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 2876 to 2900 of 3285 results

2876. Bittersweet

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... else a gift he believed that person would not value either. To be a good giver, perhaps you first have to be a good receiver. Let me give you another example. My ministry as your pastor and the ministry of this church is funded by people who believe in our ability to continue and carry out Christ’s mission in the world. Do we value those gifts as we should? What in turn do we gift our community? Do we simply turn around the gift we’ve been given and give it away without thought to the needs and the ...

2877. Wicked

Luke 20:9-19, Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God’s garden is created with humankind within it. Humankind is part of God’s estate, and our command to be fruitful and multiply points to the reality that we are one of God’s “plants” in the garden, complete with seed, fruit, and the ability to propagate. The consumption of the fruit of the tree of good and evil allow us to realize not just our relationship to God, but our separateness from God, giving us a “cleverness” that doesn’t always result in wisdom. The word “wicked” created ...

2878. The Gardener

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the rave (once foods were always organic!) and natural farmers have regained their status as the most desirable food producers, we again appreciate the beauty and the sustenance of garden and farm. Gardens we’ve re-discovered, in addition to their food-growing abilities also add beauty and relieve stress. Even city roofs are establishing garden places, “sky gardens” they’re called, where people can get away and feel in touch with the land. Some of the most up and coming jobs in fact today are for ...

2879. Elohim

John 1:29-34, Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in the actions and resurrection of Jesus. While “logos” has multiple meanings, the Hebrew meaning perhaps has even more. It is a rich, diverse term that suggests the embodiment of God in everything that God is and stands for, and including his ability for incarnation and revelation. Just as creation is “spoken” into existence, God “speaks” in the manner of His “being” to His people through the “Word of God.” It’s important to understand that this does not mean literally “words” but ...

2880. Dry As Toast

Matthew 12:15-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... waters, He is showing favor and abundance and promise. This is God’s salvation. In this story, the man is the victim of a group of corrupted officials. He has been outcast due to his ailment and unable to live out his faith. Jesus restores that ability and with it an authentic relationship with God. Just as Jesus withers the tree outside of Jerusalem, he also restores the withered hand of one worthy here.* The right hand is also significant. The right hand is the way you live out your life –the halakhah ...

2881. Apples, Onions, and Cheese

Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , he would ask each person, “What is the state of your soul this week?” No matter what kind of person we are, we are just like that cheese. You can’t change the way you are unless God changes you entirely. And only God has the ability to change who we are inside. Only Jesus knows how to restore to beauty what has been lying dormant or eaten away. Jesus is the Great Restorer. Recently (May 2016) an early painting by Rembrandt was discovered in a New Jersey basement. Called “The Unconscious Patient ...

2882. Are You a Lemming or a Lassie?

Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:22-34, Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:54-59

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... for it. Jesus knows he has limited time to get his messages across, and to set his disciples up truly to understand his theology and God’s mission in the world. He needs them to be ready, loyal, unyielding, sure. And he calls upon their own ability to see the truth for themselves: “Judge for yourselves what is right with God. Don’t look to the Pharisees to tell you. You know what is right!” “Use your head and your heart. Let the Spirit guide you. Be alert. Be ready.” The metaphor Jesus ...

2883. Mending Fences

Luke 16:1-15, Luke 16:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... as king. He does not desire wealth he says. But asks God to bless him instead with the gift of wisdom. And God does. Solomon’s wisdom isn’t a matter just of comprehending the mysteries of the universe (Sophia), but it’s phronis. It’s the ability to make wise moral and ethical decisions, to “act” wisely. It is a situational wisdom –how you “act out” your faith. Wisdom for Solomon (and for the Pharisees) is in choosing God over all other things, in loving God and neighbor, and in seeking the ...

2884. Song of Joy

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that heavenly, brilliant light. What a miracle! And what did those shepherds do? Of course! They sang! Like humans were made to do, they sing. They started proclaiming the birth of the Messiah! --to everyone! Lowly shepherds, who were known for their ability to tell “tall tales,” became the first evangelists. They sang to the townspeople. They sang to the other shepherds. They sang to the downtrodden. They sang to the farmers! They sang to the sheep. Shepherds are always talking to their sheep. They ...

