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 196 results

1. The Inaugural Address

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Brett Blair

... is fulfilled in your hearing," he asserts that HE is the answer. This morning I would like to take a brief look at Jesus' Inaugural Address and the goals of his ministry. 1. First goal is to preach good news to the poor As you well know there is ... found out that having the physical capacity for sight is not the same as seeing. I believe that. And I am convinced that in his Inaugural Address, Jesus' goal is not to perform miracles on men who cannot see; but to open the mind of those who do not believe. It ...

2. Preparing for the King

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... -100 residential staff members at the White House, and it is their job to prepare the White House whenever a new President moves in. However, they can’t start their preparations until the sitting President moves out. That means they only get about six hours on Inauguration Day to clean, decorate and prepare the official residence of the President of the United States. Some of us can’t get our own houses spic and span in six hours, so I can’t imagine cleaning the White House in that time. And that’s ...

3. Anybody Listening?

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

William G. Carter

... setting, "Well, it was a strange worship service, after all." Curiously, Mark says of Jesus, "He could do no deed of power there" (Mark 6:5). Jesus is the Strong Son of God, who came with power to plunder the house of evil. He came with the authority to inaugurate a whole new reign of God. Yet he could not perform miraculous deeds among people who did not listen to him. In the preaching of Jesus, as in all preaching done in his name, we catch a glimpse of the paradoxical power of God's kingdom. Jesus' work ...

4. Anointed Ministry

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... . The atmosphere was electric with anticipation. You could have heard a pin drop when the ex-carpenter of Nazareth got up to interpret the Word. The intensity of the moment grew dramatically when the young preacher read Isaiah 61:1-2 as the beginning of his inaugural address. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me," Jesus began, apparently recalling his baptism by John and the Word of the Lord God: "... Thou art my beloved Son... (Luke 3:22)." The mood of the assembly began to change as Jesus sat down and said ...

5. The Post Launch Slump

2 Cor 8:10-11

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... , schedules, plans, preparations are not the stuff of glamour, but omit them, and you have nothing. Maturity means that people go beyond the luminescence of a launching and set themselves to those very concrete and necessary tasks that complete what has been inaugurated. Maintenance means a vision; maintenance means encouragement; maintenance means mechanics. "You made a good beginning last year both in the work you did and in your willingness to undertake it. Now I want you to go on and finish it: be as ...

6. Jesus ... Who?

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... , or are you ashamed to mention his name in public? Awe! When a person reaches the top in power and prestige, in authority and glory, people usually react in a third way, with awe. It is not the same in Plains since Jimmy came back home after the inauguration. Instead of a peanut farmer and close neighbor, he was now the mighty president of the United States. No longer would they address him as "Jimmy" but as "Mr. President." As he walked in the peanut fields, and sat in a pew in the little frame church on ...

7. Does Jesus Care?

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... of us. He asked the question of God that so many of us would have asked. Why would God at this moment of triumph permit this tragedy in their lives? He was so upset by it that he refused to allow the Bible to be used at the inauguration. (2) Helen Hayes and her husband, Charles MacArthur, lost their nineteen year old daughter to polio. MacArthur himself died only a few years later, while Helen Hays is in her eighties and has had a most productive life. Ms. Hayes' explanation for her husband's early death is ...

8. Why Join the Church?

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... be? To the old age, or to the new age? To the kingdoms of this world, or to the Kingdom of God that was revealed and inaugurated in this world in Jesus Christ? The Church wanted to make that as clear as it could. So the first question that has been asked of ... clear choice between this age, the present age is the way it was called, or the age to come, the Kingdom that Christ came to inaugurate. That's the way it was. The problem is that the line between the Church and the world is now erased. The first vow in ...

9. Can You Smell the Perfume?

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... What prompted Jesus to say these incredible words: "Whenever you remember me, remember her." What did she do that was so special? If you will only connect the dots, the answer will pop out. Here we go. Are you ready to connect? Mark 14:3-9 inaugurates the Triduum. The Triduum is the holiest time of the Christian year. Triduum in Latin means "three days"...the Great Three Days or Three Holy Days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, including Easter Vigil. In John's Gospel the anointing story ...

10. Better Angels of Our Nature

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... messy masterpieces, it is time to let “the better angels of our nature” speak. Abraham Lincoln urged that “better angels” attitude in his first inaugural speech, 04 March 1861. Lincoln’s second inaugural is more famous, replete with its soaring phrases that roar like this one: “with malice towards none, with charity toward all.” But the first inaugural is my favorite. The country was already deeply divided. The “united” continuance of the United States barely hung by a thread. Yet rather ...

11. Your Ordination

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

... a single focus'' (The Gospel of Luke, Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1991, p. 71). And what is that single focus? We shall interpret Jesus' baptism as that time when the Holy Spirit is made prominent in his ministry, that inauguration day for his ministry, just as the Annunciation was Mary's inauguration of her ministry. By implication, our baptism is also our day when our ministry is inaugurated. None of us ministers on our own. We are each empowered by the Holy Spirit to be in ministry.

12. Surprised By Grace

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

... I think we get the very clear message that we should be living for today. We live in a new age which has been inaugurated by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each and every day we can be surprised by the beauty and wonder of the ... the presence of God. God in Christ will always be there for you if you let him. Why not give him your all this day? Because this inaugurated is the way that God intends for us to live in the new age by the life and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. My prayer for you ...

