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 4326 to 4350 of 4455 results

4326. Life In the Valley

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The story of the transfiguration is one of those passages that have given the phrase "mountaintop experience" to our language. Peter, James, and John had joined Jesus and escaped from the crowd for some spiritual "R and R" up in the wilderness of (probably) Mount Hermon. Night had fallen and their eyes were heavy. Suddenly, they awoke with a start. Just yonder they saw Jesus take on something of a supernatural "glow" — his face and clothes "as bright as a flash of lightning" (Luke 9:29). Then Moses and ...

4327. Getting Directions

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

We have been living on borrowed time. In the over 3,100 years of recorded world history, the world has only been at peace 8% of the time or a total of 286 years, and 8,000 treaties have been made and broken. On any given day, soldiers are firing in thirty to forty nations. Wars of liberation. Territorial disputes. Religious principles. "One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist," the saying goes, but the common denominator is death. Day in and day out. I wonder if the apostle Paul ever felt that way ...

4328. The Legacy of Jesus

John 14:8-17 (25-27)

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A certain widow expected to inherit all her late husband's wealth. Instead, she learned from the lawyer that her husband had left her $5. Everything else went to his secretary. Naturally the widow was furious. She drove to the tombstone establishment and ordered that the inscription on her husband's monument be changed. "I'm sorry," said the man doing the chiseling, "you told me to inscribe ‘Rest in Peace' on the stone and that is done; I can't change it now. You'll have to buy a new stone." The widow ...

4329. A Faith That Matters Between Sundays

Romans 3:19-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

On October 31, 1571, an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther marched up to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, where he was on the university faculty, and posted 95 theses or propositions concerning church policy and practice he proposed for debate. Why there and then? Well, the church door was the community bulletin board — notices and advertisements were regularly placed there, just as they are on the bulletin board today at the grocery store. As to October 31, then and now that is ...

4330. Strength through Diversity

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Recently on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, a middle-aged and apparently quite wealthy South African woman found herself sitting next to a black man. As the passengers were filing in and taking their seats she called a member of the cabin crew to ask about her seating. "What seems to be the matter, madam?" asked the attendant. "Can't you see?" the woman responded. "You have assigned me a seat next to a kaffir (a pejorative word referring to a native black African). I cannot ...

4331. Did God Really Say...?

Romans 10:8-13

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Today is "Temptation Sunday." Every year on the first Sunday in Lent we focus our attention on the story of the temptation of Jesus. It is a story that has captured the imagination of Christians for centuries. They have sought to portray in art what it must have been like for Jesus to have been tempted by the devil. The picture on your sermon outline this morning portraying this ugly, grotesque, devilish creature is typical of the way the evil one has been portrayed. If the devil looked like this, you ...

4332. The Gospel According To Pronouns

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

David J. Kalas

The gospel of Jesus Christ is personal. If you have not yet realized that fact, then I'd like you to see it this morning. If you have recognized that truth somewhere along the way, please don't ever lose sight of it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is personal. On this occasion, Peter had been summoned into this living room for the purpose of preaching that gospel. The audience was a God-fearing Gentile man named Cornelius, along with his family and the members of his extended household. God was eager for ...

4333. Look Who's Talking

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

Professional sports has no statistic for measuring talking. Yet talking can be an important part of the game. We can measure how fast a player pitches or serves. We keep statistics on batting averages, shooting percentages, and quarterback ratings. We track yards-after-catch, on-base percentages, and shots on goal. We record height and weight, wins-and-losses, and times in the 40-yard dash. But we have no way of measuring a player's talking. Nevertheless, even though it doesn't show up on the scoreboard ...

4334. The Joy of the Lord

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

King Duncan

There is an ancient Egyptian myth which says that, after death, every individual is confronted with two questions that have to be answered honestly. First, did you find joy? And second, did you bring joy? Evangelist Billy Graham says that “Joy is one of the marks of a true believer. This is not a gushy emotion or a forced grin, but the security of knowing God’s love.” Graham tells about a news story concerning soldiers in the Persian Gulf years ago watching videotapes from their families back home. In a ...

4335. Surprise in a Graveyard

John 20:10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

On February, 27, 1991, at the height of Desert Storm, Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. It stated that her son, Clayton Carpenter, Private 1st Class, had stepped on a mine in Kuwait and was dead. Ruth Dillow later wrote, “I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For 3 days I wept. For 3 days I expressed anger and loss. For 3 days people tried to comfort me, to no avail because the loss was too great.” Every parent here can relate to her ...

4336. Collections or Connections?

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Happy Easter, church. Christ Is Risen. He Is Risen Indeed. The resurrection of Jesus is God's final word spoken in the face of sin, suffering, evil and death. Thanks Be to God. Easter egg hunts have been in the news all week, both because of the controversy in the White House over the invitations that went out warning that the one on the White House lawn might need to be cancelled, as well as the refusal of some school districts to refer to “Easter eggs,” only “Spring eggs.” Come on. Easter egg hunts? They ...

4337. On God's Side Or In God's Way?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to go back for a few moments into TV history. Some of you grew up watching the hilarious Roadrunner cartoons. These cartoons featured a character named Wile E. Coyote. Wile E. Coyote’s virtually endless quest in life was to capture his nemesis, the Roadrunner. The coyote was stubbornly persistent in this quest despite the fact that, not only did he fail time after time after time, but meanwhile he repeatedly plummeted from high cliffs, was blown up, and was continually getting flattened by numerous ...

