Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 147 results

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... charter of the United Nations states flatly, "Wars begin in the minds of men." The bomb is a product of selfishness and sin. War is a consequence of human sinfulness. Thomas Aquinas, centuries ago in the scholastic period of the church, reminded us that things in and of themselves are not evil. Bombs are not evil. American technology is not evil. Leonard Sweet, in his book The Lion's Pride, is absolutely right when he says, "Evil comes from what one does with what one has." Weapons are the tools of human ...

2. Broken

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... victory is your victory. To God be the glory! Can I hear an “Amen!” [1]Christina Bucher, “The Road to Emmaus,” Messenger, March 20, 2018, https://www.brethren.org/messenger/bible-study/the-road-to-emmaus/. See also Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Speaks (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 20. Sweet in his book argues that the two disciples are most likely Jesus’ aunt and uncle, Cleopas and Mary, who had been in Jerusalem and were returning home together. Because they invited him in their ...

3. On "supersizing" Our Vision

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

... In other words, Jesus' point has nothing whatsoever to do with how much is given, but rather in what spirit it is given. Dr. Thomas Lane Butts tells the story of six people who froze to death around a campfire on a bitterly cold night. Each had a stick ... . Supersize your vision and you will SUPERSIZE your giving. 1. From the sermon, "When Too Much Can Be Too Little," by Dr. Leonard Sweet, HOMILETICS, Volume 9, No. 4. 2. From the article "Pondering Life's Imponderables: End of infinity, Bill Gates's Wealth," by ...

4. The Bloodline of Christ

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... -born and blood-bought. We are red-blooded animations of Jesus’ life by the breath of the Holy Spirit. When the doubtful, disclaiming “St. Thomas Didymus” saw the risen Christ before him, he felt his soul swell with the intake of the Spirit. His re-birth cry escaped like ... a Jesus returning to life as there was for that egg to turn red. Immediately the egg turned red. Leonard Sweet O. Wesley Allen, Jr., Preaching Resurrection (St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2001), 6: “This fuller context of the ...

5. Tastes Great, Less Filling - Sounds Good, Not True

Proverbs 23:29-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... No wonder William Shakespeare said, "Oh God, that men would put an enemy in their mouth to steal away their brain." A woman once asked Thomas Edison, "Why don't you drink liquor?" Edison replied, "To take alcohol into the body is like putting sand on the bearings of an ... the risk by 40%, three drinks per week by 50%, and more than three drinks per week by 60%.24 Writer, Leonard Gross, summarized all of the recent research on this problem by stating: Over the last fifteen years, the number of researchers in ...

6. By What Authority?

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... life. The simple fishermen respond to Jesus' call to "follow me" as though they already felt the presence and pull of the kingdom. Leonard Sweet points out that Jesus' call is so strong, his invitation to new life as fishers of human hearts and souls so ... .S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" the priest bars the doors of the great Church of Canterbury against would-be assailants. Thomas Ö Becket would not permit it. He shouted, "Unbar the doors. I will not have the house of prayer, the Church of Christ ...

7. Drop-Everything-Discipleship

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... life. The simple fishermen respond to Jesus' call to "follow me" as though they already felt the presence and pull of the kingdom. Leonard Sweet points out that Jesus' call is so strong, his invitation to new life as fishers of human hearts and souls so ... .S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" the priest bars the doors of the great Church of Canterbury against would-be assailants. Thomas … Becket would not permit it. He shouted, "Unbar the doors. I will not have the house of prayer, the Church of Christ ...

8. I'm Mad And I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore!

John 2:12-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the Declaration of Independence and perhaps one of the period's most noted legal minds. In 1776 George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and Edmund Pendleton began the task of reworking and updating the laws of the state of Virginia. The ... , lightweight, and cheap, it's nauseating," says Haslim. It may be that over the next several years, hundreds of lives will be saved because Leonard Haslim got angry watching the 6 o'clock news. (4) Is there something making you angry? I am not talking about shooting somebody's ...

9. On Level Ground

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became ... in the dark, but God's Word has told me that I'm all right so long as I don't lose sight of the light." (Leonard I. Sweet, "Bibelot", 1990, Vol. 5, No. 3-6). Amy Grant was making herself available to be the Word of God that comes to us wherever ...

