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 3926 to 3950 of 4339 results

3926. The Call of the Wild Within

Genesis 12:10-20, Genesis 12:1-8, Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , the primal, the image of God and ourselves within. We must risk everything in order to see the Truth of Jesus, and to realize what is most true and authentic about ourselves. In our quest, we discover our strength. In the movie, “Wild,” fictional character Cheryl Strayed embarks on a journey into the wilds of the Pacific trail to try to deal with her grief and to find what is most real and authentic about herself. The challenges and pitfalls that she encounters strengthen her resolve but also reveal ...

3927. Broken Yet Sincere

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... each one piece unique and different from any other. No two pieces of pottery are ever broken in the same way, nor are they repaired in exactly the same pattern. But the result is stunning. The gold “glue” gives each piece a priceless value and a character all its own, not to mention an anointing dignity and ageless lifespan. Each piece comes with its own backstory –how it was broken, where it comes from, whose households it has graced. But when it comes into the hands of the kintsugi artisan, it takes ...

3928. The True Story Wins

Matthew 28:11-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... tell them what they witnessed. At that point, yet another story is concocted in order to override the authentic one. As singular as the resurrection story is, it is only a “preface” to Jesus’ many resurrection appearances to come. The guards are key characters in Matthew’s story. They attest to the truth of the gospel in their reaction at the tomb and hasty flight to the chief priests. They have witnessed something outside of their comfort zone, outside of reason, and outside of explanation. It has ...

3929. The Power of the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... s easy for all of us to be devoted to God in the good times. But when we are weak, tired, hungry, all of us know that even the most solid person can become grouchy, desperate, disloyal. Our passions take over, and we may act out of character in order to satisfy our basic needs. This is what it means to be human. And Jesus, like any human, needed to go through those same temptations and struggles. The word for Jesus’ conflict is “satan.” In the Hebrew/Jewish tradition, “satan” is a metaphor. While ...

3930. The Gathering at Cana

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ! Lawyers and judges have claimed that it has changed the whole mind-set of juries and what they look for before they are willing to convict. But even if you aren’t a jurist or a scientist by trade, we all still love to watch our favorite detective characters find the clues and signs everyone else will miss, and then to trace those clues back to the source. We are all semiotic bloodhounds at heart! We love to find out the “whys” of things, to seek out signs and clues that lead us to the roots of ...

3931. Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... recognizes this eschatological vision within Psalm 92 saying, “It is the psalm for the hereafter, for the day that will be wholly Sabbath and rest for eternity.” Jesus IS the Sabbath rest. In his responses, he emphasizes and reveals the loving and seeking character of God. Jesus tells us, the Sabbath was never meant to put humankind of bondage, but the opposite –to relieve humankind of “work,” and to designate alone time with God, celebration time and a recognition of belonging to the One True God ...

3932. Moving On

Luke 6:12-16, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... move.” Whether “rocking the boat” in one town or another, healing, teaching, confronting, challenging, forgiving, or traveling, Jesus knew how to “shake off the dust” and how to look ahead to the time to come. “Move on down, move on down the road,” sing the characters from The Wiz. It’s time in our churches that we get up from our harbors where we cower from our world in fear, and begin proclaiming Jesus in every time and clime to the ones, the nones and the dones -–rejoicing in those who ...

3933. Syrophoenician Lives Matter!

Mark 7:24-30, Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... In my humble opinion, you can’t understand most of what Jesus was saying and doing in the gospels without looking at the stories of the Hebrew scriptures. Not only does Jesus reference these stories and prophecies, but the images and characters have significant meaning, many times layers of meaning, in Jesus’ teachings. Additionally, the scriptures were meant to be told not in pieces but as a whole story, taking into account the story’s prefaces and “postscriptures.” Today’s story in particular ...

3934. Scandal

Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 26:1-5

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to God’s majesty also when the terms is used in Ezekiel. The term Son of Man however changes in meaning both in the Book of Daniel and the Book of 1 Enoch. In Daniel and Enoch, Son of Man takes on an eschatological meaning, a messianic character. In Daniel (7:13-14), the relationship between Father and Son is indicated as well (note the conversation Jesus has with the Pharisees and Scribes regarding his identity as the Son of the Father in his prophecies in John’s gospel). Enoch, the oldest known Jewish ...

3935. God Gives the Pharisees the Finger!

John 7:25-44, John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Pharisees, the Temple, and the fig tree (symbolizing Israel). After Moses, God would be determined to “write his precepts upon our hearts …to chisel them….tattoo them….engrave them into the flesh of our hearts” so that we might lose this “stony character.” Was Jesus writing out the commandments they had broken, or was he in fact drawing on an even more powerful metaphor! The conviction of Belshazzar –who had turned from God in God’s own Temple! The similarities are stunning. In the story ...

3936. Praise God! Selah!

Luke 1:67-80, Luke 1:57-66, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:1-4

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... we spend our time glorifying God, we KNOW that anything unusual, out of sorts, or even bad may just be something God can and will bring glory to! “Daniel Tiger” is a PBS spin-off from the prior Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. On the show, the characters say this phrase over and over again to each other ….and to the young children watching: “When something seems bad, turn it around, and make something good!” The lesson is that, even when things go wrong, you can always turn it around somehow, and find ...

3937. Little Ones

Luke 18:15-17, Matthew 19:13-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and violent than our current versions sprinkled with Disney “pixie-dust.” But even the watered-down versions still lurch the heart and make the reader (or viewer) long for the hero’s valiant rescue or the story’s happy and justified ending.** And the main characters are almost always…children. This is true not just for long-told tales, but for modern ones as well, such as those by J.R. Tolkien, George McDonald, C.S. Lewis, or most recently J.K. Rowling, with the largest difference being that in ...

3938. Seat of Power

Mark 10:35-45, Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Tolkien? This may look like just any ring, but in Tolkien’s story, the “Ring of Power” had an enormous influence over he who wore it. Can anyone tell me about the secret power of that ring? Yes, for the wearer, the ring increased or amplified the inner character of whoever wore it. Wearing the ring reduced “Gollum” to a selfish creature of the dark. And even those who would do good, such as Bilbo, were influenced by the power of the ring. He could feel it pulling at him. In a sense, the ring would ...

3939. Slow Burn

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . And we can choose whether to use our eye for good or evil. Will we be humble? Or idolatrous? The eye once gazing in the wrong direction can easily become a slave to sin (yetzer hara –evil impulse). A person’s gaze therefore reflects his or her inner character. YHWH is the Light of Creation, the shekinah. And we are to be the Light to the World (as Isaiah says as well). When Sabbath candles are lit, the words are repeated: “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who sanctified us with ...

3940. Reveille

Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... before.” [You can also play this clip if you wish.] What has so fascinated us with this movie. What still tugs on our heart-strings when we hear those venturous words? There’s something about a mission into the unknown, something about the characters’ dedication and loyalty that makes us wish we were only so brave, so noble. Perhaps you are more noble and brave than you think! Jesus’ disciples certainly were. Like Star Fleet, they too ventured out into unknown territory, often hazardous territory in ...

3941. Apples, Onions, and Cheese

Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... s the inside that counts –the part you taste. You can peel off bad clothing. You can peel off bad habits. You can peel off bad experiences. But like the cheese we looked at earlier, you can’t peel off what you’re actually made of –your character, your content, your context, your condition of soul. John Wesley knew this well. That’s why each week at his Methodist class meetings in old Britain, he would ask each person, “What is the state of your soul this week?” No matter what kind of person we ...

3942. Are You a Lemming or a Lassie?

Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:22-34, Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:54-59

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a search party to find the two brothers just in the nick of time to save the younger of the two. It’s a story of loyalty, perseverance, and the love of one for another. In 1940, based on the book, called “The Half Brothers,” the character of Lassie emerged onto the big screen in a movie called “Lassie, Come Home!” Highly successful, a television series was launched in 1954 called simply “Lassie.” The show ran for 18 years. The stories were of a loyal collie dog named Lassie, the best friend of ...

3943. The Birth of the Bridegroom

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... very important. The language itself is embedded with meaning, even the letters themselves, so much so that the name of God is never named out loud, as God is too holy to be named. Why? Because naming is an act of “nailing down” the characteristics, character, and path in life of the person who carries it. God is so beyond description that naming would be disrespectful. The act of not naming God then is the acknowledgement that God goes far beyond our ability to describe Him wholly. The Messiah is then ...

3944. Don't Stop Praying!

Luke 18:1-8, Luke 18:35-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... had known him well for many years. He knew somehow, his boss had been framed, and so no matter what “evidence” was presented, no matter what taunts and insults strewn, no matter how his colleagues poked fun at him, Mike continued to believe in the character and integrity of his former boss and enduring friend. When everyone else had deserted the company, and no loyalty remained for Joe as head of the company, still when Mike saw his former ally walking down the road toward a new horizon, Mike called to ...

3945. Sim Lev!

Mark 13:1-31, Mark 13:32-37, Matthew 24:1-35, Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... white understanding of life on her family’s Kansas farm. When a tornado sweeps through the rural countryside, Dorothy bumps her head and a story arises from the twilight of her unconscious mind that may be imaginary, but is peppered with colorful clues and characters from her real Kansas life. If you pay attention to those hints and clues and metaphors, you discover that Dorothy’s dream world is rooted in her own true identity: her love of friends and family, her sense of home. When she awakens, those ...

3946. Lazarus Rising

John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44, John 11:45-57, John 12:1-11, John 12:12-19

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... again in the majesty and presence of God! So everyone would know that God was near, and that soon, God would act similarly on their behalf. Soon Jesus’ own resurrection would change the face of faith, would turn hearts back to God, would challenge the character and content of all earthly conquests. And Lazarus would be God’s witness to what was coming. And like Peter’s mother-in-law, who jumped up and began “serving,” like the blind man, who leaped up and began praising, Lazarus came out of the ...

3947. Massah and Meribah

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... our anger, or even our doubt. But God does give us signs of God’s everlasting and calming presence, and quenches us with the Living Waters of healing and life-giving hope. If only we can read the signs. So go ahead. Wrestle with God. Shout at God. Some characters in the Bible were even known to curse at God when the journey of life God too hard and long. God is God. God can take all your Massah and Meribah. But never forget this. God sends us Jesus –the greatest “sign” of all, God’s Living Water ...

3948. Who is That Crouching at Your Door?

Genesis 4:1-26

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Abel (hevel). However, much can be lost in translation. Whenever reading the Hebrew scriptures, it’s so important to look up key words, and also names. In the case of this story, the names Kayin and Hevel have much to tell. Kayin means acquisition/possession. And his character in the story reflects this name. He wants to “acquire” (kanah) God’s grace and love and favorable “gaze.” As a tiller of the soil, he is also attached to the land in a way that his brother is now. He is a creature of the ...

3949. God Powered Impact

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... You see, God doesn’t have to have a name. When God creates the world, things have names. Adam receives a name. The animals receive names. Eve receives a name. Everyone after that through eternity will be named, sometimes more than once depending upon their character and identity. But God is not creation but creator. God simply IS. God is being. God is existence. God is the source of all power, the source of the wind. God IS. And where else have we heard those very questions? In reference to Jesus, yes ...

3950. The Writing on the Wall

2 Samuel 11:1-27, 2 Samuel 12:1-31, John 7:25-44, John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... I the only one who has had one of those experiences before? We all have times when we don’t recognize ourselves. Sometimes it has nothing to do with our visage! Maybe you have had an interaction with someone, in which you acted totally out of character. Something someone said or did pushed your buttons. You found yourself saying or doing something so foreign to your usual reaction, that you now recoil in horror. You can’t think about it now without getting the heebie jeebies, and you can only shake your ...

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