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 841 results

1. 2025 Lent Sermon Series

Sermon

Various Authors

From Upside Down to Rightside Up by Wayne Brouwer 1. A Portion of Thyself – Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 2. Into the Wilderness – Luke 4:1-13 3. Mountaintop Experience - Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a) 4. Whose Fault Is It? – Luke 13:1-9 5. In the Mirror - Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 6. Terms of Endearment – John 12:1-8 7. Scandal - Luke 22:14-23:56 8. Night and Light - John 13:1-17, 31b-35 9. Faces at a Funeral - John 18:1-19:42 10. Creation Reborn - John 20:1-18 What If It’s ALL True? by Lori Wagner 1. The Wild Within – Luke 4:1- ...

2. Beloved

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Jewish family who already know God, but even those who don’t understand God but still are a beloved part of the family; and 3) she recognizes what he is saying, and she understands that she is beloved by God no matter what her heritage, her background, her language, her gender, or even her faith. She, more than Jesus’ own disciples, understands the grace and love of God, and she recognizes the attributes of YHWH and recognizes them in Jesus. She sees him more than his own contemporaries! Now, I want you ...

3. The Serpent's Tongue

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:17 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— ...

4. The Turning Point

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In 1977, a movie came out starring Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft called “The Turning Point.” In the movie, Deedee, a former ballerina, decides to leave the ballet to get married and raise children. Now fast forward –her best friend Emma, who stayed in her ballet career, invites Deedee’s daughter Emilia to join her ballet company. This sparks both pride for her daughter but envy, regret, jealousy, and nostalgia for Deedee. The movie follows Deedee’s painful coming to terms with her past decisions and ...

5. Sole Brother

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

... could ... wobbly wheel and all. In a moment he had backed up to her car, had his tired bakery-oven feet back in action, and was introducing himself. He soon learned that there was really very little they had in common. She came from an upper-middle-class family background while he was poor and orphaned at an early age. In the world’s eyes she had prestige and class; and in those same eyes he had mixed blood, a low-paying job, financial bills, and a wobbly wheel. The irony of it was that even though he’d ...

6. Why Prophets Get Under Our Skin

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... reluctant admiration for them, even if we do ignore them, ostracize them, persecute them, even kill them. Yet we have to deal with them, especially John the Baptist, because they are always getting under our skin. Why is that? I For one thing, they criticize our background. In 1970, my wife and I went to Australia, where we stayed for about three weeks. The magnet that drew us there was a World Church Convention as well as our interest in the country itself. We stayed in hotels in some places. But at other ...

7. The Case of the Hardened Heart

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... are experiencing, as they do throughout the gospels, a case of “confirmation bias.” They have been raised as “good Jews.” They know what’s “true” and what’s not, as they’ve been taught. They also, although they come from varied backgrounds, are seasoned men, not tempted by fancy or anything out of their current line of “vision.” Why does Jesus so often speak of the ability to “see” and “hear” differently? Confirmation bias is what keeps people from seeing Jesus as who he ...

8. The Saint Who Played Second Fiddle

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... forget would be that of Andrew. We might have missed him because he was not the sort of fellow who stood out in a crowd. He was not the sort who pushed himself out in front. He was a modest sort of man. He always seemed to be in the background. He was not a gifted public speaker, never wrote any books, was not prominent in anybody’s society, and was never elected the chairman of any board. He was just a humble, hard-working fisherman. A very ordinary sort of fellow, if truth be told. When we think of the ...

9. Liz

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... better Christians. We do good things for others because we were created to be an ambassador for Christ, and that is what that job calls for. That is the role we have been prepared for. You may not have been prepared the same way I was prepared, but your background gives you the ability to understand and do things I can’t understand or do, and mine does the same for me. And whatever path brought us to this place, we both stand as equals here, with an unearned salvation and the job of doing what we can to ...

10. Marketplace Christianity

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Do you employ a “market mentality” or a “relational mentality”? What does this mean? Put simply, a market mentality sees things in terms of transactions and commodities, resources, and dispensability. A relational mentality however sees things in terms of developing partnerships, relationships, long-term collaborations that benefit both parties and share a vision. The former can easily fluctuate. The latter, however, requires time and effort to develop and cultivates trust, loyalty, and commitment over ...

11. What Makes Us Human?

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... nor did they indicate on the composition the volume that would most titillate your eardrum. The organ is not meant to provide mood music as a background for your conversation or even your meditation. It's an act of worship. It's not background music, music to eat by, like in a restaurant, or like in a funeral home, music to weep by. Praise, adoration, and worship are never a background for what you want to do, nor I. In worship, we begin where we must begin - with God. Worship is primarily an act of God. It ...

12. More Real Than Food

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Carl Jech

... as one of God’s dumbest creatures. We may never know the exact origins of these three expressions, but we do clearly know what they mean to us now. The Sacrament of Holy Communion does likewise indeed have a variety of roots, a complex background of possible interpretations. In 1 Corinthians 11, Jesus describes the bread as his body, but the wine is described as "the cup of the new covenant in my blood." This earliest written version of the words of institution does not suggest the drinking of blood ...

13. Leadership: the Moses Model

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

... great, near great, and the bulk of humankind have been faced by similar circumstances. In ministry God gives us a work to do. We are privileged for that period of time to make our contribution, then freely, and it is hoped with grace, fade into the background with honor and appreciation. It is not that God disowns us, we have failed, or are any less significant. It is the abiding reality that his ways are frequently not ours and his will is always done. Sometimes we forget our existence is dependent on God ...

