Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 276 to 300 of 656 results

John 13:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... made, up until the point that God made human beings. God did not finish His creation of Adam and Eve with the words, "It is good." Why not? God replied, "Everything I just created I made complete and perfect . . . But human beings I created incomplete and imperfect; when human beings perfect themselves, when they create goodness in their world, I will call them good . . . Go back and create the goodness that only you can create in your world; then I will call you good." (7) It is an appealing story--and we ...

277. The Coming Of The Spirit

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... thinking about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let's begin with guidance. Whether it shows or not, every pastor depends on the Holy Spirit in the pulpit. I say `whether it shows or not' because the Holy Spirit is working with a very imperfect instrument when he tries to speak through a minister. I am reminded of the story of a small girl watching her clergyman father preparing next Sunday's sermon,. "Daddy," she asked, "does God tell you what to say?" "Yes, he does, dear," he replied, "Why?" "I ...

278. God's Design and Our Destiny

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

King Duncan

... for Recovering Persons by A. Philip Parham, HarperSanFrancisco, 1987. 3. “Our Wondrous Heavens,” Pentecostal Evangel, May 19, 1996, p. 10. 4. “Culture or politics,” by Marvin Olasky, World, January 13, 1996, p. 30. 5. The Fine Art of Being Imperfect And Other Broadcast Talks (Nashville: Abingdon Press), 1998. 6. Bill Hybels, Engraved On Your Heart (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2000), p. 110. 7. Seven Miracles of Management by Alan Downs, Prentice Hall Press, Paramus, N.J., 1998, pp. 159-160 ...

279. When Death Is Gain

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... OF THIS LIFE. It sets us free to serve God in a perfect body and mind unhindered for Eternity. Charles Kingsley suggests that death is gain "when it means the end of sorrow; terminates all the diseases of our body; the errors of our minds; the imperfections of the present...unites us with the society of the `just made perfect'' and gives us the honor of serving God without weariness or end." Christians come to look forward to the resurrection of the body which God gives. Paul strains at the limits of ...

280. Things That Cannot be Taken Away

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... Life is temporary. Knowledge is finite. We can''t determine all the reasons for the death of our loved one nor for so much of the troubles of life. We don''t even understand ourselves completely. For as Paul says, "We see in a mirror dimly, our knowledge is imperfect, we only know in part." Sometimes, under the mystery and the darkness, we want to give up on life. We may be tempted to blame God or ourselves, or others or even a lost loved one, but this does not help. No, we need to put away childish things ...

281. God’s Body Language

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... foibles, the Church is the extension of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh in Bethlehem, and continues to become flesh in all of the other cities of the earth through that faithful band of people who dare to call themselves by Christ’s name, and who try, however imperfectly, to live out His love in this world. That’s the purpose of the Church after all, isn’t it? To somehow be Christ’s presence in the world. That is the task of the Church - and not just of the clergy. To be the Body of Christ ...

282. Little Jimmy

Mark 3:13-19

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... , or write soul-stirring novels! These are hands which may someday change the course of human destiny!” To which Lucy replies: “They’ve got jelly on them!” Well, of course they do! We all have jelly on our hands. Nobody’s perfect. Everybody’s got a handicap, an imperfection of one kind or another. But we are called to be God’s children, here and now. There is an old saying: “I am only one; but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And what I can do, I ought to do; and ...

283. GIVE ME YOUR SINS: The First Word

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... on the cross for the perfect. Christ did not die for the Godly. Christ did not die for the Good. If Christ would have died for the perfect, the Godly, and the good, there would be no hope for our souls today. However, since he died for the imperfect and the un-Godly, there is hope for all of us. I realize that sometimes we feel that the most important barometer of a church''s success is that of finances. However, the cross instructs us that forgiving and being forgiven is the most important dimension of the ...

284. Whose Servant Are You? (Part II)

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... to wash their feet, thus giving us the right path to travel in our earthly journey. Recently, one United Methodist Bishop, Judith Craig, shared: "Let the servant image be the stretching image toward which we move....remember, God can use even faltering, leaking, imperfect cracked pots for the pouring out of the Gospel." 1. Malcolm Muggeridge, CONFESSIONS OF A TWENTIETH CENTURY PILGRIM (Harper and Row, 1988), p. 15. 2. As of this writing, we are unaware of the source of this material. It is not "ours."

285. Feasting and Fasting for Lent (Part III)

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... without ink. Something is missing--something is incomplete. Recently, one of our Bishops told the story of a young man who said, "I am sick and tired of church." The Bishop smiled and said, "Anyone who has labored hard for the church has said the same." Still, imperfect as the church is, it is the dearest place on earth to be. Despite all the stains, the church is still the bride of Christ and worthy of your love and devotion. The biggest problem in the church is always "the people problem". So many of God ...

286. Humility

John 13:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... themselves does not mean they devalue others. In other words, just because their names are in lights, truly great people do not see themselves as more worthy than other people. They understand that, in spite of their accomplishments, they are human beings, too, and therefore imperfect. A man listened with great admiration as a well-known leader made a speech at a banquet. He not only hung on to every word the speaker said, but also studied his appearance. He felt honored to be seated next to the speaker’s ...

287. Yes! (Easter Sunday)

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... declares. “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Easter is an act of Grace. We did not deserve to be delivered from the power of the grave. We are sinners. We are imperfect, flawed, despoiled. But still God loves us and invites us into His eternal house. In April 1995, Edye Smith lost her two small sons, Chase and Colton, in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, two men with ...

