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 401 to 425 of 4770 results

401. Loving Jesus, Hating The Church

John 9:35-41

Sermon

Thomas Long

... one of the characters in Alice Walker's The Color Purple, "have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me."4 Those holding this view of religious institutions as the enemy of living and personal faith can certainly find some potent ammunition in the biblical story about the man who was blind from birth. In a dramatic moment of grace, he was healed by Jesus. But almost as soon as this happened, as soon ...

402. All Saints' Sunday

Mt 5:1-12 · 1 Jn 3:1-3 · Isa 26:1-21 · Rev 7:9-17; 21:9-11, 22-27; 22:1-5 · Ps 24 · Ps 34 · Ps 149

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... 21:9-11, 22-27 (22:1-5) Up and away. All of the lessons make reference to a high place. In Isaiah, it is the new Jerusalem, which in Revelation comes down from heaven. John, the seer, is taken in the spirit to a high place where he views the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem (v. 10), in the Gospel, Jesus delivers his Beatitudes from a mountain. When a person gets in tune with the Spirit of God, he is able to see existence from an elevated perspective. The death of religion. Karl Marx and other atheists have ...

403. Epiphany 2

Jn 1:29-42 · 1 Cor 1:1-9 · Is 49:1-7 · Ps 27

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... are we waiting for? "I have labored in vain," complained the weary and depressed prophet. How typically human during a time of darkness to look back on our lives and behold only futility and failure. This would be quite a realistic appraisal if we were to view our lives atomistically, in isolation from God and others. Then the prophet remembers, "Surely my cause is with the Lord." If my cause is also the Lord's cause, surely he will vindicate me, the prophet reasoned. Wouldn't you think that if a person was ...

404. Proper 25

Exodus 22:16-31, Leviticus 19:1-37, Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Matthew 22:34-46, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; 2:1-16

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... us to love God from our hearts. In the movie, City Slickers, Billy Crystal and two of his middle-aged friends find a new lease on life at a dude ranch. At this point in life, Billy's character is not deriving much joy out of his job and views his life and future in tones of grey. Curley, played by Jack Palance, is a seasoned, old cowpoke who becomes a mentor for Billy. Under his direction, Billy is compelled to deliver a calf. Curley offers the benefit of his wisdom. Holding up his index finger, he declares ...

405. Proper 7

Mt 10:16-39 · Rom 5:12 – 6:11 · Jer 20:7-13 · Gen 21:8-21 · Ps 86

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... about the little stuff. Jesus teaches that God is so interested in us and concerned for our well being, that he even numbers the hairs on our heads (v. 30). Some people point out that they pray to God when they have a really big problem but they don't view it as proper to concern him with the little stuff. But think about it; 99 percent of life is composed of the little stuff. If we don't share the little stuff with God, we have effectively aced him out of the great majority of our existence. God shows his ...

406. Standing Firm

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... see things in shades of gray. This, of course, is true today as well. Some of us tend to see both sides of issues, rather than take very strong stands. Others stubbornly hold positions they strongly believe in frankly unpersuaded by opponents' points of view. One could argue it's the latter personality type who changes things and the former type who helps avoid or defuse confrontations and divisions. This is what makes the world work. Unfortunately, the excess of one is fanatacism and of the other is apathy ...

407. Looking A Little Bit Crazy

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... an odd assessment of his ministry, but it is central to how the gospel of Mark portrays the work of Jesus. From the beginning, Jesus acted ... well, he acted as if he was different. Jesus announced that God's reign had come near. He acted as if his view of the world was different from the world we have taken for granted. Recall some of the stories Mark tells. One day, Jesus met the town lunatic in Capernaum, and he set the man free from forces beyond his control. Immediately Jesus met a woman bedridden with ...

408. Bread for the Party (Bread of Life I)

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... faith. This event carries special charm for me because of the sharing. And sharing is part of the double meaning. We start with ordinary bread, in small amounts. We end feeding a very large crowd and still have baskets of leftovers. What does it mean? One view says the five loaves and two fish were multiplied into substantial amounts of food so all could eat. Another view says, enough food was in the crowd that once it was uncovered it fed the people all they could eat and still had leftovers. This second ...