2885. The Birth of the Bridegroom

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... is an act of “nailing down” the characteristics, character, and path in life of the person who carries it. God is so beyond description that naming would be disrespectful. The act of not naming God then is the acknowledgement that God goes far beyond our ability to describe Him wholly. The Messiah is then given the name simply that means, “The Lord is Salvation.” The first part yehu is a name for God, the second a “cry for God to save.” Jesus (a Greek version anglicized of the Hebrew) then is ...

2886. The Order of the Magi

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... are many others. I don’t know about you, but I’d say out of all of those, number four strikes closest to home. I’ve had relatives who have had strokes. You? What discoveries intrigue you? Entice you? Are they ones that offer new abilities for your computer or cell phone? Those new fitness thingies that tell you how healthy you’re getting in your exercise routine? How about those that offer artificial limbs or hearts? Or the new medicine that almost miraculously brings stroke victims back from the ...

2887. Even in Our Hiding

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... perhaps drive out the foreigners, or perhaps draw in the foreigners under an Israeli national rule. They did go to great pains to hide their son, both in Egypt and then in Nazareth, and at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Mary seems confident in her son’s abilities at the Wedding at Cana. But as time goes on, and Jesus declares himself the Son of God, capable of God’s commands, his family fall away. John reminds us that even his brothers didn’t believe in him as he neared the close of his ministry ...

2888. Don't Stop Praying!

Luke 18:1-8, Luke 18:35-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ….as opposed to one who is “married” to God and in covenant relationship with God –in which the relationship is not one of clinical distance but of intimate connection and assured response. Jesus questions the “faith” of his disciples…and others…their ability to maintain faith in an increasingly faithless world. His is an important lesson…and it’s one he repeats frequently. Which comes first? Faith or prayer? This question seems at first like a chicken or egg dilemma. Do we need to have ...

2889. Sim Lev!

Mark 13:1-31, Mark 13:32-37, Matthew 24:1-35, Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... way, so that no matter what challenges come your way, you “know” that person well enough to respect him or her, and to know his or her love for you is dedicated and true, lasting and loyal. Deep knowing is the assurance of presence, and the ability to hold that person in your heart, even when not physically present. Those who have had a loved one pass away know exactly what I mean. That person lives on in your heart in ways that are inexplicable, and undeniable. Love….never dies. “Deep knowing ...

2890. The Promise of Prayer

Luke 1:5-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... he bows in humility before God? No…no, he doesn’t. He says… [let the congregation say what Zechariah said…..] “Nope. Ah…not happening. Yeah, right. I…don’t think so. But good joke. Come on, Gold….I’m old….my wife is far beyond the ability to have a kid…. Be real. That can’t be true. Sorry. Come again…. This isn’t funny.” Can’t you imagine God, at that moment, knowing how happy Elizabeth was over receiving the news that she was pregnant, looking at his Temple priest, who had ...

2891. Peter the Petulant

Mark 14:1-11, Mark 14:12-26, Mark 14:27-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... it was time to step up. And Peter was noticeably nervous –not just nervous, but terribly insecure. Peter had a passion and a love for Jesus, but he also had a stubbornness, a petulance, and an impetuousness that sometimes got in the way of his ability to follow. “Get behind me you tempter!” Jesus would command Peter when he thought Jesus should take the easier way. “Put away your sword!” admonished Jesus when Peter attempted to defend him in the Garden of Gethsemane by slicing off the ear of one ...

2892. The Tragedy of Caiaphas

John 18:1-27 · John 11:45-47 · Matthew 26:36-75

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and the Empire of the Greeks. High Priest John Hyrcanus had a vision of who would be his heir (Josephus). Enoch had a vision of 70 Shepherds. Jacob, Ben Sira, the Book of Jubilees all attest to the vision of High Priests, whose prophetic ability came from the glory of his vestments and whose “wisdom” was used to “enlighten” Israel. These oracles (logion) were on behalf of the people (all of the tribes of Israel were engraved into the stones on his breastplate), as he represents the “people” of ...

