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"Trash Cans or Treasure Chests" Page 1  | 2 | 3 | |
Leonard Sweet  With his refreshingly unconventional approach to Christianity, Len comes from Madison, NJ where he serves as dean of the Theological School and Vice President of Drew University. Len speaks from a unique perspective as one of the few who really have a finger on the spiritual pulse of the nation. Author of numerous books, including the critically acclaimed FaithQuakes, Len uses wisdom and wit to challenge us to examine ourselves as Christians in a postmodern age. |
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 ... and all God's people said
(congregation: Amen) and again (congregation: Amen) and one more time (congregation:
Amen). Grace and peace, sisters and brothers, and the One who is, from the One who was,
and from the One who is to come.Good evening, saints. Good
evening, sinners. We are all here. And all that we are is here. I am delighted to be here.
Have you had a good summer? How many of you had guests this summer? Quite a few of you. Do
you know what the three most beautiful lights are in the world? Sunlight, moonlight, and
taillights. I am about "guested" out. I have had a great summer. I have been
writing at home. I work on the east coast, but am actually a legal resident of the state
of Washington. Have you ever been out to Washington state? I had a great time with the
kids this summer. We had a wonderful time.I heard the story of a
father and a buddy who was single talking and the father was telling of the wonders of
married life. He said "Do you know what it means to come home at night and have three
wonderful, beautiful, obedient children that are so glad to see you. Do you know what it
means to come home at night and have these kids just think you are the most perfect person
in the world and hang on to your every word?" The single guy says "No, what does
it mean?" The father said "It means you are in the wrong house!"I want to work with you
this evening on a certain text. The text is from I Corinthians, so if you have your Bible
turn with me to it. But as you do I want you to make sure everybody here has a coffee
bean. Does everyone have a bean? If you don't have a bean we are going to get some people
to help you get a bean. You need a bean for tonight. Take out your coffee bean. Did you
smell it? These have just been opened today. They came straight from Atlanta to here on
Friday. Anybody taste it - put it in your mouth? You can do whatever you want to with it,
but you are holding in your hand literally the most expensive coffee in the world. There
is only about a couple of thousand pounds of this coffee that comes up on the world market
every year. It is called Kopi Luwak coffee. It only comes from one part of the planet. A
part of the planet that is known for it's great coffee, Indonesia. The island is Sumatra.
That is how we get the name java, from this island. This coffee bean has an interesting
story. This is supposedly the most exquisite, exotic, and is the most expensive coffee in
the world. It costs $300 a pound. They sell this coffee by the ounce, the only coffee they
sell by the ounce. You have one of these beans. If you want to taste this coffee you are
going to have to pool your beans and roast them yourself. Kopi is Indonesian for coffee,
Luwak is Indonesian for the name of how we get this coffee. Luwak is a cat. It is a Civet
cat. This is a nocturnal
creature, comes out only at night. This cat is about the size of a fox and it has an
interesting story. This cat is the Juan Valdez of the animal kingdom. This cat only picks
the most perfect coffee cherries to eat. It comes out at night and wanders all over the
island of Sumatra and will only pick the most perfect coffee cherries to eat. It would
rather starve than to feast on a Kona coffee bean, or a Blue Mountain coffee bean. It will
only pick the most perfect coffee beans. It eats those coffee cherries and digests them.
In the morning the locals harvest these beans. Everyone of these beans that you are
holding has passed through a Civet cat. Anybody put it in your mouth? When I first told
the team here about this, that I wanted to do this, some of them didn't believe me. But
Jason can testify that he has found proof that this is a true story by searching the
Internet on three different sites. Actually, this coffee came from the only place you can
buy it in the United States, in Atlanta. Martinez is the brand of the coffee, $300 a pound
for these beans. Each one comes out of the dung of the Civet cat. It has a name - this
coffee does - and some of you might imagine what it is. I can't say it. It goes by another
name, although I can't say it, I have a person who cuts my hair and she has a little white
furry dog called a Shih Tzu. And so this is Shih Tzu coffee, alright? |
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