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 851 to 875 of 1270 results

851. Masks

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... wild and crazy mask to get attention or to avoid responsibility. We put on an "expert" mask to gain respect or to earn a living. Most of us have many masks. Masks can be a means of survival for us, a way of hiding, perhaps, in a world that seems hostile. I have heard gay people talk about having to put on a mask, or perhaps a whole lion suit, to disguise their real identity so that they can be accepted enough to function in their daily work. Most of us do not have to hide in such an extreme way ...

852. Oddballs for God

1 Peter 1:17-23

Sermon

David O. Bales

... upon this planet Christians are exiles. This isn't our real home, and this physical world we exist in isn't the true source of our life, values, or hopes. We're heaven's colony at best, a group of God's aliens set in the middle of a hostile world, and we take our orders from somewhere beyond. Any loyalty we give to the world's insistent calls for our allegiance is provisional. If Christians feel all snuggly with the culture around them, they don't understand the Christian faith. We need to learn that we are ...

853. Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round

Romans 8:1-11

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... , some cause, some meaning, some job, some relationship that can make our lives worthwhile and satisfying, the more we try to go it alone, the more we try to take charge of our lives, the more we reveal that we are in the grip of our sinful flesh and are hostile to God. We do not submit to God's law. In fact, we cannot. There is no way we can please God and the harder we try, the worse matters become. When we start "messin' around with God," when we have decided to thumb our nose at God and go ...

854. Luke 14:1, 7-14

Luke 14:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , interactions between Jesus and the communities he has visited. Now Luke makes it clear that Jesus is invited to the Sabbath supper because his opponents were “watching him closely.” The verb “paratereo” is not neutral. It carries with it the inference of “hostile observation” (see Luke 6:7; 20:20; Acts 29:24). It seems that whatever else was on this banquet’s menu, these religious leaders were hoping to serve up roasted rabbi to the authorities. The lectionary text for this week skips the ...

855. God's Banquet Feast

Luke 14:1-14

Illustration

Alex Gondola

... presently can't stand (or who can't stand us). But the old anger, hurt, and grudges will be gone, and reconciliation will come. At God's Table, the barriers that keep people apart rich/poor, upperclass/lowerclass, black/white, Republican/Democrat, gay/straight, friend/foe, the dividing walls of hostility will come smashing down. The crash will be greater than the fall of the Berlin Wall. God's Banquet Feast will be the most remarkable party ever thrown!

856. Luke 14:25-33

Luke 14:25-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Judaism. But now the scene shifts. Jesus addresses the “large crowd” that is following along with him as he travels. This crowd is surely a mixed assortment of his own chosen disciples, devoted followers, idle hangers-on, and suspicious, even hostile, hearers of Jesus’ message. There exists a wide diversity of attitudes towards Jesus in this “large crowd.” Yet Jesus doesn’t offer a gentle “introductory level” concept of discipleship to this entourage. Instead he makes it clear that the cost ...

857. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Betrayed"

John 13:21-30; Matthew 26:14-16; 45-50

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... done anything wrong, even though she had been caught in the act. Finally ran out of the room in anger and went upstairs. She saw her mother's new dress laid out for a party that evening. She was so angry that she found scissors and vented her hostility by ruining her mother's new dress, seeking to injure her mother. Later the mother came upstairs, saw the dress, threw herself on the bed, and began to weep. It wasn't long before her daughter came into the room and whispered, "Mother." But there was no reply ...

858. Wedding Bell Blues

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... early-morning walk, he was shocked to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking criminals, gathering like a herd of animals at the main gate. It looked as if they were ready to launch a riot. He walked over to the group and, instead of seeing hostility in their eyes, he saw tears of grief and sadness. He knew how much they loved and admired Catherine. He turned and faced the men."All right, men, you can go. Just be sure and check in tonight!" Then he opened the gate without another word and more ...

