Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 476 to 500 of 4884 results

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... sure enough, the little lamb cookie which he selected was all cracked and ruined. No one would eat it, so they might as well be practical about it. But that’s not the way with God’s Lamb with the capital "L." His Lamb is sinless, spotless, pure, good, holy, perfect, without a single blemish on him. And that is the Lamb that redeems us! We may often give God our left-overs, but he gave us his best Lamb, his only Lamb! Do Something With the Lamb The solemn fact about this Lamb story is that the blood of ...

477. God Is Not Yet Finished With You

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... , for God is at work in you ..." In other words, God the Holy Spirit is continuing his creation in us to the end that we might be like our Creator - holy and good. Though we are Christians by Christ’s second creation, we still need to be sanctified and made perfect in love and life. And that no one can do on his/her own power or strength. Only God can make us good. This is the continuing creation of God the Spirit. That, we may understand and accept. But most of us need to know how God the Spirit, the ...

478. Pardon for Sin

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... . And again, "All that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And once more, his personal invitation, "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him." (Revelation 3:20) To be perfectly clear, we receive his merits not merely when we believe that he once walked this earth, not simply when we acknowledge that he lives and reigns also at the present moment, not only when we place our names on a church roster, but when, in sincere repentance of ...

479. Faith A New Potential for Life

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... of our lives by the enabling grace of God available to us in all life situations. The process may never be completed in this life. The question John Wesley was wont to ask his converts, "Are you groaning after perfection, are you going on to perfection?" is a pertinent question for Christian growth and maturity. The best biblical reference to this immediate justification by faith is the incident of the thief on the cross. With no background of righteousness, with no backlog of good deeds, he recognized ...

480. Shepherding One Another in a Collapsing World

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... he has forgiven you, I do the same. I love you now as my brother in Christ. I will stand with you, defend you anywhere, and I trust you with anything I have." Colson said of Harold Hughes, "He need not have said a word, I read him perfectly in my heart through his smile ... and the look of caring in his eyes." Do you see what I see? The world of Paul, the world of Charles Colson, touched by another world - made beautiful by Christ. "Men of opposing political philosophy were experiencing the camaraderie of ...

481. HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... that person in order to qualify for God’s forgiveness of me? How good must we be to make it to heaven? How much is enough? Whereas industry might consider it enough to get six hours of work from an employee in an eight-hour day, God says that only perfection is enough for us to enter into his presence at the end of time. There will be no bickering when Jesus returns. To say to Jesus, "But Lord, I was a good provider for my family; I worked seven days a week; I never willfully hurt anyone," cuts no ice ...

482. IN THE PROVERBIAL PITS

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... a savior. The problem is that we all think we’re pretty good people. Compared to what? - other sinners, maybe - but not to a righteous God. And what is the Bible’s standard for salvation? Jesus told us when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as my father in heaven is perfect." Perfection. One hundred percent is the only passing grade. God doesn’t grade on a curve. The Book of James puts it another way, "If we offend in one point we are guilty of all." If we commit just one sin, we step outside ...

483. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR ALL SAINTS’

Drama

Tom Eberle

... You would like to know if I’m too good to be true. Box: Well, are you? Mary: If you want me to say I’m not perfect, I will say it. I’m human, I’m imperfect. Does that make you feel better? Box: Well, yes. At least you’re woman enough to admit ... pure hearts. Human impurity is the excuse you use for demanding little of yourself. Box: But you agreed with me that no one is perfect. Mary: Pure of heart is a phrase used by the psalmist. It means to live with single-mindedness. [pause] To see God, one must ...

484. EPISODE 7: MAUNDY THURSDAY

Drama

Robert Clausen

... a graveyard. Outwardly everything’s nice and clean ... FIRST CLERGYMAN: You heard the Bishop! JESUS: ... but underneath are dead men’s bones. BISHOP: And you, of course ... JESUS: I’ve come to make men perfect. BISHOP: That is your mistake. Men don’t want to be perfect. JESUS: They must be perfect, like my Father. BISHOP: A degree of goodness, yes. But to be completely loving, pure, and good goes against all human instincts. The church understands this limitation. We let people be themselves. JESUS ...

485. Pilgrim Living in a Vagabond World

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... normal. And - you know the effect - as I stood in the middle of the floor, I felt that it was I who was leaning! Very quickly I was dizzy. Running water appeared to be flowing uphill. A ball would not lie at all on a surface which appeared to be perfectly level, but rolled away into a corner as though pushed by an unseen hand. When I tied my penknife to the end of a string and held it up before me, it appeared to hang there at a rakish angle, as though the law of gravitation had gone all out ...

486. THE MARK

Drama

Jerome W. Nilssen

... . Visiting your brother. CAIN I ... suppose. Well, that’s ... that’s all right. I don’t mind it a bit. I really don’t. It’s perfectly natural. EVE To murder your brother? You’d better not tell that to your father. Don’t go near him. Don’t ever try to see ... good too? Haven’t I been decent at least once in a while? EVE That’s not the point. I’m not asking you to be perfect. I’m asking you to be guilty. CAIN I wasn’t PLANNING to do it. EVE Don’t talk about it any more. It doesn’t ...

487. Just Common People?

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... the only reasonable thing you can do with your life. Do not be conformed to this world - don’t be a common person - but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Perfect! That sort of yanks us out of our common herd, doesn’t it? Don’t be conformed! You are chosen people! Let’s remember that. You didn’t sit back smugly and decide that you were going to choose Christ - you were going to become a Christian - wasn ...

488. The Forbidden Anger

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... , be merciful to me for I am a sinner." But hear the good news: That same Jesus who commanded those impossible standards is the one who forgave an adulteress, a thief on the cross, a disciple who had denied ever knowing him. The Jesus who called us to be perfect is the same one who paid the penalty on the Cross for the sins of imperfect folks like you and me. The Sermon on the Mount is both absolute ideals and absolute grace, without one compromising the other. Only as we are healed by grace and equipped by ...

