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 976 to 1000 of 1400 results

976. Lean on the Cloud

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the human population it supposedly governed. It was utter foolishness to have “faith” in those gods. It was the very essence of wisdom to fear those gods. The sacred and singular relationship between Yahweh, the Creator God, and those who honored God, changed that notion of little “g” “god” forever. The long list of those who chose to have faith in God’s promises and God’s presence given in today’s epistle text is just the smallest slice of a history of real relationships between people of ...

977. The Narrow Door

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... in this world requires work. You want a strong body, you work for it. You want a strong marriage, you work at it. You want a strong company, you work at it. Why should it be any different in our spiritual life? We are so obsessed by the notion of salvation by faith that we totally ignore an entire body of Jesus’ teachings that call for commitment and sacrifice. St. Paul compared the Christian life to an athlete training for a race. What did he mean by that? Now, please do not misunderstand. The Bible is ...

978. Wake Up Call

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul along with first-century Christians believed that Jesus would return during their own lifetime. While they were waiting they believed that Jesus would return any day. Much of Paul’s writings reveal the notion that Jesus would return within a short period of time. Expecting Christ’s return any day would certainly alter the way you live your life and what you view as important. We do not have that same sense of urgency today as Paul and the ...

979. The Total Gift

Romans 1:1-17

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). For centuries the people held certain expectations of what the messiah would be like and what he would accomplish. In truth, Jesus did not exactly fit many of these preconceived notions, but was nonetheless the long-awaited messiah. Jesus was a descendant of King David, Paul states, “according to the flesh.” People were looking for a messiah from the royal house of David. Joseph was a direct descendant of David. In this morning’s ...

980. Discerning In Love

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... aspects of wisdom. In his response Paul says that he did in fact teach wisdom but not everyone understood. Paul defines true wisdom as building up the church and seeking God’s will in light of the cross of Jesus Christ. While the world might scoff at that notion it is, nonetheless, God’s plan of salvation. This serves as another reminder that God’s ways are not always our ways. What we think is important might not be so in God’s eyes. We relate to God not through wisdom but rather by love. We must ...

981. Everyone Is Invited

Romans 1:1-17

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... Paul wrote about the power of the cross. In times of confusion Paul advised believers to remember and look to the cross of Jesus. Elsewhere in his letter to the Romans Paul writes of the cross in terms of a sin offering. Again he draws from the Old Testament notion of the Day of Atonement. Paul declares that what God has done through Jesus Christ is once and for all — we are saved because of his sacrifice. As we know the death of Jesus was not the end of the story — God raised Jesus to new life. “God ...

982. Credible Witnesses

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... -century Christians had believed that the second coming of Jesus would certainly take place during their lifetimes. Decades had passed and still Jesus had not returned. When Jesus’ triumphal return was delayed, the false teachers began telling the people that the whole notion was a “cleverly devised myth.” Because Jesus had not returned they reasoned that it must not be true. The apostle Peter knew better and sought to set the matter straight once and for all. Peter knew how dangerous it would be to ...

983. When God Tests Us

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Argile Smith

... God testing Moses was cruel. You may insist that he could find a better way to guide his people along toward the promised land. Or you may be taking the whole testing issue one step farther by insisting that you shouldn’t be tested. The notion of God testing you insults you; your intelligence, your devotion, and your sincerity. Tests aren’t meant to be mean-spirited attempts to make our lives miserable. Tests are necessary. Without tests, how would we know that we have made progress? Suppose we decided ...

984. Powerless People

Judges 4:1-24

Sermon

Argile Smith

... ’s question made sense to him when he thought about it in light of what he had read. His mind had been trained well at seminary. Having grasped the reality that people all over the world favor power and long to be powerful themselves, the whole notion of powerless people had the ring of truth for him. He asked himself about how many of the people in his church would consider themselves powerless. Then he began to reflect on Jesus’ popularity with the people, and the idea struck him that they crowded to ...

985. Soiled Faith and Watered-Down Churches

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... bankrupt this past year. There are things humans can “fix” – plumbing, landscaping, crooked teeth, dinner. But there are those things we cannot “fix,” at least not by ourselves. And those things are the things of the soul, the things that really matter. This notion that we can “fix” things ourselves is the plot line of some of our most storied blunders of Babel, of bloody battles among brothers such as Cain and Abel, Joseph and brothers, Jacob and Esau, and many others. But, as more and more ...

986. Jesus and the Man Born Blind

John 9:1-41

Sermon

James W. Moore

... : Who sinned? Was it this man or his parents? Why was he born blind? Was it his fault? Or did someone in his family do something wrong to cause this? There is an interesting theological point here. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time had the mistaken notion that the persons who were down on their luck were in that fix because they had sinned… and this was God’s judgment upon them for their wrongdoings. So these blind people, or lame people, or leprous people, or poor people were looked down upon by ...

987. Pastor, Don't Talk About That!

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... is a fundamental difference between right and wrong. And this really is the rub in society today. For the past half-century the pendulum has swung so far toward tolerance of all behavior, even destructive behavior, that many people subscribe to the notion that there is no such thing as right and wrong. In our haste to be compassionate toward the sinner, we have deadened our sensitivity to the repulsiveness of sinful behavior. Author Charles Colson was speaking at his granddaughter’s baccalaureate service ...

988. Living “I Don’t Know” While “In the Know”

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ” disclaimer: “These are Christian reflections. Therefore we will not talk about love, but about the works of love.” Jesus was not on the “correct” side of hardly any issue of his day. Most often he was politically and piously incorrect. Where did we get the notion that Christians need to be on the “correct” side of every issue of our day? Besides, who decides the “correct” side? There is only one. And even when we truly “don’t know,” we can always say what we do know. And what we do ...

