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 751 to 775 of 3285 results

751. The Great Reveal

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... minds of people and know them intimately, know their faults and their personalities, know if they had hardened hearts or a suffering spirit, know if they had faith in God and pure intentions or whether they were driven by power or greed. Simeon describes this ability as having an intuition like a “sword” with the power to “slice open” and reveal what’s inside the heart of every soul. For Jesus, this “sword of truth” would not just peer into one’s heart, but it would challenge that person’s ...

752. A Little Foolishness

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... theology with the priests and the others, convinced every last one of them that he was right and they were wrong, and then gone to Rome and done the same thing with Caesar. But the message of the cross would have been that it takes human wisdom and the ability to speak and debate for God to consider you worth saving. Maybe Jesus could have even gone straight to Rome and offered Caesar a god-sized boatload of money and bought his freedom. But the message of the cross would have been that you need a lot of ...

753. We Need Another Miracle

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... about the problem for years. Elsewhere in this volume I wrote about my daughter’s kindergarten class studying the destruction of the rainforest and my sweetie’s prayer urging God to kill the perpetrators. This was a generation ago. The truth is we have the ability to fix things. Back in the 1970s we got the word that there was a hole that had developed in the ozone layer of our atmosphere and it was caused by, of all things, the chlorofluorocarbons in our hairspray and our refrigeration systems. We ...

754. Flow

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... flowers and fruit, seed and multiply, feed others, the vine must be always connected to the “root vine.” If it breaks away, it will no longer have a source of nourishment and empowerment. It will wither, brown, and die. It will no longer have the ability to bear fruit or grow. Like an unused muscle, it will atrophy and fall away. But a branch that is fully connected to its root source, that draws its nurture and sustenance from its core vine, will continue always to flourish. The image is simple, but ...

755. Yada, Yada, Yada!

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ways? Why do we trust some people intuitively? Why do the hairs stand up on the back of our necks when we encounter someone we feel might harm us? Human beings have a capacity to “know” that goes far beyond knowing “about” things. We have the ability to “know” deeply, to feel deeply, to trust deeply, and to engage relationally with God and others. Allowing ourselves to engage with the mystery of “knowing” is the most wonderful thing we can do in our lives, for in doing so, we allow God to ...

756. Living Bread

John 6:51-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... gift of life to all those we can generation through generation. And in doing, we perpetuate the kingdom that Jesus intended. The best sign that a church is filled with life? It has the ability to reproduce! Everything alive that will stay alive must continue to reproduce! Without the ability to reproduce, a living being will wither away. Abiding with Jesus ensures a church’s reproductive power! Imagine a community teeming with life-giving, spiritual followers of Jesus, sharing in covenant, compassion, and ...

757. All in God’s Time

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... their lives. They could create greater goals. They could strategize how to get there. Or they could trust in the power of change and know that when things are less than desirable, “this too shall pass.” Stanford researchers in fact found that the ability to resist impulses and trust in greater rewards resulted in more success throughout life.[1] We as Christians know that when we trust in the power, grace, and promises of God, rather than muddling in our immediate or current difficulties, we feel more ...

758. Pay Attention!

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... issues can be linked to anxiety and stress. You can become distracted if you suffer from depression. Those who have experienced depression know what I’m talking about. When you’re in a state of depression, your mind literally will not function properly. Your ability to focus for any length of time –or at all –diminishes. You can’t seem to pay attention to anything, but only resort to random chaotic or disorganized thoughts. You may not be able to actually think much at all. You may obsess over ...

759. Hearing A Familiar Voice

John 10:22-30

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... our self-made destinies. Only if God would hold back a sense of full satisfaction from our souls would we search our way back home. This remains a perennial theological paradox: it is the creative act of God that gives us freedom. Yet when we use our abilities for our own ends, we tend to lose what is best in ourselves and often demean it in others, pushing like adolescents away from our spiritual parent. Only if we become restless to find the face of God in some longing for home will we regain a glimpse ...

760. For Someone Remembered by Many

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 · Matthew 16:13-20 · Mark 14:7-9, 10-12

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... and most especially of all, Ken gave his grandkids and great grandkids the example of how a life should be led: His generosity, his humility, his forgiving spirit, his ability to bend with the times, never complaining about how things weren’t as they once had been, his kindnesses towards everyone, his great range of interest and actions, his ability to cook and bake, his positive outlook on life. Ken could well be called a Renaissance Man and as such, Ken’s grandkids and great grandkids could not find ...

761. The Mother of All Yard Sales

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... watchers — we are all convinced that no matter how good we are or how much enjoyment we are getting from the activity in which we are engaged, there is something out there that, if we could only afford to buy it, would vastly increase the level of our ability and depth of our pleasure. A Matter Of Authenticity Now, no one would be so foolish as to suggest that “things” aren’t important at all. Certainly, you will never hear me say that. I own the best golf clubs I can reasonably afford. I have a ...

762. Calculated Christianity

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

Grit is trending these days. Have you heard of it? There was a viral TED talk by Angela Duckworth in 2013 and then she published a book of the same title in 2018 ― Grit: The Power Of Passion And Perseverance. In a nutshell, “grit” is mental toughness, the ability to persevere and keep at it in order to achieve a long- term goal. Like calculating what it is going to take to build that big tower and then keeping after it, no matter that a storm knocked it down or that the permit got delayed or that ...

