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 101 results

51. Eye Opening Faith

John 9:1-41

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the cafeteria of the company they work for during the lunch hour. Unfortunately, her boss overheard the conversation and rather than ask about it, ran to personnel. Over the next week all three of the women were called into personnel and told that soliciting was against company policy and if they invited anyone to their Bible Study, all three of them would be fired, immediately. Brenda and her coworkers were obviously shook up, but they prayed about it. They prayed separately and together. And they decided ...

52. Greed or the Gospel?

Acts 8:9-13, 18-24

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Beach mansions, a mountain retreat near Lake Arrowhead, a ranch in Texas and the old Conway Twitty property here in Nashville. They are watched by more than five million households each week and have a data base of1.2 million names and addresses from which they solicit funds day after day. Of course, it's easy to point our fingers at other people, but eventually the question must come home. How often do we ask God to bless our plans without a thought of becoming a blessing to his plans? Are our priorities ...

53. Small-Minded Christians in a Big World

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... hopelessly out of date or out of touch with practitioners in that field and research in that discipline. The same thing happens in Christian circles when a group succumbs to what psychologists call "group think." Only the opinions of the "in" group are solicited, the only ideas that are taken seriously are those that agree with what I already think. The problem is that the group think may drift further and further away from reality until the moment of truth comes crashing in. The bulk of 1 Corinthians ...

54. Those Kissing Christians

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... but it is clear that in the early church the kissing was mouth-to-mouth. Here is Cyril of Jerusalem: “Think not that the kiss ranks with those given in public by common friends. It is not such: this kiss blends souls one with another, and solicit for them entire forgiveness. Therefore this kiss is the sign that our souls are mingled together, and have banished all wrongs. . . The kiss therefore is reconciliation, and for this reason holy: as the blessed Paul has in his Epistles urged: Greet ye one another ...

55. Finger Food

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... feeds needy, homeless, hungry people daily with a noon-time sack-lunch and once a week with a sit-down Sunday Night Supper. The church does its best to treat its poorest neighbors with dignity and respect. They also insist that their “guests” agree not to solicit around the church. But I’m getting ahead of the story. Here is the email: Rev. Buchanan, I’ve noticed that your church is a magnet for a lot of bums, who come for free food, tolerate your Jesus pitch, and then lounge around my neighborhood ...

56. Troubled Waters

Genesis 9:8-17

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... there is only one God and that this one God is not capricious but judiciously measured in his interaction with humans. The Hebrew God causes the flood in order to accomplish his righteous purpose. Unlike the ancient gods of Israel's neighbors, he displays solicitous concern for his human creatures. His justice demands that he punish the wicked people of the earth, but his attribute of mercy is manifested in his act of salvation for Noah and his family in order that the human race might be continued. Israel ...

57. Having Trouble Sleeping Through the Night

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... turn in the night, groping for God. Sometimes it's like a bad dream that seems all too real. In the 1880s, a seven-year-old boy cried himself to sleep every night terrified of the fact that if he died he might go to hell. His solicitous mother, out of patience that the fearful teachings of the age brought such apparitions to his mind, was trying in vain to comfort him. Fifty years later that boy, Harry Emerson Fosdick, stood as the preacher before the congregation of Riverside Church in New York City. Even ...

58. Do Not Forget Your Servant

1 Samuel 1:4-20

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... she did not conceive, Elkanah had taken a second wife, Peninnah, who bore many sons and daughters. Not only was Peninnah prolific, it says she was also irritating, always provoking poor Hannah over the issue of progeny. Hannah wept and would not eat, so Elkanah, as a solicitous husband, tries to comfort her. It is hard to say if he is endearing or just self-important: "Why do you weep? ... Am I not more to you than ten sons?" (1 Samuel 1:8). It was their custom to go regularly to the temple at Shiloh ...

