Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 626 to 650 of 4884 results

Job 38:1-7 (34-41)

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... (41:27). Creatures without fear, they have no equal. They are symbolic of those edges of life that are a part of the created world and yet are chaotic and beyond our control. In an age that tames the wilderness, inoculates against disease, seeks to clone for perfection, and flies to the moon, it is hard to find an analogy (the Loch Ness monster?). Our monsters are microcosmic ... the fear that comes with a virus that won't be tamed, a potential plague that has no answers or the AIDS pandemic. Or, it may be ...

627. Let Your Diamond-Light Shine

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... light illumines salvation. The Transfiguration is a momentary glint, a gleam from the divine, of the power and presence Jesus brought to earth. “Lucy,” some 10 billion-trillion-trillion carats of diamond brilliance, was not “in the sky.” Instead, the perfect light, the Light of the World, was plopped down in dusty first-century Israel. A place without light. A place without enlightenment. A place wholly hindered by the darkness of despairing humanity caught up in human brokenness. Paul had a firm ...

628. God Can Turn Your Trash Cans into Treasure Chests

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... city of Jerusalem a place for trash. In 1 Corinthians 1:25, we read: “Divine folly is wiser than human wisdom and divine weakness stronger than human strength.” In 2 Corinthians 12:9, we read, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Our lectionary Psalm today, Psalm 51:1-12, is David’s great Psalm of Repentance after he trashed his reputation and kingship with Bathsheeba. You might call it the Kopi Luwak Psalm: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new ...

629. A Glimpse of Glory

Revelation 21:10-22 - 22:5

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... her shadow. As I do every confirmation class at the beginning of the year, I asked the class if anyone knew what a saint was. There was silence, so I gave them a definition. A saint is someone special. A saint is someone chosen by God. A saint is someone perfect, sinless. A saint is not just someone dead in the ground. A saint is someone bound for heaven. Then I asked them the big question: "Does anyone here think he or she is a saint?" The class was silent for a few moments when to no one's surprise Sarah ...

630. The Call of Holiness

Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... power means that by the exercise of his will he can realize whatever is present in his will.... God reveals his power in creation; in works of providence, and in the redemption of sinners. God's absolute power, however, may never be divorced from his perfections.[3] * his truth. God has perfect knowledge of what we are and what we can be. He is never misleading in his word to us. God's holiness is his moral and ethical character and that becomes a problem for us. His divine love on one hand, and his divine ...

631. The Cross Burden or Blessing?

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... an instrument that rolled away burdens. At the cross, at the cross Where I first saw the light And the burdens of my life rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight And now I am happy all the day. The cross was the perfect means to the perfect end. It was the ways and means to transform life on earth for all people, for all eternity. The cross was Christ’s violin, Christ’s trumpet to bring down the walls that separate us from God or to change instruments, Christ’s cell phone, Christ’s ...

632. Lean on the Cloud

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Samson and David both fell flat in the bedroom. Gideon and Barak back-peddled before going into battle. Jephthah sacrificed his daughter to honor his own words, not Gods. Samuel succumbed to political pressures and Saul paid the ultimate price. A life of faith is not a perfectly lived life. But it is a life that knows how to re-set itself when things go off track. Faithfulness is not a state of being but a state of becoming. Faithfulness is an ever on-going process of reset and reboot. Why is it the world ...

633. On the Ropes: Round 1 - Doubting God

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... I can’t believe this is the way God is choosing to work in my life. Habakkuk finally got it. If God is eternally wise then He has a plan – a plan that will work – a plan that will work best and a plan that is right. If God is perfectly Holy then whatever the outcome of my situation is it cannot be evil. It has to be good. It cannot possibly be the wrong thing. It has to be the right thing. If God is soverignly powerful then whatever is happening is not by change, not just bad luck, but ...

