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 51 to 75 of 635 results

51. Living By Faith In A Time of War

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... King Solomon taught us that “there is a time for war and a time for peace.” (Eccles. 3:8). King David in one of his psalms says, “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war.” (Ps. 144:1) We Christians are instinctively people of peace, yet Jesus allowed his own disciples to be armed, presumably for self-defense. The Bible teaches that when Christ returns in final victory, swords will be transformed into plows, and, I suppose, tanks will be turned into tractors. Yet Jesus, always the ...

52. From Selfishness to Servanthood

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... distinction. We like to lead the parade, to see our name in lights, to be named as the most popular or the most powerful or the most influential or the prettiest or the most handsome. The late Congressman Hale Boggs had a little dose of this drum-major instinct. One night he and his wife went to a big convention at a hotel in Washington, D.C. Mr. Boggs delivered the keynote address. That night he was really at the top of his game. He was eloquent, delivering his message with energy and clarity. When he ...

53. Looking to the Unseen

2 Corinthians 4:18

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... into a song pitched above the human capacity to hear. The whole world is full of instances where what is seen or readily heard is only part of the reality. Whether we speak of sound or the spectrum of light or the migratory instincts of birds or life instincts of animals or radio waves or gamma rays or the universe itself, there is evidence of the reality of the unseen. Indeed, some of our most cherished experiences are not readily visible. Watch a teenage girl spend hours preparing for her big date, or ...

54. Home Improvement

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... prophets. When you live in the Christian home, you live out of one of the most amazing and dramatic narratives in all of recorded history - the story of the children of Israel making their way from slavery to the Promised Land. God has put in us a homing instinct; our hearts are homesick until they find their home in God. The psalmist says this better than anyone: "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:1-2). Then again ...

55. A Little Dirt Is Good for You

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... God and to your neighbor. All of us have rituals we perform. Some of us are slaves to these rituals. One army recruit says that he had been in the Army for six months when he was awakened early one Sunday morning by the sound of a siren. Instinctively he jumped out of bed, ran for the exit and stood, half asleep, at attention outside the door. Then his mother switched on the hall light, and he found himself standing at attention, on a weekend pass, outside his own bedroom. (6) What would the army be without ...

56. All Is New in Christ

John 11:4-6, Philippians 3:4-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... . Through a break in the trees he saw an opening in the rocks. Thinking it might be large enough for him to sleep in that evening, he headed toward it. However, he stopped short and, looking to the right of the rock formation, he spied a lion. Instinct kicked in and Androclus ran, praying all the while that the animal had eaten recently. Hearing no sound of pursuit, he slowed down and the stopped. Looking back, he saw the lion had not pursued him. Its only movement was to roll its head looking at him with ...

57. Why Do People Suffer?

John 9:1-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... you feel. Let the grace of God see you through. What will we do with what happens to us? We can go to work to stop suffering in our world. I do not like pain, I want it ended. There is a similar instinct in every soul of every human being on earth. It is a God-given instinct. So Jesus comes into town and there was a blind man in this town. They are there by the hundreds and thousands, one crippled, another lame, one with leprosy; they come in multitudes to him. A compassionate Jesus cannot ignore them. He ...

58. A Blessing in Disguise

Genesis 32:22-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... will bless Jacob, Jacob has to tell him his name. Before God will bless Jacob, Jacob has to say — indeed, has to confess — "I am Jacob. Heel-grabber. Manipulator. Selfish. Cheat." Then God will bless him. This is swimming upstream against both our instinct and our experience. Our instinct and experience in the rest of life is that we fare better when we cover our blemish, when we conceal our weakness, when we hide our vices. But God will not bless us in disguise. God required Jacob to tell him his name ...

59. Jesus Prays for Us

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... happening, such as unbelievable advances in medical technology. We’ve talked about these before. The twenty-first century will see advances in every field. But one thing remains the same the heart of humanity. We are flawed creatures. Our basic instinct is to look out for No. 1, even if the result of that instinct is cruel to the well-being of others. It’s simply what the Bible calls sin. And because we remain flawed, the future is uncertain. We can have heaven on earth, or we can turn this earth into a ...

60. Mary and Martha: Nine to Five and Five to Nine

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... or spiritual values, if we are primarily money, power, and success-oriented, what does that say about child rearing and the values we pass on to the next generation? Harvard's well-known physician-professor T. Berry Brazelton says, "The old myth of raising a child by instinct has disintegrated as our culture has become less certain of its values." He goes on to say, "How can we raise children by the principle of 'do what feels right' if we don't know where we're headed?" He then adds, "With the breakdown of ...

61. Worshipping Other Gods

Deuteronomy 13:1-18

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... v. 6), and much more difficult to resist because of the close relationships and family authority involved. The harshness of verse 8 has to be understood in this light. All human instincts would militate against exposing a renegade within the family or a close friend, so the law had to address those instincts with powerful negatives. Now, in ancient Israelite society, ties of kinship were the strongest of all horizontal human loyalties. Theologically also, as we saw when discussing the fifth commandment, the ...

62. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... so that there can be no dispute about the reasons for their eventual failure. As in our own day, it might be quite imaginable for Judeans to wish that the whole idea of people having visions would go away (see v. 10a), but our other instinctive desire is that people should have encouraging visions rather than discomforting ones. As verse 10 develops it becomes clear that this is also Judah’s desire. They do not want to be challenged about what is right but reassured that God is with them. In Isaiah ...

