Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: touch, feel, sense of touch, tactile sense, tactility, contact, using one's hands, sensation, sense, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, notion, inkling, hunch, fancy, apprehension, presentiment, premonition, foreboding, love, care, affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, warmness, emotion, sentiment, emotional state, compassion, sympathy, empathy, fellow feeling, understanding, concern, solicitude, solicitousness, tender-heartedness, brotherly love, sensibilities, sensitivities, self-esteem, ego, pride, opinion, belief, view, impression, intuition, instinct, estimation, guess, theory, hypothesis, thought, way of thinking, point of view, atmosphere, ambience, aura, air, mood, climate, character, overtone, undertone, tenor, spirit, quality, flavour, colour, aptitude, knack, flair, bent, talent, gift, skill, art, trick, faculty, ability, propensity, inclination, sensitive, warm, warm-hearted, tender, tender-hearted, caring, soft-hearted, sympathetic, compassionate, empathetic, responsive, receptive, intuitive, thoughtful

Antonyms: bad feeling, acrimony, animosity, animus, antagonism, antipathy, aversion, bitterness, detestation, disgust, dislike, disrelish, enmity, friction, grievances, grudges, hatred, hostility, loathing, malevolence, malice

Showing 226 to 250 of 513 results

226. Who Needs a Doctor?

Mark 2:13-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a radiantly smiling face on a candy box encased in velvet and wreathed with roses and totally insulated from the realities of life. A bad marriage almost wrecked her, but it also saved her, because she grew rather than shrank and expanded her range of sympathies rather than shrivel into self-pity. The Lord, we are told, works in mysterious ways, and I believe it. Sometimes being dragged into the depths is the only way we glimpse a vision of the heights, being desperate and disconsolate and defeated is the ...

227. Proclaimers Of The Gospel

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... desperately to get to a dying brother, but no plane for another six hours? The other person in the terminal was a mammoth man, who looked like he was out of place, but he would have looked out of place wherever he was. It’s amazing how sympathy grows in such a setting, and how friendly you can become with strangers, and how productive you could be if you maintained some degree of calm and clear headedness. This mammoth man, would you believe his name was John, had concluded that we had no choice, there ...

228. The Power Of Purpose

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... could be relieved of the burdens and responsibilities of supporting their family; or if they could find another more meaningful way to do it. For some, going to work is a bitter task; leaving work is like dropping a heavy load off their shoulders. I have great sympathy for such people. I’m sorry that I can’t identify with them more than I can, because I don’t know anyone who finds more meaning in what they’re doing than I. There’s another category of people, and another kind of response to work ...

229. Proclaiming The Gospel

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... stuck. Wanting desperately to get to his dying brother -- but no plane for another six hours. The other person in the terminal was a mammoth man who looked like he was out of place, but would have looked that way wherever he was. It's amazing how sympathy grows in such a setting, and how friendly you can become with strangers, and how productive you can be if you maintain some degree of calm and clear-headedness. This mammoth man -- would you believe his name was John (Big John). John concluded that we had ...

230. Who Needs A Doctor?

Luke 5:27-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

231. Blessed Are Those Who Are Awake

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... came around, I was so exhausted, I decided to steal $2 just for spite.” Now I know you sympathize with Mark Twain. I don’t hear as many preachers as you do — or, I don’t hear preachers on a regular basis the way you do, but I understand that sympathy. I have to listen to myself every week. But I also feel for the poor preacher in Twain’s story. One of my problems in sermon preparation is how much to cover. When you come to a passage like the one at which we are looking this morning, and in ...

232. Reflections On A Calling (ten-year Anniversary Sermon)

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... pace is horrendous. I appreciate the fact that many of you express understanding at this point. I'm grateful to the Staff Parish Committee for insisting that I use the time they allow me for vacation and not pack that time with work also. And I'm not asking for sympathy. I don't need that. I need perspective, and as a congregation together we need perspective as it relates to our total ministry. The job is never done. In the ten years that I have been here I've not known a time when the tasks that were yet ...

