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 4626 to 4650 of 4653 results

4626. Two Lives to Live

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... person. He said he would do it himself, but each envelope contained ten, one-thousand-dollar bills, and he did not want the people to know they were from him. He simply wanted to help and did not want the recognition. The pastor delivered the envelopes and was touched by the generosity, and the impact the gifts had on those who received them. He believed it was an act of kindness that served as a warm reminder of the goodness that still does exist in the world. A few days later, the pastor was sitting in ...

4627. The View from Cloud Nine

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . Looking upward, how many of us have spent time lying on our backs on a grassy bank staring at the clouds. As children we’ve looked for shapes in the cloud formations and have imagined what it would be like to soar to the clouds, to touch their seemingly “fluffy” nature, to lie down in their soft, wispy warmth. In cartoons, we wistfully imagine sitting in the clouds, soaking up the view, as though they were a luxurious bed of soft, billowy cotton. In fact, clouds are anything but light, soft billows ...

4628. When the Small is Great, and the Great is Small

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Will Willimon

... gifts to me. And I have been known to ponder, as I lounge like a lizard in the sun on the podium at university commencement, the unnamed folk who put our graduates where they are. Most of us professors do no more than put a few finishing touches on what others have done, then we give them a degree. We all live our lives in the red; debtors to unseen, unremembered coaches, piano teachers, ice cream vendors, janitors and maids. I'll tell you students: the more you grow up, the higher you climb, the greater ...

4629. Hearing A Familiar Voice

John 10:22-30

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... know who Jesus is. “His Master’s Voice…” Remember that great advertising slogan of RCA Victor? A dog sat looking at the amplification horn of a gramophone. The caption underneath said, “Hearing his master’s voice.” Whimsical, to be sure. But also touching. To have that sense, even if we cannot see our Master, that his voice is audible, his presence is near, his care is always certain. One writer told of attending a business conference where awards were being given for outstanding achievements ...

4630. The Accent Of Heaven

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... for attention. Tony wandered quiet Honolulu streets looking for a place to get fried eggs and bacon. All the respectable places were closed and Tony finally ended up at a greasy dive in a narrow and dim alley. The place reeked with grunge. Tony was afraid to touch the menu for fear that it would stick to his fingers and that if he opened it something with too many legs to count might crawl out. The guy behind the counter growled at him. “What d’ya want?” Suddenly Tony wasn’t hungry, no matter how ...

4631. Spirit Struck

Acts 2:1-21 · John 14:8-17, 25-27

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . For us in the Christian tradition, Pentecost marks another appearance of God’s glory in the function of the Holy Spirit, in which the disciples become infused with (intoxicated by) God’s revelation and inspiration. Their hearts and minds are “touched” (stricken) by the exhilarating and transformational calling out of God. For us Pentecost is God’s “call to action” in which people from all cultures and places become baptized and disciples become apostles and “everyone who calls on the name ...

4632. The Art Of Transition

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... people until 1993. Twitter wasn’t available until 2006. Both of them have become part of our everyday lives. My colleagues, who are younger than me, insist that texting is not just part of their life; it is an essential part if they want to stay in touch with their kids. (Oh, and a footnote: I remember, ten years ago, when I first typed the word “texting” on my then nine-year-old computer it told me that “texting” wasn’t a word.) Many of us have gone from playing our parents’ 72 rpm records ...

4633. The Power of Story

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... each other, Isaiah used a story of a vineyard to show what it means to bear “fruit” toward others. And when Jesus wanted to show how to redefine the Jewish concept of “neighbor,” he told a story –one of many, many more that he would use to touch people’s hearts and change their perspectives one person at a time. Jesus understood the power of parable and story and the way to teach compassion in a non-threatening, self-initiated way. He didn’t lecture. He didn’t command. He didn’t cajole. He ...

4634. For Someone Who Heroically Suffered, Yet Spread Good Cheer

John 19:25-27 · 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... you, thanks to the treasured memories of a beautiful and heroic life, you have sunlight, and you have moisture and nutrients to help your new life along. Linda Bujalski is gone but she’ll always remain rooted in the lives of those who had the privilege of having her life touch theirs.

4635. Will You Sing With Me?

Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

Heather Sugden

... Amazing Grace” and tears fall; I am filled with joy and want to shout “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” Songs my parents and grandparents sang to me come to my lips, even when I cannot exactly remember when or where I heard them. Musical notes often touches emotions so deep that words simply cannot reach. If these songs are woven so inseparably into my faith, then surely I cannot help but sing them to others and teach them to a new generation of believers. We must sing, and bring hope through our song to ...

4636. An Up-Close Nativity

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Heather Sugden

... gift from God — but sometimes so precious to us that we consider them fragile, too. We might be tempted to put them far away, out of reach of little hands — or even behind glass, locked up, and out of reach for any of us to actually touch and move. We have in our minds the places where each character in the story of Christmas is supposed to stand and not move — the shepherds always standing sentry, the animals quiet and subdued, the parents of the baby protective, the baby himself never crying. The ...

4637. No Excuse

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... been sitting at the table doing Bible study with Jesus, she was probably there for a women’s class or personal, private prayer, or she might have been a cleaning lady. Jesus saw her and, without a moment’s hesitation, he pronounced her healed and touched her. The pain left her, she stood up straight, and she began praising God. But all are not happy at this outcome. There are some legalists in the group, who care more about rules and regulations than they care about relieving human suffering, more about ...

