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 826 to 850 of 1400 results

826. Nice Guys Finish First

Proverbs 1:20-33

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... actually seem sub-Christian, such as when Saul was told to wipe out every man, woman, child, and livestock of the Amalekites. And then there is the whole book of Proverbs. What are we to make of it? The theology of the book seems to be the notion that good people will be rewarded materially and bad people will be punished. Goodness, so the argument from Proverbs goes, is the sensible way to be because it pays off. If things are going well, you must be doing right. If you are suffering, these proverbs seem ...

827. The Underlying Mercy

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... behind the writing of "It Is Well With My Soul." In fact, I considered whether the man might have been in denial. My suspicion of that deepened when I read a little further and discovered that eight years later, Spafford headed off for Jerusalem under the strange notion that he was a second Messiah. Apparently some mental disturbance took hold of his mind, although we cannot know if it was in any way related to his sorrow over the loss of his children.4 But the fact is, most people of faith who undergo such ...

828. A Pair of Ducks and Abundant Life

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the world becomes more complex and abstract. The truth is often not simple, and it requires a deep understanding of the underlying concepts and principles. As we gain a deeper understanding of the truth, we must be willing to let go of our preconceived notions and embrace new ideas that may seem unrelated or abstract at first. This is the only way to truly understand the world around us.” And then my Einstein-like Chat friend concluded: “I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions ...

829. Why Must We Carry a Cross? - Sermon Starter

Mark 8:27-38

Illustration

Brett Blair

... . Peter has a worldly view of the Kingdom and Jesus is speaking about a heavenly kingdom. For a moment I would like you to listen to this story with new ears and see Jesus through the eyes of Peter and the rest of the disciples. Get rid of all your notions about who Jesus is. Take away from your mind Jesus as the Son of God. Strip from your memory that he died on the Cross and that he did that for your sins. Forget that Jesus ever said love your enemies or love your neighbor. Now I want you to ...

830. Cut It Out

Mark 9:38-41

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

The analogy of an operating room, where radical surgery must be performed, is a most useful way to understand this Scripture. Most of us today would accept the notion that the whole body is worth more than any of its individual parts, and when we develop a cancerous tumor on eye, hand, or foot, we cast aside "the offending member" — with regret, of course; but we operate on the assumption that it is better to enter life without the ...

831. The Bible: Head and Heart

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... a little deeper than being too familiar. They were not at war with Jesus the person; they were at war with the nature of his ministry. Jesus was saying, "I am going beyond Israel. I am going to the Gentiles," and with that one statement, he destroyed their notion of privilege. In speaking to them, he tore down all of their officially sanctioned walls and barriers of hatred. "We're God's special people so that gives to us special privileges and it also gives to us the ability to exclude anyone who is not one ...

832. Keeping His Word

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... minister to them, it would be a miraculous blessing! Don't you imagine there were many who not only wished for this but desperately hoped he would physically stay with them? All of them had already been through so much. Admittedly, not many of them seem to entertain the notion that he would arise from the dead. But he did, so that all would be as it should be. Some may have begged him to stay. What would you and I have done under those unique circumstances? We can't be sure, of course, but in all likelihood ...

833. Lean on Me

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... in the execution of justice. The parable forces us to ask ourselves the question, "When the end comes, will all of humankind have lost heart?" In our linear world, we sometimes get caught up in the technology of the here and now. We sometimes succumb to the notion that we have control of the world and control of our lives. But the truth of the matter is that the Bible teaches us that history does not go in circles. The Bible teaches us that time is moving ahead, like it or not. Time is proceeding toward ...

834. A Tax Collector Becomes Rich

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... come to us and shared our common lot. He is available; he is not on a mountaintop far away. You do not need to climb a tree to find him. That which drew Zacchaeus to Jesus is the same thing that draws us to him today. Jesus erased the notion that good people associate with good people and bad people with bad. He made it acceptable to not make those distinctions. How wonderful is that? Look around you and you will see that principle in practice. Many of you know each other well. Some of you know each other ...

835. What Price Must We Pay?

Luke 6:20-31

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... made you unique and you have gifts to give. The issue is not do you have anything to give — the issue is, "Are you a giver or a taker?" Our nation has been built on encouraging people to stand on their own feet. You know, the whole notion of rugged individualism that has been fostered by so many for so long. Needless to say, this societal value works against the sense of community that Jesus worked so hard to instill in the disciples and through them to us. Christians are not to be rugged individualists ...

836. Claiming Our New Life in Christ

Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... congregation that there were 700 different sins listed in the Bible. That afternoon he received three dozen requests for the list. Everybody wanted to know what they were missing out on! Paul tries to turn this whole thing around and calls the people to forget the notion of rules and to simply begin living in relationship to Christ. Paul tells them that rules have no ability to change the heart, but a life that looks to Christ will soon turn around and reflect his glory. Paul uses several images to make his ...

837. The Gospel Is Unchained

2 Timothy 2:8-13

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... of people: the satisficers and the maximizers. A satisficer is the one who is willing to live with the good enough rather than insisting on the best. Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon developed "satisficers" as a realistic alternative to the notion of the utility maximization presupposed by classical economists. Schwartz argues strong for the satisficers being the ones who have the best lives. For example, if a supermarket chain attempted to calculate the very best alternative before deciding where to place ...

