Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: beginning, start, origination, genesis, birth, dawning, dawn, emergence, inception, launch, creation, birthplace, cradle, early stages, conception, inauguration, foundation, outset, source, derivation, root, roots, provenance, etymology, descent, ancestry, parentage, pedigree, lineage, line, line of descent, heritage, extraction, background, family, stock, blood, bloodline, genealogy, beginnings

Antonyms: end, conclusion, termination

Showing 1 to 25 of 64 results

1. A Goodly Heritage

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... breeding up of the quality of the human strain in his stock. That’s one kind of ancestry – biological ancestry – the kind about which we have no option so far as our ancestors are concerned. Scientists have long argued about how much and in what ... ways and by what means our biological ancestry determines what we are. This is good for many a long session among biologists before they get it settled – if ever. But ...

2. Well of Wisdom, Water of Life

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... brother Isaac. In fact you could say that Genesis is pretty much the historical explanation for how the cultures and nations of the ancient world came to be, not only their genetic ancestry but their faith ancestry. Today, as we celebrate Father’s Day, we too celebrate both a genetic ancestry and a faith ancestry. For we inherit from our “fathers” not only physical features, passed on through generations, but we learn from them our heritage, our culture, our manners, wisdom, and how to live out our ...

3. A Wandering Aramean

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

... . If Alex Haley's story, Roots, has a drawback it's that it glorifies, out of proportion, the nobility and strength of its characters. Our common story and confession, as Christians, doesn't repeat this mistake. Arameans are dirty; Arameans are devious. As an inheritor of an ancestry, it's important to know our common past is valuable. But it's also important to know it's not always beautiful. We should know we have the value of living in a long line of the faithful, but the ancestors of even the best of us ...

4. Balaam and His Talking Donkey

Numbers 22:21-41

Sermon

Don Yocom

... ’s will. There is always someone around to mislead us. There’s one radio preacher now who teaches BRITISH ISRAELISM. It’s the notion that the ten alleged lost tribes of Israel traveled to the British Isles, and we who are of British ancestry can claim to be their descendants, the chosen people of God, thereby bypassing Christ. John the Baptist said, "Repent!" When his critics pointed out that they were descendants of Abraham, John told them that wasn’t enough. God could produce children of Abraham ...

5. What's in a Name?

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... , not what God says about God, that matters. As the people prepare to enter into the promised land to give thanks, they are reminded that theirs is the God of Abraham, and that means a lot. As we enter the season of Lent, we, too, are reminded of our spiritual ancestry, of the God who has a track record with us, and what that record means. Just as the father of all of us was a wandering Aramean, so, too, the Son of Man complained that, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man ...

6. Anne Sullivan

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... is a familiar name; her story is a familiar story. Helen’s family was living in Tuscumbia, Alabama, when she was born on June 27, 1880. She was born to a distinguished family Swiss ancestry on her father’s side, and cousin to the revered General Robert E. Lee on her mother’s side. The family’s ancestry was enhanced by the birth of a beautiful daughter. At the age of eighteen months tragedy struck the family. Helen was stricken by an intensive fever of indefinite cause. Perhaps it was encephalitis ...

7. The Bloodline of Christ

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... are alive today, and most don’t even know it. Some of you here this morning are probably descendants of those Pilgrims on board the Mayflower if you only traced your ancestry back far enough. And the Mormon church (LDS) as well as the registries of organizations like the Daughters of the Revolution or even websites like Ancestry.com make it easy for you to do your genealogical research. Most of us are content with going back a couple generations with some old photos, wedding announcements, and birth ...

8. WWE Raw, Jesus Style

Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... furniture. But the USA has always been a country made of up of new arrivals, and for some of us the past is a blur. After generations of being on the move and unattached, there are now internet sites that offer to help us find our “ancestry.” At “Ancestry.com” the appearance of a single “leaf” next to a name is the signal that there is more information available. But many of us don’t have “family trees.” We don’t have a familiar forest of known relatives we can point to and proudly claim ...

