Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 951 to 975 of 4884 results

951. The Apostles' Creed: "Suffered, Dead, and Buried..."

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... best identify as far as our early training goes. It takes a legal approach and says that if God's laws are broken, a penalty must be paid (the same way as in our own legal system). This theory says that what Jesus did was to live a life of perfect obedience to God's law and needed no penalty payment for himself. Thus, he and he alone was able to pay the penalty on our behalf to satisfy the demands of a righteous heavenly judge. Justice is served. But, of course, there is a basic flaw in the argument. Simply ...

952. Moving Toward Sainthood

Isaiah 26:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... be called a sucker who fell for another corny script." (6) "Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter," writes Isaiah, "the nation that keeps faith. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." (26:2-3) That is the goal of those who are going on to sainthood ” the perfect peace of a steadfast mind. We want to fashion holy habits ” habits of love and tolerance and patience and faithfulness and right living. We want to examine our hearts and ask ourselves ...

953. Swimming With The Sharks

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... was facing Christ on the cross. Slowly she said, "Yes, Marcellus, I have changed; he changed me!" (4) To see Christ as he really is is to experience personal transformation. C. S. Lewis put it quite pointedly: "He (Jesus) never talked vague, idealistic gas. When he said, Be perfect, He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder ” in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would ...

954. Jesus, Where Are You?

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... going without some of the necessities of life. Many of these children will turn to a life of crime. Can you look into the eyes of someone who is hurting and see Jesus there? That is the real test of discipleship. Discipleship has little to do with perfect attendance in church. Church is but a place we come to sensitize ourselves so we can see Jesus ” Jesus in the historical record and Jesus in others. Some years ago the New York Fire Department had a great parade. One feature was three buses loaded with ...

955. Get Off The Orphan Train

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... , to travel across Canada speaking to people about helping the handicapped. Darryl wrote these words: "It is not my missing limbs that matter now, but what is within me that counts. God has an image, a picture of me, one of which I could never be ashamed. A picture so perfect that I will be able to withstand anything, no matter how bad things become. God's gift to me is life, and it is what I do with this life that will be my gift to God." (6) God has authorized me to ask you the same question that turned ...

956. How Shall We Prepare Ourselves For Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... she started shaking her head and she said, "Well, son, it looks like you're going to have to do this over. For most boys this would be perfectly all right. But you're not most boys, you're my son. And my son can do better than this." That was John's message to our ... not trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent." None of us is perfect. Nevertheless, as Chapman's example clearly indicates, if we are satisfied with just a little of the worst ...

957. Some Things To Get Choked Up About

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... course, a straight trunk. As they were looking, they came upon a family from their church, the Marshes. The pastor remarked, "This place is filled with beautiful trees! It is going to be hard to pick one." Jeanine Marsh replied, "Not for me. I never look for perfect trees! I'm looking for a tree that needs me! Then I'll make it beautiful!"(3) That sounds like something God would say ”not only about trees and towns, but about people. People like Peter, James, and John. And people like you and me. So that ...

958. Grace The New Fashioned Way

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... a 75. He recalled in school that was considered passing. Eventually, one of the men asked, "Say Padre, what's a passing score for this test, anyway?" The chaplain answered, "100 points." The men shook their heads. "What's the use of trying? No one could be that perfect. Certainly they were all doomed." The chaplain smiled and said, "I've got good news. There was a man who walked this earth and took this test and scored a 100 points. His name is Jesus. And he says that the purpose of the test is not to ...

959. Mustard Seed Faith

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

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." One ...

960. Rise Above It

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

... is inevitable in life. Some pain is essential. Some pain can even be beneficial. Here's the good news for the day, however. WHETHER OUR PAIN IS MILD OR SEVERE, JESUS CAN HELP. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that since Christ has been made perfect by his sufferings, he is the path of salvation for all who obey him. He knows what it is to suffer, thus he is equipped to aid us in our times of suffering. Frank Lloyd Wright, the noted architect, recalled how he was awakened one night by a frantic ...

961. Teach Us To Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... do so many times before and pray that someone would pick up her desperate signal. "Is anybody listening? Is anybody listening?" Fortunately, even miraculously, someone was listening, a seasoned pilot who calmly instructed her step by step to a perfect landing. I wish I could say that is a perfect analogy of the way prayer works. We have a deeply felt need. We bow our heads, perhaps get on our knees. We pray, "Is anybody listening?" And suddenly a voice answers and calmly instructs us step by step until ...

962. From Timid To Terrific

2 Timothy 1:6-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... ; Where first place goes to push and shove, And the cost of things is put above the cost of time together; Isn’t it wonderful that from time to time, The best of us, Reach out and touch, The rest of us?" There is a lot of Gospel in that. "Perfect love casts out fear." (I John 4:18). When the late Dr. E. Stanley Jones preached on love in India, a church leader complained that though he had saturated his leadership with love, one of the laymen was making a lot of trouble and threatening to split the church ...

963. Persistence In Prayer

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... the fire of adversity. If the great conductor Arturo Toscanini had offered one prayer in youth, it might have been for more perfect eyes, for he was very near-sighted. He could not foresee that at the age of nineteen a remarkable event would occur ... could not read music on a stand so he had trained himself to play it “by heart.” Who could say that a Toscanini with perfect vision would have been better off? In the later years of his life the imaginative writer John Milton lost his position and his sight as ...

