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 3826 to 3850 of 4943 results

3826. Smart, Wise, and Foolish

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... to the congregation of Wesley United Methodist Church in Champaign, Illinois, where he sometimes is asked to preach for the senior pastor. Wesley is a university congregation with several hundred University of Illinois students in attendance each Sunday. The pastoral concern behind Smart, Wise, and Foolish was the opening of the new school year. Here Houts considers and questions some of the common perceptions of what wisdom is and can do. He then develops some implications of the biblical conception of ...

3827. The Vulnerable Christ

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... would not eat. Finally she went to the temple and prayed: "Lord, give me a son and I’ll give him back to the temple." The old priest, Levi, must have thought her to be drunk, but she said no, she had taken no wine nor strong drink, but was concerned that she could not bear a child. Levi said: "Go in peace and the God of peace grant you your petition." Her prayers were answered, her husband "knew her"; the Lord remembered her, and in due time she bore a son and called him Samuel. As soon as he was ...

3828. In Praise of Feeling Guilty

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... these approches is astounding, and it is at our own peril if we remain unaware of the truths contained in these discoveries. Don’t kid yourself - they work! Temporarily, at least. That we believe it, in part at least, is shown by our concern for our "sick society" and its effect on persons - and our tendency (less today than a decade ago) to blame crime and personality disturbance on social conditions. The laudable attempt to change these social conditions needs to be greatly augmented - everywhere in the ...

3829. A Lack of Feeding in the American Dream

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... which becomes important to us all from time to time, but which is generally confusing and threatening so that we normally try to pass on from it as quickly as possible. The subject is suicide. There are a number of reasons why I am concerned with talking about it. I am continually involved as a minister in suicide cases, both accomplished and contemplated. The other day, our ministerial association met with the staff of the mental health clinic, and they told us that in our community of 12,000, their ...

3830. The Family Was God’s Idea

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... Christian church does not simply have to say "Yes" to everything, but a Christian response is not to ignore what is happening, nor is it just to shout a frightened "No." Not walling off of sex which will always fail, but a caring openness. It is more concerned about context than code; about education than warning; about open dialogue rather than ostracizing. If something is of God, it will last, if not, open discussion is the best way to deal with it. The church ought to be a place where new images of the ...

3831. Backsliding

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Brett Blair

... did, turning back and no longer following him. The college years, for example: Out of earshot and eye range of mom and dad, the college student is often tempted to drop church. When a couple first gets married. So often love is blind concerning the spiritual relationship of marriage and faith is ignored. The promotions years, when we are climbing the corporate ladder: God so often gets crowded out of the picture. Perhaps most of all, however, people turn back because our priorities get flipped. Increasingly ...

3832. The Man Who Couldn't Hear

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Brett Blair

... , that one of the predictions of the coming of the Messiah was that the ears of the deaf would be unstopped. And how many times did Jesus use the words "hear" and "listen"? He said: He who has ears to hear let him hear. Jesus was not only concerned that people physically listen to him, but that people hear what he was saying. It was this process of spiritual hearing that Jesus was referring to when he told the disciples: I tell you these things so that hearing them you might hear. II To be sure the loss ...

3833. Coming Forth

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... forth, O love divine. People: Meet us in the crevices between hope and hope. Leader: Come forth, O holy one. People: Meet us when we fade like the leaf. All: Come forth, O love divine. Collect In so many ways you come forth to us, you ever-concerned and active Parent. So variously you lead all your children, you who works for those who wait for you, even though we hide from you our shortcomings. Let us come forth to you. Amen. Prayer of Confession After all the energy you spend in creation, ever-creating ...

3834. What Must I DO to Receive Life?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

... man's problem. He ran to Jesus. Knelt before him in the middle of the road. And asked sincere questions. He was humble. The third positive thing is: he was religious. Now I don’t mean that in a negative way. He was a spiritual man deeply concerned with religious things. When Jesus instructed him to keep the commandments, he answered, “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy. Now what did he mean? He meant that since the age of 13, the point at which a Jewish boy assumes personal responsibility ...

3835. Location, Location, Location

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

William G. Carter

A cigar-chomping realtor was driving around a young couple to search for their first dream house. After listening to their concerns about mortgage points, maintenance costs, and school systems, he decided to give them a bit of advice. "I've been selling homes for 23 years," he said, "and I've discovered only three things matter when you're buying a home: location, location, location." To prove his point, he drove ...

3836. Advent 4. Won't You Let Him Into Your Christmas?

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... but in 1966, Matt’s Dad had a heart attack. He ultimately survived the heart attack, but that year Dad was in the hospital in East Texas in the month of December, and had not been able to take the children or their letters to Santa. Matt became concerned. They had moved to Tyler that year, so Matt became convinced that not only would Santa not know what they all wanted for Christmas, even worse, he wouldn’t know where they lived now. Matt decided that he would have to cover for Santa Claus that year. He ...

3837. Good News for Bad Times

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... news for those bad times. It is news of warning and promise that he is coming to us. Isaiah is told to cry, "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." When a people is in distress, God in concern comes to the people. When the Israelites were captive in Egypt, God heard their cries of misery. Now again, God hears the groaning of the people in Babylon. God knows the plight we are in today, captives of our wicked ways, slaves to our sins. But, do we take ...

3838. You Don't Need Jesus

John 1:19-28

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... conquered the habit and started up a real estate business. He named his company, "Rebos" for "sober" spelled backwards. Through this name, he wanted to ever remind himself that he had to make an about-face in his life at least as far as alcohol was concerned. It is at this point of repentance that new life begins both for the individual or a nation. In his book, From Under The Ruins, Solzhenitsyn says, "Only through the repentance of a multitude of people can the air and the soil of Russia be cleansed, so ...

3839. Wrinkled Wrappings

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... with God, with or without words. All of this is necessary to see God in a person like Jesus. Saint Paul said that only the spiritual can discern spiritual matters. The secularist, the atheist, and the agnostic have no sensitivity to God and related spiritual concerns. Every bush is aflame with God and they stand around picking blackberries! This explains why many do not see God in Jesus. They do not know God. One day the great novelist, Mark Twain, was telling about all the famous people he knew. His little ...

3840. Why Prophets Get Under Our Skin

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... in their anxiety of nothingness, and their craving for somethingness, begin to put undue pride in their background. They strive to develop a socially acceptable pedigree that will look good on the resume‚ and the club application. But God, says fearless John, is more concerned about fruits than roots. God is more interested in where you are going than where you came from. He is more focused on what contribution you are going to make to society than on whether you grew up in the right neighborhood with the ...

3841. The Long Lonliness

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... in awe of your power, and how can we but come to you as lovers as your soul speaks to our soul, more deeply than we speak to ourselves? We thank you. Yet it is for us to confess that we are often blinded to your glory by trivial concerns and we frequently become indifferent to your mercy within a brutal and violent world. Save us, O God, from succumbing to the age-old numbness which makes us insensitive to you. And break up these calcified hearts and arthritic souls, that we might be open and vital with ...

3842. A Voice to be Heard

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... put it, "Our age is an age of moderate virtue/And of moderate vice" ("The Rock"). We're afraid we'll be shaken out of our moderate mediocrity into something fearful and great. Afraid our little kingdoms of self-centeredness will be broken up, afraid our trivial concerns will be consumed in the refiner's fire, afraid our faith will snap like in the blast of the Baptist's voice. You bet we're afraid -- afraid to let go the grudges we've been nursing and hiding behind for years, afraid to confess the hatreds ...

3843. Giving Everything: The Widow's Might

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Brett Blair

... recall Jesus’ words: He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. III Finally, at the heart of the story is a subtle third lesson in the form of a warning. Now listen...I am about to tell you that everything I just told you concerning the widow’s mite is wrong. That’s right. You heard it here first. The preacher was wrong. Now let me tell you why. Scholars believe that Jesus is not simply commending the woman for her generosity but rather lamenting an injustice. Jesus’ praise of the widow ...

3844. Splashed with the Spirit

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , would make me complete and finished. It seems now as if they were trying to force upon me a gift that only God could give. It never occurred to them that perhaps God had already given it. Let’s face it: as far as faith is concerned, some people are late bloomers. It takes a while for some people to gain understanding. Will Willimon tells about a church gathering where people were taking turns giving testimonies about their religious experiences. One man stood and said, “I was a Methodist for 38 years ...

3845. Anything Better Than the Golden Rule?

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , you were complicating the teachings of Jesus.” “Was I?” “Yes, you were,” she said. “If we want to follow Jesus, we have to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. That is the essence of what Jesus taught us. As far as I’m concerned, there is nothing better than the Golden Rule. That is all I want to say.” With that, she whirled around and stomped away. She was not the first to sum up the implications of faith with the Golden Rule. About twenty years before the birth of Jesus, the ...

3846. Beyond Our Sight, Within Our Hearing

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

William G. Carter

... in the world? What if I’m preaching this sermon, not because I think it’s uppermost on your list of weekly wants, but rather because I believe this is what God wants? What you get out of what is done here should not be as great a concern among us as fidelity to the peculiar nature of God’s Kingdom. What is the greatest service the church can render the world? Perhaps the service we render is not necessarily what the world thinks it needs. But the church is not only about meeting my needs but also ...

3847. The Future Shapes the Present

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... what it means for each of us to be a child of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Scripture is often out ahead of us, inviting us to live a richer and nobler life today. In essence, today’s epistle lesson is a fax from tomorrow concerning how Christians are to respond to the great promise of God’s return or reappearance before humankind. A necessary piece of equipment for many modern offices is a fax machine. A business person conveyed an interesting experience he had with a fax machine. Some friends of ...

3848. Good News for Good Living

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... that “some have died.” Obviously witnessing the resurrection doesn’t grant immediate immortality. He notifies his charges that “last of all he appeared to me.” Apparently resurrection appearances are over. The exact nature of the appearances is not Paul’s concern. He is arguing for the reality of the resurrection. He is transmitting a tradition which is a summary of the proclamation of the early church: • Christ died and was buried; • Christ was raised and appeared. The burial confirms a ...

3849. Exposed!

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... and closed blinds, wondering about our own health and personal salvation? This sermon probably doesn’t feel very comfortable, for you or for me. But, in the final analysis, I’m not certain how much God cares about our feelings. God appears to be as much concerned about the way we treat others in our world and the visions we exchange with one another as God does the way we feel about ourselves. God apparently wants us to expose ourselves to the public. Paul’s insistence that this reflection of the Lord ...

3850. When Life Gets Hard, Christian, Rebel!

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... leave it to those who come after me — and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun ... What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also ...

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