838. Itchy Ears

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... 't fit on his one-size-fits-all bed, he chopped off. If you were too tall, your legs went. If you were too short, you were stretched. Procrustus is a form of evil called conformity. We are all to be one size and one shape. As we approach this notion of evil, I ask you what part of you was cut off? What did you have to leave behind to fit in this world? What has Athens done to you? When you itch, are you itching for the part of you that has been amputated? Was it something important, like ...

839. The Senseless Rejection of Common Sense

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

... ' words with any degree of seriousness, it can be nothing other than a violent act. "The man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will be become one flesh" (NIV). One flesh! Yet there are those who propagate a notion that divorce can be managed. One million new children every year, to quote statistics from the magazine article, get caught up in the divorce of their parents. In 1980 we hit that mark and we have hit it every year since. We are now well over 20 million ...

840. Mark 10: 35-45

Mark 10:35-45

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... their goal of greatness, immediately assure Jesus that they are “able” to participate fully in the “cup” and “baptism” Jesus himself will embrace. Their deafness to Jesus’ three passion predictions proves that James and John have no notion of what they have agreed to. Nevertheless, Jesus affirms that they will find themselves sharing in his own “ridicution” (Kirbyjon Caldwell’s word for the combination of “ridicule” and “persecution”) if they continue as his disciples. Yet ...

841. Jumping through Hoops

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... as well as European Christianity is no longer on the cutting edge. It is clear that the church in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is far more vibrant and alive. They grow with none of our constraints, none of our preconceived notions. They don't form study committees and worry about building construction, organization, and hymnals. They spread the gospel to all nations — and let the buildings and organization follow, rather than precede their work! At a recent meeting of a national denomination ...

842. The Undoing of Babel

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... ? Or even further, when both parties are trying to communicate and are working at paying attention, they still hear each other through the filters of emotion, weariness, momentary lapses, different understandings of the meaning of certain words, resentments, preconceived notions, defensiveness, self-centeredness, and so on. But communication difficulties are not limited to marriage. Back when my wife was in college, she had to write a paper for a geography class. The professor handed out a sheet with the ...

843. As Seen from the Solitary Broom Tree

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... for life, when we are truly wiped out, we seldom have the energy to take remedial actions. In the case of Elijah, God seems to know that. God never tries try to talk Elijah out of his depression and gloom. God does not argue with the prophet's ridiculous notion that he is the only one left that is faithful to God. Instead, God provides Elijah with the one thing that sometimes does help when we have lost our way, and that is a new purpose. By giving Elijah a new assignment, one that will affect the course of ...

844. The Sign of God

Amos 7:7-17

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... that said, "I believe it is the will of God for you to go into evangelistic work here in America." He also received a letter from the Methodist Board of Missions saying, "It is our will to send you to India." And at the same time, he had the notion that God's will for him was to go as a missionary to Africa. He describes this as a "traffic jam of wills." In the end, Jones prayed about all of these opportunities, asking God to make clear the Divine will, and eventually Jones became convinced that he should ...

845. God's Eminent Domain

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... a comfortable security blanket, but they are no more realistic than, "It's my property and I can do what I please with it." It all sounds good until you test it out in court. The people of Jeremiah's Judah snuggled protectively in the notion that they controlled their own destiny. When it came to politics, their leaders bargained with pharaohs and kings for the best deal they could get; and then changed sides when it suited their homeland security needs. Political wheels were greased with the sweat and ...

846. Tales of the Spiritually Stupid

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 18-22

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... its pastor, inquiring whether this church received any of her church's apportionment dollars. If so, she was solidly against paying such mission askings. She did not want her dollars going to support such a thing. Hello! Wonder where this church got such a notion? Could it be from someone who ate with tax-collectors and healed lepers with his touch? Tales of the spiritually stupid: We've all heard them, even witnessed them. Rest assured these stories are not fiction. We have experienced such things in our ...

847. Calamity and Hope

Joel 2:23-32

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... us, fail to adhere to the warnings that tell us that we should slow down and take the time to reconnect with God. We are in so much of a hurry in our day-to-day living that we not only take God for granted, we fall into the mistaken notion that we are gods in and of ourselves. We can get along just fine without God, we don't need the bother of wondering what God would have us do, and we will do what we want! Prior to the verses in today's reading, the people have been called ...

848. The Shepherd King

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... . Too many times we make the mistake of thinking that it is the job of the pastor of the church to care for the church. And as long as we persist in seeing ministry as the singular responsibility of the minister, we will always be linked to the notion of the church as a professional group that employs people to do the caring. When we do that, we make the ministry just another job. And when someone is in need, when someone is sick, or has financial difficulties, or is spiritually running on empty, we call in ...

849. Thanks for Receiving Thanksgiving

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... from that fruit that the best seed is removed and replanted for the next year. So what does it say when we give our firstfruit to God? It says, "We trust God with the best." Someone once said, "Give God your best, expect God's best." That is a good notion to keep in mind. It would be a tragedy of we neglected the many blessings God has so graciously entrusted to our care. We need on this special day to ask ourselves how it will be with us when God takes stock of our lives. Will we be able to ...

850. A Day of Singing

Zephaniah 3:14-20, Luke 3:7-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... It would sound perfect. They listened for harmony and perfect pitch in the sounds of nature. It’s a strange thing to do; it’s kind of an odd way to spend Christmas Eve. But that’s what this piano teacher and his friends did. “There’s a romantic notion to what they did,” says Gavin Ellis, but he wondered to himself how many of them actually believed that angels were singing and how many of them were a part of the group because they just thought it would be neat if angels really did sing. How many ...

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