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 901 to 925 of 1913 results

901. The Sign of the Dove

Matthew 3:1-17 · John 1:1-34 · Mark 1:1-8 · Luke 3:1-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. (Ezekiel 1) And I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. (Ezekiel 43) Prop: a live dove (if you are daring) or a garment; *liturgical dance (in white garments) [You may want to begin the sermon with a silent liturgical dance….or one that has an ...

902. Parabola

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

[This is an interactive sermon. In order to preach this well, you need to allow your congregants to take part, answer questions, imagine themselves as part of the story.] Prop: ostrich egg I have here an egg. [You can pass around the egg.] This egg belongs to an ostrich. Let me tell you a story about the ostrich, who one day took her eyes off of the place in the sand where she buried her eggs. Lo and behold, when she finally remembered where she had hid them, a predator had come in the night and stolen her ...

903. Secret Savior

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

"For the sake of His great name the LORD will not reject His people, because the LORD was pleased to make you His own." (1 Samuel 12:22) They call him (or her) “Benny” for the $100 bills that bear the photo of his namesake Benjamin Franklin. In Salem, Oregon, a mysterious philanthropist has been placing $100 bills (Bennys) inside of packages of diapers and cereal boxes, clothing and toilet paper. Each of the bills contains a simple signature –“Benny.” The unknown giver has been donating money well over the ...

904. Emergency!

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men who cannot save…” (Psalm 146:3) “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1) Everyone knows the sound of fire trucks. It used to be the fire bell! Now it’s an ear piercing, unaesthetic, blaring horn, followed by sirens, and ear deafening noise, as the trucks emerge from the station and race to their destination. Every kid is fascinated by firetrucks. Some of us still have our first firetruck. That’s why we watch “Chicago Fire!” But it used to ...

905. Dusted

Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Dust is one of those things in life that confounds us a bit, doesn’t it? Think about it. You clean. You dust. A day later, you look, and lo and behold, dust! Where did it come from? You cleaned everything! It’s as though the world “sheds.” And in fact, it does! All the time. Even you shed. Every two to four weeks, you shed the entire outer layer of your skin. That’s 8 lbs per year!* But in fact, skin is only a small percentage of the dust we find settling on our furniture and floors or hanging in our air. ...

906. The Excellent Meal Ticket

Genesis 37:1-11, Genesis 37:12-36, John 21:15-25, Mark 8:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Props: shirt with pattern only in the front and shirt with pattern all around it Ever see those shirts where the pattern is only on one side? In case not, I have one here to show you today. You see this? I get so frustrated when I see these shirts. They offend my OCD sense of decorum because you turn, and the pattern just stops. It’s like, you can only turn one way in speaking to people, cause otherwise, it looks like the rest of you is invisible. The exciting part is turned toward the front. But turn ...

907. Look At Your Fixations!

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Carl Jech

The Shadow: Fixation Introduction In one of his classic comedy routines Victor Borge sits down at the piano and says to the audience: "Pardon my back. Pardon my front ... But that's the way I'm built!" Every coin has two sides. Our body has a front and a back. And every body casts a shadow. These facts are neither good nor bad in themselves. They are just facts of life. To say, with psychologist Carl Jung, that every person has a shadow side, a "not-so-nice" side to their personality, is not necessarily to ...

908. The Howling

Acts 2:1-13, John 7:25-44

Sermon

Lori Wagner

I too am not a bit tamed—I too am untranslatable; I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. (Verse 52 from “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman) In the Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of “howl” or “howling” provides three options: 1) wind blowing hard and making noise 2) a dog or wolf sound 3) a communal noise made by a group of people. I found it interesting that in defining “howl,” the wind came first. But then, perhaps our idea of what a “howl” is comes from our ...

909. The Power to Witness

Luke 24:44-53 · Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

To witness to the truth! This is a fairly commonplace statement and one that sounds to us to be a quite right and accurate way to determine whether or not something is “true,” or worthy of our believing it. Think about it. We may disagree on a lot of things as people, but we trust each other as human beings enough to ask each other if we can say we have witnessed something, meaning that we have determined something to be true or exist in truth by means of someone’s sensory perception. If we have seen it, ...

910. Consuming Fire

Hebrews 12:18-29

Sermon

Will Willimon

Some of you are new here. If you are...welcome! If you are a new student, a particular welcome to you. After all, this is your Chapel. I want you to feel...what is it I want you to feel? I almost said, "This is your Chapel and I want you all to feel right at home." That's what I almost said. "I want you to make yourself at home, comfortable." But it's hard to feel that way in Duke Chapel. The place is big, real big, and dark, real dark, and the organ plays loud, real loud, and the preacher is up, way up. ...

911. When God Is Quiet

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Fear is our greatest foe. Fear keeps us from doing the kinds of risky things that may hurt or harm us. But fear also can keep us from fulfilling our potential, from standing up for what’s right, or more importantly, from feeling secure and safe in the world or even in our own skin. When fear goes into overdrive, all reason, knowledge, and trust go out the window. All we feel is mind-numbing, anxiety-producing, paralyzing terror. Faith is born out of inner calm. Fear disrupts inner calm.It’s hard to have ...

