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 1069 results

701. Denial Ain’t a River in Egypt

Isaiah 64:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... truth of God's ever-present love and wonder? Will we stop turning away from God's call? My prayer this day is that we will move as a community to a new level of awareness. My prayer this day is that we will accept God's great gift of sensitivity over the numbness and denial that permeates our lives. And my prayer today is that as Christ's community awaiting his coming, we will begin anew our quest to not only talk the talk of the gospel, but to walk the walk in Jesus' name. Amen.

702. Wait Patiently

Mark 1:1-8

Illustration

Mickey Anders

Henri Nouwen once said, "If we do not wait patiently in expectation for God's coming in glory, we start wandering around, going from one little sensation to another. Our lives get stuffed with newspaper items, television stories, and gossip. Then our minds lose the discipline of discerning between what leads us closer to God and what doesn't, and our hearts lose their spiritual sensitivity." It's the hard work of acknowledging our sin and repenting that leads us to God.

703. Miss Manners and Mr. Goodwrench

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... we should be able to reflect a distinctive attitude which sets us apart and distinguishes us from the rest of society. We should hear Jesus over and over again asking his disciples: "What do you more than others?" We know society has lost transcendent sensitivities when the most considerate encounter we have all day is an automatic teller machine personally thanking us for using it. In a day where the last place one expects "service" is at a "service station" (when is the last time a "service station ...

704. The Ultimate Athlete

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... respect for the soldier and the need to "Support Our Troops," it is still difficult to feel entirely comfortable with militaristic images of the Christian. As St. Augustine once wrote: "You run well but off the track." Our heightened sensitivity to the violent tendencies implicit in military images revealed themselves when the UnitedMethodistChurch was preparing its new 1989 edition of the hymnal. Only after long, arduous, sincere and vigorous debate did the "moldy oldy" "Onward Christian Soldiers" make it ...

705. Outgrowing the Truth Fairy

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... they are doing fits into the biblical picture of life. Wangerin notes how scop is like the contemporary word "shape." To scop is to shape, or in Wangerin's words "to sing into the everyday events of the folk, the old, old, story." When you have sensitively listened to your people, you will have discovered that all sorts of truth fairies are given a prominent place in the myth-kitty of American spirituality. Some are farce, some are fantasy, some are fable, only some are true faith. It is important for us to ...

706. FaithRace

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... our best. No matter how weak of body and weary of mind, we must avoid being thrown off stride. We must strive to finish the race. Enthusiasm: Nothing is accomplished in this world without it. Enthusiasm, if given an inch, will take a universe. Passion tempered with sensitivity is an alloy of feelings without which history's halting advance would be even more limp than it is now. People of God do not have a passionless piety, for only a people of passion can share fully in Christ's passion. We are living in ...

707. A Star-Cross Christmas

James 5:7-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... seeming to be a "bah-humbug" Scrooge is a challenge. Mac Smith, the founder of the Environmental Ethics Institute in Florida, and a major voice in the American eco-lifestyle movement, has addressed this same problem and come up with some sensitive and sensible resolutions. In an essay he entitled "What Gives at Christmas," (Link, Fall/Winter 1991) Smith debated what gifts he could give his grandchildren to help them look past the glitz and discover the guts of the Christmas promise. Christmas shopping ...

708. Welcome Home, Joseph

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... story of Christmas would have no beginning. And with these gifts, Joseph is a model for all who are called by God to serve in supportive roles. The women's movement has surely succeeded in making biblical scholars and church liturgists more sensitive to the presence of all the strong, courageous, talented and sometimes wily women of faith portrayed throughout Scripture. Yet despite all that women have contributed to the faith, the most venerated woman in Christian history is still Mary, whose whole reason ...

709. Three Wise Gifts

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in and of itself has the power to do nothing less than transform the world. Guerilla Goodness: There is a new "underground" movement beginning to make itself felt in American Society. Here and there groups of people are being inspired to a new level of sensitivity by the words of a spontaneously penned phrase: "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty." What does this mean? It could mean driving up to a tollbooth and paying for yourself and the next five cars after you. Or buying a few ...

710. I Love You, Man... And I Don't Want Your Beer

John 15:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Budweiser" catalog a catalog devoted entirely to selling beer-branded merchandise is the whole line of "I love you, man!" T-shirts, shorts, hats and signs. Could this be a male backlash to a couple of decades of being told men need to be more "sensitive," more "emotionally demonstrative"? "Okay," this ad campaign counters, "I'll bawl my guts out and express 'real' love to my friends . . . if it will also get me something I really want. Like a free beer." Have you ever noticed how often the media's depiction ...