859. There Will Be Peace

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... was the beginning of a grand and glorious invasion of divine love. In the language of war, a beachhead has been established. The seed of the kingdom of peace and love has been planted. The love of a tiny infant will someday overcome all the anger and hostility and hatred that reside in human hearts, and we shall all know that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. And all people across this globe will live in peace and dignity together. That’s Isaiah’s message to us today. Even though young men and ...

860. Epiphany 3, Ordinary Time 3

Psalm 27:1, 4-9, Isaiah 9:1-4, Matthew 4:12-17, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Litany Of Confession Leader: Discord, dissention, strife, All: anger, violence, hatred; Leader: we confess to you, O God, All: our schemes, our willful rebellion, our hidden hostilities toward your children. Leader: We confess to you, O God, All: our lack of trust in your presence, our need to control, our insatiable appetite for praise. Leader: We confess to you, O God, All: our fear of speaking the truth in love, our self-hatred, our moments of utter ...

861. Modern Day Perils

Matthew 24:36-44

Illustration

Theodore J. Wardlaw

... place. Hauerwas has written widely about the modern-day perils of attempting to follow Jesus Christ in this culture. He and others have described Christians in our time as being something like "resident aliens" — faithful colonists in an otherwise hostile, post-Christian, secular society. He has tracked the decline of what he calls "the Constantinian arrangement" between the church and the powers-that-be, and he has asserted — rightly, I think — that that arrangement between the church and the emperor ...

862. A Light in the Darkness

Mt 5:13-20

Illustration

King Duncan

... frustrated by the institute's lack of books in raised print. He also found the symbols in raised print confusing. So he set out, at twelve years of age, to invent his own system. After three years he perfected the method, but he encountered indifference and hostility when he tried to convince the world that his system was better. Even with the support of the institute's director, he was told again and again that he was too young to have created a workable alphabet for the blind. Years passed. This young man ...

863. John 20:19-31

John 20:19-23

Sweet

... made his appearance now enthusiastically echo Mary Magdalene’s testimony “We have seen the Lord.” Ironically, it is Thomas, the one disciple who had not been frozen by fear, the one disciple who had ventured out of the locked safehouse and into hostile surroundings, who refuses to accept at face value what both Mary Magdalene and the others now unanimously assert. Note that Thomas does not dismiss the possibility that their good news is accurate. But he does insist that Jesus meet his criteria before ...

864. Disillusioned Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... on returning home from a church service he would pretend he was the preacher. Unfortunately this nursemaid was convicted of a theft in a local store and consequently was dismissed. “It would be fair to surmise,” suggests one psychiatrist, “that Freud’s hostility to religion and religious ceremonies goes back to his disappointment with the very person who first introduced him to religion.” (2) That happens. Someone lets us down someone we have looked up to and we set up defenses so it never happens ...

865. Loving Others

John 14:15-31

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... 's be honest, there are times when loving others is not easy. Shoot, with some folks it's hard to get to "liking," much less loving! Take the story of the Berlin Wall when it had just been erected. In the early days of the famous Wall, hostilities flared when truckloads of stinking garbage were dumped from East Berlin into West Berlin. Many residents wrote to the mayor demanding revenge for this offense, but he responded in a unique way. He asked the people to gather all the flowers in West Berlin and bring ...

866. When Christians Pray

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... parallel to the waves and be capsized or swamped.” (2) Obviously you don’t want to be in an ocean liner in a great storm without power. Neither did the disciples want to be in a situation where they were witnessing about Christ to the sometimes hostile nations of the world without God’s power. Leadership expert John Maxwell tells of a sailor stationed in Pearl Harbor in 1941. On December 7, Japanese aircraft attacked the naval base, and this man took his position at one of the ship’s guns. He fired ...

