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 5000 results

3026. Let It Go

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Sometimes what we think is most familiar is also the most unknown. Take the case of one Midwest family. The matriarchs of the family had passed along a time-honored recipe for the traditional Easter ham. Along with the list of spices and herbs, rubs and glazes, cook times and basting procedures, was the absolutely strict instruction that the last three to four inches of the ham must be cut off — completely removed. This order was an integral part of the recipe that their great-grandmother had passed down. ...

3027. An Announcement about Our Future

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

The Reverend Richard L. Pearson at one time served the Crescent Park United Methodist Church in Sioux City, Iowa. For several years that church had a living nativity scene. On one particular night it was Pastor Dick’s job, along with a man who had a pick‑up truck, to get a pregnant ewe, which was bedded down in the parsonage garage, to the church. They went to get her about a half hour before performance time. Due to her delicate condition they carefully lifted her into the bed of the truck, and Dick rode ...

3028. An Announcement to a Virgin

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Ben Patterson tells about his 5-year-old niece, Olivia, and her best friend, Claire, who were participating in a nativity play at school. Claire was playing Mary, and Olivia played an angel. Before the show, a young boy was going around the dressing room proclaiming to all who could hear him, “I’m a sheep.” Then asking, “What are you?” Each child responded politely, including Olivia, who proudly declared she was an angel. The boy then turned to Claire, who was still struggling into her costume with ...

3029. Peace Comes to Our Hearts

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

King Duncan

About this time of year many of us start getting a little frantic, don’t we? Christmas is so near. There is still so much to do. This is a frantic time for many of us. The season of Advent was supposed to be our chance to get ready, but in another week it will be over and the big day will be here. All the decorations will be in place, the packages will all be wrapped, the last card will have been sent--then, ready or not, Christmas Day will arrive. Are you prepared for Christmas? I mean the real Christmas ...

3030. Elijah and Obadiah

1 Kings 18:1-15

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal: Chapter 17 launched Elijah suddenly into the public arena of Israel’s politics (v. 1) only to whisk him away again into the privacy of the Transjordanian wilderness and a Sidonian home. There he has contributed in a small way to the war that the LORD is now waging upon the worship of Baal, while leaving the drought to do most of the damage. The time has now come for his reappearance on the main stage—for the great battle of the war, indeed. The drought is to end, but before ...

3031. Herod and Hometown Misunderstand Jesus’ Identity

Matthew 13:53-58, Matthew 14:1-12

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Although Jesus’ miraculous powers are acknowledged, this leads not to universal faith but rather to unbelief (in his hometown) and confusion over his identity (by Herod). Understanding the Text Matthew concludes the third discourse of Jesus’ teaching with the transition formula (13:53) that he also uses at 7:28–29; 11:1; 19:1; 26:1. In two pericopes (13:54–58; 14:1–12), Matthew narrates two kinds of rejection of Jesus and his kingdom message: the unbelief of Jesus’ hometown (13:58) and Herod’s ...

3032. Jesus Warns of Presuming Reward and Status

Matthew 20:1-16

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: While promising eternal reward to the first who have followed him, Jesus also warns against presumption of reward and status by telling a parable about the equalization of status that will occur in God’s kingdom. Understanding the Text Peter’s initial question in this passage about the rewards that he and the rest of the Twelve will have for leaving everything to follow Jesus (19:27) connects directly with the previous passage, in which a rich man chooses his wealth over the chance to follow ...

3033. Jesus Defines Himself as Lord in Contrast to the Leaders of Israel

Mark 12:41-44, Mark 12:35-40

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: In three final conflicts between Jesus and the leaders, he (1) reveals himself as more than the royal Messiah, (2) warns about the hypocritical scribes, and (3) contrasts them with the humble widow, who gives her all to God. Understanding the Text While verses 35–37 belong with the controversy stories of 11:27–12:37, they also are part of the final three narratives that conclude the section, presented together as Jesus’s teaching in the temple grounds. There is a double contrast: (1) Jesus’s true ...

3034. Jesus’s Manifesto

Luke 4:14-30

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Back in Nazareth, Jesus sets out on his mission of deliverance, but his own townspeople in Nazareth reject him because of his vision for the salvation of all people everywhere, which includes the Gentiles. Understanding the Text Jesus’s return from the wilderness area marks the beginning of his public ministry, which will be focused in his home province of Galilee until he sets off for Jerusalem in 9:51. Mark and Matthew record a single visit to Nazareth, which they place later in their ...

3035. Jesus and Women

Luke 7:36--8:3

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus’s work of salvation extends to people shunned or ignored by Jewish society; women play an unusually large part in his mission. Understanding the Text After the characterization of Jesus as a bon viveur and a friend of the disreputable (7:34), we now find him at a dinner party and befriending a disreputable woman. Two themes from earlier in the Gospel reemerge in this story: Jesus’s openness to and welcome by unrespectable members of society (5:27–32) and his claim to forgive sins (5:17–26 ...

3036. The Death of Jesus

Luke 23:44-49, Luke 23:26-43

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus dies on the cross, mourned by some and mocked by others, but confidently placing himself in his Father’s hands. Understanding the Text The crowd demanded Jesus’s crucifixion in 23:21, 23, and that now takes place, cruelly embodying Jesus’s earlier warning that to follow him would mean to “take up the cross” (9:23; 14:27). A variety of reactions on the way to “the Skull” and at the cross reflect the different ways people have responded to Jesus and his claims within the Gospel. But as the ...

3037. Resurrection and Christian Living

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

Big Idea: The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith; without it, faith cannot stand and Christian living has no motivation. It is the announcement that God has reversed the curse of the fall. Death no longer has any sting. Understanding the Text After solidly grounding the resurrection in the soil of history, Paul moves on to establish its theological significance. His theological argument moves through three stages. He begins by a theological restatement of his Scripture/eyewitness ...

