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 551 to 575 of 754 results

551. Killing What Is Already Dead

Colossians 3:1-11

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Every pastor has had this experience. It doesn't have to be the husband in a marriage, but let's just say that it's the husband. The man comes to the pastor's study clutching the report from the physician's office: high blood pressure, overweight, danger of heart disease. The physician has ordered the man to lose weight and to stop smoking. Sitting in the pastor's office, the man swears he is going to take better care of himself. He's said it before, but this time he really means it. He wants to be around ...

552. See Something, Say Something, Do Something, Be Something

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It is the key you click before you can do anything. It is the box you check before you can go anywhere. You know what it is. It’s a “Terms of Service.” You are online and you sign on to some website that has the information or product you’ve been searching for. But before you are granted access to that portal you must endure the “Terms of Service” claimer/disclaimer. The “term of service” barrier is the twenty-first century version of the cherubim with flailing; flaming swords set up to guard the Garden of ...

553. Running over the Cat

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a story that Chuck Swindoll told years ago that is both sad and somewhat ironic. In 1978, firemen in England went on strike in the middle of a hard cold winter. This is not unusual in Great Britain. Civil servants are notorious for their “industrial actions.” The British Army was called in to take over emergency firefighting. On January 14 these substitute firefighters were called out by an elderly lady in South London to retrieve her cat. The soldiers arrived with impressive haste, very cleverly ...

554. A Guide to a Rich and a Joyous Life

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Leland Gregory, in his book Stupid History, tells of a colossal error that once occurred in transmitting the Ten Commandments. In 1631, King Charles I ordered 1,000 Bibles from an English printer named Robert Barker. Printing was not an exact science in those days, and sometimes mistakes were made and usually overlooked but not in this case. Barker inadvertently left out a single word in the Seventh Commandment in Exodus 20:14 the word “not.” Readers were shocked to find out that God had commanded Moses “ ...

555. Tarzan He Was Not

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

The Week magazine often contains quirky news items collected from periodicals around the world. Back in 2005 they carried a story about a Romanian man who was recovering in the hospital after trying to escape from his wife by swinging from tree to tree on a vine like Tarzan. Stefan Trisca a 66-year old man, of all things - -had wanted to join his friends for a night of drinking, but his wife locked him in his bedroom. This did not stop Stefan. He was on a mission. He climbed through the bedroom window and ...

556. Peter Speaks to the Onlookers

Acts 3:11-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Luke’s report of Peter’s speech in Solomon’s Colonnade very likely contains a genuine recollection of what was actually said on this occasion. But in any case we may regard it as typical of what was generally said at this time by Christians in their approach to Jews. The speech exhibits a more developed Christology than that of the Pentecost address—or at least the Christology is expressed in far richer terms, though these are still distinctively Jewish and of the earliest period of the church. Here Peter ...

557. Punishment for Israel

Hosea 9:1--10:15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

Israel’s Loss of the Stuff of Life (9:1-4): Some commentators would regard 9:1–9 as the first complete unit in this chapter. Others would point to 9:1–6. Judging on the basis of rhetorical criticism, it seems best to divide the chapter into five separate oracles: verses 1–4, 5–6, 7–9, 10–14, 15–17. What we have here are several oracles, strung together by the redactor/disciple of Hosea on the basis of the common theme of the loss of vitality. In this instance, however, the beginnings and endings of the ...

558. Dinah and the Shechemites

Genesis 34:1-31

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

The Rape of Dinah: A number of years after Jacob settled in the vicinity of Shechem (33:17–20), a man named Shechem, the son of Hamor, rapes Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. The approaches of the two parties to resolving this offense reveal the deep conflict between two different ways of life: shepherds in conflict with urban dwellers and worshipers of one God in conflict with polytheists. Several acrid terms in the story convey the brothers’ outrage at Shechem’s act of passion against their sister: violated (’ ...

