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 426 to 450 of 495 results

426. Political Pardon

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

My parents were married in the wave of weddings that followed World War II. Dad came home from military operations in Europe to start a new life on the farm, and Mom became his partner in the enterprise. There was only one problem — Dad had an older brother who was destined to take over the family agricultural enterprise, and there was not enough work or income to support two families. So Dad began to look for other opportunities. For a while he drove a cattle truck, bringing fattened animals to the sales ...

427. All Boxed In?

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Here is my thesis: the greatest public service the church can perform for its community, and for the world, is this: celebrate Easter. A true, beautiful and good celebration of Easter. Here is the proof of my thesis: last year’s “Resurrection Sunday Dance,” that took place in Budapest, Hungary, where God is up to some amazing things. This very moment on Easter Sunday Christians are “Resurrection Dancing” at various capitols and courtyards around the world. But here is my favorite one from 2010 Resurrection ...

428. The New-Covenant Ethic of Love

Romans 12:9-21

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul, like Jesus, says that the new-covenant ethic is love. The thesis here is simple: love sincerely. Love should be shown toward God, fellow believers, and even nonbelievers who persecute Christians. Thus, Paul’s ethic continues the radical call by Jesus to his disciples to love one another. To love others is to sacrificially accept the new-covenant stipulation to love. Understanding the Text Romans 12:9–21 continues the theme of being a living sacrifice (12:1–2) by loving others. Romans 12:9 ...

429. Mind Your Manners

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

In everything do to others as you would have them do to you....-- Matthew 7:12 Everybody's got pet peeves -- annoying things that you'd correct or eliminate from the face of the earth if you were Director of the Universe. While I'm particularly peeved by restaurants that charge extra for blue cheese dressing and refills and people who are fortunate enough to have just enough paper in the duplicating machine or staples in the stapler so they didn't even know they were empty when I showed up at 4 a.m. to use ...

430. The Pitfalls Of Practicing Piety

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

Sermon

John M. Braaten

I have never liked the word "beware." It always seems to be written in intimidating block letters which suggest life-threatening consequences. The word brings to mind an experience I had as a 12-year-old paperboy. Entering a customer's yard I encountered a collie which, without provocation, charged me with fangs bared, knocking off my glasses and hurling me to the ground. I still remember its moist, rancid breath in my face. Hearing my screams, neighbors came and rescued me. That event not only changed my ...

431. The Baby Who Changes Everything

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Robert Beringer

There was a commotion in Roaring Camp. Cherokee Sal, the only woman in this rough, tough mining settlement, was dead after giving birth to a son whose father was unknown. Around the crude cabin where the newborn child lay helpless and crying, the hundred or so hard-bitten goldrush miners gathered in curiosity and concern. Death was so common here, but birth - this was a whole new experience. Stumpy, a fugitive from justice on charges of bigamy, had by common consent taken charge of the little one's arrival ...

432. Christmas Vision

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Darkness, broken by soft candlelight and electric light somewhat harsher and reflected by shiny surfaces. A cross, two candlesticks, antiseptically clean robes, well-scrubbed faces, finely-dressed, well-mannered, reasonably contented people gathered here in this place, in this building. For what are we here? Why are we here? To sing favorite carols? To seek forgiveness for guilt? The family always comes together to church on Christmas? To glimpse a vision? Another dark night when a few stars pierce the ...

433. Written In Our Hearts

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

King Duncan

It is amazing to those of us who are parents that God would give us the most precious gift in the world, a small child, and not give us a manual on how to raise that child. If you buy a computer, you get a manual, or a car or a VCR but with the most intricate and complicated gift in the world, a human infant, there is no manual. Having children is not for the fainthearted. As somebody put it, "Children may be deductible, but they are also taxing." I appreciated the story of one mother with four small ...

434. Want To Sit At The Head Table?

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Isn't it refreshing when people in the spotlight don't take themselves too seriously? One Democratic Senator told colleagues he took a "polygraph" test to find out what the lie-detector fuss is all about. But this silver-haired and flamboyant orator reported he flunked the test when he started a sentence with: "In my humble opinion...." Shortly after Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska announced his availability for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1991, he made an appearance at the National Press Club ...

435. The Secret Of A Great New Year

Luke 3:1-20, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

It's a classic Peanuts cartoon. Charlie Brown says to Lucy, “Someone has said that we should live each day as if it were the last day of our life." "Aaugh!" cries Lucy. "This is the last day! This is it!" She dashes away screaming, “I only have 24 hours left! Help me! Help me! This is the last day! Aaugh!" “Some philosophies," says Charlie Brown, “aren't for all people." Living each day as if it were the last day of our life is not a bad philosophy. Living each day as if it were the first day of our life ...

436. How to Deal with Friends, Foes, and Fools

Proverbs 27:6

Sermon

James Merritt

"I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun." John D. Rockefeller1 Relationships: we all have them. John Donne was right: "No man is an island..."2 I have learned early on that one of the most important lessons a father can teach his children is how to establish and maintain proper relationships with the right people. According to a report by the American Management Association, an overwhelming majority of the two hundred managers who participated in a survey, ...

437. Hebrews 13:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The 13th chapter of Hebrews stands out, and some say stands apart. Whereas the first 12 chapters lay out complex patterns of themes and develop the author's thoughts with creative images, chapter 13 turns suddenly brusque and clipped. So dramatic is this stylistic change that there has been some suggestion that a different author composed this addendum at a different time and place - leaving the church to affix this conclusion at some later date. But while most scholars note this possibility, few actually ...

