Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3676 to 3700 of 4884 results

3676. “Love Your Enemies” Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you stand for something, someone else will stand against you. If it weren’t so, we could all lie down and relax. This is not a time to relax. Jesus made enemies by revealing an unflattering truth to people in power, to people who were perfectly poised to cause him great harm. Jesus offered the priests and elders an alternative world view, a view outside their tight circle of what was “acceptable” and “righteous.” Jesus showed them that God could not be contained within their small orbits of ritual ...

3677. Jesus Would Do What?

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... third‑generation rich. He could tell they assumed he would be an unholy disaster as a leader. He decided to tell them a story. [He said,] ‘My first job was drawing the electrical engineering plans for a boat building company. The drawings had to be perfect because if the wires were not accurately placed before the fiberglass form was poured, a mistake might cost a million dollars, easy. At twenty‑five, I already had two masters’ degrees. I had been on boats all my life and frankly, I found drawing ...

3678. Love Your Enemies Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

3679. Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... pray with every day. Although Paul expresses the desire to participate in both Christ’s suffering and resurrection, he recognizes that he is still on his own faith journey. He has not yet “reached the goal.” Paul denies that he himself has achieved any perfection or completion of his life of faithfulness, but declares he will “press on” towards that final goal. Paul’s words emphasize that it is not any righteous acts of his own that keeps him on this path. It is the transforming knowledge that ...

3680. He Longs to Dust Us Off

Matthew 21:33-46

Illustration

King Duncan

... got more and more dusty. No one seemed very interested in a teddy bear like that. Then it happened. A little girl walked into the store and spotted the dusty teddy bear with the drooping bib. The clerk suggested that perhaps she would rather have one that was perfect, but the little shopper was insistent. She wanted the dusty one on the top shelf. When the clerk finally got the teddy bear down and handed him to the little girl, she threw her arms around him and exclaimed, "I love you, but I think you will ...

3681. God Enjoys AND Enjoins Us

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Their refusal to join in the “party” is complete and curtained. The next group of invitees expands to include ALL. Everyone who hears about the wedding party is invited to attend. But with the invitation there comes expectation. Not of perfection. Not of excellence. Not of economic ability. Not of exceptional giftedness. The expectation is that each guest will acknowledge their entry into this new place, this “wedding banquet,” this waiting room for a new future, by making some changes in ...

3682. At the Banquet...In Your Pajamas

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... , ‘We’re all put on earth for some reason, and I guess pigs are my lot in life.’ How could anybody in his right mind fall in love with pigs?” asked Nicodem. “I’ll tell you something even more amazing. An infinite, perfectly holy, majestic, awesome God is passionately in love with insignificant, sinful, sometimes openly rebellious, frequently indifferent people. God loves people like you and me.” (2) What was the problem that this man’s dress was not appropriate? It couldn’t have been his ...

3683. The Difference Between Getting and Giving

John 1:1-18

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... between giving and getting. It was sadly true — he had lived his whole life totally confused. His parents felt that children should be free to make up their own minds when they got old enough to think about those parts of life that are perfectly obvious. This completely confused him, and because of this confusion the old man had, on many occasions, been embarrassed about his lack of understanding. As the years passed, he finally stopped giving or receiving anything to avoid being ashamed in public. He had ...

3684. A Christmas Program

Luke 2:21-40

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... ) Now, let me tell you what happened one night when my shepherd friends, Josh, Tobias, Shilock, and I were watching our flocks. We suddenly heard singing. We were confused at first. We wondered where in the blazes it was coming from. The singing was gorgeous — perfect harmony. And then there was a light — a bright light from above. The whole countryside must have heard the singing and seen the light. Then we heard a voice instructing whoever could hear it to go into town and see a newborn baby and his ...

3685. God Is the Hound of Heaven

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... goals, even if it might seem odd, unlikely to succeed, or even self-deprecating. Professor Goodwin demonstrates how Lincoln brought together for his cabinet a team that on one level was the most unlikely combination, but on a second was absolutely the perfect team for the task at hand. In the 1860 Republican presidential nomination race, Lincoln was clearly the dark horse candidate. His rivals were all better known and possessed more experience. The chief rival was the well-known senator and former governor ...

3686. Recognizing the Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6

Sermon

Richard Gribble

In 1950, sportswriters selected him as the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century. He was a star in the National Football League, perfecting the dropkick as an effective scoring weapon, and played professional baseball for seven years. He was a star in basketball, track and field, swimming, and lacrosse. Jim Thorpe, a true All-American athlete, was the best there was. His recognition for a lifetime achievement in sports did not come, however, ...

3687. The Need for Transformation

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... must be an ongoing process in our lives. In order to find transformation we must first have a sense of openness to the will of God in our lives, as we heard in last week's message. We must realize our need for transformation. No one is perfect; no one "has it all together." We need to be transformed in mind, spirit, attitude, and action in order to draw closer to God. Transformation is multidimensional but it must begin by how we think about ourselves. The so-called "Golden Rule," that Jesus articulated in ...

3688. The Renewal of Life

Isaiah 43:18-25

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... proper moment that the contours of the damaged piece of wood dictated. The man took his new masterpiece to a museum where all began to marvel at its beauty. Some said the flaw in the tree forced the artist to be more inventive than usual if he had worked with perfect materials. The tree really did not care. All he knew was that he had been renewed, reborn as a dancer, and he danced away to the delight of all who passed by. The tree learned that it was necessary to move on, not to dwell on the past, but ...

3689. Be An Apostle! Proclaim Life!

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... the process of replacing the apostle Judas so that the full compliment of twelve apostles is again achieved. The loss of Judas (did he commit suicide or did he accidentally die?) is not as important as maintaining the complete number of twelve. The perfection of the number twelve (the number of the tribes of Israel) seems to be important. The focus on structure and a full complement of apostles seems to have diminished after the Day of Pentecost. The text points to two important apostolic issues. First ...

3690. The Many Faces of God

Isaiah 6:1-8

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... us. All we have to have is the eyes to see it. First we have to recognize our own sin, which Isaiah sees by simply being in the presence of the Holy One. Think about being around someone who is as purely good as you can imagine. No one is perfect, of course, but some certainly approach it. You feel guilty just being in that person's presence. "Woe is me" (v. 5), says Isaiah. Buechner says, "You catch sight of your face in the mirror when you are brushing your teeth in the morning or combing your hair, and ...

3691. Getting Through the Grief

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... wants to know if you'd sign these six dozen baseballs.' " Costas went on to say, "I just hope God has a place for him where he can run again, where he can play practical jokes on his teammates, and smile that boyish smile, 'cause God knows, no one's perfect. And God knows there's something special about heroes. So long, Mick. Thanks." If God can welcome Saul through David's magnanimous eulogy after all Saul had done to David, imagine what God will do with your life and mine. To God be the glory! Amen.

3692. The Place beyond Punishment

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... workers dump hundreds of crooked yellow crook neck squash into a dumpster. After the funny looking squash came an equally large number of funny looking tomatoes. She wanted to know what was going on. Her friend told her that he couldn't send anything that is not quite perfect to market and that he has to pay to have the imperfect vegetables hauled away. Patricia figured out what her new job was that day. She didn't know how she was going to get paid for rescuing the vegetables, but she knew she was going to ...

3693. Having a Good Name

Proverbs 1:20-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... pile of paper from one side of my desk to another: What kept me from acting on at least two or three pieces of my "preposterous," the name my daughter gave at age nine to my kitchen counter. She had just learned the word and was looking for a perfect way to use it. She found it on the counter. All she could describe was the paper: She didn't see all the hidden scripted messages that were also there. Both of these problems have positive nuances. What happens as I fuzz and buzz along is often quite beautiful ...

3694. Waiting for a Savior

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

Margaret was all ready for her date. She was wearing her best outfit, her hair was fixed, her makeup was perfect. Imagine her disappointment when her date didn’t show up! After an hour of waiting, Margaret decided that he wasn’t going to come. She changed into her pajamas, washed off her makeup, gathered up a bunch of junk food, and parked herself in front of the television for the ...

3695. God's Accidents

Illustration

Staff

Rowland V. Bingham, founder of the Sudan Interior Mission, was once seriously injured in an automobile accident. He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition. The following day, when he regained consciousness, he asked the nurse what he was doing there. "Don't try to talk now, just rest," she replied. "You have been in an accident." "Accident? Accident!" exclaimed Dr. Bingham. "There are no accidents in the life of a Christian. This is just an incident in God's perfect leading."

3696. It Takes Two

Illustration

Staff

... be dubbed in later. It took fifteen minutes to complete the scene. When it was over, DeMille yelled, "Cut!" and turned to his assistant, all smiles. "That was great!" he said. "It was, C.B.," the assistant yelled back. "It was fantastic! Everything went off perfectly!" Enormously pleased, DeMille turned to face the head of his camera crew to find out if all the cameras had picked up what they had been assigned to film. He waved to the camera crew supervisor. From the top of the hill, the camera supervisor ...

3697. Always Improving

Illustration

Staff

... great pianist, Paderewski, achieved tremendous popularity in America. Yet, said Paderewski, "There have been a few moments when I have known complete satisfaction, but only a few. I have rarely been free from the disturbing realization that my playing might have been better." The world considered Paderewski's playing near perfection, but he remained unsatisfied and kept constantly at the job of improving his talent.

3698. Many Ways To a Good Grade

Illustration

Tim Hansel

... ago, I received a call from a colleague who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if the system were not set up against the student. The instructor and the student agreed to submit this to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected. I went to my colleague's office and read the examination question: "Show how it is possible ...

3699. Floral Treasures

Illustration

Staff

... , "Who stole my treasures?" One of his helpers replied, "The nobleman came into his garden this morning, picked those flowers himself, and took them into his house. I guess he wanted to enjoy their beauty." The gardener then realized that he had no reason to be concerned because it was perfectly right for his master to pick some of his own prize blossoms.

3700. Don't Fear Your Decisions

Illustration

H.W. Andrews

... the process of viewing all sides of the question has been completed. Failure to make a decision after due consideration of all the facts will quickly brand a man as unfit for a position of responsibility. Not all of your decisions will be correct. None of us is perfect. But if you get into the habit of making decisions, experience will develop your judgment to a point where it is better to be right fifty percent of the time and get something done, than it is to get nothing done because you fear to reach a ...

Showing results