59. The Negotiating Nun

Illustration

Staff

The Little Sisters of the Poor were going from door to door in a French city, soliciting alms for old people. One nun called at the house of a rich free-thinker who said he would give 1000 francs if she would have a glass of champagne with him. It was an embarrassing situation for the nun, and she hesitated. But the hesitation was short lived, after ...

60. Bury the Problem

Illustration

Staff

... Europe, was being laid out early in the eighteenth century, many large boulders brought by a glaciers ages ago had to be removed. One particularly large rock was in the path of one of the principal avenues that had been planned, and bids were solicited for its removal. The bids submitted were very high. This was understandable, because at that time modern equipment did not exist and there were no high-powered explosives. As officials pondered what to do, a peasant presented himself and offered to get rid of ...

61. Giving Guidelines

Illustration

Paul Borthwick

... his prayers of faith and his mighty influence on others, set forth seven statements of ethical commitment. How would modern Christian organizations fare under the light of these guidelines, as quoted by Catherine Marshall in Beyond Our Selves? No funds would ever be solicited. No facts and figures concerning needs were to be revealed by the workers in the orphanage to anyone, except to God in prayer. No debts would ever be incurred. No money contributed for a specific purpose would ever be used for another ...

62. Copper Coins

Illustration

Source Unknown

The story is told that one day a beggar by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his generosity and commented, "Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar's need. Why give him gold?" Alexander responded in royal fashion, "Copper coins would suit the beggar's need, but gold coins suit Alexander ...

63. The Woman at the Well

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... Susan was living the best she could on the streets of New Orleans. She was addicted to cocaine and her life was in a downward spiral. But somehow Christ touched her life and today she is living a new life in Christ. Recently she came to her church and solicited some friends in her Bible study for some financial help. It seems that Susan was headed back to New Orleans on a mission. Susan had it in her heart to make up some gift bags to distribute to the girls working in New Orleans strip clubs. She didn’t ...

64. The Question that Will Change Your Life

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... scripture, the words of our Lord are no more to them than mere words of advice which they may accept or reject as their own selfish desires may dictate. They may kneel beside their beds for prayer each night, but their prayers are no more than mere solicitations for God to do their bidding. “Heal my body, Lord, take care of my children, help my stocks do well. Amen.” They never examine their souls. Their prayer is not that they may be conformed to God’s will, but that God will conform to their will ...

65. Michael Corleone and the Widow

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... ’t agree on the money he was to receive. The result? He didn’t go to the prison. To me that is unimaginable, especially since visiting prisoners is one of the directives of the Gospel. But it happens. Knowlton also tells about watching a televangelist soliciting gifts for his ministry. He was offering to “give” his viewers a study Bible . . . for a $125 gift to his ministry. That’s a pretty expensive Bible. Of course it came with a promise that anyone who gave money to the ministry would receive a ...

66. The Challenge to Forgive

Luke 7:36--8:3

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... later to be abused by pimps and boyfriends as well as customers. Prostitutes often are further abused by the hypocrisies of society that outwardly condemns them but inwardly wants them. Police can be bribed by prostitutes or can be solicited by police themselves. Politicians and judges can be bribed by prostitutes because they may be their customers. Leading businessmen and professional people and corporations sometimes support a high-class escort system behind the scenes so that prostitutes often scoff ...

67. Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

Acts 20:13-38

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... 11:9, 14; Isa. 60:17; 1 Macc. 1:15) and enriched by its association with the idea of tending the flock (cf. 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:2; perhaps also Num. 27:16). The task of the Christian episkopos, therefore, “consists in a watchful and solicitous (both ideas are contained in the verb episkopein) direction of the congregation on the basis of the redeeming work of Christ to which alone the community owes its existence” (H. W. Beyer, “episkopos,” TDNT, vol. 2, p. 616). His own blood: The manuscript evidence is ...

