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 2476 to 2500 of 3082 results

2476. Epiphany 3

Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Psalm 27:1-14, Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The liturgical/homiletical clue provided for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany combines manifestation and ministry within the overall Christmas Cycle clues of incarnation and Parousia. Jesus comes as the light of the world in his ministry. As the Epiphany Season progresses, however, some of the sharpness of definition is lost, not so much because the theological framework of the church year is blurred, but mostly because the lectio selecta method for the selection and reading of the ...

2477. Proper 4

Deuteronomy 11:1-32, Genesis 12:1-8, Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29, Romans 3:21-31, Psalm 31:1-24, Psalm 33:1-22

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE From this point until late in the Pentecost season, on Sundays there is only the general theological framework of the church year to provide biblical/theological clues for worship and preaching themes. Pentecost, as "the time of the church," is eschatological; the church worships and waits, learns and grows, and witnesses and works for the coming of the fullness of the kingdom in Jesus' promised return. On the Sundays of Pentecost, the church is counting time, not marking time, until the ...

2478. Good Morning, Jerusalem!

Drama

Notes on the Service Set within the framework of an Easter morning worship celebration, the following drama script intends to bring to the worshiper’s mind the sound and style of a familiar weekday morning American network television news/talk program. Any steps which the worship planner(s) can take to create this atmosphere will add to the effectiveness of the presentation. Depending upon the physical arrangements in the chancel area, it might even be possible to set up a comfortable living room setting ...

2479. The Resurrection of Our Lord

Mt 28:1-10 · Col 3:1-4 · Acts 10:34-43 · Ps 118

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Acts 10:34-43 Theme: Easter as God's "Yes" Exegetical note The heart of the kerygmatic recapitulation contained in Peter's speech to Gentiles here is his view of the resurrection (in v. 40) as God's validation of Jesus after the crucifixion. The latter was the "no" of humanity (designated with an indefinite "They") to Jesus' ministry, while Jesus was God's resounding, and ultimately prevailing "Yes." Call to Worship (based on Psalm 118) Leader: God is our strength and song! People: GOD HAS ...

2480. Proper 5

Genesis 22:1-19

Bulletin Aid

Theme: God will provide Exegetical note: Behind this well-known story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own son at God's bidding lies a view of God that, for most modern readers, would suggest a measure of insecurity and unreasonableness, if not sadism on the part of the Deity. Be that as it may, in the final analysis, God does provide what is needed in the situation, which (on the basis of vv. 8 and 14) seems to be the real point of the story. Call to Worship Leader: Let us praise God, who forgets ...

2481. Proper 23

Mt 22:1-14 · Php 4:1-9 · Ex 32:1-14 · Ps 106

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Exodus 32:1-14 Theme: Selfless intercession Exegetical Note Readers may have difficulty with a view of God that allows for the divine wrath to get so out of hand that the deity has to be dissuaded from and repent of the vengeful evil that the divine indignation has threatened. More plausible, perhaps, is the selfless intercession of Moses, who gave up the flattering divine offer to become the new father of a great nation in order to plead on the basis of the old Abramic pact. Call to Worship ...

2482. Revival at Corinth

Acts 18:1-17

Sermon Aid

CSS

If there was freedom of thought at Athens, there was freedom of a different sort in Corinth. Paul’s later letters testify to the moral and legal problems which existed even in the Christian community. Among the pagans, life must have been truly licentious. Corinth was large, powerful, and wealthy. It had a history of military achievement and because of its strategic location and good harbor it was a center of naval and maritime strength. It had joined with Athens in wars against Sparta and later had been a ...

2483. Opportunism? Or Opportunity?

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

A striking television commercial came into our living rooms not long ago. It showed a funeral procession of expensive vehicles, driving single file behind a hearse, toward a cemetery. As the camera focused on the passengers in the first one, and then the next and the next of the procession of luxurious automobiles, a voice could be heard. It was that of the lawyer, reading the will, which each would soon be hearing. "To my nephew," said the voice, "who didn’t know the value of a dollar - I leave one dollar ...

2484. Christians Die Well

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ...

2485. Sinners Anonymous

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. And as he sat at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and ...

2486. Suffering for Christ

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

Jesus said: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who ...

