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 4126 to 4150 of 5000 results

4126. Lord of All!

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... . According to the story, Lazarus was arrested and threatened with death. He was brought before the Roman Emperor Caligula who ordered him to renounce his faith in Christ. "I cannot and will not renounce my faith in Jesus as Lord," Lazarus replied. "You don't understand," Caligula said. "I have power of life and death over you. If you don't renounce Jesus as Lord and proclaim me as Lord, I will have you killed." According to the story, Lazarus laughed. He laughed uncontrollably. He laughed right in the face ...

4127. Does Easter Make a Difference?

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... . Christ did it for us. We just pass it on." The "Go And Do Likewise" movement is spreading throughout southern California today. The vision is to put Easter faith into action by helping the needy in our day, motivated by the peace of God that passes all understanding, powered by the Holy Spirit, with a purpose to glorify God's name by selfless service to the needy. We began with the story of the bully and the wise man. The bully asked the question, "Is the chicken behind my back dead or alive?" He thought ...

4128. Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... were Gentiles who had become Jews by faith. We read in verse 27 and 28 that he was returning home from worshiping in Jerusalem. He was reading Isaiah 53. Philip started with a question, always a good thing to do when dealing with outsiders. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" (Acts 8:30). When the Ethiopian said, "No," Philip came over to the chariot in which he was sitting and explained the text to him. The text from Isaiah 53 was: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb ...

4129. God’s Surprises

Acts 10:44-48

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... later, but please note here that Peter graciously welcomed the Gentile strangers and provided for their stay. Gentiles in a Jewish home! That was a scandal. Peter was beginning to understand the principle of Christian inclusiveness. Inclusiveness for Peter meant following the vision God had given him. He was beginning to understand that no people are profane to God. How does this inclusiveness connect with our lives? Does it relate to our resistance to change? Inclusiveness for Peter also meant following ...

4130. Write to the Heart

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... of a new Christian unfold in excitement and wonder. Our own hearts melt as we share the tie that binds us together, a bond stronger than blood. One new Christian began reading his Bible with fervor, but discovered that many sections were difficult to understand. Finally, in exasperation, he turned to the last page to see how things ended. In relief he exclaimed, "God won!" Helen Keller once remarked that, "The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or touched. They must be felt with the heart." Today ...

4131. Power Failures and Power Surges

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Is power generated by kilowatts or killing scores? Is power wielded by nation-states or anti-statist terrorists? Is power measured in dollars and cents, body counts, bad dreams, or the ability to forfeit futures? It is time Christians reclaimed a biblical understanding of power. Power is not found in expulsions from hydrocarbons. Power is not found in the ability of one ideology to dominate another ideology. Power is not found in the strong lording it over the weak. For Christians the greatest power surge ...

4132. The Pew Potato's Prayer

Illustration

Joan Stock

... 't let anyone else try to sit here Lord... You know that's my seat and dear Lord please get me home quickly after the service on Sunday, before these church people try to recruit me to actually do something that I don't want to do. Lord make them understand that I'm happy and content just to show up on Sunday. Heavenly Father, thank you for hearing my prayer but I've got to Go! Kickoff is only a minute away!! You ...

4133. Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... demonstrates his divinely appointed mission. To Christianized ears Mark’s description of John’s mission sounds familiar — “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (v.4). But to a first century audience this activity isn’t as readily understandable. In Judaism and in various Gnostic sects, ritual washing was part of everyday piety. Immersion in a “mikvah” to achieve purity was also part of Jewish tradition. But it is unclear whether there was any true convert baptism at this ...

4134. No Comment

2 Kings 2:1-12a

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... words; the prudent man will keep cool." Job admits that his long tirades against God have been so much blowing chaff when in 42:2, 5 he eventually discovers: "I know that you can do all things. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me which I cannot know." Finally, in the book of Revelation it even says that "And there was silence in heaven for about the space of half an-hour" (Revelation 8: 1). Perhaps the greatest master of the "no comment" response was Jesus ...

4135. How to Play Fair in Foul Play

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of his own people - he will face "great suffering," he will "be rejected" by the most respected religious leaders, and he will ultimately "be killed" with the approval of those same leaders. In his lessons on discipleship Jesus tries to get his followers to understand that they too will face a hostile world, a world that destroys those who confront its sins and shortcomings. For the soul to survive this world Jesus suggests guidelines to his disciples so that they may continue to play fair in the midst of ...

4136. Protecting Your Valuables

James 3:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... other hand the word "value" now has a pleasing cash-register ring to it. We use the word "value" to describe a deal, a bargain, even "a steal." Increasingly it is this consumerist notion of "value" which is influencing the way in which we use and understand this term. The noun "value" is a very old English word deriving from Latin valere meaning "to be strong, be of value." The word has meant the "worth" or "worthiness" of someone or something. Not until the 19th century (through the writings of Adam Smith ...

4137. Back to School

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Even as the church might attempt to deal with problems confronting it through generative, creative exploration, the reality of those empty pews and empty souls must be addressed week by week. Coping with what faces us, even when we don't fully understand, is a learning process the Church used to be good at. Faced with behavior she could not comprehend, Mary nonetheless learned much from Jesus' appearance at the temple. She "treasured all these things in her heart" (verse 51). Adaptive learning keeps us ...

4138. Five Steps to Takeoff

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... not only to learn at his feet but to join them in offering the world the saving message of the gospel. This is truly a mission of life or death. The gospel has the power to save to "rescue the perishing" but only if those called to discipleship understand the nature of their mission and choose to accept it. 5. The final gesture the airboss makes sends the waiting plane and pilot off into the sky. This gesture is the grandest of the lot. For now that everything is ready for takeoff, the airboss must do one ...

