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 2551 to 2575 of 4340 results

2551. In the Darkness of Uncertainty, There Is the Light of Wonder

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... great disaster movies, The Poseidon Adventure. It is still shown on television. It was the story of a ship that was turned upside down by a storm at sea. The movie centered around the surviving passengers searching for a way out of the ship. One of the central characters, the Reverend Scott, found a way to search for an escape from the rising waters within the ship. He climbed up a Christmas tree and tried to get others to follow him up to the next level of the ship. He kept calling them, “Come on up. It ...

2552. The One Thing God Can Not Do

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

King Duncan

... in our relationship with God. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” writes the psalmist (139:7). “I fled from God and God came with me.” What is the one thing God cannot do--God cannot betray God’s own character. God cannot do anything that is unloving. Why? Because God is absolute love. God cannot do anything unholy. Why? Because God is holy. The one thing God cannot do is disown himself, says St. Paul. This is the hope on which our lives are built. If we are ...

2553. Call Waiting

John 1:29-42

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... voice of his own passion. "I have a dream that is deeply rooted in the American dream ... I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." And then all of us will be "free at last." My friends, what are you looking for? What are you looking for? It is by asking and answering that question, with Jesus as your companion, that you will hear God's "call" to you. And then, you, too, will be ...

2554. Lite - Or Light?

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... light comes from the outside in, it only serves its purpose if it burns brightly and pervasively from the inside out. The painter Rembrandt, a strong and committed Christian, used light to reflect his spiritual understandings. Some of his most powerful characters appear to emanate light from within themselves, embracing those around them with warmth and energy. Even in his sketches, like Christ Preaching, the inner radiance of Christ gives definition to the sick, to the children, and to all the others who ...

2555. The Embassy at 6601

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... not talking about short bursts of annoyance or frustration. Rather he is talking about the brooding, pervasive kind of animosity that can eat away at us - a kind of leprosy of the soul. This toxic poison destroys relationships and leads to malicious gossip, to character assassination, and to the destruction of lives and reputations. Now lest we are tempted to excuse ourselves from such ugly behavior, I ask you to reflect on your own lives for a minute. Who was the last person you gossiped about or maligned ...

2556. God, Or the World?

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... in his words, but Jesus is stronger and wins the confrontation. The first great temptation is to gain power. After his forty-day fast in the desert, Matthew tells us that Jesus was hungry. Thus, Satan appeals to the physical dimension of Jesus' character to satisfy his hunger: "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to turn into bread." The devil's challenge seems reasonable under the circumstances, but Jesus turns the tables on Satan and responds, citing the scriptures, "One does not live ...

2557. Transformed in Christ

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... only see, but fully believe, that the reflection we view is a child of God. We need to believe in ourselves and we can with the assistance of another. A good example of such transformation is found in the story of Dulcinea, one of the principal characters in the popular Broadway musical, Man of la Mancha. The audience learns that Don Quixote, the chief protagonist, lives with many illusions, most especially his idea that he is a knight errant who battles dragons in the form of windmills. At the end of the ...

2558. Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired?

Matthew 9:35-10:8

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

"Heal the sick," Jesus commanded (Matthew 10:8). His orders leave our knees knocking and us feeling inadequate. In Edward Albee's play, The Death of Bessie Smith, a character rages, "I'm sick! Sick of everything in this fly-ridden world! I am sick of waking up, I am tired of the truth, I am tired of lying about the truth, tired of my skin! I want out, I want off this world!" Now, that, my friend, is desperate ...

2559. God, the Enemy

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... poem says, "bloody, but unbowed." For Henley, "Invictus" was an expression of courage in the face of life's difficulties, not a license to kill. Henley had a long, close friendship with the great author, Robert Louis Stevenson, who in fact, based part of the character of Long John Silver in Treasure Island on his one-footed, hearty friend. Stevenson wrote of Henley's poem that, "[Henley] wanted me to understand that 'I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul,' not my teachers, family, friends ...

2560. Two Harvests

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... itself around nearby plant roots. So, in plucking up the cheat one inadvertently plucks up the wheat as well. So the wise farmer, though vexed, determines to "let them both grow together until harvest" (v. 30). This means Christ's kingdom has a mixed character until judgment day. Jesus had his Peter but he also had his Judas. The early church had Barnabas but also Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). We have our sheep, but also our wolves in sheep's clothing. Paul warned the Ephesian elders of false brethren ...

2561. The Cry for Help

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... of David." Her trust is not placed in some general idea of deity but in the God of Israel and his Messiah. She continued to trust in him and his ability to help even when it looked as if her appeal were going to be turned down rudely. God's character is fundamentally one of love and mercy. That is stated often in the Old Testament and is revealed most fully in the life of Christ. The demands of the law and divine judgment are realities but they are not the deepest truth about God. When the law convicts you ...

2562. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... boldness of Christ that either he is right or wrong. Either he is telling us the truth or he is lying or deluded. Yet - amazing thing - Jesus taught with such authority, his lifestyle never contradicted his words. Merciful love, sterling character, and extraordinary miracles accompanied his utterances. The Witness Of History In 1896, after fifteen centuries, Athens renewed the Olympic games, thus fulfilling the dream of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France. You can imagine how proud the Greeks were to host ...

