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 4776 to 4800 of 5000 results

4776. The Test of a True Testimony

James 1:19-27

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Today, we continue in our series on the epistle of James by examining verses 19-27 of the first chapter. I like the translation of verses 19 & 20 which reads: "This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." The first thing we need to review from James is: exactly what are we supposed to know? What is already assumed? We know that James is speaking to a group of believers of whom he is ...

4777. Tackling the Tough Tasks

James 2:1-13

Sermon

Eric Ritz

A certain middle-aged couple from the rural area of Tennessee received a registered letter from the Internal Revenue Service. On the outside of the large manila envelope in large letters was the message--FINAL NOTICE. "Praise the Lord," said the wife to her husband. "This is the last time the government is going to badger us about our overdue taxes." Just when we thought that James was going to stop making us squirm in our pews, he forces us to "Tackle the Tough Tasks" of racism and classism in the body of ...

4778. What a Difference a Day Makes

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Eric Ritz

One of the moving and insightful stories that came out of the Nazi concentration camps in Europe concerned a musician by the name of Gustaf Moeller and his niece. When the young Jewish girl arrived at the camp it was decided she was too valuable to be killed like the others. Instead, she was ordered to gather together an orchestra to play for the Nazi officers and top brass. She was able to gather together many talented Jewish musicians who were ready to be killed. Some of the performers were the most ...

4779. A Friend in High Places

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Robert Noblett

What we want to talk about is not, I am extremely sure, a theme that dominated your breakfast conversation this morning. It is not, I am equally confident, a theme that came up in any church conversation around here in the last little while. It is not even, I am still confident, something that you have ever thought much about at all. And I am sure it is not something you have heard homiletically addressed more than once, if at all. I am talking about the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. If by chance ...

4780. The Dark Didn't Catch Me!

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Remember how it was in grade school when your class went out on the playground during recess? Doug and Sam, the two big guys, started choosing up sides to play kickball. And the rest of us just sort of stood around and hoped one of them would pick us for their team. And how affirming, how exciting it was to hear your name called and know that you were wanted. And it's the same in this big lonesome world that doesn't seem to need us very much. It's easy to feel left out, unchosen. But the Good News of the ...

4781. Hanging the Law on Love

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

Compared to some of the pericopes from Mark's Gospel, this one seems a piece of cake. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength ... You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (vv. 29-31). That's straightforward enough! In fact, we might stumble over only four little words: Love. God. Neighbor. Self. Love God with your whole self. Love your neighbor as yourself. Words ...

4782. Bedlam or Bethleham?

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

Fredrick R. Harm

I wonder if you have ever realized how the word "bedlam" entered our language? Here's how it came about. St. Mary of Bethlehem was founded as a hospital in England in 1247. Two centuries later it was restructured as an institution for the hopelessly insane. The noise and confusion of the hospital became widely known throughout the country. The cockney accent, over the years, contracted Bethlehem into Bed'lam. So "bedlam," which means "a place, scene, or state of uproar or confusion" is simply a contracted ...

4783. Growing Faith

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

It's an old joke, but an insightful one: A man slipped off the edge of a cliff, and just before he fell the hundreds of feet to the valley floor below, he grabbed a protruding branch. There he was, dangling precariously from that little branch, afraid that any second it would pull out from the side of the cliff. "Help!" he began to cry. "Help! Is anyone up there?!" Finally, after no answer, he began to pray desperately, after which he heard a big booming voice. "I am the Lord. I am here to save you!" The ...

4784. The World's Still Point

1 John 5:1-12

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

Just this past week I received an e-mail from a gentleman I do not know. He was obviously sending this e-mail out to a long list of people. In essence his message was that I should go to a web site he listed and read the essay there about abortion. At one point in his e-mail he wrote the following: Remember, abortion is not just a political issue. It is very much a religious one. It drives straight to the heart of our beliefs. I am going to do everything possible to tell believers about this essay and I ...

4785. Getting It All Together Inside

Psalm 51:1-19, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

R.D. Lange is an imminent philosopher, and one of the most perceptive observers and discerning describers of the human situation. He has said this, what we think is less than what we know. What we know is less than what we love. What we love is so much less than there is, and to this precise extent we are much less than what we are. What a challenging assessment. We are much less than what we are. Now that’s a needed perspective, but unfortunately our perspective is poisoned. We are confused about what is ...

4786. The Game Is For A Team

Colossians 4:7-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Clarence Forsberg tells a story about what it means to be a part of a team. It is a story of Al McGuire and Butch Lee. McGuire was a great basketball coach, who retired from Marquette after winning the NCAA tournament in 1976. Butch Lee was a kind of prima donna player on that team. The story is about McGuire trying to teach Butch Lee about team basketball. This was the coach's word. "Now, Butch, the game is forty minutes long, and if you divide that between the two teams that means there is twenty minutes ...

4787. Declaration Of Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It was in the newspaper back in the mid-1950's, during the height of the civil rights movement. An unforgettable picture, which captured not only the emotion of one man, but the deep sense of freedom and joy and release and affirmation of a whole race. A black man, who must have been over 100 years old, was being carried on the shoulders of a group of young men. They were taking him up the steps of a courthouse in a Southern town to register to vote. The caption beneath the picture said he was born a slave ...

4788. The Little Madness Of Hope

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Zorba the Greek is one of my favorite stories. It was a memorable theatre experience when Anthony Quinn played Zorba. The climax of the drama is two men -- Zorba and his boss -- dancing. The story was that the boss's money is invested in an untried invention to bring timber down a mountain. The wood, badly needed by the community, is to be used to reinforce the walls of an old mine which, it is hoped, will restore economic life. Everyone turned out to watch the great occasion. Anticipation turned quickly ...