4638. God Is Like...a Parent

Hosea 11:1-4 · Luke 15:1-32

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

... and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew. 5:44-45). What kind of heavenly father is God? Perhaps the best answer Jesus gave to this question came in the parable we call the prodigal son. It is one of the most touching, beautiful stories in all of world literature. We’re so familiar with it that we can miss the surprising behavior of the father. He didn’t scold the boy for leaving home and wasting his inheritance. He didn’t say he hoped his son would never do ...

4639. God Is Like...Fire

Malachi 3:1-4 · Luke 3:1-6, 9,16-17

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

4640. God Is Like...

Isaiah 40:18-31 · John 1:1-14

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

... t seem especially relevant to us, because we are not tempted to construct images of wood or stone and bow down to them. But for people in ancient Israel, idols were a temptation. They found it frustrating to worship a god they could not see or hear or touch. How much more comforting to see what you are praying to. The danger of such images, of course, is that the worshipers reduce their god to manageable, controllable size. And one thing we simply cannot do is control God. No less than the people of ancient ...

4641. The Unknowing Evangelist

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... really need to do is keep your heart rooted in Jesus – and allow your actions to follow. As Jesus says, from where your heart is rooted, your devotion and love will flow. Imagine if your heart stayed rooted in Jesus every day of your life! Imagine the lives you will touch, and the hearts you will change! Imagine.

4642. Upside Down And Backward

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

... came to set the captives free. His mother Mary sang of the proud being brought down and the lowly lifted up. Jesus not only ate with sinners and tax collectors, he called them to participate in God’s present and coming kingdom. He welcomed little children, touched the untouchable, went to the graveyard to tell the demon possessed he had a name and a purpose. No wonder the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. Those first followers weren’t the elites of their day. They had no sway in the halls of ...

4643. Chief Among Sinners

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

... went to Zacchaeus’ house. No wonder the crowd grumbled. Just when they thought this Jesus was different, he went directly to the most lavish house in town. Isn’t he the one who said he came to bring good news to the poor? Isn’t this Jesus the one who touched the unclean and fed that huge, hungry crowd? I heard he said woe to the rich and that it was easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than it was for a rich person to get into heaven. But there he went, headed to Zacchaeus ...

4644. A Song to Shake the World

Revelation 5:11-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... company. It is in here (pointing to his head and heart). That's the beauty of music…so you don't forget that there are places in the world not made out of stone, that there's something inside that they can't get to, that they can't touch. It is yours.” Well, the Book of Revelation is mostly music, mostly songs. Revelation is the most quoted book of the Bible in the church's liturgy, and well it should be. If you were here before Christmas for “Messiah,” you heard some of the musical highlights from ...

4645. The Subject Is Salvation

Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19

Sermon

James L. Killen

A pastor was talking one day with some men whom he knew were not actively involved in any religion. He was surprised to learn that all of the men believed in God. But when they gave their reasons for believing, they all told stories of some narrow escape in which they assumed that God had miraculously interceded to save them or someone they knew from disaster. One told about a narrow escape in a traffic accident, another told of a day when, if he had not been late leaving for work, he might have been ...

4646. A Voice from Beyond

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

Down through the centuries, philosophers and theologians have come up with a number of classical "proofs for the existence of God." The truth is that these "proofs" are not likely to convince anyone who is determined not to believe in God. But they can be helpful guides to experiencing God for people who want to believe. Most of the proofs for the existence of God focus attention on the things that exist and the things that happen in the world around us and reason that there must be someone who is making ...

4647. Some Things Ought Not to Happen

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

James L. Killen

Some things that happen in our world just ought not to happen. A mother decides that she does not want her newborn baby, so she wraps it in a blanket and leaves it beside a rural road. Fortunately, the baby is found by someone passing by before it dies but the ants have already begun to bite it. A community puts its trust in a man and elects him to public office. Then he uses his position to enrich himself by taking bribes and favoring the businesses of his friends. Famines occur in impoverished parts of ...

4648. Discovering that It’s Not about You

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

James L. Killen

"It's not about you." Did anyone ever say that to you? Something is going on. Some conflict is being worked out or some decision is being made about something that is going to happen and you are feeling threatened or put upon or involved in some other way. Then someone who is more deeply involved says to you, "This is not about you." At first that may hurt your feelings because most of us operate on the assumption that almost everything is about us. But when the realization soaks in that it really is not ...

4649. The Way to Happy Endings

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Sermon

James L. Killen

Genesis 24 is like a short novel that is set into the end of the story of Abraham. It is a lot like the kind of stories that many of you like to read -- and it has a happy ending. In the story, Abraham sends his oldest and most trusted servant back to the country from which Abraham and Sarah had come many years before. His mission is to find a wife for their son, Isaac. He wants the servant to find for Isaac "a girl just like the girl that married dear old dad." The servant went, taking gifts, and praying ...

4650. Surprised by God

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

James L. Killen

We live in a culture that is increasingly secular. At its best, secularism is simply what we Americans call the separation of church and state. It is a practical way to keep people from having to live lives regimented by someone else's religious convictions and that keeps countries from being torn by conflicts between religious groups that all want to write the rules. There is a lot of history in our world that argues for the practicality of that kind of arrangement. As it has taken shape among us, however ...

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