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 451 to 475 of 495 results

451. If Only We Would Do The Obvious ...

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Ann, a new member of our church, gave the outward appearance of having her life all together. Tall and good-looking, she dressed well, was extremely neat, and seemed secure in pursuing an advanced degree after some years of teaching. She immediately became active in the life of the church and was especially gifted in creating excitement in some of the programs. The staff was concerned about overloading her with responsibilities, but her graciousness in accepting them and the efficient manner in which she ...

452. The Servant’s Credentials

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

As part of my service to the church beyond the local parish, I serve on the Professional Preparation Managing Group of our Virginia Synod, Lutheran Church in America. This group is charged with the task of screening and supporting those of our synod who present themselves as candidates for church occupations, those who perceive in their lives a call to ordained ministry, the diaconnate, or service as lay professional leaders. Most of the time it is rewarding to meet with and listen to those whose lives ...

453. On Mars Hill

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon Aid

CSS

At Athens, Paul found himself in a different world. Although a Jewish synagogue existed in Athens, the Jewish presence was without influence on the life of the city. Athenians thought of the Jews as primitive foreigners. Probably the Jews themselves had been affected by the indifferent environment and had forsaken some of their Jewish customs, for we read that Paul argued in the synagogue "with the Jews and devout persons." From the moment he arrived, Paul’s activities extended beyond the synagogue. He ...

454. Your Money and Your Life

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

In his classic treatise on politics, The Republic, Plato observed that the greatest enemy of justice is the family. Yes, the family! I daresay his claim will strike you as being rather silly. After all, most everyone agrees the family is a good and necessary institution. Sociologists continue to say the family is the vital unit or cell of society. We are all disturbed by the disintegration of the family as the divorce rate climbs. Many believe this phenomenon is as dangerous as running out of energy or ...

455. Winners, Losers and the Gospel

Mt 16:25

Sermon

Robert Noblett

For those of us who have spent some time in the Buckeye State there was a sadness about the demise of Woody Hayes as chief helmsman of Ohio State Football. Hayes, during the final moments of the Gator Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson, had directed his right forearm toward the throat of Clemson player Charlie Bauman, who had just intercepted an Ohio pass and preserved a Clemson victory. Shortly thereafter, Hayes was fired for his behavior and a career marked by glory ended in disgrace. Really what ...

456. Leah

Genesis 49:29--50:14

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

An elderly woman of keen mind and understanding heart stood gazing at Whistler’s portrait of his mother. "It’s a remarkable painting of a lovely lady," murmured the viewer, "but there is too much peace and calm to be the likeness of a real mother." To be sure, serenity and tranquility are marked qualities of motherhood, yet there has been far more sorrow, pain, and discord in the long history of women than the pacific sweetness of "Mother Machree" would indicate. Ours is a world which traditionally has not ...

457. Everyone Has a Somebody

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." How many times have we heard in our lifetime our Lord’s Eleventh Commandment repeated? How many sermons have I preached on love, and have you heard? Yet, in spite of words and commandment, everyone has a somebody whom they cannot love. Somebody is not always the same person, at the same time, in the same place. True as well for the comedian who jested, "There are people in this world who do not love one another, and I hate people like ...

458. A Soap Opera For Saints

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

Guin Ream Tuckett was asked to teach a junior high Sunday School class. All went well until she reached the lessons on sex. This is not a subject that is easy for adults working with this particular age group to broach. Although Guin worked out a well-balanced, Biblically-based lesson, her kids seemed pretty uninterested. That is, until one kid asked if there were sex stories in the Bible. Guin assured them that there were both good and bad examples of sex represented in the Good Book. Now she had their ...

459. Becoming One of the Beautiful People

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

We all want to be recognized, appreciated, made to feel important. We all want to be somebody. A banker was visiting a customer's farm. He nodded to a figure in the farmyard. "I suppose that's the hired man," he said. The farmer replied, "Naw, that's the first vice president in charge of cows." All of us what to be recognized. All of us want to believe we are important. Alex Haley, the author of ROOTS served in the Coast Guard during World War II. Because of his race, Haley's jobs were limited to the ...

460. What In The World Is Happiness?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

A family had sold everything possible to pay bills and to put food on the table. Nevertheless, a burglar broke in one night when the family was gone. The family returned and found the door knocked off its hinges. "What did the burglar get?" the police officer asked. The head of the house just shook his head. "Practice," he said. It's not easy being poor. What did Jesus mean, "Blessed are the poor?" Jesus was a master at keeping his listeners off-balance. He always said the unexpected. He praised people ...

461. All My Children

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Frank Lyman

On September 16, 1998, a funeral service was held at the First United Methodist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. It was the funeral service for George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama. In the 1960s Mr. Wallace was the symbol for racism and bigotry in our country. In his 1963 inaugural speech he proclaimed, "Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever!" When African-American students attempted to enroll at the University of Alabama, he attempted to prevent their entry, and when Dr. ...

462. It Does Matter What You Believe

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

I'd like to start off today with a story from the Old West. A trapper was being chased by a grizzly bear. He dropped his gun, his pack, and everything else that he could possibly unload so that he could run faster, but the bear was still gaining ground. Finally he was forced to make a stand. He ran into a small clearing and put his back to a stump, taking out his knife as he did so. The bear also stopped, about a foot away, with its teeth bared and claws extended. The trapper, though not generally a ...

463. It's All God's Doing

Ezekiel 17:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"A few years ago, a little boy was diagnosed as having a terminal illness. When he was told the situation and that he would soon die, he retreated fearfully into a cocoon of total silence. No one...not his doctors or nurses, not even his parents could get through to him. No one could penetrate the wall of silence the little boy had erected around himself. He would not speak to anyone. The only way he would communicate was through drawings he scratched out on a legal pad. One drawing showed a beautiful ...

464. Death: A Way of Life

Isaiah 52:13—53:12

Sermon

Bill Mosley

In 1933 Bishop Fulton J. Sheen published a little book on the seven words of Jesus from the cross. Sheen begins his Good Friday sermon with a story about Adam. When Adam had been driven from the Garden of Paradise, and the penalty of labor imposed upon him, he went out in quest of the bread he was to earn by the sweat of his brow. In the course of that search, he stumbled upon the limp form of his son, Abel, picked him up, carried him upon his shoulders, and laid him on the lap of Eve. They spoke to him, ...

465. A Man for All Seasons

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

The enigma of human relationships and how that relates to the living God is all about us. It always has been and likely will be. This is precisely what Saint Paul lifts up before us. We would like for all of this to be greatly simplified but it never is and so we continue to seek to live the Christian life as best we know how. The history of the church is saturated with just what the apostle puts before us. In a way we are caught between two worlds and we have no choice. We live as well we can and hope for ...

466. Parades and Crosses — The Challenge of Ministry

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

He had grown up in a fashionable suburb of a large American city, a cosmopolitan area of considerable size and sophistication. He was a winner from the time he was born; you know, one of those babies that comes into the world with a smile and a confident air that life is friendly and meant for success. Oh, yes, he did his share of crying, and as an infant and pre-schooler, he had his share of sickness. But all in all, he was the kind of boy you would expect to see in a prize-winning television commercial. ...

467. The Paradoxical Power of Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

There are people who speak to us more powerfully out of their weakness than out of their strength. Brian Piccolo was a powerful, professional football player who entertained thousands with his feats of muscular strength and stamina. But cancer attacked, and out of weakness he spoke more powerfully than before. Whenever they show the movie, Brian's Song, we think of him and his faith and courage. Paul experienced a similar fall from glory. He had seen powerful visions of God, had entered into the third ...

468. Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:4b-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Although scholars have generally considered Philippians as one of the books composed during Paul's Roman captivity, there is reason to suggest that it may have been penned later, sometime after the Corinthian correspondence. Considered as a later work, Philippians reflects Paul's matured thought and doctrine, with this week's text certainly revealing the depth of Paul's theological wisdom. In Philippians 3:4, Paul begins by recounting his past religious life. He may have been responding to some arguments ...

469. Mark 10:17-31

Mark 10:17-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Today's gospel reading depicts an intensely personalized, detailed scene in Jesus' ministry. Although both Matthew (19:16-30) and Luke (18:18-30) also report this encounter, the Markan version presents the most poignant, sympathetic picture of this man who comes to Jesus seeking an answer to the question " ... what must I do to inherit eternal life?" This scene stands squarely in the midst of the Markan discussions of what it means to be a disciple in the shadow of the cross. Immediately following this ...

470. Luke 3:7-18

Luke 3:7-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

It is a prophetic voice with authority that rings out in today's gospel text. John the Baptist, having only just begun to practice his "call" from God, wastes no time in getting to the rotten heart of the actions and attitudes that run throughout the crowds gathering to hear him preach. In fact, it seems odd that Luke and Matthew depict John the Baptist uttering such harsh invectives to a crowd that has voluntarily gathered to receive his "baptism of repentance" (Luke 3:7b-9, Matthew 3:7b-10). Wouldn't ...

471. Matthew 23:1-12

Matthew 23:1-12

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

In Matthew's gospel, Jesus' active earthly ministry seems opened and closed by great sermons given before huge crowds. The Sermon on the Mount has received scholarly acknowledgment and scholastic scrutiny as the public starting gate for Jesus' ministry. Yet little attention has been given to the contents and concerns contained in his last great public discourse recorded in Matthew 23-25. Speaking to both his disciples and a crowd of curious yet passively hostile followers, Jesus, in his final sermon, picks ...

472. Jesus, The One And Only

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

James Merritt

Napoleon, the man who one time ruled over all of civilized Europe spent his last days exiled on the Rock of St. Helena. He was reflecting on all that he had accomplished in his life. He called a loyal friend, Count Montholon, to his side and said to him, "Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was?" The Count refused to respond. Napoleon then said this: Well then, I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and, I myself, have found a great empire; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? ...

473. Whatever Happened to Respect?

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

During the days of the Gold Rush, a young man and his bride set out across the country to make their fortune. Some where along the way they drank some contaminated water, and the young bride died before they could reach Fort Kearney. Heartbroken the young man took her body to the highest hill and buried it, using the wagon bed to make a coffin. He drove down some wooden stakes to mark the grave, thinking that he would go on west and later come back. But as he thought about it, he said to himself, “I’ll ...

474. Reasons for Rejoicing

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

We Christians can disagree over some of the smallest, most ordinary things. Group therapy is now available for congregations who want to learn skills for getting along peaceably within the body of Christ. A congregational therapist tells the story of a church that almost split over the issue of mashed potatoes. I know it sounds a little trivial, but to the people involved, it was a most significant matter. The problem at hand was a proposed change at church fellowship dinners — whether to continue making ...

475. Fred and Barney

John 10:11-18

Sermon

John Smylie

I grew up in the suburbs, in a community outside of lower Manhattan. There were no sheep in our neighborhood. In fact, there were no farms. In southern New Jersey, there were farms that grew wonderful corn and tomatoes. In fact some might be amused to know that the slogan on New Jersey's license plate has been, "The Garden State." It is amusing, because so many of us who live in this fine country have only had the experience of New Jersey that can be found along the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State ...

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