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 4726 to 4750 of 4944 results

4726. Watchfulness

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Tim Carpenter

... , and we give the bid to the guy from Western Kentucky!" Now, they had bigger problems in Frankfort than deciding on a water fountain. But so often we can get sidetracked by things that seem important, like water fountains. The disciples were more concerned with the temple being destroyed and the world coming to an end than they were with the things that matter most in life: character, integrity, compassion, and preparedness for Christ's return. This is what Jesus means when he tells his Disciples to watch ...

4727. Stay and Shine

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Eric Ritz

... gold tinsel designed to drape over her like a sandwich board. "What exactly will you be doing in the play?" her mother asked her. "I just stand there and shine," her daughter answered. Sue Monk Kidd says she has never forgotten that response. Jesus' disciples were concerned about the future and their part in it. Jesus wanted them to know that their role was to stay behind and shine. But they would not be alone. He would be with them. He would give them the power to transform their aches into alleluias.

4728. Ignoring Advent

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Matthew T. Phillips

... 's right, you heard it here first—and our own neighbors worship the flag of one aggressor and the oil of another. The alternative is to trust in the kind of king who gets born in a feeding trough, who teaches that people who trust in God should not be concerned about their status or well-being in this world, and who gets strung up on a cross for telling the truth to people who were completely comfortable with the world as they knew it.

4729. Look Into Your Father's Eyes

Matt 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8

Illustration

James W. Moore

... to his son's face. The little boy was stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt, and he was just about to burst into tears. But then he looked into his father's eyes. Instead of anger and hostility, he saw there his father's sympathy and concern; he saw there his father's love and compassion. Instead of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter. What he saw in his father's eyes made all the difference! The sharp blow of God's message to us is: Repentance. But, look into your father ...

4730. Who Is God?

Illustration

William J. O'Malley

... everything right again. God is a judge whose sole purpose is to condemn and forgive; we do not encounter him until we die. God is an infinitely distant and holy perfection. He is the reason behind things, but he is too pure to muddy himself in human life and its concerns. God is the pal at my elbow who goes along with anything I chose to do. False gods. Who is God? The Bible is very clear. God is a righteous God. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty

4731. A Camel on the Roof

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... addressing this question are explored in this week's material, both focus on the surprising, sometimes shocking, nature of God's presence in this world. We begin with a story from a collection of the lives of saints - the saints of Islam - which concerns a king of Balkh (now northern Afghanistan), named Ebrahim ibn Adam. Ebrahim was wealthy according to every earthly measure. At the same time, however, he sincerely and restlessly strove to be wealthy spiritually as well. "One night the king was roused from ...

4732. Thank You, Magic Dragon

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 's" chosen anonymity, allowing both P.J. and "Magic Dragon" the joy of a friendship based solely on love, dedication, and service. "Magic Dragon" saw an opportunity to reach out in love, to risk serving for another with no thought for reward, no concern for self. Thank you, "Magic Dragon." Among the most difficult challenges confounding our own attempts at servanthood is the battle with selfishness. Our egos crave recognition. We want to be patted on the back and told well done" for our sacrifices. Our own ...

4733. A Postmodern Coat of Crayola Colors

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... t make a box of 72 crayons instead of 64. And Ebony Faison wrote to Crayola makers and asked for help. "Raw umber is the color of me. When ever I draw me, I use raw umber. What color should I color now?" But adults seem to be much more concerned than the children. It is as if the validity of treasured childhood memories depends upon these rainbow hues never changing. Our fears of adult life, of the decisions we must make, the roads we must follow or avoid, do not depend on the world remaining the same as we ...

4734. Minding Your Heart

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Turner and produced by Barbara Pyle, this program is far more than just another "cartoon" (a word, by the way, that comes from the Greek kairos). It was designed to entertain children in a non-militaristic genre while educating them in ecological and social concerns by using the examples of cooperation and teamwork. It uses the super-hero genre, but it does so in a way that is cross-cultural (it has been translated into 85 languages), cross-generational (appealing to grades from 1-8), and cross-over (both ...

4735. No Green Without Red

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... group for socially responsible portfolios), even green memories. As wonderful and welcome as the Greening of America (by Charles A. Reich [1970]) and the Greening of Science (by Rupert Sheldrake [1991]) would be, there is no green without red. Just as the concern of so many of today's "green" organizations is to sound a "red" alert, the "green" light/good news of redemption and salvation exists only because of Christ's unhesitating encounter with the painful "red" lights that blocked his road to the ...

4736. Be Happy!

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... on sun-drenched beaches. That the ocean rolling up on these sands was growing more polluted every day, or that the beach itself was littered with debris, or that just inland there were ghettos crowded with unemployed, unfulfilled people - none of these were to concern us. We were to let responsibility and reflection pass us by while we put on a Smiley Face and concentrated all our energies on being happy. Being happy "in Jesus" calls for an entirely different "soul-set." Whereas the pop song's happiness ...

4737. Uh-Huh!

John 18:33-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the basis of quality - they only offer a slick image with no content. A recent Roper poll of 1,496 U.S. consumers found that 52 percent said they would pay 10 percent more for so-called socially responsible products and 67 percent said they are concerned about a company's social performance when they shop. More and more people are wanting to pick "the right one" when they shop (Newsweek, 7 January 1991, 42). But all Madison Avenue advertisers offer the consumer is image. You got the right one, baby? (Hope ...

4738. The First Christmas Card

Philippians 4:4-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... family celebrating the gentle spirit of the season around a table. They are making a toast to the health and happiness of their family, friends and nation. Flanking the scene of Christmas cheer and celebration is the carrying out of the biblical concern for "Clothing the Naked" and "Feeding the Hungry." A lettered greeting was printed underneath the picture. The first Christmas card did not set too well with most church folk. It contained too much revelry. And the reminder of benevolence was too graphic ...