13. Rocky

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

William J. Carl

... which would have meant certain death when he called Jesus the Anointed One. Somehow he knew that a new regime was coming in and he couldn’t stay with the hardliners anymore. Now it was time to move on into a new order, the new kingdom which God was inaugurating with the coming of Jesus. And now he was beginning to see it all more clearly. He could see the effect Jesus was having on the hardliners and he could see that history was changing right before his eyes as it has been in our world in recent years ...

14. Do You Love Me?

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Robert Allen

... of all the traditional sites like the White House, the Smithsonian, the halls of Congress and the Lincoln Memorial. There is something about standing in the Lincoln Memorial and reading the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address which gives you goosebumps. One line in the Second Inaugural reminds you what a caring and compassionate man Lincoln was. He was speaking about the coming end of the War and he said: "With malice toward none; With charity for all." Lincoln put this idea into practice ...

15. The Promise of the Savior King

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

... uttering promises of what they will accomplish if elected. We listen to the speeches, hear the promises, and make a decision for whom to vote. A candidate is elected to the office of President and, in January of the next year, is inaugurated as President. At the time of inauguration most of us, I suspect, even if our candidate was not elected, have a heightened sense of expectation. Maybe this time, maybe in this presidency the promises will be kept. Maybe in this four-year term reality will match the hope ...

16. Song of a King

Psalm 101:1-8

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... the holy city of Jerusalem off limits to all who are bent on wickedness. In fact, so zealously will he press his campaign against evildoers within the capital’s walls that he will bring them to speedy trial every morning (Psalm 101:8). The psalm is the inaugural of an idealist who wants only the best for Israel. And the best, he assures his people, may be had only through the loyalty that king and commoner alike freely pay the eternal will of God. It is small wonder Martin Luther has called the One ...

17. On His Way

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Larry Powell

... of heartbroken, brow-beaten, teary-eyed faith were now answered. The ancient promise of the prophets was dramatically fulfilled in the flesh. The Daystar from on high shone brightly among them. The Rose of Sharon had come to full flower. The King was inaugurating his kingdom, a kingdom not of this world. We began by suggesting that there was some question among the pilgrims as to whether or not Jesus would come to the feast. Circumstances being what they were, with the authorities lurking about plotting his ...

18. Someone Greater Than a Prophet

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... he not only cleanses us of corruption but revitalizes us for a new future and empowers us for a new way of life. As theologian Daniel Williams puts it, "In Jesus Christ, God has given what is needed to heal the disorders of the human spirit, and to inaugurate a new possibility for every life" (The Spirit and the Forms of Love, p. 155). Paul put it well when he said, "The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam (meaning Christ) became a life- giving Spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:45). And that is ...

19. The Unexpected Universe

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... taken from Isaiah chapters 35 and 61. Yes, the Messianic Age was idealized as a time when all diseases would be healed. Yes, the Messianic Age would be the occasion of the poor having the good news of shared prosperity preached to them. Yes, the Messiah would inaugurate a new era of peace and prosperity, but it was to be by the strength of a military-political leader, unparalleled since King David's time. The other day our service club went down to the local senior center to serve them lunch, which we cater ...

20. How Shall We Pray?

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... president of the United States in January, 1953, he surprised the nation by personally offering up a prayer to Almighty God. Here was a man who had commanded three million troops in the invasion of Normandy, had brought an end to World War II, and now was being inaugurated into the most powerful office in the world. And what did he do in front of all the nations of the world and all the people in America? He acknowledged that he needed help. He needed a Power greater than he was to fulfill the task before ...

21. Why Do We Call Him Good?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... or unwanted, of being deserted and alone. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, and an indifference toward one's neighbor who may be the victim of poverty or disease or exploited and at the end of his life, left at a roadside." In his Inaugural Address, President George Bush declared, "For this is the thing: This is the age of the offered hand." With all due respect to the President, my observation is that there are not enough hands being offered. Am I wrong? It appears to me we are still in ...

22. When Fisherman do Strange Things

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , and do something about the world. Go over to Linder Hall following the service, to the table over there. They will tell you how to get into something that is going to make a difference in your life. The problem is not that God is tardy in inaugurating the Kingdom. The problem is our reluctance to do anything about it after we have heard the news. So repent. Another thing that this text ought to tell us is to eliminate that idea from our mind, that repentance is for people who do bad things, evil things ...

23. He's Here Somewhere

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... obviously righteous. He's a natural leader, the most respected person in the country. He's the kind of person who God would undoubtedly choose to be the leader of the nation, and to lead some uprising that would throw the Roman oppressors out of the country and inaugurate the Kingdom of God. It's got to be John. So they go down to the River Jordan where John the Baptist is baptizing, and ask him outright, "Who are you?" And John, who evidently knew that they were coming, and what they would ask, replied, "I ...

24. Honoring the Fathers

Hebrews 11:17-22

Sermon

Mark Trotter

25. Now Try Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , in an amazing scene, went to the man in prison who had tried to assassinate him, and knelt before him to forgive him. Nelson Mandela, in prison thirty years. When he was inaugurated as the president of the new republic of South Africa, he invited the two white guards who guarded his cell for all those years to be at his inauguration. In Atlanta last year, a service was held where the descendant of a plantation owner knelt in front of the descendant of a slave who worked on that plantation, and asked for ...

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