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 1369 results

1. Right Answer - Wrong Conclusion

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... love you, more than your spouse loves you?” I have not a doubt in the world that each of you beginning in kindergarten all the way to senior citizens would answer me, “Jesus loves me like that.” You would get the answer right. But would you get the conclusion right, as well? For example, if i said Jesus loves you more than anyone on earth can ever love you, what would that mean to you? Does that mean God will place an invisible shield around you and those you love and that nothing bad will ever happen ...

2. The Logical Conclusion

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

John Smylie

... ; his sinews were real sinews; his wounds were real wounds. Whatever was touched was real; whatever was perceived was true. Man was touched; God was perceived. Flesh was touched; wisdom was perceived. Weakness was touched; power was perceived." The ascension is the logical conclusion to the incarnation. The incarnate Jesus didn't somehow split apart and his spirit return to the Father, and his flesh to the earth. All of Jesus was welcomed into the grace and presence and nature of his Father in heaven and ...

3. JESUS: Liar, Lunatic, Legend, or Lord

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Brett Blair

... heaven?” It’s a rather easy question to pose. Jesus is the 29-year-old boy of Joseph. Born of flesh and blood, as the rest of us. God did not drop him down from heaven like some Prophet of old sent back to judge God’s people. The only conclusion you can come to, armed with this information, is that Jesus is lying! You cannot come from the womb of Mary and also come down from heaven. It’s either one or the other but not both. Unless… Unless… It is here that we have to give thanks for Joseph ...

4. Have You Gone Far Enough?

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... generation down through twenty centuries of human history. And today I ask it of you. "Who is this Jesus Christ?" Myth The mildest conclusion one may draw is that Jesus Christ is a myth. You will recall the heros of your youth -- Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny ... this: Jesus Christ was a man, an actual human being like you or me. In the 1970s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar this is the conclusion Mary of Magdala comes to as she sings, "I don't know how to love him." The lyrics, "He's just a man" are repeated ...

5. Our Living Hope

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... in resurrection is not to say we are immortal." To teach a doctrine of "resurrection" affirms that we are mortal, the price of sin is death. We shall all die. The Sadducees assumed otherwise. The problem with their argument was not in its conclusion, but rather in its beginning! They assumed that "resurrection" meant life would continue unchanged - as it always had - forever. "On the other side," or "in the new age," we would simply pick up where we had left off in our relationships, responsibilities, and ...

6. It’s How It Ends That Matters

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

... have gone ahead of us. On the way there will be high adventure. As you look at that imaginary map again now, with God’s destination marked somewhere on it, you can see that a number of possibilities arise. Anybody studying the map could come to the conclusion that it isn’t worth the effort or the risk to set out in the first place. Or, he could conclude that there are better destinations than the one he sees marked on the map - destinations that he’d rather choose himself. Or, a person could decide ...

7. The Benefits of Christianity for Nonbelievers

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... . Instead, he prevailed upon Obed-edom to keep the Ark in his house. To identify Obed-edom is important for the theme of this sermon and its propriety. We are told he was a Gittite, meaning he was from the city of Gath. The writer is of the conclusion that he came from Gath of the Philistines. He was an alien living among Hebrews. Whether he was a proselyte we are not told. It should not be assumed, because this intermingling of people was not unusual. No doubt he was on friendly terms with those of the ...

8. This God’s For Real!

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

... ’t - shouldn’t - he keep a high profile if he wanted us to know he is for real? In spite of the fact that secularity seems to be taking over in America the way it did some years ago in Europe, surveys still turn up the same conclusions: People by an overwhelming number, even in the high-technology countries, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, want to affirm that "there is God." Something like 95% still say that there is a divine controller of the universe. Consensus breaks down when you ask them what ...

9. The Day of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

Rick Brand

... there is a difference between good and evil, that some things are worth doing, and that some things are destructive and evil. It is not all culturally relative. The Second Coming of Jesus declares that the purpose and goal of history is to be found in the conclusion of history given to it by God. We do not know the end of the story until God brings it to an end, and the end is not necessarily included in the story. "There are no achievements or partial realizations in history, no fulfillment of meaning or ...

10. God Speaks and the Church Is Our Hearing Aid

Mark 4:1-9

Sermon

James W. Moore

... Methodist Publishing House… and they put this make-up on me for the filming.” Deech said: “I am so glad you told me because I was drawing my own conclusions… and that was not one of them!!” Well, the point is clear… it is so easy to draw wrong conclusions if we don’t have the truth. Well, I want to share with you today an important conclusion I have drawn about the church… based on… the truth of Christ, the truth of the Bible, the truth of Church History, and, the truth of my own personal ...

11. All Is Restored?

Job 42:1-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... to this text, Job is portrayed as a righteous one, pleasing to God, who has spoken rightly about God. That, of course, does not correspond to the combative Job that we have seen in the poetic section, but to the docile Job of the folktale. In this conclusion to the folktale, Job is assigned the task of a priest who is able to restore the comforters in God's sight by praying for them and making sacrifice. Even though God is angry with them ("my wrath is kindled" — v. 7), God provides for their restoration ...

12. So Close ... But Yet So Far

Luke 9:10-17

Sermon

Larry Powell

... he had not had the opportunity to accurately assess the situation. They would inform him, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we are to go and buy food for all these people (for the men alone numbered about 5,000)." It was a logical conclusion, wasn't it? Logical, yes, but premature. "And he said to his disciples, 'Make them sit down in companies, about 50 each.' And they did so, and made them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed ...

