Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 301 to 325 of 4884 results

Sermon

... ." It takes a long time for one born naked with a cross to grow into the manhood of Christ. This becoming a Christian is not a once-in-a-lifetime proposition. In our text Paul says, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on ..." Luther confirmed this: "This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is ...

302. If Only We Would Do The Obvious ...

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... of everyone else: her parents, her students, her acquaintances, and even strangers she encountered. When they could not measure up to her standard of perfection, she turned her bitterness upon them, the same bitterness she heaped on herself for failing to be perfect. Ann was so afraid of being controlled, especially by her parents, that she read control into any overtures they made. She also interpreted inquiries and expressions of interest from others as their attempts to control her. Thus she alienated ...

303. Christmas 1

Lk 2:41-52 · Col 3:12-17 · 1 Sam 2:18-20, 26

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... live in Christ - "Rule in your hearts" - v. 15 B. You live like Christ - "as the Lord" - v. 13 C. You live for Christ - "do everything in the name ..." - v. 17 2. Love is Glue! 3:14 - "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Need: To demonstrate the power of a certain brand of glue, a commercial shows how one drop of glue is strong enough to lift the weight of a car. In this text Paul speaks of love as glue. Since at Christmas love came down to us, we should be ...

304. Pentecost 7

Matthew 18:21-35, Romans 14:1--15:13, Exodus 20:1-21, Psalm 19:1-14, Psalm 103:1-22, Genesis 50:15-21

Sermon Aid

... God, and the firmament shows his handiwork" - is probably omitted because it fits last Sunday's reading (the spectacular at Mt. Sinai) more specifically than it does this week's lesson. Verse 7 provides a most appropriate response to the reading: The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent. The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear and gives light to the. eyes. All of this, and the ...

305. As Good As God

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... enter our lives. Why don’t we? Is it not because if God comes in, we will have to become like him? Some of us are perfectly content with our lives, and we are having fun in our sinful ways. We do not want to repent or change. We are satisfied with ... means he cannot help but love us. He cannot keep from loving us. Not to love would go against his nature. This love was perfectly and dramatically portrayed in Jesus. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ..." For love of humanity, Jesus gave himself ...

306. I Knew You’d Come

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... standing empty in a garden - the flames of the spirit descending from above; this story - his story - is our only hope. The Gospel does not proclaim that we are to do something, but believe a word that something has been done for us. The life of Christ - his perfect life of obedience to the Father’s will - can only condemn us. It is the death of Christ and not his life that redeems us. We are saved not by the incarnation but by the crucifixion and resurrection. We are made new by the gifts of grace which ...

307. Genuine Imitations

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... been missing something. I’ve thought about it - yes, and prayed about it, but I’m not very good at that yet. Mary invited me to church. She’s waiting for me now. I want you to help me find a faith like hers."1 That is a perfect example of what happens when Christian faith goes forth out of the life of an individual Christian or from a Christian congregation. It begets more faith, it creates a desire for faith just like it; it multiplies faith, and it happens because it is faith born, nourished, and ...

308. The Cunning Craftsman, God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... I fall far short. Also, like any of us, he took delight in accentuating those areas where he excelled or felt that he had achieved perfection. It might be well to reflect on what an impressive record this is. The man is honest in his business dealings, sets fair prices, gives ... raises no cry to that completeness "which flows around our incompleteness," and thus misses heaven whose strength is made perfect only in weakness. What utter sadness ... this sham of a man with a pretense of a prayer, worshiping at ...

309. The Narrowness Of The Christian Way - 1950 (date estimated)

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... to kill their victim and, to use the vernacular of the street, they were confident they could "get away with it." With meticulous care they worked out every detail of their sinister plot. The unsuspecting victim was lured to the prepared trap. The timing was perfect. He was completely unarmed. The signal was given. The three men closed in, and with scarcely any trouble at all, they actually killed him. Every word of that statement is true - but it is a lie. It is a lie because it completely misrepresents ...

310. Paul - Persecutor, but Participant

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... service, as you work together, are you a persecutor or a participant? You are just as human as Peter and I were. We had our differences of opinion, and the fact that we were both called by Christ to be his apostles did not mean that either of us was perfect, or that we always saw eye to eye on every issue. But we did share his forgiveness, and we learned to forgive and accept each other, too. Are you doing that? Or when there is a difference of opinion, do you allow that to destroy the unity and bond of ...

311. Augustine, Defender of the Faith

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... that we find anywhere else. We gather because we know we are imperfect and sinful. We come to celebrate that God still gives us blessed forgiveness. Our relationship to each other is not a demand for perfection, but rather it is an expectation of undeserved forgiveness. There is neither a perfect pastor unscarred by mistakes, nor a perfect member who has discipleship accomplished. Like ill people who gather in hospitals and uneducated people in schools, we sinners gather in churches. Only Christ is holy and ...

312. Butterflies and Jesus

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

... been anything less than God, then he would not have been good enough, nor could he have done enough for our salvation to come true. Mere humans, dying for their sins, do nothing to merit God’s forgiveness. But Jesus is God and because of it he is our perfect Savior. "By the obedience of this one person, all who believe in him are made righteous" (Romans 5:19). By his one, solitary life and death, all the sins of the world are paid for. By his death and Resurrection, death and hell are overcome for all who ...

