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 376 to 400 of 635 results

376. Developing a Glad Attitude

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... is what Thanksgiving is all about. In the midst of a Civil War, Abraham Lincoln called on the nation to pause for a day of national "thanks giving." Many would say this was the worst time to give thanks. Everything was falling apart around him. Yet he knew instinctively that this was a way to begin healing old wounds. It was a way to turn the focus off what was wrong with this country and onto what was good about it. Even today, in a society that is more secular than religious, Thanksgiving reminds us of ...

377. A Father's Heart Cry

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... be unique amongst world religions. No other deity relates to human beings in quite the same manner or with quite the same passion, with the same loyalty or the same jealousy. Threaten a child and you will arouse a parent's strongest fighting instinct. Betray their love and you unleash their greatest heartache. God's passion is no less intense, Hosea reveals. The prophet Hosea most likely wrote during the reign of King Hoshea. As the nation of Assyria struggled to gain control of an already unstable region ...

378. History of Christ the King Sunday

John 18:28-40, 1 John 2:15-17

Illustration

Brett Blair

... then put under the power of the State and tolerated more or less at the whim of princes and rulers. Some men went even further, and wished to set up in the place of God’s religion a natural religion consisting in some instinctive affection of the heart. There were even some nations who thought they could dispense with God, and that their religion should consist in impiety and the neglect of God. The rebellion of individuals and states against the authority of Christ has produced deplorable consequences ...

379. Christmas in the Midst of Songs

Luke 1:39-45

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... even as derivations and deviations from the true theme, they carry some measure of the joy of the season. This isn't surprising because Christmas was born in the midst of songs. The Gospel of Luke says it most specifically, but many of us feel it instinctively. It seems inevitable that the words spoken by Gabriel to Mary, by Mary and by Zechariah in their occasions of rejoicing, by the angels to the shepherds, and by Simeon in the temple were sung. They are too exultant to be spoken without benefit of tune ...

380. LOST? Pursuing Purpose

1 Peter 2:9-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... all. The only trouble was she felt alone and cut off in the winner take all, bash them and beat them culture she found herself in. And she was living with a terrible secret: she did not want to be No. 1. She did not want to hone a killer instinct, or become an all-time great. As much as she loved to play tennis and hone all the skills to make her the best, she did not want to do it at someone else's expense. She thinks her injuries that caused her have to give up the professional tennis ...

381. Easter: Seeing Is Believing

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... tragic death on the very first paved highway. Ever since that day he's haunted the highways of America. Out of nowhere, Falling Rock will suddenly appear in the middle of the road. Dressed in full war paint, knife in hand, he starts coming toward the vehicle. Your instinct is to slam on the brakes, which most people do, which in turn causes lots of accidents. After which Falling Rock laughs an evil laugh and goes running to the next spot. And all the signs we see on the highways are really there to mark the ...

382. Changing Dysfunction Into Function: Isaac, Jacob and Esau

Genesis 27:15-24, 30-34

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... are now standing high on a cliff from which the ancient Spartan women once hurled their defective children to the rocks below. Wish you were here." (2) A functional family is a place for reassurance and support. Functional families realize, know instinctively or have learned that as human beings our physical, emotional and spiritual needs are fulfilled through relationships. So, they nurture those relationships. Does that mean there won't be conflict or mistakes? No. But strong families realize that there's ...

383. Here I Am, Send Me

Joel 2:28-32, Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the hall, the third room. Maybe you should go in and visit him. He's unconscious, though." The deacon walked down and went into the room. There were tubes everywhere. It wasn't pretty. The deacon went over and took hold of the hand of the gentleman in the bed. Instinctively, led by the Spirit, he said a prayer. And when he said "Amen," the old fellow squeezed his hand. The deacon was so moved by that squeeze of the hand that he began to weep. He shook a little. He tried to get out of the room and, as he ...

384. Are You Plugged In?

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... something, that a deep breath right beforehand actually helps. Several of those slow deep breaths can put you in the right frame of mind and calm you down. Well, you can do the very same thing with Breath Prayers and use what you do naturally and instinctively as part of your Prayer Life. [BRING DOWN LIGHTS] The first thing you do is close your eyes. Then you focus on those things that you want to get rid of. Those negative thoughts and feelings or the anger and stress that are sapping your energy and ...

385. Fulfilling Others?

Luke 4:14-30

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... the void in all the far flung instances of human longing. When medieval European artists painted the Holy Family, they usually painted them with typical German, Italian, or Flemish features. It was not imagination or prejudice which made them do so, but the instinctive feeling that Jesus belonged to them; he was one of their people. In our time, Christian artists in Africa and Asia paint the Holy Family with features and coloring appropriate to their world. Again, it is because they feel that Jesus belongs ...

386. Radical Love is Risky (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... lending, and turning the other cheek, and doing to others as you would have them do unto you? Isn’t it a kind of lightness of being? Why not travel lightly? You immediately say to me, but what about self-defense? I know, self-defense is a natural human instinct. There is enough mammal in the best of us to defend our territory, take care of our own, and protect ourselves from harm. Who could expect us to do anything else than fight for the right to take care of ourselves? If we are not predators, we are at ...

387. Freedom to Set Free

Galatians 4:21-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ; they lived in superstition and fear. According to Paul, they were given up to the “....desires of body and mind.. .” (Eph. 2:3 RSV). In a sense, then, the Galatians were slaves to their fears and superstitions slaves to their passions and instincts. It was to these people that Paul came on one o his missionary journeys, preached the liberating gospel of Christ. They accepted this Gospel and their lives were changed. They were delivered from their fears and possessed a joyful liberty which comes with ...