409. The Day Of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21 · Jn 15:26-27; 16:4-15; 20:19-23 · Eze 37:1-14 · 1 Cor 12:4-13 · Ps 104

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... itself better than any other. According to the new age, all that matters is what rings YOUR bell. Nevertheless, cradled against one of the red rock cliffs is the Shrine of the Holy Cross. It is a chapel constructed around a huge white cross, which commands a dominant view of the entire valley. All around are the covens of the gods of this present age, vying for your allegiance, but the cross lifts one's head to a higher righteousness, a higher good. The cross lifts one's head to the Most High God, who was ...

410. Epiphany

Ephesians 3:1-13, Isaiah 60:1-22, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... look up to the heavens. It was their belief that there were heavenly powers that controlled earthly events. They held that there was a power or powers greater than those on earth and a basic interconnection between stellar and earthly events. In other words, they viewed reality through a wide-angled lens. Yet their eyes weren't so filled with star dust that they couldn't recognize transcendent reality in a very lowly and earthly shape and form. They fell down at the feet of a peasant child, not yet weaned ...

411. Good Friday

John 19:28-37, Hebrews 10:1-18, Isaiah 52:13--53:12, John 18:1-11, John 19:38-42, John 19:17-27

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... that he suffers for the sins of other people. We cannot deny that nations and individuals do suffer for the sins of other nations and other people. The prophet has no explanation for this injustice but asserts that the servant's innocent suffering must be viewed as a sin offering. It is not meaningless but has redemptive purpose. This brings to light the truth that God's people can let their suffering make them bitter or they can use it redemptively. The child of God continues to believe that all things ...

412. Know What Time It Is!

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... what sense is the kingdom present in Christ? And how are we to act in light of it? The kingdom of God has to do with more than merely life after death; the kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of God is a peculiar perspective on this life; a grace-full view of this sinful world. Consequently, the grace of God has little to do with erasing our sins as if God were shocked by our scandalous lives. Like the cleric who turns red at the telling of a dirty joke we seem to think God is forced to look the other ...

413. The Problem With Miracles In Our Time

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

William J. Carl

... I told you what the teacher said happened, you’d never believe me.” We don’t know what to do with the miracles in the Bible, so we tell these same old jokes over and over. Or we try to explain them, doing our best to fit them into our view and experience of the world. So the waters didn’t really part, in true Cecil B. DeMille fashion, say some scholars, but the wind blew on the shallow Reed Sea as it often does and the waters moved over a little at that moment. And Jesus didn’t really multiply ...

414. Redrawing The Landscape

Multiple Scriptures

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... angry and sorry for himself. The Psalmist is writing about how mad he is over the fact that bad people are prospering in the world. He cries in Psalm 73: "The ungodly people increase in riches. I'm mad. I've cleansed my heart for nothing." And the classic view of a lack of appreciation is uttered by an elder brother to his father. "Look, Father, I'm mad. All these many years I've served you, done what you wanted, been home on time, never asked for much money, never broke the rules: yet you never gave me ...

415. Illusion Or Reality?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... P.J. Crowleys, Malcolm Xs, Martin Luther Kings, Mother Teresas, and the like to contend with. They may never be our mentors but they are essential for us. Let us think of ourselves as living in a house with several windows. At each window is a different view. If we, out of comfort and habit, always go to the same window and focus on the same buildings, the same trees, and the same horizon, we overlook some things in our lives that need attention. Our power in life exists in our ability to risk occasionally ...

416. The Dreamer Within You

Joel 2:18-27, Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... dream is not always clear at first. In our new congregation we had little more than a vague idea where our dream would lead us. We had a mere handful of people. Our financial resources were modest. We lacked basic equipment and supplies. We were viewed with suspicion as unwanted competitors by some churches in the area. Nonetheless, we moved ahead and steadily the dream took shape. We realized that other people in our community were in transition, and we began to appeal to people looking for a new start in ...