233. The Commitment Question: Will You Lay Down Your Life For Me?

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the actors off of the chair, sat down, and said, "Excuse me please, I want to sit here for awhile. I need to see how it feels." That's a cue for us. We need to seek to put ourselves in the place of other, feel what they feel. Not sympathy, but empathy is the dynamic of loving with the love of Christ. In a footnote in our old hymnal is a phrase which most Protestant churches removed from some of the early versions of the Creed: "He descended into Hell." The reason we took it out was that there is ...

234. Still Under Construction

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

... will discover that things are not always as they appear to be. You may hear some people expressing some attitudes that do not seem to you to be compatible with the Christian faith, some social snobbishness, some racial prejudice, some impatience and lack of sympathy with the poor of the community and the oppressed of the earth, some hate pretending to be patriotism. You may begin to suspect that some people's lives are being shaped by an anxious pursuit of affluence rather than by trusting obedience to the ...

235. Heaping Coals and Virtues

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... embodying a central truth about the Christian life. "Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering." Two statements that reverse each other. Within the Christian family it is easy to rejoice at the good news of another. It is also fairly simple to join in sympathy with others who are suffering. These reactions are natural and present everyone with opportunities to share with others at times of great joy and sorrow. While the basic instinct to share with others is present in everyone, as Christians we need to be ...

236. Thanks Be to God

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Rick Brand

... mentions the situation in Jerusalem. Paul does not explain in this letter why they need the help. Paul does not tell how desperately hungry they are or how badly oppressed they are or how deeply in debt they may be. There is no effort here to create sympathy in our hearts for the poor victims. No tender pictures of children feeding in the streets are given here. Nothing in Paul's discussion about the act of giving is related to the condition of the recipients. Giving is a matter for our hearts. The decision ...

237. How to Be a Blessing

I Peter 3:8-12

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... . That's why Peter says, "Bless, don't curse, for to this you were called." That is in the ninth verse. In the preceding verse he suggests the way that we can do that, the way we can be a blessing. He lists these things: have unity of spirit, sympathy and love of everyone, and then these two phrases, a tender heart and a humble mind. It's those last two qualities I want to look at this morning. On this Mother's Day I think they are most appropriate, because we understand mothering, parenting, a tender heart ...

238. No Fear

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... age, old age, and death. I can accept five of the six. Five of them are natural. One of them is unnatural. The sixth is not natural, it is terrible. A woman's mother died. Somebody hears about it and says to that person, "I am sorry. You have our sympathy." Then she asks, "How old was your mother?" "Well she was ninety years old." "Oh, well, then it is all right." As if it matters how old the person is. As if it is less painful. As if it is less a sorrow when we lose a parent, or a ...

239. Now What?

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

240. Palm Sunday

Isaiah 50:1-11, Matthew 27:11-54, Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... horrible price of sin - forsakenness. Jesus' cry of dereliction reveals how low Jesus had to descend to carry the weight of sin - a sense of God's abandonment. 4. Confusion. The cross produces a response. It is not an ordinary death which might cause only sympathy. There is a positive response by those with at least neutral eyes as expressed by a professional soldier. "Truly this was the Son of God." Old Testament: Isaiah 50:4-9a 1. Disgrace. The suffering of the Messiah was not only physical but mental and ...

241. The Weakest Link

1 Timothy 1:12-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... lab could answer, being singled out as singularly stupid by his or her fellow contestants, and then being tossed out with the final personal judgment ringing in their ears, "You are the weakest link. Good-bye!" would seem to garner some sort of sympathy factor at least. But no. Everyone now seems to love a put down. Not undeservedly, Anne Robinson has a reputation as the rudest person on television. Before she became Rottweiller Robinson, she was the highest paid woman journalist in Britain. Now a media ...

