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 394 results

1. Reinforced With Joy

John 15:1-17

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

... - that they are not Christians? No, they are the unripened, immature, or undeveloped Christians. Even the finest apples in the early stages of growth are sour, hard, and green. But when the sun and the seasons have done their work, the apples, become golden, luscious, ... and sweet. So it is with human souls in the early stages of Christian experience. They are often green and sour, crabby and full of acid. If you think you lack joy, place yourself ...

2. Training the Heart

1 John 1:1-4

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... responded: "Shame on you for worrying over such petty, silly things. I would hope that a leader of the church would have better judgment and would be spending time and energy on truly important matters." This preacher's heart was not properly formed in its early stages. One wonders what parent or teacher or preacher taught him such unhealthy, compulsive responses. The writer of this first letter of John says that we should love not just in word but in deed, yes, but that there are also those times when we ...

3. The First Hole

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... , there are sixteen to go ... But if you fall into this lackadaisical mental trap, your day can be ruined before you know it ... the rest of the round is just a chore and a nuisance. Chalk up another golf round spoiled by carelessness in the early stages. That's why the early church outlined a very simple strategy for a slow, steady, and solid start (Acts 2:42-47): They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many ...

4. All in the Family

1 Timothy 3:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

Howard Rutledge, a United States air force pilot, was shot down over North Vietnam during the early stages of the Vietnamese War. He spent several miserable, terrible years in the hands of the Vietnamese before being released when the war ended. He shares a testimony of something God taught him in that terrible place that really relates to where we are this morning. "During those longer periods of ...

5. The Curriculum of God’s Kingdom

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... , “Follow me....” And thirdly, a hand that touches those broken in body and crushed in soul, “and he healed them.” This is, I believe, according to Matthew, what the kingdom of God looks like in the hands of Jesus, at least in its early stages. Hope is restored as light dawns; people respond to the disruptive call to be his apprentices, and there is evidence of the gifts of the Spirit in signs and wonders, particularly healings and deliverances of all varieties. So when you pray, “Thy kingdom come ...

6. A House Or A Home?

Joshua 24:1-27

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

... in the home! One of the primary responsibilities and opportunities of the Christian home is to pass values from one generation to the next, smoothly and successfully. It must be done early. Children are much like wet cement. You have to work with cement in the early stages, while it's soft and pliable. Then you can shape it and smooth it; but once it dries - it's set! Then it becomes a nearly impossible task to change it. So it is with children. Seventy-five percent of what they learn is gained before ...

7. Judgement Day Is Coming

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... a living. A farmer planted good wheat seed in a field. But under cover of night, an enemy came in and planted weeds. At first no one noticed. There was a common weed in Palestine called bearded darnel, which was a common curse of farmers. In its early stages it looked just like the wheat. But when both had "headed out" or produced seeds up top, the two could be distinguished by color. Then the darnel had to be separated from the good grain because its seeds were slightly poisonous. The farm hands came to ...

8. Judgment Day is Coming (Adapted)

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

9. Back To Basics: The Three R's of Baptism

Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

... three R’s. Repentance is Baptism’s prerequisite. What does John say? Repent and be baptized. Repentance first. Baptism second. At the height of the Iranian hostage crises a pastor talked with a woman who told about how she had befriended an Iranian student. In the early stages of the revolution, all access to money in the banks was cut off. The young man offered to do some odd jobs for the woman. His financial condition continued to decline so she invited him to stay in her home. She gave him a room and ...

10. Life After Life

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... for the United Methodist Church at the National level. They were both outstanding individuals of unusual intelligence, training, and leadership ability. For this reason I was deeply impressed by their book, I Remain Unvanquished. Alice Ward was struck down by cancer. In the early stages of the disease, she had a death experience. She saw Christ; she wanted to stay in that other world. But Christ said (a loose quotation), "Alice, I need you in the City of Washington. There are many people there who need your ...

11. Two Harvests

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... one" (v. 38). The "weeds" sown were undoubtedly tares or "darnel." Jews called it "bastard wheat." Today farmers often refer to it as "cheat." Examining the seed of wheat and tares, it is difficult for the untrained eye to distinguish between them. Even in the early stages of growth one cannot tell them apart. It is only at harvest time when the wheat ripens that tares can be easily singled out as fakes. According to ancient Roman Law, it was illegal to sow darnel. Such a deed of treachery was punishable by ...

12. Where Is Jesus?

John 11:17-37

Sermon

David O. Bales

... a fairly good description of Jesus’ love. And love, even research shows, is almost all we need, even when facing death. I read about a man who for his dying wife put on her makeup every morning. She’d been able to put on her own makeup during the early stages of her illness. The woman was concerned with her appearance and so, as she grew weaker, her husband began to help her, until finally, although clumsily, he did it for her. Even when she was in a coma her husband still combed her hair and put on her ...

13. How Do You Get Rid of Evil without Destroying Good?

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ; where sowing and reaping were done by hand. So, let’s get the story clearly in mind. A man sowed his field with good grain and then went to sleep. As he slept, an enemy sprinkled the field with a seed which produced a weed that, in its early stages, looks so much like wheat that the two could hardly be told apart. As the wheat and the weeds grew, discerning servants recognized that something was wrong and brought word of it to the farmer. After a survey of his crop, he agreed with them than an enemy ...

