Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2076 to 2100 of 2962 results

2076. Galatians 1:11-24

Galatians 1:11-24

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ” by describing the Christians in Jerusalem as “those who were already apostles before me.” There was no refining or retro-fitting of Paul’s call through the influences of others, for the newly called apostle immediately went away “into Arabia.” That geographical designation was fairly fluid during the first century, but probably here refers to the lands east and south of Palestine. It is not until three years had passed from the time of his calling that Paul specifically seeks out one of those ...

2077. Between a Rock and a Hard Rock Thrower

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

2078. A Matter of Trust

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... over their heads are questioning whether our entire economic system can be trusted to give them the kind of future that their parents have enjoyed. Trust in friendships, the economy, products, government, religion, and science all has declined. This is a big deal! Our world was designed to run on trust. Trust is essential to everything we do. We trust the other drivers on the road to stop when the light turns red. We trust the builders of bridges to get it right when they build a long span across a wide ...

2079. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... his cardigan, Fred Rogers would sing, “Won’t you be…Won’t you be… Won’t you be my neighbor?” The concept of “neighborliness” has changed over the years. It used to be your “neighbor” was a geographic designation. In early American rural communities your nearest “neighbor” might be miles away. But those neighbors would still gather together for barn-raisings, quilting bees, and harvest times. In the urban environments, “neighborhoods” were composed of thousands of residents ...

2080. What Really Matters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... been building hospitals and looking after orphans and widows, feeding the hungry and doing all kinds of good works. And that’s good. Those are things we ought to be doing . . . and more! I am grateful that Christians are in the forefront of every movement designed to make this world a better place. That is exactly where Jesus wants us to be. Former President Jimmy Carter in his book Living Faith tells about a group of Christian laymen who were doing missionary work. They approached a small village near an ...

2081. Real Heros

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Those who are into Xtreme sports know that there are cameras that will allow you to film your exploits. You have probably seen ads for these cameras. It is specially designed for bikers, surfers, snowboarders, scuba divers, dirt track drivers, skiers, auto racers or participants in any other action sport. The name for one of these cameras is the HD GoPro HERO camera. You can mount the HERO camera to your helmet, handlebar, windshield, car bumper or any other place you ...

2082. Your Home Page

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... s love. When you read the Hebrew Scriptures the “name” of God is never spelled out completely. The actual name of God was too holy to bandy about, to write down, to use in everyday speech. The proper “name” of God was “Yahweh” — but was designated by the consonants “YHWH” in the Hebrew texts and always read or prayed or enunciated as “the Lord.” Over the centuries the words that replaced the proper name of YHWH became accepted as the “name” of the deity. YHWH became known as “God ...

2083. The ME and the WE

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the tide of individualism had surged to a tsunami — so much so that it submerged much of the force and focus of community. The “me” overwhelmed the “we.” The needs and wants of the individual outweighed any communal demands or designs. And we went from individualism to rugged individualism to narcissism and from narcissism to the step beyond narcissism: solipsism (think Charlie Sheen). At least a narcissist knows that other people exist. A solipsist lives in a self-absorbed Youniverse of One ...

2084. Lost, But Not the TV Show!

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... their attitude. They weren’t much different from you and me. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law wanted to associate with people who shared their values, people who were like them. Nothing could be more human than that. That is the way all humans design their society. People want to stay in their own comfort zone. But Jesus won’t allow us to stay where we are comfortable. He told them these parables: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ...

2085. Be Shrewd

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... big time. With his “squandering” (“diakorpizein”) ways found out by his employer, this business manager acts in accordance with the ways of the world. He offers those who are in debt to his master a cut-rate, one-time “deal.” It’s an offer designed to get in their good graces. The dishonest manager continues with dishonesty by offering to “cook the books” in favor of those who owe substantial amounts to his master. What is shocking about this parable Jesus tells is not that it condemns the ...

2086. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

2087. Let Them Eat Cake

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... this “hardship.” He starkly states to Timothy that he is “chained like a criminal.” The term Paul uses, “criminal” is used only here and in Luke’s gospel to describe those two men convicted and crucified on either side of Jesus. It is a designation that guarantees a Roman state determination of a death sentence for an “evil-doer” or a “good-for-nothing.” Paul declares that while he might be “chained” (“desmon”), it is of no concern for the one who is truly faithful. The word of ...

2088. 2 Timothy 2:8-15

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

2089. The Widow and the Unjust Judge

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... up remedy for the wrongs suffered in this world. The Kingdom of God is something new. Something different. Something that replaced one reality — that of a sinful, broken world — with a new reality, a world made whole and living in covenant with God’s design for shalom and love. Will you be found among those of faith, living in that kingdom, this coming week? COMMENTARY One of the classic descriptions of insanity is when someone continues to practice the same behavior, over and over, but expects to get ...

