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 351 to 375 of 635 results

351. Hebrews 13:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... self, sibling and stranger, the writer now presents one last test of true phil¡a. Christian love must extend beyond the realm of what is safe and reach over the walls and through the bars to those languishing in prison. Good intentions notwithstanding, the instinct for self-preservation told these struggling Christian enclaves to stay away from those in prison. Associating with those in jail would only bring down the keen eye and long arm of Roman law on the rest of them. Better to stay their distance and ...

352. Back To Basics: The Three R's of Baptism - Sermon Starter

Mark 1:4-11

Illustration

Brett Blair

... turning. The leaves are beginning to turn from green to red to orange. The birds are beginning to turn and are heading once more toward the south. The animals are beginning to turn to storing their food for the winter. For leaves, birds and animals, turning comes instinctively. But for us, turning does not come so easily. It takes an act of will for us to make a turn. It means breaking old habits. It means admitting that we have been wrong, and this is never easy. It means losing face. It means starting all ...

353. 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Anyone who has ever faithfully tried to be "pastor" to a congregation knows instinctively the true subtitle for the Corinthian correspondence: How Not to End Up on Family Feud. Paul felt the pull of love and compassion for his new converts. Yet a "greater love" kept pulling Paul back out onto the road, moving him from place to place to spread the Good News ...

354. Matthew 28:1-10

Matthew 28:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... run to give the disciples their message, Jesus himself appears before them. For Matthew, there is no subtlety or subterfuge in Jesus' first resurrection appearance. His identity is clear, his first exclamation straightforward and joyous - "Greetings!" The women respond instinctively, but with great theological correctness. They worship him (v.9). Jesus' apparently unscheduled appearance at the tomb seems to be an added miracle for the benefit of these faithful, fearless women. They come to the tomb at the ...

355. John 1:43-51

John 1:43-51

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... calling of an ordinary “every man” and “every woman.” Yet this “average Joe” is the only one John specifically records Jesus as seeking out to “follow me.” Even if his later words will suggest Philip’s limitations, this disciple’s first instincts are right on. He eagerly seeks out another to share his experience of Jesus. John’s text identifies Philip, like Andrew and Peter, as from the Galilean community of Bethsaida. Since he immediately seeks out Nathanael it would suggest that he ...

356. Touch

Mark 1:40-45

Illustration

The Memminger Institute in Topeka, Kansas once had a fascinating experiment. They identified a group of crib babies who did not cry. Let me explain. It seems that babies cry because they instinctively know that this is the way to get attention. Crying is their way of calling out. These babies, however, had been in abusive situations. Their parents let hem cry for hours on end and never responded. Do you know what happened? The babies eventually quit crying. It is almost as ...

357. Then I Had Children

Mark 1:9-15; Luke 4:1-13

Illustration

Johnny Dean

... NO do we not understand? What is there in our genetic makeup that seems to be drawn to the forbidden, that's preoccupied with whatever is denied to us, that ignores the tremendous amount of freedom we enjoy and instead focuses on the limitations of our lives and inevitably, almost instinctively, rebels against them? We certainly don't get that from studying the life of Jesus, do we? Does the devil make us do it, as we so often claim?

358. Lent 5

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40, Hebrews 4:14-5:10, John 12:20-36

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... the will. People would accept, love and obey God from and with the heart in all sincerity and with a total devotion. 3. Know (v. 34). When God is loved with the heart, there is no need to teach someone who God is. The person will know God instinctively. To know God is not a mere intellectual exercise or understanding, but an ultimate relationship based on trust. 4. No more (v. 34). To effect this new covenant, God must forgive the people's past sins that they may begin anew in their relationship with God as ...

359. Easter Day

Isaiah 25:1-12, Mark 16:1-20, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, John 20:1-9

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... another chance. 4. Trembling (v. 8). The women trembled at the fact of the empty tomb, the sight of the angel and the announcement of the resurrection. If this were a story made up by the first Christians, the reaction would have been rather casual. Instinctively the women reacted normally to such fantastic news and to a confrontation with an angel. They trembled out of respect and awe at the event of life coming out of a grave. This was the greatest event of history. The women responded with normal ...

360. Lent 1

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40, Hebrews 4:14-5:10, John 12:20-36

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

361. Afraid No More

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... fools. That being brave does not mean being unafraid. It means being afraid and doing it anyway. (7) Her uncle was very wise. We never solve our fears by running away from them. If you’re afraid of speaking up in a group, if you’re afraid of trusting your instincts, if you’re afraid of taking a risk of any kind it won’t help to give into those fears. It’s like being afraid of crossing a bridge that fear won’t go away by forever taking another path home. We deal with fear when we acknowledge and ...

362. First Sunday of Advent

Psalm 80:1-19, Isaiah 64:1-9, Mark 13:24-37, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... about who you are, but about who we are, for you have declared yourself to be our kin, One who has ransomed us. In some ways you are like a permissive parent, who allows us enough room to get ourselves into trouble when we follow undisciplined instincts. Too often we are more like people who claim no affinity to you than like a people who bear your name. Forgive our tendency to slough off responsibility for our decision. Excuse the incompleteness of many of our confessions. We trust you still because of ...