14. The Favorite

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... against him. And yet, in today’s scripture, we see a different Jesus, pre-teen Jesus (although in his time, a young adult), maturing in wisdom and years, and listen to this, “in favor with God and with people.” In fact, even in the early stages of Jesus’ ministry, he was looked upon highly by those around him, by his contemporaries, and by his colleagues. He was so well-respected that fellow rabbis would come to listen to him teach. He taught frequently in the Temple and in synagogues around the ...

15. U-Turns Permitted

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Rodney Thomas Smothe

... as an opportunity for us to have a new encounter with God? This encounter with God begins with our authentic worship: praying, reading scriptures, sharing in the sacraments, and giving ourselves to reconciliation through acts of repentance and renewal. From the early stages of "giving up" something for Lent to "praying up," learning to seek clear communication with God, to "growing up," seeking to mature in my Christian walk, Ash Wednesday should be experienced not as a single event but rather an event with ...

16. Proper 8

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

... prepare himself for his encounter with Esau? Was he seeking to come to some special relationship with God? We don't know. Earlier chapters have already shown us Jacob had grown away from the strong egocentricity that marked his conduct in youth and during the early stages of his exile. The younger Jacob would have run when told Esau was coming to meet him with 400 armed men, but now he listened to the voice that told him to stay and - though solicitious regarding the welfare of his family and servants - he ...

17. Wellspring for the Soul

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... like a woman who has taken a deep drink at a fresh water well that renews her. She is no longer alone; community is beginning to mean something to her again. She doesn’t dismiss the strange Jew at the well as a somewhat deranged person; she is at the early stages of belonging to him in a faith she never dreamed could be her own. Her life is no longer one day after another, back and forth to the well for water for that day. A parched soul has had life-giving water poured onto it. She is beginning to learn ...

18. Facing Life’s Central Tests

Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

Robert Allen

... sister spent the last seven years of her life in a nursing home because she was not mentally competent and didn’t know anyone or anything. Well, the doctors now have a name for their diseases. They call it Alzheimers Disease, and they believe that I am in the early stages." We were both silent for a moment; then she looked at me and said, "I am so afraid of what lies before me." This is pretty much the way Jesus felt that night when he shared his last meal with his disciples. When the meal was over, they ...

19. Wade In The Water

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... just about anything he wanted, or could command that it be done or brought. He had everything - everything, that is, except his health. You see, General Naaman had leprosy. To have leprosy in that time was a slow and terrible death sentence. Like AIDS, in the early stages only he would know. A bit later only a few others who knew him intimately would know. But eventually everybody would know. And the fear of leprosy in that time was such that those who had it were condemned to a life of isolation from all ...

20. One-Fired Up Preacher!

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... capture his plans for us. That is a sign of immaturity. In the world of the spirit we can be young once but immature forever. Some people have walked with Christ for years. They were children of the church but somehow their Christian growth was stunted at an early stage. To be spiritually immature is to want God on your own terms instead of his terms. It is to be so focused on today and yesterday that we miss the vision God has for tomorrow. To be a mature Christian, on the other hand, is to want to build ...

21. Driven To Serve

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... loved the beach and spent most of his teenage years on or around the water. Young, dynamic, and healthy, Mark paid no attention to the slowly changing mole on his lower back ” until it was too late. The mole was a cancerous melanoma. In the early stages, melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is completely curable. Mark had waited too long. The cancer had penetrated deeply within his skin and had begun its slow spread into the bloodstream and vital organs. Mark was given two years to live. Unlike ...

22. Try a Little Kindness (Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness)

Galatians 5:22

Sermon

James Merritt

... is that such an amazing statement? That is the first instance in all of the Bible that anyone ever touched a leper. It was, without question, a touch of kindness. Dr. Paul Brand is a leprosy specialist. Leprosy is a terrible disease. Except in very early stages, the leprosy patient does not feel physical pain. In fact, that is the problem: After Leprosy Bacilli deaden nerve cells, patients no longer feel pain and can damage their own bodies without knowing it. A leprosy patient can walk all day on a sharp ...

23. No Substitute

John 2:13-22

Sermon

David T. Ball

... many more possible positive perspectives on what was going on in the temple, and it’s not clear why Jesus didn’t see it that way. Unless there’s a concern that we can discern that Jesus felt seriously enough for him to jeopardize, at this early stage in his ministry, his freedom to continue to travel and preach. Because it wouldn’t have been far-fetched at all for the Roman authorities to have reacted to this very disruptive disturbance of the peace at a time when thousands of Jews were streaming ...

24. Kill Them with Kindness

Proverbs 3:3, 19:22

Sermon

James Merritt

... is the first time in all of the Bible that we are told that anyone ever touched a leper. It was without question, a touch of kindness. Dr. Paul Brand was a leprosy specialist. As I told you, leprosy is a terrible disease, except in its very early stages, the leper does not feel physical pain. In fact, that is the problem, because the full term is leprosybacilli and it deadens the nerve cells. When you have leprosy you can no longer feel pain and patients can damage their own bodies without even knowing it ...

25. What to Do with the Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... would use sickles. They would bend over and cut the wheat just above the ground. But what happens if weeds are growing midst the wheat? We’re told that the weeds in Jesus’ parable were a poisonous variety called “bearded darnel.” In the early stages of growth this bearded darnel so closely resembles wheat that it is not possible to distinguish one from the other. Later when it is possible to distinguish between them, the roots of the wheat and weeds are so intertwined that one could not be ...

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