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 501 to 525 of 635 results

501. God Has the Last Word

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... Or maybe it is the sound of silence, reminding you of your aloneness. Whatever your particular sound is, you know when you hear it, for it sounds like a shark is coming after you with all its primal and unstoppable power. And as it gets closer to you, instinctively, you feel like saying, “No hope! No hope! No hope!” The tragedy is that when we allow the shark’s jaws around us, something within us begins to die. Do you ever feel as if you’re dead inside? Have you ever felt the attack of hopelessness ...

502. Learning to Love

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

James L. Killen

... looks like. If we look to our popular culture, especially the entertainment industry that does even more than we realize to shape our ways of thinking and living, we will get the idea that love is some combination of selfishness, jealousy, and sex. Most of us know instinctively that is not what it is. But what is it? If we want to learn to love, we are wise to look to our Christian faith as a teacher. The Christian faith is about love. Lots of people seem to miss that. The Christian faith is not primarily ...

503. Giving and Receiving

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... James says that often "you have not because you ask not," and I have seen this happen again and again during different crises. I recall once seeing volunteers asking a woman if she needed any more help in trying to get what possessions she could. The woman answered instinctively, "No, thank you. We have all the help we need." The truth was they could have used four or five more men but now it was too late. Here was a case of not really knowing when to reach out and use the saving device, to use my earlier ...

504. Life Through the Spirit

Romans 8:1-17

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... ” (v. 12–13). In verses 5–8 Paul speaks of the mind of the Spirit or flesh. Phronēma means “thought,” conveying the idea of the sum total of inner dispositions, literally a “mindset” that leads to a goal. “Flesh” then connotes not base instincts or the material side of life, but that which human nature in its rebellion against God has made of itself. Spirit, likewise, is not a noble or ideal self, but God’s transmitting of the effects of Christ’s salvation to believers and God’s ...

505. The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... a series of results of the stated conditions, again real and unreal. The argumentation can be tricky, but fortunately English grammar and idiom function similarly to the norms of koine Gk., and so the English reader can follow the discussion by instinct without having to analyze and classify the forms of the various conditional statements—protases and apodoses. Fee offers an elaborate outline that may prove helpful, although the analysis presses for a degree of precision that Paul may not have intended ...

506. David and Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... surrounding army only had to wait until the city’s stores ran out. Unless the general decided to finish the situation quickly and attack the city, casualties were unnecessary. If the surrounding troops got too close to the walls, casualties were inevitable. Joab’s instincts were to attack and bear the cost of the casualties; David’s were to avoid the death of as many of his troops as possible. From this point on, David found it increasingly hard to manage Joab and impossible to replace him. David’s ...

507. The Lord Speaks

Job 38:1--41:34

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... ) and Hartley (Job, p. 509) accept an emendation of “stork” to a word meaning “lacks” so that the verse means “the wings (of the ostrich) lack feathers” (NRSV). 39:14–15 She lays her eggs on the ground. This statement questions the maternal instincts of the ostrich. The term “lays” is actually the verb for “abandons.” Unlike many species of birds that lay their eggs in nests elevated for protection in trees and shrubs, the ostrich, being a heavy bird, must build its nest on the ground ...

508. The Rich Young Man

Matthew 19:16-30

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... five through nine, according to Exod. 20:12–16) and adding Leviticus 19:18. The young man responds that he has obeyed all the commandments listed by Jesus but still feels there is something else he needs to do (v. 20). His uneasiness reveals an instinctive human awareness that legalism falls short of God’s intention. That he had not, in fact, fulfilled the requirement to love his neighbor as himself is brought out in the account as told in the Gospel According to the Hebrews (a second-century expansion ...

509. Faith or Observance of the Law

Galatians 3:1-14, Galatians 3:15-25

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... to the fact that Paul directly relates reception of the promise to the death of Christ. As Paul tends to speak personally of the death of Christ as one in which he participates or one that is for him (2:20), it may be that Paul instinctively includes himself when speaking of Christ’s death (3:13) and its consequences (3:14). Paul says that the promise comes through Christ Jesus. The Greek reads not “through Christ,” but “in Christ,” en Xristō. This verse resonates with the scriptural quote in 3:8 ...

510. The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy 5:1-33

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... and the perjurer, indicating divine reaction even when human justice is foiled. It is clear, then, that the prohibition was treated seriously and applied to a wide range of antisocial behavior, alongside other forms of economic exploitation and injustice. Calvin’s instinct was valid, then, in seeing the eighth commandment as concerned not only with the precise crime of burglary or robbery but with all forms of unjust gain at the expense of others. It follows, therefore, that not only are those thieves ...

511. Various Laws

Deuteronomy 21:22--22:12

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... should be applied to any form of lost property (v. 3); help should be given to a neighbor in difficulty (v. 4). The significant phrase in these verses is do not ignore it (vv. 1, 3, 4), lit. “Do not hide yourself from it,” which counteracts the instinctive human reaction “not to get involved,” as supremely illustrated by the priest and the Levite who pass the injured man on the Jericho road (Luke 10:30–35). Care for others means care for what they own and giving practical help in time of need. It ...

512. The Widow of Zarephath

1 Kings 17:7-24

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... ? Yet the word of the LORD has come to pass once already (vv. 2–4), against all natural odds, and Elijah is certainly prepared to trust it a second time (vv. 8–9). He persuades the woman to take a mighty step of faith to join him. Against all parental instinct, she is to feed him first (v. 13), before her son. She does so (v. 15), and she and her son are blessed (cf. Matt. 10:41) as she discovers that Elijah’s God is alive and gives life. There was food every day for Elijah and for the woman ...

513. Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

Isaiah 37:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... prophet has long been occupying the theological high ground in the stance he has taken in relation both to kings and to priests, and anyone else who was around. It is theological high ground that now counts. 37:5–7 The word of Yahweh now comes, for Hezekiah’s instinct was the right one. It rather sounds as if Isaiah knew what had been going on. If he had not been there listening on the wall, presumably there would have been a line of people keen to report events to him. He has therefore had a chance to ...

514. The Lord, Not Idols

Isaiah 44:6-23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... .” 44:9–20 The bulk of this section comprises the most extensive of the passages scorning the images of gods, or rather the makers of such images. The prohibition on making images of Yahweh had a prominent place in Israelite faith. But the instinct to make images of one’s god is a deeply-seated human one, and archaeological discoveries indicate that throughout their history, Israelites made images of Yahweh (see on 40:18–20). In Babylon, the community was surrounded by people who had images of their ...

515. True Fasting

Isaiah 58:1-14

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... , but they also delight to do what they like, even on a day when they are fasting. When people do not eat, it can have various significances. When people are bereaved, for instance, a natural reaction is to lose interest in food. Fasting sets such an instinct in a religious setting. If we are really grieved about something that God has done, then we would expect to lose interest in food. Conversely, not eating would be a sign that we are so grieved. After Jerusalem’s fall and through to the later part ...

516. Like Fighting a Giant Tuna

Romans 7:14-25a

Sermon

King Duncan

... a problem on September 23rd, 1998 when so many inexperienced fishermen ignored Coast Guard warnings and headed out to sea in small boats. One such boat, the Christi Anne, a 19-footer capsized while doing battle with a tuna. Another boat, the Basic Instinct suffered the same fate. And still another boat, a 28-footer named Official Business, was totally swamped after it hooked onto a 600-pound tuna. The tuna pulled it under water. Says Pastor Homan, “These fishermen underestimated the power of the fish they ...

517. God with Skin On

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... His friend said nothing, but instead pulled up a rocker and sat down by the bed. He lit up a cigar and began to rock. George drifted into soul-soothing sleep as night fell. Later George recounted how on the day Alice died he awoke in the dark and instinctively reached out for Alice, but she was not there. When he touched the empty side of the bed, he was stabbed awake by the agony of his lostness and loneliness. Just as the pain of isolation became unbearable, George said he caught in the corner of his eye ...

518. Sheepish Shalom

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... — the good guys — in this story — were surprised, they were bewildered, even a bit astonished when Jesus thanked them for feeding him, for visiting him, and for welcoming him. When did they ever relate to him? After all, what they did they did instinctively, automatically, freely, not because they were trying to win brownie points, but because it felt good. And they were loving their neighbor, not Jesus. But my friends, this is the good news, the surprising news of this story. When we love and serve ...

519. Luther the Tender Father

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

Martin Luther was a good father, knowing as if by instinct the right mixture of discipline and love. "Punish if you must, but let the sugar-plum go with the rod." He composed songs for his children and sang these songs with them while he played the lute. His letters to his children are among the jewels of German literature. His ...

520. If the Stones Cried Out

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Listen as they declare, “Here is your King, here is your Savior; give him your heart today.” 1. Ray Pritchard, http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/going-all-in. 2. “Pop Quiz with Rob Lowe,” People Magazine, April 29, 2002, p. 22. 3. Arianna Huffington, The Fourth Instinct (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 162. 4. Adapted from Clifton Fadiman, Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes (Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition). 5. JOYFUL NOISELETTER, June/July 1999, p. 2, “The Lord’s Laughter.”

521. In Which City Do You Live?

Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... striving--the city of God is a gift from on high. There beats within the heart of every man and woman the desire for recognition and appreciation, for power and position, for material wealth and worldly acclaim. Years ago Wallace Hamilton called it the drum major instinct. All of us long to march out in front of the parade. So we strive for success. We build up our businesses. We work our way through the ranks. We plan and project. Some of us dream and scheme. We build monuments to ourselves. That is ...

522. A Prayer to a Good, Good Father

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... It is because we know He is a Good, Good Parent who can be trusted. Listen as the prayer continues: “Give us each day our daily bread . . .” This petition reminds me of a little girl named Deborah who sat down to eat dinner with her parents and instinctively reached for her fork. “Please hold on,” her father replied. “We haven’t said grace yet.” This exasperated the girl, who was tired and hungry. “Daddy,” she said with a sigh, “why can’t we just pray once a week? Why do we have to ask ...

523. The Trajectory of God’s Grace

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... chance to register the irony or unfairness of my hitting the class bully’s father’s car with the only throw I’d made in a town of 40,000 people, of which almost 700 were in my class, before he’d hit me in the stomach. I doubled over instinctively. And this is where my wonderful coat comes in. With four or five inches of fur and an embroidered silk lining, I didn’t feel a thing. I’d never been in a fight before and had no idea what it would be like to be in one, but somehow ...

524. What If It's True?

John 20:1-18 · Matthew 28:10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... spirit that can overcome death, that resurrection may be real. Most of us are caught somewhere between wanting to believe in the power of resurrection and the stupefying strangeness of a life that might transcend death. As biological beings we instinctively recognize the “end signs” of physical death. Yet our spiritual selves still wait for the next act. We cannot accept the finality of biological cessation. And yet confronting that “something more” still terrifies us. We both want and fear ...

525. The Gardener

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... people can get away and feel in touch with the land. Some of the most up and coming jobs in fact today are for “landscape architects” and “professional organic farmers.” Gardeners today are some of those revered people who seem to instinctively communicate with the plants and vegetables of our world when we are at a loss. They create beautiful flower arrangements, grow miracle plants --and charge accordingly. In Jesus’ day however, gardeners were servants or tenant farmers. In fact, Jesus in his ...

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