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 4676 to 4700 of 4947 results

4676. Grace and Golf

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... s word will yield a rich harvest - "I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11). Move to the New Testament and find St. Paul saying, "Athletes exercise self-control in all things." Runners do not run with no sense of direction; boxers do not simply flail about in the air. If Paul knew anything about golf, he WOULD have understood the concept of beatin' balls and beatin' balls. If someone wants to WIN, the effort is disciplined. Golf is a game that one cannot play well ...

4677. Thank God, We're Not Alone!

Psalm 133:1-3

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the gifts. The picture the Bible paints is one that celebrates individual gifts but only insofar as they are put to use for the common good. One more point needs to be made before we look at what we might do to maintain a proper sense of togetherness. As Christians, we affirm that, no matter how rugged an individualist we might be, the one thing we cannot do is save ourselves. Our Christian confession is that we are totally dependent upon someone else for our salvation - Jesus Christ. No individualists need ...

4678. Theology in Snow

Psalm 147:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... is good for them. And needless to say, adults do not do that when it comes to God either. Now, I will admit that there is an element of truth in all of these interpretations: we DO need a degree of HUMILITY in our Christian walk; we DO need a sense of DEPENDENCE on God for a proper relationship; we DO need to TRUST that God loves us and has our interests at heart. But honestly, children do not have a leg up on grown-ups in any of those - they are not that good as examples to us old dried ...

4679. The Blame Game

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of Jesus. Newsweek, just prior to the movie's premier had as its cover story, "Who Killed Jesus?"(1) As you know, some think Mel's answer is that the Jews killed Jesus. Thus, the complaint that the film is anti-semitic. And, in a sense, the charge is legitimate - after all, Gibson says that the major source for the script is the gospel accounts themselves, and the truth is that the gospels can also legitimately be charged with being anti-Jewish. That is understandable, if you know the background. First ...

4680. Do You Hear What I Hear?

Luke 1:46-56, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... about. But the land "flowing with milk and honey" of which the ancient stories spoke was now a waste. Picture the scenes down east after Hurricane Floyd, or the earthquakes in Turkey, or tornados in Oklahoma, or typhoons in southeast Asia, and you have a sense of what awaited God's people upon their return to Jerusalem and the surrounding towns and villages. Nearly every home, farm or business had been torn down and left in disrepair. The city wall was gone. Their famous temple had been razed to the ground ...

4681. The Handwriting on the Heart

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Jesus? Scripture says he was not particularly handsome. He came from no family of influence. He had no money. Was it the miracles? Perhaps. There are always some who want to see a magic show. But on a deeper level, what Jesus must have embodied for folks was a sense of hope, the same kind of hope that ancient Judah felt when they heard the words of Jeremiah: "The days are surely coming, says the LORD," - in other words, you can take this to the bank - a "new covenant...I will put my law within them, and I ...

4682. Going Fishing

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... most of you are aware that I know a lot more about many more things than fishing, but even one who has spent little time with a rod & reel can see a few basics. For example, you cannot catch any fish if there are none to be caught. Makes sense. And that IS the excuse many folks use for not being "fishers of people" - they say they do not know anyone who is not already "caught," already a part of Christ's church. Want to know the facts? Actually, about HALF the folks you know are effectively UNchurched. They ...

4683. Real Religion

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God." Three elements that constitute real religion. Then...and now as well. Consider what he says. He begins with "do justice." "In its strictest sense, justice means fair play. It means making sure that all God's children inherit their fair share of God's good gifts. And if they don't, because someone has swindled them out of their birthright or because they were not strong enough to hold on to ...

4684. A Religion that Shows

Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... necessary finances together to get the job underway. Granted, it took four years to get the temple finished, but they did get it finished, and that is what Haggai had told them to do. If old Haggai were to come back today, I wonder if he would have a strange sense of deja vu. Oh, not that he would see God's house in ruins (although there are some that do not look like much more than that). What he would see is a great collection of folks whose real religion is not much different from the one he saw among ...

4685. The "T" Word

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... everyone did at least that, this congregation would be able to get its work done with no difficulty and you would be more faithful disciples. One of the things that has struck me over these past weeks of televised terrorism, anthrax anxiety, and worries about the war is the sense that we as a people are just a tiny bit less materialistic than we were just a few short weeks ago. In the face of some of the horrors we have witnessed, we are less concerned about stuff than we have been. And that is a good thing ...

4686. Make It Right!

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be forgiven if the thief had attempted to make restitution. Without that, no amount of sacrifice could make any difference.(7) For any kind of correct relationship to be maintained with God, correct relationships first had to be established between people. That was the common-sense attitude of the Jewish law, and something that seems to be innately understood by ALL of us if we would just care to admit it. Over the years, people have come to me and said, "Preacher, I haven't been coming to church lately ...

4687. The Lord's Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Jesus, God validated Jesus' life and work by fulfilling for the first time the ultimate hope of people of faith, the hope of victory over death. Yes, the kingdom of God arrived with Jesus, and God showed it for any who wanted to see on Easter morning. But in another sense, the kingdom has not yet arrived. We know that all too well when we turn on a newscast or pick up a paper or even look in a mirror. The coming of Jesus did not mark the end of disobedience; it did not mark the end of sin; it did ...

