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 76 to 100 of 145 results

76. Another Great Love Story

Genesis 29:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... was there to welcome his wife to Heaven. (3) That was the intense kind of love Jacob had for Rachel. It's the kind of love about which books are written and poems composed. But some of you like to cheer for the underdog. Some of you feel a great empathy for Leah, the homelier, "other wife." It might cheer you to know that, somewhere along the way, after Rachel's death Jacob and Leah must have bonded as well. For when Jacob dies as an old man, he is buried not beside Rachel, but beside Leah. Love the second ...

77. Martyrs, Monsters, and Miracles

Acts 9:19b-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... Mother's Day], it is important for us to note that many of us got the encouragement we needed to make our lives successful early in our lives. We had Barnabas parents, particularly Barnabas mothers to encourage us. To give us praise when we did well, and empathy when we fouled up. Actress Terri Garr credits her mother with helping her to face the biggest challenge of her life. Terri was eleven when her father died. Terri's mother set out to take care of the family herself. Her mother crafted a pin inscribed ...

78. Christ Signs The Letter Of The Church

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... away from the pain as possible. But the members of Riverside Church chose another strategy. They cried with their pastor, allowed him to vent his anger, voice his frustration and acknowledge the dread of his own death. In response to their empathy he made this glorious affirmation toward the end of the sermon: "That is what hundreds of you understood so beautifully. You gave me what God gives all of us --MINIMUM PROTECTION, MAXIMUM SUPPORT." Does that sound paradoxical: MINIMUM PROTECTION, MAXIMUM SUPPORT ...

79. If Only -- In Spite Of

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... said, "that it should leave me, but He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" William Sloan Coffin reminds us that "Generally, prayer is not an act of self- expression. (It)is an act of empathy; prayer is thinking God's thoughts after him. Prayer is praying 'Our father who art in heaven' when everything within us longs to cry out '_My_ father.' (It) longs to cry out '_My_ father,' (instead of our father) because 'our' includes that horrible divorced husband ...

80. Gratitude Takes Practice

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... persons "on the edge of death" share a oneness with each other. They pray and cry together. I've seen black and white folks, who otherwise would have little or no relationship, embracing each other, sharing the depth of suffering, becoming one with others in an empathy that dissolves all barriers, because their loved ones are suffering. Shouldn't that be learning for us? At the depth of life all God's people are one. We're all alike in our heartaches and sorrows, our hearts beat with the same throbbing love ...

81. The Commitment Question: Will You Lay Down Your Life For Me?

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... off of the chair, sat down, and said, "Excuse me please, I want to sit here for awhile. I need to see how it feels." That's a cue for us. We need to seek to put ourselves in the place of other, feel what they feel. Not sympathy, but empathy is the dynamic of loving with the love of Christ. In a footnote in our old hymnal is a phrase which most Protestant churches removed from some of the early versions of the Creed: "He descended into Hell." The reason we took it out was that there is scant Biblical ...

82. Message from a Cloud

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Tachte, “Welcome Home,” Augsburg Sermons 2 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1982), p. 143. 4. Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, http://www.gracechurchamherst.org/sermons/sermon_1Epiphany06.htm. 5. William Barclay. The Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 10. 6. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli and Katherin Ketcham, The Power of Empathy (New York: Dutton, 2000), pp. 167-168.

83. The Rest of the Story

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... way. And today, it is Mary and Joseph and an ancient matriarch named Rachel, who model faithfulness for us. They invite us to weep. They invite us to dream. And they invite us to trust. Yes, first they invite us to weep. For it is in our emotion and our empathy that we feel God's heart beat. Then they invite us to dream. For it is in the intuition and imagination of our minds that we most clearly hear God speak. And, finally, they invite us to trust, for it is in the offering of our lives, unfettered by ...

84. The Holidaze Craze

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... words, these gifts of grace are given so that this testimony, their witness for and about Christ and their service to others in Christ's name, may be strengthened. Gifts of grace show Christ to the world. Christ's love. Christ's compassion. Christ's empathy. Christ's sacrifice. Christ's power to transform. The Corinthians needed this reminder because some of them had turned these gifts of grace into gifts of glory. Gifts of glory glorify the self and show off the self's status and power. Gifts of glory ...

85. A World Without Easter

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... In fact, it is worse. If Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, then the greatest liar in all of history, and the biggest religious charlatan in the existence of the world, is Jesus Christ Himself. If Jesus Christ is not alive He does not deserve our empathy or our sympathy; He deserves our anger. Because He said Himself in Mt. 17:22-23, "Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third ...

86. Chip It Away!

Matthew 22:34-46; Luke 10:25-37; John 13:31-35

Illustration

James W. Moore

... chipped away everything that didn't look like an elephant!" If you have anything in your life right now that doesn't look like love, then, with the help of God, chip it away! If you have anything in your life that doesn't look like compassion or mercy or empathy, then, with the help of God, chip it away! If you have hatred or prejudice or vengeance or envy in your heart, for God's sake, and the for the other person's sake, and for your sake, get rid of it! Let God chip everything out of your life ...

87. Close the Loopholes

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... does it do any spontaneous rights. A stingy spirit keeps the body of Christ on a mere subsistence diet, refusing to glory in or enjoy the embarrassing abundance of riches God has lavished on us. Such a diet eventually starves the capacity for grace, empathy and forgiveness right out of the body. Using right-sounding loopholes like self-preservation, self-determination and "self-esteemation," the stingy spirit hides the fact that it is really selfish. Such an attitude can never be part of a community that is ...

