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 1065 results

526. The Way Up Is the Way Down

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Potato chips, cheese curls, and candy may be some of your favorites, but for twenty-four mule deer in the Grand Canyon National Park, these indulgences proved deadly. Park rangers were forced to shoot more than two dozen mule deer who became hooked on junk food left by visitors. It was death by Cheetos and suicide by Snicker bar! Why eat twigs or chew bark if a Twinkie is nearby? Once deer taste the sugar and salt of snack foods, they develop an addiction and will go to any lengths to eat only junk food. ...

527. Playing to the Right Audience

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

It was an incredible military breakthrough. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Joe Rochefort broke the Japanese codes. From an intelligence base on Oahu, he predicted an attack on Midway Island for June 3, 1942. Because of Rochefort's skill, the United States surprised the Japanese Navy with its first defeat in 350 years. Four carriers were lost, one cruiser, 2500 men, 322 aircraft, and the best of their pilots. The tide turned in the Pacific; Japan never recovered momentum. Commander ...

528. Big Fish

John 21:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

According to the book Ripley’s--Believe It or Not!, Thomas MacClure of Detroit, Michigan, has an interesting hobby. Mr. MacClure has developed a method for hypnotizing fish. Ripley’s doesn’t give any more details on the story than that. Thomas MacClure hypnotizes fish. There are so many unanswered questions to this story. How does one go about hypnotizing a fish? Do you wave your watch over a pond and declare, “You’re getting very sleepy, Mr. Catfish, you’re getting very sleepy.” And more importantly, WHY ...

529. The Blessed Promise

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

A few years ago, authors Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz drove more than 10,000 miles across the United States. All along the way they interviewed people about the meaning of life. They said that in their travels they may have discovered the most emotionally significant piece of real estate in the country. It is the few square feet right outside the gate of each airport terminal. On this patch of carpeted flooring, people greet loved ones who have just flown in. The excitement builds as they search the crowds ...

530. A Kingdom that Can Not Be Shaken

Hebrews 12:14-29

Sermon

King Duncan

Richard Slyhoff, a Pennsylvania man who lived in the late 1800s, never cared about God--at least, during his lifetime. But as he pondered his impending death, Slyhoff became convinced that he would have to face some form of eternal judgement. Did this fear cause him to repent and seek a relationship with God? No. Slyhoff had a better idea. He would hide from God instead. He dug his burial plot in the shadow of a large boulder. According to Slyhoff’s beliefs, a great earthquake would occur on the day of ...

531. Coming Home

Luke 15:1-3,11b-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

I have preached the Prodigal Son parable many times, and when it came around this year in the lectionary I thought I would give it a rest. I turned to the Epistle lesson this morning, from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, which I have also preached many times, but not as many as the Prodigal Son. It goes like this: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and calling us to a ministry of reconciliation, God making his appeal through us." When I ...

532. Try This on For Size!

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

One church has an organ that many sweated, sacrificed, and slaved to buy. Its cost was astounding! But when one hears its tone, sits under the influence of its quality, one begins to believe it was worth it all. It is a special musical instrument. It will serve God and man for many decades. But what will happen when something goes wrong with this musical instrument? Who will be called in to repair it? Perhaps there is one of you who tinkers with old organs and antique pianos. Would we allow him to fix the ...

533. Faith's Curious Dynamic

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

You know that old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true"? We see examples of that again and again in life. During the war in Iraq, Hampton Sides, a journalist who had been slated to be "embedded" with one of our frontline Marine battalions, gave an interview on NRP (National Public Radio). At almost the last possible moment, Sides decided not to go with the Marines, but instead to report from Central Command in Qatar. The interviewer asked Sides when he began having doubts about ...

534. Redundant Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

You're redundant. Did you receive those words as a compliment or an insult? We've been trained to hear this word "redundant" as a negative. But in saying "You're redundant," I've just paid you a compliment that's based on one of the most essential features of life. We hear redundancy as meaning repetitive, uninspired, not creatively useful. But for engineers and technicians, redundancy is a goal and an expression of grace. Take electronics and information processing: systems must back up one another. Take ...

535. True Disciples

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Dead Heads. That name probably makes you either cringe, chuckle, or shake your head. Boomers – now with graying hair and growing girths – are the most likely to chuckle. What Boomer doesn't recall the hype and hypnotism of that apparently indefatigable '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s rock band, the Grateful Dead? No band came to stand for a whole generation's growing pains like the Grateful Dead. Boosters – the parents of the Boomers – are most likely, and with good reason, to cringe. They remember heated ...

536. Proper 16

Exodus 1:1-22, Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 12:1-8, Psalm 124:1-8

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 1:8-2:10 contains three stories that explore the power of salvation, while Psalm 124 turns the insights gained from the introductory stories in Exodus into the language of praise. Exodus 1:8--2:10 - "The Salvation of the Savior" Setting. Moses is the central human character in the book of Exodus and, indeed, in the remainder of the Pentateuch. He is the one called by God to be the savior. With this knowledge as background, it is easy to conclude that the central event in the Old ...

537. To Be a Christian

Acts 11:19-30

Sermon

James McCormick

In the earliest days of the Christian movement, the followers of Jesus were not called Christians. They were called “followers of the way”. Jesus had said, “I am the way”, so they were followers of “the way”. The book of Acts tells us that the disciples were called Christians for the first time in Antioch. We use that term, “Christian” a lot. But what does it mean? That’s what this sermon is about. First, let’s talk about what it does not mean. It does not mean simply that you have been baptized and you ...