711. Had-To

James 1:17-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... one of us has his or her own threshold of "shock-ability." Some changes roll right off your back. Other changes merely annoy you. Others disturb you down to the depths of your soul. But did you ever notice that those people who seem most sensitive to every little cultural change, every lifestyle blip are the same people who yearn the most for the long-awaited peace and stability of a future heavenly existence? Hello! Talk about culture shock! You tell me why it is, when we have a terrible time adjusting ...

712. On Being a Hot-Fudge-Sunday Church

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... stretch his supply. He began cutting back on the amount of ice cream he scooped and added toppings of chocolate sauce or fruit syrups instead. These Sunday creations became all the rage. Soon "Sundays" were being requested every day of the week. Not until some sensitive souls complained about using the name of the Sabbath for a sweet treat did Smithson change the spelling of his delicious invention to "sundae." Who doesn't enjoy a good hot fudge sundae on any day of the week? The warm sauce coats the cold ...

713. James 3:13-18

James 3:13-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of interpretations and the absence of creeds and structures made community life largely dependent upon individual leaders and teachers. These individuals wielded tremendous power. James insists that it is the community responsibility of these leaders to be sensitive to the kind of spirit that guides their words and actions. James recognizes the temptations inherent in powerful positions. He begins in verse 13 by counseling "gentleness born of wisdom." True wisdom will be demonstrable through attitudes ...

714. Luke 21:25-36

Luke 21:25-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... role as judge and heir. Verse 32 begins with Luke's characteristic form for a direct exhortation from Jesus: "Truly I tell you." Jesus' concern with the Kingdom's imminent arrival is faithfully recorded here by the gospel writer. Yet the author's own sensitivity to the next generation of Christians has already been made apparent in Luke 19:11 where he intimates that a delayed Parousia might be the experience of his readers. The third unit in this week's gospel text continues the advent theme of preparedness ...

715. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . We are pleased to see a loving heart and a forgiving nature bring harmony to discord. But today's Gospel text is not set in the cozy cocooning of a family relationship. The story of the dishonest steward strikes at our most sensitive sounding boards - it appears to be about money, business life and dealings, professional standing and respect. Without the flexibility of familial bonds to bind this story together, we impose an entirely different set of expectations and responses on the characters in the ...

716. Luke 21:5-19

Luke 21:5-19

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Luke's knowledge of Jewish tradition and sensitivity to Jewish expectations adds layers of meaning to this week's Gospel text. In his commentary on Luke's gospel, William Barclay reminds us that there are actually four different end-of-time scenarios adding resonance to Jesus' intimidating statements - that is, four separate eschatological dramas crowded onto one stage ( ...

717. Matthew 21:23-32

Matthew 21:23-32

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... has not been unobtrusive. First, he enters Jerusalem amidst an enthusiastic crowd chanting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 21:9)! Then, when he reaches the temple the most religiously sensitive area for all of Judaism Jesus comes out swinging, driving out the merchants and money-changers (Matthew 21:12). It is not surprising, then, that the "chief priests and elders" should show great concern and great caution about Jesus' presence in the temple ...

718. Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1-12

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Luke offers more empty tomb, post-resurrection information than does any of the other gospel writers. Ever sensitive to the Jewishness of his subjects, Luke carefully links the astounding newness of the Resurrection to a respect for such basic traditions as obedient Sabbath observance. Luke 23:56b, which may be included as part of 24:1, clearly states that, according to the Mosaic commandments, everyone rested on the ...

719. Luke 11:1-13

Luke 11:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... prayer is not a matter of the right person, saying just the right thing, in the right company, with the right words. Prayer is crying out spontaneously in need to God and God's response is assured. In the final examples, Jesus compares the capabilities and sensitivities of evil parents to the response we may expect from God. Matthew and Luke use slightly different examples in their respective versions, but the intent is clear and the same. A snake instead of a fish or a scorpion instead of an egg would be a ...

720. 2 Kings 2:1-12a

2 Kings 2:1-12a

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , just as quickly begs leave to have time for a proper farewell party with his family before departing to follow the famous prophet. Elijah seems to be at peace with the time having come for him to leave the site of his long and arduous career. If Elijah is sensitive to the approaching end of his ministry, he is apparently less in touch with the Lord's plans for his successor Elisha. In verses 2, 4, and 6 Elijah attempts to persuade Elisha to leave him and allow him to make the last of his wanderings on his ...

721. 1 Samuel 16:14-23

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... not work to eradicate evil. But Jesus is most disturbed by the deeper implication of the scribes' judgment. In verse 28 he articulates this concern through his pronouncement of the "unpardonable sin" - blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus' purpose is not to condemn sensitive souls who fear they may have inadvertently committed this sin at some point in their lives. Jesus rightly perceives that when the scribes suggest that the basis of the saving acts he has performed are evil, not good, they are denying God ...

722. James 3:13-18

James 3:13-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

723. Luke 21:25-36

Luke 21:25-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

724. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet