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 1001 to 1025 of 1622 results

1001. Tolerance the Wesleyan Way

Luke 9:51-62

Illustration

Brett Blair

... to participate in the Lord's Table in the UnitedMethodistChurch is simply this: "Let all who love the Lord come." This is born out of John Wesley's philosophy, "We think and let think." Wesley said: "I have no more right to object to a man for holding a different opinion from mine than I have to differ with a man because he wears a wig and I wear my own hair; but if he takes his wig off and shakes the powder in my face, I shall consider it my duty to leave him as soon as possible and use ...

1002. The Power to Make a Difference

Acts 16:1-5

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... you don't have grand children close, I think the Church can help you adopt a few. His mother, Eunice, was a Christian. There is no substitute for godly parents. You can't give what you don't have. Become a sincere believer yourself. Don't form an opinion about God, develop a relationship with God. Seek God's wisdom. Accept God's guidance. Receive God's strength. Remember He is with you always– even when the kids are screaming, and the bills need paying, and you are trying to juggle two careers. You don't ...

1003. Follow

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... reminded me of their slogan. “In God we trust, everybody else we audit." Suspicion is our way of life. We've been duped and betrayed too many times. Guilty until proven innocent is our mode of operation. We try people in the court of public opinion. With all the media attention, is it possible for anybody to get a fair trial anymore? Yet this invisible, but real, divine, yet fully human, Man of history and Savior of the world breaks through our doubts and fears, our skepticism and self-sufficiency saying ...

1004. The Road of Joy

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... posed this question. What is Truth? That question has never been more hotly debated than now. For some, truth is relative; you've got your truth, I've got mine. We ought not to speak in terms of absolutes. For others, truth is a narrow-minded opinion. I have the truth and others are missing it. Let me say this. “Not everyone who quotes the Bible speaks the truth." For still others, truth is inconvenient. In a world of lies, spins, half-truths, and “never confess unless you get caught," can we trust ...

1005. The New Road

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... we. At the gate of a new year we could pray: “Good Lord, deliver us from pack thinking." Let us refuse to do it just because everybody else is doing it. Most of us are content to just go along with the crowd. Morality will never be determined by public opinion. The Bible says, “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may be able to know the will of God (Romans 12:2). Here at the gate of a new year, we must decide. Will we just talk the talk, or ...

1006. The Power to Look Up

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... if you have a loved one in Iraq today the word would be look OUT. Look out for car bombs; look out for suicide terrorists. Look out for insurgents who will give their lives to create chaos. We want you home; look out. Whatever your opinion of the war, whatever your political persuasions may be, let us remember that over two thousand four hundred young men and women have lost their lives in this conflict and over eighteen thousand others have been wounded, many of them seriously. Let us pray for soldiers ...

1007. The Gentle Healer

John 9:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... with this healing. Never mind that somebody could see, that's not the issue. Somebody else by the name of Jesus broke the law of the Sabbath. They cannot rejoice with those who rejoice and they are not willing to weep with those who weep. They have an opinion about everything under the sun; they insist that everything must fit. Jesus doesn't fit because he heals a man on the Sabbath. All they can see is the violation of the Sabbath. Some call the Pharisees nit-pickers. You know the source of that word? As ...

1008. Living on the Easter Side of Life

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... definition of life. It had to happen sooner or later and now it is here. The tragic story of Terry Schiavo played out in the media, the courts, the Congress and the religious pundits of this land is troubling to say the least. Everyone seems to have an opinion except the person whose life is being debated and no one knows for sure what her wishes might be. Our president says that if we err, we should err on the side of life. His critics immediately ask, “Does that include the death penalty and health care ...

1009. Embracing Christ—The Light of the World

John 8:12-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... mind cannot comprehend. Christians have done things in the name of Christ that surely make God shudder. We've used His name to support our ideas and our ideals that would be far away from the way of God. Like people of every century, people of the 21st century form opinions about Him. We know in part and understand in part. But when the light fully comes, we shall know even as we are fully known. In the meantime, I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus. For you see, life is not about ...

1010. Colossians 1:1-14

Colossians 1:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... has specificity. It is gratitude for the most astonishing gift of all God’s bounty the gift that “enables” or makes “fit” (“hikanoo”) the faithful to “share in the inheritance of the saints in the light” (v.12). There are two conflicting opinions about who are meant by the “saints” (“hoi hagioi”). Some scholars insist this is a reference to God’s holy people, those who through baptism and faithfulness are “in Christ” and so have been welcomed into the kingdom of light. More ...

1011. Three Basic Attitudes about Life

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... please God, or how to live a righteous life; he only wanted to know what was on the entrance exam in order to get through the pearly gates. Let’s think about that for a moment from a different perspective. Journalist Charles Krauthammer wrote an opinion piece on what he considers would be the grave consequences to society if we accept the cloning of human beings. He noted that in a narcissistic society, immortality is the highest aim. We cannot picture life going on without us, therefore we must find some ...

1012. Return to the Lord, Your God

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Lee Griess

... Lent also tells us that no sin is too great to be forgiven — for we have a God who can see within the heart. Lent is a time for repentance and forgiveness. And there is one more point. Lent is also a time of renewal. Contrary to most people's opinion, Lent is a time of hope, a time of renewal, a time of refreshment. It is a time to turn over our burdens to the Lord, knowing that God will receive them in forgiveness and love. In the Musee de Chagall in the Mediterranean city of Nice hangs Marc Chagall ...

