Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 26 to 50 of 4884 results

26. Jesus Came to Be a Perfect Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:1-18

Bulletin Aid

Carl Hoefler

... us into a saving relationship with our God. People: We have the assurance that Christ has come, and once for all has made atonement for our sins, and for the sins of the whole world. Collect Father in heaven, whose Son was willing to come to earth as a perfect sacrifice in atonement for our sins: Melt the coldness of our hearts; that we may be able to respond to this wonderful gift of salvation with a new life, cleansed by Christ, and committed to him. In his name we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession We are ...

27. Perfect Planning, Perfect Peace

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: A Roman Emperor, a Palestinian teenager, the census, no room at the inn, the beginning of our salvation and the end of a long period of waiting — for God, for God's people, and perhaps for ourselves. All: God's perfect planning brings perfect peace. This story has been told so often that perhaps we don't hear it clearly. One: We gather together to hear this story all over again for the first time. Collect One: O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. All: Sing ...

28. The Image of Perfection

Mark 10:17-31; Isaiah 64:6

Illustration

Michael Milton

... cocked back ready to sail another projectile through the class, that our teacher returned. "June! What are you doing?" I forgot to tell you that the teacher was her mother. But poor old June Day met her match, and she just couldn't keep up her image of being perfect. And you know what? Neither can you. None of us can. We cannot come to God based on our righteousness. Do you know what God calls it? He says our righteousness before Him is like filthy rags. So what do we do? We divest ourselves of such an idea ...

29. A Community of Practice, Not a Community of Perfection

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... failure when he met Christ and grasped grace. Romans 7 sets the scene for the deliverance that Christ’s death and resurrection have made available. For Paul, there is one and only one tuning fork to the eternal. Jesus the Christ is God’s Perfect Pitch. We all know people who are tuning their instruments to all the wrong tuning forks: wealth, fame, celebrity, merriment. Boston College has a Center on Wealth and Philanthropy. For the past couple of years they have been surveying 165 households with an ...

30. Finding the Perfect Gift

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for this year would bear no resemblance to those “it” gifts wished for as a child. No “thing” can ever be a “best present.” The best possible gift to receive or to give is evidenced, not by a receipt, but by a relationship. The mark of the perfect gift is not wrapping, but the wrap of arms and a wrap-around hug. What is on your “wish list” this year? The healing of an old hurtful memory? A word of forgiveness spoken and received? An estranged family member returns? A friend is reclaimed and ...

31. Christ, the Perfect Sacrifice

Hebrews 9:11-28

Bulletin Aid

Carl Hoefler

... sacrifice, that all, believing in him, may be forgiven. People: We are unclean because of our sins; but we worship Christ, believing we shall be made dean by his sacrifice. Collect Heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus, has given himself as the perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sins: Cleanse us from within, for his sake, that we may be redeemed from worthless living, to become useful servants of yours. We pray through Christ, our High Priest. Amen. Prayer of Confession We are guilty of sins, O Lord ...

32. Perfection or Grace?

Luke 10:38-42

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... celebrate and give praise for the true life God has given us. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect Most wonderful and loving God, through the life of Christ we have come to see we are Yours through mercy and grace and not through our personal perfection. Help us to share Your Gospel, Lord. In Christ we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession Lord, so many times we have sought to earn Your acceptance and failed to accept Your grace and mercy. We have tried to do all the "right" things, and failed to love ...

33. The Christian Life Keep Us in Perfect Peace

Isaiah 26:1-21

Bulletin Aid

Call to Worship Leader: You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Women: Keep our minds steadfast on your perfect love for us. Men: Focus our attention on the times you’ve protected us and sustained us. Youth: May we grow in your peace as we learn of your steadiness. Leader: "I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." All: Strengthen us in your ways, Father. Comfort us when we fail and uphold us by your Son.

34. Christ, Our Perfect Redemmer

Hebrews 9:11-28

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... music of God's people gathered for worship. People: We have much to celebrate and our praises for the Lord are long. Leader: We have been redeemed by the Christ, who was totally sinless and perfect. People: And even now Christ is with God and not limited by human constraints. Leader: Let our voices be lifted in praise for God's perfect redemption. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O merciful and loving God, in Your divine wisdom You chose to redeem us even when we were yet living in the sins of ...

35. The Perfect Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... , no wonder . . . ! When we speak to one another, there are some people who can’t hear us, others who don’t listen to us. But when we speak to God, we speak to One who hears all and listens to all. Today I want to deal with the perfect prayer. It is, of course, The Lord’s Prayer. Most of us know it by heart. Our lesson from Luke for the day contains one version of the prayer. Matthew 6 contains another, almost identical. The version we are accustomed to praying in church has been honed and polished ...

36. Trifles Make Perfection

Mark 4:30-34

Illustration

King Duncan

... retouched this part, and that I have polished that part. See, I have worked on this part of the statue, and have softened the lines here." "Yes," said the visitor, "but those are all trifles." "That may be," replied Michelangelo, "but trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle." Successful people are aware of the trifles. As a Ethiopian proverb puts it: "When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion." The great writer Bruce Barton once said, "I am tempted to think there are no little things."