912. It's A Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever said something really dumb? Have you ever opened your mouth and stood there one legged like a flamingo, with all the grace of an elephant on roller skates with your other foot stuck firmly in your mouth? I remember one time when I did. About ten years ago I was serving the little United Methodist Church in Eureka, Texas. We were in the middle of building a new Sanctuary. The pews from the old Sanctuary were solid oak and over a hundred years old. Money was tight and we couldn't afford new ...

913. In the Wilderness of Temptation

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I had the strangest dream the other night. I found myself standing at the gates of heaven talking to St. Peter. I thought, "Oh, man, there's still a bunch of stuff I haven't done yet." St. Peter grinned and said, "Don't worry, you're just here for a guided tour." And sure enough that's all it was. St. Peter took me around showing me all the sights. The streets really are paved with gold. Everything was more beautiful than I could ever describe. But there was one really strange aspect about heaven. ...

914. It's a Wonderment

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

915. Mountaintop Moments

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“We saved the best for last!” We all do it. We want to save our most treasured things for last. At the family meal, we’ll eat the peas and the brussel sprouts first, all so we can savor that caramel mousse at the end of the meal. That’s the flavor we want to remain in our minds and on our tongues long after the meal has ended. We spend time with our loved ones. But the last moments before we part are by far the best and most emotional for us. We linger before saying good-bye, treasuring those moments in ...

916. Get Out of the Seed Box

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Sermon

Mary Austin

Years ago, when my daughter was a tiny baby, just a couple weeks old, I could already feel the time zipping by. The five-pound newborn had turned into an eight-pound baby, and she already felt different when I held her. I looked into the future and could see the time zipping by. I lamented the speed of life to my dad, and he said, “Well, time only goes one way, honey.” It does only go one way. And it goes quickly. You know that experience from your own lives, or from the kids you know. From Christmas to ...

917. Get Out of the Seed Box

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Sermon

Mary Austin

918. Not As the World Gives

John 14:23-29 · John 5:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I remember when our twins were infants we lived in a third floor walkup in Greenwich Village in New York City. One day I decided to give my wife a break and take the kids out for a stroll in our neighborhood. With twins there is a certain amount of baggage required when you head out the door. Stroller built for two? Check. Diaper bag with snacks and so on? Check. Bottles of formula and other necessities? Check. Carrying two, active ten-month-old babies and navigating down the stairs with all that stuff was ...

919. Out of the Darkness

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

King Duncan

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by a well-known actor named John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be assassinated, with his funeral and burial marking an extended period of national mourning. Occurring near the end of the American Civil War, Lincoln’s assassination was part of a larger conspiracy intended by Booth to revive the Confederate cause by eliminating the three most important officials of the United States ...

920. Secret Swerve

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

A secret is like a dance you do in the dark. It’s cautious with its steps, limber in its quiet strength, and loyal to its passion. It swerves past danger and leans into adventure, all the while sidestepping to keep safe from detection. For a time, it avoids the revealing the light it knows but cannot reveal. Yet it looks forward to the coming dawn when the beauty and force of its power breaks free. Mary and Joseph shared a secret –a powerful secret that would change the world. She carried within her dark ...

921. Walk the Talk

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

When God speaks, God acts. Did you ever notice that? Our God is an active, acting God. God doesn’t merely dwell in some cloud millions of miles away, but God actively intervenes in our lives and in our world. God’s most blatant intervention? Jesus. In the form of Jesus, God broke through into the created world, touched down in the middle of the desert, and started a ripple movement that would culminate in a life, death, and resurrection! Why? Because something radical had to happen. God thought it was time ...

922. Wrapped in a Cloud

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The approaching wintry days and nights means cuddling up in your warmest, cozy fleece, as unexpected snow wraps the earth in a thick, opaque, and silent blanket of white. Ever go outside after foot upon foot of snow has obliterated everything familiar from sight? All you see is white. Everywhere white and a kind of strange glowing haze in the frosty, still air. When the sun peers through the haze, it casts an eerie kind of glow. The crystalline particles of snow glisten, almost blinding you with their ...

923. The Feast of Leviathan

Luke 24:36b-48

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The beauty of the scriptures is indisputable. But their revelatory substance, vast and deep in nature, contains a potency that is hard to describe. Every word is pregnant, every word infused with deep meaning, fascinating connections, but most of all, every word wields the power to point toward God and God’s truth in deeply powerful, transfiguring ways. Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances express a particular richness of this special metaphorical infusion. But they also pack a power punch of what it means ...

924. The Rhythm of Your Heart

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

What kind of music moves you? Take a moment and think of that tune or that song that completely captivates you, softens your heart, reduces your stress, entirely engages you in that moment, immerses you in bliss. Much like the sound of the waves crashing from the ocean onto the rocks, certain sounds, certain waves, certain frequencies resonate with us, entirely changing our focus, our mood, and our spiritual awareness. Psychologists now know, music also changes our brain. Studies show in fact that those ...

925. A Call To Community

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

Years ago, this advertisement appeared in the classifieds of a local newspaper: "Husband says either he or puppies must go. Puppies are playful and cute. Husband is grouchy and unsympathetic. Your choice free." It just may be that our biggest challenge in life is relationships. At home and in the community, we struggle to make positive contributions to our relationship with others. Even within the community of faith, relationships require effort. In today's passage of scripture we see three states in our ...

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