Sermon and Worship Resources

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Hebrews 10:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... when she was sixteen, she appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America (Jan 27, 2003) and said her scars "remind her of how much God loves her." (5) Christ’s scars remind us how much God loves us. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross has given us a perfection that we cannot achieve on our own. But it also does something else--it helps us become better than we are. Morris Niedenthal is on the faculty at the University of Chicago. He says that Jesus accepted people just the way they were, but he never left people ...

2. Aiming at Perfection

Philippians 3:4b-14

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... your work?" Lots of debt-laden seminary graduates have mumbled a reply with fingers crossed. Two other questions are very difficult to answer with a straight face. The questions inherited from our Methodist founder, John Wesley, are these: "Are you going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?" When we clergy answer "yes," we hope that no one in the audience who knows us real well will laugh out loud. Most of us are so well aware of our own frailties that we recoil from the ...

3. Did You Know...That You Can Be Perfect?

1 John 3:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

... of God." (John 1:12, NLT) Only those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord are children of God. These are the very people that John talks about in this passage that we are going to study today and He is going to show us how we can be perfect. Here is what He says, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been ...

4. A Better Than Perfect Christmas

Philippians 4:4

Sermon

King Duncan

... to Dr. David Burns, they are terrified by the prospect of failure. They feel driven and, at the same time, unrewarded by their accomplishments. They are most unhappy people. Sadly, many people confuse such compulsiveness with Christianity. They take Jesus’ words to be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48) to mean that we are to be without a flaw. They forget that if it were possible for us to be flawless, Jesus would never have needed to go to the cross! It is heresy to expect such ...

5. A Perfect World

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... that we cannot build the Kingdom of God. The coming Kingdom is God's Kingdom, and God alone can build it. True, but that does not mean that you and I don't have a role to play. There are things we can do to prepare for that perfect world which is coming. ONE WAY IS TO LIVE THE KINGDOM LIFE HERE AND NOW. Imagine a world in which Christ's followers lived like he lived in their daily lives. Imagine that our lives were characterized by righteousness and compassion, faithfulness and moral courage, a passion for ...

6. "I Don’t Want to Be Perfect - Or Do I?"

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... ’t want to be a "born again" Christian whose "conversion turns him around ninety degrees instead of one hundred and eighty degrees." I don’t want to be "half dipped." I do want to have the spirit of Christ. I am hungry to have his love. I am yearning after perfection of inner life and attitude. Why didn’t God just make us the way he wants us to be and save himself and us a lot of trouble? I guess he wants us in on the process, and himself in on the process; both of us working together in fellowship ...

7. Discover the Perfect Gift of Christmas

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , the time came for her to deliver her child. [7] And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. B. This gift, The Right Gift, The Perfect Gift which God has Chosen for us and sent wrapped in swaddling clothes, is a gift of hope. A gift from heaven reminding us, in part, that "We are NOT Alone." And in a world filled with loneliness and despair, fueled by abject poverty, hunger and disease, the terrorist ...

8. The Perfect Story

Illustration

... Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple along with their passenger had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident. Who was the survivor? Answer: The perfect woman. She's the only one who really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa ...

9. To Be Perfectly One

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... church of the future, the whole company of the faithful who both believe and act. He prays: "And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me." Christ prays here for the universal church ... its unity in God, that it may share that fellowship which the Son has with the Father. This spirit of unity ...

10. What Things Are Perfect Joy

John 14:23-29; Gal 6:14

Illustration

St. Francis of Assisi

... to Brother Leo, who was walking on before him, and said to him: "Brother Leo, if it were to please God that the Friars Minor should give, in all lands, a great example of holiness and edification, write down, and note carefully, that this would not be perfect joy." A little further on, St. Francis called to him a second time: "O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor were to make the lame to walk, if they should make straight the crooked, chase away demons, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech ...

11. Made Perfect In Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of our flesh to overcome death and sin. In His weakness He became stronger than sin and death. And because of His gift of life and His gift of new life, we are able to live the upside down life of the Kingdom that says: "Remember: We are made perfect in our weakness. For whenever we are weak then we are strong." When we live that upside down life, we acknowledge our dependency upon God as the very first and most important thing in our lives. As a consequence, God becomes first in our giving. B. I like the ...

12. PERFECT LOVE

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... rendered. It is a love that finds something to love in the seemingly unlovable. It is one that states, "I love you because you need me, and I need to give myself away to people who need help." Jesus Christ is perfect love. When Jesus Christ is the master of our lives, then perfect love dwells within us. Perfect love is a force within that enables us to be sensitive to the needs of others and to desire to fill them. It is a motivating power that enables us to give strength and peace. It is "you" love before ...

13. A More Perfect Union

Habakkuk 2:1-5

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... thing before, except in the traditions of the Church. What had existed before was the idea that the king, or the nation, is sacred, and rules by divine right. Therefore, the king, or the state, gave the citizen his or her rights. But in America, in this more perfect union, the state didn't grant rights to the people, the people granted power to the state. And just to prove who was in charge, the people reserved the right to dismantle the government anytime and create a new one. Just to make sure that no one ...

