Sermon Central
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Empowering Kingdom Growth
Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 5, 2003 (message contributor)
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1. Philadelphia: Que Sera Or Carpe Diem?
Contributed on Jan 5, 2003
It’s hard to go forward if we continually look back. God puts before us an open door of opportunity, but we must know that we are capable of good, and we must know our identities.
Well, let’s get this over with. New Year’s resolutions: how many of you made New Year’s resolutions? Now how many of us have already broken at least one resolution? Come on, hands up, confession is good for the soul. How many have already, five days into the new year, broken at ...read more
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2. Sardis: Alarm Bells
Contributed on Jan 12, 2003
God is working to get our attention. Sometimes He uses alarm bells when we must respond immediately. Sometimes He uses alarm clocks to focus us on our daily disciplines. What is best, however, is the inner body clock, the inner drive to be a Kingdom pe
The greatest challenge any speaker has is to gain and to hold the attention of his audience. Speech teachers tell us that if we are going to practice anything, practice both the opening and the ending of a speech. That may be all that anyone remembers. So how does a speaker gain and ...read more
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3. Smyrna: Some Things Money Cannot Buy
Contributed on Jan 19, 2003
Money may actually distract us from Kingdom priorities. Some things money cannot buy are compassion for the needy, passion for the lost, and love for one another.
I begin this morning with an invocation from my favorite poet, the bard of Baltimore, Ogden Nash, who addressed our favorite god in prayer: “Oh, money, money, money; some may think thee holy. But I cannot figure out how thou goest out so fast and how thou comest in so ...read more
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4. Thyatira: 'tis The Gift To Be Simple
Contributed on Feb 3, 2003
True simplicity is a focus on the fundamentals of love, faith, service, and patient endurance. Getting caught up in theological guesses or emotional highs diverts us from "this one thing I do".
Some things are so simple they are hard to understand! Some things are so direct and obvious that we don’t want to accept them as they are. We want to make them complicated. Have you ever tried to describe to someone how to tie a shoestring? It seems simple until you start to teach it. ...read more
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5. Laodicea: Things Spoil At Room Temperature
Contributed on Feb 16, 2003
The world will invade us with its values. But we are called to be "hot" to pursue such things as compassion and evangelism and "cold" toward such things as hostility and prejudice. We can sustain these values if we are connected to one another and to Go
The Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes, speaks to me. I trust he also speaks to you. In fact, that is the very title of his poem! “To You” To sit and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world Outside our world of here and now – our problem world – To dream of vast ...read more