763. The Three Tenses Of Our Faith

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... , wild animals, and formidable military foes. But God said, "Fear not and you will be greatly rewarded." Since God had always been faithful and true to God's word, Abraham placed his trust in God's continued provision for his life. Sometimes we underestimate God's ability to provide for us. In fact, there are times that we seek God's blessing in the form of the superficial and the trivial. But God's reward goes beyond our limited expectations and we find that we have been rewarded at the deepest level. Even ...

764. A Living Memorial

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... comfort and the reassurance God provides. In the Passover Feast, the people of Israel drew together as a community to remember and to celebrate their past with God. The observance was founded on their memory of a past filled with the mercies of God. The ability of God's people to be true to God is determined by their spirit and their heart. Hearts that are filled with gratitude do not take for granted the abundance of the promised land. They remember the struggles of the past and their absolute dependence ...

765. Transforming Love

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

Edwin Markham's little poem has so much to say to us about the ability of love to transform. He drew a circle that shut me out -- Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.1 One of the most amazing stories to come out of the Bible is the ...

766. A Faith That Overcomes

Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... times of difficulty. Rather than abandoning faith in God, when the storms of life approach, we would benefit from seeking a deeper faith and a stronger connection to God. In this way, we may be able to grow spiritually and emotionally as the result of our ability to overcome life's tribulations. A deeper faith is also necessary to be able to draw some meaning out of the difficulties we encounter. Someone once said that a person who abandons his or her faith in God during times of difficulty is like a person ...

767. New Wine

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... Holy Spirit fell upon the waiting disciples, there were a number of extraordinary events occurring: there was the sound of a rushing wind, cloven tongues of fire appeared, and they all began to speak in other languages and the Holy Spirit gave them ability. The Jews who were visiting Jerusalem, from all nations, hearing them speak in their own tongues, were amazed at this startling phenomenon. They came to the hasty, false conclusion that the disciples must be drunk, and accused them, saying, "They have had ...

768. Holy Wisdom From On High!

Proverbs 8:1-36

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... the chalk mark could be: an owl's eye, a cigar butt, the top of a telephone pole, a star, a pebble, a squashed bug, a rotten egg, a bird's eye, and so on." The older students had learned how to find a right answer, but had lost the ability to look for more than one right answer. The Holy Spirit helps us, in his wonderful Wisdom, to see more than we might have seen by ourselves. The Spirit's vision allows us wonderful options for expansion and new possibilities. It is the Spirit's Wisdom that reveals the ...

769. Doubters All, Part I

John 10:22-42

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... you. I'm not a bad person. You know that. I don't beat my aging mother. I pay my taxes. TOMMIE: You're a great person. You're my best friend, aren't you? Would I choose a friend that was a bad person? GERRIE: You have great perceptive abilities ... in choosing friends. But in choosing religion ... TOMMIE: You know there's nothing wrong with my way of life. GERRIE: Come to think of it, you're right. You have just as much fun in life as I do. You are a perfect roommate. TOMMIE: But it's my reasoning ...

770. Easter Power

John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... definitions of power do not relate to the matter of energy or force. The first definitions of power have to do with the possession of control, authority, or influence over others. There is a whole battery of synonyms for power that describe power as the ability to direct or restrain others. We, of course, confront that kind of power daily in our vocations in working with others, in our homes, regulating the lives of our family, in all organization of life all the way to the ruling of nations. We also ...

771. The Fear Of Taking The Plunge

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Richard Patt

... for a particularly powerful element in his preaching. He had at his command literally thousands of Bible passages and traditional hymn verses -- any of which he was able to bring to the surface at will, because he knew them all from memory! It aided his ability as a speaker immensely. But now, over 85 years old, living in retirement in Arizona, these thousands of literary treasures continue to be a blessing in his life as he devotionally recalls any and all of them for the sake of his own personal spiritual ...

772. Sabotaging The Sabath

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Richard Patt

... her security while both of them went away to work each day. They finally seemed satisfied after they had devised a system of twelve different locks and bolts for the front and back doors of the house! The only problem was that they overlooked the old woman's technical ability to operate all these devices. When a friend would want to call on her during the day, or when she would want to go out and enjoy the backyard, she had to turn down such opportunities because she didn't know how to get all the locks and ...

773. A Ministry Of Hospitality

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Richard Patt

... good manners in public. It is a redemptive ministry, like Christ's, whereby we bring a sense of healing and genuine acceptance to all other people. And we should get specific about our own ministry of hospitality. Perhaps, for instance, you have the gift of gab -- the ability to talk at ease with just about anyone. You could be an effective greeter to the strangers who visit your church. You could be that little spark of light to many longtime members of the parish to whom no one else seems to speak or give ...

774. A New Kingdom Coming

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... sovereignty is established only when, through his judgment and kindness, we surrender ourselves to his lordship. God knows when we put our own hearts and minds and spirits under his control, he then will have access to all we possess -- our money, our abilities, our time. And Jesus is his vice-regent who bids us give the King our all for his great causes. Nevertheless, afflicted with spiritual myopia, obsessed with the illusion of material things, shackled by a selfish heart, we resist the overtures of the ...

775. A Light In The Darkness

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... of our life -- we manage to deny. Like the sensors which trigger off the artificial light, so we use positive thinking, happy talk, and busyness to deny the emptiness of our lives and the reality of our approaching death. Given our prosperity, our freedom, and our ability to deny death, we find it hard to understand how a people would rejoice in the enthronement of an absolute monarch. But this is no ordinary king they are celebrating. It is a Davidic king, a bearer of the great promises made to the royal ...

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