14. Future Perfect

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... tenses of life. We look at the past, what happened that first Easter, we think about the Future and the promises of God, then we'll look how the Risen Christ is working in our lives in the present. And combined, all these remind us of our Perfect Future or if you will, our Future Perfect life and faith. Let's look at the passage of Scripture for today, John 20:1-18: [1] Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from ...

15. Christians Aren't Perfect; They Are Forgiven

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

... . One very important aspect of that love is that part that seeks to restore broken relationships. The third thing that needs to be said about forgiveness is that God's forgiveness extends to all human beings. I want to make this clear. I want to make this perfectly clear, because this gets to the heart of the sermon. It is at this point where I begin to disagree with the bumper sticker. God's love is universal. God's forgiveness reaches out to every person despite their faith. God's desire is to reach out ...

16. A Perfect Prayer

Sermon

Erskine White

... know how to pray as we ought." We need to learn. We need to learn not by the spirit of selfish success which surrounds us, but by the Word of sacrifice and service which Christ has put within us. Remember that like Solomon, we can offer God our own perfect prayers, even with our imperfect lives. We can pray for an understanding mind and for the grace to live rightly in God's ways. Remember that God is the power in our prayers to Him, not ourselves, and what finally matters is not our will, but God's will ...

17. Nobody's Perfect--Except Jesus

Hebrews 4:15-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... several times before I finally hit him." This one, I believe, is my all-time favorite: "She backed into me as we were going in opposite directions." Well, probably, our all-time favorite excuse when we mess up, foul up, and do wrong, is this one: "Oh, well, nobody's perfect." Have you ever met a perfect person? I heard about a preacher who asked this question to his congregation, not expecting an answer; and to his surprise, a little lady, in the back, raised her hand. He said, "Mrs. Jones, you have met a ...

18. Picture Perfect Close Up: Children - Get Under The Umbrella

Colossians 3:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... to your parents, this is the key question: What is the honorable thing to do? To all of you young people out there who live in a war zone called "the home", there is something you already know and you probably love to point out. Parents are not perfect. As you get older, you will see more and more the imperfection in your parents. You will tend to become more critical. You will find more faults and best of all you will offer more suggestions on how they can be a better parent. I want you to understand ...

19. Carbon Pure and Perfect

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Jesus is our diamond. Jesus is the carbon based incarnation of the divine transformed by the steady pressure of God’s endless love into the brightest Morning Star Diamond ever created. Jesus is our diamond. Jesus is Carbon Pure and Perfect, the pure and perfect way to the Father, our only eternal security. But there are many ways to look at Jesus, just as there are many ways to look at a diamond. This is what Paul was getting at in our epistle reading for this morning. Paul is urging the Corinthian ...

20. Perfect Strangers

Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon

Justin Tull

... to reject the action of the Pharaoh who acted out of self-interest and fear and to follow the example of Pharaoh’s daughter who acted out of compassion for the stranger. I am not permitted to be an imperfect stranger. To the outsider I am asked to be a perfect stranger! When I was in high school, a young student came from Germany to be a foreign exchange student in our high school. I did not know him or feel very comfortable around him at first. I invited him to a basketball game and to my house for a ...

21. The Perfect Gift

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... bay, the only spot where such shells could be found. The teacher thanked him and said, "It was wonderful of you to travel so far to get this lovely gift for me." The African's eyes brightened and he responded: "Long walk, part of gift." A perfect gift has two components: The giver puts something of himself into it; and the gift is suited to the needs of the recipient. When our loving God was brooding over this sin-scarred world filled with warring, selfish, corrupted people, he must have pondered at length ...

22. The Perfect Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

James Merritt

... highest significant wave heights ever measured or calculated from 1899 to 1991. In fact, this storm has been given the nickname "The Perfect Storm." This storm brought waves ten stories high with pressure of up to six tons per square foot of water. The ... says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 1 Jn. 4:18 says, "Perfect love casts out fear." Again, I say, no need to fear when Jesus is near. But there's also a lesson about faith because Jesus asked this ...

23. The Perfect Gift

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... our turf, he spoke our language, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Herein is the glory of God’s great gift, the perfect gift. He loves us so much, that’s who he is; he loves us so much that he gives us himself. And that leads to ... . Through as many as received him, to them he gave power to become children of God. But how do we appropriate this gift, this perfect gift. How do we keep the experience alive? That’s the question. How do we go from this Holy night, this deep emotional high, when ...

24. The Perfect Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:11-25

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... you once again so that even though you gave all you had to the poor; even though you were dealing with the loss of a loved one, you will not waver, for you would know that the one who has promised is faithful to the end, even to being that perfect sacrifice so that you might have new life. Finally, we are asked to consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds. To provoke brings up those images of my two children in the backseat of the car, pinching and poking one another, just to see who could ...

25. No Such Thing As Perfect

Humor Illustration

In a marriage seminar the speaker said , "There's no such thing as a perfect man. Anybody present who has ever known a perfect man, stand up." Nobody stood up. "Those who have ever known a perfect woman, stand up." An older lady stood up. "You knew an absolutely perfect woman?" ask the speaker, somewhat amazed. "I didn't know her personally," replied the woman, "but I have heard a great deal about her. She was my husband's first wife."

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