9. Messengers

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... from somewhere beyond our imagination. Perhaps it’s one reason that the internet draws us in so easily. The idea of receiving messages and photos from long-distance friends, business associates from other countries, or unknown relatives intrigues us. One of our new fascinations? Ancestry.com. Here is a place where you not only can find your distant descendants, as well as their letters, their birth and death certificates, and news and correspondence, but you can now even genetically determine your root ...

10. House of God

Ephesians 2:1-10, Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... guy who always thought he was German, wore the appropriate lederhosen, learned German music, all because he thought he was German. When they took his DNA, he learned he was in fact more Irish! So, as he puts it, he “traded his lederhosen for a kilt!” At ancestry.com….you can find out your biology, where you come from, what’s unique and cultural about you…. But you can’t dissect your faith. We are all born of something more than flesh: the Holy Spirit. And God’s DNA is more authentic than yours ...

11. Capernaum by the Sea

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... north, searching for those who may still remain faithful and wish for redemption. This was no whim or spontaneous ministry. His was a well-planned out mission. But how would he do this? Today, if you want to search for someone, you simply put your DNA into ancestry.com, and voila! You find your relatives. In fact, some of you may have seen the recent surprise of Julia Roberts, who found out that her great, great grandfather was in fact not genetically a Roberts at all, but a Mitchell, due to an affair her ...

12. All Mine To Give!

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... accident. Such extras are for the poor to scavenge. And Ruth is one of them. Well, you remember how Boaz is generous with Ruth. They fall in love. And not only is Ruth given a new start in life, Boaz is too as they marry and become part of the ancestry of Jesus Christ. "Hadrotes" or "abundance" means that we won't live border to border and off every scrap of our incomes. It means we shall set a standard of living well inside our resources so that we can be free and open handed with those God brings into our ...

13. A New Name

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... by faith at the time. The name change also put a call on Abram's life: to be "very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you" (v. 6). The entire Jewish nation has come from Abraham; the King of kings came from the ancestry of this man and all the Church too! What nicknames did Abram's wife endure growing up? What pet names did Abram have for Sarai? There was someone who loved Sarai even more than Abram did, and he changed her name, too. From a beautiful moniker meaning "princess" or ...

14. Unconditional Love

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

... ) has been made between the Sovereign of the Universe and this old, fussy, fearful man. And that treaty is good, not just for Abraham and his son and his son's son, it is good for all the generations who will trace their spiritual as well as physical ancestry back to him. And, Paul, speaking as the Ambassador of that Great Sovereign, says that this is an irrevocable treaty! This treaty is not based on anything we may do. We do not earn it, Paul says. It is not something we can buy, like an economic treaty ...

15. You Can Be Forever Young

Genesis 25:1-11

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... , not only was Abraham the father of Israel but also of Edom (a nation we now call Jordan). All Biblical genealogies date back to Abraham to verify their authenticity in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Matthew even thought it was necessary to trace Jesus' ancestry back to Abraham to prove the gospel's claim that the Nazarene was, in fact, the Messiah. Abraham is identified in the Old Testament with the special, sacred phrase "the friend of God." Jesus thought he was so important that in telling the parable ...

16. Joseph's Story

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Erskine White

... used to on my part, not to mention Mary's! But more on that in a minute. First, let me tell you a bit about my family. Families were terribly important in my culture; I hope they still are in yours. My father's name was Jacob, who traced his ancestry through some famous names in Jewish history, like Solomon and Josiah and the great King David. In fact, your Scriptures trace my family all the way back to Abraham (Matthew 1) and even to Adam and Eve (Luke 3). My father taught me to be proud of my heritage and ...

