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 701 to 725 of 885 results

701. Seventy-Seven

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ’s love available for each and every one of us. Jesus made the forgiveness God offered a personal gift to each and every one of us. Our ability to forgive is always and ever linked to Jesus’ love for us and God’s compassionate forgiveness. It was only this divine, sacrificial love that made it possible for human forgiveness to be an active player in this world. It only takes three minutes of news-cruising to find terrible examples of “unforgiveness” every day. But as “Mr. Rogers” (Presbyterian ...

702. An Announcement from Our Lord

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Lord’s favor”? A complete answer to that question would take more than a mere sermon. Obviously it is related to the Old Testament idea of the “Year of Jubilee” mentioned in Leviticus 25 when slaves would be freed, debts cancelled, land rested, and compassionate help would be given to those in need. To paraphrase biblical scholar N.T. Wright, Jubilee was a time when God would hit the reset button to release and rescue from everything that has crippled human life. (3) The year of the Lord’s favor ...

703. A Call for Repentance - Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The day of the Lord’s judgment is at hand a day of darkness and gloom. This is the background for our lesson for this evening. Joel writes, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred ...

704. Seismic Shift

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... he is just too strong for me.” She said, “Really?” She said, “Yes. The message he preached today would never be preached in my church.” In case you are wondering what I preached on that day, it was a hot controversial topic that was dealt with biblically and compassionately, but firmly. But, like the message we are going to hear today it was a topic that most churches today won’t touch. Today, I am going to talk about a word that is very rarely heard in churches anymore. I am going to speak on a ...

705. Shockproof

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... only way to get rid of bitterness is to bathe in the soothing warm waters of God’s grace and God’s forgiveness. How can you get there? Why should you even try? The secret is found in two words in the next verse. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32, NIV) The two most important words in this passage we read are those words, “Just as.” That is the motivation for forgiveness. That is the model for forgiveness and that ...

706. A Small Town Is Blessed

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

... long. The Christmas spirit is no more than the way the follower of Jesus is to live every day of his or her life--showing kindness to strangers; treating all people regardless of their station in life with respect; being generous with the poor and compassionate with the wayward. That’s not an aberration. That is simply living the Christ life. Helmut Nausner is a well-known Methodist pastor living in Austria. He tells of a Christmas Eve during the Nazi occupation when he was very young. His father was away ...

707. "Gotcha" Questions from Mean-Spirited People

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... grave?" Of course the Sadducees did not expect or even want Jesus to answer their question. They were interested in trapping Jesus, discrediting him, and turning the crowd against him. Imagine their surprise when Jesus gives a serious, even compassionate answer to their disingenuous question. Let me paraphrase, not so much the words of Jesus' answer, but the ideas the Lord uses. My brother Sadducees, your question touches on something important in understanding the relationship between marriage and eternity ...

708. Demons, Pigs, and the Economy

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... , he not only casts out demons, he changes the economy because he changes people like Bill Gates, who was raised in the Congregational United Church of Christ, as was Warren Buffet. In all economies, rich or poor, Jesus calls for humane, compassionate, and creative ways to care for the mentally ill, the developmentally challenged, the homeless and helpless, the emotionally distressed, and the poverty stricken. Yes, as in Jesus' time, we have our own demons and demonic problems. But Jesus has come to make ...

709. Our Father Who Art in Heaven

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... it to." However, returning to this matter of ethics, we should note that matriarchal religions and goddesses tend to emphasize consolation, comfort, and accommodation to the cycles, customs, and traditions of a people. Feminine deities are perceived to be more earthly, compassionate, and approachable. Rather than challenge us to some new thing, they tend to encourage us to relax and accommodate ourselves to the "way things are" because that's the way they've always been and always will be. Man: There is ...

710. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... . 4:32 This verse provides a striking contrast to the previous one by emphasizing the virtues that should characterize believers in their interpersonal relationships. Instead of those negative and destructive qualities, believers are admonished to be kind and compassionate to one another. Both of these virtues promote a spirit of acceptance, tolerance, and patience within the congregation. Beyond that, the readers are to be continually forgiving each other. The word for forgiveness (charizomai) is also the ...

711. Final Instructions

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... to be patient (makrothymeō) with everyone. In Galatians 5:22, patience (makrothymia) is a fruit of the Spirit (cf. also 1 Cor. 13:4; Eph. 4:2; Col. 1:11; 3:12), reproducing in us a characteristic of God who is himself “patient (makrothymos, NIV ‘compassionate’) and gracious” (Exod. 34:6; Ps. 103:8). The word implies an enduring patience, a patience that lasts the distance (the sense of makro-) no matter how trying the circumstances. Some people are easy to be patient with; others are not. But Paul ...

712. Favoritism Forbidden

James 2:1-13, James 2:14-26

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. God is merciful, as any reader of the Old Testament should know. Exodus 34:5–6 states that when God revealed to Moses his nature and pronounced his name he described himself as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (cf. Deut. 4:31; Ps. 103:8–14, which connects this to his judging “in favor of the oppressed”). If this is God’s personal standard of righteousness, then it follows that his ...

713. Disobedience and Defeat

Judges 2:6-3:6

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... the consequences of its alienation from the Source of all good. Punishment did not lead Israel back to restored relationship with the Lord; rather, the people continued to harden their hearts against the Lord. But the story is not finished. The Lord is not finished. The compassionate grace of the Lord causes him to keep reaching out to his beloved people, as we shall see in the stories of the judges, to which the author now turns. Additional Notes 2:7 Who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for ...

