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 3451 to 3475 of 4947 results

3451. Country Songs and Easter Hymns

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Thomas Long

... can best learn about the kingdom community. Palmer offers this definition of community: "Community is that place where the person you least want to live with always lives. And when that person moves away, someone else arises to take his or her place."3 In this sense, then, every place where the church is planted is, in its own way, a "city." There is no village so small, no place so isolated, that there is not at least some taste of the richness, the challenge, and, quite frankly, the grating difficulty, of ...

3452. The Church With Nothing

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Thomas Long

... that, apart from the presence of the risen Christ, the church is an empty place. Take the matter of worship leadership. Worship leaders either know that mystery resides at the core of worship, or they don't -- and congregations can tell the difference. Congregations can sense whether their leaders truly believe that they are in the presence of mystery or not. If a worship leader is genuinely convinced that worship is taking place in the power of the Spirit and at the foot of the burning bush, then no matter ...

3453. Knowing The Voice

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Thomas Long

... . Indeed, with an eye cast toward the American religious scene, he observed that possibly the greatest threat to the church in his own land was the temptation to relax its guard in the new atmosphere of freedom, that the church could lose its sense of call by falling into an easy alliance with a seemingly friendlier culture. He told about the days under totalitarianism, how the church was officially tolerated but always uundermined and repressed, how the clergy were always monitored by secret agents who had ...

3454. The Seven Last Words Of Pilate

Sermon

Thomas Long

... , but, like Pharaoh of old, he achieves nothing other than magnifying the saving power of God. He cannot help himself; he literally cannot help himself. Only the one who stands before him accused can trully help him. Somewhere in his soul, he senses this. Pilate the cowardly bureaucrat believes that his salvation depends upon political finesse; Pilate the human being stares into the face of Jesus Christ and instinctively knows that "his hope is built on nothing less." Psychologist Paul Pruyser once wrote of ...

3455. Confidence To Spare

Psalm 27:1-6, 13-14

Sermon

Robert G. McCreight

... God; they resented how God was treating them; they felt punished and vulnerable. But now it's different in the psalms of new orientation. For now the psalmist has come to terms with the hardship and made peace with his problem. Now there's an evident sense of acceptance of the dilemma, and a willingness to move beyond it. To say it bluntly, the psalmist is no longer stuck in his problem. "Despite the present hardship ... things are not as they seem ..." That's the second part, things are not as they seem ...

3456. Behold The Man Who Taught By The Sea

Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... people are being bombarded by words and information. The age of communication makes communicating some things quite difficult. But, those who have ears to hear -- listen! Would you listen to what Jesus has to say to us today? Would you receive what he says in the sense that you will let it filter through and speak to your heart and mind, your way of thinking, your way of living, your values and ideals, your way of making decisions, who you are and what you have? Would you become good soil that is fertile ...

3457. Behold The Man Who Trained Disciples

Luke 10:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... into a polar bear!" That was a crucial time in the old cat's life. It is a crucial time in our world. This makes what we do in the church, with the church, for the church, as the church of utmost importance. We must not lose our sense of urgency. David H. C. Read, a Presbyterian preacher in New York, preached a sermon in which he referred to what someone called "decaffeinated Christianity." It promises not to keep you awake at night.3 We must remember these are urgent times, and we must remember the urgency ...

3458. Details

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... work. Jesus is present in his disciples; they are his body. Through them he continues to act. He will act; the only question is whether he will also act through us. Pray the Lord to send out laborers. Only a verb form; just a mere detail. Yet the sense that each of the verbs is ongoing makes the back-and-forth relationship between the first century and ours very apparent. We are not the twelve; our mission is not only to Israel. Yet Jesus' words to them also have importance for us as we look at them today ...

3459. Stop Being Afraid

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... will and say that when they die you will get the farm, what do you have to do? Be nice to them? Work really hard? Why? They have already promised you the farm. "What do I have to do?" is the wrong response to a promise. It doesn't make sense. If you find out you are going to inherit something, you say "Hooray! Wonderful! Thank you." Out of the blue you have a retirement plan. Suddenly the future doesn't seem so uncertain. Most of our life is lived not according to "the logic of promise" but in asking and ...

3460. Love Without Limits

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... the church office. I know I have ignored people for a number of reasons. Sometimes I have done it because I was tired. Sometimes I've done it because I was preoccupied with my own problems or other issues that seemed bigger and I lost my sense of perspective. Sometimes I've ignored people because I told myself that I probably couldn't help anyway. Sometimes I've ignored people because I told myself that they weren't my responsibility. They weren't officially members of my church. They were asking for ...

3461. Getting Out Of Our Own Way

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... makes her feel like a part of herself is dying, so she begins raising objections and gets in his way. A son or a daughter comes home from college and announces that he or she wants to be a missionary. Well-meaning parents try to talk some sense into their child. "You could do so much more good by finishing medical school and supporting missionaries with your tithe. You could do community service." What they are really saying is, "I've begun to picture myself as the parent of a certain kind of adult and ...

3462. The One Thing That Would Make The Biggest Difference

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... the window shut." The being of "one mind" and coming to agreement in prayer that the New Testament speaks of is a miracle that can only take place on the other side of conflict. We should be grateful to Matthew for recording these common sense instructions on how to resolve conflict. The first thing we should notice is that the responsibility for resolving any conflict and rebuilding any relationship resides with us. "If another member of the church sins against you, go . . ." It doesn't say, "Wait for him ...

3463. The Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

... So that" might give reasons, but are the reasons rationalizations? I have a hard time justifying any suffering. Disciple: We all do. As I accompany Jesus, I have seen suffering. Whether or not the suffering eases, sufferers experiencing compassion also gain a sense of peace or acceptance. That enables them to live as fully as possible. Instead of being wholly consumed by their suffering, they finally somehow begin to live beyond themselves. Asker: In this story, "so that" occurs three times: Jesus says the ...