538. High and Lifted Up

Isaiah 6:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

Several years ago Life Magazine devoted an issue to God. On the front cover was one big question: "When You Think of God What Do You See?" I began to imagine if that magazine came out today, how we, here in America, might answer that question. I believe there are some people who see a God who looks like Santa Claus, and really doesn't care whether we are naughty or nice; a God who winks at sin and giggles at iniquity; a God who is "too loving to let anyone go to hell;" a God who accepts everyone just the ...

539. How to Connect With God

1 John 5:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

In a Newsweek cover story entitled, "Talking to God", a Gallup poll reported that 91% of women and 85% of men say they pray regularly. That includes 94% of blacks and 87% of whites; 57% of Americans say they pray at least once every day.1 This survey went on to say that 32% of the people who pray, report that praying gives them a deep sense of peace; 26% said they sense the actual presence of God in their prayers.2 All of that sounded encouraging until I read this final statistic: Only 15% regularly ...

540. Who's In Charge Here

Judges 21:24-25

Sermon

James Merritt

I want to juxtapose two quotes to you: one you will not be familiar with; one you will be very familiar with. Here is the first quote, given by historian Christopher Dawson, over thirty years ago: We have entered a new phase of culture we may call it the Age of the Cinema in which the most amazing perfection of scientific technique is being devoted to purely ephemeral objects, without any consideration of their ultimate justification. It seems as though a new society [is] arising, which will acknowledge no ...

541. The 2 Love Laws

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

There are certain concepts that we just can’t really grasp until we experience them first hand. We don’t really understand the value of a dollar until that first month when we have to pay all our own bills. We don’t really know how to worry until we have kids. None of us really value our health until we get sick or injured. And it takes crossing into middle age for any of us to really get the gist of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In case it has been awhile since your last chemistry or physics class, ...

542. The Dawn's Early Light

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

What makes a Christian patriot? How does an American church conduct itself? Can the church have a theology of patriotism without slipping into narrow triumphalism? In order to be an effective witness of the power and love of God, the church must be both a part of the culture and country in which it lives, without becoming part of them. One of Doug Marlette's "Kudzu" cartoons portrayed the seldom puckish pastor Will B. Dunn preaching on "What are some of the tough issues facing the church, you ask? Should ...

543. Global Warming

Genesis 2:18-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

An original twist is given the phrase "global warming," as the climate-altering effects of thinking "we" over "me" would bring healthy and health-giving atmospheric changes to people who are freezing to death in our well-heated churches and warmed-up planet. The Bible is a book about relationships; the relationship between God and creation, heavenly beings and human beings, humanity and nature, men and women, husbands and wives, and adults and children are all discussed in this week's texts. The essence of ...

544. Ephesians 2:1-10

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

"From death to life" is the appropriate heading of this section. The author of Ephesians pulls no punches in summing up the condition of people before the gift of new life in Christ: "dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived." Their spiritual condition was so bereft of substance that they were not just spiritually sick, but completely lifeless. Death had been brought about by the usual human cause sin. Without a living relationship with God, these men and women had simply followed "the ...

545. Mark 10:17-31

Mark 10:17-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

It seems that as Jesus comes closer to Jerusalem, he hits closer to home with some of the most discomforting and disheartening judgments anyone could hear. Last week Jesus spoke about divorce messing around in our regions of relationships, loyalty and integrity. This week Jesus really gets personal moving from marriage to money. His message is so startling and discouraging that he frightens one potential convert away and strikes doubt and despair into the hearts of his own disciples. In verse 17, the ...

546. Trust and Obey

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It was a PR nightmare for Domino’s Pizza. Two employees recorded themselves as they carefully concocted a “special treat” for their customers. They ceremoniously dropped pizza toppings on the floor, mashed them around, scraped them up, and daintily arranged them on the pie. They stuck cheese strands up their own noses, extracted them, and giddily sprinkled them over the sauce. They squished and spit the condiments over the top. Then, they uploaded their creativity onto the internet for all to see. As my ...

547. Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Psalm 112:1-10, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Matthew 5:13-20, 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter--Psalms 112:1-9 (10) First Lesson--Ritual fasting does not gain us the divine favor as brightly as benevolent social action. Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12) Second Lesson--Paul specifies that the gospel of the cross is more persuasive than "wisdom" and oratory. 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16) Gospel--The light of good deeds should point to the goodness of God. Matthew 5:13-20 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Leader: O praise the ...

548. Close Up - Wives: Sweet Surrender

Colossians 3:18

Sermon

James Merritt

Respect - if the coach doesn't have it, he loses control of the team. If the officer doesn't have it, he loses control of his troops. If the teacher doesn't have it, he loses control of the class. If the home doesn't have it, then the entire family is in trouble. We are in the middle of a series entitled, "Picture Perfect" and we have said over and over, "God desires for your family to reflect His glory." The way the family does that is by each member of the family fulfilling their God given roles and ...

549. Everyone's Talking about Him

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

King Duncan

An elderly man stopped at a hearing aid center and asked about prices. "We have them from $25,000 on down to $1.50," the salesman said. "What’s the $25,000 one like?" asked the elderly man. "Well, it translates three languages and is the latest in electronics," the salesman replied. "And what about the one for $1.50?" the customer asked. "It’s this button attached to a string," said the salesman, pushing it across the counter. "How does it work?" asked the customer. "It doesn’t," said the salesman, "But if ...

550. Houston We Have a Problem

Nehemiah 1:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

"Houston, we have a problem." They are the most famous words ever uttered in the history of space travel. One single sentence, five small words, but they signal what could have been the greatest disaster in the history of NASA. It was April 13, 1970; astronauts Jim Lovell, John Swigert, and Fred Haise were in the lunar module - Apollo 13. They were two hundred thousand miles from Earth, 5/6th of the way to the moon, 55 hours into their flight when disaster struck. A mysterious explosion rocked the ship and ...

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