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 3701 to 3725 of 4950 results

3701. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... :4), "salvation" (5:8,9), and "sanctification" (4:3,7). For Paul, "salvation" becomes accessible to believers through the work of the Holy Spirit, an ongoing work known to the apostle as "sanctification." The work of the Spirit is progressive, a process that gradually weans believers away from the world by filling them ever more completely with the spirit and image of Christ. This is no passive spiritual surgery performed supernaturally on supine believers. Rather, it is a continuous and intentional "belief ...

3702. John 4:5-42

John 4:5-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... woman's head. To unsuspecting first-time readers, Jesus' implications might also be misconstrued. Even today Jesus' reference can be taken two ways. Living water might be his reference to the revelation Jesus provides to all or it might be a reference to the Spirit Jesus has promised to all. Rabbis of Jesus' day referred to the Torah as living water. But both possible meanings Jesus implies go beyond the Law. The living water Jesus offers the woman at the well is not just promise, but fulfillment. The Law ...

3703. Acts 7:55-60

Acts 7:55-60

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the apostles realized they must learn to delegate responsibility. Accordingly, seven men "of good standing" (Acts 6:3) were chosen to assist in serving tables filled with widows awaiting their daily rations of food. Stephen is noted as particularly "full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (6:5) among the seven men chosen to provide this service. While we might be tempted to see waiting on tables as drudgery, the apostles understood table service to be important and deeply spiritual work. They solemnly prayed and ...

3704. Romans 7:15-25a

Romans 7:15-25a

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... take him seriously and denounce him as an immoral party animal. Yet, even as Jesus satirizes this spiteful, never-satisfied condition of human nature, he also recognizes the deep sense of emptiness and longing this chronic interior dissatisfaction brings to the human spirit. Jesus is not overly concerned with the rejection both he and John the Baptist have suffered, confidently maintaining that the truth and wisdom of both these ways will become known in time (v.19). This confidence is based on nothing less ...

3705. Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Perhaps the most extravagant measure of God's love, of our divine heritage, is this voluntarily interwoven relationship between Christ's power and the church itself. Relating the Texts The epistle and gospel lessons work together today in the true spirit of Thanksgiving. Paul's prayer in Ephesians celebrates the cornucopia of blessings available only through God's grace. God intends for believers no minimal scrape-by existence or bread- and-water blessings. Christ did not suffer death and then triumphantly ...

3706. Mark 1:29-39

Mark 1:29-39

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus has to teach and preach is the same authority that makes it possible for him to heal the sick and exorcise demons. Whatever Jesus commands will be obeyed whether that command concerns the predictions and meanings of Scripture or the banishment of demonic spirits. The "new teaching" of Jesus is, in fact, that he comes with a divine power and an authentic authority never seen before. For Mark, the authority to teach and the authority to work miracles are one and the same. Many scholars suggest that the ...

3707. John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... more than peace alone to enervate and animate the mission work Jesus has in mind for his disciples. Thus, as predicted by John the Baptist and repeated by Jesus at the Last Supper, he now fulfills his role as the unleasher of the Holy Spirit. Verses 24-25 chronicle the well-known grouses of Thomas the Twin. Having missed Jesus' first appearance with the disciples, Thomas refuses to believe the Good News of the resurrection. It must have been rather discouraging for the newly commissioned disciples to fail ...

3708. John 17:6-19

John 17:6-19

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... world," so he has "sent them into the world" (v.18). Notice that, like Jesus' declarations that he is no longer in this world, his statement here predates the reality. Not until after his death and resurrection does Jesus breathe the empowering Holy Spirit onto his disciples and command them to go out into the world (20:21). The interconnected relationship between Father-Son-and-disciple is once again made clear by Jesus' dedicatory statement in verse 19. Jesus proclaims in his prayer his dedication to God ...

