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 526 to 550 of 885 results

526. Accepting the Unconventional in Life

Mark 2:13-22

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... allow such a course of action to continue. We are not all cut from the same mold; there is no cookie cutter human being or way of thinking. That is why the guru became the disciple of the one student who broke convention by being compassionate to others. One simple story demonstrates the need for diversity, our need to see beyond the norm. A young pastor was asked to entertain some very energetic youngsters. He decided to play a game called "Giants, Wizards, and Dwarfs." He told the children, "You must ...

527. Being Good ... for Nothing

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... that befell Job, "a blameless and upright God-fearing person." There is suffering in the world -- catastrophic, overwhelming, and destructive suffering. Far from ignoring this reality, scripture is intent on identifying the sources of suffering and proclaiming a gracious and compassionate God who, through the cross, overcomes suffering and death on our behalf. God takes an active role in our suffering. God does not merely stand by but "consoles us in all our afflictions, so we may be able to console ...

528. Baby Blues

1 Samuel 1:4-20

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... . Impertinent words of advice and quick solutions only inflict more pain. She would appreciate compassion and understanding from others who mean well, but who also inflict more pain on her. In time she hopes to fill her emptiness with God's love. We can be in compassionate ministry with those whose dream of children does not come true in the way they had hoped. Some parents give birth physically, while others give birth from the heart. We can give them a great gift by what we say and by what we refrain from ...

529. Apocalypse Wow!

Isaiah 25:6-9

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... "the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces" (25:8) and the people proclaim: "This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain" (25:9-10). A compassionate and loving God will reach out with a tissue and gently dry the tears streaming down our cheeks. This passage is the first biblical reference to the resurrection of the dead. In fact, this is one of the few places in the Old Testament where God's defeat of ...

530. When C Is Not Average

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

This world is governed by "C" people - not "the best and the brightest" only, but the committed, the consecrated, and the compassionate. In scriptures you find over and over again that "C" people also prevail. Indeed, God chooses ordinary people to achieve extraordinary tasks. The things we say we'll never do - "It's not in me" - become the very things God's grace leads us into. God gives us the resources ...

531. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... closeness and spiritual comfort through fasting. The devil's second temptation appeals strongly to the cognitive respondent. The lure of riches, power and authority all entice Jesus to think reasonably, take advantage of this offer and start putting his just, compassionate vision for human life into action. It is only rational and reasonable, a cognitively-controlled response would advise, to take the devil's suggested course of action if human conditions are really to be changed. But cool logic has no ...

532. Who Is the Good Samaritan?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to give CPR or staunch the flow of blood out of fear of AIDS. Active, life-saving love could cost you your life. And these are the days when a burgeoning number of young families find themselves helpless, homeless and on the street. Active, compassionate love could fill your own home with a bitter, despondent stranger, shattering your serenity. And these are the days when our own nation's urban ghettos constitute a floundering Third-World country on American soil. Moving into such a neighborhood to try and ...

533. Speak Up for Forgiveness

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... "get even" competition that has fueled such infamous animosities as those between Arab and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, black and white, Hatfield and McCoy. Forgiveness does not keep score. Wangerin's fourth phase steps outside our own head and demands that compassionate, confrontational communication take place between the one to be forgiven and the forgiver (100-102). The specific wrong identified in step one must now be placed before the wrongdoer. This is no easy task - sometimes it is far easier to ...

534. Plaque Buildup

Romans 5:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... other institutions. We began to dwell less on human failings and limitations than on human capabilities and possibilities (which was in part good). But sermons and communities began appealing to the basic goodness in people, in our ability reasonably, rationally and compassionately to think our way through the thickets confronting the human race. Not even the outbreak of World War I really dampened our heady spirits - especially here in America, far away from any dint of battle and sight of blood. Besides ...

535. An Action-Packed Faith

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... he went to the cross, suffered torture and death as his greatest demonstration of action packed love. The love Jesus wants his disciples to enter into not just to "feel" is action-packed. And love in action is sometimes embodied by the simplest of compassionate responses. This true story of a Presbyterian miracle, found on an Ecunet Bulletin Board, tells of a pastor coming back to church one Sunday after the death of his wife. He came to the early service to change the pattern he and Nancy had established ...

536. How to Stay Spiritually Fresh

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... genuine love. Our kids can tell the difference between an automatic, "What did you do at school today?" and a parent's honest, authentic interest in the events in their lives. Friends can tell the difference between an automatic, "How are you?" and the compassionate reaching out of one soul to another. It is amazing and amusing how we have convinced ourselves that God hasn't yet caught on to the difference between our expressions of genuine spirituality and our automatic, rote readings of the "Lord's Prayer ...

