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 4476 to 4500 of 5000 results

4476. Handling Freedom

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... displays of the Decalogue on government property. Most folks just shake their heads at the hoopla — they say that the commandments are certainly still valid for today, but then, when pressed, the majority of those cannot name even five of the ten. Hmm. Understanding the Ten Commandments properly begins by noting that they are prefaced not by an order — "Here are ten rules. Obey them!" — but instead by a wonderful announcement of freedom: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of ...

4477. Hope

John 12:20-33

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , Jesus would throw off the Judean "Clark Kent" disguise and become Israel's "Superman" Messiah — yes! — glory! But wait ... what follows in the gospel account is almost a stream-of-consciousness monologue that we who live on this side of the crucifixion and resurrection can understand, but it must have left his original hearers in a fog. Put yourself in their place. There was that statement about the grain of wheat having to "die" in the ground before it can bear fruit. What has that got to do with the ...

4478. Sex, Sex, and More Sex

Song of Songs 2:8-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... or her. You want to share yourself - all of yourself - and you want all of him or her in return. Separation is restless sorrow and in reunion the world is complete again. The Song of Solomon understands that and celebrates it in language that is gloriously open and unashamed. A Christian understanding of sex begins where the Song of Solomon does - a joyful acceptance of it as one of the most delightful forces in human experience. There are no snide innuendos, no crude jokes. Why? Listen to the Archbishop ...

4479. When God Is Gone

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... on the grounds of the justice and righteousness of God and the orderliness of the universe. This could not have just "happened"; Job had to have done something or someone near and dear had to have done something for him to deserve his pain. We understand that thinking. Some kinds of suffering can be explained. Lifelong smokers get lung cancer, people who drink to excess get cirrhosis of the liver, folks who work long hours in the sun unprotected get skin cancer, deaths on the highway are caused by drunk ...

4480. What the Future Holds

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... ? Can you say El Niño? Hurricane? Tsunami? 9/11? Can you say sickness? Death? Can you say, "Bad things happen to good people"? Yes, we can say all those things, even though we would rather not. We need no apocalyptic visions of flaming catastrophe to understand nasty. The question is how can we handle nasty? Jesus offers advice: "Beware that no one leads you astray" (v. 5). When life is falling apart — and it sometimes does, even for the best of us — when it seems as though one stone is crashing down ...

4481. Winning Over Worry

Matthew 6:25-33

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to us. The crowd that sat listening to Jesus on that Judean hillside could identify with it. Otherwise, he never would have brought it up. But, as was typical of his teaching, Jesus put the problem into perspective by pointing out some things that all could understand. He pointed toward the sky and said, "Look at the birds of the air (those little insignificant sparrows); they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (v ...

4482. The Living Advent Wreath (Trust: Purple Candle of the Magi)

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7, Isaiah 61:1-11

Drama

Frank Ramirez

... more thing. Bring your bag — and prepare to set out for home. Pilgrim: Still, I doubt that you can do much about the wars and the rumors of war. They will always be among us. Guide: What did I teach you? God does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28). Pilgrim: (finishes) So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9). Love: (sings) Love like a star is a beacon. Believer, Follow, tho’ hounded by ...

4483. When Did This Start? — Part 1

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... flesh and lived among us ..." (John 1:1-14). We'll say more about John's take on the beginning of the gospel of Christ next week in the second part of this little two-part series. But for now, it is worthwhile to notice that John understands Jesus as having been present at the beginnings of the whole, created world, before Abraham, before Adam, before generations, at the very edge, the very start of the world, one with God. Now that's a pedigree! When it comes to making choices about gospels to read in ...

4484. The Thoughts of Our Hearts

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... and a slightly mad woman even notice Jesus and his parents. But one day, later in the gospel, Jesus will enter this same temple in anger and brand it a den of robbers. Luke was concerned about those who would say that Jesus had no respect for, or understanding of, the laws of his own people. Jesus was raised according to the laws of his people. But he could see beneath the surface obedience of laws into people's hearts. We can sometimes hide behind law. Jesus could see past our clumsy attempts to keep dark ...

4485. The Five Senses

Luke 24:36-48

Sermon

John Smylie

... doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I, myself" (vv. 38-39a). Their eyes had betrayed them, thinking they were seeing a ghost, but upon hearing him speak they appear willing to go a little farther in their understanding. One can imagine that like Mary who heard her Lord's voice at the tomb, who heard Jesus say her name and then recognized that it was Jesus speaking with her, one can imagine the disciples' fearful hearts and racing minds, beating more easily and slowing ...

4486. Fred and Barney

John 10:11-18

Sermon

John Smylie

... responsibility and blame others for our mistakes. He knows when we want to hide from him and from one another. He knows our need to be loved and understood and at times protected. Jesus knows that for each of us there will be times of ups and downs; he understands and knows of the peculiar nature of each of our personalities; Jesus knows our struggles and our fears. Jesus knows when the wolf is at our door. Jesus is the good shepherd who is willing to die for the sheep. Not only was he willing to die for ...

4487. The Little Golf Club

Sermon

John Smylie

... things of everyday life. There is a book that I have found helpful in counseling couples who are preparing for marriage and I think in a rather simple way it opens up some profound opportunities for understanding love. It's a book by Gary Chapman, titled The Five Love Languages. For me, the heart of the book is found in the understanding that there are particular ways that each of us know we are loved. One of the insights it shares is that it's more natural and obvious for us to give to another the language ...

