Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2101 to 2125 of 4972 results

2101. Apocalypse Wow!

Isaiah 25:6-9

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... or to say "good-bye." In the book, Andrew, You Died Too Soon, Corrine Chilstrom shares with us the death by suicide of her adopted son, Andrew.1 Her journey through grief involves helping the heart to learn what the head already knows. God has promised never to leave or to forsake us. This promise is for us and for the loved ones whom we have lost. The prophet Isaiah and the people of Judah are experiencing a topsy-turvy world of turmoil, just as we often are today. God has in mind a wonderful future for ...

2102. Matthew 25:1-13

Matthew 25:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . The groom was probably busy with the final marriage-contract negotiations with the bride’s father. Any number of sticking points might have caused those negotiations to run longer than expected. After the contract was finalized and signed, the bride would then leave her father’s house with her new husband and travel to her new home — that of her husband, or even perhaps her husband’s parents’ home. The bridesmaids who “took their lamps” must have been at that new home, waiting to welcome ...

2103. Second Coming

Matthew 25:1-13

Illustration

John G. McFayden

... to let our three-year-old son record the message for our home answering machine. The rehearsals went smoothly: "Mommy and Daddy can't come to the phone right now. If you'll leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, they'll get back to you as soon as possible." Then came the test. I pressed the record button and our son said sweetly, "Mommy and Daddy can't come to the phone right now. If you'll leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, they'll get back to you as soon as Jesus comes."

2104. Spiritual Investment

Matthew 25:14-30

Illustration

David Beckett

... research to professional financial managers. A second principle of investment is to diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't invest all your money in one stock. A third is to be aware of the risks. Some investments might bring strong returns, but they also might leave you with heavy losses. And the fourth principle of investment is to think long term. Don't be a day trader. Stay in for the long haul. Being a part of what God is doing in the world is something you and I can do today! We don't ...

2105. As Soon As Jesus Comes

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

... three-year-old son record the message for their home answering machine. The rehearsals went smoothly: "Mommy and Daddy can't come to the phone right now. If you'll leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, they'll get back to you as soon as possible." Then came the test. The father pressed the record button and their son said sweetly, "Mommy and Daddy can't come to the phone right now. If you'll leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, they'll get back to you as soon as Jesus comes."

2106. Toys R Us. NOT!

Ephesians 1:11-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , Christians are people who ask for the Giver, not the gifts. Hope is Us. Love is Us. Faith is Us. Toys "R" Us? Not! Two years ago the tacky tabloids had a field day when the beautiful, young, troubled Christina Onassis committed suicide, leaving behind her five-year-old daughter. In a phrase that probably encapsulated much of that tragically depressed woman's problems, the gossip rags defined her as the "heiress to the Onassis fortune." Christina Onassis died being best-known for the promised riches she ...

2107. Three Wise Gifts

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in Moscow (September, 20 1990). His co-worker at Rodale Press, Mike McGrath, tells of his horror when learning of Rodale's death. What I learned - and learned hard - is that you can never really be sure that you'll ever see someone again. So it's best not to leave business undone; feelings unspoken. Bob's passing has taught me that when we say goodbye to someone, it may well be the last time we see that person. It probably won't be; but it could be. Anyone who walks out a door just might be walking out of ...

2108. Parable Power

Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... audience experiences the same words in a completely different way. Mark's gospel tells us that Jesus chose to speak in parables. Some people find that very annoying, even a bit dishonest. Why didn't Jesus come right out and say what he meant? Why did he leave behind all these cryptic sayings, loaded with innuendo, instead of a crisp code of laws or a stack of essays with titles like "How to Be a Good Disciple," "A Brief Definition of the Kingdom of God" or "Seven Key Features of the Coming Kingdom and What ...

2109. Take an Ember Day

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... may miss by going "across to the other side" or what will become of the crowd when it discovers he has traveled on. Through parables, Jesus knew he had fed the crowd the meat of Good News. He could leave well-assured that they had nourishing images to chew on for some time to come. Jesus' decision to leave is immediately followed by the image of a Jesus sound asleep in the boat. At peace with himself and his mission, Jesus falls asleep at the drop of an oar. How many times have you found yourself staring at ...

2110. Quenching St. Anthony's Fire

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... I, had been the Virgin Mary, how many of us would have said "No." Mary was the first to realize that to accept the gospel is to enter a radically different plausibility structure. The grace of God takes me "Just As I Am." But the grace of God does not leave us just as we are. It turns our world upside down. The gospel is not the answer. ... The gospel is the power to become with one another the body of Christ, where the symbol of success is not a golden throne, but a wooden, rugged cross. There is a very ...

2111. A Concert of Prayer

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Drama

Leonard Sweet

... foundations; you shall be called rebuilder of broken walls, restorer of houses in ruins"(NEB). Let us pray now for our bishops (or leaders) - name them. Pray for our judicatory/conference/diocese/presbytery. Pray that this New Reformation might not pass us by and leave us a monument to a dying order. Finally, let us pray that we might go forth from this Concert of Prayer a changed people, a transformed tribe, ready and eager to witness to our risen and regnant Lord in whatever, wherever and whenever God ...

2112. Make Disciples

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

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for." A rather severe Acapulco hotel posts a sign assuring its customers that "The manager has personally passed all the water served here." But my favorite is a sign spotted in Paris. One of the city's finer hotels invites its visitors to "Please leave your values at the front desk" (Taken from unpublished remarks by Jeanne M. Fox, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, Region II). It is not that we have lost all our values more likely, they have become so small and so compact that ...