10. Watering The Garden Of Our Life (communion Meditation)

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the valley layer upon layer of rich tropical soil, washed down from the jungles of Central Africa. (C. Thomas Hilton, "Broken Gifts", Preaching, November - December, 1990, retold by Rodney E. Wilmoth, "An Opportunity, Not An Obligation", ... of the ninth, no score, basses loaded." I tell you that story to lighten you a bit, to receive a story about another great musician, Leonard Bernstein who died a couple of years ago. Not long before his death he said, "I fully confess that nothing exist in this life of ...

11. The Best Advice He Could Give

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... by teams of unskilled sailors. On Christmas day 1950, the Meredith Victory landed in safe harbor. Not a single life had been lost on the voyage. Captain Leonard LaRue received high military awards from the South Korean and the U.S. government for his part in the refugee rescue. Four years later, Captain LaRue left ... by a subscriber who found it on the Internet. Source unknown 3. “Precious Cargo” by Thomas Fleming, Guideposts, December 2002, pp. 29-32 4. http://www.bright.net/~coth/latebreak.htm.

12. On Level Ground

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

13. Come and See

John 1:43-51

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” And that invitation, that friendship, changed his life. Amen. 1. Socrates, Quoted in Leonard Griffith, The Eternal Legacy from an Upper Room, (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), p. 137. 2. Quoted by C. Thomas Hilton, “Known By Our Friends,” The Clergy Journal, April, 1992, p. 14. 3. Judith Martin, “Energetic Grandma Needs to Change Focus,” Fort Myers News-Press, March 15, 1990. 4 ...

14. More Than Skin Deep

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... your old heart. Get rid of the self-centered attitudes and emotions that separate you from God. In 1992, Professors Gloria Clayton and Leonard Poon published their results of an intensive study of centenarians--people who live to 100 years old, or more. One of the ... These (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1969), pp. 71-76. Found in Robert J. Morgan. From This Verse (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998). 2. "One From the Heart" by Victoria Dawson, Smithsonian, Feb. 2003, pp. 25-26. 3. William Temple ...

15. If I Have Not Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and Savior. This moment is private. The fruit of this moment will be known only as others see Christ reflected in me." It was signed with the date and time, and with the words, "Your Servant, Tom Kepler." (story recalled by Leonard Budd, "Kerygma", April 9, 1989, Church of the Savior, Cleveland, Ohio). The fruit of Thomas Kepler was known. Paul is telling us in the first verses of his hymn of love that if the fruit of Christ's grace in us -- love -- is not known, we are nothing. That's the phrase I want us ...

16. The Sign of Jonah

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Book of Jonah (you will find a complete image exegesis of the Story of Jonah in Giving Blood by Leonard Sweet. Reading this exegesis first will help in your image exegesis of the post resurrection text for this week regarding ... to save the lost sheep of God’s kingdom. In the story of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples by the sea, we see that Simon, Thomas, Nathanael, John, James, and two others are gathered by the Sea of Galilee. They have left Jerusalem and have gone back. Even though Jesus had already ...

17. A Most Important Dawning

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... order to get out of the humdrum, dull, boring, depressing religious life people knew in his day. Dr. Leonard Sweet, president of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, mentions in his book Quantum Spirituality something that sports ... , day after day, go through religious motions and fail to reach out to the Lord at our side, does not remove the Lord's presence there. Thomas H. Troeger once said this: "To undomesticate God, to see God in places where we are convinced God would never be, is to be able to ...

18. A Gospel for Losers

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... came to Jonah the SECOND time ..." Amen! 1. Leo Heler, via Ecunet, "Jokes," #6751, 8/24/98 2. "Dozer Drivers Flattens Car," The Knoxville News-Sentinel, 7/21/90, A-2 3. Haddon Robinson, "A Little Phrase for Losers," Christianity Today, 10/26/92, p. 11 4. ibid. 5. Thomas W. Currie III, "Learning to Be a Failure," The Christian Ministry, September-October, 1997, pp. 26-27 6. Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services, quoted in Clergy Journal, 5/97 7. Quoted by Haddon Robinson

19. It Could Happen To You!

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

... because the wonder of Easter morning was just so staggering, so hard to believe. Last Sunday churches around the world read the story of Doubting Thomas, and we were reminded of the difficulty in believing such impossible news, of our wavering between faith and futility, of how hard it is to ... an Andrew Bergman film, 1996. 2. From the sermon, "˜Count Your Wows!' by Leonard Sweet in HOMILETICS, Volume 9, Number 2. 3. Ibid. Siegfried S. Johnson is pastor of the First United Methodist Church, Fordyce, Arkansas.

