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 109 results

1. The Masterpiece

Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-28

Sermon

James Merritt

... and believe it or not, my name is an English name, whose original spelling was Marriott. That is right – just like the hotel chain! But, do you know what? They still won't let me stay for free. You can learn a lot about yourself by studying genealogy. Do you know that genealogy can help determine whether or not you are a redneck? Jeff Foxworthy says: You might be a redneck if your coat of arms has kudzu in it. You might be a redneck if your family tree does not fork. You might be a redneck if your family ...

2. Vetted

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... son of Adam’s own likeness (Genesis 5:3). (Seth is mentioned additionally in Sirah and in the Book of Jubilees). During the lifetime of Seth’s son Enosh, “men began to call upon the name of the Lord again.” (Note Genesis 4:26). Moving on within the genealogy, we come to Noah, who marks the end of the former age, in which Methuselah is a key figure, and into a new covenantal time. According to Jewish lore, Noah gave to his son Shem (the next in the lineage of Jesus) the priestly garments that he had ...

3. The Surrogate

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... those encircled in the grace in Jesus, who will risk their greatest insecurities. Only those who are clothed in the power of the Holy Spirit can secure for this world a future worth living. Based on the Story Lectionary Major Text Matthew 1:1-17 and 3 (a genealogy and signs of the Messiah) Minor Text Genesis 38: The Story of Tamar Joshua 1-6: The Story of Rahab The Story of Ruth Numbers 9: All shall keep the Passover, one Passover for resident and native 2 Samuel 11-12: The Story of Bathsheba (the wife of ...

4. Lasting Impression

Luke 3:34-38, Matthew 1:5, 16

Sermon

James Merritt

... Brooke Shields. Think about that. You may be a royal blueblood right now and not even know it. You may have the blood of some king or queen flowing through your veins. Then again, you may not. For most of us, there is simply no way of knowing. In the genealogy of Jesus, God shares with us an unbelievable truth that anyone can become a part of the greatest royal family of all - the family of not just "a" king, but the "King of Kings." Anyone can have as their father, not just a king who sits on an earthly ...

5. Expanding The Boundaries

Ruth 3:1-18

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... were not regarded as persons but possessions. In the morning prayers it was common for a Jewish man to thank God that he was not made a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. William Barclay states that it is not only remarkable that women should appear in Matthew's genealogy, but also one should look at who these woman happened to be. Rahab was the harlot of Jericho (Joshua 2:1-7). Ruth was not even a Jewess, but a Moabite (Ruth 1:4), even though the law states in Deuteronomy 23:3 that "a Moabite shall not enter ...

6. Three Wise Women

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... God, does not discriminate against persons because of past mistakes. So re at the very beginning of the gospel, we’re given a strong hint of the all embracing width of God’s love, and the extravagant ends which God’s love goes. This is a genealogy of grace. And in that genealogy is Ruth. Let’s look at her. You know her story —— at least in a part of it! It is told in a book bearing her name in the Old Testament. Thousands of girls in every generation bear her name, and that of her mother—in ...

7. Broken Pieces

Matthew 1:3, 5, 6

Sermon

James Merritt

... wool because it can be dyed and it is easier to sell. You can even go on to the internet and find what is called, "The Genealogy Hall of Shame". It is a list of black sheep family members, many of whom you and I would know. In fact, if you care ... wonder why her name is even brought up. We are not told who the mother is in thirty-seven of the forty-two names listed in this genealogy, but here Matthew goes out of his way to name Tamar. To be honest with you, I am almost embarrassed to tell you who she was. Her ...

8. Rahab: Seven Minutes To Midnight

Joshua 6:15-25

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Salmon, the son of Nahshon, and the mother of Boaz, Jesse's grandfather. So, what does that mean? Rahab's faith and faithfulness was honored by God. She became the mother of the genealogical line from which King David sprang. And thus, through David, she became a direct ancestor of the very Son of God. She's listed in the genealogy of Christ found in Matthew. When God honors someone for their faithfulness, God doesn't hold anything back. We may not reap the immediate benefit, but God will honor us even if ...

