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 3026 to 3050 of 3082 results

3026. Holy Goat!

Leviticus 16:1-34, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Hide and seek is everyone’s favorite game as a child. And as an adult. What irony that children play and pretend to hide, then are delighted to be discovered and come out of hiding. But adults hide for real! And for very different reasons! We may not physically hide. But can we emotionally and spiritually hide! And we have no intention of being discovered! For any number of reasons, we adults find it extremely hard to allow anyone to discover the deep reaches and recesses of our souls. We adults find it ...

3027. The Pardoning of Jezebel

Mark 7:24-30, 1 Kings 9:10-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

One of the most traumatic practices of some churches of the past (and sadly, in some cases, the present) is shunning. In fact, shunning today might be considered a form of emotional abuse. Shunning occurs when someone is labeled as having transgressed the rules and guidelines of the church in some way. When someone in the church is “shunned,” they are stamped as a sinner and dismembered from the body. Until he or she repents (if at all), he or she is thrust out of the faith community and essentially “ ...

3028. Star Maker

Matthew 2:1-12, Psalm 19:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In 1889, the artist Vincent Van Gogh, while enduring one of the saddest and loneliest times of his career, looked out of his iron-barred sanatorium window and painted the masterpiece we know today as “Starry, Starry Night.” Today, that painting is named his “magnum opus.” He wrote in a letter prior in 1888 that the “great starlit vault of heavens is what we commonly call God.” I can’t help but believe that for the struggling artist, that star-filled nighttime view of Saint-Remy-de-Provence was for Van Gogh ...

3029. The First Songs of Christmas

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:18-20) Everyone loves Christmas carols! As the seasons of Advent and Christmas approach, and we begin to hear those familiar songs on the radio, in stores, on loudspeakers, in our worship, our hearts leap a little for joy. Let’s face it. Carols instill joy in ...

3030. Daddy's Love

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

Some first graders were asked to draw a picture of God in their Sunday school class. Their finished products contained some interesting theology. One child depicted God in the form of a brightly colored rainbow. Another presented him as an old man coming out of the clouds. An intense little boy drew God with a remarkable resemblance to Superman. The best entry, however, came from a little girl. She said, “I didn’t know what God looked like, so I just drew a picture of my daddy.” (1) Today is Father’s Day. ...

3031. God’s HS Smart App is Always Watching

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In the 1991 movie, “Defending Your Life,” lives of the deceased are examined in a court-like setting to see how they have successfully overcome their difficulties in life, especially their fears. The movie suggests that life on earth is a kind of practice ground that teaches us how to successfully navigate ourselves, our responsibilities, and our relationships. While the movie is fictional, it does sound strikingly close to some of Jesus’ most famous parables, particularly the parables of the vineyard. In ...

The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.

George Berkeley

Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment; and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax for the journey.

Harold B. Melchart

3034. A Cure for Complainers

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

King Duncan

A man goes to a diner every day and he orders lunch. Afterward the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The old man replies, “It was good, but you could give me a little more bread.” So, the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man two slices of bread this time. Afterward he asks, “How was your meal today?” “It was good,” the man replies, “but you could give me a little more bread.” So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man four slices of bread. “How was your meal ...

3035. How Often Do You Change The Rope?

Illustration

Brett Blair

All of us sometimes reach the breaking point emotionally. There is a monastery in Thessaly Greece called The Meteora. It's perched high up a 3,000 foot cliff and at one time was accessible only by a terrifying ride in a rope basket. The basket is pulled with a single rope by several strong men, perspiring under the strain of the fully loaded basket. A tourist who visited the site got nervous halfway up the cliff when he noticed that the rope was old and frayed. With a trembling voice he asked the monk who ...

3036. Jesus' Advance Man

John 1:6-8; 19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

I wonder if you have ever given any thought to the extent of the preparations involved when the President of the United States makes a visit to a local community? A former agent with the FBI tells about some of those preparations. “A team of Secret Service personnel checks out every building along the route he will travel and near every place he will be appearing,” he says. “They go over each building with a fine toothcomb from roof to basement in their efforts to prepare for his safety. We often refer to ...

3037. Beyond Fairness

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Roy Howard

I’ve run enough long-distance races to take joy in this passage — including the 200 mile Ragnar Relay; not the first shall be last; that has never been my burden, but the last shall be first. Now that gives me hope! As well it should even though I’m confident this parable has absolutely nothing to do with running or any other athletic endeavor, unless one considers gardening to be such. It should be noted too, for the sake of honesty, that I may well be misreading the parable by taking hope instead of ...

3038. The Clues Are There

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

Three of the programs embedded in the popular “Masterpiece Mystery” television series on Public Television are set in the university town of Oxford, England. Each episode, in any and all of the three series, begins in the same way. A string of seemingly unrelated incidents follow, one after another, in rapid succession. The viewer is left to wonder whether what’s been presented is not simply window dressing before the ‘real’ story begins. A typical episode might begin something like this. We see a young ...