3038. The Ark Finds a Resting Place

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: The Lord’s willingness to dwell among his people is cause to celebrate, but he expects his people to respect his holiness. Understanding the Text When Samuel was young and Eli was old, the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant (1 Sam. 4). The ark wreaked havoc in Philistine territory: the image of Dagon in the Ashdod temple ended up decapitated, and the Philistines’ cities were devastated by a plague (1 Sam. 5). The Philistines sent the ark back to Israelite territory, but when it arrived ...

3039. “The King Rejoices in Your Strength, Lord”

Psalm 21:1-13

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God’s overpowering strength plus his overpowering love not only saves us but provides a life of joy. Understanding the Text This psalm belongs to the broad genre of royal psalms. Like Psalm 20, Craigie calls it a royal liturgy,[1] which suggests that it was used in worship. It is as if we are standing outside the temple and hearing the voices of worship, and we have a vague idea of what is going on inside the building as we try to picture the action in our mind’s eye. The question that the form ...

3040. Claiming Hope

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

"Hope" is one of the most beautiful words in the English language. It evokes thoughts of sunrises that push back all kinds of darkness. It suggests birth and healing and promise and possibility. Hope makes us able to keep on going, or if we have fallen to get up and try again. Hope is a gift that our faith can give to us that will indeed meet the need of our hungry hearts. Hope is the essence of the Christian faith. The good news is that hope is there for us. But most of us have yet to learn to discover it ...

3041. Can It Be Sin to Be Shy?

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a wonderful story from long ago about a man in Maine named Ike who was exceedingly shy. Ike fell in love with a beautiful young maiden named Anna. Anna seemed to Ike to be too wonderful for him to ever ask her to be his wife. So, he went on loving her in silence for ten years. He remained single, as did she. During this time, he built a fine house, with a barn and outbuildings, and a beautiful rock garden. Still, though he was very much in love with her, he hadn’t yet dared to propose. Finally, ...

3042. Today Can Be the First Day of Your New Life!

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s said that in Rome, on New Year’s Eve, there is a tradition of literally throwing old things right out the window, to start the New Year free from the past. I guess the moral of that is, if you are fortunate enough to be in Rome, Italy some New Year’s Eve, you best keep an eye skyward. Somebody might be throwing out a heavy piece of furniture just as you are passing by. That’s their tradition. A pastor named Patricia Farris tells about being in Mexico one year with her husband on New Year’s Eve. They ...

3043. I Wonder Why My Prayers Go Unanswered?

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Warren Wiersbe tells of the time when he was helping to paint the outside of his neighbors’ home. His neighbors had a small black dog that had a ritual of going to the back door of the house. Once the little dog took up his station at the back door, he would bark and bark until someone finally got the message and let him out. One day Wiersbe was painting the outside of the house when no one was home. The neighbor’s dog started his ritual at the back door and barked and barked all day long. The sad thing, ...

3044. True North

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Sha Jahan was the emperor of India during the 1600s. When he lost his wife he was devastated. In fact, his grief was so great that he decided to build a grand temple that would serve as her tomb. Her coffin was placed in the center of a large piece of land and a big temple was built around it. The emperor was determined to build a magnificent resting place for his wife. However, as the weeks turned into months the emperor’s grief was overshadowed by his passion for the project. He was obsessed with the ...

3045. Elijah on Mount Carmel

1 Kings 18:16-46

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

3046. Ready for the Big Date?

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A young woman busied herself getting ready for a blind date. She was to have dinner at an exclusive restaurant with live music and dancing. She was excited. She went out to have her hair done, spent time getting her makeup just right, put on her best dress and was ready for her date’s arrival. However, his expected arrival time came and went. After waiting an hour, she decided she had been stood up. Disheartened, she took off her dress, let down her hair, put on her pajamas, gathered a box of chocolates ...

3047. Extreme Humility

John 13:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to begin with a serious question: How accurate would you be if someone asked you to evaluate yourself? For example, if you were asked to describe your athletic ability, or your appearance, or your intellect--how would you rate yourself? I ask that because a survey of nearly two hundred sociologists found that about a hundred of them, about one-half, expected to become one of the ten leading sociologists of their time. Obviously this is a mathematical impossibility for 100 of them to be among the top ...

3048. Faces of Failure: Pontius Pilate

Matthew 27:1-2, 11-26

Sermon

Don Tuttle

We all make choices. Sometimes they are binary. The optometrist asks: “Which is better, A or B?” Other times we choose from a plethora of options. Think Starbucks. Will that be a Mocha, Latte, Cappuccino, Macchiato? Tall, grande, venti? Decaf, half-caf, regular? Skinny or regular? Straight or flavor shots? Such is life. Our text today is about choices. The most obvious one is the one made by the chief priests, elders, and people. They choose between Jesus, the King of the Jews, or Barabbas, a notorious ...

3049. You Are My Beloved

Mark 1:10-11

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

"And just as He was coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens torn apart and the spirit descending like a dove on Him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved: with you I am well pleased.' " Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I tell you a tale of a little village in an isolated land where the people shared a boundless sense of happiness. The people in this village showed only one unusual feature about their life together. They had a custom -- a delightful custom -- of giving fuzzies to ...

3050. A Piggy Pudding

Matthew 8:28-34

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: pig bones In my hand, I am holding pig bones. Now this may be nothing special to any of you who love pork! But pig bones mean everything to an archaeologist on a site in Israel today. Why? Because pig bones are only found in areas where non-Jewish practices were going on. Finding lots of pig bones in a certain town would indicate the presence of Greeks, Romans, or Philistines, depending on where you were digging. But NEVER Jews. Because Jews never eat pork. For example, a recent excavation in a part ...

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