37. The Perfect Pastor

Illustration

Michael P. Green

After years of research, the profile of the “perfect pastor” has been developed. The perfect pastor preaches exactly fifteen minutes. He condemns sin, but never embarrasses anyone. He works from 8:00 a.m. until midnight and is also the church janitor. He makes $60 a week, wears good clothes, drives a new car, and gives $50 a week to the poor. He is twenty- ...

38. Christ is Our Perfection

Matthew 3:13-17

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... : Then let us proclaim God's love to all the nations of the world! Leader: And let our hearts sing out with praise for God's mercy and love! All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, in Christ You walked among us showing us true perfection and paying the price for our redemption on the Cross. Lord, give us the strength to carry Christ to the world. In Christ we pray. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord, so often we struggle with feelings of being unworthy, and we fail to accept that in our baptism we ...

39. The Perfect Prayer

Illustration

Staff

... this: simply to turn it all over to him and say, "Here it is, Lord; take it, and make it come together as it should; take it, and spell it out for me, if you please." When we have done this, we will have prayed something pretty close to the perfect prayer.

40. Perfect Obedience

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call To Worship Leader: Come, let all who seek the will of the Lord gather now for worship. People: To follow Christ is to seek the will of the One who sent Him in our lives. Leader: The obedience of Christ was perfect even unto death for our sake. People: Jesus, who knew no sin, died for our sins that we might know God's love. Leader: So let our hearts be joined in love and praise before Almighty God! All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, Creator of ...

41. The Perfect Antidote For Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... creating a meaningful legacy for their lives. (6) In other words, needless anxiety about life produces a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. The more we worry, the less likely we are to see God's hand at work and to experience God's blessings. The perfect antidote for worry is gratitude. Gratitude is the opposite of fear, the opposite of self-centeredness, the opposite of bitterness. Gratitude springs from faith, and faith results in joy, hope, and peace. When we are able to say, "Thank you God for the gift ...

42. The Perfect No Win

Matthew 22:15-22

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

... , you lose." At this point it suddenly dawns on the younger child that this is truly a no-win situation. Whatever way the coin lands it's going to land in their sibling's pocket. In this week's gospel text the Pharisees think they've concocted the perfect no-win question to present before Jesus: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" If Jesus says yes, he'll alienate all those who continued to struggle against Roman rule and who ardently believed Israel must only be obedient to God and God's ...

The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers. In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also in what order we should desire them.

St. Thomas Aquinas

44. The Perfect Blemish

John 2:13-22

Sermon

John Smylie

... grass and wildflowers, I fled until I found my way home, and when I arrived I was welcomed back into the flock. My old master was surprised but he kept quiet about it. He even thanked God for my return and for his good fortune. But I was no longer perfect without blemish, for I was scarred on my hindquarters, being stung by the whip of the man whose name was Jesus of Nazareth. I was glad for the scars, knowing I would never be chosen to go to the temple again. But did you know a greater thing than this ...

45. Absolute Perfection

Illustration

Staff

... I do not know what to put in its place for the quieting of my mind. It is absurd to say that a place like this is absurd, when it contains, in front of our eyes, so many billions of different forms of life, each one in its way absolutely perfect, all linked together to form what would surely seem to an outsider a huge, spherical organism. We talk some of us, anyway, about the absurdity of the human situation, but we do this because we do not know how we fit in, or what we are for. The stories we ...

46. Grandma's Perfect Day

Illustration

Staff

... the stable, back to the house and set the table...cooked a supper that was delicious, then washed and dried all dirty dishes...fed the cat and sprinkled clothes, mended a basketful of hose...then opened the organ and began to play: "When You Come to the End of a Perfect Day..."

47. Practice Makes Perfect

Illustration

Brett Blair & John Troup

Have you ever worked to get better at something? If so, you soon realized that the cliche "practice makes perfect" is true. Olympic Athletes seem to succeed with effortless grace, but their performances aren't as easy as they look. The average Olympian trains four hours a day at least 310 days a year for six years before succeeding. Getting better begins with working out every day. By 7:a. ...

48. The Perfect Way To Die

Humor Illustration

A group of old men were sitting around talking about death. Each one had an idea on the perfect way to die. A seventy-year-old man said, "I want a quick and exciting death like in an airplane crash." An eighty-year-old man who had once been a sailor said, "I want to die by drowning, enveloped in the sea." The oldest of them all, a ninety-year-old man, thought for a second, then said, "I would like to be shot by a jealous husband."

49. The Not-So-Perfect Child

Humor Illustration

Some tip-offs that your children may have some flaws--even though you may think he or she is perfect: Your child gets extra credit for being absent. Neighbors always have their cement poured while you are on vacation. You find the phone off the hook and the mailbox in his room. You are shopping with your child/children and a clerk gives you a flyer from the store across the street. (Mary McBride, PLEASE DON''T CALL ME COLLECT ON MOTHER''S DAY, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1983)

50. God’s Timing Is Perfect

Illustration

Dwight Gunter

... couldn't get along with his sister-in-law, who owned the bar, so he left. Out of that experience he turned to God, went to Oxford, became part of the Holy Club with John Wesley and helped change England. What I'm saying is this: God's timing is perfect and purposeful. We can trust Him and make the most of the opportunities He has given to us in His time.

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