537. Mark 6:30-44

Mark 6:30-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the 4000 (found in two gospels), were favorites of the early church. Perhaps part of the reason for their popularity is that the feeding miracles communicate on so many different levels. If we focus on Jesus we see the image of a compassionate good shepherd. Shift our gaze to the disciples and the text becomes yet another example of their failure to understand Jesus' power and presence. Finally, the church has always been attracted to this miracle because the church sees itself in the same business ...

538. 2 Samuel 12:1-14

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and heartfelt response. When David condemns the pitiless behavior of the rich man in verse 5, therefore, we should not see David as a ruler pronouncing what he thinks to be an actual sentence of judgment. Rather, it is a passionate and compassionate outburst from a man of great integrity. Nathan's parable shakes David out of his fixation on Bathsheba and forces him to consider the plight of others. With this swell of outrage, however, Nathan has prodded David into convicting himself and condemning ...

539. Mark 9:38-50

Mark 9:38-50

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... their wait James reminds this community of the examples of the prophets generally, and of Job specifically, as people who endured in the face of much hardship. By trusting in these examples these Christians should take heart, for the lives of the prophets and Job demonstrate that God is both compassionate and merciful. James promises that the community's long wait upon the Lord will have equally salvific results.

540. Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus, but only if he will give up his identity and acknowledge the devil's preeminence. The temptation to political power must have surely been enticing to one who possessed such a clear sense of righteousness and justice as did Jesus. How compassionately and judiciously Jesus would have wielded the unlimited worldly authority the devil dangled in front of him. Jesus might momentarily have believed the myopia of his own vision for a better world, as compared to God's all-encompassing plan for the salvation ...

541. Luke 9:51-62

Luke 9:51-62

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... by this vagrant journey he has undertaken, is the mark of this Messiah's ministry (for the wildlife imagery see Mahlon H. Smith, "No Place for a Son of Man," Forum, 4 [December 1988], 83-105). The second and third would-be disciples' requests sound so reasonable and compassionate that Jesus' rebuffs seem all the more startling. The one who requests time to go and bury his father is told to "let the dead bury their own dead," and is urged instead to go and "proclaim the kingdom of God" (v.60). We do not know ...

542. Philemon 1:1-20

Philemon 1:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . After reiterating his focus on love, Paul defines himself as "an old man" and "also a prisoner." Philemon now has four definitive reasons for granting whatever request Paul is about to make. First, he is a Christian, Paul tells him, of active, compassionate love. Second, Paul has spiritual authority over him. Third, Paul is his elder - a quality that engendered respect and compliance at a much greater level than it does today. Fourth, Paul is currently suffering in prison for the sake of the gospel ...

543. Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , not only would Jesus have been illegitimate in the eyes of his culture, but, according to Matthew, he would have been without the validity of a Davidic heritage. In verse 19 Matthew sketches Joseph's character as one that is "righteous" as well as compassionate - for he was "unwilling to expose [Mary] to public disgrace." But it is in verse 20 that Matthew reveals what he considers Joseph's most praiseworthy characteristic - obedience to God and acceptance of God's word. Matthew's Gospel is made up of ...

544. Matthew 5:13-20

Matthew 5:13-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... good works" that God "your Father" is glorified. It is noteworthy that 5:16 marks the first time in Matthew's gospel that Jesus refers to God as "Father." It is in acts of service - as salt, as light, as those doing "good deeds" - that God the caring, compassionate parent is given true glory. Verses 17-20 create a prose bridge from the poetic Beatitudes and the word-pictures of the salt and light images. The content of verses 17-20 is unique to Matthew's gospel except for one parallel in verse 18 (with Luke ...

545. 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... continuing advice and comfort. In 4:7, he declares outright that "the end of all things is near," and the images he invokes in the first half of today's text hold an unmistakable eschatological edge to them. Verse 12 begins with the gentle and compassionate address that he used in 2:11 "Beloved." 1 Peter has a genuine concern for these Gentile Christians. What the "beloved" are experiencing, 1 Peter now defines as a "fiery ordeal" designed "to test" them. The use of the term pyrosis suggests the image from ...

546. Matthew 14:13-21

Matthew 14:13-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . Oddly enough, Herod could be "trusted" trusted to save his own reputation and the integrity of his office no matter what the cost. If even one such as Herod could demonstrate a worldly, if warped, sense of trustworthiness, how much more could the disciples trust that Jesus would remain the compassionate, committed leader they had witnessed during his Galilean ministry.

547. Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the law take its full course. Or Joseph could simply take two witnesses with him as he formally confronted Mary with charges of adultery. In the presence of just those two witnesses, Joseph could divorce his betrothed. But even as Joseph considers this more compassionate, face-saving way out of this awkward situation, he receives a direct message from a divine messenger about what he should do and why. This is the first of three divinely inspired dreams Joseph will have. According to Matthew's gospel, it is ...

548. Mark 6:30-44

Mark 6:30-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

549. 2 Samuel 12:1-14

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

550. Mark 9:38-50

Mark 9:38-50

Sweet

Leonard Sweet