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 776 to 800 of 1153 results

776. When the Wine Fails

John 2:1-11

Illustration

John K. Bergland

... . For most of us, then, the most significant movement of hope and joy is our wedding day. It's the day we celebrate before God and all our friends the love in our life. Marriage vows are the most profound vows one can make. No other vows are more tender, none are more sacred. No other pledge will so radically shape and claim an individual. The two become one. A home is born. A haven for family is founded. Your place to be is created. But, alas, in too many marriages and in so many lives the wine fails.

777. Yuk!

John 2:1-11

Illustration

David E. Leininger

Pastor David Leininger knows weddings can be adventures. He says he will never forget a wedding several years ago that went just beautifully until the very end of the ceremony. In that tender moment when bride and groom kissed, the bride's five-year-old brother, the ring bearer, let out with a "YUK!" The congregation was on the floor laughing. As people left that afternoon, the place glowed with everyone's grins. And in years to come, when people think of that ...

778. Never Too Old For God: Abraham And Sarah

Genesis 18:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... on since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." [6] And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." [7] Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. [8] Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. [9] They said to him, "Where is ...

779. Valley of Suffering (Series: Peace in the Valley)

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

At the tender age of 18, I was appointed to my first church. On Saturday following my first Sunday there, the main man in that congregation, a husband, a father, a grand-father, a leader in the community was killed in a tragic farming accident. Without a single course in theology or pastoral ...

780. Radical Love is Truthful (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... save face and avoid conflict. The Church of all institutions of society ought to deal with all the truth even when it is brittle and harsh and awful. Speak the truth, speak the truth. II. Speak the Truth in Love The Bible calls us to be tough-minded but tender-hearted. Love needs to be true, but truth needs to be loving. Lovingly know and knowingly love. As Aristotle put it — Speak the right truth, to the right person, at the right time, in the right way, for the right reason. I’d like to unpack that a ...

781. Radical Love at Home (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... in the hands of the father who has both of his hands on the back of his son who is on his knees barefooted. The left hand is strong, muscular, big and firm. The right hand does not fit the man who is standing behind it. It is refined, soft, tender, and elegant. According to Rembrandt, God is both mother and father. He holds us; she caresses us. As it is extremely unlikely that a mother would abandon her children, God does not abandon us. Have you met God as your mother? Have you felt the gentle touch of God ...

782. Follow Your Failures (Series: An Invitation to Christian Discipleship)

John 21:1-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... started restoring things. He took old furniture from our grandparents’ house, and restored it, turning it into a fine antique treasure. He found an old 1933 Auburn automobile in his father’s barn that had not been used in 40 years. With great patience, tender care and more persistence than a mouse after cheese, he took the car apart piece by piece, then put the car back together again. Now he travels around the country to antique car shows, demonstrating his restoration. If people can restore old cars ...

783. Am I My Brother’s Keeper? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Christ.” What the man meant as an expletive, the children took as a fact. They thought the man was Jesus Christ. So, they treated him with awe, respect and love. They brought him food and blankets; they talked with him, and listened to his story. Their tenderness transformed this ex-convict’s life and opened his eyes to the Lord. We need to see Jesus. C. As you serve the SICK, you serve Jesus. An elderly lady who died in a Scotland nursing home left this note behind, “What do you see nurses? What ...

784. A Defeated Babe Ruth

John 21:15-25

Illustration

Brett Blair

... boy; and the small lad, who cared about the feelings of another human being. Both had melted the hearts of the crowd. (Ted W. Engstrom, The Pursuit of Excellence, 1982, Zondervan Corporation, pp. 66-67.) I suspect that Ruth did feel defeated at that moment but it was a tender and moving act for him to pick that boy up. I suppose that is what Jesus is trying to get across to Peter. Life can deal us some pretty difficult blows, many of which we inflict upon ourselves, but if we love Christ we'll find a way to ...

785. Do You Love Me?

John 21:1-19

Illustration

Robert Allen

There is a very tender and moving scene in the play, Fiddler On The Roof. Tevyev and his wife Golda are being forced to move from their home in Russia. One day Tevyev comes into the house and asks his wife, "Golda, do you love me?" "Do I what?" "Do you love me?" Golda looks ...

786. Any Favorites?

John 10:22-30

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

... loving you. You may run away from God, but you will soon find that your legs are too short. You can't get away from God. And that is not a threat, but a promise! God is out on every road where people, like sheep, get themselves lost, earnestly and tenderly seeking them and calling them back home.

787. Being Christ by Affirming and Forgiving

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... counseling. In it all she had discovered a deep reservoir of anger toward her father. Tears came to her eyes as she talked about it, her face was strained and her entire body grew tense. The Spirit said to me, “Speak the word.” I did…with love and tenderness, but with the strength of solid conviction: “Mary, I the name of Christ, you are forgiven.” Now it doesn’t always happen this way, but it happens often enough to cause us to know the power of it and to experience the joy of it. Tears flowed ...

788. Living While You Wait

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and understanding, but our mind is in high gear - questioning, judging, filled with unkind thoughts, even condemning. Then we come to the word “magnanimity”. That’s a big word for a big heart. A heart that is open enough, soft and tender enough, understanding enough, to accept another as the other is, to receive another into relationship unconditionally, without prejudging. Robert Frost once said, “Home is something you somehow have not to deserve.” If we are magnanimous, our hearts are homes to ...