288. The Christian Life Defined By Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... from blemished defective stones. They would fill in the cracks of the stones with wax, and they would cover over the defects with paint, and it would be a beautiful thing. But in time, the sun would melt the wax, peel the paint, and reveal the glaring imperfections. Thus, sun tested, to be free from pretense and sham. Now, if you’ve been in the shops of the old city of Jerusalem, you know the necessity of a second ancient practice that gives meaning to this word – the bazaars and shops are small and ...

289. The Danger Of Straying From Home (Father's Day)

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a few words for him: "I did not marry you because you were perfect. I did not marry you because I loved you. I married you because you gave me a promise...That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married, and it was the promise that made our marriage...And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them, it was that promise." George tells Maggie that the war has changed him ...

290. Clean Hands

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... you know God as that--and, therefore, know yourself as nothing by comparison--you do not know God at all." God's chosen people, the Jews, had been in the presence of God. They were acutely aware of God's holiness. God is over here, and imperfect humanity is way over there, and between us stands a Grand Canyon of sin. Who is worthy to come before the Lord? We must respect the Pharisees' position. They wanted to honor God. For centuries, the Jews had practiced external rituals of cleanliness, like the washing ...

291. From Empty Nets to Full Lives

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... little of Jesus's command that we should be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). We discount the words as a kind of ancient hyperbole, or we push it aside with self-deprecating laughter: "Perfect? Who, me?" As one of your very imperfect brothers, I understand such feeling. But I don't want us to rule out so easily what God's grand purposes might be. I'm not calling for compulsive self-examination; I'm only saying that our Lord had something serious and possible in mind when he called ...

292. The Best Advice He Could Give

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire . . .” He was speaking, of course, of Jesus. John’s third word was his best one. Repentance is good and necessary, but we can carry it only so far. We can never, by our own power, correct all the imperfections that make up our character. And right relationships are important. But just because your heart is right with your neighbor does not mean that you have an overall meaning and purpose for your life. Look to Jesus. He is the only one who can fill the God ...

293. A Church Shaped By The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in the first-century world. The Jesus story and the Gospel was no more credible then than it is now. “The account of Jesus was not credible to Greeks because they knew that an eternal, perfect, changeless Deity could not exist in imperfect, corruptible, material form. It was incredible to Jews that the Messiah could be crucified and die without restoring the Davidic kingdom to Israel. It was incredible to scientists and medical people who knew that ‘dead men don’t rise’ (hardly a modern discovery ...

294. Dealing With Your Enemies

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... it--to do good to them, to lend to them without expecting anything back? Sure. And if you believe that, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona that I can get you a real deal on . . . It’s a good thing that God loves us even when we are imperfect, because all of us would fail this test. The desire to lash out, to exact some measure of revenge on people who have wronged us can sometimes be overwhelming. There was a news report sometime back from Japan about a man named Susumu Suzuki, age 45, who was ...

295. What Is Required of Us?

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... relating to God through the Scriptures but apart from the person of Jesus Christ is just not enough. Only Christ can provide for us a restored relationship with God and put us in the embrace of a new covenant where his perfect performance covers our own imperfect performance. No amount of religious performance can make us sinners right with God, not even the most rigorous and exacting because it puts the emphasis in the wrong place, which is on us and not on God. What God demand of us, God has provided for ...

296. Light Is as Light Does

Ephesians 5:8-14

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

... . You cannot hide your light under a bushel basket and expect it to be seen by others and attract attention. A light that is hidden is darkness and does not do anyone any good. Light is as light does. And ultimately light will show the flaws and imperfections of all those around us. Our heroes get brought down, our highest government officials have a dark side, our best friends surprise us, and our parents are really human after all. And, oh, how we love to jump on the sins of others. There was a young ...

297. Slaves of a Different Master

Romans 6:12-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

... ? Let go of the chain. Send it away. It is you I want. Don't you see what nonsense it's talking?" Lewis says, "Merriment danced in her eyes ... her laughter was past her defenses. He was struggling hard to keep it out, but already with imperfect success." The short man was struggling against joy.1 Who pulls your chains? Whom do you serve? About twenty years ago, singer Bob Dylan went through a brief spiritual phase. A lifelong Jew, he got serious about God, even thinking about becoming a Christian. He wrote ...

298. On the Beach

John 21:15-25, John 21:1-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... do, our denials cause them to back off, and pretty soon we are spending an awful lot of time and energy in our life pretending. Then one day we really mess up, and somebody sees it. They let us know that it doesn't matter. You've exposed yourself as imperfect, and it's okay. You are reaching out your hand to that person at that moment, and they take it. It is like being "girded." It is like being carried. It is the most wonderful feeling. Or it may be that you reach a point in your life when you ...

299. Why Join the Church?

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... Harry Emerson Fosdick. When we compare her with all human institutions, we rejoice, because there is none like her. But when we compare her with the mind of the Master, we bow in contrition. The Church is a human institution, so it is frail. It is imperfect, and sinful, and sometimes, in its history, it has been spectacularly sinful. But there is something else here. This is what Pentecost says, there is something else here. There is a spirit that is different than the spirit of the age. It is a spirit that ...

300. Proper 19

Exodus 13:17--14:31, Romans 14:1--15:13, Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... of forgiveness. The church, as is often said, is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of hopefully repenting sinners. 2. Forgive (v. 21). The Greek word for "forgive" is exaleiphein, meaning "to erase or wipe out." Because Christians are imperfect human beings, the church is in need of forgiveness. Without it, members would live in friction, tension, disharmony, and disruption. Forgiveness is the oil that makes human relations move smoothly: Is the trouble with the church today the lack of forgiveness ...

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