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 241 results

1. Your Life as a Provenance of the Jesus Story

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... What good would that do? You can't see me." "That doesn't matter," replied the child. "When you talk, it gets light." (as referenced in David G. Benner's "Soulful Spirituality" [2011]). When you talk, does it get light? Is your life a provenance for the Jesus story? COMMENTARY Luke’s presentation of the “good news” is often cited as the most literary of the four gospels. Its narrative style, scope and portrayal of Jesus’ life are presented as a great unfolding story. Luke tells the “greatest story ...

2. Hear Him

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as Peter, James, and John found themselves being “overshadowed” by that Shekinah glory, they heard nothing less than the voice of God—-a voice proclaiming “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased: Listen to him!” (v.5). What better provenance for Jesus’ mission could ever be offered? The pricelessness of that pronouncement is so great that its magnitude and magnificence drove the disciples to their knees and filled them with fear and awe before the power of the divine. But before God ...

3. Why I Believe In The Resurrection

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Brett Blair

... of the Rings to take home all the Oscars. Not so much for the movies sake, which I thought was the best of the year, but for the stories sake. That story told by JRR Tolkien is, next to the bible, one of the greatest stories ever told. Time has proven it so. Why? Is it timeless because it has sold over 50 million copies and everyone now knows the story? No. It is so timeless because it's the product of a truly top-shelf mind. Tolkien was a distinguished linguist and Oxford scholar. You see Tolkien was the ...

4. Why I Believe In The Resurrection

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Brett Blair

5. I Believe In Heaven

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Robert Allen

... idea or concept of heaven, I don’t want to draw you a blueprint of heaven. In fact, there is no way that I could prove the idea of heaven. I don’t believe it can be proven scientifically. I don’t believe the idea of heaven can be proven theologically. I don’t believe the idea of heaven can be proven philosophically. So, instead of trying to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" the idea of heaven, I simply want to affirm what I have come to believe over the years. I. I believe that in heaven there will ...

6. Living with the End in Mind

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

King Duncan

... the third young man, he said, “Go tonight to the graveyard, where you will find a young man praying by the side of a casket. Pretend to be the devil and try to scare him away. If you can scare him away from his prayers, then you will have proven your courage.” That night, the young man in the casket was surely brave, until he saw the devil walking through the graveyard. In terror, he jumped out of the casket and ran away. The praying man beside his casket and the devil himself were so frightened to see ...

7. Time Out

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... of his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus in the village of Bethany. It was there that he could relax among tried and proven friends. In the garden of that home, Jesus could meditate and find the inner strength he needed from God for the challenges ... you rest." Only after relaxing the body, and focusing the mind on the promises of God, do I begin my prayer. This simple technique of prayer has proven over the years to be a way of renewing my life with the power of God's Holy Spirit. It is not easy in any age to ...

8. Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany

Sermon

Russell F. Anderson

... winter one reads in the newspaper about some apartment or tenement which has burned down, due to unsafe wiring and faulty furnaces, resulting in loss of life and limb. A place to live has proven to be a death trap. Japanese workers strive so hard making a living that they work themselves to death. A way of making a living has proven to be a death trap. Had these unfortunate folk known, they might have chosen a life preserving place to live or a life enhancing manner of making a living. What is touted as a ...

9. Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

... Help thou my unbelief. II Secondly, we can learn from the life of Thomas that the most endearing things in life can never be proven. Jesus said: Thomas, you have believed because you have seen. Blessed are those who have not seen yet still believe. I don’t know ... the chance to put my finger in the nail scars. I will not get the chance to touch his pierced side. It will never be proven to me that he was raised from the dead. Jesus understands it’s harder for me to believe than for Thomas and he counts me ...

10. Servant Song

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... God would help him endure the suffering and calumny and that in the end, he would be vindicated and proven right. And the fact that we now have his words in our Bible shows that his faith was not in vain. Sometimes prophets had to wait a long time ... for their words to be proven true. When we average Christians approach this lectionary passage, however, most often we interpret it as the words of Jesus Christ. It was not ...

11. Discovering that It’s Not about You

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

James L. Killen

... for the sacrifice while his young son asked him trusting questions. Finally, just as Abraham was about to perform the fatal act, God intervened. God provided an animal for the sacrifice and gave Isaac back to Abraham. Abraham had proven that he would always trust God. God had proven that he would always provide. But something very basic changed in the relationships between the actors as this drama unfolded. It became apparent to Abraham that this story was not primarily about him. This was not just Abraham ...

12. The Secret of Self-Esteem

Ephesians 1:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... the candidate "venerable." Now at least two miracles are required to become a saint. If only one miracle is proven the committee can recommend that the person receive beatification, that is when the Pope declares someone "blessed" which means they have gone to heaven ... and worthy of special honor. But if a second miracle is proven then that person is canonized as a saint and recognized as one by the entire church.3 Now what is interesting is ...

13. Strength's Weakness

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... hard facts. The entire notion of "empirical evidence" which moved scientific method from the magical realm of alchemy to the cautious methodologies that now result in proven hypotheses is a "just the facts, ma'am" system of inquiry. Our legal system as well is based on the notion that the accused are "innocent until proven guilty." Without physical evidence, the prosecution has no case. Thomas is confronted here with nothing but words, "hearsay" we might call it, about Jesus' miraculous resurrection. Thomas ...