3709. A Demon Speaks Out in Church

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Evidently this was the case, for Jesus quite sternly said, “Be quiet!” Then Jesus commanded, “Come out of him!” And Mark tells us that “the evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.” We don’t hear of many people being possessed by evil spirits any more. I wonder why that is. Maybe it’s because we have terms from the field of psychology that we can use instead terms like schizophrenic or bi-polar or paranoid. I believe that whatever the cause, we can say this ...

3710. He Stands Alone

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... pregnancy, we will give our lives to you and dedicate the child to you. If you give us a healthy child, we will be yours and do what you want us to do with our lives. If you . . . If you.” And a quiet voice spoke back to Sam’s inner spirit: “No deals, Sam. No deals. No manipulations. I rule over you in all times of your life.” So here they were at this banquet, says Ed Markquart, and Sam Ratigliano went on to say: “God has called me to be his servant in my turf, the National Football League. He ...

3711. Jesus Baptism and Ours

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... revelation, because he sheds light on the truth: God’s righteousness cannot be contained by 613 Dos and Don’ts. Holy love is messier than that. God’s love colors outside the lines. When Jesus submitted to John’s baptism, the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit dove descended, and the voice from heaven declared the truth about Jesus to all space and time: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” That day at the Jordan River was one of those “thin places,” where heaven and earth ...

3712. Divorce and Swearing

Matthew 5:31-32

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... has to do with swearing. He is referring to making an oath, with using God’s name in vain, not with saying cussing, or saying “bad words.’ Is it wrong to “swear on a stack of Bibles”? A. Relationships in God’s New World Once again, the spirit of what Jesus is saying pertains to how we relate to each other. Look at it as an extension of what he’s just said about how marriage relationships are to be. They are to be governed by sacrificial love, not by hard- heartedness or domination. In our ...

3713. Evangelism is Holy Communion

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... because location, ethnicity, race, ritual, and style won’t matter. Traditional and contemporary won’t matter. Organ or guitar won’t matter. Immersion or sprinkling won’t matter. One cup or many won’t matter. For the worship God desires is in spirit and truth. In spirit, because you can’t worship the God of Life apart from the essence of your own life. In truth, because pretense and hypocrisy are contrary to God. In truth, which means we don’t substitute worship of ourselves for worship of God ...

3714. God’s Tattoos

Isaiah 49:8-26

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... own ministry to do: “Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. Feed my lambs.” Peter shows us how the memory of what we’ve done can be redeemed for good. The new covenant sealed with Jesus’ blood is the promise of God’s forgiveness. In that covenant the Holy Spirit is able to effect rebirth, re-creation, renewal, redemption. It is God’s will to use us for God’s purposes, no matter what we’ve done. VII. In God’s Hands I leave you with the image that the prophet Isaiah gives us. He quotes the Lord: “I ...

3715. Facing the Wild Beasts Within

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... has driven him into the desert. What does it mean for us to be beloved children of God? And how well are we being who we are? Isn’t this what Lent is for? Will we allow the same Spirit that drove Jesus into a time of honest examination also lead you and me to do the same? What does it mean to be a beloved child of God? We don’t make up an answer on own. We are given one by God in Jesus. During Lent we go ...

3716. I'm a Leper, You're a Leper

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... s time we got “down and dirty” again. Instead of walling ourselves off from everything we consider to be “dirty” we need to risk getting mud on our knees and some grime under our fingernails. We need to expose both our bodies and our spirits to the “dirt” that we fear the most, in order to grow stronger. There was nothing wrong with the Levitical mandates that kept all “lepers” “outside the camp.” Bacteriologically the practice made good, hygienic sense. But being branded as a leper was ...

3717. Looking at the World through the Eyes of God

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Brett Blair

... service was established in the United States. The 19th Amendment gave American women the right to vote. Gandhi emerged as India's leader in its struggle for independence. Charles Lindbergh flew the "Spirit of St. Louis" from New York to Paris. The world was indeed getting smaller. But another spirit had landed in Europe: The spirit of fascism. Hitler was building his Third Reich, and with it death and horror on a scale which mankind had never known. Entering into that war almost too late, the United States ...

