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 326 to 350 of 655 results

326. Still Sinners, Still Forgiven

Romans 5:1-8

Sermon

William G. Carter

... a slap to start a baby breathing. As Paul Tillich once said somewhere, "The greatest burden and joy of the gospel is accepting God's acceptance of you." You are forgiven, of sins committed and not committed. You are free from the burdens of your natural inclinations. God is done with giving you a report card for everything. Do you know why? Because on the day that God was grading our papers, his Son spilled gallons and gallons of Wite-Out® over everything. It happened once and for all. That's the favorite ...

327. Slaves of a Different Master

Romans 6:12-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

... key figures of a household. "Husbands, give your lives for your wives. Wives, give your selves to your husbands. Children, obey your parents. And slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling" (Ephesians 5 and 6). Paul was a preacher. Even if he was so inclined, there was no way he could reform an institution like slavery, which was the economic backbone of the Roman empire. Slavery sounds strange and repulsive to us, but it was a part of his life and his culture. So much so, that he could see ...

328. Baptism of our Lord

Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17, Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... greatest days of your life. a. Your physical birth - the gift of life. b. Your spiritual birth - baptism: the gift of eternal life. 1. Your adoption as a child of God. 2. Your calling as a servant of God. 3. A Spiritual Booster Shot (3:16-17). Need: We are inclined to think of baptism as a once-in-a-lifetime event. For some, it happened when they were only a few weeks old and it is supposed to be good for life. Baptism is not repeatable because of the nature of baptism. Baptism needs to be renewed by the ...

329. Lent 1

Genesis 2:4-25, Genesis 3:1-24, Romans 5:12-21, Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... of sin caused by Adam. This does not mean all sons of Adam are responsible for his sin in the garden. It means that his sin of disobedience, pride, and rebellion possess all people everywhere. It is a condition of human nature - a disposition and inclination to oppose God. As a result, all people suffer death. 3. The solution to sin and death. The solution is Jesus, the one man who lived perfectly, who died redemptively. Through this one man grace came to humanity, and with grace came life. Through this ...

330. Lent 5

John 11:1-16, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Romans 8:1-17, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

331. The Cry for Help

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... worse than being called a little dog. In Romans, Saint Paul uses some harsh language directed not just at certain individuals but at everybody. "There is no one who is righteous, not even one." "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And if we're inclined to argue with those judgments on ourselves, we can use Jesus' summary of God's Law to do a reality check: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Do you - with all your heart ...

332. Low Carb Christianity

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... your primary identity shaped by this culture and by the significant others in your life? Or is your primary identity found in your love and loyalty to Jesus the Christ? (This is a good place to end this sermon. If you have time or inclination to continue on, here's a suggestion for another ending and or development.) Disciples of Jesus must cultivate a new kind of "Triple-A Personality" to keep on the faith journey. The traditional Triple-A Personality is defined as acquisitive, aggressive, and autonomous ...

333. The Problem with Busybodies

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... links being idle with being a busybody. Someone has defined a gossip as “one who would rather listen to dirt than sweep it.” So it is with busybodies in general. People who are actively involved in the life of a church have neither the time nor the inclination to be a busybody. It really comes down to how you feel about the mission of the church. That great saint of God Corrie ten Boom was speaking to a university audience after World War II. She began with an unusual question: “If I come into your ...

334. Let the River Flow

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... by distinguishing between the eat your vegetables approach to spirituality – people really DON'T want to do the will of God – vs. the eat your steak approach; people really DO want to please God and serve God, although their motivations and inclinations may be blocked. In other words, our true nature needs releasing, our old nature doesn't need fixing or fulfilling so much as our original nature needs unblocking and unleashing. Edwards defines the new covenant this way: "The normal Christian life ...

335. Trust that Leads to Transformation

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... on the needs that surround them at the moment, as her indirect directions indicate. Perhaps only a mother could get away with micro-managing the wine-shortage problem without ever telling her son what to do. Although Jesus' first response to the problem reveals no inclination to deal with it, Mary responds by going to the servants and telling them to do "whatever he tells you" (verse 5). It's Mary's indirect-directive that leads Jesus to perform what John carefully records as the first of his signs (verse ...

336. What to Do with Yesterday - A Sermon for a New Year

Psalm 103:1-22

Sermon

James McCormick

... it is and we acknowledge that it has our name on it. It’s our garbage! Naming it is what we mean by confession. We take whatever is cluttering up our lives and diluting the divine image in us – we take that and call it by name. We are too inclined to pray, “God forgive me for my sins.” In my mind, I hear God say, “Such as…” The more specific we can be in our confession, the more specific can be our forgiveness. There is profound truth in the Biblical idea that if you know the name of the demon ...

337. It's My Life, Isn't It?

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

James McCormick

... the entire world, there is no one else exactly like you. You have been created to become a person that no one else can be. God has something in mind for you, and only you can be the person God intends. God gave us certain talents, inclinations, temperaments, gifts, to enable us to become that one of a kind special person. But, because God wants us to be persons and not puppets, He has set us free. God wants the relationships of life to be real – relationships between us and others, relationships between ...

338. Advent 1

Matthew 24:36-51, Romans 13:8-14, Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122:1-9

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... and that ultimately God will and does judge human actions, attitudes, and involvements. Above all, Jesus' teachings make clear that judgment is God's work, and the promised reality of God's future grand assize requires humans to be constantly concerned with and inclined toward God's values. Structure. In this Gospel lesson, Matthew conflates two pericopes of "Q" material with portions of the little apocalypse of Mark 13. Mark 13:32 parallels Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:35 parallels Matthew 24:42. Mark 13:34 ...