4789. Walk In Newness Of Life

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Jerry and I celebrated our thirty-third anniversary on March 15. Well, some might question the word "celebrated", and she might have even questioned it a bit. On that very day, Thursday, March 15th, I was in a meeting of the Regional Secretaries of the World Methodist Council. But we celebrated, though I'll not tell you how! One thing I did was reread an anniversary gift of years back -- a book by Lois Wyse entitled Love Poems for the Very Married. If we were very married then -- we are very, very married ...

4790. Saying Yes To Forgiveness

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Joe E. Trull tells of a primitive tribe located deep in the South American jungles. Anthropologists learned the most important role within the tribe was the "keeper" of the flame. Since fire is so precious -- and takes such effort to recreate -- one member is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the flame alive. During the night the flame keeper adds wood to the fire. He keeps the fire alive whenever the tribe moves to another location -- carrying it in some vessel in order that the very difficult ...

4791. From Russia With Love

Acts 3:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I'm told that they used to tell a story in Russia that Adam and Eve were Russians and they came at that from very logical deduction. They were improperly clothed, they had only one apple between them and everybody was always telling them that they lived in a paradise. Today you can't tell that joke in Russia. No one, not even the most ardent, die hard, hanging on, Communist dreamer. No one would even begin to hint at the possibility that the people in Russia and in the Union of Independent States are ...

4792. Choices

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

It was one of the most gripping news stories of 2003. In the beautiful but desolate mountains of southeastern Utah, a twenty-seven year-old mountain climber named Aron Ralston, made a desperate decision. An avid outdoors man, Aron was rock climbing one day when his right arm became trapped under a boulder, a boulder estimated to weigh at least eight hundred pounds. He saw immediately that he was in deep trouble. Unable to budge the rock at all, Aron took out his pocketknife and chipped away at the rock for ...

4793. A Strange Kind of King

John 18:28-40

Sermon

King Duncan

A five-year-old boy was stalling going to bed. He asked for a glass of juice. "No, sir," his father answered. "No more juice. I’m king of the juice in this house." "That’s not right, Daddy," the young fellow retorted. "Our Sunday school teacher said Jesus is the king of the juice." Pilate summoned Jesus to his palace and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly. How could he? The title "King of the Jews" hardly sums up his mission. But finally he does concede ...

4794. Oh, God!

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you will remember a couple of humorous films a few years ago in which the late comedian George Burns played God. Oh, God, parts I & II, were not great movies, but they did allow us to reflect on what God is really like. A pastor was trying to explain to a child about God. The pastor said. “God is everywhere!” "Everywhere?” asked the little boy. “Everywhere!” said the pastor. The boy went home and told his mother, “God is everywhere! The pastor said so.” “Yes, I know,” said the mother. “You mean he ...

4795. Strong Medicine

Judges 4:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

We get only a sip from the book of Judges. A sip may be all we want; a big gulp of the book might be more than we could take. So, the lectionary committee measures out a small spoonful of this book, seven verses, and gives us a sip once every three years. The committee must be afraid that all of the blood and gore would turn our stomachs and all of the sex would distract us. So, the bottle marked "Judges" has a sticker from the committee that reads, "Caution, do not exceed recommended dosage." For our part ...

4796. Remembering Jesus

2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon

James L. Killen

Christians share a memory - and a belief - that gives us a place to stand, a way of getting things into perspective, and an ability to cope no matter what is going on in the world around us. We share the memory that once, a long time ago, there was a young teacher who was totally committed to the loving purpose of God for the world. He came healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and making other loving responses to human need. He came announcing a new possibility that God offers to the whole creation and ...

4797. Being More than Civil

1 Corinthians 1:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The trial of a president is a terrible thing for a country to endure. We can be grateful that in the Senate, at least, the proceedings have been conducted in a more civil manner than we have been subjected to over the last several years. Although we have been told that just underneath the surface, in the Senate as well, there are deep divisions and the same partisan acrimony that has characterized the investigation and the impeachment. There has always been division in the world. In our own society, in ...

4798. Advent 4

Isaiah 7:1-25, Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 7:10-16 (C); Isaiah 7:10-14 (RC); Isaiah 7:10-17 (E) Yahweh gave King Ahaz the sign of a child as deliverance. The historical situation behind this Lesson needs to be known for an understanding of the passage. It was the time of the Syro-Ephramite war (736-734 B.C.). Israel and Syria joined in an attack on Judah and King Ahaz. He planned to get help from Assyria, but Yahweh through Isaiah urged him not to do it, but to rely on Yahweh for deliverance. With a practical and ...

4799. God, the Enemy

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Do you remember when Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, was executed? As the time of his execution drew near, McVeigh gave a handwritten statement to the warden, intending it to take the place of any verbal comment. In that statement, McVeigh quoted a section of the poem "Invictus," which is Latin for "unconquered." That poem, by nineteenth-century British poet William Ernest Henley (18491903), reads, in part, "I am the master of my fate: I am the ...

4800. God's Original Seatbelt (Mother's Day)

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Anybody here this morning remember what it used to be like to drive a car . . . before power steering? before automatic transmission? before air conditioning? before seat belts? Let's stop there for a moment. Before seat belts, parents could pack eight kids into a family car, ages one week to 18 years, with no restraining thoughts or devices. Automobile safety is much more regulated than it used to be. Today we have laws requiring children under four years and forty pounds to be buckled into some sort of ...

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