989. Risky Business

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... risen and the stars appeared even closer and more distinct. “Daddy,” she continued in her enthusiasm, “if we connect them all, will they make a picture?” The night sky had taken on the quality of a dot-to‑dot puzzle for his child! What an interesting notion, the father thought. “No,” he replied to his daughter, “the dots are there for another purpose. Each dot is a hope God has for your life. God loves you so much. He has lots of hopes that your life will be filled with good things. In fact ...

990. Winners and Losers

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... to their legs and they were briefed on the rules of play. Said Roberts, “I got a sinking feeling in my midsection. I wanted to spare these kids the pressure of a competitive brawl.” He need not have worried. At first, these children had only the foggiest notion of what this was all about. After a few moments of confusion, however, the idea got across to one or two of them that the balloons were supposed to be stomped, and gradually it caught on. But as the game got underway, it was clear these kids had ...

991. Why Christmas Is So Dangerous

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Mary was a first century young Jewish girl, most likely around 13 or 14 years old. As was the custom, and to her good fortune, she was already “betrothed” to be married to Joseph. This “betrothal” was far more than our modern notion of an “engagement.” Betrothal was legally binding, a solemn contract. Promises and “bride prices” would have already been exchanged. As a “betrothed” woman Mary was in effect already legally and morally bound to Joseph. Both her family and Joseph’s family ...

992. The Three Shower Gifts

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... shoes. The "flinch test" is not a bad litmus test for all followers of Jesus. In fact, “what makes you flinch” was a test Jesus gave his disciples when he stooped to wash their feet. Some of them failed the flinch test. Jesus’ birth redefined the notion of priesthood—a priesthood focused not on bringing earth to God, but on bringing God to earth. We cannot “go up” on our own effort. But God, through the birth of Jesus, the very Son of God, does indeed “come down” to us. What wondrous love ...

993. Table Manners

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... flex time, the white-collar folks, came in and gobbled things up first before the blue-collar and the slave-collar folks showed up. It seems that folks get into trouble here because of what they think that they have to serve up. We get the mistaken notion that it is our recipe for success that matters whether people are fed or not. Often, if things go according to our plans, a lot of folks will go without, while many will wind up stuffing themselves. I suspect that Paul’s experience with the Corinthians ...

994. Prescription on a Pole

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... to consider again the observation that the remedy recalls the malady. It was not some symbol of health hung on the pole, but a replica of the poisonous serpents. So, too, God “made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Beyond the notion of Jesus paying the price for sin on the cross, Paul goes a dramatic step further and says that he was made “to be sin.” So, again, the remedy recalls the malady. Alternative Applications Numbers 21:4-9; Ephesians 2:1-10. “A Good, Healthy Appetite ...

995. No Longer Strangers

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... strangers to ourselves. And we must no longer be strangers to one another. It has been said that there is only one man-made structure on earth that is detectable by the human eye from space, and that one structure is the Great Wall of China. I think that that notion has been disproved, but somehow it seems to fit. The one structure in the entire world that is grand enough to be seen from space is a wall. If you wanted to define human nature, a wall might be a good place to start. There is a tendency in ...

996. Right Answer - Wrong Conclusion

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... Jesus sternly warned his disciples not to tell anyone of his identity. They weren’t ready to talk to people about what it meant to say that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. They didn’t understand it themselves. People had many false notions of “Messiah.” The promised Davidic Messiah was commonly thought to be a political, nationalistic figure who would free the Jews from Roman domination. Jesus’ mission was not at all like that. Jesus’ mission wasn’t simply to deliver Israel, but to deliver ...

997. When the Unthinkable Happens

Mark 13:1-8, 24-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... spread in recent times about the end of life on earth known as “The Rapture.” As Marcus Borg points out in his book Speaking Christian, most Christians throughout history never heard of the rapture . . . and with good reason. The word and the notion it embodies are a modern innovation, going back less than two centuries. Nobody even thought of the rapture until the 1800s. “Because millions of Christians think that the rapture is ‘biblical teaching’ and thus has the authority of the Bible behind it ...

998. Saints Are Awake to Life's Deepest Joy

Luke 6:20-31

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... … Blessed are you who are hungry now… Blessed are you who weep… Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man" (vv. 20-22). The Greek word in this passage behind the English notion of "blessed" is makarios. Its history and use is long and complicated. When we chase it into a corner and look at it closely, markarios refers to joy that is not dependent on circumstances.[1] Often people say, "I would be happy if I was rich, if I ...

999. When the Dragon Wins

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... , hauled before courts, poorly defended, unjustly convicted, and have no recourse. Your friends and family, even your parents, brothers, and sisters will turn against you and betray you. Some of you will be put to death. You can forget this notion that following Jesus guarantees blessings and good times. Christians can and will have absolutely miserable experiences. Accept the reality of this world — bad things happen to good people. Sometimes the dragon wins. When that happens, do not wander off in ...

1000. Tranquil: The Blessed Village on a Hillside

John 6:25-59

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (v. 35). Thanksgiving Day is a very appropriate time to give thanks for the abundance of life's material blessings. Give thanks but do not get caught up in the mistaken notion that if you accumulate more of the wealth of this world, you will be a happier person. It doesn't work that way. Possessing more does not guarantee an increase of happiness. Satisfying life's deepest thirst and hunger does not come from drinking at the ...

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