417. The Upside-down Kingdom of God

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... first followers of Jesus to accept the Beatitudes and other teachings. I know it’s awfully hard for us in 1999. One of our main tasks as a church in these latter days of the twentieth century is to give our children an alternative way of looking at life, a view they won’t get from society, where their values will be the values of Jesus and their vision of what life is about will be his vision. We need to help them recognize the marks of the church that Jesus lays out. We need to help our children grow ...

418. Which Jesus Do You See?

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Brett Blair

... ." It is in this way that Jesus is understood to be the Messiah, or "the anointed one." And, he never dies. Muhammad himself dies but not Jesus. That is the picture that the Qur'an gives of Jesus. Muslims do not read the New Testament, and yet, their view of who Jesus is is very close to the way we Christians see him. Indeed, many Muslims believe that they are the true followers of Jesus and not we Christians. In the popular culture when the Muslims have their devotionals they ask Jesus or Mary or John the ...

419. The Cross And Our Shadows

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Carl Jech

... are a healthy reflection of the way in which the church is a "cradle of diversity," as Dr. Nelson Trout (the first black man to be elected a bishop in the American Lutheran Church) described it. (Lutheran Standard, No. 4, 1983) I like the point of view which speaks not of the Lutheran, Baptist or Roman Catholic church, but of the Lutheran, Baptist or Roman Catholic movement within the Christian Church. When we fight and differ over who "really believes," over who is and is not saved, then we are in danger ...

420. Six Nails of the Cross V: The Nail of Hatred

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... : Let us imagine that we are walking on a large plain. We can see in all directions. If I look around, I see the line of the horizon like a line of a circle. Where does this circle have its center? Answer: Just where I happen to stand! Wherever I view the world I always stand quite naturally in the center. Wherever I go, I take the center with me. Wherever I am, I have always the zenith above me. All the lines from the horizon converge in the individual "I" at the center. It belongs to the nature of the ...

421. What's A Savior Worth?

Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:1-4

Drama

Joe Barone

... to me right now, "Sell all you have and give to the poor and follow me." And even after the crucifixion and the resurrection, I still have to wonder if I could do that. Narrator: So there's one point of view. And here's another. Here's the point of view of Mary's husband Joseph. Joseph's Point Of View: When I think what the Savior's worth, I think he's worth a mother's tears. I don't want to talk about myself today. I want to talk about Mary. She was just a young woman, little more than ...

422. Quantum Leap

Acts 13:13-52

Sermon

Carl Jech

... be saved? If we understand the gospel of grace to mean that the only way to be saved is by God, then it becomes clear that we cannot put limits on who God can save! The name "Jesus," which we celebrate and worship, means "God saves!" If we view our mission as a matter of witnessing to the meaning of this "name that is above every name," then I think we will be making an important and needed quantum leap in our approach to Christian witnessing! 3. A Tiny Distinction Can Make A Big Difference There is often ...

423. Will the Real Jesus Christ Arise?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Carl Jech

... do not truly foster religious unity by homogenizing the divergent teachings of the world's religions into one composite view and pretending that real differences don't exist. We create more honest unity and understanding by entering into humble ... reincarnation and the Christian notion of resurrection came into being in radically different contexts and for quite different reasons. The world-view behind reincarnation is that life is an endless cycle of death and reincarnation, and that the ultimate goal is to ...

424. You Are Worth Much!

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

... few thousand stars at most when he gazed into the evening sky. Today with our telescopes we are able to see many millions of stars, knowing that countless more millions lie beyond the reach of our powerful lenses. A more recent poet cried out in searching wonder as he viewed his own life in the context of passing human activity. Tennyson it was who asked, What is it all but the murmur of gnats In the gleam of a million, million suns? "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she ...

425. A Noble Patriotism John D. Mauney, Jr.

Exodus 2:11-25

Sermon

... to lead the Israelites through forty years of wilderness wanderings and would ultimately bring them to safety in Canaan, the Land of Promise. But it came to pass that Moses himself was not permitted to enter that land, which was the goal of their long journey. He viewed it from afar, as we read in the final chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, but God said to Moses, "I will give it to your descendants ... but you shall not go over there." (Deuteronomy 34:4) "So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in ...

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