2893. Unreasonable Mercy

2 Kings 5:1-27, Matthew 8:5-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ourselves to enter into the realms of “deep faith” –that place where reason and condition end, where doubt are left on the shores, and where our “encounter” with God (or our witness to the encounter of another) goes far beyond, far deeper, than our ability or desire to control it. There—God’s healing resides. There lies deep faith. To pray then for another is to have enough compassion so as to wish God’s mercy upon another without condition, and out of love. It is an “encounter” not ...

2894. The Raising of Paul

Acts 14:8-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... when we bind and bond together. Just think: if human brains and hearts gathered together can accomplish all of this, how much more can God do? How much more can the Holy Spirit accomplish and unleash when we gather together in Jesus’ Name? We may house untapped ability in our hearts and brains, but we also house untapped vitality and power in the Church –it’s called the Holy Spirit! The Church is the most powerful energy source on earth, if only we knew how to “tap into it.” Wait a minute! We do ...

2895. God Powered Impact

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and staff.” All you have to do is go. I will do the rest. For I AM God. God's name is "I Am." Our name is “Ecclesia,” Jesus’s own Church, gathering of God, born of the Spirit, beloved apostles who trust in Him and go out in His ability to heal and change the world. We are named, created, and defined, given our identity, all by our relationship to God, our creator and sustainer. That is the beauty of God's holy name. You are, only because because God is. So be ready church. Live in faith. Immerse in ...

2896. All In

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of sight, of revealing. In Light, we experience the inexplicable God in a tangible kind of way, and we attribute to God all of those qualities that go with burning –power, unpredictability, uncontrollable passion, purity, love and heat, intensity, the ability to consume, blinding unknowability. The light and the mountain metaphor combined (which also suggests the place where God dwells “on high” and where the light is purer and more intense, uninhibited by cloud cover of our minds --a higher plane ...

2897. Song of Promise

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . And her dreams disappeared in the busyness of her life. When emancipation came to people of the south? Some dared to step forward into a new future. Others though…didn’t want to go. They feared the changes that would come from freedom, worried about their ability to care for themselves, to take on the responsibility that others before had borne. Sometimes, we are given great gifts….gifts we long for, gifts we pray for. But when we receive them, we no longer know what to do with them. The Church is a ...

2898. Follow the Light

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Matthew 2:1-12, Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... re right… ……but Jesus can!] Jesus is the Light that can shine within our darkest thoughts, and relieve our darkest fears. Too often, we think we need to shine our own light, solve our own problems, fight our own battles, plan our own future, rely on our own abilities, figure out our failures, accept our defeat. But in Jesus we are never defeated. Because He is always able. We don’t need to rely on our own devices. All we need to do is allow Jesus to shine His light into our soul, and we can follow ...

2899. Emergency!

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God out. We can get in the habit of shutting ourselves in. We can get in the habit of strutting our stuff. When we shut ourselves up, and shore ourselves in –inside our church walls, inside our biases and traditions, inside our own tiny little worlds --we lose our ability to connect with others; and we lose our focus on who God is calling us to be. And who is God calling us to be? What is our identity as followers of Jesus? We are God’s firefighters. Like Jacob, we are the people of God, sent out on ...

2900. Dorcas, Dinah, or Delilah (Who are You?)

Genesis 34:1-31, Judges 16:1-22, Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of “life.” Life is a major theme through this story. Life and resurrection evoked/provoked by sacrificial love. Not just in her name but in the act of resurrection, we see not only Dorcas’s life restored, but her ministry and her life-giving ability rekindled. Like the raising of Peter’s mother in law by Jesus in which she immediately gets up and begins “serving” the people in the room, Dorcas too is raised up in order to continue with her life-giving activity. Life breeds life. Resurrection ...

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