313. The Family Was God’s Idea

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... exactly the point where the Christian family makes the most difference. It is the point where faith helps you deal creatively with your own fear, not to anesthetize it, but to overcome it. This is what people watch in you as a Christian. Not for perfection, but for how you handle your imperfections as husbands and wives and families. And they look for that strange foolishness that the Bible talks about, that foolishness that is for Christ’s sake. A kind of crazy courage that belongs to and should mark us ...

314. Plumb Line Prophecy

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission” (1 Corinthians 9:16-17). III. God’s Ever-present Plumb Line Today God still has a plumb line. His plumb line for us is Jesus, the only unfailingly true and perfect One who ever lived. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers — all things have been created through ...

315. The Worst Announcements Ever (A Drama about Perfectionism)

Colossians 3:18-4:1

Drama

Dave Marsh

... good thing. What God really wants are people who are available to be used. Sure, we should do everything we can to serve the Lord with excellence but we have to realize that the Holy Spirit is the one who moves hearts and turns them toward God. A perfect service will not do that. We need to continue to pray that God will bless our efforts to help people understand the saving grace of Jesus and that perfectionism is not a demand he has put upon us. This strange drama happens in the announcement slot for the ...

316. Role Models

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... found on the Shroud of Turin. (7) If Dr. BenAbraham is right, somebody needs to tell those venerable church leaders that Jesus has no desire to be clonedexcept in the lives of those who love him and follow him. Jesus is the ultimate role model. He is the only perfect role model for our fallen world. As we take the bread and the cup, let us remember what he has done and let us vow, as God gives us grace, to follow his example. 1. "ChchChanges," by Victor M. Parachin w/Mary Hopkins, ASPIRE, Dec. 94/Jan. 95, p ...

317. Family Resemblance

1 John 2:28--3:10

Sermon

King Duncan

... rejection of God or a spiritual element to life. It is interesting to speculate that the man who contributed so much to the cause of atheism may have just been reacting to a lack of love and tenderness in his own father. (3) Families are not perfect because human beings are not perfect. Human beings are flawed. AND THE REASON HUMAN BEINGS ARE FLAWED IS THAT WE AREN'T SURE WHO OUR FATHER IS. Did you hear what I said? We're not sure who our Father is. Oh, we may know who our biological father is. But we ...

318. Redefining Life

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... life is the pursuit of our own happiness. My life is all about me and my desires, me and my agenda, me and my self-actualization. Then something comes along that doesn't fit in with our plan: a divorce, a diagnosis, a death, a disruption. And as our perfect self-centered world disintegrates right before our eyes, we wonder where to turn. It is then we realize that the world isn't built around us and our desires. It is a beautiful world, a wonderful world, but it is not a world that caters to our every whim ...

319. Bacon Grease And Abounding Grace

Luke 7:36-50

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... in a smooth, beautiful manner. Like a graceful dancer. Sometimes we call the prayer we say before dinner "grace." But there is still another meaning for grace. It means finding favor with God. God is perfect. We are not perfect. In fact, we do many things over the course of our lives that show we are not perfect. And yet this perfect God loves us in spite of our flaws. That is grace--amazing grace. We don't deserve God's favor but God gives it anyway. [Show your acrostic.] An easy way for me to remember ...

320. First, Last And Always--god!

John 13:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... He 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 ...

321. Excellence In Living

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... a question. Do you have a positive picture of the kind of person you would like to be? How about substituting a picture of Christ for a picture of yourself? That would do it, wouldn't it? We already have the image of Jesus Christ as the kind of perfection we aspire to. His life was excellence personified, and he is the direction that we must move toward. But having the image of Christ to aspire to and working hard to reach that goal is not enough. WE MUST ALSO HAVE MADE AN IMPORTANT DECISION. Are you in or ...

322. Father? Almighty?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... say that God is personal, of course, is not to suggest that God is an overgrown person—like us, only bigger. It means that God is personally interested in each and every one of us. It is as though Jesus is saying, “Take the image of the most perfect parent you can possibly imagine, multiply that a million trillion times, and project that image onto the universe, and you will just get a glimpse of how much God loves you.” Actually, as you no doubt have heard before, the word that Jesus used for God was ...

323. What about Spiritual Healing?

John 4:43-54

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... the words, “a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country.” (John 4:44) It was a popular proverb of the day. But, wait a minute...was not Jesus a Galilean, and was not the Galilee “His own country”? No, not really. John knew perfectly well that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is down south in Judea. Evidently Jesus had just been in Judea, attending a festival in Jerusalem and doing some mighty works there. But the people there accused Him of doing His mighty works because He was in league ...

324. How Free Are We?

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... said. (John 8:32) But He wasn’t talking about just any old truth. These words must be placed beside Jesus’ other words in John 14:6 where He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” It is only in His service that we find that perfect freedom for which we were created. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!” (John 8:36) In the words of a poem, made into a hymn, written by Samuel Longfellow: Holy Spirit, Right divine, King within my conscience reign; Be my Lord, and I ...

325. The Huddle Is Not the Game

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... All of us have been put off at one time or another by the kind of evangelism which seeks to scare, or nag, or scold, or goad us into a certain brand of theology or religious experience. Nevertheless, we should not be put off by the perfectly good word “evangelism.” It means, literally, “good news.” Each of us who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ is called to share the good news in whatever ways are appropriate and helpful. Recent research done by the “Institute for American Church Growth ...

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