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 2901 to 2925 of 4653 results

2901. Kairos Commitments

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

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... and convoluted as this congregation was back then. But then again it made no sense for me to uproot my family, drag my husband away from a job he enjoyed, in order to come to a conflicted, debt-ridden flock that some clergy told me not to touch with a ten-foot pole. Rationally, it didn't make a lot of sense. But spiritually, it felt absolutely right. I knew that the possibilities in me and the possibilities in this gifted, ripe community of faith were being connected by the inbreaking power of God. And ...

2902. Visions and Voices

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... is the slow plodding - through the daily trenches of faithfulness that truly connect us to God. Our gospel story today ends with a very human Jesus - the glow completely gone. Once more he stands alone, his feet still dusty, his eyes still tired. Gently he touches the disciples and encourages them to rise up. The Greek word here is "resurrection." Yes, Jesus gently resurrects the disciples this side of the grave, so that they can travel with him down into the valley - down into the reality of the way things ...

2903. Transformed in Christ

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... that even my wife had not seen me as I truly am. I had been playing games with her, my children, and many others - never letting anyone know who I truly am. The worse thing I discovered, however, was that I really didn't know myself. I was not in touch with my feelings and who I really am. As this was being discovered this weekend, I died over and over again." He continued, "It was painful as a middle-aged man to discover that I did not know myself. I am convinced that one needs to go through the death ...

2904. Jesus Transforms the Darkness into Light

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... David Johnson was all ready, he thought, for his Easter sermon. Having only graduated from the seminary three months prior to taking his present position at the Maple Street Community Church, he possessed all the latest and most interesting theology. He made the final touches to his sermon on Holy Saturday morning and outlined its content to his wife. He told her that his sermon was based on theology of Paul Tillich and spoke of the resurrection as a symbol that the estrangement from our authentic self was ...

2905. God Never Gives Up on Anyone

John 14:15-21

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... been at all. You called, you shouted and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me and I burned for your peace. A more contemporary example of God's pursuit of our soul's is found in the life of the famous British poet Francis Thompson. Thompson was a drug addict on the streets of London, but a man with great talent as a ...

2906. Reevaluating Our Mission for Christ

John 17:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... cures, of mind, spirit, and body to show God's love for the people. He never missed an opportunity to assist another, especially those who demonstrated faith. The woman with the hemorrhage (Matthew 9:18-22) believed that all she needed to do was touch Jesus' clothing and she would be healed. Her confidence was rewarded with Jesus' words, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." In another instance Jesus cured the Roman centurion's servant because of his trust: "Truly I tell you, in no one ...

2907. Pentecost! Slow ... and Sure!

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... been, Thomas?" the disciples ask in frustration. "We have seen the Lord! He has come. He is risen! He has ministered to us his peace and gladness and commissioned us to go in his name!" And Thomas would have none of it. Grouchily he says, "Unless I see, unless I touch him, I won't believe!" It's still that way today, isn't it? There are those who continually absent themselves from the gatherings of the body here who later pay us a visit and then wonder what on earth is going on. "Why are you so glad when I ...

2908. How to Motivate People

Matthew 10:1-42, Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... to notice the next step in the process. After Christ gave himself to Matthew. He began to see to it that Matthew gave himself to others. Those who were ministered to became ministers. Takers became givers. Verse 19 in our text says that Jesus went to touch a child who had just died, and the disciples went with him, Matthew included. They went to share in the ministry. Here again is where we run afoul of the discipleship process in today's Christianity. People don't want to assume responsibility today. We'd ...

2909. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... and for all my basic relationships like Jesus Christ! Philosophical Epistemology Epistemology is the philosophy of knowing. It asks the question, "How do I know something is true?" And basically, it works out to four means: 1. Experience: "I know fire burns because I touched it." 2. Reason: "I know 2+2=4 because it is reasonable." 3. Authority: "I know man walked on the moon because NBC News told me so." 4. Revelation: "I know there is a God because my conscience bears witness." The interesting thing about ...

2910. Do You Get It?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... Why was the cross necessary? It was to deal with the problems of sin and evil in the world - really to deal with them and not simply to cover them up. It was to deal with the problem of sin for us. Sin means being out of touch with God, having our lives centered on the wrong thing, something which distorts our understanding of ourselves and our relationships with others. That is what ultimately leads to the kind of oppression that the Jews of Jesus' time experienced, to the poverty and sense of helplessness ...

2911. God, The Venture Capitalist?

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... four is an equation of reasonability. The Bible says, "The wisdom from above is ... open to reason" (James 3:17). The discipline of apologetics is the use of reason to defend the faith. Experience is a second means of knowledge. I know fire burns because I touched it! The blind man Jesus healed was being harassed by the Pharisees over Christ restoring his sight. He defended the incident by appealing to experience. "This one thing I know. I was blind, but now I see" (John 9:25). Then there is human authority ...

2912. A Life Well Lived

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... Paul knew three things. First of all, he knew God had forgiven him. The slate had been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. Two, he knew he was a new person. The old Paul, or Saul as he was known then, was dead. This is critical. When Christ touched Paul he made him a new person. His motivation was different. His heart was different. His orientation was different. This was the man who wrote, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging ...

2913. The Greatest Gift

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... opening prayers, which was then followed by simple, clear instructions about the crosses that were distributed to the participants as they entered the chapel. The sermon for this EPIC worship experience consisted of different members of the body rising to read something that touched their soul from the cross-box they took out of the manger. Some people read a Bible verse. Some read a quote. Some described a picture drawn on the cross. Most read the center-of-the-cross Christmas memory or story that had ...