14. To Catch a Thief

Exodus 20:15

Sermon

James Merritt

... one of the names of God is Jehovah Jireh - "The God that provides". For nineteen chapters in the Book of Exodus, God had proven to the Nation of Israel, when you were thirsty I gave you water. When you were hungry I gave you manna. When you were in the ... dark I gave you a pillar of light. When you were in danger I parted the Red Sea. I've already proven that I will provide everything you need. When God gave this commandment what He was really saying was this, "I don't want you stealing, ...

15. Who?

Acts 5:27-32

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... did not want the apostles upsetting the apple cart. Martin Luther King's famed "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is addressed to these people. Folks probably a lot like us. There are many examples of people who stood up to the authorities, and were proven right, even though at the time everyone thought they were wrong. Take the case of Ralph and Mary Smeltzer, teachers who lived in Southern California in the middle of the twentieth century. They are good examples of those who suffered dishonor for the name ...

16. A Soul Restored

Psalm 23:2-3a

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... dollars searching for an uncertain kind of peace and renewal that we can't even really identify ourselves. And while doing so, we reject the simple for the complicated; the new for the old; the untested for the proven, and the ethereal for the solid. Or we cling so tightly to antiquated and rigid understandings of the simple proven truths, that we choke the life out of them and they no longer have any power to help us. What makes the 23rd Psalm so unique is the power that lives in these six verses and how ...

17. Oh, That I Knew Where I Might Find Him

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... course grade, a challenge to the IRS — all we want is a hearing before a reasonable judge and, of course, we will be proven righteous. Here, in Job's complaint, the legal language is everywhere. Job wants to plead his case (v. 4), fill his mouth with ... with him, and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge" (v. 7). The problem with Job's wish is not that he might be proven wrong in God's courtroom nor that the verdict might go against him. The problem is that the trial cannot even begin because God won't ...

18. Love Sender

John 3:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... given which was the gift of His Son. He gave us Jesus not only because He loves us, but because He is love. God has demonstrated, proven, once and for all that He is love and that He loves us by giving His son. Now think about what that means. God’s love ... to them. God doesn’t love you because of you. God loves you because of Himself. He loves you because He is love and He has proven it by giving His son. You can’t influence God’s love. You can’t do something so good it will make God love you more ...

19. Parabola

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... her eggs. Lo and behold, when she finally remembered where she had hid them, a predator had come in the night and stolen her babies away. Heart stricken, she had no family to carry on her lineage. Now let me give you some background –a bit of a “provenance” about the ostrich and her egg. The ostrich has a poor memory, the original “bird brain” about the size of a pea. When she lays her eggs in the desert, she buries them in the sand, so that predators cannot find them. However, if she takes her ...

20. Surely, Surely

Luke 1:1-4, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... her. She was there.” That’s known as an alibi. An alibi frees someone from being considered as a perpetrator, if it can be proven that that person was not there, but was somewhere else. An eye witness can verify that fact. “I HEARD the sound of gunfire. There ... not be common, but surely are extraordinary. The scriptures are filled with eye and ear witnesses to truths that cannot be proven in tangible ways about people and happenings that came long before our life spans. They witness to the strange and ...

21. Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... ’t take him long to get back to me: Sorry, Dad, there is no such data. The whole third grade reading scores thing is an urban legend that’s been going around for about ten years. It’s just not true. Freedom Schools? Oh, yeah, they’re great. Proven winners. But the whole thing about third grade reading scores predicting prison populations is just so much hokum. Man, I’m glad I checked before I spoke. I’m glad I learned the whole story before I told it. It is always tempting to move, to act, to ...

22. How Good News Spreads!

1 Kings 8:22-61

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... that Barnabas and Paul were called on to depart the church voluntarily and carry the gospel to regions afar. The early church didn't hoard the good news. It shared it with breathless excitement. And it did so by sending two beloved men -- active, proven, and mature. In the past, the modern church has sometimes been slack in sending missionaries. And when we do get around to doing so, we all too frequently send under-trained, immature misfits. More than I care to remember, I have seen untested men, unuseful ...

23. Will The Real Messiah Please Stand Up?

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

... were right: whatever men do, it turns out lousy. Arnold Toynbee reminds us that these false messiahs come in all sizes and shapes, and they have not changed our world for the better. The messiahs, as statesman or soldier, teacher or pacifist, have all proven inadequate to change humankind. They have made some difference, but they have failed to make us different. In America in recent years, we have invented our own false messiahs. We have been duped into thinking that technology will save us, only to find ...

24. No Shortcut To Glory

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

William L. Self

... the kingdom, not to the religious hotshots who show up without any commitment wanting to share in the glory. Perhaps the athletes are right -- no pain, no gain. Before the mantle would be given by Elijah, the persistent loyalty and fidelity of Elisha needed to be proven. Is he a true disciple or a "flash in the pan"? We see in 1 Kings 19:19-21 that Elisha demonstrated the characteristics of a true disciple. At first, he hesitated to follow Elijah, begging first to bid farewell to his family. Elijah said no ...

25. You Can Be Intelligent

2 Chronicles 1:1-17

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... professional -- it helps immensely to go off alone and ask the question, 'What would Jesus do?' If I can answer that," he concluded, "then I know what I should do, as well." Throughout a quarter of a century since, that third piece of advice has proven inestimably valuable. Daily we are confronted with dilemmas to resolve. Daily for us, in Frost's words, "two roads converge in a yellow wood" and we stand wondering which avenue to follow. "Should I accept this job or look for another?" "Should I pursue this ...

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