2487. Have This Mind

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Craig Erickson

We Earthlings have our own way of looking at things. Perspective is determined by what lies at our center. Conditioned by values and environment, we see what we want to see. Just how true that is was evident when a NASA scientist briefed the media on Voyager 2’s mission to the planet Uranus. "Uranus," he said, "has many more moons than previously thought - fifteen, not five. Furthermore, they have more radically sculpted surfaces than anything seen to date. The rings of Uranus are also different from what ...

2488. What’s God Going to Do With You?

Hosea 5:1-15, Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

What shall I do with you, o Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. "What in the world am I going to do with you?" Have you ever heard that before or said it? A mother shakes her head at a child who is always getting dirty and asks, "What am I going to do with you?" A husband, like Hosea, has a faithless wife, and each time he takes her back, he despairingly asks, "What am I going to do with you?" A criminal appears before a judge ...

2489. Who Are God’s People?

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

And they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my possession among all ...

2490. Bad Good News Won’t Sell!

Jeremiah 28:1-17

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord; and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words which you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. Yet hear now this word which I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets who preceded you and me from ...

2491. The Danger of Being Religious

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord'; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Two young boys were close friends ...

2492. Victim or Visionary

John 19:28-37

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

And again another scripture says, "They shall look upon him whom they have pierced." - John 19:37 On the cross, our Lord must have looked at the faces of his executioners and experienced the sharp frustration which comes from being subject to principalities and powers beyond one’s capacity to shape or control. For a time, he must have felt like a helpless victim of cruel, cosmic circumstance. You and I, then, should not have too much trouble empathizing with the crucified Jesus. We, too, are beset by ...

2493. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

What are you to do if you are a Christian in a non-Christian society? More than that, what are you to do if you are a Christian in an anti-Christian society? What are you to do if you have been reared in a theological atmosphere steeped in Romans 13 with its emphasis on obedience to those in authority? What are you to do if you have been taught that your political leaders hold their mandate from God and that disobedience to these leaders is a sin against God? What are you to do if you are forced to ...

2494. A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

George Bass

This week, falling as it does between two minor festivals - the Confession of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul - might best be observed by a pilgrimage to one of the ancient "station" churches common to the liturgical heritage of Rome, the Church of St. Sebastian. It is located south of Rome on the Appian Way, not too far from where the Apostle Paul was supposed to have been beheaded, and it is situated over an ancient catacomb which bears Sebastian’s name. Tradition has it that both Peter and Paul ...

2495. The Role of an Angel

John 20:10-18

Sermon

George Bass

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you ...

2496. What Are You Going to Do About Death?

Mt 10:28 · Lk 12:4

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Emerson once wrote words that sound almost like an invitation to death: And now my chains are to be broken; I shall mount above these clouds and opaque airs in which I live ... Life will no more be a noise; this day shall be better than my birthday; for then I became an animal; now I am invited into the (experience) of the real. - The Poet Recently a college student wrote me, "I think it is probable that the death of the body implies the total cessation of being." This fear is not only a problem for ...

2497. A Liturgical Drama For Advent

Drama

Tom Eberle

Advent The seasons of the church calendar are like the headings for each act of a theater production. They provide the particular setting in which one element of the divine drama of God’s revelation in Christ is presented to us. The liturgical seasons are sometimes thought of as optional observances, like a fancily-iced cake. They make worship more attractive, but are not part of the basic recipe. This collection of liturgical dramas for worship is written, not as frosting, but with the intention that the ...

2498. The Circus and My Faith

Ps 139 · Mt 22:37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

The Bible admonishes us to love God, but it also embellishes on the point. It admonishes us to love God with all the heart that we have, all the soul that we have and all the mind that we have. Our intent in these pages is to land on the third dimension of our love for God, our willingness to love God with our minds. That may strike some as a bit unusual - loving someone with our mind (we usually love with our hearts), but then loving God is a different matter than loving our spouses or our children. ...

2499. Joseph

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

He is the forgotten one of the gospel drama. In reality, Joseph fills an essential role not only in the birth narrative of the Christ, but in the entire story of Jesus. We had better not forget Joseph. If we do, we will be poorer for it, and the Christian message will have lost a noble spirit. JOSEPH’S ROLE A major reason for overlooking Joseph is the historic emphasis on the virgin birth. It is my conviction that if God chose to bring his Son to life by means of miraculous birth, who can say he could not ...

2500. It Takes Two to Preach!

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Pentecost VIII That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil but when the sun rose ...

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