2914. The Man in the Tree

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... in Washington, D.C. Some of you have probably visited that memorial. A great slab of black marble rises out of the ground. It too bears the names of those who paid the ultimate price. Often you will see family members or former comrades in arms reach out and touch a name. It is important for us not to think of the war dead as merely a number--31,379--but as individuals with their own personal dreams, people they loved and people who loved them. God never thinks in numbers. That’s what Jesus was saying to ...

2915. Los Posadas

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... told to the congregation (for more see Diana Klein, "Prepare the Way," The Tablet, 26 November 2005, 18). In their recent book on Seasons of Grace (2003), Alan Jones and John O'Neil tell how "St. Francis of Assisi found in the humble birth of Jesus a touching image of God's hospitality. God, the universal host, thought Francis, came as a vulnerable guest into the world. He saw the crib in the stable as a sign of God embracing our poverty - both the literal poor and the poverty of spirit that makes us ...

2916. Don't Fit In, Fit Together

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... called discipleship that posts no-trespassing barbed-wire signs around us and tell you to stay in and others to stay out. Jesus is calling us this morning to fit together into the body of Christ so that we can go out into the world and be his voice, his touch, his love to a world that's hungry and hurting. We don't ask you to come here to church to fit in. We ask you to come here to church to fit together. We don't ask you this morning to try to fit in God into your life ...

2917. Jesus Calls for Treen Christians

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... relieved by mustard's active properties. A mustard "plaster" or poultice - in which a mashed-up, mushy mess of mustard would fill a bandage wrapped around the chest - served as a powerful, if pungent cure. Mustard acts to increase blood circulation wherever it touches the skin. This is why in addition to using mustard plasters to loosen up a congested chest, our ancestors would also sprinkle mustard flour in their socks to help prevent frostbite in their toes. But in today's gospel text, when Jesus tells ...

2918. Cross Purposes

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . " Jesus accepted dinner invitations and sat down to banquets with those who were considered sinful, unclean, and unfit. " " Jesus reached across the barrier between the diseased, the outcasts, and drew them back into health and wholeness with his healing touch. " " Jesus bridged the yawning gulf between social and economic classes of his day. " Crossing-over boundaries is risky. It often puts us at cross-purposes with those in authority. When crossing from the Mexican border into the heat-blasted desert ...

2919. Choose Four

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to life. Here are the words of Frederick Buechner describing his life on Rupert Mountain: "Listen to your life. See it for he fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and in the pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch and taste your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." - As quoted by Kenneth I. Pargament in "Tapping The Power of the Future," Spirituality & Health, January/February 2005 ...

2920. The Difference between Happiness and Joy

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . In today's epistle text Peter is concerned with spelling out the most basic building blocks of Christian faith. Today's passage enumerates what makes the way of Christ distinct, unique, and worth the hardships a 1st century confessing Christian was sure to endure. Peter touches on all the biggies: " that God alone is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; " " that through faith in Christ all are offered a new birth; " " that we will receive our inheritance in heaven when at the eschaton all God's plans are ...

2921. Night Vision

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the faithful can trust in the future. Post-resurrection faith has given the apostles a new kind of vision, faith-vision, the clear sight provided by the Holy Spirit and the faith it enables them to hold. Here are a couple of Night Vision stories that have deeply touched me recently. You are familiar with one, most likely. The other one is one of those early and dark stories that you miss if you're not awake. We live in a culture where vision is another name for how to get rich. For some vision has resulted ...

2922. What God Requires of Us

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , is often as obsessed as the rest of our culture with the earmarks of success and the trappings of wealth, rather than with holiness and wisdom, justice and love, humility and grace. A church that is consumed with buildings and budgets is a church that has lost touch with its spiritual depths. Just as you think you're better than you are, the church thinks it's better than it is. It's as easy for the church to be mesmerized by materialism as the rest of our culture. The bigger the building, the grander ...

2923. A Brand New Church Out of an Old Brand

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... being we can confront the radically new, the never-before-considered, the densest ethical jungle, with a simple set of guidelines. · Does it sound like Jesus? · Does it smell like Jesus? · Does it see like Jesus? · Does it hear like Jesus? · Does it touch like Jesus? · Is the spirit of Christ crucified incarnated in you as you make your choices? The continuity of spirit is the heart of any successful brand design. Each of Christ's churches is a kind of product that must successfully continue the heart ...

2924. Conversion to Christ

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... to restore people to wholeness. The Gospels recount how he raised to life Lazarus (John 11:1-44), the widow of Naim's son (Luke 7:11-17), and Jairus' daughter (Luke 5:21-24, 35-43). Numerous times Jesus cured the physical ailments of those who sought his healing touch: the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19), Bartimaeus, the blind man (Mark 10:46-52), and many cases of paralytics (Matthew 9:2-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26). Jesus was also the one who restored hope and dignity to those in despair. He converted the ...

2925. Four Cornerstones

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and assured him that he now had a choice between degenerating into the grave or living. Weeks later he received a letter of six words: "Dear Lloyd, I've decided to live." – Jim McGuiggan, Jesus, Hero of Thy Soul: Impressions Left by the Savior's Touch. West Monroe, LA: Howard Press, 1998, 56. The jail time logged by Peter and John in today's text was only the tiniest earnest of what obstacles, incarcerations, physical abuses, and ridiculing that lay ahead of them. But the gift of the Holy Spirit which had ...

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