3039. Celebrating the Virtue of Humanity

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Many years ago on one very bitterly cold evening in Northern Virginia, an older man waited for a ride across the Potomac River. The wait seemed endless; his body became numb and stiff from the frigid north wind. As he waited, he heard the faint steady rhythm of approaching horses. Anxiously he watched as several horsemen rounded the bend. He let the first one pass without an effort to get his attention. Then another passed by and still another. Finally, the last rider neared the spot where the old man sat ...

3040. Homecoming

Hosea 14:1-3a

Sermon

Will Willimon

When my mother died, for the longest time thereafter, I had a dream. Same dream almost every night. In my dream, I was home, in the house where I grew up, the same house which my mother had designed and had built. My dreams were memorable, even startling for me, for I hardly ever dream, or if I do, I can never remember my dreams. But in these dreams of home, everything was so vivid, so particular, so specific as to be unnerving. Sometimes I would be in the basement, dragging out the old lawn mower to cut ...

3041. Will the “Real” Jesus Please Stand Up

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Who is the “real” Jesus? How hard is it for us to see Jesus as a real person who felt sadness, happiness, grief, joy, who experienced laughter, who joked with his disciplines, who got angry, who could wrestle with his own pain? And yet, if we don’t recognize this Jesus, we lose the gift that God gave to us in the reality of the fully human (not just divine) Son. Watching the way Jesus handles his own struggles, reveals his own humanness, can help us to recognize and accept our own. Today, nearly every ...

3042. Preparing for the King

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

Even if we dread deadlines, most of us will admit that we work better when we have a deadline staring us in the face. But few of us have to face the kind of deadline the White House staff does when they welcome a new President to D.C. Kate Anderson Brower has written a New York Times best-selling book titled The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House which shares a behind-the-scenes look at all the work that goes into the Presidential transition. There are only about 90-100 residential ...

3043. It's A Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever said something really dumb? Have you ever opened your mouth and stood there one legged like a flamingo, with all the grace of an elephant on roller skates with your other foot stuck firmly in your mouth? I remember one time when I did. About ten years ago I was serving the little United Methodist Church in Eureka, Texas. We were in the middle of building a new Sanctuary. The pews from the old Sanctuary were solid oak and over a hundred years old. Money was tight and we couldn't afford new ...

3044. For the Love Of God is Forgiving

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

The headlines, news reports and newspaper stories all make it very clear that there is something out of kilter in our world. Whether you agree with its content or not, the crime bill is the biggest of its kind. It's because dealing with crime is on everyone's mind. Who'll be the next victim of a drive by shooting or a drug problem. Who'll be the next victim of gang violence or a drunk driver. While the Peace Talks are going on in the Middle East between Israel and Jordan and the Palestinians, the fighting ...

3045. It's a Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

3046. Listen!

Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

Sermon

King Duncan

Where are you most likely to get important news and information that you rely on each day? From a print newspaper? From an app on your phone? From social media? From a cable channel? What about from a man or woman standing in the middle of your neighborhood and shouting out the latest headlines? Not likely. If you’d lived about 1,000 years ago in England, you would have gotten the latest news and headlines from a town crier. The job of town crier began officially in the year 1066. What happened in 1066? ...

3047. God Doesn’t Always Behave Like We Think He Should

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

In some ways life hasn’t treated you like you wish it had, right? All the childhood dreams have not been fulfilled, have they? Some friends have been lost along the way. Beloved family members are gone. Maybe family life hasn’t been quite what we’d hoped. The job’s not all we thought it would be. You name it. For all of us life hasn’t turned out just the way we had planned. Life is not like the prosperity gospel preachers have promised.[1] God has not delivered on what they promised. He has not seemed to ...

3048. A Sympathetic High Priest

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Whoever wrote this sermon (it is not likely that it was Paul, since its style is different from other books written by Paul) was addressing a group of Jewish Christians. But what he has to say is for us, especially at this time when we remember Christ’s death: Since then we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect ...

3049. Rejecting The Message — Rejecting The Person

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Jesus wanted people to know and experience his loving Father — the true God. Anything else was false love….false gods. Christ’s message came directly from the heart of God. He and the Father were so intimately connected in heart, soul, and spirit. His whirlwind preaching and teaching tour in the synagogues in the communities of the region of Galilee landed him in his own hometown of Nazareth. His celebrity status brought in the crowds on that powerful Saturday. The liberal minded people of Galilee were ...

3050. God's Bouncer or God's Ambassador?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

If I were to start a sentence with the words, “There are two types of people in the world . . .,” how would you finish that sentence? “There are two types of people in the world . . .,” Somebody once said, “There are two types of people in the world—those who divide the world into two types of people and those who do not.” What say you? I think if I were to divide people into two types, I would say, there are rule keepers and rule breakers. Some people just have an internal compulsion to follow the rules, ...

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