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. Living Upside Down

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

In any list of unusual animals, you are likely to find the sloth. The sloth lives in trees, much of the time hanging from a limb by its four strong feet. The encyclopedia says, "Sloths sleep, eat, and travel through the forest upside down." It's a strange thought ... the idea of living upside down. If we did it, we would certainly see things differently. In a world where flowers grow down and balls fall up, anything seems possible. And, if anything were possible, maybe we would even see the ways in which ...

4477. Maybe Today

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

Amelia Bedelia is a favorite literary children's character. This poor, dim-witted maid is a literalist. You tell her to dust the tables, and she sprinkles talc everywhere. You tell her to dress the turkey, and she gets out a little lime green pantsuit. You tell her to draw the curtains and she gets out her sketch pad. In reading about Amelia Bedelia, you realize that we have many phrases that are confusing — especially if you take them literally. "Happy as a clam." Are they really that happy? Or, "I'm so ...

4478. Doing Christ’s Work

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

My mom's hands were never idle. She was always doing some kind of needlework or craft. She would go from painting Christmas ornaments to crocheting an afghan to knitting baby booties to embroidering a pillowcase. She did it all. Whenever we sat down to watch television together, I was always amazed that she could pay attention to the program and count stitches at the same time. When I was a young girl, my mom taught me how to do all the basics: knitting, crocheting, and cross-stitching. I never really got ...

4479. The Home Court Advantage

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In mid-August the basketball team of Georgetown University, the “Hoyas,” set out on a ten day “good will tour” of China. They played various Chinese teams in an effort to foster good feelings between the USA and China. The basketball games were a kind of “visual aid” to accompany vice-president Joe Biden’s concurrent visit with Chinese political leaders. On August 18 the “Hoyas” played against the “Bayi Rockets” of Shanghai at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena. Unfortunately all the “good will” went “ ...

4480. The Love of the Shepherd

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Sheep sometimes have a reputation for being passive and helpless. “Gentle as a lamb,” we say. Well, maybe . . . maybe not. Reuters News Service told of an Egyptian man who had been pushed to his death from a three‑story building by a sheep that he was preparing for slaughter. The report noted that many Egyptian city dwellers keep livestock on their rooftops. This particular city dweller had been fattening the sheep in question for months getting it ready for a ritual sacrifice. Before that could happen, ...

4481. No Cleansing, No Refreshment

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Do you realize how much you pay to get “roughed up?” You heard me right. You even pay big bucks to get roughed up on a daily basis. To be sure, you don’t think about this activity as getting “roughed up.” You probably think of it as your morning shower or your evening bath. But consider what you do as you go about your daily cleansing rituals. Whether you use a washcloth, a loofah, or one of those “buff-puff” thingies, as you rub and scrub in the bathtub or shower you are roughing up and sloughing off dead ...

4482. The Speed Bump On the Road to Bethlehem

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

In the movie Life Or Something Like It,[1] every day at the corner of Fourth and Sanders in downtown Seattle, homeless Prophet Jack (played perfectly by Tony Shaloub) would scramble onto his crate,thrust his arms into the air, arch his back, throw back his head, gaze into the sky, and then prophesy: "I see and I say." One day television reporter Lanie Kerrigan (played by Angelina Jolie) happened by Jack's pulpit. She tossed a few coins into his coffer and in return received a disturbing message. Prophet ...

4483. The News From Nazareth

Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer...." We hear a lot about old Rudy these days. Are you aware that, while male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December? Female reindeer, however, retain their antlers until after they give birth in the spring. This is according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, every single ...

4484. Dinner With Jesus

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I used to wish I were tall. All the other children were bigger. They were stronger ... faster. I was a shrimp ... and it used to bother me. I used to lie in my bed at night wishing that I was the biggest kid in town. Then nobody would push me around. None of the other children could beat me up. None of them could ever call Zacchaeus names (at least not if they wanted to keep their teeth in). None of them would ever give me any trouble again. Yeah, I wanted to be tall, but.... As time went along, of course ...

4485. Someone Bigger than Phil

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

Several years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a comedy skit called the “2013 Year Old Man.” In the skit, Reiner interviews Brooks, who is the old gentleman. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, “Did you always believe in the Lord?” Brooks replied: “No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him.” Reiner was surprised: “You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?” Brooks replied: “Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!” Reiner asked: “Did ...

4486. Liturgy of the Palms

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Luke 19:28-44

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: Six weeks of Lent are almost finished. Our smudges of Ash Wednesday — signs of discipleship on our heads and hands — are invisible. Today we mix the excitement of the parade of palms with the dread of passion. (The candles can be lighted.) People: We are glad to be here to consider the stories of Jesus and how they impact our living. Leader: Our days are longer and we have “anticipatory anxiety” as we watch spring burst out. For the past weeks, we have read the biblical accounts of ...

4487. Liturgy of the Passion

Luke 22:14-23:56

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

4488. Blind Ambition

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s been more than twenty years, but I suspect most of us remember the case of the “Texas-Cheerleader-Murdering-Mom.” Wanda Webb Holloway of Channelview, Texas wanted her daughter Shanna, 13 at the time, to be picked for the high school cheerleading squad. Her rival for this honor was a girl named Amber Heath. Wanda Webb Holloway was the organist at the local Baptist church. She was a respected member of the community. However, that did not keep her from going to extreme measures to try to get her ...

