Quotes from Leonard Sweet

Some preachers need a travel agent to handle all the guilt trips they put on God's people. But there is a big difference between putting a guilt trip on Christians and unveiling Christ to them. When Christ is presented in power, the Spirit of God will undoubtedly convict those who are walking in contradiction to their new nature.

We all need the pendulum swing of snatching spaces of solitude and serving tables of sociability. In fact, the more plugged in and connected we are, the more we need to unplug and disconnect. A world of presence needs a time of absence.

The essential element of Christian truth is that the risen Christ is not something you mimic but someone you manifest.

Bleed with us.

Have your breakfasts all alone. Share lunch with your best friends. Invite your enemy to dinner. Nelson Mandela

Preaching is the primary means whereby the miracle of Cana continues, as Jesus turns our life from water — tasteless, colorless, odorless — into homemade vintage wine, known for its vibrant flavor, vivid sparkle, and alluring aroma.

The greatest task of a human being, your greatest mission in life? To find and sing your own song … to the glory of God.

Every crisis raises relational issues: Will you try it and handle it yourself? Will you find a new partner? Or will you and Jesus tackle the crisis together? In tackling the stuff of life together, you'll see that your relationship with God will deepen. In pondering Christ, you find that you are in fact living His life, and God is living yours. Christ in you and you in Christ. God doesn't lead you through phases or steps.

If we were to make the table the most sacred object of furniture in every home, in every church, in every community, our faith would quickly regain its power, and our world would quickly become a better place. The table is the place where identity is born—the place where the story of our lives is retold, re-minded, and relived.

To be cut off by the sword of injured friendship is the most dreadful of all deaths, next to suicide.

Wallace shared with the graduates, "In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

Semiotic nudge is more about "Speak, Lord; your servant is listening" than it is "Listen, Lord; your servant is speaking."58