9. Whose Child Is This?

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... 't know about first impressions or didn't care, for he opens his gospel with 41 names that are hard to pronounce and seldom read. Yet, among these characters I discovered a plot that I want to share with you during these waiting days of December. I. The Genealogy of Jesus Christ A. Jesus Christ, the Son of Abraham By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going. By faith Abraham, even though he was past ...

10. The Great Debates

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... as the messiah sent by God (both Spiritual King and Spiritual High Priest). So, who are his enemies? Take a guess! What a meaning-packed verse offered up by Jesus. Not only did Jesus prove through this exegesis that the messiah was not meant as merely a genealogical ancestor of David but a future messiah, both human and divine, but in pointing this out, he was also pointing to himself as that very messiah, Son of God, able to triumph over his opponents –them. Jesus had a way of using scripture in order to ...

11. What’s the Good Word?

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... and Luke, each tells his own version of the Nativity story in a narrative form, with Matthew tracing Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham, the first Hebrew. Luke betrays his Gentile background by tracing Jesus’ genealogy back to Adam, the first human being. But they both begin with long and complicated genealogies. John does nothing of the sort. Rather than giving the genealogical or historical details about Bethlehem, the innkeeper, King Herod and all that, he prefers to theologize and to rhapsodize ...

12. A Man Named Pain (Part 1)

1 Chronicles 4:1-23

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... changed their lives. What is there about this little prayer that is exciting so many people? That’s what we are going to discuss over the next four Sundays. But today we are going to focus on the man who first prayed this prayer. I Chronicles 4 begins with a genealogy of people whose names you can hardly pronounce. You know the drill. So and so begat so and so, and they begat so and so, etc. I would not even dare try to pronounce some of the names. Surely, if God had meant for us to plod through these ...

13. The Prophet of Locusts and Honey

Luke 3:1-20, Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ), apparently telling Enoch that as long as his son was alive, God would forbear judgment. Enoch made his son's name a prophecy: “When he dies, it will come” or “his death shall bring it.” If you add up the numerical data given in the chrono-genealogy of Genesis 5, you will see that Methuselah lived until the year of the Flood. (See, e.g., Spirit of Prophecy, v. 1, p. 170: “Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah, lived until the very year of the flood; and there were others who believed the preaching ...

14. When Did This Start? — Part 1

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... Jesus. Luke's gospel begins differently, first with stories of the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus, the more familiar portions of what we think of as the Christmas story, but Luke also gets around to including an even longer genealogy of Jesus than Matthew, traced back in an opposite fashion to Matthew, starting instead of ending with Jesus, and moving back through the generations even further than Matthew, all the way back to Adam, the first human (Luke 3:23-38). But John trumps ...

15. When Did This Start? — Part 2

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... card content. He was saying that something very big was on its way to happening. Very big. Scary big. As we reflected last week, the four gospels each have very different ways of introducing the story about Jesus. Matthew begins his gospel with a long genealogy (Matthew 1:1-16) through fourteen generations, through the line of Mary's husband, Joseph, all the way to Jesus. Luke's gospel begins with stories of the more familiar portions of what we think of as the Christmas story, but Luke also gets around ...

16. Prayer-Conditioning Your Life

Luke 2:29-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... only refuses to support his ministry but does not protect him when Nazareth tries to do an honors killing. As a final note of affirmation for this family centered scenario, Luke records the presence of Anna — yet another person of well-documented righteousness. Her genealogy is given and her pious behavior over decades is described. Her identity as a daughter of Phanuel (see Genesis 32:30) and her membership in good standing as one of Israel’s twelve tribes, the tribe of Asher, are only the tip of the ...

