Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1351 to 1375 of 2404 results

1351. Down the Up Staircase

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... gain a new perspective, since we abandoned our caves. Perhaps this almost instinctual need to move beyond the place where we are is part of our being created in God's image - for our God is surely a mobile God. God achieves all this movement through an ongoing process of filling and emptying. P. T. Forsyth (1848-1921) was a British Congregational minister, denominational administrator and seminary president whose social outlook was successfully positive, modern and evangelical. Basic to his theology of the ...

1352. From a Distance

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... argues, "is to become less involved yourself. If you are able to bring your level of involvement to a point lower than that of your partner, you may actually find that he or she will come closer to you, rather than pull away. Thus to achieve greater closeness," this psychologist argues, "you may actually have to start by looking for some distance" (28-29). Perhaps this human trait is what kept the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham just out of sight for the first wandering generations of faithful ...

1353. Speak Up for Forgiveness

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... struggling, stumbling, sinful human being to remain faithful to another similarly hamstrung human being, there needs to be an enormous flow of forgiveness between the two. Faithfulness coupled with forgiveness is the best any human relationship can hope to achieve. Few old saws have been more used, and gone more unsharpened, than "forgive and forget." Our ability to recall old injustices, dredge up insignificant slights and reopen old wounds is masterful. How many of us can remember our parents' anniversary ...

1354. A Go-Ahead God

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jerusalem city gates, into the fracas at the temple, and onto the cross at Golgotha. Jesus willingly "went ahead" of us to experience the suffering and death that were really supposed to be part of our turn. This morning we exalt in the victory Christ achieved over death, but we also feel the safety and security that come from watching someone else, God's Son, "go ahead." The angelic messenger in Mark's gospel offers us even more reassurance by proclaiming that this Jesus who willingly "went ahead" of us ...

1355. Written in Red

1 John 5:9-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the water, the blood and the Spirit. It takes the water of baptism, the blood of the Cross and the wind of the Spirit to make possible God's intention for all believers the gift of eternal life. 1 John makes it clear that salvation was not achieved through a bloodless coup. It took water, blood and wind to make the promise of eternal life a reality. God's testimony of love is written in red. The church must not sanitize the realness of sacrifice for the sake of being "politically correct." In our blood ...

1356. UpTime

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... beating. On a sticky July day, we are as fully immersed in God's time as we are singing "Silent Night" on Christmas Eve or proclaiming "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 ...

1357. The Monster Under Megan's Bed

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... words of John Belushi (Animal House), "Nothing is impossible for the person who will not listen to reason." Of course, the child himself did not have the power to multiply the loaves and fish. But his gift opened a way for Jesus and the disciples to achieve their goal. What if Andrew had turned away the boy with the small food offering dismissing his gift as worthless and impossible? Where would Jesus have obtained the raw material for this feeding miracle if both he and the disciples had not opened up to ...

1358. When Too Much Can Be Too Little

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... words of the document are even gloomier: Global policies are urgently needed to promote more rapid economic development throughout the world, more environmentally benign patterns of human activity and a more rapid stabilization of world population. ...Sustainable development can be achieved, but only if irreversible gradation of the environment can be halted in time. (As quoted in Christian de Duve, Vital Dust [New York: Basic Books, 1995], 280.) All of the above is a profound half-truth. And the problem ...

1359. The Double Cross

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of what has already been going on in your life, but which you were unable to "see" until that moment. Mount of Olives Suppers are emotional lows even when others around you are high (e.g., Palm Sunday). Crying times? Times for tears of sadness and post-achievement depression? The Mount of Olives is the name given to a long ridge above the eastern side of Jerusalem. You can't get from Jerusalem to Bethany and vice versa without crossing the Mount of Olives. How sad that a city that meant "place of peace" did ...

1360. The World's Fittest Human

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Sportscasters clamor to outdo one another with their glowing analyses of Woods' win. One national broadcaster gushed, "It's the most remarkable thing any human being's ever done!" Although Tiger Woods is very young and is very good, he has worked long and hard to achieve his moments of triumph. Woods' father, obviously a man with long-distance vision, put a golf club in his son's hands the moment the child could be classified as a toddler. From the age of 3, he has been constantly nurtured and schooled in ...

1361. Self-Fulfillment Through Self-Sacrifice

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... isn't all that new. In music, the concept of "two choirs" was established long ago. Composers and directors learned that a deeper complexity and meaning could be drawn from two different pieces of music performed simultaneously than could ever be achieved by two single performances. The power of two choirs, singing distinctly different, yet complementary pieces at one another, does more than simply offer two melodies at once. It transforms each piece and creates an entirely new composition with a life and ...

1362. Make Disciples

Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... power. It is the church's biggest failure that when it tries to "train up" likely candidates for discipleship, for ministry, we give them puny, paltry responsibilities. How often does someone once on fire for the gospel end up with a list of achievements that reads: organized bake sale chaired finance committee coordinated Sunday school course sang in choir assisted in worship ushered a worship service? As important as these works are, they do not make up the essence of what a disciple for Christ is, what ...

1363. The Secret of Living Is Giving

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... without the "Christmas secret." Dalton's is filled with stocking-stuffer "self-help" books that show us how to be good to ourselves, excuse ourselves, save ourselves, pamper ourselves. The Christmas market is flooded with products designed to help us achieve self-centered fulfillment. Perennial favorite Christmas gifts of home Exercycles, weight systems and exercise videos promise us a healthy body that will make us feel completely alive. This is not to speak of home Jacuzzies, saunas and massage machines ...

