Sermon and Worship Resources

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Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... to recall the memories again. We begin with this song in Isaiah. The prophets wrote better than they knew when they described the suffering servant, for we, with hindsight, find it a perfect description of Christ and what he suffered and how he reacted to the shame and torture. The words of the prophets, we claim, were perfectly fulfilled in Christ. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises! In our Bitter-Sweet Recollections, we recall - The Shame of His Death (verse 7) He was humiliated by being ...

877. What Do You See?

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... some of us. We may feel an individual guilt, we may admit to corporate sin, but in any event, we have to admit, "He didn’t sin, I did, he was pure, but I am impure; he was holy, but I am unholy." Seeing and watching the holy, sinless, perfect Son of God die in such torture for my sins makes me feel terrible, overwhelming guilt. The feeling is somewhat like the vain regret we feel for our thoughtless actions toward a loved one who has died. A wife said of her recently deceased husband, "He always wanted a ...

878. Recovering From the Blahs

1 Kings 19:9-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... to please everybody in a congregation. It is absolutely impossible to please everyone. Like Elijah, some may think they can save the world all by themselves. We can take ourselves too seriously by thinking that everything depends on us. Perfectionists are easy prey to discouragement, for no one can reach perfection. Here is a young man who sets out to be a millionaire by age forty. When he fails to reach the goal, he pouts, because he considers himself a failure. A housewife tries to have her house in ...

879. Does God Give A Damn?

Exodus 5:22--6:12

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... God is merciful, for Isaiah says, "Let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" - abundantly pardon! This was made possible by God’s sending his Son to die for the sin of the world. His perfect sacrifice on the cross opened the gates of heaven to all the repentant. God cared enough to send the very best, his Son, to save sinners from death. So John writes, "If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us ...

880. Eternal Echo Of Easter - Part 2

Matthew 28:1-10

Drama

Esther R. Russ

... 1. Blow up a round balloon to measure thirty inches around the fattest portion, and papier-mache the balloon half-way down the front, over the sides and completely down the back with two three-inch wide strips of newspaper papier-mache, making sure the helmet is perfectly round and smooth. Make three or four layers. 2. For the base cut two rectangles about three inches by eight inches, and cut out the curvature of the top of the helmet. Cut two more rectangles for the ends, about two and one-half inches by ...

881. "When E. F. Hutton Talks"

Jeremiah 26:1-24

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... by feelings underneath that say we want to be fulfilled. The challenge stirs us up inside and makes us think. Like the E. F. Hutton ad, when God speaks, we are to stop, look, examine, and change. Our lesson today gives a perfect example of God calling people to change. We have a perfect example this morning of God saying to people that they had better examine their investment plan. The job of the prophet Jeremiah is to raise the issue with the people just as if he was the ad on television. Jeremiah is sent ...

882. Why Are We So Split Apart?

Matthew 5:9

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... between us and Russia because we are not, at least, engaged in an open fight. But the word "peace," when Jesus uses it, has a far wider meaning. The Hebrew word for peace is "Shalom." Shalom has two main meanings. It describes perfect welfare: serenity, prosperity, happiness. When one Jew passed another Jew with a greeting of "Shalom," it not only wished a man freedom from trouble, but it also wished him everything that made for his contentment and good. Shalom also describes right relationships: intimacy ...

883. Overcoming Self

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... always about their economic independence, their job promotions, their I.Q., their physical strength and prowess, as though they were the center of the universe. This is the state of affairs until Christ comes. When he arrives, we see perfect humility and what it can accomplish. In his case, perfect humility accomplished the greatest feat ever to have taken place. For by his suffering and death upon the cross, his stooping all the way down from heaven to the depths of hell to bear the penalty of our misdeeds ...

884. The Strength of Poverty

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... through to its ultimate intention of loving and restoring humankind through this self-giving act of Jesus. This is, of course, an entirely new and different way to see ourselves from that to which we are accustomed. It is, in fact, different from what seems perfectly obvious on the surface, for whether we want to own anything or not, there are some "givens" to our life that cannot be denied. Our very life itself, for example, is something that we must claim. To renounce it would be to commit suicide. We ...

885. Binding Up the Fractured World

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... speaks of nature’s flawed-ness (even in the inanimate world) as the sign imposed by God to remind his creatures of their fallenness. Absolutely everything, even the very course of nature itself, was thrown out of kilter because of the entrance of sin into the perfection of creation. "Cursed is the ground because of you ... Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you ... In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread." (Genesis 3:17-19) The very earth is affected by our sin as God turns the presence of ...

886. THE ONLY WAY OUT

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... , although it was generous perhaps to a fault. You had sinned and continue to sin. It is your nature from the time of the Fall. Therefore, you cannot save yourself. Although some of you sin less than others, none of you is perfect. My Father demands perfection - he will not stand for any imperfection in eternity. Fortunately for you, my Father is also compassionate, and his love goes beyond human love. He wanted to reclaim you as his own, therefore, he decided to be inflicted with suffering and death ...

887. Faith Opens the Door

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... is risking all of my life on what I believe about God. Once I was visiting in the home of a young adult couple. The husband asked: "When do I become a Christian when I believe or when I become perfect?" I had to answer, "Neither." You can believe and do nothing about it, and if you wait until you are perfect, you will never get there. You become a Christian when you launch out on a life pilgrimage committed to what you see of God in Jesus Christ. Faith is not being trapped in a static definition of life. It ...