17. Marked In God’s Book

Sermon

George Bass

... will never forget who we are. Henrietta Allen died recently and left a more than $2 million estate, which should be claimed by her heirs. But her name was never written in a book, not in a court house or church records. Her attorney cannot find a trace of her ancestry; her name is known, but there is no record of her birth, her baptism, her marriage, or anything else. It is almost as if she had never existed, or had been forgotten by the world and she would have been had she not been wealthy.8 But, if she ...

18. Step Two - Hope

Mk 10:46-52 · 2 Cor 12:7-10 · Is 12:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

... blind man did not call on God; he called on Jesus, the son of David. That is the title of one who would come as conquering Messiah, who would return Israel to her national greatness. It does not mean that Bartimaeus knew anything about Jesus' personal ancestry. It was simply one of the names which was natural to refer to the person who was destined to restore the fortunes of Israel. The followers who were going with Jesus to Jerusalem for the Passover may have created the air of expectancy that suggested ...

19. Independence Day - The Mission of the Mighty

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... simple. The guards could be bribed. No nation is stronger that the character of the people, and defenses do not produce character. What about the United States? General Omar Bradley once said: “America today is running on the momentum of a Godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America.” That from one of the great military leaders of our nation. Indeed, I have no hesitation in pronouncing this morning that those who are not actively religious in America today are traitors -- traitors ...

20. Emancipation Proclamation

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... worship hour we had heard an unadulterated Gospel in immaculate German, a description of the freedom that we know in Christ. What we term freedom in our personal lives is usually the pop-style "freedom to be me," freedom from the prudish customs of our ancestry. Or it might be the plastic freedom after age 16 when we have passed the driver’s test, freedom from the watchful eyes of parents. Break loose, express yourself, claim your rights, take control of your own life, and if it feels good, do it - these ...

21. Slavery and Freedom

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... , lust and pride. Those were not easy to see and Jesus helped the people recognize them as powers that could enslave them. That’s exactly what was happening in this text. The people who confronted Jesus believed that their salvation was in their ancestry. They believed that they would be saved because of who they were. Furthermore, they failed to see their prejudice toward Jesus which had grown out of their ancestral teachings. They were so arrogant, proud, and narrow-minded that they wanted to kill Jesus ...

22. Burning Torches

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

... , to fan that ember of faith to a burning torch. Mr. Spock, in Star Trek IV, stood before the computer and could not answer the question, "How do you feel?" He had no frame of reference for the answer. There is no spark of feeling in Spock’s Vulcan ancestry. For him to answer that question, God must blow his Spirit Spock’s way to fan his dead embers to a burning torch. When God’s spirit breathes on dry clay, creation begins. Without his Spirit, there is no life at all. Let us give thanks to God, so ...

23. Returning: Real or Ruse?

Hosea 5:1-15

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... the Irish. Grits are green, and even beer is green! No matter what the uninitiated and the non-Irish think of the day and its customs, you cannot help but be impressed with their radical allegiance to their Irish blood. I reveled in my own Irish ancestry and fought the smugness that comes of the knowledge that the heritage was mine! Returning to God should be just that same kind of "all out" determination! It should be born of an extreme and urgent awareness of need of his pardon. Human hearts are fickle ...

24. God Hears

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... opposition. This is a dangerous business. And the long and bitter struggle between Jew and Arab seems bound to continue. Sad...and especially so considering that the Jew and Arab are "blood brothers," both children of Abraham - Arabs tracing their ancestry back through Abraham's first son, Ishmael, Jews going back through second son Isaac. Then again, perhaps their problems are understandable because, as the lesson from Genesis makes clear, this family has been dysfunctional since the beginning. The saga ...

25. Mary's Complaint

Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... ) had to travel the eighty miles from Nazareth down to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census. They were liable for the imperial tax, and had to register just as every other citizen under the Caesar's control...each in the city of their ancestry. Since she and Joseph were both counted as descendants of King David, they had to travel to the ancestral home: Bethlehem. Mary surely could have complained about that. Eighty miles of travel in days when the only transportation for a poor family was in ...

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