Sermon Central
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Good News For Our Times (Romans)
Contributed by Timothy Peck on Jan 3, 2001 (message contributor)
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1. The Battle Within
Contributed on Jan 3, 2001
When we try to meet God’s standards from our own resources we will consistently fail.
New Years Eve is a time for new beginnings, a time for taking new steps in our lives. At midnight tonight millions of Americans will make new year’s resolutions for the year 2001. Typical resolutions will be losing weight, quitting smoking, spending more time with family, and working less hours. ...read more
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2. The Joy Of Being Right With God
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
Four assurances God gives us when we discover His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The last twelve days have remarkable. Like you I’ve been fascinated at how closely contested our presidential election has been. Can you imagine what the last twelve days have been like for vice-president Gore and governor Bush? On election day the networks first called Florida for Gore, then they ...read more
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3. Understanding Our Story
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
We cannot understand our own story until we understand how both Adam and Jesus have impacted the human race.
The story of Adam is really our story. From the time of Adam until today the story of disobedience against God has been repeated again and again. In fact, the Hebrew name "Adam" simply means "mankind" or "humanity" because the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis in the Bible is our story ...read more
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4. How Grace Changes Everything
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
When we encounter God’s grace, it changes everything because we die to our old way of live, are introduced to a new way of life, and find a new master.
In his book "What’s So Amazing About Grace," Christian author Philip Yancey writes about a friend who invited him out for a cup of coffee one night (Yancey 179-80). This friend, it turns out, is contemplating leaving his wife after 15 years of marriage because he’s found someone younger and ...read more
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5. Released From The Performance Trap
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, our relationship to the ten commandments changes.
In 1995 an obscure Alabama circuit judge named Roy Moore became a national symbol of controversy. You see, Judge Moore displays a handmade copy of the ten commandments in his courtroom. That’s provoked the wrath of atheist groups and the ACLU, yet Judge Moore has remained steadfast in his right to ...read more
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6. Breaking News
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
God’s press conference to the world is good news about His Son that is intended for all people.
If God were to call a press conference and issue a news release for the world today, what do you think he would say? Some people think they know what God would say, but do we really know? Some think God would say, "I’m really mad at you guys, and if you don’t knock it off I’m going to send ...read more
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7. The Power Of Faith
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
When our faith is properly anchored in Christ it makes a noticable difference in our lives, qualifies us to be God’s ministers, and brings us God’s salvation.
Americans have a love/hate relationship with faith. One the one hand people in our culture admire people who have a strong faith. Success literature tells us, "If you believe it, you can achieve it." The Robin Williams movie "Jacob the Liar" captures our culture’s fascination with faith. In the ...read more
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8. How We Got In This Mess
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
Only the good news of Jesus Christ can overcome the moral mess of our culture.
Our world is a mess. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in ethics to realize that our world has become a dangerous and messed up place to live. Here in American in the last forty years violent crime has increased 280% (Bennett 15). Every year 20,000 people in our nation are murdered, half by people they ...read more
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9. The Dangers Of Judging People
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
Judging other people is dangerous because it lulls us into a false sense of security, blinds us to our own faults, and usurps God’s role as judge.
We Christians can be such "dorks" sometimes. We have a tendency to build our own little holy huddle, with our own special words and secret handshakes. If a person shows up who doesn’t know our special words, they feel like a fish out of water. No wonder so many unchurched seekers are deeply ...read more
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10. Building On A Religious Heritage
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
Having a religious heritage can either help us or hinder us in cultivating an authentic relationship with God.
I grew up with no religious heritage at all. As a lot of you know, my childhood was thoroughly secularized. Although I was baptized as a baby, for the most part I lived in an entirely different universe than religion. My mom and adoptive dad believed that religion had a negative effect in ...read more
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11. God's Verdict On The Human Race
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
The content, extent, and proof of God’s verdict on the human race.
The twentieth century has been punctuated by a series of extremely controversial court verdicts. Consider the O. J. Simpson trials. O.J.’s criminal trial in 1995 acquitted him of the accusation that he murdered his ex-wife and her boyfriend. But his civil trial in 1997 find him liable for $8.5 ...read more
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12. What The Cross Reveals About God
Contributed on Jan 4, 2001
The cross reveals God’s integrity, and by experiencing the cross we can understand, experience, and live consistently with God’s integrity.
How can a person go to heaven? It sounds like such a simple question, yet so many people aren’t sure how to answer. The Christian faith has always insisted that the answer to this question of how to go to heaven is found in the cross of Jesus Christ. For the Christian faith, the cross is the ...read more
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13. Free Indeed
Contributed on Jan 8, 2001
Three kinds of freedom from sin God gives us through the good news.
"Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty we’re free at last." It’s been 37 years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Washington Monument and uttered those words in his famous "I have a dream" speech. Next Monday we’ll be celebrating Dr. King’s birthday, and the birth ...read more
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14. Family Privileges
Contributed on Jan 17, 2001
Four family privilges we receive when we become God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ.
(Note: This sermon was introduced with a drama called "Love of Another Kind" and a song called "Faithful Father"). The reality is that not all fathers are faithful. My father wasn’t faithful. When I was born he was only 16 years old, still just a kid himself. And by the time I was 3 years old, ...read more
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15. Back To The Future
Contributed on Jan 22, 2001
Three consequnces of living between Christ’s first and second coming.
Several years ago my mom and late stepfather were hiking back from some hot springs in the desert when they decided to take a shortcut back to their car. That shortcut ended up getting them hopelessly lost in the desert. With the blazing heat beating down on them and with no food or water, slowly ...read more
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16. God's Safehouse
Contributed on Jan 29, 2001
Three reasons we can be sure we are securely included in God’s plan.