242. The Longest Distance in the Universe

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... s hand, and offering general words of hope. The dying man said nothing. As dawn approached, the patient died. The young man gently placed on the bed the lifeless hand he had been holding. Then he went to notify the nurse. The nurse began to offer words of sympathy to the young man, but he interrupted her. "Who was that man?" he asked. The puzzled nurse replied, "I thought he was your father." "No," the young man replied. "I never saw him before in my life." "Then why didn't you say something when I took you ...

243. Proper 16

Exodus 1:1-22, Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 12:1-8, Psalm 124:1-8

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... . He is persuading vigorously. The foundation of Paul's appeal is the very "mercies" of God. God has fully sympathized with the human situation, and this has profound implications for the way that Christians are now to go about life. Because of God's full sympathy with the human condition, those who by grace have been called to faith in Christ can give themselves in full confidence to God's purposes. Presenting our bodies may, however, strike us as a peculiar form of "spiritual worship." When it comes to ...

244. Hypocrites

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

... gives a paltry percentage of his income to the church. Even Jesus disliked hypocrites. We’re often reminded that Jesus never called anyone a sinner, and that’s true. He looked pass the sin to the person caught in a misdeed. Still, even Jesus had no sympathy for hypocrites. In tonight’s lesson from Matthew, Jesus says, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy ...

245. Changed Lives: Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... side of the story, he did not sell his account to the National Enquirer, he did not seek a huge advance from Random House to spell out all the lurid details. In contrast to so many of today’s celebrities, he never sought public sympathy. Rather, he understood how his recklessness had brought embarrassment to his wife and country and almost brought his government down. Not long afterward, he contacted Toynbee Hall, a charitable mission in the East End of London, and asked whether they needed any help. This ...

246. John 11:1-45

John 11:1-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... out to meet Jesus. This sight of Mary and her friends weeping causes Jesus to be “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved” (v.33). But the term “embrimathai,” translated here as “deeply disturbed in spirit,” is an emotional state associated with anger, not sympathy or sadness. As the flicker of true faith is swept away in her tears, Jesus experiences his own momentary cloudburst. He is washed over by the realization that despite all he has said and done, and even despite the great moment of ...

247. Must Suffer and Be Rejected

Mk 8:2; Lk 9:22; 17:25

Illustration

Brett Blair

... be rejected Bonhoeffer continues: This "must" is inherent in the promise of God - the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Next, there is a distinction here between suffering and rejection. Had he only suffered, Jesus might still have been applauded as the Messiah. All the sympathy and admiration of the world might have been focused on his passion. It could have been viewed as a tragedy with its own intrinsic value, dignity and honor. But in the passion, Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion ...

248. When We Are Caught in a Storm

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

James W. Moore

... went numb and then her arms. Then she fell back paralyzed and that quickly she was out… in a deep coma. She was rushed to the hospital where all night brain surgery was performed. She died the next day… 16 years old! When I called to express my love and sympathy, Ellen’s parents said: “God is giving us strength we didn’t know we could have. He is holding us up and seeing us through this. We got to have Ellen for 16 years and she packed more life and love into 16 years than most people do in a ...

249. God Speaks and the Church Is Our Hearing Aid

Mark 4:1-9

Sermon

James W. Moore

... and I want to say a word on hearing aids. Some people do not like to wear one because it makes them noticeable. Well, you are far more noticeable when you are deaf than when you are wearing a hearing-aid, because for some strange reason people are full of sympathy for the blind, but find deaf people no better than a nuisance. Of course, I would like not to be deaf, but I have never found that being deaf stopped me doing anything that I wanted to do… because a very wonderful hearing-aid has enabled me to ...

250. Good and Bad "Magical Thinking"

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... was one high-powered hex! Or not. No one can completely escape what has been called “magical thinking” (see Matthew Hutson, “Magical Thinking,” Psychology Today, March-April 2008, 90-95. The subtitle is “Even Hard-Core Skeptics Can’t Help But Find Sympathy in the Fabric of the Universe----And Occasionally Try to Pull Its String”). We “knock on wood,” throw spilled salt over our shoulders, can’t resist reading our horoscopes, always take notice of a “Friday the 13th.” Or if you think ...

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