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 276 to 300 of 3082 results

276. Parables Discourse: The “Already and Not Yet” of the Kingdom

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. Jesus’ question and the disciples’ answer often are taken at face value to prove that the disciples in Matthew essentially understand what Jesus teaches them. However, narrative methodology pushes us to ask whose point of view is represented in any particular moment of direct speech (see the sidebar “Characterization and Narrative Authorization” in the unit on 4:1–11). The key issue is whether Matthew communicates that the disciples actually do understand, not ...

277. For The Love of God Is Empowering

Matthew 22:36 -40 · John 4:1-32

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... 't mix, it was sort of like putting cats and dogs together. There was a long standing religious dispute about where they were supposed to worship. They were both stiff-necked and hard-headed and neither group would give in or open up to see the other's point of view. Things were always tense when a Jew and a Samaritan got together. Not only that but men and women didn't mingle in public. Most men didn't have a very high opinion of women. Women were queen of their homes but men were the rulers of everything ...

278. The First Council

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon Aid

CSS

... "Europeans?" The situation is not as esoteric as it might seem; nor is it something confined only to the earliest days of the church. Members of the Antioch congregation recognized the seriousness of the problem. They firmly agreed with Paul’s point of view. They therefore determined to send a delegation to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders on this question in the hope of arriving at an amicable settlement. Paul and Barnabas headed the group, which went up to Jerusalem through Phoenicia ...

279. Together In Christ

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Erskine White

... From beginning to end, this is what Scripture is all about. If you say, "I want to be a Christian, but I don't want to commit myself to the community of Christ," you are saying something which is plainly impossible from the Bible's point of view. If the Biblical argument is not enough for you, consider the lessons of history. History shows that when the church is merely an organization of individual believers, she is impotent and subject to the world. When the church is a community of people bonded together ...

280. Not Far From the Kingdom

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... of external circumstances. Conversion? Possibly, but underneath, human nature remains human nature. In the end, humanity is nature "red in tooth and claw." Is that what we believe? It may come as a surprise, but the Christian gospel brings an altogether different point of view. Human nature can be changed; people do not need to remain the same. In short, we are all "not far from the kingdom of God!" Here are some examples: Nicodemus He was a brilliant member of the Sanhedrin, one very wealthy both ...

281. Peter's Confession, Christ's Prediction

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

... the two healings of blind men: Mark 8:22-26; 10:46-52. Jesus Christ has come to open our eyes! The disciples, however, have eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. Tell the story of the three "passion/resurrection" predictions this time from the point of view of the blindness of the disciples. They hear but they do not understand. They hear Jesus speak of cross and they return to glory again and again. The key glory verses are: Mark 9:5; 9:33-37; 10:35-45. Glory thinking is a fundamental hallmark of ...

282. Achieving Peak Performance

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... that, not very often anyway. We have to write a new sermon every week to preach to the same audience. I am sure there are some liabilities to being a professional speaker. Every profession has its downside, the grunge work it has to do. From a preachers point of view, I can tell you it looks like a pretty soft job. One of the superstars in that professional speakers circuit is a man named Charles Garfield. He is a psychologist from San Francisco. He makes up to 150 speeches a year, he says. Actually, if the ...

283. Personal Requests

1 Corinthians 16:5-18

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... gives a series of admonitions, focusing on the life of the Corinthian congregation as a whole and in relation to particular outstanding figures in the church. In these fairly straightforward statements Paul still registers perceptions and commentary from a theological point of view that gives a deeper significance to the remarks than might at first meet the eye of a reader. 16:13–14 These two verses are a bit of stock paranesis, or plain, direct, and often conventional advice concerning practical issues ...

284. You Figure It Out

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

... actively. During the Vietnam Conflict, this movement grew in the land, supported in part by professing Christians. They argue that to let the government pursue a warlike policy is to participate in murder. We could make a Christian argument for any of these points of view. Wiser folks than any of us here have advocated any and all of these prespectives. There has been no success in attempting to locate one final, true, Christian solution to the question. In fact, the answer to the question, "Is it Christian ...

285. Mom Taught Me to Share

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... telling of the stories of faith from generation to generation. And even after the Bible came to exist in written form, Christians had to encourage one another to study God’s Word in order to be able to address issues from a Christian point of view. Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), liked to say that Disciples were "people of the Book." Campbell said, "Where the Bible SPEAKS, we speak." Certainly actions are important. But there are times when we must ...

286. From Inferiority To Fulfillment

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... were not resolved. He might be renamed, "Forsaken." The boy's parents put up a pretense of middle-class respectability. That complicated the problem. The parents seemed to the boy to be demanding and totally lacking in understanding of his point of view. That complicated the problem further. He felt rootless. When his best friend, also a troubled youth, committed suicide, the boy said that life was meaningless. He experienced an incapacity for real attachment. He said he wanted love, but he rejected ...

287. The Rights of an Apostle

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... overnight to become preachers and teachers. Instead he changed his thinking and his approach to meet them in their world - where they are. That doesn't mean he took on their life style. No, he kept his focus on Christ but instead he tried to experience things from their point of view. To use a more modern example. If we were to try and witness to an alcoholic who does not see any value in their life and has given up, we shouldn't say "just quit drinking and come with me to church". That's part of the end ...

288. Being a Witness

Acts 2:14, 22-32

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... from you as a witness." So much for my meeting. This experience, though, gave me pause as I was pouring over this scripture in preparation for today's sermon. My word was important, but not because I was a pastor. They didn't even know my profession. My point of view wasn't sought after because I was eloquent. They sure didn't want my two cents' worth because I was some sort of collision expert. No, they wanted me to share with them because I was there. I was, in the words of the police officer, a "witness ...

