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 4526 to 4550 of 4988 results

4526. Estranged Hands

Psalm 143:1-12

Sermon

... God, we can find great comfort and reassurance even in the face of guilt. God gave up his own Son. Will he fail now to forgive and restore us as his people? The price has been paid. What more needs to be done than for us to accept this gracious gift of our Lord? When we consider all the history of God's grace as it relates to us individually and personally, we must feel affirmed. Through the waters of our Baptism, God has attached us to the history of his grace. The testimony of his grace reassures us that ...

4527. Serving Hands

Psalm 92:1-15

Sermon

... the servant as he offers the most precious of meals. Surely, we would have to be humbled as we come to the Lord's table, for we are sinners invited into the presence of our God. With humility we also offer our thanks for such a gift. We, through the ministry of our church, assist people in obtaining groceries when they are unable to provide for themselves. Almost always the people are grateful and thankful for what they have received, for they realize that their lives could not be sustained apart from ...

4528. Parable of the Elevator and the Stairway

Psalm 95:1-11

Illustration

... . "Everybody has their problems, I guess." Some laws of God are always at work for everybody at the same time. Some apply under certain conditions. Prayer, like the stairway, is available at all times for those who will use it. Like the elevator, some spiritual gifts can only be used at the time they arrive at your level and opportunities come and go. Millions use the joyous occasion of Easter to praise God for the promise of eternal life but Sunday, which always commemorates the first day of the week as ...

4529. Parable of Five Cities

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Illustration

... beautiful chapter of love to the Corinthians, (I Corinthians 13) he counseled, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not love, I am as sounding brass," and qualified that love was patient and kind. He also knew that love is the "Greatest of all" the gifts of God and that man is meant to keep the quest alive, though his journeys lead him to many cities.

4530. Good News for the Multitudes

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Thomas C. Short

... who lift up his name in praise and who offer their hands for his service. Jesus is not angry with those of us who make up the rank and file of his army. He is ready to receive us and work with us where we are. He’ll accept the gifts we have to offer and help us grow to the place where we are willing and able to give more of ourselves and our possessions to him and his ministry. This is good news for the multitudes.

4531. A Word About the Right Time

Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

... Spirit abides with you, fear not, take courage." Some wanted to hold back because they were afraid the splendor of the new temple would not match that of the old. Not so, says God. "I will fill this house with splendor." That is, with himself and his gifts. His Spirit is there; that is, his life, love, joy, peace, and kindness. The One who is filling the house with splendor is the One who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that momentous event which would thereafter touch all other events. That God ...

4532. Religion - One Way to Get in God’s Way

Zechariah 7:1-14

Sermon

... have coming. They don’t owe us thanks. We are not bestowing something special on them. They are only receiving what is properly theirs, which had always been theirs. Neither the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln nor of the United States gave the black man a gift, as though he had no claim on freedom or liberty. He was but receiving that which was already his and had always been his but which had wrongfully been taken away from him. To show kindness is to serve the neighbor in such a way that ...

4533. Whoever Would Be King

2 Samuel 5:1-5

Sermon

... David’s time fought against their being included, so did the people of Christ’s time, and so do we at the present time. And, as Israel paid a heavy price for its fraternal strife, so do we all. Differences and diversity, given as gifts for enrichment, are often the basis for divisions. The wealth of differences between races and cultures soon degenerates into poverty of ridicule. Theoretical equality may be a sometime word in our vocabulary. In actual practice, the law - not belief - enforces an outward ...

4534. My dear friends, let us play.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... do our most serious playing. We recognize our mortal, sinful condition and we enter into the dance with the one who lives and dies with us and who frees us from the power of death and futility. We will play with water and bread and wine, and, in those simple gifts, encounter the loving faithfulness of our God. Yes, the play's the thing by which our consciences will be captured for the King!

4535. The Third Sunday of Easter

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... into the present. The child was never quite sure which happened, or if both did. But the greatest treasure of all was when she would bring out her companion in all her voyages and adventures. That companion was a small stuffed kitten known as "Laif." He had been a gift from her brother when he had left with his regiment for India, and Laif had been strictly warned by Jamie not to leave her side and to protect her as fiercely as he himself would. Laif had been faithful. He was there for her to hold when she ...

4536. The Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Kendall K. McCabe

... as they are about how many get in. Indeed, they sometimes give the impression that being in heaven will be no fun without the added knowledge there are also some people in hell. It is this attitude that tries to make faith a work we do rather than a gift God gives. It is not enough to believe Christ is the open door to abundant life. These people insist you must believe the door is of a particular type of wood, hung a certain way, and from a particular forest. They end up more interested in the door than ...

4537. The Seventh Sunday of Easter

John 17:1-5

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... who suffers is God's equal. The great people of the world are not those called to high positions, but those who are called to suffer and who do suffer for the sake of others. Notice that suffering as it is used in the New Testament is a gift from God, a calling. There is no room here for a spiritual masochism that enjoys suffering for its own sake or that assumes such suffering purchases one's own way to heaven. Those who enjoy suffering then have suffering as their reward. Within the Christian scheme of ...

4538. A New Plan for Lent

Joel 1:1-12

Sermon

... and spirit were reborn. The season of Lent existed solely in the shadow of the cross and the empty grave. Lent had two purposes - to prepare Christians for the Easter celebration and to test Christians to learn if they sufficiently appreciated the gift of Easter. Catechumens took their final exam before being baptized on Easter night; the most publicly sinful people made their confessions in front of other Christians; in worship, the Gospel readings dwelt on all the demonic challenges to Christ - Satan in ...

