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 3101 to 3125 of 4963 results

3101. Hello!?

Romans 8:26-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... knocked himself out, thus discovering that the shop owner had installed Plexiglas windows. "Hello!?!!!!!" [These three "dumb crook" stories were recently narrated on the evening news.] "Hello!?" has become a kind of mantra/response directed back at someone who just doesn't "get it." It's a shorthand response calling out to someone to "check in," "reload," "earth to Leonard" or "get with the program." "Hello!?" is another way of saying "Is anyone there?" "Hello!?" lets people know they've somehow missed the ...

3102. Was Jesus the First Buster?

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... from the human race. A campus minister first suggested to me that Jesus was the first Buster. I believe he may be right. Consider some surprising evidence. Jesus didn't join the rat race of his day; he wasn't on any fast track; he had to assume responsibility of a single-parent household Joseph died sometime after he was 12 but long before he was 30; he was single; when he began his public ministry, which was late in life, he wasn't into church growth and bigness he formed a small band of friends, and ...

3103. Be an Energizer Bunny

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and their faces frozen in an unconvincing, permanent grin. There is no doubt that the church of the late 20th century is an endangered institution. Every major "mainline" denomination has watched its membership numbers slide down a slippery slope. But in response, too many churches are trying to keep people inside by becoming featureless and inoffensive. Everyone sings melody so that no one may inadvertently hit a "clinker" and jar the ears of the faithful with some uncomfortable dissonance. Paul knew there ...

3104. Connect the Dots

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of paper. Over the course of a lifetime, your paper becomes filled with dots. If every experience you had in life was registered as a dot, what kind of pattern would those dots begin to form? We need to take steps to help us make sure that every "dot," every response we make, reflects the living presence of Christ in our lives. If the church is the body of Christ, then each one of us is a "dot," a part of the composite image of Christ that the church presents to the world. Do people see Christ in you? Try ...

3105. And Again I Say...Amen!

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... by ..." or "Are you asking me if ..." or "Perhaps if I can reshape your question ..." If this is at all true, then I suggest that we very badly need to recapture a way of response that expresses what I will call the child of faith in us rather than the adult of ambiguity. Let me suggest a perfectly viable succession of questions and responses we might consider. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God? Yes, I do. Do you believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Yes, I do. Do you believe that ...

3106. Stone Testaments

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Day or Columbus Day? Arbor Day has been reborn as Earth Day, but can you name the date when it is celebrated? Holidays, days set aside to commemorate special events, must continue to straddle the line between private and public importance, communal and individual responsibility, if they are to remain part of the natural ebb and flow of our lives. Special days that are too generic, or that we have no personal or familial investment in, will fade in importance. All those national holidays created in the wake ...

3107. A-wake or A-live

Galatians 2:15-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to move forward off of your own car. For many Christians, following "in Jesus' steps" has become its own kind of spiritual coasting, riding in the wake of Jesus' own first-century actions and reactions in order to relieve some of the responsibility for making our own 21st- century responses. We are not called to follow "in his wake." The risen Christ who lives today wants to make, through us, new waves with our faith. Jesus was not simply a good man and an outstanding moral teacher whose past actions we may ...

3108. Learn Your ABCs

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... are too old and dated in their world-view? Consider this declaration from the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches meeting back in 1954, asking the question, "What is coming to the world? What is in front of us? What may we look forward to?" Our response: The answers to those questions have been given to us in the Gospel. To those who ask, "What is coming to the world?" we answer, "It is he, the King, who confronts us." To those who ask, "What may we look forward to?" we answer that we face ...

3109. John’s Understanding of Self

John 1:19-28

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

... and not self. The community needs to ask, for instance, if a certain action continues, whether it will enhance the mission of the congregation or detract from it. Does an individual's or a group's behavior contradict or serve the congregation's purpose? Is there clarity about who is responsible for what and accountable to whom. [p. 91] In a sense, that is what John does in vv. 19-28. He is both defining who he is and who he is not. He is clear about who he is and his mission. When he states that he is not ...

3110. Acts 4:32-35

Acts 4:32-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... follows in verse 5 as the writer begins to discuss the divine in terms of lightness and darkness. When John declares as an absolute that "God is light," he is perhaps arguing against a Gnostic notion that morally ambiguous gods of darkness were more responsible for created matter than any omnipotent god of light and truth. Like the gospel writer, 1 John finds a powerful image in a God of light whose clearest and most dazzling brilliance shines forth in the incarnation of Jesus. Verses 6 through 10 spell ...

3111. Luke 24:35-48

Luke 24:35-48

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... this bond cuts them no slack. For Luke there is no theology of the cross to cushion the harsh reality of Jesus' death. The cruelty of the cross is laid squarely at the feet of human sinfulness (v. 14). God was not responsible for Jesus' death. Rather God's response was the miracle of resurrection. With the healing that has just taken place, Peter now calls on those gathered to take their place among the witnesses and believers in the resurrection. While ignorance may have served these people as an excuse ...

3112. John 10:11-18

John 10:11-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... not disrupt their established order. In verse 11 Jesus now proclaims that he is also "the good shepherd." As the shepherd Jesus knows each and every one of his sheep by name. The daily care and safekeeping of the sheep are his responsibility. Furthermore, this responsibility extends even to the point of death. Unlike the "hired hand" (read Pharisee) who has no personal investment in the safety and well being of the sheep, the shepherd is motivated by his very identity as their shepherd to do everything he ...