559. The Sign of Immanuel

Isaiah 7:1-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Coping with the Pressure from Syria and Ephraim: The heart of 6:1–9:7 is story and prophecy focusing on a crisis in Jerusalem about 733 B.C., soon after Isaiah’s commission. Ahaz is now king. Jotham may have died before his father and only ever been co-regent. Northern Israel (see Additional Notes on 1:3) and Aram (Syria) had been forced to become part of the Assyrian empire, and they had now combined forces to try to compel Judah to join them in their efforts to gain independence from Assyria. They failed ...

560. Priorities

Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:22-34

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Honoring God as king, and being ready for the return of the Lord, must take priority over the ordinary concerns of life. Understanding the Text Several themes from our last section are developed here: God’s fatherly care, the absolute priority of serving God over all other concerns, and especially the tension between material concern and true discipleship—12:22–31 is a sort of commentary on 12:15 and the parable that illustrates it. This last theme of “God and mammon” will be picked up again ...

561. Job Considers a Legal Dispute with God

Job 9:1–10:22

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Job wants God to declare him righteous, but he cannot envision how to bring this about. Understanding the Text In chapters 9 and 10, Job takes up the challenge made by Bildad in 8:5 to plead with the Almighty. As he contemplates this possibility, Job focuses on his legal status before God. In this speech he begins to work out in his mind how he might approach God with his situation, and how God might respond to him. In his soliloquy in chapter 9, Job turns over in his mind whether he should enter ...

562. “Endow the King with Your Justice, O God”

Psalm 72:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Prayer for the blessing of the nations is also a prayer for the poor and needy of the world. Understanding the Text Psalm 72 is generally classified as a royal psalm. This means its focus is on the king and his kingdom. Some commentators view it as a coronation psalm, which is a little difficult to see because it does not have the same references to the establishment of the kingship as does Psalm 2:7. However, it could have been used in some capacity when Israelite kings were crowned. It is one ...

563. Daniel's Prayer

Daniel 9:1-19

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

Jeremiah’s “Seventy Years” (9:1-6): Big Idea: Yahweh faithfully fulfills his prophetic word and keeps his covenant with his people, whether for blessing or for judgment. Understanding the Text Daniel 9 is woven into the book’s overall literary structure in several ways. First, it advances the chronology of chapters 8–12. Second, it forms the middle of Daniel’s final concentric Hebrew section, which is framed by the parallel units of chapter 8 and chapters 10–12. Third, it covers the same long-range time ...

564. Serendipity

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

My wife is a clown! Wait now—let me explain that. I mean that literally, not figuratively. I don’t mean she’s a clown in terms of being a cutup, an always-clowning-around type of person. I mean she is literally a clown, and she has been involved for about ten years in a clown ministry. Her name is “Serendipity,” given to her by a longtime preacher friend. One thing that name means is “unexpected” and “unsuspected.” The fellow suggested the name because God’s grace comes at unexpected times from unexpected ...

565. The Church's Mission--A Parable

Illustration

Philip Anderson

Pastor Philip Anderson tells this heart wrenching story: Not long ago I visited my sister, a director of patient services for the children's unit of a large southern California hospital. She was conducting me on a tour through that unit. All the time, echoing through the halls, we could hear the cry of a baby coming from one of the rooms. Finally, we came to that room. It was a little child, about a year old, covered with terrible bruises, scratches, scars, from head to toe. At first, I assumed the child ...

566. Carried to His Room

Illustration

Peter Marshall

In a home of which I know, a little boy, the only son, was ill with an incurable disease. Month after month the mother had tenderly nursed him, read to him, and played with him, hoping to keep him from the dreadful finality of the doctor's diagnosis—the little boy was sure to die. But as the weeks went on, he gradually began to understand that he would never be like the other boys he saw playing outside his window. Small as he was, he began to understand the meaning of the term death, and he too knew he ...

567. Praise God! Selah!

Luke 1:67-80, Luke 1:57-66, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:1-4

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: Music: To God Be the Glory [You can have it playing just before the sermon. There are a lot of good versions, both old and new. You can also play a YouTube for your people.] To God be the glory! Say it with me: To God be the glory! Now I want you to repeat that phrase after me, like a refrain. Each time I speak a line, I want you to respond with: To God be the glory! Ok? Let’s try it! “The weather is beautiful today!” [To God be the glory!] The beginning of the season of advent has come upon us ...