289. Revising The Agenda

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

William G. Carter

... these words to mean that we should put ourselves down for the sake of the gospel, that we should deprive ourselves to the glory of God, even to the point of denying our God-given dignity. In my experience, the people who get most upset about this point of view are smart, capable women, and with good reason. Historically, a lot of women have been subject to a systematic put-down. They have been told they are second-class citizens, that they are expected to serve everybody else. A friend went to pay a call on ...

290. Harnessed Power

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Richard L. Thulin

... out. The party fails and the child is disappointed. But the child's main disappointment is not about the party. Her main disappointment is about the parents who promised, about the mother and father who proved powerless to accomplish what was pledged. From this point of view, things do not get any better in John's version of Pentecost. First, the Spirit is given to the disciples without visible or aural effect. And now, the task given to them seems as inconsequential as the gift. In the other Gospels Jesus ...

291. Will You Be in that Number?

John 11:32-44

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... Jesus to come and heal him. The messengers take days to find Jesus. When they find him they tell Jesus that Lazarus is dying. John reports it in his gospel in a way that lets you know that Jesus is in no hurry to get to Bethany. From John's point of view, this is because Jesus is about to perform a miracle, he is going to raise Lazarus from the dead. So he takes his sweet time getting to Bethany. In the meantime, Lazarus dies. They put him in the tomb, and seal it. Mary and Martha weep for their brother ...

292. Commandments of Conduct

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... common standard of conduct that governs our lives. The country is split into a multiplicity of little groups, each pursuing its own values and setting its own ethical agendas. Frequently there is conflict, each little group trying to gain power for its point of view and scorning the standards and lifestyles of other groups. Vainly, government and media and schools try to return to a basic set of "American values" or "family values," but relativity reigns, and everyone does his or her own thing. A sardonic ...

293. Festus Consults King Agrippa

Acts 25:13-22

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... 20.145–147; War 2.425–429; Juvenal, Satires 6.156ff.; Tacitus, History 2.81; Suetonius, Titus 7). 25:14–16 The royal couple had been with Festus several days when he broached the matter of Paul with Agrippa. Naturally, he recounted the story from his own point of view. The case had come to his attention when the chief priests and elders of the Jews had asked him to condemn Paul. He had refused to do so. This is told in greater detail than in verse 4 and with all the hauteur of the Roman. He ...

294. How Does Your Garden Grow?

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

... have learned in planting our gardens to this passage, it is much easier to get the spiritual point of Christ’s teaching. Apply your experience to the words and you will gain more from what Jesus has to say. Let’s look at this passage from that point of view. Jesus identified three players in the story. The gardener who was the Father; himself, who was the main branch that comes up out of the ground; and the branches, which are you and me. Let’s begin with the gardener, the Father, and his role in the ...

295. Jesus Questioned about Fasting

Matthew 9:14-17

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... . 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 21:9f.). The messianic wedding feast is under way: now is the season for joy, not mourning. The reference to a day when the bridegroom will be taken away anticipates the death of Jesus. Some modern commentators feel this reveals the point of view of the early church (Filson, p. 140; Green, p. 104). The argument is only as strong as one’s conviction that Jesus would not have been able at this point in his ministry to predict his own demise. Two illustrations from everyday life point up ...

296. He Came to His Senses

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Jon L. Joyce

... children. In the discussion, we should not be timid in pointing out that coming to the recognition of our identity is sometimes painful. The good news in this text, of course, is that the father is waiting to bestow our identity upon us again - at least from our point of view, for, from his he’s not removed it - when we come to our senses and recognize that we are what we are because we belong to the family of God and to the family of man (the father’s household). The good news is hilarious! The father ...

297. Prepared Servants

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... absent master or lord. At times in history, both personal and social, it seems that God is absent. It is difficult to understand how events can happen that are so bad if God is loving, powerful, and active in the world. Christians live with a point of view that sees history at long range. They know that the purposes of God cannot be frustrated indefinitely. They wait in patience, ready to act when God's presence again becomes evident. They may see it in their own lives when new events give hope and confirm ...

298. Submission to the Authorities

Romans 13:1-7

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... not be overlooked. He counsels submission on the basis of possible punishment and conscience. Franz Leenhardt draws an important conclusion from this: It is significant that Paul has brought out in this connection the positive character of obedience, because such a point of view at the same time implies the limits of obedience. If obedience is a matter of conscience, then it is no longer servile; when conscience is introduced as the motive of obedience, the latter can no longer be counted on! It becomes ...

299. Judah Unfaithful

Malachi 2:10-16

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... divorce categorically? Not necessarily. There are at least three possible interpretations: (1) “If he hates and divorces” or “If he rejects and sends away” might be an expansive description of any divorce, perhaps esp. from the wife’s point of view. (2) Stuart (“Malachi,” p. 1343) argues that these terms together refer to “aversion divorce,” the kind that is not permitted under the law of Deut. 24:1–4. Deuteronomy permits divorce for cause (“something indecent”); Malachi condemns ...

300. Advent 2

Isaiah 11:1-16, Psalm 72:1-20, Romans 14:1--15:13, Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon Aid

... ought to be evident to us; that if our hearts are prepared for his eschatological coming, they will certainly be perfectly attuned to his incarnational advent right now. The expectation of the eschaton is, from one perspective, realized eschatology; from a second point of view it is future eschatology, while from a third position it is an exercise in what might be called immediate eschatology; he is constantly coming to us in Word and sacrament. All elements of the liturgy for the Second Sunday in Advent ...

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