339. Magnanimity: The Essential Spirit of the Christian

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

... , (P.122) Leonard Griffith says it well: “Criticism, the favorite indoor sport of small minds, isodious to a Christian. When its ugly stench fills the air around him… and people begin babbling pontifically about the faults of other people… the Christian feels inclined to open a window and shut his own mouth. He witnesses by his silence he refuses to participate… But, that is not enough, writes Paul. Silence can too easily be taken to mean assent. - If you believe in judging people generously, - If ...

340. To Be a Christian

Acts 11:19-30

Sermon

James McCormick

... about all us sheep who belong to his flock. And that means we all belong together. Now, of course, there are many kinds of sheep in Jesus’ flock: big and small, old and young, black and white, insecure and adventurous, cooperative and unruly, sheep of a variety of inclinations and opinions. In fact, there are no two sheep exactly alike. Perhaps the one thing we all have in common is that we all belong to the same shepherd, and we all respond to the same voice. I am sure that I could not long remain a ...

341. A Not So Simple Story of Demons and Pigs

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

... it's well within the spirit of the times. What do I think of the cure? Well, that's a difficult question. I believe that the man was healed. Of precisely what, I do not know. Exactly how, I do not know either. By nature, I am not inclined to believe in demonic possession. Hence, I am skeptical about exorcisms. Never having done one, I wouldn't know how to proceed. Never having seen one, I wouldn't know how to describe. As concerns craziness and wild behavior, I tend toward traditional definitions of mental ...

342. If I Only Had One Wish

2 Chronicles 1:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... the hospital, and cries at the funeral home. Remember, wisdom is in "the open squares, the chief concourses, the gates in the city." (1:20-21) Wisdom gets down to the nitty-gritty of life. It is where the action is. That's why Solomon said in v.2, "Incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding." The Hebrew word for apply nata literally means to extend or hold out. Wisdom is something that you extend into every area of your life. That's why Solomon says it is a matter not just of the head ...

343. The Danger of American Express

Exodus 20:17

Sermon

James Merritt

... The sewage of all sin flows from the pipes of the heart. Man is not a sinner because he sins, he sins because he's a sinner. The heart of the human problem really is the problem of the human heart. The psalmist understood this when he said, "Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness." (Ps. 119:36) I can tell you in two words what is wrong with this world heart disease. The world will never solve her problems until she understands this. You see, the world looks at the sexual problem Aids ...

344. Don't Get Too Big For Your Spiritual Britches

Judges 16:20

Sermon

James Merritt

... can very easily find himself becoming tactless and cruel. A person who prides himself on being tactful can find eventually that he has become evasive and deceitful. A person with firm convictions can become pigheaded. A person who is inclined to be temperate and judicious can sometimes turn into someone with weak convictions and banked fires of resolution....loyalty can lead to fanaticism, caution can become timidity, freedom can become license, confidence can become arrogance, humility can become servility ...

345. Stop Fuming, Start Forgiving!

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... supposed to be watching your young child, but he got so engrossed in a TV ballgame that he didn’t notice the child wandering outside into the street. A neighbor retrieved the child and, of course, told you about it. Something devilish within us is inclined to dredge up those hurtful memories and use them as sledge hammers against the very people whom we love most. And as soon as we utter some unwise, hurtful statement, the angel of our better natures whistles and whispers, “Oh no, brother or sister, you ...

346. For Better, For Worse

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17) Just think of all the barriers that this commitment transcended. First, the natural inclination of mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law not to be close. You know that when two women love the same men, albeit in different ways, sparks often fly. The commitment between Ruth and Naomi also transcended national loyalties. So strong was their relationship that ...

347. Call Him God

Matt 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-38

Illustration

C. S. Lewis

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis addressed the inclination to say nice things about Jesus, but to stop short of calling him God. He wrote, "I am here trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept ...

348. On the Mountainside

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... be heard for their many words. Pray then like this..." And he gives us a spare, modest 66 words as a pattern for prayer. For those of us who are "Traveling the Prayer Paths of Jesus" this Lent, author John Indermark says: In the face of ageless inclinations toward long-worded, long-winded prayer, Jesus counsels another way. "Pray then like this" is not a decree to memorize the Lord's Prayer so we can have familiar words to close worship; rather it invites us to form our prayer life in simplicity and brevity ...

349. Worship Like A Wesley

Philippians 4:4-9

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... ' songs." Another said: "As a Methodist, I always thought the song was kinda like cowboy humor in its blend of braggadocio and self-deprecation." Another blogger named "Arkie" took the title a bit too literally and much too seriously. He wrote: "I am inclined to believe that the term refers to pies baked by those devout Methodist ladies who express their deep theological concerns through a wood cook stove. Any confection that came from a Methodist oven would have been Methodist Pie." Well, the verses of the ...

350. Proclaiming Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... . The whole precious program is out of line for those determined to make a name for themselves apart from the Master. Some days, even those who have accepted the slave status of servanthood discover themselves to be in revolt. It is so against our natural inclinations the best disciples struggle to be at peace with their real mission. Where you and I find ourselves is crucial to our continuing in the faith and being fruitful in spreading the light to others. The temptation is not to tell the old, old story ...

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