4688. The Lord's Prayer: "Lead Us Not Into Temptation"

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... man got the job. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from [the cliff of stupidity]." One more problem to solve - what do we make of "Lead us not...?" The epistle of James has already established that God does NOT lead us into sin, and common sense knows that we will face times of testing. What then are we requesting? Back to linguistics one more time. Have you ever heard of a LITOTES? A litotes is a rhetorical device that makes a statement by using a negative or an understatement. It comes from a ...

4689. Regis and Jesus

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be yours. As the old Spanish proverb has it, "There are no pockets in a shroud." A rich man in town died one day, and two men were talking about it. "How much did he leave?" asked the one. The reply came back, "All of it." Good common sense wisdom: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth..." But Jesus did not stop there. He continued, "store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal." What is he saying? You can't take ...

4690. The Jump to Judgment

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be a dangerous thing. That is precisely why Jesus went on in such detail about being careful in them. But he would never have wanted to be misunderstood to the degree that some have misunderstood him saying that no one should make any kind of common sense judgments at all. So saying, let me offer this role model to take home with you this afternoon. Her name is Melanie Wilkes and you know her from Gone with the Wind.(6) Two scenes involving Melanie are particularly significant. In the first, she, Scarlett O ...

4691. The Ultimate Question

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... : "Give him back to me," he wails. "Raise him! Raise him up in my arms!" But then, just as in the Garden of Gethsemene, Jesus concludes his prayer with "Your will be done." The film does an excellent job of portraying Jesus as very human with a good sense of humor and appreciation of fun, something I have long insisted is true. I do not know if he actually started any water fights with the disciples, but I would not rule it out either. Call that scene artistic licence. That certainly came into play with the ...

4692. A Labor of Love - Labor Day

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... me, Satan! You are a STUMBLING BLOCK." Woops. Peter goes from rock to block from one paragraph to the next. I personally find that comforting, because I know I do the same thing myself. You too? One more thing. If taking up our cross does not have a sense of purpose and joy, then we ARE doing it wrong. The Lord is NOT calling for pious masochists. As one commentator has it, “Self-denial is not part of our culture's image of the 'good life.' But neither is...Jesus' call for denying oneself to be understood ...

4693. The Power to Change the Past

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , get even"..."Sue their socks off." The idea behind those options is misconceived justice, that there is a balance owed to you, and somehow you will make the wrongdoer pay. To choose forgiveness is to give up that balance-sheet view. By letting go of our sense of being wronged, we can also let go of bitterness and resentment and open ourselves to much more healthy and wholesome emotions. We take control of how we feel about the past. Lew Smedes is a teacher of Theology and Ethics. He describes three stages ...

4694. What Do You Believe About Eternal Life

John 14:5-14

Eulogy

James W. Moore

... . Science has found that nothing can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation! Now, if God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of His universe, doesn’t it made sense to assume that He applies it also to the masterpiece of His creation – the human soul? I think it does. And everything science has taught me – and continues to teach me – strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after ...

4695. He Rose Again

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... funeral, a beautiful thing happened.(9) As expected, people were weeping and moaning as men shoveled soil on top of the make-shift casket. Suddenly, a little girl - Millard and Linda Fuller's two-year-old daughter Faith - stepped up to the grave. She had sensed that this was a special day for her friend, Clarence, so boldly and loudly in her little two-year-old voice she sang to him: "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, dear Clarence, Happy birthday to you." Little Faith Fuller was ...

4696. A Story Worth Sharing

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... go in one ear and out the other that hurt as much as the things that go in one ear, get all mixed up, and then slip out the mouth.(2) Is there anyone here who has not heard that? Does not KNOW that? I doubt it. This is "common sense" stuff. That means I have no intention of going on any further in this direction. We are all aware of the damage to be done and the danger to be avoided from the too talkative tongue. BE CAREFUL. 'Nuff said. Actually, something else SHOULD be said. In the context of ...

4697. Welcoming Jesus

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... .(2) What is that perspective? Trust? Some. Dependence? A bit. Humility? A little, maybe. All of those are true to an extent (albeit, in my humble opinion as a father, only a SMALL extent). Actually, I think the childlike quality Jesus means most is the sense of wonder about life, the curiosity that is evident in those letters to God, the obvious joy in being alive, happily ready for whatever new adventure might come along. But for all the warm, fuzzy things we say about children, the other side of that ...

4698. Jesus and Divorce

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... about divorce today, I suspect he would make his point even more vehemently than he did on that Judean hillside so long ago. As you are no doubt aware, the church has historically taken the Lord's statement about divorce in the most legalistic possible sense. And that is why there were comparatively so few divorces and so few "Mom and Mikes" in time past. But, truth be known, we have come to see that such an approach can be problematic, so, in recent years, Presbyterian statements about the problem of ...

4699. God Bless the Child

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... them. They know not what they do." Folks, Ruby caught that kind of faith from her parents and from her church. There will be no real progress, no genuine hope for America's children to ALL be looked upon as GOD'S children until some sense of urgency forces us to reconsider our values. That Congress and the administration could give business a $136-billion tax break this week while so many millions of American youngsters cannot get medical care is unconscionable. The ultimate test of any civilization is not ...

4700. The News from Nazareth

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... summary that has enjoyed the filter of human memory that blessedly remembers good and forgets bad. I think there is a lot more to the story. Try to hear it as if you had never heard it before. I doubt that Mary headed to the country with that sense of utter joy and excitement that we all give her credit for. Actually, I suspect she made the trip in much the same way that other teenage girls have through the centuries who found themselves "in a family way," shipped out of town to avoid the inevitable ...

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