4739. Tweed Jackets, Sweat Pants and Wet Suits

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Braudy refers to the “Tweed Jacket" phase, the "Sweat Pants" period, and finally the "Wet Suit" phase. Tweed Jackets: The tweed jacket can refer to the conservative, literalistic, "by-the-book" kind of faith new Christians often possess. Anxious to please, concerned to be correct, the tweed jacket phase focuses on the rudiments of faith. Wearing the tweed jacket enables the established community of faith to transmit the tradition and "heritize" its faith. At its best, there is established a bedrock of ...

4740. A Lovehope Faith

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . I have considered it my calling to arrange collisions between the minds of young people and the great truths of our human existence." Paul was trying to impose that kind of traffic pattern on the anxious, fractious members of the Corinthian church. Their concern over proper beliefs and the distribution of spiritual gifts had left them weary. In chapter 12 Paul used the analogy of a human body to try and get the Corinthians to view charismatic gifts within the proper perspective. But now Paul hastens to ...

4741. Getting the Face We Deserve

Exodus 34:29-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... get little argument from the Hebrews when he proposed that instead of waiting for some vague message to be conveyed to them by Moses, they should construct a beautiful golden image to serve as the focal point of their worship. John Calvin was so concerned about people confusing icons with identity that he had Reformed churches stripped bare. And how much time, money and brain power has been focused on the pictorial relic the "Shroud of Turin" as we have tried to determine whether the faded silhouette it ...

4742. What's Your Drink?

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... As Psalm 104:15 states, wine "was made to gladden the human heart." Finally, the cumulative effect of the first drink's side-affects is a better disposition towards congenial fellowship. Mixing and mingling is easier and an empathetic sense of interest and concern for others is often demonstrated by those "in their cups." But as Lloyd-Jones, a teetotaler himself points out, the problem with alcohol is that the good feelings it evokes are not transforming. They are merely transitory. While it is true that a ...

4743. Unum Humanum

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in them and you in me, that they may become completely one" (John 17:23). But oneness has never been a quality the church has had much of an opportunity to celebrate. In the church's first few centuries it was so concerned about establishing a creed of theological orthodoxy that it saw heresy and treachery everywhere. Conversely, since the time of the Reformation, the church has become churches, defined by denominations obsessed with establishing their differences rather than their similarities. Perhaps our ...

4744. Down the Up Staircase

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and redeeming God who brings us up to where God is. God has a long history of following us and finding us out. In today's story of Babel-building, God descends to the city in order to keep tabs on the inhabitants. God's concern for our welfare finances this journey and the sight of the growing city encourages divine action. Unlike Babel the rocky wilderness of Luz hardly appeared a spot likely to attract God's presence. When the guilty, fleeing, exhausted Jacob collapses in this desolate spot, the terrain ...

4745. Shame on You

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... an uncanny ability to shift blame, ignore consequences and shirk responsibility. After one particularly corrupt boondoggle had been exposed in the infamous administration of Chicago's Mayor Richard J. Daley, he was confronted by a young reporter. "Aren't you concerned and embarrassed by these activities, Mayor?" Daley turned to the earnest young man and bombasted, "Son, nothing embarrasses us!" As ludicrous as that statement may seem, it appears to be the overriding sentiment guiding our behavior today. The ...

4746. The Cost of Non-Discipleship

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... no need or place here for a cross. Historian Christopher Lasch formulates the problem memorably: "The New Age replacements for religion soothe the conscience instead of rubbing it the wrong way" (Thanks to Ralph Blair's Review: A Quarterly of Evangelicals Concerned 16 [Spring 1992]). Jesus' words at the temple undoubtedly rubbed all his listeners' souls so briskly that it made their hair stand on end. Like a bunch of bristly, electrified cats they puffed up in panic and demanded that Jesus give them ...

4747. Christ the Apple Tree

Isaiah 11:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... live and die. One bristlecone pine in California, estimated to be 4600 years old, has been living on this earth since the days of the Pharaohs. Little wonder that trees evoke such a sense of awe. Biblical scholar Thomas Boogaart (see "Concerning the Chickens," Perspectives, November, 1991, 11) argues that the Hebrews envisioned "the growth of the human family as treelike" and believed that certain families or nations were appointed and blessed by God to be trees of life. These "trees of life" provided ...

4748. Sacrifice for Discipleship

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Illustration

King Duncan

Millions of Christians have been inspired by the life and death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and theologian who was killed during World War II. Bonhoeffer was as outspoken concerning the sins of Adolf Hitler as John the Baptist was about the sins of Herod. Friends in the United States and England, knowing the probable consequences of opposing Hitler, arranged for Bonhoeffer to leave Germany. After a few months, however, Bonhoeffer knew he must return to his homeland. There he ...

4749. Chutes or Ladders

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ." But Jesus rejects this success scenario completely. Indeed, there really is no such thing as "failure" or "success" for Jesus. "Failure" and "success" are the Devil's inventions and intentions. Jesus never worried about struggling up or slipping down any ladder. Jesus was concerned only with lowering himself toward those in need and extending himself forward into God's service. If success is a ladder, then service is a chute and a carpet a chute of free-falling grace and a "magic" carpet because it can ...

4750. Everyone's a Fundamentalist About Something

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... detects the "hardness of heart" shared by those watching him. Jesus and the bystanders in the synagogue that day were butting head-on into each other's fundamentalisms. For the Pharisees, abiding by the strict letter of the law concerning correct Sabbath observation was the fundamentalism shaping their attitude. Like the Pharisees from the first pericope of today's text (2:23-28), these synagogue observers believed that safeguarding Sabbath observation was more important than the individual situations that ...

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