964. The Greatest Discovery Of All

Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." In the ancient world a fine pearl was as valuable as gold is in our day. Unlike the person who stumbled onto unexpected treasure, the pearl merchant was purposefully searching for one fine, perfect pearl. After much effort and a long search the merchant finally found the pearl he was looking for. He was filled with indescribable joy. In fact, he was willing to sell all the possessions of a lifetime in order to own the one exotic stone. And the ...

965. Finding The Real Thing

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... grateful Hilda. No one had ever thought to give her something so beautiful. Hilda writes that she puts on the nightgown and dances across her rough, wooden floor, and for the first time in her life, she feels pretty. It is the perfect gift. (4) God knew the perfect gift for humanity. He knew if you feed the hungry, that solves a problem for only a generation. He knew that satellite television would only bring out the worst in human character. A spectacular display in the heavens would have to be ...

966. Getting Your Attention

John 2:12-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... had worked himself up to a furious pitch about their shaky loyalty to the Lord. At the height of emotion the preacher reached behind him into a chest, grabbed two snakes and tossed them into the crowd. Apparently the preacher thought the snakes would be the perfect object lesson. People in the crowd couldn't tell if the snakes were poisonous or not by just looking at them. There was screaming and a mass exodus out of the revival tent. Dan says it was a sight to behold. "You see," thundered the preacher ...

967. Where God Can Be Seen

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... ; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket ” safe, dark, motionless, airless ” it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love. . . is Hell." In his own eloquent way, Lewis is saying to us that, where there is no love, there is no happiness. Jesus says to his disciples, "These things have I spoken unto you. . . that your ...

968. How Do You Know?

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... that person is a new creation. This verse is not talking about the casual believer. I don't want to sound judgmental, but it is perfectly clear that not every churchgoer can be said to be "in Christ." Not every officer in the church can be said to be "in ... One traveling salesman spent much of his free time on the road battling loneliness. But one year his little daughter gave him the perfect antidote for his homesickness. It had black beady eyes, a red bow tie and orange feet. It was a stuffed toy penguin ...

969. When More Is Never Enough

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... fish eat the plants and live on the oxygen the plants give off. The snails keep the sides of the tank clean, and live off the algae. It is supposed to be a self-contained cycle not requiring him to do anything. But, he explained, "my aquarium is not perfect." There were many times when he would have to do something to restore that balance, because if he didn't his fish would die. Relating his aquarium to his understanding of God he said, "And we will never know how much God does every day to keep our world ...

970. How Do You Get To Heaven?

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

King Duncan

... That is forgiveness. It seems to be a virtue only few of us are capable of. "I'll forgive," we say, "but I won't forget." It takes a very special kind of person to forgive so completely. But here is the important truth for today: GOD, WHO IS PERFECT, OFFERS PERFECT FORGIVENESS. When God says we are forgiven, we are forgiven. If it makes you feel better to do some kind of penance for your sin, fine. But understand that it is for your benefit, not God's. I can say to you, as a representative of God, that you ...

971. Where Is Your Citizenship?

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... discipline and devotion, of faith and faithfulness, of conscience and commitment, will one day be rewarded. And even though we are far from perfect people, we know that the One who created us will accept us just as we are and will take us unto Himself. It ... in my face?" She replied, "You see, sir, I'm blind." So it is with those of us who are citizens of heaven. We are not perfect people, but because of what Christ has done in our behalf, God, too, is blind to the ugliness of our sin. (4) Two kinds of people ...

972. Lessons From The Locker Room

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

Lowell D. Streiker

... . You can be the fleetest athlete in the world, but if you don't stay on course, it's not likely you'll find your way into the record books ” except as a bad example. Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians: "Not that I have already...been made perfect, but I press on...Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (3:12-14) Nowadays, we talk about focus. The person who has his or her ...

973. Responding Instead Of Reacting

Jeremiah 28:1-17

Sermon

Dr. B. Bruce Humphrey

... are usually not the true answers. Quick, easy answers look like they offer an immediate solution to problems, but usually they don't take into account the complexity of certain situations. Sir Thomas More wrote a book in the 1500s called, UTOPIA. He described a place where everything is perfect. Utopia is a place where decisions are always wise and people are always happy. As Garrison Keillor would say, "The children are all above average." Sir Thomas More devotes a portion of the book to his ideas for a ...

974. Setting The Record Straight

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon tells how difficult it will be for some of us to deal with that kind of perfection. He writes, "My people aren't paradise people. We've lived in Minnesota all our lives and it took a lot out of us. My people aren't sure ... if we'll even like paradise: not sure that perfection is all it's cracked up to be. My people will arrive in heaven and stand just inside the gate, shuffling around. `It's a lot ...

975. Let My Little Light Shine

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... it, they were doing about forty miles per hour. They had left the city. Darkness was setting in out in the boondocks. Soon these three friends were cold, lost, and scared. After half an hour or so, they decided that they had to do something. So in perfect Butch Cassidy fashion, they lined up in the door of the boxcar in which they were riding ” and they bailed out. It was a rough tumble down into some bushes (several of which were blackberry vines), but they were okay. The problem was, they were terribly ...

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