1364. Be an Energizer Bunny

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . He praised the diversity of spiritual gifts that created a church full of one-of-a-kinds. Paul's answer to dealing with congregational dissonance was not to try to slide dissonant notes together, creating one monotone. There is another method of achieving musical harmony, and it was the method Paul preferred. Rather, he tried to resolve and modulate the dissonance by adding more notes, adding a third, even a fourth. By adding more diversity, highlighting it and sounding it strongly, clashing discord is ...

1365. Freedom in Bondedness

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 5:14). When Thomas Jefferson listed the "pursuit of happiness" as one of humanity's "inalienable rights," perhaps he should have called it more accurately an "unattainable reach." Christ's mandate of freedom through service reveals that the only way to achieve happiness is to love and serve others. Pursuing happiness, focusing solely on the self and its personal pleasures, will never bring genuine joy or the fulfilling happiness of peace. When we pursue happiness for the self, it is like looking for ...

1366. The Cream of the Crop, or The Skimmed Milk of the Earth

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... even a return on your investment." How different from, how contrary to our usual "success strategies." The banquet Jesus was invited to was really the first-century equivalent of an elite private club's dining room. The point of being there was that you had achieved success and social status high enough to get you in the door. But just attending is not enough. Eating is not the function of this meal seeing and being seen is the real driving force behind everyone's attendance. Human measures of success rely ...

1367. Enemies of Promise

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the Greek Goddess of retribution and vengeance) are more than etymological; they are also theological. If one's ministry is based on exaggerated pride and self-confidence (hubris), one is sure to find the unconquerable opposition (the nemesis) that prevents one from achieving true ministry. Are we then all doomed to be promise-breakers - crushing the new growth of promise in each new generation? The Advent season lets us proclaim loudly each year, "No!" There is a promise-keeper among us. The power of that ...

1368. The First 30 Days

Illustration

Mary O

... miles without that first critical step. We also need to realize that first step takes a certain measure of spiritual discipline. Have you been prayerful about the first step? Have you asked for the support of those around you? Let us support each other through these first 30 days to achieve our goals and make our resolutions happen. After all, if we can get through these first 30 days, we will be well on our way to Lent, when we can renew our resolutions in faith.

1369. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... has been able to accomplish tremendous things for God. At the time of this writing, Paul had already evangelized in Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia, and was currently working in proconsular Asia. The dramatic turn-around in Paul's life and all the achievements he had thus far attained were completely dependent on the grace of God that he experienced through the post-Damascus-road presence of Christ in his life. Paul closes this introductory section by reminding his readers that the miraculous nature of this ...

1370. Hebrews 12:1-2, 12-17

Hebrews 12:1-2, 12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... peace and holiness. The self-initiated action that the race imagery suggests becomes a theological issue in this text. In verse 14, the author entreats these Hebrew Christians to seek after peace and holiness because each Christian must take an active role in achieving his or her own salvation. Each life is responsible for opening itself up to Jesus' message and mission. The writer's first of three warnings is stated here as he cautions that those who do not strive after sanctification will not see God ...

1371. 2 Timothy 1:1-14

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... a binding judgment. Thus Amos follows up his two examples (in vv.10 and 12) of sinful selfish behavior "in the gate" with a final plea that the wicked repent and "establish justice in the gate" (v. 15). Amos announces how that new attitude, that new life, is to be achieved - by hating evil and loving good (v.15) and by actively seeking the good instead of the evil (v.14). Only by re-orienting their lives towards justice and righteousness can the people hope to escape their punishment and truly live.

1372. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... nature of God's workings in the world. The varied status of those in the Corinthian church is held up by Paul as an example of God's "foolishness." The fact that few of them were born into money, wisdom or power would have exempted them from ever achieving much of a standing in most communities. But in the church, the equality of all believers before the Cross flies in the face of established worldly divisions. To be nothing before the Cross is to be everything in the eyes of God. Paul declares that in this ...

1373. Romans 5:12-19

Romans 5:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... within the discussion of sin and death outlined in today's epistle reading, they, too, point back to Paul's previous topic in chapters 1-4: the grace of God that leads to our justification. In verses 15-16, Paul shows that a balance has now been achieved on God's cosmic scale of justice. Just as the weight of one man, Adam, plunged the world into death through sin, so the weight of another man, Jesus Christ, has now rescued all creation through yet another single act - the "free gift" of Christ's sacrifice ...

1374. 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... activity. But Paul is not done handing out advice. He continues with two more directives. Paul's final words to this church are a plea that they curtail the epidemic of quarreling that has been plaguing their community of faith. Obviously, achieving all these objectives would be incredibly difficult for any Christian group. Of course, for the embattled and fractious Corinthians, it would be utterly impossible. As encouragement, then, Paul assures them that "the God of love and peace" will be with them ...

1375. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... them again as idle or lazy, but instead lets the readers decide if they themselves are among "people of this kind." It is evident that while Paul is anxious to root out this error from the Thessalonian church, he is far more interested in achieving reconciliation rather than spewing condemnation. In verse 13, Paul again addresses the rest of the Thessalonian community. His exhortation that they "do not be weary in doing what is right" is so general that it can apply both to this particular situation and to ...

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