3718. What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?

John 3:1-17

Illustration

Edward F. Markquart

... fifteen or twenty-five or thirty-five. You start to have the habits of faith without the heart of faith. You have structures without the Spirit. You are going through the rituals but you don't have the real thing. You are going through the patterns of faith but you ... has become more of a ritual than a real thing, when it is more of a pattern than power, when it is more structure than Spirit, we then need to come to Jesus' home, rap on his door and say, "Jesus, I need some help. I've got a problem … here ...

3719. Born Again

John 3:1-21

Illustration

Brett Blair

... my mother's womb again and start all over. I can't be born again! Nicodemus there is the Spirit and it is like wind. You do not know where it has come from and you do not know where it is going. And Nicodemus...so it is with everyone who is born ... of the Spirit. God can change you simply by an act of his grace. There is no reason for it having happened and there is no explanation for its continuance ...

3720. 2 Corinthians 7:3-15

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Jewish temple tax. The amount given here is determined not by some exterior authority, but rather is a “heart-rate,” an amount determined by the individual’s own ability to give and the convictions of their heart. It is the generosity of spirit, not the plumpness of the pocketbook, which determines the “acceptability” of the gift. Paul counsels the Corinthians that it is the “willingness,” or the “desire” to give, that brings favor in God’s eyes. But what also is divinely required, Paul ...

3721. Proper 11

2 Samuel 7:1-17, Psalm 89:1-52, Mark 6:30-34, Ephesians 2:11-22

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... THE DAY Prince and Preacher of Peace, guide us in your ways and so inspire our words and actions by your Spirit that we may make gates where there are still walls between nations and nationalities, between churches and religions, all brought nearer ... the good news of Christ, who continues to teach those who will be taught and heals the sick in body and mind and spirit. Hear our prayers for the administration, legislature, and judiciary at every level of government, from village and city and county, to state ...

3722. Proper 12

2 Samuel 11:1-27, Psalm 14:1-7, John 6:1-21, Ephesians 3:14-21

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... bow before you, O God, for you are the parent from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. We pray that, according to the riches of your glory, you will grant that we may be strengthened in our inner being with power through the Spirit, that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. In his name. Amen PRAYER OF CONFESSION God of nations, Sovereign of sovereigns, Protector of people, we do not understand why the innocent suffer for the sins of the guilty and the weak for the faults of the ...

3723. Proper 15

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14, Psalm 111:1-10, John 6:51-58, Ephesians 5:15-20

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... the bread of life to restore our souls. We speak to one another in psalms and sing songs and hymns in praise of your goodness in the name or our Lord Jesus Christ. In silent times we make music in our hearts, full of joy, full of the Holy Spirit. For all who write words that we can say or sing, we express our gratitude. For all who compose melodies that give zest to our celebration of your grace, we speak our praise. All praise to you, God of wisdom, beauty, and truth. Amen PRAYER OF DEDICATION Creator and ...

3724. Proper 18

Psalm 125:1-5, Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23, Mark 7:24-37, James 2:1-13

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Leader: Praise the Lord as long as you live. People: We will sing psalms to God all our life long. INVOCATION God our Maker, Creator of the rich and the poor alike, may our worship be inspired by your Spirit so that what we hear and what we promise in obedience to your word in Christ may be evident in our daily life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen PRAYER OF CONFESSION Just God, you are even-handed in your justice and in the day of judgment will not ...

3725. Proper 27

Ruth 3:1-18, Psalm 127:1-5, Mark 12:38-44, Hebrews 9:11-28

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... himself to put away our sins. Use our offering and witness to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, your Son and Savior of the world. Amen PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION AND COMMEMORATION (May be used prior to Election Day) Most Sovereign God, most glorified Christ, most gracious Spirit, hear the prayers of your people, unworthy of an audience with you but grateful that you hear us in the name of Jesus. Guide and bless all in authority who look to you to pilot the ship of state. Show us who should be called out to ...

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