2563. History: His Story

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... my Jeep!" That's when I stood up, and grinning, said to David, the wee three-year-old, "Oh, it's yours now, is it?" Startled, he jumped up and tried to push me away, yelling, "Go away! You can't come here!" In that childish outburst we have the character of humanity. History bears it out over and over again as God sends his "rent collectors" to the tenants to collect what is due, to remind them of who they are and who God is, and we treat them shamefully and send them away empty-handed. Isaiah was sawn in ...

2564. Do Politics and Religion Mix?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... get off the bicycle and leave government to others, and we soon find our politic godless and wrong in its direction. President James Garfield's words from 1877 still ring true. "Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the ...

2565. Influence!

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... Chaucer, writing in The Canterbury Tales, observed that preachers and roosters have a lot in common. They are both given to strutting and preening themselves in public and crowing about the same hour each day! Oh, how self-important we can become - like Shakespeare's character who shouts, "I am Sir Andrew Augercheek. And when I speak let no dog bark!" Jesus reminds us only God is great. The rest of us are equals. In verse 8, he says, "You are all brothers." And in verses 11 and 12, twice he mentions ...

2566. What If the End Is Near?

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... their oil there might not have been enough for their lamps to light the way and for the feast itself. Why should the five's irresponsibility render the other five's effectiveness invalid also? There are some things you cannot share, you know. You can't share character or courage or inner peace to someone in a crisis, however much they weep and beg of you. You cannot share the thousands of facts you've learned about God over the years, you cannot share all this in one hour or one week or one year. Such ...

2567. Gross Personality Disorder

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , "Does the church get more or less than it's share of the 3 to 5%?" Let's not answer that this morning. Instead, let's face what Paul is facing in the text this morning: there are some distinctive quirks that can create a unique character flaw within faith communities. I call it "GPD." GPD stands for Gross Personality Disorder. Why is it so many Christians exhibit GPD? This GPD complex may not be expressed as malevolent evil. But the spiritual damage this disorder can spread is grim and growing. Let me ...

2568. Live and Learn

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... done so, they want to learn everything he has to teach them about life in the kingdom of God now and forever, and they're constantly with him to learn this. Disciples of Jesus are those learning to be like him" (Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ [Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2002], 241). Are you yearning to be like him this morning? Are you learning to be like him this morning?

2569. I Like Brussels Sprouts, but...

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with these tax collectors and sinners, how could he have performed these divine acts of healing? The Pharisees in today's text are horrified that Jesus was associating with the "wrong sort" of people. Not only did he speak with these shady characters, but he invited much more serious personal ritual pollution by actually dining with them. The laws of kashrut (kosher), the laws of commerce, and the laws of purity - all established a very high fence around the "acceptable" and the "unacceptable," between ...

2570. God's Resolutions

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... bottles above their heads at the stroke of midnight (guaranteeing a New Year in which one must walk carefully!). Danes jump off chairs at the stroke of midnight, jumping into the New Year, not lumbering or loitering their way into it. Italians (again, somewhat in character) throw dishes and pots out their windows for good luck in the New Year. What if Christians were to celebrate the New Year by letting God make the resolutions, both about your past and your future: With regard to your past: God resolves to ...

2571. But Wait! There's More!

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... ,” he would say, “But this method doesn’t work with a tomato.” Arthur was parodied by a series of late night comics starting with John Belushi’s Samurai Warrior, but he earned himself a place in the Pop Culture Hall of Fame when the comics character Opus the Penguin was portrayed as a helpless and addicted buyer of everything Arthur offered for sale. (1) I can’t help but wonder if, as Arthur Schiff breathed his dying breath, he didn’t hear a voice saying to him, “But wait! Arthur, There’s ...

2572. The FUD Club: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you think of one example in history of a newspaper headline that reads “Things are just keep getting better and better” or “Everything is perfect and heaven is here.” Even Grimm’s fairy tales only offered a one-generation promise that the characters “lived happily ever after.” But in spite of the “bad news” headlines, there was hope and promise for the future. Can anyone else besides me remember growing up with duck-under-the-desk-drills? How about headlines about assassinations (JFK, MLK ...

2573. Follow That Star (New Year's Day)

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Christians, we follow Jesus' star because Jesus the star is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The opposite of life is not necessarily death. It is also an unlived life. Jesus calls us to a LIVED life. A five-pointed, five-dimensional life. Think of what happens when a character in a movie jumps in the back of a waiting cab and yells at the driver "Follow that car!" You're now on a journey you don't know where it will take you. You will go on side-roads, alleyways, etc. That you never expected and didn't ...

2574. From Black Holes to Red Holes

Luke 18:18-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . I love to eavesdrop while their electronic selves slip and slither down impossible snowboarding courses. It's always an education. The other day Thane started shouting, "How can this guy keep saying 'gravity is my friend!'?" For some reason the character Thane had chosen would perform astounding 720's, egg-flips, flying squirrels, grind-the rails, and catch air – does anyone here understand this language? – land the impossible and then hoot out "gravity is my friend!" Even grade-schoolers with no ...

2575. If the Shoe Fits, Wear It

Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus calls nurses in their white crepe soles, he calls them to heal. · When Jesus calls CEOs in their Gucci loafers, he calls them to lead. · When Jesus calls moms and dads in their fuzzy slippers, he calls them to nurture. · When Jesus calls children in their cartoon-character sneakers, he calls them to skip and jump and dance. That's what Jesus does to you and to me. Jesus calls us in terms we can relate to. Jesus calls us to use our God-given talents, no longer for our own devices but to serve God ...

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