20. Oh, God!

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... watching from a distance, probably trying to catch you doing something wrong. A more accurate picture of God is found in a story told by Leonard Sweet in his book, Soul Salsa: A certain Native American tribe had a unique way of training young braves. On the night of a boy ... . Someone holds our hand. 1. The Week, October 6, 2006. 2. Norman Vincent Peale, In God We Trust (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994). 3. Dr. Les Parrott, Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Live in the Present, Find Your Future (Grand Rapids, ...

21. Jesus Would Do What?

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... that same routine for about two weeks until he, himself, finally died of malnutrition. The younger brother survived. (8) Friend, wouldn’t you love to have a brother like that? You do. Theologian Leonard Sweet talks of the four “rules” by which we live: The Iron rule Do to others before they do to you; The Silver rule Do to others as they do to you; ... 2001). 8. Tom Mullins, The Confidence Factor The Key to Developing the Winning Edge in Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), pp. 126-127.

22. Big Men in Little Planes

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... do know, the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” 1. Leonard & Thelma Spinrad, Speaker’s Lifetime Library (Paramus, NJ: Revised & Expanded, 1997, p. 526). 2. Pastor Dustin Bergene, http://www.trinityabita.org/home/180003585/180003585 ... a Difference: Responding to God’s Call to Love the World (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2004), pp. 37-38. 6. Richard Niell Donovan, http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/Dono/NTOther/James_02.01-17_ChickenBase.htm.

23. You Never Noticed

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... to look beyond you own cares and concerns. Don’t be like the rich man who will forever be remembered as the person who refused to notice. Look around you today, to someone who needs your love. 1. Leonard & Thelma Spinrad, Speaker’s Lifetime Library (Paramus, NJ: Revised & Expanded, 1997), p. 228. 2. http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_money_and_wise_investments_for_the_future.htm. 3. Richard Watson, Future Files: A Brief History of the Next 50 Years (Boston: Nicholas Breasley Publishing, 2010 ...

24. The Death of John the Baptist

Matthew 14:1-12, Mark 6:14-29, Luke 9:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Bind us together ---in love.” *Photo used can be found with permission in Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching by Leonard Sweet. (public domain) Numbers 7:13 Congreve, “The Mourning Bride”, Act III, Scene VIII, 1697). Based on the Story Lectionary ... liturgy to music, using instruments or voices. Additionally, you can use poems from well-known authors as supplements to the text. Thomas Merton wrote two well-known poems about the Death of John the Baptist. Kahlil Gibran wrote a poem about John ...

25. True Colors

Acts 9:1-19a, Acts 9:19b-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Colors may be revealed to the world. Live as Christ in you. *www.livescience.com **See www.realclearscience.com/2012 ***The comparison of Saul’s experience to the developing process of a photograph is attributed to Leonard Sweet (and Frank Viola), “Jesus Speaks.” (Due out in the new few months from Thomas Nelson Publishing). Based on the Story Lectionary Major Text Paul’s Experience of Heavenly Blinding Light and the Voice of Jesus (Acts 9:1-31) Minor Text The Genesis of the Light (Genesis 1) God ...

Showing results

Showing 1 to 25 of 147 results

1. The Holy Spirit As The Dove Of Peace

Sermon

John A. Stroman

2. Broken

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

3. On "supersizing" Our Vision

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

4. The Bloodline of Christ

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

5. Tastes Great, Less Filling - Sounds Good, Not True

Proverbs 23:29-35

Sermon

James Merritt

6. By What Authority?

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

7. Drop-Everything-Discipleship

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... life. The simple fishermen respond to Jesus' call to "follow me" as though they already felt the presence and pull of the kingdom. Leonard Sweet points out that Jesus' call is so strong, his invitation to new life as fishers of human hearts and souls so ... .S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" the priest bars the doors of the great Church of Canterbury against would-be assailants. Thomas … Becket would not permit it. He shouted, "Unbar the doors. I will not have the house of prayer, the Church of Christ ...

8. I'm Mad And I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore!

John 2:12-25

Sermon

King Duncan

9. On Level Ground

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

10. Watering The Garden Of Our Life (communion Meditation)

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

11. The Best Advice He Could Give