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 4992 results

1. A Fresh Start

Joel 2:28-32, Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... the blessed assurance that in this Last Day everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved (v. 32). What does this reference to the gift of the Holy Spirit have to do with the End Times and what do both have to do with the fresh start we need? This very passage makes us think of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the Church. In fact in Peter’s sermon on that occasion he even quoted these verses from our First Lesson from Joel (Acts 2:16-21). For the earliest Christians this ...

2. What a Way to Start a Church!

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... , and unable to figure out what to do. They're about to give up, saying things like, "We're never going to get this thing started, never going to get it off the ground. It's never going to grow!" Then along comes God unexpectedly when no one is looking. That' ... to church Sunday morning, or come to this Bible study or check out this class, and see for yourself." What a way to start a church! First, God came unexpectedly. Second, the church caused a disturbance that made the world sit up and take notice. Third, ...

3. What Do I Do When I Can't Get Started?

Proverbs 6:6-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... to be just perfect. Ecclesiastes 11:4 says this, "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done." (Ecclesiastes 11:4, LB) Teresa and I had only been married a couple of years and I had just gotten my master's degree and was about to start my doctorial work, when we finally decided to have children. Quite frankly, we both looked at each other at the time and said, "There is no way we can afford to have a child." There are a lot of people who put off getting married or put off having ...

4. Starting Over

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... for God is that God doesn’t wish to toss us — God’s image-bearing creature — on the cosmic junk heap of the universe. God will not destroy us, since we carry in our very essence the reflection God’s own glory. So the way to start over is the way through suffering, through cleansing, through rebirth, through actual transformation of the existing stuff. This is a hard process, and Jesus’ words remind us of the pain that shrieked from Calvary in order to make it happen. We all want, at times, to ...

5. You Can't Start a Car With a Cross

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... were only one of us in all of the world. Be a cross-carrying Christian. Some people have told me stories of how the little aluminum cross came out of their pockets or purses with change at the grocery store or drug store and what wonderful conversations it started. Others have confessed that touching the cross has reminded them to put away some temptation which was about to overcome them. Several weeks ago I reached into my pocket and came up with a little cross to open my car door. It didn't work. But it ...

6. Where Does God Start?

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

Sermon

James Merritt

... a matter of position, prestige, or personality. A leader is someone with a passion to get in on a God-given vision and to use his influence to make it a reality. Every one of you can exhibit the character of a leader. When God wants to do something God starts with – I. Leaders Who Model A Love For God Remember David is about to give his money to build something he would gain no personal benefit from. He would never experience it, he would never enter it, and he would never enjoy it. So why did he give ...

7. When Did This Start? — Part 1

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... to a land this time, as was the case with Isaiah, but to their God from whom they had become increasingly estranged. John foresaw a Messiah on the way whose shoes he had no right to stoop down and tie. So when did the Jesus thing really start? It started with a calling: "In the beginning" God called the world into existence; God called the kings of Israel to rule justly over the people; God called the prophets to preach justice and piety to the people; God called John the Baptist to remind the people who ...

8. Finish What You Start

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

... wall was stacked in piles; the uncovered floors were bare plywood. And where there weren't floors, you could see the unfinished basement below. I'll never forget our drive home that day. My father was his typical quiet self but finally he spoke. "Always finish what you start," he simply said. "Don't let that ever happen to you." Now I couldn't imagine at my tender age of ever building my own house but still I got the message and could think of other projects I might not finish. Even now, every time it doesn ...

9. When the Going Gets Tough ... the Tough Start Praying!

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

... , "We'll open in two weeks as scheduled." This pastor felt that God hadn't let them down before and that he wouldn't start now. The next morning (and here comes the part that's hard to believe) there came a loud knock at his study door. Standing ... in the sea just by saying so. Well folks, it's time for those of us with mountain-moving faith or mulberry tree-tossing faith to start praying and not stop until we've moved a mountain or two, or a mulberry tree or two ourselves. This building is not going to be ...

10. You Must Start Over!

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... born again. It’s been boxed and sold as a litmus test for whether one is a real Christian. My experience is that when we use “born again” that way it’s evidence that we’re not. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Let me tell you the gospel truth: You must start over. But you can’t do it on your own. “Being born from above, born anew, born again, born from top to bottom is like being born the first time. You had nothing to do with it. It was a gift.” This was a hard truth for Nicodemus, and it ...

11. A Chance To Start Over

John 8:3-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the foot of the altar. Toss those stones wrapped in all those bad memories and pain, in with the other stones surrounding this fountain of hope. This fountain symbolizes the hope and the Chance to Drink the woman at the well found. The same hope and Chance To Start Over the woman in today's passage found. These stones of pain and sin and regret will be transformed and become symbols of hope around this water jug of hope. And, for a time at least, they will be with us in worship every Sunday reminding us of ...

12. Little Start, Big Finish

Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... of how and why they grow the way they do.” If farmers did that, we’d all starve. Likewise, I don’t have to know how my car runs to get from one place to another. All I have to know is that it runs and how to get it started. I don’t have to know why the value of pi is 3.14 in order to find the area of a circle. I just need to know that it is and apply it to the other numbers I have according to the formula. As far as I am concerned ...

13. It's Not How You Start But How You Finish That Counts

Ephesians 4:1, 11-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... right out of the word of God. Ephesians 4 tells us that our job is not just to help sinners become saints, but to lead saints to become servants. From the moment a person becomes a Christian, it becomes our responsibility to help that Christian finish what he starts, and to finish well. This passage tells us how that is to happen. I. Christianity Begins With The Mastery Of The Savior Paul calls himself in v.1 "the prisoner of the Lord." Now the Greek word for "prisoner" literally means "one who is bound." A ...