2113. Joy and Crown

Philippians 4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... checks and make deposits at ATMs, pump our own gas and pay for it electronically outside. We use elaborate computerized menus on phone calls so that we get the information we want and leave messages just by pushing the right phone buttons. All these high-tech tactics for getting things done work efficiently most of the time. But they leave us with a huge void in our lives where there used to be human interactions. I don't know about you, but somehow I've never been convinced that the gas pump really means ...

2114. Be an Energizer Bunny

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of interpretations that testify to the vitality of the church. The multiplicity of spiritual gifts moving in the midst of the church is a sign of health, not disease. Ever since our Protestant ancestors began the trend of voting with their feet leaving a congregation or even a denomination if they found themselves in spiritual or theological disagreement we have spent inordinate amounts of energy trying to smooth away the differences between and among our brothers and sisters in Christ. As a result, there ...

2115. Just Say Know

Philippians 3:4b-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ended in divorce. He never sees his two children by that marriage. He chuckles that they never saw him when he was at home anyway. His second wife has given him an ultimatum: either cut back to 60 hours a week or she's going to take their baby and leave him, too. According to the program, he's undeterred. He'll keep on pushing for his slice of the American Dream. He's determined to live that Dream, whatever the price. What amazed me about the program was that this man was glorified as if he were someone to ...

2116. Mark 4:35-41

Mark 4:35-41

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... cross over the sea of Galilee to begin work on the opposite shore. A word of caution here: Mark's geographical information is not to be taken literally. As Jesus is constantly leaving one area, crossing that sea, he seems to be traveling west to east and west to east apparently without ever having to travel east to west. He leaves from westerly regions and arrives at easterly ones by traveling west. He takes routes that cross territories that do not adjoin. But Mark is not a poor geographer, or even simply ...

2117. Mark 6:7-13

Mark 6:7-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , the disciples get the door slammed in their faces, Jesus counsels a judicious use of time and energy. He advises his missionaries to cajole and convince reluctant listeners, but to shake the dust of a rejecting household off their feet as they leave (an image Jesus knew would be burned in the brains of those inhospitable households). Somewhat uncharacteristically, we are not treated to a long argument from the disciples. For once they apparently took Jesus at his word and obeyed his instructions to the ...

2118. Luke 2:41-52

Luke 2:41-52

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... he is not among this busy, boisterous band. We sense the rising anxiety and parental panic that accompanies Joseph and Mary's sudden realization that their son is not with his cousins or aunts and uncles, or among the animals or the tents. Immediately they leave the caravan and their kinfolk and begin the return journey to Jerusalem. These texts reveal a physical and emotional disjunction between Jesus and his parents. They don't know where Jesus is and they don't know why he is gone. The young Jesus has ...

2119. Acts 9:1-20

Acts 9:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the first to greet Jesus. Since he was stripped for fishing, Simon Peter either "puts on" some garments - or as others read it, "tucks up" his outer garment in order to cover himself - out of sense of decency and respect for Jesus. But this interpretation leaves several problems. First, after recording Peter's leap into the water, the text then abandons him there. The focus shifts to the boat filled with the other disciples and the load of fish and then to Jesus on the shore with his cozy fire. Peter does ...

2120. Hebrews 13:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . Verse 4 even goes so far as to include fornication, sexual relations between two unmarried people, among the immoral acts Christians should eschew. But note that, in keeping perhaps, with the phil¡a Christians are to have for each other, this author leaves the judgment of immoral sexual behavior strictly up to God. Christians are called to love and honor each other and their covenantal vows, not to condemn one another. The author now turns to another perennially popular form of illicit love - the love ...

2121. Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Christological convictions of the first generation of believers. As a hymn, that is, as poetic material, this passage presents the scholar with two quite different ways to view its contents. The poetic language means the words are open-ended and theologically imprecise, leaving the door ajar for debate about this hymn's "true" meaning for the past 20 centuries. On the one hand, exegetes argue that this is an "incarnational" hymn describing a divine being, a pre-existing Christ, who sets aside divinity to ...

2122. Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... younger son had so carefully planned out. The climax of the first half of this parable comes in verse 24, when the overjoyed father proclaims that the son who was "dead" "is alive again," that the one who had been "lost" "is found." The son's experiences since leaving and his motivation for returning are of no concern to this father _ being alive and being found are all that matter. This is hardly the case for the elder son, who finally makes his appearance in this tale in verse 25. No one had even gone to ...

2123. Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... stones and mortar of some dusty desert city but will only be fully realized in the city built by God as God's heavenly residence. Before moving to his own commentary on Abraham's faith, the author cites a third example of the patriarch's faithfulness. Besides leaving his homeland and then voluntarily living as a stranger in a foreign land for the rest of his life, Abraham is also praised for his faith in God's ability to bring forth life from his body that was "as good as dead." Verse 11 has gone through ...

2124. Hebrews 12:18-29

Hebrews 12:18-29

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... on the biblical version of the first covenant experience when he has Moses confess, "I tremble with fear" (v.21). One chapter earlier, in his long litany of the Old Testament faithful, the author praises Moses for a faith that could face down Pharaoh and leave Egypt "unafraid of the king's anger" (11:27). Only in the Jewish homiletical tradition nowhere in the biblical accounts are fear and trembling ascribed to Moses at Sinai. Thus, not even Moses experiences any joy at being in the presence of the Lord or ...

2125. Luke 15:1-10

Luke 15:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... than it would be for another shepherd, who had 75 sheep, to lose five. By speaking directly to his audience of scribes and Pharisees, Jesus implicitly asks them to validate this shepherd's astonishing determination. Instead of judging the shepherd to be foolish for leaving the 99, Jesus brings his listeners alongside the man's lonely, long, all-out search for his one lost sheep. When the shepherd returns triumphantly with the animal, the scribes and Pharisees are now to listen as they would if they were the ...

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