63. How Angry Are You?

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... . Now, in this metaphor, the horses — anger and desire — are understood as the two fundamental drives, or sources of energy, that enable us to live. “Desire” motivates us to draw toward ourselves what we need to live — food, love, shelter. Desire is also a kind of moral instinct that makes us want to be the people God created us to be. “Anger,” on the other hand, is that most primitive drive that empowers us to push ourselves away from danger, discomfort, or pain. Anger is also a kind of moral ...

64. The Call of the Wild Within

Genesis 12:10-20, Genesis 12:1-8, Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... voice into mysterious and unknown places in the world, and in ourselves. True redemption is the unveiling, the revealing of ourselves as true children of the One True God, the making visible of that which we imagined must exist and in faith seek. And faith is that gut instinct we all have at one time or another, that feeling we have that we must follow God, even if we don’t know why. At 12-years old, Jesus, son of two parents of Davidic lineage, left the safety of Nazareth, where he was raised under the ...

65. Formed by the Potter's Loving Hand

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, John 8:48-59, John 9:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Any pet parents here? Pet partners? [Give people time to answer.] True pet lovers know that animals have a kind of freaky sense about people. They seem not only to sense if someone is afraid of them or not (they smell fear, we say). They can also instinctively sense a person’s spirit –whether that person is friend or foe, approachable or not, even happy or sad. Have you ever noticed how cats like to cuddle up to those strangers or visitors who don’t like cats? That’s SO cat! Some people just attract ...

66. Trust Your Intuition

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... drive down the road, your wind wandering, and suddenly you realize you are much further along than you thought you were? You’ve taken turns, made stops, but realize that you’ve actually been driving toward your destination on autopilot? Your brain instinctively kept following the path you knew, even though you were not consciously plugged in nor was the the rubber of your rational mind hitting the road. That’s called intuition. Intuition. The ability to understand something without the use or need of ...

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.

Bertrand Russell

Feminists bore me to death. I follow my instinct and if that supports young girls in any way, great. But I'd rather they saw it more as a lesson about following their own instincts rather than imitating somebody.

Bjork

You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has root, bud and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

70. Dancing in the Wind

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . They were masters at seizing the moment and “going with the flow.” Adapting to the wind. Adapting to life. Like Jonathan Beverly, we too could learn some lessons from the birds when it comes to dealing with the hurricanes and wind-gusts of life. For our first instinct when adversity comes our way is to put up our dukes and fight, or to slink away and hide. Most of us bear down and bulk up and try to battle through. Despite living life through sun and storm, most of us still believe in our hearts that ...

71. The Rabbi's Apprentice

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ”) to follow in his footsteps wherever he went, to travel with him, sleep and eat beside him, learn from his interactions with people and from his teachings, and learn to imitate him so passionately that they would think and behave like him instinctively. In a sense, apprenticeship is like learning a foreign language. At first, you need to think about each word or phrase, the grammar and the appropriateness of your response. But soon, your responses come naturally, your words flow easily from your mind ...

72. Get Out of the Jungle!

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... we need an intervention. That intervention has already happened, and it continues to happen. Our dark path gets interrupted in the most unexpected way. There is no logical reason in the world that we human beings should be given a surprise alternative to our own worst instincts. But that’s what we have. Our natural inclination is to swim in a dark swamp. But now we have an option. There’s a path into a bright future. There’s a jungle out there — and there’s also a light-filled, hopeful, healthy ...

73. Homecoming

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Will Willimon

... dominated. When I'm on the road, I first unpack my toothbrush, etc., laying everything out, just like home. See? I'm making my nest at Motel Six. We long to be located. The Bible, seems to be negative about this homing instinct of ours. Jesus nearly bragged about having nowhere to lay his head, furthermore, he seemed always to be urging everyone else to pull up stakes, to hit the road and follow him. We try. But who, other than Eleanor Roosevelt or Stanley Fish wants to be away from home so ...

74. Together In One Place

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... minister for 35 years and served six churches that ranged in size from 60 to 1,200 and I have never, not once, seen that happen — all of the members of the church together in one place at the same time. And it’s so important! We know this instinctively as families, don’t we? We know that to keep the family intact we need, from time to time, to come together in one place. Usually this happens at holidays or family reunions and Hollywood is fond of depicting these times as though they were torture to be ...

75. Swimming Against the Tide

Luke 6:27-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the Romans: “Only dead fish go with the tide.” Sometimes, in order to reproduce –whether fish or faith –you must swim against the tide. What does that mean for us? Well, according to our scripture for today, it means that we must go against our gut instincts when it comes to people we don’t like, who have treated us badly, or who differ from us in any way, shape, or form, and we must LOVE them. Not tolerate them, ignore them, shut them out, or worse, demonize them, but LOVE them. If you think ...

Showing results

Showing 51 to 75 of 635 results

51. Living By Faith In A Time of War

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

52. From Selfishness to Servanthood

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

53. Looking to the Unseen

2 Corinthians 4:18

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

54. Home Improvement

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

55. A Little Dirt Is Good for You

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

56. All Is New in Christ

John 11:4-6, Philippians 3:4-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

57. Why Do People Suffer?

John 9:1-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

58. A Blessing in Disguise

Genesis 32:22-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

59. Jesus Prays for Us

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

60. Mary and Martha: Nine to Five and Five to Nine

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

61. Worshipping Other Gods

Deuteronomy 13:1-18

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

62. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

63. How Angry Are You?

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

64. The Call of the Wild Within

Genesis 12:10-20, Genesis 12:1-8, Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

65. Formed by the Potter's Loving Hand

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, John 8:48-59, John 9:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

66. Trust Your Intuition

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Bertrand Russell

Bjork

You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has root, bud and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

70. Dancing in the Wind

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Lori Wagner

71. The Rabbi's Apprentice

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

72. Get Out of the Jungle!

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon