Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 226 to 250 of 4884 results

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... train, but there is nothing to worry about. This entire system is fully computerized and automated, it represents the latest developments in modern technology. You will be transported to southern California at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour in perfect safety. Every single operation has been tested, re-tested, and tested again. Be assured that there is not the slightest chance that anything can go wrong ... can go wrong ... go wrong ... go wrongwrong ... wrong ..." Yes, sometimes things will go wrong ...

227. Christ the King The King On His Cross

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Alvin Rueter

... murder of six million Jews. Yes, he didn’t get by with it. He lost the war and he killed himself. But was that enough to make up for the Holocaust? Our thirst for justice drives us to believe that some place in this universe, somewhere there’s justice. Perfect justice. If that’s true, then how can God treat sin as though it didn’t matter? So how could he just let this other robber off? How could God, assuming he is fair? And assuming he’s almighty, how can he let us get by with anything? Because ...

228. The Call to be Holy in Love

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

... is our neighbor. The Lord says we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. In loving our enemies we then imitate God's gracious love and fulfill the command of our Lord to be perfect as God is perfect. Perfection in this sense is the perfection of love for all, excluding no person. To be perfect is to be undivided, whole-hearted. To love all who need our love, even those who are enemies, is to be single-mindedly fixed upon our God and the love with which God loves us and all people. To ...

229. The Dimensions of the Decalogue

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

... is the Holy One of God. There is no other who is completely holy in the eyes of God. My righteousness comes from him and from him alone." Christians understand that Jesus has fulfilled the demands of the Law, which no person has been able to keep perfectly. They realize that without Jesus Christ the Law would condemn them as sinners who have no hope of living up to God’s demands and expectations here on earth. Jesus Christ came to fulfill, not destroy, the Law, according to his own words. He fulfilled it ...

230. Six Feet Tall

Romans 3:23

Children's Sermon

... since all of you have fallen short of the goal. Do you feel badly? (Let them answer.) How many of you were counting on getting a piece of gum? (Let them answer.) That's the way it is with God and his people. God wants all of us to be perfect and free of sin. He promised us a full life that never ends, if we did not sin. I guess you know what happened. We sinned. We all sinned. There is not one of us alive or who has ever lived who was ...

231. Proper 22

Mt 21:33-46 · Php 3:4b-14 · Ex 20:1-20

Bulletin Aid

... Psalm 81) Leader: May God lift our burdens! People: MAY GOD LIGHTEN OUR LOADS! Leader: May God answer us in the thunder! People: MAY GOD TEST US AND FIND US WORTHY! Collect Most holy God, you have set before us in scripture the ideal of perfection. Propel us now toward that goal: that, whatever righteousness we are unable to achieve on our own, you will supplement with the action of your sustaining Spirit. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession Forgiving God, it is unfortunately true that ...

232. God, Help Us to Laugh

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... than Communion elements, exclaimed to her mother, "Mama, they ran out of beer!" Yes, a valuable part of our image of God is the ability to laugh at ourselves and at our forms. As most of you are aware, many churches make a game out of "perfect attendance" in Sunday School. This process, which incidentally introduces to many children the art of telling little white lies - "we went to the beach but we had our own Sunday School in the motel, etc." - culminates in the big payoff, a Sunday service in which a ...

233. But Men Loved Darkness

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... whole idea of sin in John’s Gospel. It is the REFUSAL of light. This is the trouble, you see, with almost every one of the besetting sins in our society. They are a REFUSAL of light! Once slavery was taken for granted in the world. Once it was perfectly all right to make another race inferior by color of skin, or stature, or wealth, or intelligence, or military prowess or any other kind of criteria that you wanted to conjure up. But now, in the light that Christ brings, you can’t do that any more. The ...

234. It’s as Simple as That

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... , the God of Elijah?" The waters part, and he goes back over the river. Elisha had been privileged to be present at one of the most dramatic revelations in scripture. God’s divine power was expressed in a miracle of transcendent proportions, a fantasy-perfect religious experience. Imagine, if you will, being in on such a revelation as fiery horses and chariot and observing Elijah being taken into heaven by a whirlwind. We are awed by this event and can spend much time pondering what its effect would have ...

235. Anger

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... , do you want to know the truth about your parents? Huh, do ya? RENA: I already know the truth about my parents. SAM: Your parents are ... well, they're perfect. RENA: That's it? SAM: Yes, that's it. They were perfect and never let anyone who was less than perfect forget it. Who can live with perfection? RENA: You have. SAM: No, I just lived with someone who thought she was perfect. RENA: I'm closer than you'll ever be. SAM: That's it. I don't have to listen to this. RENA: Great. That's great. Go hide in ...

236. Preparing for the Unexpected

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

King Duncan

... huge stone monument. The scene took a good fifteen minutes to complete. When it was over, DeMille yelled, "Cut!" and turned to his assistant director. "I thought it was terrific!" DeMille said smiling. "It was, C. B.," the assistant said excitedly. "It went off perfectly." Enormously pleased, the director turned to the head of his camera crew to find out if all the cameras had picked up what they were assigned to film. He waved to the camera supervisor. From the top of the hill, the camera supervisor waved ...

237. When Your Lips Are One Place But Your Heart . . .

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... all is well with your soul. You can even delude yourself. Memorize some scripture, serve on the church board, have a pin for perfect attendance in Sunday School, and pretty soon you've convinced yourself that your heart is right--even if it is not. Country music ... will. You pray, Lord, I know I am not all I should be, but I know you can help me bring my lips and my heart into perfect alignment. That is one prayer Christ is sure to answer. But there is one thing more we need to see: WHEN THE LOVE WE HAVE ON ...