Is there any place that’s really safe anymore? We used to think our homes were safe, but we’ve become more and more aware of just how dangerous some people’s homes are. Domestic violence keeps getting worse. Just last week a San Bernardino man was sentenced to life in prison for shooting his wife ...read more
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17. Promises Kept
Contributed on Feb 5, 2001
Three facts to help us understand why the nation of Israel rejects Jesus as their Messiah.
Note: This sermon was introduced by the drama "The Perfect Bonds of Love"). God has a plan. It’s a plan that started at creation, and it has continued even when human sin corrupted God’s wonderful creation. It’s a plan that’s taken lots of twists and turns along the ways, a plan full of ...read more
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18. The Potter's Freedom
Contributed on Feb 12, 2001
Three reasons we can trust God to be fair in the unfolding of his plan.
There are certain phrases every parent begins to expect from their kids. Phrases like "why?" or, "But Greg’s parents let him do it." One of those phrases is, "That’s not fair!" We said it as kids, and when we become parents our kids bombard us with that phrase. And of course the standard response ...read more
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19. A Community Of God's Grace
Contributed on Feb 21, 2001
Two characteristics of a community based on God’s grace.
One of the more troubling books I’ve read recently is a book called Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam. Bowling Alone isn’t a Christian book, but it’s an analysis of the health of our sense of community in American culture. The author of Bowling Alone ...read more
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20. Don't Confuse Doing With Believing
Contributed on Feb 27, 2001
What happens in our lives when we confuse doing with believing in our relationship with God.
Two people can do the exact same thing for entirely different reasons. For example, imagine seeing two different women doing housework: doing the laundry, vacuuming the carpet, picking up the toys. Just by looking at them, it appears that they’re exactly the same. But one is a stay at home mom, ...read more
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21. How To Share Your Faith Without Being A Jerk
Contributed on Mar 8, 2001
Four important principles for sharing our faith in Jesus without being obnoxious about it in a postmodern context.
(Note: This sermon was introduced with a drama called "Nail The Pagan). The reason we laugh at satire is because there’s an element of truth in it. Sometimes in our enthusiasm to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others we can tend to come across like outreach commandos. We can come off ...read more
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22. God Is Not Finished Yet!
Contributed on Mar 12, 2001
Three actions we can take when we’re tempted to think God has given up on us.
How many of you have seen the bumper sticker that says, "Be patient with me. God isn’t finished with me yet"? I’ve decided to create a new bumper sticker that responds to that one. My new bumper sticker will say, "I’m trying to be patient with you, but God is taking an awfully long time with ...read more
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23. The Mysteries Of God
Contributed on Mar 25, 2001
Six mysteries about God’s ways and God’s character that lead us to worship.
People love to solve mysteries. Whether it’s figuring out a John Grisham novel or solving a complicated riddle, people love to try to figure out mysteries. Lots of people enjoy the TV show "Unsolved Mysteries" hosted by Robert Stack. "Unsolved Mysteries" was one of the first internet interactive TV ...read more
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24. Responding To God's Mercy
Contributed on May 29, 2001
Three stages in appropriately responding to God’s mercy as it is revealed in the good news about Jesus Christ.
The last few years my wife has been trying to help me be a bit more cultured. Some of you know my wife Chris has been playing in the Claremont College Concert Orchestra for two seasons, so I’ve been attending quite a few classical concerts lately. Now for me, classical music is 1960s rock, but I’ve ...read more
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25. Authentic Love In Action
Contributed on Jun 4, 2001
Three dimensions of authentic love, seen in love for God, love for our church, and love for our community.
One of the stranger enigmas of modern history is the 18th century French thinker Rousseau (Johnson 1-27). Rousseau’s ideas were immensely influential in 18th century Europe. Rousseau believed he loved the entire human race with a unique and special kind of love. Yet Rousseau’s life was a complete ...read more
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26. Christian Civics 101
Contributed on Jun 11, 2001
The most important principle about our relationship to our government.
(Note: This sermon was introduced with the song "Fellow Prisoners" by Michael Card from the Soul Anchor CD and a slide show about persecution of Christians in the world). It’s sobering to realize that so many people who confess the name of Jesus in the world today are being persecuted for their ...read more
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27. Ending Christian Intolerance
Contributed on Jun 28, 2001
What Christian tolerance is, what qualifies for tolerance, and why God views it as significant.
In our culture, tolerance has been exalted as the highest virtue to be embraced and pursued. In a recent article about tolerance in "Christianity Today," Christian author Daniel Taylor suggests that intolerance is the only serious sin left in our culture. Taylor says, "America is sick of intolerant ...read more
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28. All Kinds Of People
Contributed on Jul 9, 2001
Five reasons why God wants our church to welcome all kinds of people who share a common faith in Christ with us.
(Note: This sermon was introduced with a powerpoint presentation set to the song "All Kinds of People" written by Sheryl Crow, Kevin Gilbert and Erick Pressley and performed by Susan Ashton from the "A Distant Call" CD). Why is it that the Christian community is divided over many of the very ...read more
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29. Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of...what?
Contributed on Jul 9, 2001
Five ways to use our spiritual liberty in Christ to pursue love in our relationships.
On Wednesday our nation celebrates its national independence. As you well know, the fourth of July commemorates the day when representatives of the thirteen colonies signed The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. By signing that Declaration, those thirteen colonies were announcing their ...read more
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30. Is Our Church "Apostolic"?
Contributed on Jul 16, 2001
Five characteristics of an apostolic congregation.
For the last one thousand, seven hundred years, Christians across the world have recited the Nicene Creed in their worship. Part of the Nicene Creed says, "We believe in one holy, catholic, apostolic church." What does that really mean? We know what "one" means, that it refers to the oneness of the ...read more