4489. Running with Perseverance

Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

United Methodist Bishop, Robert Schnase, tells of his hobby as a "serious runner." He reports that people often ask him how to get started on a running program. He recounts the usual practice of people trying to become serious about running. The typical start date is January 1, as part of a New Year's resolution. The resolution holds fast for the first week, with an early rise and an eager first few jogs. The problems pop up "during the second week when the alarm screams them awake at six, they tell ...

4490. A Marriage Made In Heaven

Hosea 1:2-10

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

This is wedding season, and with the privilege of presiding at the weddings of many couples over the years, I have had the opportunity to hear how these people came to meet one another. Lately, internet dating networks have yielded more and more lasting relationships, but the majority of couples have met through the intervention of friends or family. Once in a while a couple will meet in church, and once in a great while one or the other of them will say something like, "The Lord led me to _____________ ...

4491. What God Expects From Worship

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

I heard it again at a meeting last week ... a comment about the length of the worship service. Somewhere along the way, people in our Christian tradition came up with the idea that worship should last about no more than sixty minutes. The comment was innocent enough and was being made in reference to recommendations our ministry team would be making regarding the Sunday morning schedule of worship and learning. How much time should there be between the close of the first worship service and the learning ...

4492. Remembering Jesus

Matthew 26:17-30

Sermon

David O. Bales

The novel The Ugly American is based upon facts of how Americans related to people in Southeast Asia. The insensitivity and arrogance of American government officials was generally depressing. One chapter of the novel, however, is particularly inspiring. An American woman, Emma Atkins, has come with her engineer husband to the fictional nation of Sarkhan. Emma is a curious, good-hearted person and she soon notices that in their small village all the older people are permanently bent over. She struggles ...

4493. Daddy, I'm Afraid

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

An ironworker on a skyscraper calmly walked a narrow beam 15 floors above the city street. Even with heavy winds blowing and a driving rain falling, he showed no fear and never hesitated. When he came down to the ground level a man who had been watching asked, “How did you ever get a job like that?” “Well,” replied the ironworker, “I used to drive a school bus but my nerves gave out.” I guess we all have our breaking point. Walking a narrow beam 15 stories in the air is one thing, but driving a bus-full of ...

4494. The Glory of the Cross

Galatians 6:11-18

Sermon

James Merritt

Off the coast of South China, on a high hill overlooking the harbor of Macao, is a huge wall. This wall is the only thing that remains from a massive cathedral that Portuguese settlers built on that hill hundreds of years ago. A typhoon hit that cathedral, literally reducing it to ruins. Everything except this front wall was totally leveled. High on top of that wall stands a huge bronze cross. In 1825, Sir John Bowring was sailing a ship off this same coast when a terrible storm hit, breaking his ship ...

4495. When Is Enough...Enough?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Comedienne Joan Rivers who died last year once said something with which many people would agree. “People say that money isn’t the key to happiness,” said Joan Rivers, “but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.” “I always figured if you have enough money . . .” says Joan Rivers. How much is enough money? That is a good question. A Hollywood film editor once said, “I had this date the other night with a woman who wanted to walk along the beach. I’m wearing a twelve?hundred ...

4496. Pet Rocks and the Big Reveal

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

King Duncan

(Growing Strong in the Season of Lent, Palm Sunday) Does anybody remember when pet rocks became a big fad in this country? In April 1975, Gary Dahl was in a bar listening to his friends complain about their pets. This gave him the idea for the perfect “pet” -- a rock. Think about it. A rock would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, or groomed; furthermore, pet rocks would not die, become sick, or be disobedient. He said they would be perfect as pets, and joked about it with his friends. But Dahl later took ...

4497. Disobedience and Defeat

Judges 2:6-3:6

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

Survey of Israel’s Early History: Joshua to Judges · Here begins a new section, but not immediately a new subject. In fact, rather than carrying the story forward, the text looks back to the period immediately after the Israelites renewed their covenant with the Lord at Shechem (Josh. 24). The text picks up nearly where the book of Joshua left off. Joshua 24:28 almost word for word corresponds to Judges 2:6. The section that follows (vv. 10–19) points to the author’s special concern with Israel’s spiritual ...

4498. When Jesus Prays

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

Now that baseball is in full swing, I thought you might enjoy a story I was reading recently concerning former Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller and Minnesota Twins outfielder Denard Span. It seems these two players from different eras have something rather odd in common: Both men during baseball games hit their mothers in the stands with a foul ball. Feller hit his mom in 1939 (he broke her collarbone); Span hit his during a spring training game in 2010. Fortunately, both moms made full recoveries. (1 ...

4499. Jesus Talks with a Samaritan Woman

John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The transition begun in 3:22 is continued in 4:1–4. Jesus moves from Jerusalem to the Judean countryside and from there to Galilee by way of Samaria. The intervening material (3:23–36) enables the reader to make sense of this cumbersome introduction to chapter 4. That Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John (v. 1) has already been intimated in 3:26. That the Pharisees noticed this is suggested by the fact that John’s disciples seem to have been reminded of it by a Jew (3:25). What has not ...

4500. Love One Another

1 John 3:11-24

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

Loving One Another Verses 11–18 are unified by the theme of loving one another. Love among the members of the community was first raised in 1 John 2:10 (as love for one’s “brother” or sister) and was the link into this section of the letter in 3:10b. The background to this emphasis on love is the schism which has divided the community (1 John 2:19) and has set former community members against one another. The schismatics have shown a flagrant, Cain-like disregard for their fellow believers. The Elder is ...

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