4338. No Substitutes

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

King Duncan

A church organist sent the following note to his minister: “I am sorry to say that my wife died last night. Could you please find a substitute for me for the weekend?” Well, I’m certain he meant a substitute organist not a substitute wife. Speaking of substitutes, there was an award ceremony years ago for the legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio at the Lotos Club of NY. At that event, DiMaggio’s former teammate, Phil Rizzuto, told the audience that one time DiMaggio, who was wildly popular, was supposed ...

4339. Luke 12:13-21

Luke 12:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

There is no escaping hecklers. Preachers, politicians, any public speaker will someday find themselves confronted by a heckler. A heckler is someone with their own agenda who is anxious to take advantage of a gathered, attentive audience to voice that opinion publically. In this week’s gospel text, Jesus encounters a “heckler.” But he then uses the seemingly unrelated concerns of this man to connect both the larger crowd and Jesus’ own chosen disciples to a clearer vision of true faithfulness and the ...

4340. Financial Planning

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman who lost her husband several years ago developed a friendship with a man who had also lost his spouse. They seemed a perfect match. All their children agreed they should get married. So a date was set and invitations were sent out. The invitations read like this: “Phil, Richard, Karen, Allison, John, Matt and Steve request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their mother and father. Because they are combining two households, they already have at least two of everything. So please, no ...

4341. The ME and the WE

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The gospel is not a tablet of ink, but a table of food around which everyone is invited to sit down together and eat, drink and dream for tomorrow we act. A few weeks ago we marked the fiftieth anniversary (1963-2013) of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. The power of that proclamation, the timely words of one man spoken at the one right moment before the enormous crowd gathered before the Lincoln Memorial, provided the “tipping point” for the civil rights movement and for decades of ...

4342. Looking for Ducklings: Kissing the Sidewalk

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Tony Everett

Poor Daryl. One moment he was enjoying a beautiful springtime walk looking for ducklings along a lakeside nature trail. The next moment he was lying face down on the sidewalk, wondering where all the blood came from. As he was struggling to his feet a park ranger rushed over with a towel and first aid kit. After cleaning blood from Daryl’s face and making sure that Daryl was not seriously injured, the ranger said, “I noticed that when you tripped you were looking out at the lake instead of at the path. ...

4343. The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Acts 20:13-38

Sermon

James Merritt

Let me begin with a story of a Christmas that a certain young man would never forget. It was the first time that he had been given money by his parents so he could go and buy them a Christmas gift. For several years he was always getting something from his parents, but never giving anything to his parents. He finally realized one day, “Something is wrong with this picture.” Being too young to work and not being smart enough to ask for an allowance he went to his mom and dad and offered to do some extra ...

4344. When “Vocation” and “Vacation” Are One

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If you want to guarantee you will never win public office or be appointed to public service, just say these words: “America is no longer the greatest nation in the world.” It used to be the US led the world in almost any category you could think of. But in the past 50 years we’ve fallen to 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number four in labor force, number four in exports. I’ll stop there. You’ve got the ...

4345. Winners and Losers

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

King Duncan

Brett Blair tells a story about a man who had been driving all night and when morning came, he still had far to go. He decided he had to get some sleep. So he stopped at the next city he came to, found a city park, and pulled into a parking spot in the park so he could get an hour or two of sleep. It just so happened he had chosen a quiet place on a very popular jogging route. So just as he laid back and was starting to doze off, there was a knock on his window. He woke up. “Yes,” he said. “Excuse me, sir ...

4346. An Announcement for a New Year

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

King Duncan

This is the last Sunday of 2014. Next Sunday is the year of our Lord 2015. My guess is that for some of us that hardly seems possible. Wasn’t it just yesterday when we were in a tizzy over Y2K and the beginning of a new millennium? On the other hand, it seems like a life-time ago. Besides, according to the ballyhooed Mayan calendar, the world should have ended December 21, 2012. [And according to Hal Lindsay and The Late, Great Planet Earth and numerous Left Behind books by Tim LaHaye, we should all have ...

4347. The World's Largest Covered Dish Lunch

John 6:1-15

Sermon

The Rev. Paul Brunner tells a wonderful story about a young man named Jeff. Jeff learned one Sunday morning that his church was holding a picnic that afternoon. He hurried home from church to pack his lunch and get to the picnic grounds. But, lo and behold, when he opened the refrigerator door, he discovered only a single piece of dried up bologna and two stale pieces of bread (one of them a heel). And to make things worse, there was barely enough mustard to color his knuckles when he tried to scrape the ...

4348. It Was a Dark and Stormy Evening! Father's Day

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this Father’s Day 2015. We know that not every Dad is a great Dad. And yet we know that some of the men in this church have committed themselves to being great Dads, and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. According to one expert, children go through 4 stages of dealing with their fathers. In stage one, they call you da-da. In stage 2 they grow and call you Daddy. As they mature and reach stage 3 they call you Dad. Finally in stage 4 they call you collect. A certain mother tells ...

4349. Are You Giving Up Chocolate for Valentine's Day?

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this Valentine’s Day. It is ironic that this is also the First Sunday in Lent. Lent is generally that season of the year when people have chosen a favorite treat or some vice to give up for these six weeks. One man said his children traditionally gave up something like candy for Lent. Last year, however, he urged them to go beyond that to giving up some habit or sin that they knew was bad for them. About halfway through Lent he asked the children how they were doing with their Lenten promise. ...

4350. The Church Persecuted and Scattered

Acts 8:1b-3

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Though it would be foolish to suppose that the believers were anything other than a minority in Jerusalem, they had by this time made their presence felt at every level of the city’s life and, on the whole, had been well received. But the storm that broke over Stephen brought in its wake a decline in their popularity (cf. 6:12), which in turn enabled the Sanhedrin to take much stronger action against them. The word “persecution” occurs here for the first time in Acts (v. 1), and for the first time ordinary ...

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