714. Jephthah

Jud 10:6–11:40

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... Lord was looking not for a superficial change of words but for a true change of heart and recognized it in Israel’s penitential action. Israel’s change of heart moved the Lord to a change of heart, or at least to defer to his compassionate side. The statement that he could bear Israel’s misery no longer (v. 16) expresses God’s heart for his people and his readiness to act on their behalf; action would be immediately forthcoming. The Bible clearly teaches that loving compassion is the dominant aspect ...

715. Naomi and Ruth

Ruth 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... word translated “come to the aid” is paqad (lit. to visit). In the Talmud, this word denotes the peculiarities of marital life (b. Yeb. 62b), which, as every spouse knows, is not a pleasant visit all the time. Yahweh’s visit can be compassionate and merciful, but paqad does not always have such connotations, particularly in Ruth’s canonical-historical context. In Judges 21:3, for example, Yahweh’s visit to Benjamin is hostile: “O LORD, the God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened ...

716. Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth 2:1-23

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... ” and is a term fundamentally rooted in law and economics. Ga’al, however, is a Hebrew word designed to denote the process of restoring the created order, including, but not limited to, the legal, socioeconomic, and theological aspects of that order. Thus Yahweh himself is the quintessential go’el, the compassionate Redeemer who delivers Israel from every distress (Ps. 78:35; Isa. 52:3).

717. Ezra's Prayer about Intermarriage

Ezra 9:1-15

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... the exile. Ominously, that past guilt had resulted in deserved, dire punishment from God in the form of exile. Yet the postexilic community had seen evidence of divine grace unexpectedly following on the heels of punishment. This pairing of punished guilt and compassionate grace functions as a stimulus against continuing in present guilt. For the people to continue would show both ingratitude and disregard of the grim warning of history. It would add to an enormous mountain of sins piled up before the exile ...

718. Disaster from the North

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... that is, change his mind. God is not above relenting. He will change his mind in the light of repentance. When the Ninevites repent in the book of Jonah, God relents and allows them to live. Jonah sourly accuses God “I knew you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:3). However, here the doom of God’s people is sealed. The Devastated One (4:29-31): The last three verses of the chapter have a loose thematic connection ...

719. How the Gold Has Lost Its Luster

Lamentations 4:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... –18; 16:4, etc.). 4:10 Yod. A siege radically and perversely inverts normal human relationships. Nothing is stronger than the love of a mother for her child. A mother nurtures and protects her child. During the siege of Jerusalem, however, mothers (compassionate women) cooked and ate their own children. It is not clear whether the children were dead or alive when cooked; either way, the picture is revolting and horrible. Deuteronomy warned that Israel’s rebellion would lead to such a consequence. In the ...

720. Israel’s Ill-Placed Confidence

Amos 5:18-27

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... and smashes the tablets of the Ten Commandments on the ground, and yet he returns to the mountain to intercede for the people. God punishes the people with a plague but does not destroy or abandon them completely, for “the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (34:6) renews his covenant with the people, and Moses again returns from the mountain with the Ten Commandments (34:27–29). Exodus 35–40 then recounts the careful obedience with which ...

721. Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting

Zechariah 7:1-14

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... but the end had not arrived. God’s plans have not reached their final fulfillment, but God’s work has not ceased. Fulfillment is going on, but consummation is awaited. The other aspect of God’s work—calling out a holy people who live justly, rightly, and compassionately—remains constant (1:3–4; 7:9–10; 8:16–17). 7:1 A final date formula marks the beginning of the third section of the book—the fourth year of King Darius . . . on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. Twenty ...

722. Imitating Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... a company of believers, and through him “God has poured out his love” into their hearts (Rom. 5:5). It is the Spirit who maintains their common life in the body of Christ. The effect of this common life should be tender and compassionate hearts, but this tenderness and compassion are first of all Christ’s own. They have experienced his tenderness and compassion and can therefore the more readily show the same qualities to one another. All the conditions, in short, exist within the believing community ...

723. The Birth of Isaac

Genesis 21:1-7

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... the heir of the great Abrahamic promises. In addition, God promised to make Hagar’s son into a nation, for he was Abraham’s offspring (seed). 21:14–21 Early the next morning Abraham acted on Sarah’s demand in light of God’s instructions. Compassionately he took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. Then, entrusting the boy to her, Abraham sent them off. Hagar wandered about in the desert of Beersheba, apparently lacking direction. After the water in the skin had been consumed, she ...

724. Joseph and the Famine

Genesis 47:13-31

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

Joseph’s Administration of the Famine: Joseph is pictured as a wise, shrewd, and compassionate administrator, loyal to Pharaoh as well as concerned for the people. During the harsh famine he displays great administrative skill in distributing the stored food in a way that meets the needs of the people and strengthens the crown. He prudently prepares for the land to return to production at ...

725. Manasseh and Ephraim

Genesis 48:1-22

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... walked. “Walk” means “conduct,” as in God’s command to Abraham that he walk before him and be blameless (17:1). This God had been his shepherd throughout his life to this day. “Shepherd” conveys that God had led and cared for him compassionately and protectively throughout the complex journey of his life (49:24; Ps. 23). Above all, as shepherd God had guided his destiny to this moment of blessing Joseph’s offspring. He further identified God as the Angel who had delivered him from all harm ...

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