Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 26 to 50 of 656 results

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... be no Christian Faith without the Church. The Church is the Rememberer of the past and the Bearer of Good News to the present. None of us started from scratch. All that we have of our Christian Faith has been given to us by others. It is from the Church, imperfect as it is, that we have heard the old, old story that we have loved song. The notion of God as Divine Parent, which we take for granted, was given to us by the Church. Without the Church’s tutelage, it is doubtful that any of us would ever have ...

27. Jesus' Most Perplexing Parable

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... committed adultery, and when he got her pregnant, plotted to have her husband killed. The apostle that Jesus chose to head the church, Peter, denied he even knew the Lord on the night of Jesus' arrest. Ordinary people like us love stories about imperfect people doing something good. As imperfect people ourselves it gives us a little hope. I will admit that that is not a central theme of the parable of the dishonest manager, but it is what many people hear because that is exactly what we need to hear. Lesson ...

28. An Enclave of Resistance

Hebrews 1:1-14; 2:5-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... from, he quotes it wrong. He says, "We are created a little lower than the angels," but in the 8th psalm it says, "We are created a little lower than God." The author of Hebrews' imperfection brings great comfort to me, one who must live with imperfections. It yields great hope that you can communicate the message in spite of imperfections. And that is what he does in this passage. What it says to us is that we are created for great things. For a little while we are less than the angels, but someday, at ...

29. Laugh It Off

I Corinthians 1:18-20, 26-31

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... creation in Genesis, that we are creatures. We are made from the dust of the earth, from mud, according to Genesis, just like all the other creatures. That has a critical implication. We are not gods. We are not even super-human. We are fallible, we are frail, we are imperfect, we are sinners, every one of us. But the problem is that that is not all there is about us. At the same time, Genesis says, we are created in the image of God. Which means that there is something in us, or about us, that is more than ...

30. Who Gives You Your Grade?

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... themselves. If you seek perfection in your life, you're not going to make it, so the irony is, you will be obsessed with imperfection. You will see it everywhere. You'll hate it. You'll condemn it. You'll try to stamp it out, especially in the lives ... going to live by grace?" The Law says you have to be perfect in order to be loved. Grace says that God loves you even with your imperfections. Are you going to labor under the Law, or are you going to "take my yoke upon you, and learn of me?" I have a friend, a ...

31. So You Want to Be in the Lead?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... safely. Only a lot of chewed through pencils. The astronauts rebooted, not via silicon chips, but pencil tips. But the US was focused on getting to the future first--whatever it took. And being first, being in the lead, means two things: first, it means imperfections and misperceptions; second, it means altercations and accusations. God calls us to get out ahead of the crowd, to be in the lead, to carpe manana. In a world where everything is moving, you can't afford to carpe diem (seize the day). The only ...

32. From Father Failure to Divine Father

Romans 8:12-17

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... was the perfect driver and that he was absolutely safe riding with him until one day he almost hit the side of a bridge. His father was a very good driver, but he was not, he was discovering, perfect. Eventually, the discovery of the imperfections of our fathers goes much deeper than driving. We begin to see they lust after other women, are influenced by greed, are not always wise in their counsel, can make poor decisions, and can exhibit weakness both in body and character. Freud, and other psychologists ...

33. Past, Present, Future

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... events that shaped America. For instance, most people would prefer the story that, as a child, George Washington said, "I cannot tell a lie," in admitting he had cut down a cherry tree with his axe. The true story, according to Henry Wiencek in his book, An Imperfect God, is that Washington admitted to his mother that he had ridden a favorite horse of hers to death. Wiencek's book is one of three recent volumes that invite us to learn more about the man who was the father of our country. Wiekncek's book ...

34. War and the Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... self becomes unified. “I" and “Me" must learn to live with one another for “Us" to have peace. May I suggest a few paths to peace for you this Christmas? I could name a dozen but let me settle for three. One, why not make peace with your imperfections? The perfect meal, the perfect party, the perfect gift, and if you are on the staff, the perfect worship service, will not happen this Christmas. They will be our best and they will be good and in some cases, they will even be great, but they will not ...

35. Why Did You Bring Us Out of Egypt?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... out of the sin of racism. Indeed, look at the people who God tends to lift up for leadership. Was Saint Paul worthy of the trust of the early church? Hardly. He was their chief persecutor! Our leaders are rarely, if ever, of perfect character. They, like us, are imperfect people in search of a perfect wonder. You see, stepping into the waters of trust and openness does not in any way ensure that we will be unmolested in this life. It is a lot like faith. In fact, it involves faith. Our belief in God and our ...

36. The Place beyond Punishment

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... 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 do it. Today, Farm Share serves over 650 agencies (homeless shelters, soup ...

37. The Bride of Jesus

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... bride. All of his frustration melted away as he finally beheld the joy of his life. That got her crying,” Barnes concludes, “which made me cry as well.” (2) There is something about a wedding, isn’t there? Whether things are perfect, or even very imperfect, there is something about weddings that touch us. Throughout the Bible the relationship which God has with His people is compared to the love a bridegroom has for his bride. It is the predominant theme of the book of Hosea. In Hosea 2:19 we read ...

38. Festus Consults King Agrippa

Acts 25:13-22

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... and it is a question whether Festus meant it in that sense (see disc. on 17:22). The whole discussion had seemed to Festus to turn on the question of whether a dead man named Jesus had risen from the dead as Paul had claimed (v. 19). The imperfect tense suggests that Paul had made this claim repeatedly, but the verb itself (Gk. phaskein) reflects Festus’ own opinion that it had been made without any grounds. The proposition had seemed to him to be quite absurd, yet he had put his finger on the real point ...

39. Paul Before Agrippa

Acts 25:23--26:32

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... members, that is, over the local Jewish communities. And by having those members punished who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, he had tried to force them to blaspheme (the name of Jesus) (cf. 13:45; 18:6). Again the tense of the Greek verb (imperfect) may indicate repeated attempts, but the real significance of the expression is that it leaves open the question whether he ever succeeded. In contrast to the abhorrence that he now felt for his own part in this, there is an undisguised note of admiration ...

40. “Some Trust in Chariots . . . , but We Trust in the Name of the Lord Our God”

Psalm 20:1-9

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... is the only reference to the king, except for the synonym “anointed [one]” in 20:6, but it is enough to place the psalm in a royal setting. Theological Insights The blessing of 20:1–5, though not called a blessing, is a string of Hebrew imperfects used in a modal sense (“May the Lord answer you”), expressing what the people hoped the Lord would do, perhaps even expressing the substance of their prayer. A blessing is the transfer of God’s favor from one person to another. In the Old Testament ...

41. How Do You Get Rid of Evil without Destroying Good?

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... about which is which, but ultimately the distinction is made, must be made, will be made. II. Now let’s move to a second truth that really strikes at the heart of our daily life. While we are involved in a search for perfection, we must live with imperfection. Gerald Kennedy reminds us that “the field is a man’s life, and he must come to terms immediately with the uncomfortable truth that it will always have weeds in it. Why this is so has been the theme of many philosophies, but all we need to know ...

42. Eliphaz's Second Speech to Job

Job 15:1-35

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... also Hartley, Job, p. 250, for a discussion of other, non-commercial options. 15:32 The first half of the sentence is a bit difficult because of uncertainty regarding the verb translated paid in full (Heb. timmaleʾ). The form is a Niphal imperfect, feminine singular, while the subjects usually suggested (“his time” or “the wicked himself”) are masculine. This has led to a variety of emendations, most of which are not very persuasive. Perhaps a way forward is to take this verb as anticipating the ...

43. The God Who Blesses Israel’s Harvests and His International Praise

Psalm 67:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... harvest is not a consequence of the nations’ praise of God but a prerequisite to it. As argued above, these verses should also be read as requests: “may God, our God, bless us.” And the Hebrew grammar of verse 7 (the simple waw attached to the imperfect in a volitional sequence) underscores further the ultimate purpose of this blessing on “us”: “so that all the ends of the earth may fear him.” What draws the nations to fear (i.e., stand in awe, believe) God is not a military defeat or a legal ...

44. Daniel’s Vision of a Ram and a Goat

Daniel 8:1-14

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... , 1987], pp. 246–53). 8:12 The word host does not fit here very well. It is missing in the LXX, which seems to represent an earlier form of the text than MT. Although wetsabaʾ, “host,” is normally masculine, it is paired here with an imperfect third-person singular feminine verb: tinnaten, “will be given” (NIV were given). There is possibly one other place where the noun tsabaʾ takes a feminine verb (Isa. 40:2), but the reading is contested. The fact that the other three verbs in Dan. 8:12 are ...

45. Tale of the Tares

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... judging everyone around us, we can lose track of our own walk with Jesus. The best fruit we bear as the “bread of the world” is to concentrate on being the loving disciples Jesus called us to be. In love with God and in love with God’s world of imperfect but beautiful people. Some may never make that divine harvest. But that’s for Jesus to decide. As for us, our own hearts will take as much energy as we can muster, for to love the weeds of the world as our neighbors and our fellows will be our ...

46. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Will Willimon

... on global peacemaking, not petty moral issues like gossip!" they told him after his talk. But I don't know.... Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass; tongues,...cease;...knowledge,...will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. And now what is for me, perhaps the most challenging claim of the text: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became ...

47. Abiding by the Word

John 6:51-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... who came before us, but they also give us a window into what we believe about God, a measuring stick for truth, and a basis for how we wish to live. That said, language is an imperfect medium. Because language is human contrived, no matter how carefully we use our language, it always remains an imperfect communicative medium. And for most part, that’s okay. We know that. We expect that. And we make allowances for that. Or do we? Our greatest misunderstandings come from rifts in our medium of language. And ...

48. Proper 17

Psalm 81:1-16, Hebrews 13:1-25, Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, Luke 14:1-14

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... ? Humility can often be paradoxical. If persons are aware of their humility, does that indicate that they are proud of it? When people say how poorly they have done something or point out their imperfections are they really fishing for compliments? Are they really hoping that people will deny how imperfect they are and affirm their worth? How should we react to such persons? 5. The Resurrection of the Righteous. Some have assumed that Jesus' reference to the resurrection of the righteous means that only ...

49. Proper 18

Psalm 139:1-24, Philemon 1:8-25, Philemon 1:1-7, Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Luke 14:25-35

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... count the costs of living in the kingdom in a world still filled with evil. Context of the Lectionary The First Lesson. (Jeremiah 18:1-11) The passage is the familiar analogy that Jeremiah uses of the potter and the clay. If a potter finds his pot to be imperfect, he can shatter it, grind up the clay and rework it into a more satisfactory vessel. Jeremiah warns the people that in like manner the Lord can shatter and rework his people if they do not shape up according to the Lord's will. If they continue to ...

50. Proper 25

Psalm 65:1-13, Luke 18:9-14, Joel 2:28-32, 2 Timothy 4:9-18, 2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... Service to Others 3. Death to Self-will 4. Having the Mind of Christ CONTACT Points of Contact 1. Self-Evaluation. A prime requisite for being justified in God's sight is to have an honest evaluation of one's self. That involves an awareness of imperfections. No person is perfect and without sin. Persons are unable to sustain their own lives. Without God's grace in providing life and the means for supporting life, all persons would cease to exist. Thus people need to be aware of their dependency, that they ...

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