14. Could We Start Again, Please? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

John 3:1-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... get this religion thing. That’s why you are bored in church, turned off by people of faith, skeptical of any revelation. Yet, like Nicodemus, you long for something more, more faith, more love, more hope. There is that deep, deep longing—could I start again, please? Could I start again? Open our eyes, Lord. We need to see Jesus. Spiritual Birth Opens Up a Whole New World. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life ...

15. Stop Talking and Start Walking

Luke 24:13-35, Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... face, and go all the way back to where they had been to set a new and unexpected course for places unknown and sights unseen! Their lives were about to take a radical turn. But they couldn’t realize that truth until they stopped talking and started listening! The two travelers had gotten caught up in the gossip of the moment! The hype of the “news” of the day! Gossip is contagious, and they had caught the contagion, but the problem is, they could not connect what they heard with the truth of their ...

16. Stop Fuming, Start Forgiving!

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... when Amy visited her, she said, “Amy, something is wrong with my mind. I feel like I can’t remember many things, even what I did yesterday. I can’t remember what happened a long time ago, but somehow I know I did something to hurt you.” Amy started to say, “O not really. Don’t worry,” but her mother continued, “I did terrible things. But now I can’t remember what…and I just want to tell you…I hope you can forget just as I’ve forgotten.” Instantly Amy recognized that this was her ...

17. Starting Over

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... and her inner beauty. But Mother Teresa was herself only a reflection of the one who first gave her a vision as well. Like the disciples at the seashore, in the initial encounter, we all need to see Jesus. And when we see him, we can start life again ― with purpose ― with mission with passion. Reborn A.J. Cronin was a doctor who worked in England in the 1920s, and saw this well. In his autobiography, Adventures in Two Worlds, he described working in the hospital of a poor northern mining district early ...

18. When Did This Start? — Part 2

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... and Luke in writing about Jesus' beginnings. Foregoing a genealogy, he moves back to the time before time. John understands Jesus as having been present at the beginnings of the whole created world, before Abraham, before Adam, before generations, at the very edge, the very start of the world, one with God. John's gospel begins the story about Jesus with his majestic opening line, "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God" (John 1:1). And before too long, the local ...

19. Yes, But He Started It!

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... scenario, we are clearly the injured party. Our friend has lied about us, perhaps. Or maybe our friend has taken advantage of us. We huff, and we puff. Finally, we protest saying, "Hold on here. He sinned against me. Why should I go to him? He started it. Let him come to me." Sometimes our greatest enemy in resolving conflicts is our pride. Sooner or later we are going to have to ask which is more important: winning a battle or preserving a relationship? This is so important in family relationships. Are we ...

20. Start at the Epicenter

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

James Merritt

... and feelings are hurt and the relationship has ruptured. Today, we are going to begin with the place where every relationship must begin if it is going to be fixed and fixed right and that is in our relationship with God. We are going to start at the epicenter. Do you know what the epicenter is? The epicenter is the location directly above the surface of the earth where the earthquake began. The epicenter of that earthquake that hit Atlanta was Edgefield, South Carolina, a city 25 miles northeast of Augusta ...

21. Started Toward A Great Tomorrow

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

He was one of the greatest soldiers of his time. He lived at a time when his country needed great soldiers! Yet his past so discouraged him that he almost never became the leader that his country needed. Hiram was born to a father who was harsh and cold and would always see him as a failure. His mother was not a source of emotional comfort to him either; he never once saw her moved enough to shed a tear. Hiram was always small for his age. He grew up ashamed he was not the kind of leader his father ...

22. When You Think You're Finished, That's When God Starts

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"What hands are too strong for you?" In this past/coming year, what hands have been/will be too strong for you? Are you in God's hands? If so, no hands are stronger than God's hands. The texts this week talk about God's enduring strength and give us reasons for believing in God's absolute ability to take care of us - come what may. If the exponential explosion of self-help groups is any indication, it appears that we have become fascinated by and fixated on defining and exposing the weakened, painful, ...

23. Before You Start Ripping Your Clothing

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

I don’t know about you, but it feels a little strange to me to celebrate Ash Wednesday on St. Valentine’s Day. It puts some of you who are romantically inclined in a real bind. “How shall we celebrate Valentines, dear? How about we go to an Ash Wednesday service where the pastor will read from the prophet Joel telling us to ‘rend your hearts and not your clothing?’” Does that put you in a romantic mood? It doesn’t sound that romantic to me. I can hear some of you men now. “Honey I’ve decided to treat you ...

24. Faith To The Finish

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8, Isaiah 14:24-27

Sermon

Erskine White

... 's grace. Remember how we sometimes worry too much about how we begin and not enough about how we finish. Paul got a very late start in his life's race to eternity, but that doesn't matter now. What matters now is that he is finishing the race. He is ... gone now. The other man eventually decided to make the best of it. He began talking with the other patients to cheer them up. He started feeding the ones who couldn't eat and reading to the ones who couldn't see. He did everything I imagine Jesus Christ would ...

25. Choose Four

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in life. These are basically the only choices we have in life. And we're told to pick one. We can choose to DO MORE of certain things. We can choose to DO LESS of certain things. WE can choose to STOP doing old things. We can choose to start doing new things. (I adapt this from Brian Tracy's Focal Point (New York: AMACOM, 2002), 4-5.) We can do more: more good; more exercise; more for our family; more for our community; more for our schools, more for the environment. We can do less; less consuming; less ...

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