14. Surprise! Surprise!

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... of us find a cultic sort of kinship, reading news articles or listening to reports on television, when we hear an item about someone who attended the same school as did we, who lived in the same home town as we, who shares the same church denominational background as we, who has some characteristic which gives him commonality with us. What the Architect is calling us to do is to learn, naturally and second-naturedly, to do the same with every human being we encounter. Let us learn to say of every person we ...

15. A Man Who Lost His Head

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... he made his statement that John was the greatest of all men who had been born of women (Matthew 11:2-11). Let us take a look at some of the ways in which John could be called "great." Great in His Background The first chapter of the book of Luke provides a glimpse at the background of John (Luke 1:5-25, 57-80). His father was Zacharias, a priest. His mother was named Elisabeth. The Bible says of them that "they were both righteous before God" (Luke 1:6). John had dedicated, committed, godly parents; they ...

16. God’s Strange Arithmetic

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... that she was free to marry someone else if someone else wished to marry her. Note: “the man.” Divorce for the woman was practically impossible. The fact that it is mentioned at all in this passage reflects the fact that Mark was written against the background of Roman, as well as Jewish, Law. Jewish Law at the time made divorce almost impossible for a woman. Deuteronomy said that a man could put away his wife if he found “some indecency” in her. Now, there were two schools of thought about what ...

17. The Preacher Was Caught by Surprise

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

King Duncan

... -century when we have come to this story, we have emphasized the inclusiveness of the Gospel. That's understandable. Peter suddenly realized that all people were God's children, and that he dare not refuse baptism to any because of their cultural or racial background. This truth has been particularly important to us since the days of the Civil Rights movement. It spoke to us of the injustices in our own society. Pastor Gregory Bloomquist tells of being in a movie theater when the classic film, In the Heat ...

18. The Guest List

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... for the carol, but shifted key on every note. As he began painfully to meander through "Silent Night," the rendition was so impossibly bad that nearly everyone shuddered and tried to shut out the discordant sounds. Johnny Costa, however, quietly began to provided background music for the little boy's solo. On the portable organ, Costa wove beautiful chords with each note the child sang, and no matter how off-key the line was, brought beauty and harmony into the child's singing. Costa seemed to anticipate ...

19. On God's Side Or In God's Way?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... if God gave them the same gift [of the Spirit] . . . who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” What a wonderful passage of scripture. It is a passage that you and I should be mighty thankful for, or else we who are from non-Jewish backgrounds would not be in the church today. “Who was I,” said Simon Peter, “to think that I could stand in God’s way?” Peter understood that it was God’s will to throw open the doors of the church to all who would be saved, including Gentiles, and he ...

20. In the Shadow of His Brother

John 1:35-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... , narrow-mindedness out of which they had come to seminary. In the person of Norton, Nutt was saying to these young men, “Remember where you came from. Would you be where you are today without that background?” I make this point because some of you have come to this church out of similar backgrounds backgrounds where you experienced more legalism than love, more judgment than grace. Gratefully you say, you could never go back. And yet you are here. And you are faithful and you are supportive and it just ...

21. Eyes Fixed Upon the Goal

Philippians 3:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... he loved it! Fred joined the New York Road Runners Club. Fred later organized New York City’s first marathon race. But what Fred enjoyed most was bringing people together. He believed that anybody should be able to run enjoy running regardless of their age or background. That is why, today, more than 28,000 people from all over the world compete in the New York City Marathon sponsored by New York Road Runners Club. There were obstacles to Fred’s dreams. A New York gang warned Fred that nobody had better ...

22. Clean and Unclean

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... won’t have a car at home. That’s because technology is not evil, and may even be necessary in order for Amish businesses to compete on an equal basis with “English” businesses. (Amish call others English not because of their ethnic background but because of the language they speak). But the primary question the Amish ask regarding every advance, is whether or not it advances their Christian life. Do technological advances drive families further apart from each other and Christ, or draw them closer ...

23. An Arranged Wedding, But An Intentional Marriage

Genesis 24:1-67

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... a happy, satisfying marriage. That makes sense. Men and women are already sufficiently different to require many marital adaptations. The greater the other differences, the more adjustments. If you want to increase chances for a good relationship, marry someone with as similar a background as you can find. On the darker side, Abraham's comment thinly disguises prejudice. Some of his best friends are Canaanites, but he doesn't want his son to marry one. How little things have changed through the ages. In the ...

24. Too Soon, Monsieurs, Too Soon?

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Thomas Long

... song on the American pop charts called "C'est Si Bon." The original recording featured a chorus of mellow-voiced baritones, who, at various points along the way, blandly chirped "si bon, si bon" in the background. In Freberg's parody, we hear the lead singer (Freberg affecting a very bad French accent) rehearsing his background chorus, "When eh gav' yew the sig-uh-nal, you will sahng 'si bon, si bon.' So wait, monsieurs, for the sig-uh-nal." But when the recording begins, the eager but tempo-impaired chorus ...

25. The Man From Galilee V: The Test Of His Courage

Matthew 20:17-19

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... ." He received an answer right back, "Dad prepared. Prepare yourself." How do we prepare for the things for which there is no way out? There is only one thing to do. Let God in. If we will let God in, then all the things we do will be against the background of God's rule in our lives. Whatever happens to us, we will know that God is in control of the situation and us. A lady was shopping at the grocery store one afternoon. She suddenly became aware that her little girl was not with her. She walked over a ...

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