4539. The Ladder of Success

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Paul Hegele

... devil, "and I will give you the world." The difference between what Christ chose and what Adam chose is explained by St. Paul in today's Epistle. Because of Adam "death reigned through that one man." But those who choose "the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness offered by God will reign in life." Look for your worth by scrambling up the ladder of success. Or recognize the worth - the "reign in life" - which we have as children of God. That's the choice which faced Adam. That's the choice ...

4540. A Daffy, Magnificent Hope

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

... for a Messiah to save them, no one dreamed he would be born in a stable in Bethlehem and his salvation would extend to the next life. God will never forsake our open-hearted hopes, but he seldom will give us exactly what we expect. Usually his gifts are grander but less recognizable than we ever imagined. We hope for a cure for an illness but, instead, uncover untapped reserves of strength, love, and wisdom for dealing with it. We hope for adequate rains and a big harvest to end a famine but, instead, are ...

4541. Christ's Passion Portraits

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Paul Hegele

... they kept falling asleep, Jesus returned to them frequently to unburden himself and to talk. The command to love is the command to share loneliness and, in that sharing, to find the community and the intimacy which erases it. A cherished foe, this loneliness, even a divine gift not to be ashamed of or avoided. Without it, we would never hunger for love with others and intimacy with God. In the Garden, the fear and the heartache of loneliness drove Christ to his knees. But that's not a bad place to be. They ...

4542. God Is No Respecter Of Persons

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

... remembers better than we, the source of our beauty and brains, our talent and treasures. Like a child on Christmas night, who hoards from his siblings the toys he was given that morning, as if he had exclusive rights to them, we tend to forget all we have are gifts. The home in which we live, where some family may have lived before us and some may live after us; the food we eat, produced by someone with a greener thumb than ours; the talent behind our livelihood, given to us by a parent's genes and possibly ...

4543. God's Passion

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

... of early church life seem extravagant. However, their relations toward each other, and toward God, seem very familiar to anyone who's been "head over heels." Lovers go to dinner and a show; Christians took communion whenever possible. Lovers give expensive gifts; Christians sold all and gave it to the church. Lovers are eager to know all about their beloved; Christians spent their time learning from the apostles. Lovers whisper soft words to each other; Christians eagerly shared in prayers. As for Acts ...

4544. I Kid You Not

2 Kings 4:8-37

Sermon

... mother. However, what this wealthy woman had accepted as certain for her life, was due to be changed. The answer came unexpectedly from the prophet she had befriended. It came from Elisha, who wanted to repay her kindness to him. He could have given her a gift, or spoken a good word for her to the king. His servant Gehazi perceived the one thing that she probably wanted and desired most. When Elisha asked, "What shall be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." Elisha ...

4545. Parable of Granting Your Wishes

Proverbs 18:1-24

Illustration

... Friday's test," said Mary, "and I will have the best grades in the class." "I know what I want," said Janet. "Give me a good friend who will always love me and I will always love her as my favorite playmate." "I think Janet has asked for the best gift of all," said Uncle Bill. In time Richard, you'll have many thousands of dollars and they may not be enough. Mary, if you would learn to study and find the answers, it would be more valuable than someone giving you the answers. For if you can't learn yourself ...

4546. Parable of Three Fools and a Wise Man

Matthew 7:24-29

Illustration

... to help and with a record of good service to thousands. Wherever he was, he pitched in and gave of himself. Some said, "What a fool! Everyone takes advantage of him." The second man was a friendly, cheerful optimist. Laughter and smiles were always his daily gift. Misfortune came and went and he laughed them off. His friendship was for everyone. He even complimented his enemies, unaware of their scorn. Some said, "He doesn't realize he is making a fool of himself. He is just as happy as though he had good ...

4547. Where Easter Begins

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... , durable courage for coping with a lifelong problem that Easter leads. Where Easter Leads: Listen to Its Sounds We can hear that witness today, sung by children, youth, and adult choirs and accompanied by all the instruments which thrill our souls. How much these gifted and faithful people do for us! So many people of all ages are experiencing the excitement of worship. They want to be here. They look forward to taking part. They work hard to prepare for this day, and its memory will return to bless ...

4548. The Emmaus Stranger

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... suffering and redeeming love. It is no longer necessary to live on the brink of despair, nor is it necessary to remain a captive of the forever-backward look upon life. Our Lord Jesus Christ brings us forgiveness of sins here and now this day. Here is the gift that takes away the veil from our eyes, and lifts the fog of despondency from our hearts. He gave himself and is risen for us. The Gospel is the power that moves us from consternation at this stranger who does not seem to know what it means to ...

4549. A Place for You

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... life is a giant aspirin tablet which is meant to blunt the person’s awareness of harsh realities here and now. Classic Marxist orthodoxy holds such a view, and so do articulate people who are not Marxist but who deny the existence of God and his gift of eternal life which transcends death. Such criticisms can be understood in the light of church history, when there has been pie-in-the-sky escapism. But that hardly seems to be among the current maladies of the church. In fact, we might better be criticized ...

4550. Is the Lord Among Us or Not?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

... , ask the question "Is the Lord among us?" Even though a member of our staff gives the basket of groceries, money for rent, direction for medical assistance, or guidance in some other way of life, we may be doing the giving; but God is the source of the gift. God is among us. When a person cries in pain, regardless of his reason, and a Christian takes his hand, or puts an arm around him saying, "I care"; the Lord is among us as the source of such compassion. When a person faces a great opportunity, feeling ...

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