4488. Curiosity and Questions

John 3:1-7

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... with him 100 pounds of precious ointment for his teacher's body. Do you suppose the very extravagance of his gift means that he got it, that he began to understand the new reality? Do you suppose that he knew Jesus' death was for him — Nicodemus — a new life, covered with the extravagance of God's love? Good question. Did he understand? I wonder. Do we? Amen. 1. A. Cohen, Everyman's Talmud (New York: Schocken Books, 1975), p. 80. 2. Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert (New York: New Directions ...

4489. Planning Your Way Out

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... , it does not exist. The clarion call of materialism is, "The one who dies with the most toys wins." The problem with that way of looking at life, which has captured the hearts of many people in our generation, is that it does not define its understanding of "winning." If death is the end of existence, and the one who dies with the most toys wins, then what kind of "winning" is that? The philosophical materialism view of death is summed up in the sentence, "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust ...

4490. Tough Talk for Tentative Disciples

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... 4, the woman at the well first believed Jesus was some kind of water quality expert. In John 5, the man by the pool of Bethesda believed at first that he had been the beneficiary of some kind of welfare program. There was nothing spiritual about his understanding of his healing until Jesus told him, "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you" (John 5:14). We see this all revealed in Jesus' parable of the sower: A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the ...

4491. It’s God’s Will?

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... issue at stake. Do we have free will or is everything predestined? You come to terms with this, and you will understand the central teaching of the Bible, the reason for the Reformation, and the foundation by which this church stands or falls — ... This will is rebellious by nature, it is bound by sin. Luther taught the third article of the creed by saying, "I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord or come to him." It is the work of the Holy Spirit. The only hope I have ...

4492. Witness: More than Judgment

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... neighbor who moved in sometime early this summer. It was just before we went on vacation and then school started and the fall race began. You understand how that is. He is right next door and I still haven't had a meaningful conversation with him. And I want to, I want to ... how much the dealer paid for it. You don't have to have a seminary degree but you had better have a good understanding of the basic questions that they will ask. "Why do bad things happen to good people? What happens to the person who ...

4493. Time for the Offering

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... find the true center of our lives. We find our lives — we belong to God. In this one verse he succinctly sums up the eloquent hymn that he quotes in Philippians 2. At the heart of our lives is the great generosity of God in Jesus Christ. If we truly understand that generosity, then being generous in return will not be an issue or a chore. It will pour out of us in gratitude. Paul, of course, knows that most of us don't have that gratitude flowing out of us most of the time, and the Corinthians' flow of ...

4494. Be Careful How You Live

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers." Isn't that true? Our churches are here offering fellowship, soul-satisfying relationships, and many folks are out looking in bars, getting drunk with lowlifes, hoping to find their soul mate. Don't be foolish, says Saint Paul, but understand what the will of the Lord is. God has planted a dream in your heart, but you have to take the right road to realize it. You have to make the right choices to achieve it. You have to keep traveling down that path until you ...

4495. Yielding to Spiritual Maturity

Matthew 7:15-23, James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... and faithful worship. The test of faith is how it translates into behavior: • Do you pray for patience? • Do you give generously to others? • Do you treat the less fortunate with the same deference as you would the wealthy? • Do you seek to understand, not just to be understood? • Do you stop yourself from responding rudely to others? A George Gallup poll found that more than half of the Americans who are experiencing grief turn to God, prayer, and scripture for comfort. And of those who do, 94 ...

4496. Living in The Present

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... just as I want this piece of iron. And he has put the ‘temper' of Christ in us by testing us with trial." Because there is suffering in your heart, you are able to understand the suffering of God on a cross. Because of your suffering you have learned more about God's love and your love has been deepened. You and I have a high priest who understands our trials. He is Jesus, the Son of God. God had the power to save Jesus from death. Jesus begged God to save him. Although Jesus is God's own Son, still he ...

4497. Praying in Boldness and Faith

Hebrews 4:12-16

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... here, a how-to guide to an easy and successful prayer life. Prayer, he says, is not a matter of technique, but rather it is an expression of our complete trust in God. Prayer and the prayers we pray rest entirely upon what we believe about God and how we understand that this God relates to us, for these are the creedal truths of our faith. And these are our creedal truths — God is our creator. Jesus is the "reflection of God's glory," the very word of God and the very being of God. The Spirit is the one ...

4498. The Eternal Sanctuary

Hebrews 9:11-14

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... enter into worship, in a place and at a time, we enter into this timelessness and this holy place of which the author speaks. Working with confirmation students on the Apostles' Creed always gives me a chuckle as they try to get their minds around this understanding that God is not just eternal but that he lives always in the eternal present. Asked by Moses who he was, God simply answers "I am." The very phrase we use to proclaim our faith in the eucharistic prayer, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ ...

4499. Cheering for the Underdog

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... , most of us are not like Bigboy. We win a few in life, we lose a few, but we hang in there and keep fighting. Still, sometimes it gets discouraging. That’s why it’s important to know that Jesus not only was the underdog and understands what it is to lose, but that Jesus was also victorious and teaches us that we can be victorious, too. Notice these words again, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone . . .” These are important words. Jesus is speaking to a crowd that included ...

4500. A Christmas Program

Luke 2:21-40

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... me, his lowly servant girl. I was so nervous about returning to Nazareth pregnant, unmarried, and engaged to Joseph. What would my beloved Joseph think? What would he do? Would he still want to marry me, a virgin, who was pregnant with God’s Son? Joseph has been very understanding and caring through this whole ordeal. He even brought me along to Bethlehem so he could care for me as my time was nearing. I’m only a teenager and I must admit it was scary to give birth to my first son and, of all places, in ...

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