2090. A Faith that Does Not Quit

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... adds a very serious moral to it: “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” These words were designed for people who were suffering unjustly for their faith. “Hang in there,” he was saying to them. “God hears your prayers. Hang in there and trust Him and you will not be disappointed.” We talked about this last week how important it is to keep trusting God ...

2091. Be Patient

James 5:7-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... people will live in perfect harmony together. Human beings have made many attempts at building a perfect world a utopia, but none have been successful. Maybe you are aware of a recent scientific attempt called Biosphere 2. It’s an amazing story. Biosphere 2 was designed back in the 1980s to be a self-sustaining world. Four men and four women were sealed for two years in a palatial three-acre glass and steel structure outside Oracle, Arizona. This large terrarium boasted a rain forest; a savanna, a coral ...

2092. The Faith of a Saint

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... Luke’s Gospel are directed at those called to be his disciples. Luke tells us that this scene was preceded by a night of prayer. Then, after this all-night prayer vigil, Jesus calls a larger group of “disciples” to him, from which he chooses twelve, designating them as his apostles. Perhaps the larger group from which the twelve were selected was the group of seventy that was sent out two by two in chapter 10. But it’s difficult to separate the selection of the twelve from Jesus’ teaching on the ...

2093. God’s Story Time

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ambiance of selling new spring clothing. Thanksgiving, however, does not lend itself to big commercial enterprises — expect perhaps for grocery stores. Thanksgiving doesn’t have any accessories except family, friends, turkey feathers and tables. No fashion designers hawk “Thanksgiving wear.” There is nothing you are supposed to buy for Thanksgiving — except turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin lattes. Thanksgiving is still pretty much just about getting as many people who love each other together and ...

2094. What If Joseph Were the Patron Saint of 2014?

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... reasons for these depressants on dreams, but whatever the cause, to stop dreaming and trusting is to go dead. And humans get deadly when they go dead inside, when they shut themselves down from the future and stop living in the domain of dreams. God designed us to dream, which are often screamed into silence by fear and insecurity and mistrust. Pilate’s wife dreamed Jesus innocent. But the majority voices of a crowd won out over the minority voice of a dreamer. Here was Joseph, whose dreams functioned as ...

2095. The New Census

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... used for them then. The employee behind the counter refused to take their orders and asked them to leave. Fifty years ago, black people were not counted, and did not count. They were required to stay out of white restaurants, use only black designated water fountains and restrooms, sit in a separate balcony and in segregated bleachers, and of course go to their own segregated schools and colleges, and sometimes even churches. The store manager appeared and told the four young men that they were going to ...

2096. The Lifesaver App

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to every one you meet. Find something about them to applaud or cheer, and try to set them off from their moments with you with a smile. [The best way to end this sermon is with some interactions with the congregation, as you get them to “design” some apps or suggest some “Jesus apps” that they have used. For an altaring moment, ask for people to commit themselves to running some Jesus apps the following week, and to return to church with testimonies of what happened when the put into practices some ...

2097. Nothing to Hide

Psalm 32:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... confession. Our Roman Catholic friends understand this. Psychiatrists and psychologists understand this. You cannot be all God intends you to be while trying to harbor dirty little secrets. Are you familiar with 900-number phone lines? 900 telephone numbers are designed for calls during which certain services are provided, and for which prices higher than normal are charged. For example, Dr. Les Parrot tells about one lucrative 900-number phone business that was popular a few years back. A soothing female ...

2098. Hill Climbing

Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... for four long years until her family was brought here by a church refugee resettlement program. When her sister died, Santieri and her husband accepted responsibility for her sister’s children and her aging mother. Nine people under the roof of a small house designed for half that many. Santieri and her husband have worked two jobs each for the last 15 years to make ends meet and to provide for their children and her sister’s children. When Rev. Riggs asked this former Cambodian refugee where she found ...

2099. Mud Makeovers

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Thanksgiving, with pilgrims bringing offerings of luscious freshly harvested dates, pomegranates, grapes, figs, and olives, began at the Pool of Siloam with a joyful musical procession called Simhat Beit HaShoevah or The Rejoicing of the Water-Drawing. During the ceremony, a designated priest, surrounded by jubilant worshipers, would draw water from the Pool of Siloam and carry it in a golden pitcher up the hill to the Temple altar. A blast of trumpets would announce his arrival. The high priest would then ...

2100. Five Ways to be "Holy" During Holy Week

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . The first successful “flash mob” was in a Macy’s department store in the rug department. There a crowd of 200 strangers claimed to be shopping for a carpet for their “group home,” and everyone had to agree on the design. Since then “flash mobs” have showed up — by definition randomly — all over. Impromptu gatherings of people with open umbrellas, doing jumping jacks, or having pillow fights. Acting together yet being basically uniformed about the “what” and the “why” is the core ...

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