3464. Wanting To Be Seen

Matthew 6:5-6

Sermon

David Belgum

... his tour of military duty was over. He also resisted any effort to make him a kind of king. We come again to the question of motive. He deliberately allowed himself to "be seen" maybe more than anyone else in the colonies; but it was not hypocrisy. He sensed that what was called for was to allow himself to be used as a symbol, much like a flag is carried conspicuously in a parade. To have drifted back into the comfortable shadows of privacy would not have been humility as much as a denial of his vocation ...

3465. Seeing The Whole Person

John 4:1-26

Sermon

David Belgum

... . Here was the original "tough love," acceptance in spite of blemishes, handicaps, mistakes, failures, and sin. She experienced grace, the grace of God, and knew it. It was good news for her, the good news she wanted to share with others. The Samaritans also sensed the blessing of Jesus' presence and grace and asked him to stay with them. One wonders how many others got a clearer vision for their lives because of their encounter with this prophet, who could see so clearly all that made up the whole person ...

3466. Seeing The Unseeing

John 9:35-41, John 9:13-34, John 9:1-12

Sermon

David Belgum

... leading him on a dangerous course. He might gain riches but lose his soul. Although he could see with his eyeballs, his soul was blind. Once he discovered his spiritual handicap, he had a clearer vision for his life as a whole. He could truly see in the more important sense. Let us close by reflecting again upon the meaning of John Newton's verse. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but not I'm found; Was blind, but now I see. Amen.

3467. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... us, every time, behind our plain or fancy excuses. Jonah did not get away with it. The Lord appointed a great storm to rock the ship in which Jonah was trying to rock his conscience to sleep. It took terror, raw terror, to bring Jonah to his senses. He had been very successful in keeping up a good front, until the storm broke. Then he cracked. The flashes of lightning revealed a man in terror for his life, a man riddled with guilt, a man whose disobedience to God had involved a whole shipload of innocent ...

3468. Brainstorms

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... 900 pieces for herself and thus cheating on her pledge. The story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) involves the same duplicity. Ananias and Sapphira had pledged their all, but then they welshed on their pledge, with fateful results. Integrity as well as common sense demands that we do not promise more than we truly intend to keep and are likely to be able to keep. What about all those marriage vows, when every other marriage ends in divorce? What about all those church pledges that fall short? Mother's ...

3469. The Season Of Sacred Stories

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... do when you get there." They were my "beloved daughter" words and I have lived by them ever since. God jumps out at us through the events of our lives. The goal of worship is to allow the story of God's love to be grasped by all of our senses, to see our lives resonate with that story and to tell our own. They had climbed the stairs wearily, heavy with the truth they were delivering. Their knock had been loud and impatient, angry as the news they carried. The four-year-old child had looked up from her play ...

3470. Let It Go!

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... to the blind woman who, using it, exclaimed, "This is a good staff!" For the first time the woman understood the meaning of the sword and her suffering. In the last twenty years there has been a doubling in the suicide rate. A sense of hopelessness, meaninglessness, boredom, or the desire for intense excitement has led to an increased use of drugs and alcohol. Affluency and lack of acceptance of "delayed gratification" are other reasons for suicide. When you have lost your job, your spouse, the usefulness ...

3471. The Word Jesus Spoke

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... . Listen to the shaking of the foundations. Nothing is permanent. Everything is change. Heaven and earth will pass away. Mark was writing his words to a community that had finally revolted against the Roman rule and had failed, to a community trying to make sense out of a chaotic world. The temple where God resided and ruled had been destroyed. The revolt was a defeat. All that remained were a few at Masada awaiting their death. To this community Jesus' words created a new world, connecting life with God ...

3472. "Unless A Grain Of Wheat ..."

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... she was lost, very lost. There was nothing she could do about it so she just lay down in the snow and died. This attitude permeated her every experience. She repudiated the idea that she could do anything about it and was constantly defeated by her own sense of inadequacy and her terror of life itself. Her intuition was correct. Her mother went away. There was a divorce, and the child was put in a boarding school. Forty years later the very sorrow of her loss worked its miracle, for what we experience is ...

3473. The Lord Has Need Of It

Mark 14:1--15:47

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... Sunday a foolish people followed a foolish messiah. From where does our "wise foolishness" come today? It comes from the wild and wonderful preachers and teachers, poets and spiritual guides. To live in their world of joy, imagination, and sacred story is to sense the Spirit and have the power of the mind over the possibility of things. Wonder is the parent of that possibility and her sibling is imagination. Faith is rooted in wonder and watered with imagination. Our perception of life is formed and fed ...

3474. I Saw The Risen Christ Last Week -- And It Wasn't Even Easter

John 20:10-31

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... in a distressed wife who knew her marriage was crumbling, and how she mustered up enough courage to seek help. I saw Christ in a disturbed woman who knew she was losing touch with reality, and took a big step toward being made well again. I sense the presence of Christ each Sunday as we congregate together in worship to sing praises, confess sins, listen, and pray together. I was aware of Christ's presence when a professional man called to share with me some thoughts from his devotional reading that morning ...

3475. Hailing The King Of Chaos

Job 12:13-22· Matthew 27:32-44

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... . At the same time I read of the growing number of industrial workers being laid off work. The poignant tales of disappointment, of families in stress, of hunger, and of the gnawing fear that jobs may never be restored was distressing. The contrasts in our American sense of values absolutely amazes me. What a mess the world is in! What chaos! How much disorder and confusion can a person endure? There's a song we used to sing about "building a sweet little nest somewhere out in the west, and letting the rest ...

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