789. Where Do We Grow from Here?

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . . Through the old symbols and the new insights he sees fresh an alluring vistas. Grief and love lead him far beyond himself. Prophets and poets shout across the ages and call out his soul. Beauty unseals his eyes and reverence leads to him mystery and tenderness. The strange designs of circumstance and purpose, the impact of this world and all the wonders, the dark movings of the inner abyss in himself, all these are avenues of births beyond number.” (Samuel Miller, Life of the Soul, pp. 136-7). What an ...

790. A Priesthood of Believers

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of that. They need us to listen non-judgmentally, and each of us can perform this ministry. We can listen to people and say by our listening you are not alone, I hear you. And when we start off a relationship in that fashion it is as though we are tenderly moving our spiritual fingers about the life of another person, feeling the pain and listening to the tones of that person until there is that kind of opening that enables us to share who we are and where we’ve been, and what we know, and what we have ...

791. Freedom to Set Free

Galatians 4:21-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the Samaritan woman at the well. Rather sternly Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor.. .and come, follow me.” (Matt. 19:21 NEB). With the Samaritan woman he was not nearly so stern and direct. He tenderly accepted and carefully led her to a new understanding of her need to fill the gnawing emptiness of her life. Jesus recognized that she was going from one man to another, seeking love and belongingness - but he wasn’t condemning. With a warmth and love ...

792. Take Off Your Shoes...You Are Standing on Holy Ground

Acts 7:1-53

Sermon

James W. Moore

... a few months… and people were coming by to hug us and wish us well in this new chapter in our lives. The people in our St. Luke’s family are always so amazingly thoughtful, so generous, so gracious, so loving… and we were touched by the kind words and tender hugs. Toward the end of the line, a woman came and hugged us… and then she told me that her children had grown up in St. Luke’s and how much the church had meant to them over the years… and how now they are all living in different places ...

793. Give Yourself

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... her grief in the loss of her husband; and she said it was her religion that provided the answer because her religion promised her that she would be re united with her husband in the next life. The psychologist handled that woman professionally and tenderly, and affirmed her in the comfort that she had received; but then asked the telling question, that is the Christian question, “What are you going to do with your life between now and then?” That’s the question behind our stewardship emphasis. That ...

794. The Wise Men: Going Home Another Way

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... t remember it from reading the 40th chapter of his book, certainly you can hear it in your soul as you recall that haunting music from Handel’s Messiah – it’s one of my favorite pieces from The Messiah: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God, Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended,that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice tries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the ...

795. Assurance: The Privilage of All Believers

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Our timidity and tentativeness about witnessing would be dissolved. We would not be intimidated by those “buttonhole witnesses” who come on like gangbusters – we would know that we know, and we might be able to teach those overzealous witnesses that tenderness, patience, and understanding are authentic testimonies as well as words. We would not get overwrought with our Christian friends who insist on future security for we would be assured of our present relationship with Christ. We would be joyous in ...

796. The Ministry of Unbinding

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... who believes in me though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” So, faith is here. Compassion is here. When Jesus saw Mary and her friends weeping, “He was deeply moved in and spirit and troubled.” Compassion that is tender with tears. “Jesus wept.” (vs 35). No wonder the response of the crowd was, “See, how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” (vs. 36-37). All of ...

797. Christ's Chosen People: Privilege

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you.” I WE ARE CHOSEN FOR FRIENDSHIP. Now if that doesn’t touch you as deeply as it should, rehearse the setting and know how tenderly piercing this word would have been for those who heard it first. The more precise translation here is “No longer do I call you slaves.” The Greek word is doulos. Barclay reminds us that “the title doulos the slave, the servant of God was no title of shame ...

798. The Essence of the Gospel

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... sings to him: “Turn the clouds from your eyes And see me as I really am. Can’t you see what your gentle Insanities do to me! Rob me of anger And give me despair. Blows and abuse I can take and ‘give back again.’ ‘Tenderness, I cannot bear.’” Through the love of Don Quixote, Aldonza became Dulcinea, and you remember that closing scene? Don Quixote lies dying, confused, and doesn’t remember people, doesn’t remember their names even though Aldonza pleads with him to remember her name. He days ...

799. God's Chosen People: Partners

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you.” WE ARE CHOSEN FOR FRIENDSHIP. Now, if that doesn’t touch you as deeply as it should, rehearse the setting and know how tenderly piercing this word would have been for those who heard it first. The more precise translation here is “No longer do I call you slaves.” The Greek word is doulos. Barclay reminds us that “the title doulos the slave, the servant of God was no title of shame ...

800. There Is a Price for Everything

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... picture. “Consider the case of the great Spruce Forest which, through a catastrophic wind storm, lost the protection of the woodpeckers. With this protection gone, the forest is killed by beetles (which the woodpeckers normally eat in large quantities). The tender, dry, dead forest then becomes a prey to fire, which destroys it, and along with it the watershed. Resulting floods and droughts damage soil, ruin farms and inundate cities a thousand miles away…” All because the woodpeckers died. You see ...

Showing results