68. Accusations

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... know him best, have sincere doubts about his veracity, he can appeal only to God or the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom. 9:1 [“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit”]; 2 Cor. 1:18, 23; 11:31). Paul may solicit the witness of the Corinthians’ conscience concerning what they already know about him (4:2; 5:11), but ultimately, because he is an apostle, Paul can be judged only by the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 4:3–5; 2 Cor. 5:10). As we shall discuss on 13:1, the ...

69. Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites

Judges 1:1-36

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... the move toward a dynastic monarchy. The Lord further indicates that Judah inherited the mantle of Moses and Joshua by including a promise that recalls a similar promise to Joshua (Josh. 1:2–5): I have given the land into their hands. Judah then solicits the help of the Simeonites their brothers, pledging that they in turn will help the Simeonites fight for their inheritance. This close relationship between Judah and Simeon, sons of the same mother (Gen. 29:33, 35), is highlighted already in the book of ...

70. Boaz Marries Ruth

Ruth 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... , each council listens to a difficult case involving a Bethlehemite woman (Naomi in Ruth, the Levite’s concubine in Judges). Third, each council listens to a kinsman-figure lay out the facts of each case via direct discourse (shrewdly by Boaz; solicitously by the Levite). Fourth, each council scene comes to a dramatic point of climax. In Judges, the chaos brewing in chapters 17–19 comes to climax when the Levite demands that the Mizpah council announce its ’etsah (“counsel, decision,” Judg. 20 ...

71. The Decree of Darius

Ezra 6:1-12

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... retained” (NJB; see Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah, p. 71; Barthélemy, Critique textuelle, vol. 1, p. 535). The verb primarily means “carry,” and in the Aramaic papyri it refers to providing for an aged parent. In this context a sense of solicitous preservation is plausible. The significance of the requirement was that costs should be kept down by following the ground plan of the old temple. The NRSV, “where . . . burnt offerings are brought” (similarly REB), presupposes a repointing of the Aramaic ...

72. Ezra Comes to Jerusalem

Ezra 7:1-10

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... ). The editor filled out the designation with an insider’s language of faith, both here and in verse 10. The wording of verse 6b probably goes back to Ezra’s own introduction. It supplies information not mentioned elsewhere, that Ezra had himself solicited the office of special commissioner with the particular tasks outlined in Artaxerxes’ letter, rather like Nehemiah in Nehemiah 2:8. Both Ezra and Nehemiah traced royal assent to divine blessing (the hand of the LORD his God), as Ezra was to do later ...

73. Mordecai Honored

Esther 6:1-14

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... regarding the attempted assassination by Bigthana and Teresh (v. 2), he asked what honor and recognition Mordecai had received for uncovering the plot (v. 3). The answer, to the king’s own shame, was “Nothing.” To rectify this oversight, the king decides to solicit a remedy from any person who might be in the court. This would have been an official of some rank, for we know that Esther feared appearing in that very place without a formal invitation (5:1). Xerxes consistently looks to his official ...

74. The Impending Departure II

John 16:5-16, John 16:17-33

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... (vv. 23, 30), it suggests that another motivation may also be at work. The change in form serves to make the theological point that the initiative in revelation lies not with believers but with Jesus. The literary technique of using questions to solicit divine revelation was a familiar one in Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature and in Gnostic writings. John’s Gospel itself makes use of questions (or statements) based on misunderstanding as a foil for Jesus’ self-disclosure (cf., e.g., 3:4; 4 ...

75. Discipleship and Mission

Luke 10:1-24, Luke 9:57-62

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... (b. 1945), a missions historian, is wide-ranging in its history of Christian missions. The term “faith missions” was connected with missions that did not have a set income for their missionaries. In fact, some of the missionaries would not solicit funds, relying exclusively for provision on God. But it went even further. Speaking of the Christian Missionary Alliance (1887), Central American Mission (1890), Sudan Interior Mission (1893), and Africa Inland Mission (1895), to name but a few, Tucker says ...

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