388. Being and Doing as the People of God

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... religion – but a denial of the power. We will remain forever frustrated in our faith – the feeling deeply the claim to be and do, and knowing clearly the way to do and do – but no power to follow through. Most of our natural drives and instincts become perverted along the way. We need the converting presence of the indwelling Christ to bring these drives and passions and impulses together for our wholeness. That happens as we allow Christ to be Lord of all these. Finally, THE INDWELLING CHRIST IS AN ...

389. Assurance: The Privilage of All Believers

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that area of woodland, a soft sound of complaint began to rise. Into the glade fluttered small birds of half a dozen varieties drawn by the anguished outcries of the tiny parents. “No one dared to attack the raven. But they cried there in some instinctive common misery, the bereaved and the unbereaved. The glade filled with their soft rustling and their cries. They fluttered as though to point their wings at the murderer. There was a dim intangible ethic he had violated, that they knew. He was a bird of ...

390. Hades, The God of the Underworld

Luke 7:11-17; 1 Cor 15:26

Illustration

Donald T. Williams

... it is her footsteps that he hears! But he dare not. And now they have almost emerged. One more step and the quest will be achieved life snatched back from the grave! But at that moment she stumbles against a stone and cries out, and by instinct, without thinking, he turns to catch her and keep her from falling. But he has broken the ban, he has violated the requirement, he has transgressed the taboo. And so he turns only to see her for one intolerably heartbreaking moment reaching for him as she evaporates ...

391. Joy Comes in the Morning

Psalm 30:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... people with whom we open up our lives and share the intimacies of our hearts are those people we feel a strong need for, and know that they have a reciprocal need for us. “Every once in a while, you’ll be introduced to a person who impresses you. Your instincts tell you that this is a special person you would like to get to know better. But if that person does not need in you what you are needing in him, then he’ll never open up and let you enter his life. There’s got to be a mutual ...

392. From Lust to Love

1 Corinthians 13: 1

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. That's what parents do. It just comes with being a parent, because that's the nature of your love for your children. You're born that way. Even the animal kingdom has an instinct to take care of their of own and watch after their offspring. A poll-taker at a shopping mall stopped a mother and began asking her questions. "How many children do you have?" inquired the poll-taker. "Well," replied the mother, "There is Billy, Bobby, Mary ...

393. Reconsider

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to death (Leviticus 20:10). Betrayal hurts. Sin is serious. I remember an abandoned wife saying to me one time, “I'd like to stand up in church and tell everybody that my husband is being unfaithful to me." I didn't encourage her to act on that instinct. I didn't think it would help anybody. Not even righteous, upright Joseph could bring himself to do that. So he decides to divorce her quietly. I always get a little nervous when people want to enforce every jot and tittle of the Bible, verse by verse ...

394. Honoring God in a Pluralistic Society

Matthew 22:37-40

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... likeness, so he did. God saw all that he had made, it was very good." There is a spark of Divine in every human being. The Imago Deo, the image of God, is stamped within us. Thinkers have given it different names: Sangster called it the “homing instinct." Augustine called it the “restlessness until we rest in God." Paul called it “the law written on the heart." Quakers call it the “inner light." Who then can be saved? As a life-long Christian, I believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I ...

395. Every Man Our Neighbor

Luke 10:25-37

Illustration

John Wesley

... an insensibility for all the human race, but a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self-love reflected. With an honest openness of mind, let us always remember the kindred between man and man; and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of our nature, God has strongly bound us to each other.

396. Luke 11:1-13

Luke 11:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... how the plates will look when they come to your table. Dad will have some kind of steak. Mom always goes for something with salsa. The kids cruise the menu for the latest incarnation of chicken strips or burgers. Faced with a completely new situation, we instinctively try to make it as familiar as possible. That’s why one of the busiest McDonald’s in the world is in Times Square. Jesus’ disciples were no different. As they traveled along with Jesus, they listened to his new message of the Kingdom of ...

397. Hunger and Politics

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... clock. Food will keep your hungry body going. Potato chips and a soda will stop the munchies for a while. But what are you feeding your soul? Augustine reflected on the spiritual character of our race. "Man is one of your creatures, Lord," he said, "and his instinct is to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you." What are you eating today? Tomorrow and next week ...

398. All Who Share This Hope

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... . We are not made to live only to ourselves. We are made for relationship, both with God and with each other and God's world; and so we live out our lives in a complicated and ever-changing web of associations. We turn toward each other almost instinctively as we celebrate our joys, mourn our losses, and need support through tough times and transitions. We work together to accomplish our goals; we look to each other for reassurance that we're on the right track or for guidance if we're not; and we scarcely ...

399. Sentimental Slaves

Exodus 16:2-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... longing, of remembering some "good old days." I think it comes naturally to us as human beings. I don't believe that every yesterday is better than every tomorrow, but I do think that it is part of our nature to long for former times. Perhaps that was an instinct the human race acquired when our first parents were evicted from Eden. Perhaps it has been part of our emotional DNA ever since to long for better days gone by. If you've found yourself in a group of people who share a common past, you know the ...

400. The Proof Is in the Pudding

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... the face of troubles and injustices, "O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?" (Habakkuk 1:2). At Rephidim, the people of Israel voiced such a quintessential question of faith: "Is the Lord among us or not?" We may be instinctively sympathetic with Israel's question, for it may be a question we have asked along the way. In a hospital room, in a financial crisis, in the aftermath of some natural disaster, in the wake of some tragic accident, we have wondered, too: "Is the Lord among ...

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