634. Family Re:Union - Great Expectations

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

James Merritt

... Jesus Christ remembering what He did for them and what He is to them there will be this mutual desire to mutually submit and to serve one another. At my house, there are a lot of things we haven’t gotten right in our marriage. I’ve not been a perfect spouse by far, but I will tell you one thing that we have gotten right. We have learned the art of mutual submission. In our years of marriage, we have never made a major decision unless we both mutually agreed to do it. We have no problem doing that ...

635. About that Salesman

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... out, trying to see if church folk were real about following Jesus? Is there a parent in this room who doesn’t feel like a hypocrite from time to time? We may not be like Roy’s father, but there is no such thing as a perfect parent. There is no such thing as a perfect Christian. But one thing you can do, if you have a young person for whom you are responsible, you can make sure that that young person is exposed to the love of Jesus here at the church. People talk about hypocrites in the church, and of ...

636. An Announcement about Our Future

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... about. Children are told to be good because Santa Claus is coming to town. That does no harm, but they need to know that God loves them whether they are bad or good. That’s the Gospel. Jesus loved Simon Peter, but Peter wasn’t perfect, just as you and I are not perfect. When the time of testing came, he faltered, then failed. But that did not mean Christ did not love him and did not mean Christ couldn’t use him. The crowing of the rooster is a time of grace. “Therefore keep watch because you do ...

637. Chickens with Eyeglasses

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... God. Prayer is an important part of this process of embracing the thorn in your life. Paul writes, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” It is understandable that Paul would pray that God would take this thorn away. He would have considered such an affliction an obstruction to a wider and more effective ministry. It would have been absurd if he had not prayed to be relieved of it ...

638. No Longer Strangers

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... making a mistake, or saying the wrong thing, that we can’t function. Those of us who are this way must realize that nobody is perfect. That is an awful cliché, I know. But it is true, and we need to be reminded of it. No baseball hitter, no matter how ... . Christ can give us that gift. He can help us see other people as human beings, and not as strangers. We are not perfect, but neither is anyone else. We are not beyond redemption, but neither is anyone else. Some of us are estranged from ourselves, and ...

639. God's Pattern for Sainthood

Psalm 24:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... books of antiquity, the book of Psalms is the most appealing; not just for the beauty of its poetry but the poignancy and authenticity with which the Psalms were written. In the Psalms we see the human heart wrestling with its own imperfections, and we see the perfection of the God who calls human beings to righteous living. Psalm 24 is a beautiful hymn. It begins like this: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established ...

640. Don't Worry! Give Thanks!

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Interesting text for Thanksgiving, isn’t it? On the other hand, maybe it’s right on target. After all, gratitude is the perfect antidote for anxiety. Looking over the total scope of your life, hasn’t God been good to you? Do you think the future will be any different? One of the most appealing stories from an earlier generation is Jean Webster’s “Daddy Long Legs.” It ...

641. What Are You Seeking?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... of her friends. “The man I marry must be a shining light when with friends. He must be musical. Tell jokes. Sing. And stay home at night!” A little old lady at the next table overheard and spoke up, “Girl, what you just described is my computer.” A perfect mate is hard to come by. [With the exception of my mate, of course. Who says I can’t think quickly in the pulpit?] What is it that you are seeking? We are all seeking something. Our lesson from the Gospel for Epiphany is the beloved story from ...

642. Pet Rocks and the Big Reveal

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... the homeless. He mentions one man in particular. His name was Edgar. He lived alone in a nearby welfare motel “better known for drug addicts and prostitutes than for the righteous.” For some reason, Edgar adopted Bouman’s church. It was not always a perfect fit--which is an understatement. Edgar was rough around the edges. On occasion, he got loud and demanding and was known to interrupt the sermon if he didn’t agree with something the preacher said. Bouman says that, if the truth be told, his heart ...

643. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... 32:13). God chose Abraham to play a special role in the world because of Abraham’s trust in God (Gen. 15:6). Within Jewish tradition Abraham’s righteousness is underscored. For instance, we read in Jub. 23:10: “For Abraham was perfect in all of his actions with the Lord and was pleasing through righteousness all of the days of his life” (trans. Wintermute; in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha). Jewish literature connects Abraham’s righteousness with his faithfulness. In 1 Maccabees 2:51–52 Mattathias ...

644. The Supremacy of Christ

Colossians 1:15-23

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... is the image of the invisible God. By image, Paul does not mean mere resemblance or similarity, because the Greek word used is eikōn. This communicates the idea that Christ participates in and with the nature of God, not merely copying, but visibly manifesting and perfectly revealing God in human form (in 2 Cor. 4:4 Paul talks about “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”). The result of the Incarnation is that the invisible God has become visible in the God-man, Jesus Christ. The Apostle John ...

645. Timothy’s Encouraging Report

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... . Ean, “if,” would normally be used with the verb in the subjunctive mood, but here it occurs with the indicative. The difference is between what might be and what is the case—they were in fact standing. The verb stēkō is a late form developed from the perfect of histēmi, serving better than histēmi to express the thought of standing firm, which they did, says Paul, in the Lord (en kyriō, cf. 4:1 and see note on 1:1). There may be no difference of meaning between this phrase and the more common ...

646. Favoritism Forbidden

James 2:1-13, James 2:14-26

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... his example (2:2–4). The command to look at all behavior in the light of judgment fits the situation excellently. The standard of judgment is the law gives freedom, or the law of liberty. The idea has already been mentioned in 1:25, where obedience to this perfect law brings blessing. It is the same as the law of the kingdom of 2:8, namely, the Old Testament as interpreted by Jesus, which will be the standard of judgment (cf. Matt. 7:15–23; Luke 6:43–45). James does not think of this as a forbidding ...

647. The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh

Nahum 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... the wine of Yahweh’s wrath. They will be consumed like dry stubble, burnt up with frightening ferocity, another standard image for the effect of Yahweh’s action. This verb in the last line is the only finite verb in the verse; it is again qatal (“perfect”), so that the verse once more speaks of the catastrophe as if it has already happened. In verse 11, the NIV’s gloss again plausibly assumes that in Nahum’s context Nineveh is a city from which someone has come forth, and presumably it is the ...

648. Solomon's Throne Established

1 Kings 2:13-46

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... the mention of Kidron in 2:37, which Shimei would naturally cross if on his way home. Whether he interpreted Solomon’s instructions to mean that he must never under any circumstances leave Jerusalem is not clear. All we are told is that after three years of perfect compliance (v. 39) Shimei leaves Jerusalem for a while to retrieve some slaves from Gath. He does not, in fact, cross the Kidron valley on his way—the silence of the text on this point (v. 40) is deafening. He is going westward to Gath, not ...

649. The Law of the Temple

Ezekiel 43:13-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31, Ezekiel 45:1-12, Ezekiel 45:13--46:24

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... ” (v. 10). Elsewhere in Ezekiel, it is God’s forgiveness and deliverance that lead to shame, as the people look back regretfully on their sins and realize their unworthiness (see the discussion of 6:9–10 and 16:60–63). Here, it is the perfection of the temple the prophet has envisioned that leads to shame. But, in response to their shame, Ezekiel is to set the temple before them all the more—its arrangement, its exits and entrances (v. 11; see the Additional Note on this difficult verse)—setting ...

650. Sermon on the Mount: Jesus Teaches on the Torah

Matthew 5:17-48

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... to love one’s neighbor to include love of enemies and prayer for their well-being. 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. This exhortation of Jesus sums up the nature of Jesus’ teachings on the Torah from 5:21–48 and clarifies how his ... followers are to pursue a greater righteousness (5:20). The language of perfection represents the Greek teleios, which denotes completion or wholeness. Just as the Torah called Israel to be holy as their God ...

Showing results