867. You Have Judged Yourself

Matthew 15:1-20

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

... knew on earth coming into the waiting room: a corrupt politician, an itinerant woman who had been convicted of shoplifting numerous times, a prostitute, a drug addict, a man who spent most of his life in prison, etc. With each of these arrivals, the feeling of hostility increased in the first group. They glare at the others. They talk among themselves. Within a short time, words were spoken to those others, "What makes you think you're going to get in with that evil, sinful life you lived on earth?" "We're ...

868. Laugh, Thomas, Laugh!

John 20:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... been informed that his friend, Lazarus, was so sick that he was about to die. Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, were in Bethany near Jerusalem, but Jesus and the disciples were some miles away over across the Jordan. They had gone there to escape the hostility of the temple leaders who had recently tried to have Jesus stoned. Word finally came that it was too late, Lazarus was dead. Two days went by. Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, Jesus said, "Let's go over to Bethany to see Lazarus." "Wait a ...

869. The Voice

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

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... high priest Eli. After all, he was only hers for a little while; he was on loan from the Lord. It was not the best of times for the people of Israel, but not the worst, either. There were no wars going on, no threats from hostile neighbors, although the Philistines were always looming near. The nation was not the unified whole it would come to be, but rather still a loose confederation of tribes. Religiously, no new ground was being broken. In fact, it seems the faith that had sustained the people through ...

870. The God Who Is Always There

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... amnesty. Now we meet the villain of the piece: Haman, the prime minister. Scripture gives a quick clue as to how dangerous this fellow will be by calling him a descendent of Agag, king of the Amalekites, a nation with whom Israel had generations of hostility. Haman enjoyed the trappings of political power, the ancient equivalents of limos, cell phones, and a fawning public. The last part especially - he liked the fact that people were supposed to bow when he passed by. It was a royal rule. It gave him power ...

871. Where Would We Be Without...?

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... one night," Calvin thought. He knew that the town, which was notoriously pleasure-loving and politically volatile, was no place for solitude. Farel's preaching had brought an end to Catholic masses in Geneva, but the town's Protestantism rested on political hostility to the bishop, not doctrinal convictions. Farel knew the city needed a manager. During Calvin's stopover, Farel made a point of calling on the young scholar. He urged Calvin to stay and help establish the work there. Calvin protested that he ...

872. Simeon

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of Jewish faith throughout the world. We are responsible for the purity of our religion. We are the ones to whom the people look for guidance concerning true and false teachers; we are the ones ordained by God to keep the faith in the face of a hostile and unbelieving world. It is a grave task, but one which every one of us is pleased and honored to undertake. Although there are some differences in theology among us, all Jews share one thing in common: a hope for a deliverer ... the Messiah. Every member of ...

873. A Whole City at The Door

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... multitudes. Without having moved beyond the very first chapter of Mark's gospel, Jesus' ministry seems to have turned into an overnight success. Ask a person on the street what function churches are supposed to fill in our culture, and if they are not outright hostile toward religious faith, they will likely answer that the purpose of the church and its ministry is to do good works, to help make the world a little bit better place. I know for certain that the numerous transients who come through the doors ...

874. Jesus at Home

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... 't get." But don't you wonder what would have happened if he had stood on the street corner telling those who passed by that he forgave them? Wouldn't you imagine that the responses probably wouldn't have been so warm? Some folks might even have become hostile. This is New York, after all, not generally perceived as an "I'm sorry" kind of city. Probably most of us can work up our own lists of things for which we believe we're owed an apology, but admitting that we've done anything that requires forgiveness ...

875. Tough Talk for Tentative Disciples

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... generation. Many people are walking away. Why is that? These verses help us to see some reasons. The Truth Is Sometimes Hard To Handle Despite the fact that Jesus performs a miracle with a boy's meal, it is not long before suspicion, doubt, and open hostility set in against him. The majority of the people are not ready to commit to his unique claims and uncompromising truths about the way of salvation (v. 29), about his ultimate identity (v. 32), about his superiority to Moses (vv. 35, 49-58), or about ...

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