13. Reformation Sunday

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

George Paul Mocko

... our prayers, by our mental efforts, resulted in an incredible arrogance which effectively prevented them from understanding God at all. Luther faced the same thing 2,500 years later in Wittenberg. As Luther surveyed the church of his day, he came to the depressing conclusion that the entire institution had led the people of God off the path of God, into a wilderness of heresy and superstition. The central point of those ninety-five theses he nailed to the door is that the fundamental error, the first step ...

14. What Will He Find ... When He Comes?

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... m just tired," he mumbled over and over, shaking his head. A saint of many more years watched for a while and then said, "Young man, if you're tired already, you are not going to make it." That's the question Jesus addresses in this parable and its conclusion. Are we going to make it? Do we pray constantly, keeping our eyes fixed on him whose will is our guide and whose faithfulness is the root of our hope? Do we live in the faith, expecting great things to happen in our lives, in our congregation, and even ...

15. Let Yes Be Yes!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

... Jewish preacher? But she may have started paying more attention to him: noticing the kinds of things he said and did; getting the big picture about what the God of Israel must be like to do such things through such a man; coming slowly to the painful conclusion that this Jesus might be whom she ought to go and see. If God wants stricken people whole and well, then - she must have thought - perhaps she ought to give his messenger a try. Nobody else was helping, that was certain. In fact, it may be true ...

16. Blessed Are The Focused - Father's Day

Proverbs 4:1-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... IS A ROLE MODEL 24 HOURS PER DAY. Parents communicate values by what they say, what they praise, what they condemn, what they ignore, but even more powerfully by the way they live. Our children listen to our every word, watch our every deed, and draw their own conclusions. I know a mother named Mary Jane who picked up her five-year- old son from kindergarten and then hastened to run five errands on the way home. She was in a big hurry and driving too fast. When she saw the policeman's blue light flashing ...

17. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... debate was a sham - most of the speeches were delivered to empty seats in the House chamber and were given only for their value as film clips during local newscasts around the country. No minds were going to be changed. Yesterday's vote was a foregone conclusion cast almost exclusively on a partisan basis. The political drivel was only a repeat of what has been said over and over and over again in ten-second sound bites. The only statement that was genuinely new was Henry Hyde's incredible assertion that to ...

18. Sonny Moneybags

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Davis, of course, agreed, but... Well, against all odds, Todd Hamilton birdied those last two holes to beat Davis Love by one stroke. As you might expect, Todd delighted, Davis dejected. "Every shot makes somebody happy." Our lesson from Luke a few moments ago is the conclusion of another of those "every shot" tales, the one with which we are all familiar as the story of the Prodigal Son. Junior comes to Dad and demands his portion of the inheritance, takes the loot and heads off only to blow it all in high ...

19. Milli Vanilli Religion

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... to say this as strongly as I can. That is not what Baptists believe, and that is not what I understand as being "once saved, always saved." You see, the thing that we must remember and that Jesus is teaching is this: You can never jump to the conclusion that just because someone says "Jesus is Lord" makes them a Christian. Let me tell you a true story that happened in California. There was an elderly lady in her 70s who went to the grocery store to shop. When she walked outside she found four unknown males ...

20. First Things First

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... . C. S. Lewis said that when the author appears on the stage, you know the play is over. This is how he understands the doctrine of the Second Coming of our Lord. It means that he who has begun a good work will bring it to the best conclusion of which he is capable. After all, no one has ever claimed that this planet earth was intended to exist forever. In what is called by scientists "the second law of thermodynamics," it is clearly predicted that the energy supply of this planet will eventually come to an ...

21. Breakdowns and Breakthroughs

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... exist outside of Judaism. So what these Christians said was that yes, the Gentiles were welcome but they first had to convert to Judaism. But people like Paul and Barnabas, who had witnessed the sincere conversions to Christ of many Gentiles, had come to the conclusion that requiring a move into Judaism as well was an unnecessary obstacle on the road to Christ. What we read in Acts 15 is part of the debate over this matter that took place in the mother church in Jerusalem, where not only Paul and Barnabas ...

22. A Man Named Useful

Philemon 1:8-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The next day the London Times carried a report on the murder of Bonnie Penner Witherall. It quoted Gary Witherall as saying that he had forgiven his wife’s killers. On the long flight home while accompanying his wife’s body to America, Gary came to a simple conclusion: “God said there’s a seed that’s been planted in your heart. You either hate and be angry or you forgive. I said I have to forgive.” (7) Paul sent a letter by way of a runaway slave. He was asking Philemon to give this man named ...

23. The Great Inescapable Question of Eternity

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... :2). Is the voice of King Herod the voice of God? Hardly! Mark 8:28 states, "... others say Elijah." Malachi had prophesied, "I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes"(Malachi 4:5). The problem with this conclusion is, of course, that it relegates Jesus to the role of Messiah's forerunner and not Messiah come to redeem them. Vox populi is wrong again. Mark8:28 ends by saying, "... and still others, one of the prophets." Again, no insult is inherent in this all ...

24. Oh Say, Can You See by the Dawn’s Early Light?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... be sacred space. Mary Magdalene's reaction is very understandable when we think about her experience in that context. It is easier to appreciate when we realize that grave robbing was not an uncommon occurrence in Mary's day. We can see how her mind raced to the conclusion that grave robbers had tampered with Jesus' grave. "She ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him ...

25. Three Things You Can Count On

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... and joy are indescribable. I laugh all the time now when I thought I would never laugh again. I am grateful beyond words… I feel like I have swallowed sunshine.” After all his complaining about the emptiness of life, the writer of Ecclesiastes came to this conclusion: “For apart from God who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy” (2:25-26). God is. You can know and experience God in Christ. The experience of God’s love in Christ ...

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