438. Hebrews 13:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

439. You Never Noticed

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

“I used to think I was poor,” says one comedian. “Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self‑defeating to think of myself as needy. I was deprived. (Oh, not deprived but rather underprivileged.) Then they told me that underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. “I still don’t have a dime,” this comedian concludes, “But I have a great vocabulary.” Maybe that comedian was laughing to keep from crying, because whatever you may call it, being poor isn’t any fun. “There ...

440. Get Off Your

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Sin is less something we succumb to or fall into than it is something we are seduced by. And the greatest seduction is pride. Pride is holy halitosis. Like all bad breath, you’re the last person to know you have it. Last week in Zurich, the pride of a gold medal champion, a 3000 meter steeplechase runner, managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. French runner Mahidine Mekhissi, already a two time European champion, found himself in the final 100 meters of his race. He was well ahead of the rest ...

441. The Challenge to Forgive

Luke 7:36--8:3

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little. — Luke 7:47 It is a dramatic scene out of America's mythical past — a Western scene of cowboys, saloons, and gunslingers; a scene of wide-open spaces conquered by fierce individualists, liquor, and true grit. It is a scene, however, a little different from the cowboy heroes of my childhood, the scenes of the good guy, white hat heroes like Roy Rogers and Gene Au-try, not even to ...

442. Last Encouragement and Final Greeting

1 Corinthians 16:19-24, 1 Corinthians 16:5-18

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

Big Idea: When strong, Christ-devoted Christians visit or join a fellowship, churches must receive these with love and submit to their ministry. As the strong believers come to encourage others’ faith, they themselves should receive encouragement and be strengthened. Understanding the Text Albeit concise, Paul’s concluding chapter functions as weighty pastoral guidance on practical community matters. He ends his letter by speaking to the relationship between individual communities, between a community and ...

443. Ten Commandments and the People’s Response

Exodus 20:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Overview: When Jesus is asked which commandment is the most important, he affirms two fundamental principles that characterize the Law and the Prophets: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:28–34; Matt. 22:34–40; Luke 10:25–27). The Decalogue (literally the “Ten Words,” or the Ten Commandments) itself opens with “the Lord your God” (20:2) and closes with “your neighbor” (20:17). ...

444. The Glow

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“I can tell you’re happy. You are glowing!” How many of you have heard someone say that either to you or someone you know? I’ll bet most of you have. We love to see that happy “glow” on someone’s face. In fact, it makes us smile to see someone looking that extraordinarily happy! Happiness is not only thrilling, it’s contagious. One person glowing makes everyone around them feel good and hopeful about their own dreams and their own lives. After all, who doesn’t love to feel happy! Or to see someone else ...

445. The Sawdust Trail

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

Presbyterian minister Reverend Benjamin Weir, in his book Hostage Bound, Hostage Free, reveals what it was like to be held hostage. He was captured on the streets of Beirut by a group of Shiite Muslim extremists, in May, 1984. Weir was imprisoned for sixteen months. During those torturous months he was often chained and held in solitary confinement. Weir’s devout faith and trust in God sustained him during those perilous times. One routine in particular sustained Weir’s reliance on Jesus. Weir realized ...

446. The Great Reveal

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Here we are in the fifth Sunday in Lent, nearing the end of Jesus’ ministry time on earth, and this week once again, John introduces us to yet another enigmatic scripture, an encounter involving Jesus and a group of Greeks who were coming to the Passover Festival in Jerusalem and who requested a “colloquium” with Jesus. Through Philip, they request an assembly with the Messiah. Philip tells Andrew, and together they inform Jesus of the Greeks’ request. We know that we have some “blind spots” when we read ...

447. A Voice Crying In The Wilderness

John 1:1-18, John 1:19-28

Sermon

John A. Stroman

The people wondered who John the Baptist was. He appeared as a rather strange person who came from the wilderness, preaching repentance, dressed in camel's hair, surviving on a diet of locust and wild honey. John the Baptist was the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. Yet his message of good news seemed as strange as his attire. It was good news involving repentance, and repentance involved change. That is good news to some people but it is bad news to others. It was good news for the oppressed. It ...

448. Esther: Wise Woman Of Strength

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

On a cold and dark March night during my first year at Princeton as assistant dean of the chapel, I left our little home on the edge of the campus to go back to my office. I had a lot of things to accomplish and imagined that the quiet and solitude of the office would be the best place to work. As I approached our office building, Murray-Dodge Hall, I was surprised to see that it was all lit up and I began to hear the sounds of a ruckus. I came through the door and into a lobby to the middle of an ...

449. Moving Words

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

On the surface, this reading from Matthew’s gospel is a strange sounding, and somewhat puzzling passage. It is one we could easily dismiss since it is specifically addressed to the original 12 disciples. The text is part of a lengthy chapter detailing the instructions Jesus gives to those 12 prior to that first “missionary” effort. Since this appears to be a private tutoring lesson for Jesus’ small class of first century followers, we excuse ourselves from paying attention to the words. What could they ...

450. Our Living Hope

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Not every question requires an answer. Sometimes the hope is that there will be no answer. Questioning can be "posturing," that is, taking a position rather than soliciting information. By the questions raised, information is given as well as asked. Often playing to the audience of listeners or bystanders, questions are intended to manipulate others while vindicating the posture of the speaker. One needs only to listen to a congressional hearing or a political debate to watch masters of an art most of us ...

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