3113. Mark 4:35-41

Mark 4:35-41

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... thus presumably used to the turbulent moods of the sea, it is the disciples who grow terrified and panicky while Jesus serenely sleeps in the stern. Unable to control their fears the disciples wake Jesus up - accusing him of disregarding their safety. Jesus' response is immediate - first he attends to the physical danger confronting them. His words "Peace! Be still!" are the same words he used to banish the demon he exorcised at the beginning of Mark's gospel (1:25). The words are a command, demonstrating ...

3114. 2 Samuel 12:1-14

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... before the court, there is no real sense here that either man supposes this parable is an actual case. Part of Nathan's talent is that despite the hypothetical nature of his tale, it so successfully involves David that it evokes a spontaneous and heartfelt response. When David condemns the pitiless behavior of the rich man in verse 5, therefore, we should not see David as a ruler pronouncing what he thinks to be an actual sentence of judgment. Rather, it is a passionate and compassionate outburst from a man ...

3115. Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... his fixation on Absalom that the reminder of David's directive has absolutely no mitigating effect on him. Joab immediately races off to deal with Absalom himself, before he can escape. The argument can be made that, politically speaking, Joab was in fact acting more responsibly on behalf of the kingdom's continued well-being than was David. Consumed with the personal drama of a father and a son, David could not bear to face the truth about his son's insurrection and civil warfare, Joab, on the other hand ...

3116. James 3:13-18

James 3:13-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... or imagined doctrinal differences. The fluidity of interpretations and the absence of creeds and structures made community life largely dependent upon individual leaders and teachers. These individuals wielded tremendous power. James insists that it is the community responsibility of these leaders to be sensitive to the kind of spirit that guides their words and actions. James recognizes the temptations inherent in powerful positions. He begins in verse 13 by counseling "gentleness born of wisdom." True ...

3117. Mark 10:46-52

Mark 10:46-52

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... in the fashion of James and John, Bartimaeus' sincere, heart-on-sleeve race to Jesus' side reveals the intensity of his need. His request is trustingly simple and direct and basic: "My teacher, let me see again." Confronted with such faith, Jesus' quick response is equally free from commentary. There are no details given - no hands laid on, or prayers spoken, or salves applied - there is only Jesus' observation that what Bartimaeus has been longing for has already occurred as a result of his faith. But in ...

3118. John 18:33-37

John 18:33-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... confront one another beginning in verse 33. The supposedly powerful Roman official begins his examination aggressively, questioning Jesus about his rumored title "King of the Jews." But Jesus' response in verse 34 turns the query back on Pilate, forcing him into a defensive posture. Pilate quickly side-steps Jesus' suggestion that he is responsible by naming the Jews and blaming them for Jesus' predicament. Thus in one line John is able to highlight the culpability of the civil and religious establishments ...

3119. Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... asks, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" It is Jesus' rejoinder, "What is written in the law?" that puts the story back on the same track as Matthew's and Mark's versions. But since the initial question still looms, Luke records an additional response by Jesus in verse 28: "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." Luke now takes us further into the discussion between Jesus and this lawyer. It is evident that a kind of verbal jousting match is going on here - with the lawyer ...

3120. 2 Kings 4:8-17

2 Kings 4:8-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... reprieve from some fiscal or military requirement. But the woman replies simply, "I live among my own people." Here is a feeling of security virtually unknown today. In such tightly-knit established kin groups, the sense of communal responsibility was high. Just as the woman has undertaken the responsibility to provide shelter for the wandering holy man, she knows that the kin group will make sure any obligations owed to outside powers will be taken care of fully. The prophet's offer is kind but superfluous ...

3121. Philemon 1:1-20

Philemon 1:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , Paul is his elder - a quality that engendered respect and compliance at a much greater level than it does today. Fourth, Paul is currently suffering in prison for the sake of the gospel. Each of these alone gives Paul leverage over Philemon's response. Taken all together they certainly form an almost irresistible force. Finally, in verse 10, Paul mentions Onesimus by name and begins to make clear the purpose of this letter. Paul's identification of Onesimus is itself a strong message, for he calls this ...

3122. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... sounding boards - it appears to be about money, business life and dealings, professional standing and respect. Without the flexibility of familial bonds to bind this story together, we impose an entirely different set of expectations and responses on the characters in the dishonest steward parable. Responses we would find comforting at home we find threatening to our sense of order in the workplace. Jesus begins this parable by focusing on an economic reality: The steward's master is described as a "rich ...

3123. 2 Timothy 1:1-14

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... for the maintenance of his own generation's gifts as he is indebted to the gifts of faithfulness he owes to generations past. Once you are given a life - once you "get" a life - you are constantly responsible for its care and upkeep. Paul is urging Timothy to keep his spiritual gifts "in shape." Paul's words recall for Timothy the two distinct sources that contribute to his faith - his parentage/heritage and his personal ordination experience. This spirit of "power and of love and of self-discipline ...

3124. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5

2 Thessalonians 2:13 – 3:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... In these benedictory-type remarks, Paul both asserts his conviction about God's love for all of them (a God who loves "us") and expresses a wishful longing for the Thessalonians' continued trust in the love, comfort and hope that is available only through their response to God in Christ. Paul's use of the term "good hope" once again intimates some of the eschatological expectations of the Christian faith. "Good hope" was a phrase used in the Hellenistic world to refer to life after death. Here Paul links it ...

3125. Isaiah 42:1-9

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the scope of his task. Divine justice is to be established not just within the midst of a redeemed Israel - it is to be the new reality for all nations. As the one who first embodies and then establishes justice, this servant is also responsible for seeing that all the earth understands that divine justice is universally applicable. The universality of the divine mandate for mishpat is the underlying theme of the final four verses in today's text. The worldwide scope of the servant's task is confirmed ...

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