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 2576 to 2600 of 4340 results

2576. Jedi Christians

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , postmodern version of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Once again, all us "kids" long to be Jedi Knights empowered by the Force, mysterious and wise, armed with way-cool light-sabers, and wrapped in swirling cloaks. Who wouldn't find such characters attractive? Everything they do seems so galactically important, so star-shatteringly significant. And they seem to do all they do with such utter confidence and ease, a style the Renaissance called, in a wonderful Italian word, "sprezzatura." The truth is, these ...

2577. Someone to Watch over Me

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... -not disappointment. Throughout Luke's gospel the writer most often refers to God as "Father." The parental image Luke paints is not a stern, distant, condemning patriarch. In today's gospel text, the so-called Prodigal Son parable develops the character of a loving, compassionate father beyond all expectation, beyond all reasoning. This father breaks all social/cultural rules, all standards and norms of this day or our own. The only constant that motivates, that validates, that vindicates this father's ...

2578. The Ultimate Happy Meal

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to the stomachs as well as the spirits of his disciples and followers. The straight-laced, rigidly religious Sadducees, Pharisees, and Scribes who took offense at Jesus' less-than-rigorous lifestyle often pointed to his eating habits as evidence of his dissolute character and indulgent habits: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:2). The story of God's relationship with humanity is littered with apple cores and bread crusts, soup pots and oil flagons. Food has led humanity astray even as ...

2579. The Wussification of the Church

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... have been biting hands, even hands that feed us, instead of reaching out our hands to get them dirty washing feet and cleaning sores and drying eyes? It seems we'd rather pay the piper than pay the price and pay the consequences of our faith. A character in Neil Simon's The Play Goes On says, "If you can go through life without experiencing pain, you probably haven't been born yet." If a Christian can go through life without experiencing pain, one wonders whether they've really been born again yet. Imagine ...

2580. Is God Showing through You?

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... liberates others." --Nelson Mandela, 1994 inaugural speech, as reprinted in The African American Pulpit. One of the greatest living writers in the world today is Oscar Hijuelos. In his classic Mr. Ives' Christmas (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), Hijuelos writes of one of his characters: "Each day he awaited a slick of light to enter the darkness". There is a world out there looking for some light slicks. Will you let your light shine? Will you be a slick of light that brightens the corner where you are ...

2581. ASAP

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... so you can read it on your phone. The opening, "Our Father, who art in heaven," has been shortened to "dad@hvn" and "hallowed be thy name" is now "urspshl." The entire prayer has been shortened enough to fit into SMS's limit of 160 characters. A spokesperson calls the SMS prayer an experimental form of virtual worship. When Jesus was the most stressed, the most pressed by the crowds, the most frustrated by his disciples' ignorance, most abused by the sinfulness and cruelty of humanity that's when Jesus ...

2582. Building Bridges While Getting Shot at from Both Shores

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... him, offered as his defense the fact that he had not been given the Geneva Convention statutes on prisoners' rights until after the hooding and harassment. The picture of this innocent, fresh-faced young man defending his actions revealed another supposed facet of his character glinting in the camera lights was a large, gold cross around his neck. Once again, images of violence and images of faith are linked together in the public eye. Religious people have a lot to answer for at the bar of history for our ...

2583. The Four Marks of Failure

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . The church is made up of these children of the Kingdom. The church isn't made up of employees of a corporation. Living at the height of the Roman Empire, the apostle Paul had plenty of political, hierarchical, and civic organizational models from which to describe the character and function of the church. But Paul chose to use the analogy of a body an organic unity in which all facets and functions look out for the care and well-being of the whole. When there is a sliver in the foot, the whole body stoops ...

2584. Can You Jump for Joy?

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.' But the sorrow of God, like the anger of God, is his temporary response to a fallen world. That sorrow will be banished forever from his heart on the day the world is set right. Joy is God's basic character. God is the happiest being in the universe. Joy is what makes Christmas. Each of us may look to some annual family tradition to trigger that joy. But the trees, the carols, the cookies, the presents, the parties, are only various expressions of a single experience ...

2585. What Happened to the Leftovers?

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... will take these leftovers with them as they continue on their journey. No special group receives this bread. It is a open gift for all. So, what happened to the leftovers? Journalist Elizabeth Jarnagin, a Drew University Ph.D. student in history, creates an imaginary character Esther who was there for the feeding of the 5000 and struggles with what to do with the leftovers. Jesus was and is a gracious host and gracious hosts have a way of making guests feel like family. My favorite party hosts are the ones ...