4139. Written in Red

1 John 5:9-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... commitment gang members feel toward those who share their communal identity. To be in a gang is to be willing to sacrifice one's blood. Gang members are truly blood brothers and blood sisters. Through the flow of blood, these gangs express what they understand to be their "love" for each other. It is this strange connection between "love" and "blood" that holds gangs together so fiercely. It is ironic that the church has chosen this precise moment in history to absolutely reject its own heritage of blood ...

4140. The Hand, the Lamb and the Dove

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Every book that ever was written about the Trinity is heretical, barring the Athanasian Creed. And even that only saves itself by contradicting everything it says as fast as it says it." In the long run, perhaps the only way the church can ever hope to understand the triune nature of God is for the church to be more truly the church. The doctrine of the Trinity reveals that relationships stand at the heart of the universe. Atoms do not exist unless they are in relationship with other atoms. You and I do ...

4141. Soul-Scrubbing

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Rights workers? Why is it that we made a movie to re-live the tension and the helplessness of watching a crippled Apollo 13 hobble slowly back to Earth, and see in it the prayers and the hopes of the whole country? Do we now have a glimmer of understanding, that when we are weak, we are made strong? Only when we keep our true frailty directly in front of our eyes can we keep a clear vision of ourselves and our mission. In today's text, Paul admits to having experienced one of the most exalted epiphanies ...

4142. God's in Charge (so shut up!)

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the divine reputation to human mouth-maulings, the author of Ephesians, in this week's epistle lesson, reminds us that we should do our utmost to avoid opening our lips before we know what we are going to say. Verse 17 counsels "So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." "God's in charge, so shut up!" And since God is in charge, there is no rush to spit out something, anything, in order to fill up the silence. Ecclesiastes fronts the admonition to "let your words be few" with the ...

4143. The Double Cross

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... life of humility and service for others must thoroughly replace even the concept of a "goal." Don't doubt for one minute that James and John felt double-crossed. James and John, as well as the other disciples who finally heard and began to understand Jesus' words, felt they had been double-crossed. As disciples of the Son of Man, it went without saying that perks, priority, privilege and position would be part of the deal. Instead, Jesus' disciples get this double-cross a discipleship which denies the self ...

4144. A 24-7-365 God

Hebrews 7:23-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... been "by the hearing of the ear," i.e., hearsay about God. Now, however, Job knows God through experience, which he expresses as "now my eye sees you." But what does Job "see"? Above all, he sees that he does not "see," that the ways of God are beyond his understanding, that his desire for God to vindicate him reduces God to little more than an idol created by human imaginings. We have a 24-7-365 God, but his approachability doesn't mean he is like us, only better. Sometimes we endow God with so many human ...

4145. God Will Be God

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ? God is God, and we are not. When our kids are uniquely themselves that is when they do or say something that strikes us as completely off-the-wall the nonjudgmental response a parent often makes is "You're a piece of work!" Although we don't always understand our kids' ways, we shake our heads in acceptance when we say "You're a piece of work!" So, too, when God exercises God's own unique way of doing things ways we do not agree with or even comprehend. Once again, we are confined to saying in amazement ...

4146. Call the Tribe of Issachar Together

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... relinquish its identity as a dignified "institution" and "organized religion" and claim a new name for itself as a tribe. Specifically, the church must try to mold itself into the tribe of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32). The tribe of Issachar, we are told, "had an understanding of the times, to know what ... to do." When David became king, each of the tribes of Israel paraded before David and presented him with a special gift. It was the unique gift of the tribe of Issachar that they knew "what ... to do" (v ...

4147. The Truth of Love

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of biblical exegesis? Turn to the advertising world for examples. Few people take the extravagant claims of Madison Avenue literally. What is it that we are to understand when we hear or see these advertisements? Refer to films that are currently playing and explain how the film can be understood on one level and how that understanding changes when interpreted on another level. Is "Forrest Gump," starring Tom Hanks, about a slow learner who can run fast? Is "Being There" (Peter Sellers) about a gardener ...

4148. On Time

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus' earthly life into 30 years of preparation for three years of public ministry. It was God's sense of timing that kept Jesus always moving - putting him in the midst of the people instead of requiring the people to come to him. We cannot hope to fully understand God's sense of timing - if neither the "angels of heaven, nor the Son" are privy to the divine schedule of events, it's a cinch that no simple human is likely to get a printed time sheet. Jesus' words to his disciples in today's gospel lesson ...

4149. James 1:17-27

James 1:17-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus. Mark's focus on Jesus' mission is now moving afield, beyond the Jews and into the larger world. From the Book of Proverbs comes the assurance that if we pray for wisdom, our God, the giver of all good things, will surely grant us that understanding. Proverbs 2:1-8 paints a most desirable picture of wisdom, making its possession among the greatest treasures available to humanity. James 1:5 also suggests that what we should seek first from God is wisdom. From this gift of wisdom comes the adjuncts of ...

4150. Mark 8:27-38

Mark 8:27-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... about Jesus. No longer does Mark focus on Jesus' power and authority. As they wend their way to Jerusalem, Mark begins to emphasize with Christ's suffering and death. Jesus' consistent use of the term "Son of Man" to refer to himself adds to this new understanding of his role and mission. While Jesus has the freedom to recreate the concept of the messiah as the suffering, dying, rising Son of Man, he does not choose the events that do this recreating. His obedience to God sets him on a collision course that ...

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