17. The Crack in the Wall

Joshua 2:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Salmon, one of Joshua’s men, bearing a son named Boaz, who would go on to become the husband of Ruth, in the lineage of Messiah Jesus. Rachab plays an important role in Israel’s entry into the promised land, and in preparing the genealogy that would inform Jesus’ ministry and mission. And she’s not Jewish. She’s a Canaanite woman. She’s part of Jericho’s “wall” separating everyone from the “life” beyond the Jordan. And yet, she becomes the “crack in the wall” opening herself and ...

18. You Can Create A Godly Heritage!

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... them. Eventually they died in battle carrying the ark. Eli, you see, was so busy getting Israel ready for his sons that he forgot to get his sons ready for Israel. Christian Life magazine went back to the records of 1677 and traced the genealogy of an immoral man who married a prostitute. 1,900 descendants resulted from that union. Of these, 771 were criminals. Two hundred fifty were arrested for various offenses. Sixty were thieves. Thirty-nine were convicted murderers. Forty of the women were known to ...

19. The Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Kendall K. McCabe

... his work we are about, not our own. A great deal of ink has been spilled over the years about the term "apostolic succession." It is too often taken to mean a succession of laying on of hands back to the apostles, a kind of ministerial genealogy. Those who define it that way then conclude that only individuals who presumably have been ordained in that succession are able to do things "validly." It becomes magical in its interpretation and understanding, even if one were able to buy the argument that such an ...

20. A Wandering Aramean

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

... 's story is not the greatest significance of Roots. For many years now, increasingly large numbers of Americans have become fascinated trying to find where they came from. Genealogical societies in this country are hard-pressed to keep pace with the demand of Americans eager to learn of their personal heritage. Famous English genealogical societies, the kinds that construct family crests and keep track of Britain's nobility, now give their services to very middle-class Americans. Even the Boy Scouts have ...

21. The Message of Christmas

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

... pointed questions; and I tried to give him some straight, honest answers. We talked about the differences in the way the birth stories are pictured in the Bible. Matthew is interested in the genealogy of Jesus. He wants to get it fixed in our minds that Jesus is of the lineage of David, and so he records Jesus' genealogy at the beginning of the Gospel. Luke gives us some details about the birth story including angels, shepherds, cradles, songs, and the people's response to the birth of Christ. This Luke ...

22. The Original "Average Joe"

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... sure. After all, these folks come from a culture in which marriages are arranged - they are not left to foolish whims. More about that in a minute. Suffice it to say that we are not privy to the details here; all we have is Matthew's genealogical account of the birth of the Christ child: Jacob is "the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." Nothing exceptional here. Decent enough blood lines. The gospel writer traces him back through Israel's most powerful king ...

23. Who's Your Daddy?

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... as a putdown. It's a way of saying, "I'm better than you." "Who's your daddy?" has always been an important question in human society. That's why the Gospel of Matthew begins with Jesus' genealogy. It was critical to show that Jesus was a descendent of King David. The Old Testament contains many genealogies, four long ones in Genesis alone. To the ancient Hebrew, the question, "Who's your Daddy?" was crucial. If your veins held even a trace of foreign blood, you'd lose your right to call yourself a Jew ...

24. In Life Nothing Works but the Impossible

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . He took seriously the voice ringing in his ears, he bet his future on the saving power of God in the world. It is tempting when we read this text to think that Joseph’s actions “saved” Jesus, giving him the cover of his name and a genealogical connection to the house of David. But in reality Joseph became the first one who Jesus “saved.” Jesus saved Joseph---from doubt, despair, and grief, while he was still in the womb. We think of the baby Jesus as a sign of “Emmanuel”—-a sign of “God ...

25. It Was the Birthday of a King

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

James Merritt

... the messianic line. But another problem is raised. The Messiah must come from the line of David. So how was this problem solved? Well, Jesus did come from the line of the house of David, but not through his father, but rather through his mother. Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus through the mother. We read in Luke 3 that Jesus was "the son of Nathan, the son of David." You see, Matthew gives us the regal line of Jesus, ending in Joseph showing Christ as the son of David and the son of Solomon. Luke gives ...

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