568. Holy Goat!

Leviticus 16:1-34, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Hide and seek is everyone’s favorite game as a child. And as an adult. What irony that children play and pretend to hide, then are delighted to be discovered and come out of hiding. But adults hide for real! And for very different reasons! We may not physically hide. But can we emotionally and spiritually hide! And we have no intention of being discovered! For any number of reasons, we adults find it extremely hard to allow anyone to discover the deep reaches and recesses of our souls. We adults find it ...

569. Remember to Say Thank You

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo in their book The Misfortune tell about an incident that occurred in July, 1981. Two men, Harvey Bugner and Edward Egan, were walking by the New York City offices of AT&T, then known as “the telephone company” when they spotted an envelope on the sidewalk in front of the AT&T headquarters. Inside that envelope was $10 million in negotiable securities payable to the bearer. Theoretically this meant that they now had in their possession documents that could make them suddenly very ...

570. Come and Rest

Matthew 5:3-10 · Matthew 11:28-30

Eulogy

George Reed

[Read Matthew 5:3-10 and Matthew 11:28-30] We all have had times when we were just exhausted. Maybe it was a day of really hard, physical labor or a night of restless anxiety. Whether physical or mental we understand what it is to be weary, worn out, done in. It seems like we have carried a heavy burden that only grows heavier the farther we tote it. It drains our energy, our spirit, and our joy. And, hopefully, we have all had those times when we were relieved of our burden and offered respite and ...

571. How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Country singer Gene Watson croons: Slip into something soft, And then come slip into my arms again. Strip away your conscience and Take off your wedding band. Cheating has become America's national pastime. Statistically, 65 percent of men have affairs by age forty. For women, it's 35 percent. Talking with a pastor who had demitted the ministry due to sexual misconduct, he confided, "I never thought it could happen to me. But it did. For fifteen minutes of rolling in the sheets I sacrificed everything ...

572. Miracle Three: Healing A Leper

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

BACKGROUND MATERIAL There is considerable variety to the miracles performed by Christ. One was performed in a synagogue (curing the demoniac), another in a home (healing Peter's mother-in-law), and this one he performed on a public thoroughfare. While Jesus and his disciples were walking, a man afflicted with the terrible disease of leprosy approached them. Fear of leprosy was so great that strict laws had been passed concerning the actions of one so afflicted. The law demanded that lepers should isolate ...

573. Come To The Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

Have you ever had the experience of losing all the electric power in your home? A friend of mine, who has a cabin on a woodland lake, told me that the worst part of the experience was that he kept flipping on switches as he went from room to room. He was so used to being able to summon up illumination this way, his subconscious kept insisting that it ought to work. The result was that he became increasingly frustrated with fumbling in the dark. He finally gave up and went to bed, only to be awakened when ...

574. Where Are You?

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

Richard L. Sheffield

Where are you? Do you know? It's actually possible to be sitting here, but still be somewhere else! It's also possible to live that way. Do you know where you are; are you where you need to be in your life? Occasionally at mealtimes at our house, especially when it's been a long and busy day and I'm distracted, Xavia will say "Dick! Where are you?" I'm sitting there. I'm eating there. But I'm not there. I'm still at my meeting, I'm still at the hospital, I'm anywhere but where I need to be at that moment. ...

575. The Second Meal

Sermon

Robert F. Scott

Simon: Dinner With PassionLuke 7:36-50 Worship Focus A cosmetic jar (perhaps one of the large plastic jars that hold shampoo or hand lotion). A wig with long black hair (can be a cheap Halloween costume wig). A Litany For The Second Meal Leader: We praise you, Almighty God, for your wondrous power and glory. People: Praise be to you, our God Almighty! Leader: We praise you, God of love, for revealing yourself through Christ our Lord. People: Praise be to you, our God of love! Leader: We praise you, for in ...

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