489. The Heavier the Purse, The Tighter the Strings

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... us a clue. He said: "The heavier the purse string hangs down, the tighter the strings." Let's look closely at that rich, young ruler who came running to Jesus one day. Full of sincerity and zeal, he dropped to his knees in humility, and asked, "0 perfect Master, what must I do to live eternally?" The disciples were shocked. Their usual crowds were decked out in jeans and polyester, so to speak, but here was a fellow in a Brooks Brothers suit with his hair carefully styled. Jesus, always a genius at asking ...

490. A Terrific Trade

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... at that very moment when he cries out from the cross, "It is finished" and breathes his last, suddenly I, become aware that I am wearing a new coat. Instantly I recognize it. It is Jesus' coat. Not a smudge or a stain on it. It's a coat of perfect righteousness. Now I can walk into the very presence of God, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. What a trade! Several years ago I was helping my friend Albert in a revival in a small town. One afternoon we were about to head for the golf course. Suddenly a ...

491. Using our Special Talents

Romans 12:6-8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... STRONG 2 Corinthians 11:19--12:9, verse 9: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Object: A sack ... help and when we get it we will be glad and strong. A BETTER WAY 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, verse 10: But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. Object: Two methods of doing the same thing, one much more efficiently than the other. Good morning, boys and ...

492. Living in the Future Present

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Thomas Long

... a highly imaginative motion picture which prospered at the box office several years ago. The film features a madcap scientist who perfects a machine capable of achieving the human dream of traveling through time. A teenaged boy uses the machine to journey to his ... hearts, and Peter’s, too, will know one more truth. God’s future is a time of perfect love, and perfect love casts out all fear. 1. D. E. Nineham, Saint Mark [The Pelican New Testament Commentaries] (New York: Penguin Books, 1963), pp. 236-7.

493. Mission Accomplished!

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

... were a liar. In my grandmother’s bedroom hung a very old-fashioned plaque. It depicted Jesus standing on a cloud, arms outstretched, beckoning the viewer to come to him. The inscription proclaimed, "Jesus Shall Come In Like Manner." Grandma died at the age of 94. She was perfectly prepared to meet her Lord coming to receive her in the clouds. She lived through Indian raids to man’s walk on the moon. Sharp as a tack to the very end. Still, in her mind’s eye, this was the way her Lord would come to her ...

494. All Together

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Roger Prescott

... empty pews, Whose pastor never has the blues, A church whose deacons always deak And none is proud, and all are meek; Where gossips never peddle lies, Or make complaints or criticize; Where all are always sweet and kind And to all others’ faults are blind. Such perfect churches there may be, But none of them are known to me. But still we’ll work and pray and plan To make our own the best we can. Author unknown - From the South Pacific, ALC District Newsletter, June 1975 Whenever we get irritated by too ...

495. An Unusual Legacy

2 Samuel 23:1-7

Sermon

Roger Prescott

... not expect us to be persons other than ourselves. But he does expect us to make full use of our given abilities and to live lives of integrity and faithfulness wherever we are in our little corner of the earth. Even though he slipped and fell short of perfect leadership, David gave us a glimpse of "what could be." And God was able to use his leadership to move his kingdom along. We can’t be David, or Abraham Lincoln, or Dorothy Day or Shirley Chisholm. But we can he Roger. Or Shirley. For we, too, are ...

496. Called to Be Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... 2-4 that one young candidate expressed reservations. It was impossible! Responding, that brilliant Francis J. McConnell, the bishop, inquired, "What, then, are you going toward?" As God’s people - the laos - we are all called. Are we called to anything less than perfection in the love of Christ? Would a lesser goal suffice? Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome as those "called to be saints" (Romans 1:7). Is this not our calling? A saintly bishop, whose wife had died several years earlier, said he ...

497. Your Sins Are Remembered No More! You Are Free!

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... death, just as he did on the Cross. All the evils that torment and afflict us are absorbed by him. Of course when Christ comes and lives in us he comes with all the marvelous characteristics he has. He brings to us his grace, his righteousness, and his perfection in fulfilling God’s Law. Those good qualities become part of us, part of who we are.4 Get that, Christ’s fulfillment of the Law lives in you, Christian. In that sense, the Law of God is within you, written on your heart. Elsewhere Luther calls ...

498. Swoosh

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Drama

Dave Marsh

... a sports figure. It's okay to look at these people and admire them, even call them personal heroes, but ultimately we need to remember that they will/can always fail us. That's why Ephesians tells us to imitate Christ. He alone will never fail us. He's perfect! He's batting 1000! Cast: Jim: A guy who's imitating Andre Agassi Sarah: Jim's girlfriend Props: A gym bag (Nike) and lots of Nike clothes A tennis racket A camera Setting: Family Room (LIGHTS UP CENTER STAGE where Sarah is waiting for Jim. She is in ...

499. The Ten Commandments #2: No Idols!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... means would become the end. The idol would become almost a sanctified rabbit's foot - as long as you have that idol in the house (or town) and you went through the proper rituals, things would be all right...no MAYBE'S...no uncertainty. What had begun in perfect innocence and reverence would have now degenerated to the ritual murder of little babies. This was the kind of a world into which a rag-tag band of former Egyptian slaves would come to form a new nation, Israel. And it was the religion of this kind ...

500. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... lesser gods) all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Creation did not come at the hand of some inferior sin-stained god, but through the will and word of this one perfect Lord and Christ. Here is the true sovereign. When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, he laid the crown on her head with the sure pronouncement, "I give thee, O sovereign lady, this crown to wear until he who reserves the right ...

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