2586. Attics, Basements, Closets

Psalm 130:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... your body starts to let you down and you are tempted to find shortcuts to propping it up. Pray for Bill Bennett's gambling addiction that he may continue to remind us that social ills are not just caused by bad environment, but also by bad character. And pray for the person next to you. . . . I shall never forget the post-game press conference with Sammy Sosa after the corked bat incident. With proclaiming that his use of that practice bat was an accident, with bowed head and soft voice Sosa apologized to ...

2587. The Most Important Top Ten List

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and think they offer the be-all and end-all for human achievement. We put them on our walls and even in our judicial chambers. But in reality God is giving us nice soft, mushy oatmeal. The easiest stuff that we can get down with our baby-teeth character and infantile spirit. The Ten Commandments aren't representative of the best we can be. They are representative of the least we can expect from each other and still remain human. We aren't anywhere near ready to see the whole breakfast cereal long aisle of ...

2588. Patience

James 5:7-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... dilemma for anyone of any age. Have one marshmallow now--or delay gratification and get two. Kids would develop all kinds of strategies to enable them to wait--sing songs, tell themselves stories, play with their fingers. What is most amazing is the impact this one character trait displayed at the age of four had on the lives of those who were part of this experiment. A Stanford University research team tracked these children for many years. Those who were able to wait as four-year-olds grew up to be more ...

2589. Wrestling for a Blessing

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

James McCormick

... from seminary, all starry-eyed and idealistic, I ran headlong into a social revolution that threatened to chew me up and spit me out. Everything I believed in was called into question. All my relationships were tested. My foundations were shaken. My whole life and character as a Christian was at stake. Confusing? Frightening? Painful? You bet it was. But it was also a time of remarkable growth. Never have I felt closer to God. And I learned some things about myself and about the Christian gospel that I will ...

2590. John 1:43-51

John 1:43-51

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of today's text. As an Israelite without deceit Nathanael now receives the gift of divine blessing as declared in Psalm 32:2: "Blessed is the man . . . in whose spirit is no deceit." Nathanael responds by asking Jesus how he knows about his character. Jesus' response reveals even more miraculous insight. Jesus' admission that he saw Nathanael under the fig tree impresses Nathanael far more than such a simple insight might seem to warrant. Jesus' vision of Nathanael ("under the fig tree" is often surmised to ...

2591. Luke 2:1-14

Luke 2:1-7

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

No doubt, Luke's infancy narrative is everyone's favorite Christmas read. Luke knows how to weave a story, providing intimate details, describing emotions, juxtaposing dramatic characters and events. Can you imagine any Christmas pageant without Luke's narrative? Notice how Luke's text skillfully moves Mary and Joseph from their residence in Nazareth to the important, holy city of David, Bethlehem. In today's text vs. 8 introduces yet another Davidic component. David was himself a ...

2592. A Word of Hope for a Hard World

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... the wise men were not returning to give him directions to the newborn king’s birthplace, Herod would give orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under. That is perfectly consistent with his character. As writer Frederick Buechner so beautifully put it, “For all his enormous power, he knew there was somebody in diapers more powerful still.” The scriptures are realistic about the human condition. There are evil people in this world. We would rather that this ...

2593. Our Sin Against God

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... in these verses is not intended to be the figure of Satan. He has been created by the Lord, and his only distinguishing characteristic is that he is more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God has made (v. 1). He actually is just a character that the writer of this tenth century B.C. text uses to tell the story of all human beings. The serpent engages the woman in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer has called the first conversation about God. That is, the serpent leads the woman to step outside of her ...

2594. Seeking a Shepherd King

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... suspense for the reader. One by one Jesse calls his seven sons to pass in front of Samuel. The first son, Eliab, is so handsome that Samuel thinks surely he must be the chosen one. But God tells Samuel to judge, not by outward appearance, but by the heart and character of the man. So the next six do not pass the test. Is there then no one left? Well, there is an eighth young son who is out tending the sheep. A messenger is sent to fetch the as-yet-unnamed youth, while they all wait for the young man ...

2595. Cha-cha-cha Christians: The Dance that Advances

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... What are their characteristics? *** “Christian theology provides the basic skills we need to step foot on the dance floor of faith and start dancing. But theology cannot tell us about everything we’ll experience when we do. The eschatological character of Christian faith orients us toward the edges of the dance floor, which keep receding ever farther from view and inviting us to explore uncharted territory with creativity and innovation. The courage for such exploration comes from the restless energy ...

2596. Advent 1

Matthew 24:36-51, Romans 13:8-14, Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122:1-9

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