88. Dr. God

Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... powers that immediately connected with the one in need of healing. Love Heals: There is something that long-distance as well as "hands-on" (or "energy-transfer") healing events seem to have in common the presence of love. Compassion, concern, empathy all those nonmedical elements we long for are the common components in successful healings. Without love, without specific caring, making the "healing connection" is impossible. Healers of all stripes testify to this common belief that the ability to extend ...

89. Hebrews 13:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and keep their peace. But the author of Hebrews insists that true phil¡a meant that every captive Christian was an imprisoned family member, and thus could not be abandoned. Here he goes even further than his words in Hebrews 10:32-34 by asking for extreme empathy. Yet if all are one in the body of Christ, then the tortures felt by one member of the body are truly felt by all. An old Zulu proverb puts this sympathetic phenomenon succinctly: "When thorn in foot, the whole body stoops to pluck it out." If ...

90. Hebrews 13:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

91. Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... received" (God's grace and mercy), so should they "freely give" (with gestures of hospitality). The exhortation in verse 3 is not specifically concerned with the lot of Christian prisoners so much as it is aimed at encouraging a correct attitude of genuine empathy between Christians, no matter what their situation. The first tenet of this admonition is the imperative to "Remember." Those who are suffering are often "out of sight" and so drop "out of mind." But the "remembering" is to take on a specific ...

92. Mark 10:17-31

Mark 10:17-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... s use of the term agapao indicates that Jesus actually reached out and gently "caressed" this ardent yet ignorant seeker. Whatever the case, from Mark's text we get a sense of Jesus' regard and compassion for this man whose questions seem so sincere. In light of this empathy, Jesus' command and the man's response seem all the more poignant. While Jesus states that the man lacks "one thing," he actually gives him two commands. First, he is to go, sell what he has and give it all to the poor. Second, he is to ...

93. A Hearing Heart

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... doesn't quite capture all that the original Hebrew of this passage conveys. What's been translated in English as "an understanding mind" is, in Hebrew, literally "a hearing heart," which implies not so much the cleverness of clear thought as the empathy of deeper understanding. And the other part of what Solomon asked for, rendered in English as the ability to "discern between good and evil," is in the literal Hebrew, the ability "to hear judgment." Putting this together, Solomon was asking for the ability ...

94. Compassion Can Do More Than You May Think

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

... ask Jesus for her son's life. It all takes place simply because, "When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her" (Luke 7:13). The word for compassion Luke uses is the strongest word for sympathy in the Bible. In English, compassion literally means "with passion." Empathy is perhaps the word that comes closest today. However we speak of it and regardless of the words we use, it's a very strong and powerful word. So much so, that in this story it can bring life to the dead. Our lesson for today: Compassion ...

95. A Chance To See

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... sight and followed him on the way. Bartimaeus, was sitting in HIS spot. No telling how long it had been HIS spot. He'd shuffle out everyday and sit in the same spot along the busy street leaving Jericho. Those few people who had a conscience and a touch of empathy would toss a coin or two into his begging bowl. And he'd make just enough to feed himself or rent a room. Most people, though, walked on the other side of the street. Afraid that what ever sin God was punishing this blind man for wasn't contagious ...

96. On the Road with the Rich Young Ruler

Luke 18:18-30

Sermon

James W. Moore

... pain, grimacing and holding his leg, one by one the other runners passed him by and instead of first place,… we came in last! That quickly it was over. I can remember as if it were yesterday the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach… - Concern and empathy for my injured team-mate; - And hurt over our lost opportunity. But, I learned some valuable lessons that day about life. I learned how important it is to finish… to finish what you start… and I learned how painful it is to be so near, but yet so ...

97. When Are We Most Like God?

Exodus 2:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... as a Hebrew, and she knew that her father wanted all Hebrew baby boys killed. But as soon as the infant cried, her heart was touched and she entered empathetically into the Hebrew experience. That’s the point I want to make. Nothing is more needed in our day than empathy. To be able to identify with others to share their experience, to laugh with those who laugh and weep with those who weep. So now I say it boldly: We are most like God when we have compassion. It is not enough to have pity. Our pity must ...

98. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Denied!"

John 13:36-38; 18:12-27

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... full scope of that Forgiveness. But I believe, that in some sense, when their eyes locked for that eternal instant across that charcoal fire in the courtyard, that Peter didn't see condemnation at all. He didn't see ambivalence or antipathy or even empathy. I believe he saw compassion, love, understanding and most of all FORGIVENESS. And that's why Peter wept. He wept out of remorse and relief. Remorse for his weakness. Remorse for the pain it had to have caused Jesus even though Jesus predicted it would ...

99. The Grateful Samaritan

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... of cancer, Barbara said she could identify with these ten lepers and their disease. This is a passage she lives close to. “When chemotherapy causes your hair to fall out, robs you of your energy and fills your mouth with canker sores, you begin to develop empathy with the lepers. There is no hiding the fact that you are diseased. Your cancer walks into the room before you do and people who know better still flinch as they did before the lepers, who were made to live outside the community, who had to ...

100. Two Wolves

Mt 13:24-30, 36-43

Illustration

Brett Blair

... two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old chief ...

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