363. “Bad Form” and Bad Jesus

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to a fine point. For example, one of the sharpest cuts a Victorian gentleman could jab at another was to accuse him of being in “bad form.” To be in “bad form” inferred one had bad-breeding, bad-upbringing, bad-judgment, bad-instincts, “bad-ness” all the way to the bone. “Bad form” meant doing something that was unquestionably gauche, undeniably unkind, exceptionally unwarranted. In fact, the difference between bad and good form was so important to people of a hundred years ago that Kent ...

364. Bad Form and Bad Jesus

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

365. God Is Like a...

John 6:35, 41-51

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

To illustrate the idea of being drawn to God, I've thought of the image of bugs being drawn to a light. However, there are some problems with that picture. That instinct can lead to the bug's death when they are drawn to a "zapper" or get too close to a candle. In addition, the light does no work to draw the bug. The bug puts forth all the effort in being drawn. In the image of "hauling" fish, the fish ...

366. Honor Graduate

Exodus 20:12

Sermon

James Merritt

... ) When Jesus Christ was dying on the cross, He looked at the Apostle John and said, "Behold your mother" saying in effect, "You take care of mother after I am gone" and that is exactly what this fifth commandment is talking about. You know, most animals instinctively care for their young. Bears will attack you if you even come near their babies. Has it ever occurred to you that no animals ever care for their old? The only ones that do are humans. This commandment says we are to rise above the animal nature ...

367. What Do I Do When I Can't Get Started?

Proverbs 6:6-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... provision in the harvest." (Proverbs 6:6-8, NASB) The ant is a master self-starter. The ant has no boss, no supervisor, nobody nagging it to get its job done. It just gets up, gets to it and goes to work. They get the essentials done first. They know instinctively that winter is coming, so they start storing food up in the summer. The first thing you need to do to get started is just get to it. In other words, start now. Not next month, not next week, not even tomorrow, start now. If you could only work on ...

368. Mourning Our Fallen Tormentors

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... good advice. But Dirda says of his father that "he never ceased to be wanting the world, his children, and his own life to be better than they were or were ever likely to be."1 As an adult, Dirda is sometimes asked if he had a happy childhood. "My instinctive reply is no," Dirda writes. "For I usually remember my father's anger and scorn...."2 Dirda is now in his mid-fifties. His dad died in 1991, but Dirda says, "I ... would give a lot to hear him yell at me just one more time: ‘Get your nose out ...

369. A Sense of Place

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6-10

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... anticipation. I was always sad about leaving people of whom we had become fond, but I don't become so greatly attached to the physical locations that it is wrenching to leave them. My wife, however, tends to get rooted in a place. She has the nesting instinct, and so she put a good deal of herself into decorating the houses we have lived in. She became very settled in each place and attached to the people. Each time we moved for my assignments, for her it was a painful uprooting, one usually complicated by ...

370. Bethlehem: Where Extremes Meet

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... that comes from being at one with the Father. Yet, when the real God began to make himself clearer and clearer in Christ, Lewis found himself resisting. He wanted to be left alone, to remain free to do as he pleased, to live life on his own terms. He knew instinctively that if God really entered his life, he would come as Lord, and Lewis could not remain as he had been. And so the dilemma mounted, as at one and the same time he both wanted and yet did not want. At times he felt like saying: "Oh, I hope ...

371. Keeping His Word

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... can remember vividly how these agreements functioned. Woe be unto that man who did not keep his word! If it happened more than once or twice and there were no extenuating circumstances, he was marked as a bad risk. Our fathers and grandfathers always knew instinctively what was at stake. Our dear Lord points out to us without fanfare, "Those who love me will keep my word." He adds a whole new dimension to the business transactions, mostly of yesteryear, and the need of keeping one's word. He kept his word ...

372. Compassion Can Do More Than You May Think

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

... warm. The cool night air was progressively getting chillier and chillier. Something about this man made the businessman take another look at him, and then another. Finally, he walked over to get a good look. When he saw the man, and the look in his eyes, the businessman instinctively did what Jesus did with the widow who had lost her only son that day in the town of Nain. The businessman's heart went out to the man in the gutter. He bent down to him and said, "Whoever you are, you don't belong here!" The ...

373. Minding the Store of Our Lives

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... was silent and uncomplaining in the Atlantic gales that swept over it, but its very silence said something about continuity, community, and interrelatedness. It had become a part of the local imagination and without ever really thinking about it, the people knew, with a sound instinct, that it was very important. It had something to say about what they hoped to be. It has something to do with the coming of the kingdom. The man from the cottage, who was a stonecutter, went up to the cross one dark night. One ...

374. Carrying the Burdens of Others

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... called by Paul to take on the humble attitude of Jesus and through our efforts find the exaltation which is God's reward to all the faithful. Demonstrating humility in the form of dying to self is a great challenge in today's world. Humans instinctively are fearful of death, in any form, because it threatens their autonomy. A good illustration of this reality can be found in the 1970 Academy Award-winning film Patton. The film opens in a rather odd manner. George C. Scott, who portrayed the famous American ...

375. The Cost of a Priceless Gift

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... hope, encouragement, strength, and salvation. I can only imagine what the child sees when he or she looks up at the parent. You know we catch a glimpse of it in our own families. Just look at children as they look at their mom or dad or grandparents. Instinctively, children know there is love there. That love is so great that the adults would do anything for the children, even change dirty diapers. As a child looks out of his crib at his sister or brother, he sees a bright smile and knows he is not alone ...

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