888. The Necessity of Moral Commitment

Gen 3:1-24 · Is 28:15

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... each other. God is calling Christians to a new and high moral commitment, to a new and winsome witness to high moral living. God’s "meaningful arrangement" is one of the hallmarks of being a Christian. Your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of those not Christian. "Be ye, therefore, perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." That is the ultimate goal, and the Master leads the way. 1. Calvin Linton, "A Rage for Chaos," Christianity Today (March 6, 1977). 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid.

889. On Being a Beautiful Christian

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... tithe; he demanded that his sons and daughters be brought up in the fear of the Lord; he always set himself up as a perfect example of morality and keeping the law - but nobody loved him because at heart he loved nobody."1 Perhaps this was where Jesus’ ... do all these things? Why?" But, that afternoon at three o’clock when I went to the track for the meet, the track was in perfect shape. In the three years I coached there, he never failed to blow his top, and he never failed to fix the track. I am ...

890. In Debt Forever!

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... was led to say in a moment of joyful inspiration, "Love God, and do as you please!" because he realized that when one truly loves God, he wants to do only those things which please God. An anonymous hymn writer caught Augustine’s meaning and Paul’s intent perfectly when he wrote, My God, I love thee, not because I hope for heaven thereby, Not yet because, if I love thee not, I must forever die. Thou, O my Jesus, thou didst me upon thy cross embrace; For me didst bear the nails and spear, and manifold ...

891. One Thing

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... congregation at Philippi, wanted to be remembered for at least one significant deed. Knowing that church as he did, knowing the people, knowing their problems, knowing their potential, Paul was led to write, "Not that I have already obtained this (that is, spiritual perfection), or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do ..." (Philippians 3:12-13). Notice Paul did not ...

892. What It Takes to Stay Christian

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... 13 as being "patient and kind ... which does not keep a record of wrongs ... which never gives up" (T.E.V.). Agape-love is tough-minded love, love at which you have to work and work and work, day after day. It is the kind of love which is perfectly and succinctly described in John 3:16 when "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." That most familiar of all Bible verses not only illustrates agape-love but also describes its ...

893. The Un-Parade

Matthew 16:21-28, Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... ! For those of us who are contemptuous of weakness, though, there are some words of hope and correction. They come from St. Paul who indicates that they came to him from God. These are the words he heard: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) I like the way the Good News Bible renders that. "My grace is all you need, for my power is strongest when you are weak." That all boils down to the fact that often our weakness can well serve us. It is not ...

894. When Yes Means No and No Means Yes

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... above everything else to live as he lived, and to love as he loved. That’s the way Christ intends for us to live also. Now let’s look at the other son. He says, "No." And then the Scripture says he "... repented and went." While this is far from perfect, it is much better, isn’t it? This son’s story is often our story. We claim to be hard-boiled, hard-headed materialists, but secretly we have our hearts touched. We hope for more to life than this. Who among us has not been like this son who said ...

895. Fingertip Embalming

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... use God to explain his own disbelief. So often he is like the man who says: "Thank God, I’m an atheist." Or as St. Augustine wisely put it: "He who rejects God has already postulated the God whom he rejects." It can’t be done otherwise. It’s perfectly obvious. The lad in my Marine regiment who professed no belief in anything gave himself away when, in the heat of battle, he threw himself on a hand grenade that dropped into his foxhole to save the life of his buddy who was in the same foxhole. He did ...

896. Voluntary Blindness

Matthew 6:1-15

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... as this on his side. Walter Bagehot said, "So long as men are very imperfect, a sense of great imperfection should cleave to them."8 But letting one’s left hand know what one’s right hand is doing tends to obscure the perfect. One’s goodness comes between him or her and the perfect, shutting it from one’s view. Then one is unable to see one’s own deeds in the light of the excellence of Christ’s deeds, and fails to see his or her spiritual attainments in comparison to the stature of Christ. It ...

897. Worthy Is The Lamb

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... is this description of the Lamb of God In verse 9: "You were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation." Throughout Old Testament times, lambs were offered as sacrifices for sin. Jesus came as the perfect Lamb of God whose death on the cross became the all-sufficient sacrifice for all time, for all believers. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him at the Jordon River, John said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the ...

898. The Master at Prayer

Luke 22:39-46

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... answers whenever they come. I use a prayer list each morning. When God's answers come, I mark through that request and write “thanks" in the margin. I have several pages of fulfilled requests, and that gives me great confidence that God answers prayer. God's wisdom and timing are perfect. The ladies at the Women's Prison taught me a song which has the following chorus: "He's an on-time God, yes he is. He may not come when you want him to, but he's always right on time. He's an on-time God, yes he is ...

899. A Gospel that Fills the Glove

Sermon

James Bjorge

... eighties. Finally one of the men broke out with the comment, "Say, Chap, what is the passing score for this test?" The chaplain paused and then said, "One hundred points." The men shook their heads. What’s the use of even trying for no man could be that perfect? Certainly they were all doomed to hell. At this point the chaplain smiled. He said, "I’ve got some good news. There was once a man who walked this earth and he took this test ... and he scored one hundred points. His name is Jesus. He’s got ...

900. Is Jesus Like A Stapler?

1 Timothy 2:5

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... the world. I am going to mark one piece of paper "God," and the other piece I am going to mark "people." God is holy and perfect. People are sinners and not holy. God wants people to be with him. God loves us, but there is such a difference in his world ... tied together and they will stay together forever. That is exactly what Jesus did for God and for people. Jesus came from God and he was perfect and holy. Here on earth he lived as a man and took all of the people’s sin and was killed. Now God is holy and ...

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