238. Who Are Those Strangers In White Robes?

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... going to have to accept much in life that you don't want to accept, and trust that there is set aside for you a robe by a loving God. But notice something else. These people dressed in white robes were never perfect. This is important. Many of us think of saints as being perfect. They may be perfect now, but they weren't while they were here on earth. They suffered and they made mistakes just like you and I. They said things they wish they had never said. They did things they wished they had never done. A ...

239. The Lord's Prayer: Thine Is the Kingdom

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... just a moment in our journey of life, we realize anew just how great and grand is the God that Jesus reveals to us in this Perfect Pattern Prayer. All we can do is fall down on our knees and give him the glory and honor that is due his holy name. He ... held on to your while you held on to God." That is exactly the testimony with which I want to end this sermon series on the Perfect Pattern Prayer. Every time we pray this great prayer we hold on to God and to the great truths of our faith. The real miracle in ...

240. A Fragrant Offering

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... remarkable word in verse 12: "No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us." My friend, Mark Trotter, out in San Diego, tells of a reporter visiting in a small community of Roman Catholic lay ... of our scripture lesson from I John: "No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." We become a fragrant offering to another when we love them enough to understand. III. Now when I state my third point, some ...

241. Count It All Joy

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... me, the Cross demolished for all time the basic assumption that life will be fair." Do you see the difference -- it's very clear. We can waste our suffering, or we can allow it to produce steadfastness in faith -- and we can allow that steadfastness in faith to perfect and complete us -- leaving us "lacking in nothing." So the shout of James is real -- "Count it all joy." And we can do that -- if we know that growth is not easy -- if we will realize that when we are suffering it doesn't help us to compare ...

242. When God Comes with a Blessing

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

John P. Jewell

... of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Hannah Whitall Smith's classic, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, contains a line that goes to the heart of the issue of joy in the life of faith. "Perfect obedience would result in perfect happiness if only we had perfect confidence in the power we were obeying." ¹ The joy of our celebration is rooted in the obedience of Mary and Joseph and then of Jesus whose heart's desire was to honor God and obediently carry out the work God gave him to ...

243. Bragging Rights

Philippians 3:4b-14

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... around a family of skunks. The mother screamed, "Run, children, run!" And the children each grabbed a skunk and ran for the door. That seems to be the way it works for us, too. The problem is that bragging is so easy for us. It is simple to claim a perfect relationship with Christ; the hard part is actually to have a relationship in the face of all that tempts us to turn away from Christ. And all that tempts us seems to be warm and furry and cute, and we bring it into our lives without realizing just how ...

244. Christmas Every Day

John 1:1-14

Drama

Matthew Powell

... had overeaten itself and gone to bed cross - and darted into the living room. There it was again! Little Girl: Books and dolls and boxes of stationery and the Christmas tree blazing away, and the family picking out their presents, but looking pretty sleepy, and father perfectly puzzled, with mother ready to cry. Everybody: I'm sure I don't see how I'm to dispose of all these things, Storyteller 1: said her mother; and her father said, Everybody: It seems to me we had something just like this yesterday, but ...

245. Don't Fit In, Fit Together

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... fit together is the basic human standard for beauty. Of course within that standard the varieties of features are almost infinite. Yet the most remarkable fitting together that our body does isn't even visible to us with simple observation. We can't see how perfectly the heart and the lungs work together to oxygenate and circulate our life blood. We can't see the synapses firing across the brain, sending messages down the spinal cord, making muscles flex and move. We can't see each cell working with every ...

246. Fear Factor

Psalm 25:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and snakes, he or she is a fool. We need to be careful. In today's wisdom Psalm, the writer boldly addresses the Lord, asking to be taught God's ways and God's path (verse 4). The psalmist's confidence to petition the Lord comes not because he's perfect. On the contrary, he admits to the "sins of my youth" (verse 7). But because he fears the Lord, he's open to receive God's mercy and love that come with God's covenant. Only those that fear the Lord are open to the lessons God offers: "Who are ...

247. It Was the Birthday of a King

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

James Merritt

... , ending in Joseph showing Christ as the son of David and the son of Solomon. Luke gives us the legal line of Jesus through Nathan, an elder brother of Solomon, ending in Mary, the Lord's mother. Genealogically speaking, Jesus is the only man ever born perfectly qualified to take the throne of David. Now you might think that is a strange coincidence. I believe it is sovereign providence. God did it. II. It Was a Birth That Was Conceived Through the Spirit of God "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows ...

248. Weaving the Spirit’s Trail

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... hires.” The fallacy practiced by all artists who feel they need to intentionally introduce a “flaw” into their work in order to honor God is this: NOTHING we can do, or say, or think, or dream, can come even remotely close to the perfection that is God and the perfection that God might well require of us. We are all receivers. Not givers, first. But receivers. And all we receive is grace. All we receive is mercy. All we give we have first received. All we can hope for is the Jesus-inspired sacrifice ...

249. The Darkness We Create

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... is to be preferred over being loving. They believe they are right and everyone who disagrees with them is wrong. They judge themselves and others by impossible standards. They are more prone to condemn than to forgive. They are so caught up in being perfect, dutiful, super-responsible, that they have trouble empathizing with those who are imperfect. They believe that fun is for lazy bums, that if it feels good it must be sinful. They believe that play should wait until all work is finished. Of course, an ...

250. Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18, Psalm 119:33-40, Matthew 5:38-48, 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... we belong to Christ, and Christ to God. Pastor: Friends, believe the Good News! People: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Exhortation Share God's work in putting the land to rights and in caring for prisoners and others in distress. PRAYER OF THE DAY Perfect Parent, bring to perfection the love we have for others so that we love our enemies as well as our friends and become more truly "little Christs" to the honor of the name of Jesus Christ. Amen PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING We give thanks, O God, for your great ...

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