom of the basket was ...

810. Taking Aim

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In 1221 the young Dominican order took on a new member who would ultimately be known as Peter Martyr. Young Peter's parents had been members of the Cathari sect, but Peter was drawn to the Dominicans while a student at the University of Bologna. A gifted and zealous speaker, Friar Peter became known for his preaching throughout Lombardy. But his notoriety begat jealousy and suspicion. He was accused of immorality (letting women into his monk's cell) and he argued with far too much success and conviction ...

811. The Monsters We Are All Afraid Of

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

We've all seen those old medieval world maps that tried to accurately represent the world as it was then known. At the edges of these maps, where knowledge and exploration petered out, imagination and fear took over. In a large, cautionary hand, the cartographers would scrawl over these mysterious regions the ominous warning, "There be dragons!" Like medieval map-makers, most of us as children also instinctively feared that which was just out of our sight, just beyond our scrutiny. Has anyone seen Disney ...

812. The Real Dish Network

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When do you have enough TV channels to choose from? According to the satellite TV industry, there is no such thing as enough. Every year more and more households are sticking out their own little satellite downloading system and beaming in anywhere from 100-600 channels of entertainment and information. Our overwhelming desire for this kind of electronic-overload is played for laughs in the commercials aired by DISH Network and Direct TV. In one series of ads the satellite installer has the stuffing hugged ...

813. The Real Winning Attitude

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"The one who dies with the most toys wins." Have you seen that bumper-sticker? In the yuppified, narcissistic eighties, that single saying became the defining declaration among possession-possessed up-and-comers. As people surrounded themselves with hot new cars, snazzy stereo systems and miscellaneous gizmos, gadgets, and gratuitous consumerism, the popular mantra was everywhere: "The one who dies with the most toys wins!" Everybody loves to win. And everyone loves a winner. Winning brings a sense of ...

814. The Wussification of the Church

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

This is one of my favorite gospel stories. It tells of Jesus' power – power to bring light to blind eyes and empty lives. Too much of Christ's church has become a wuss. Like those of us who live in states where a normal winter is constant snow showers, for the past few winters we've been spoiled by warm weather and snowless skies. Now when a rare snowstorm does appear, look at how we handle the challenge. We're no different from those living in the Sunbelt – we huddle in our homes because of below-zero ...

815. Are You a GOT TO or a GET TO Christian?

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When I was growing up in the 60's we practiced drive-by littering. The big game was to see if you could get in front of a pick up, throw out the window a Carrolls hamburger wrapping (they were the competitor to McDonalds that went belly-up), and have it land in the lap of the pickup bed. Today kids don't do drive-by littering. They do drive-by shootings. Or in-school shootings. Do you remember the rash of in school shootings that affected areas around the country? · Jonesboro, Arkansas. · Paducah, Kentucky ...

816. Christianity's First Sermon

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Theme: On this Christ the King Sunday, we remember how Jesus, “the King of the Jews,” wants to be Jesus, “the King of hearts” in each of our lives. The Word-Made-Flesh . .. Exegesis of Luke 23:33-43 Today is “Christ the King Sunday.” The Sunday before Advent begins its four week count-down to the crib of the infant Jesus. In the church’s liturgical calendar this is the Sunday we celebrate Christ’s divine kingship, his ruling authority over all of creation. Then we try not to get whiplash as we turn the ...

817. Who Put It There? (Mother's Day)

1 Peter 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

I found this job description circulating on the Internet this past week. Anyone interested? [You may want/need to shorten this.] WANTED: Mom JOB DESCRIPTION: Long term team players needed for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping ...

818. My Precious, My Precious

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Who would have thought that a public television show about the junk, or, excuse me, family heirlooms cluttering up everyone's closets, attics, and basements would turn into one of the hottest TV shows going? What's the name of it? Anyone? It's my favorite TV show. That's right: Antiques Roadshow. Antiques Roadshow is now a classic treasure itself, having been public televisions' biggest audience grabber for over a decade. It's even spawned dozens of spin-offs and copycats, and made the Keno twins (Leigh ...

819. Learning the Three Step Faith Walk

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The January 2004 edition of Trail magazine has got some 'splaining to do. Trail is a British publication that provides maps and suggests particularly beautiful or challenging hiking trials to the growing number of devoted hill-walkers throughout Great Britain. Unfortunately if anyone had followed the seemingly precise, detailed directions given by the magazine to reach the summit of Britain's largest mountain, Ben Nevis, they would have hiked straight off a sheer cliff and ended up in a broken heap at the ...

820. Be Ready!

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

King Duncan

Mr. Smith is riding through Manhattan with a reckless cab driver. At the first intersection they come to, the cab driver runs a red light. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” Mr. Smith yells. “That was a red light!” “Don’t worry, fella,” the cabbie replies, “My brother drives a cab too, and he does that all the time.” Mr. Smith grits his teeth and tries to remain calm, but he loses his cool when the driver runs a second red light. “Are you insane? You’re just asking for trouble,” he yells. “I know what I’m doing, ...

821. Blue Highway Blessings

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One of our nation's unsung heroes died recently at age 84 in Edmonds, Washington. His memorial service was conducted not at a church, but at a store: REI, the flagship outdoors store in Seattle, Washington. Ira Spring made his life's work being on the road. Whatever his destination may have been each day, he was working. His real goal was to pay attention and fully participate in every step along the way. Spring was a hiker, which he called the cheap man's sport. Spring was responsible for finding, ...

822. Don't Lose Your Footing

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Every sport seems to come with occupational hazards. Take baseball. Baseball pitchers tend to end up with gimpy, arthritic elbows. Take football. Football players can end up with rickety, rocky knees. Take ballet. Ballet dancers almost always end up with the most gnarled, nobbed, ugly stumpy feet you can imagine. In fact, once you've seen a dancer's unslippered foot, you can never watch the grace and beauty, the fluid movement across the floor and into the air, in the same way. How can they move so ...

823. Looking for Shoots or Roots?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The more we move into the Advent season, the more our scripture texts bring the Christ-child’s birth closer and closer to us. Yet here in Matthew 11:2-11 we are back to the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist. Yet even though this is not part of our text for this week, the mere mention of John’s name should remind us of their cousinly kinship, even of an in utero jump for joy that marked their first meeting--making cousin John the first person to celebrate Advent. As out text opens Jesus has ...

824. Dirty Hearted People

Matthew 13:1-23

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim:Growth takes place only in fertile receptive people. Props: Seeds, a tray, a brick (or large rock), clay (or children's Play-doh), and some rich soil. Lesson: Good morning. (response) Place the empty tray in front. Hold up the seeds. What do I have here? (response) We are going to plant these seeds. I brought this tray to plant our seeds in but I need something to put in the tray so we can plant them...here we go. Put the brick in the tray. Now we pour a few seeds right there and we are ...

825. Totally Awesome!

John 20:1-18

Illustration

James W. Moore

In "Growing Deep In The Christian Life," Chuck Swindoll tells about a Sunday school kindergarten teacher who was trying to determine how much religious training her new students had. She found one five-year-old boy who knew absolutely nothing about the story of Jesus. She began by relating to him the death of Jesus on the cross. When he asked her what a cross was, she picked up some sticks and, fashioning a crude cross, she told him that Jesus had been nailed to a cross and had died. The little boy, with ...

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