1013. How Jesus’ Friendship Makes Your Burdens Light

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... Christ; and as he admits none to the enjoyment of his rest but those who sink under the burden, let us learn, that there is no venom more deadly than that slothfulness which is produced in us, either by earthly happiness, or by a false and deceitful opinion of our own righteousness and virtue.3 Only when we know how sinful and twisted you and I are will we appreciate grace, God's forgiving love, and our need for it. Despite some economic hard times and the poverty that surround us, America continues today ...

1014. Life’s Purpose Is Often Hidden!

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... H. Hooke 2nd rev. ed. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972), pp. 81-85, 226-227. 2. Ibid, Schweizer, pp. 310-311; Brevard Childs, The New Testament as Canon: An Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), p. 73. 3. For this opinion, see Martin Luther, Promotion Disputation for Cyriacus Gerichius (1533), in What Luther Says, comp. Elwald M. Plass (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), p. 185. 4. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), pp. 62-63. 5. Rick ...

1015. Religious Balkanization

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... make him a wealthy man. In his mind scenes flashed of his children, robust because of the fine meals they would take off this land. He could see his wife gliding at the ball adorned in a Parisian gown. Men would sidle up to him and seek his opinions; women would giggle with delight as he tipped his hat to them. He was becoming a person of importance! As noon approached the plowman grew impatient with his slow progress. The circle of land now seemed much too insignificant. He must have more; so once again he ...

1016. Unwanted Freedom

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... to tell them they are free."8 Genuine freedom — freedom rooted, as Jesus described it, in knowing the truth — is tremendously demanding. It is much easier to sell our freedom to whoever will most advantageously relieve us of it: a family, a church, a nation, an opinionated newspaper editor, anyone who will tell us what to think and what to do, so that we don't have to figure it out for ourselves. Knowing Jesus, in the kind of depth that gives us a foundation for genuine freedom, is as demanding as ...

1017. Forty Days and Forever

Exodus 24:12-18

Sermon

Tony Everett

... ty days! For-ty days!" And the manager bowed her head and silently prayed, "Lord, give me strength," as she swiftly darted behind the counter. Can you see the core issue of the professors here? They were too concerned with other's opinions about them. What others thought about them began to dominate their behavior and ultimately resulted in even more foolish, ridiculous actions. It has been said before that many Christians have been raised with eleven (not ten) commandments. The eleventh commandment was the ...

1018. Putting the Genie Back in the Bottle…

Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3:1-7

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... grills Jesus, as though truth takes a break when challenged. Others get into the act as the challenges come to us, tempting us in ways not dissimilar to the serpent. You've heard them before. "Well, who's to say what's right and wrong?" Or, "That's just your opinion. Who died and made you God?" Let me say this one more time. In spite of the smog thrown up by others, we do know what is right and what is wrong. We do know the difference between good and evil. We know it from our personal experiences. We know ...

1019. Preaching Peace By Jesus Christ ...

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... fact, it strikes me that — though my experience tells me we have no reason to fear this — a community in complete agreement on all things might be just a little boring. Indeed, one might argue that respectful and loving diversity of opinion, perspective, and experience are more conducive to unity than is complete agreement. The question, however, remains. When scripture speaks of preaching the "peace" or unity of Christ, what gives? Perhaps the best answer, in the final analysis, is balance. Perhaps, on ...

1020. Converting to Christianity

Acts 2:14, 36-41

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... this passage from Acts is not about confessing how messed up we are and then moving to the next new religion thing. It's about "having a new mind," or "transforming our minds" so that we see things in a totally new and different light. It's not changing our opinions or adopting a new ideology. It's not about moving left or moving right. The call to conversion that comes to us in this incredible passage has to do with having a new mind. It has to do with transforming our minds out of the modes of culture and ...

1021. Headed in the Right Direction

Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... on all sorts of crucial subjects, until it was redeemed by some simple scientific dictum of the last century. (1) Elsewhere, Barfield observed, "It has become to believe that ‘anything more than a hundred years old is ancient' and ‘in the world of books, or opinions about books, the age at which senility sets in has now been reduced to about ten.' " (2) When I tell students about my Commodore 64 computer, I might as well be telling them about eating dinosaur meat. Without worrying about all the cultural ...

1022. Dust and Ashes Wednesday

2 Corinthians 5:11 – 6:13

Sermon

David O. Bales

... two views of himself and his small group of Christian missionaries. One view is how non-Christians see them and the other is from the perspective of the Christian faith: "poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing everything." He shows the human opinion and the divine. He relates the worldly assessment of the Christian faith and the eternal one. He expresses the great mystery that Christians are considered as dying; yet we are alive. That's our central belief: Dying doesn't end our faith or ...

1023. Humility: We Know It When We See It

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

... , it's hard to figure out why Jesus would arrange a parade in which he's the only entry. Is this a mere public relations stunt? Is he pretending, just trifling with the serfs? Through the centuries a lot of people — those who hold a lower opinion of human existence than God does — have been horrified at the Christian belief of God's becoming one of us. They reason that if God were to enter human life, God would somehow be diminished, made something less than divine. However, the scriptures clearly say ...

1024. A Friday We Call “Good”

Hebrews 10:16-25

Sermon

David O. Bales

... 's not the place where we choose to look but where scripture forces us to face — the cross of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of our sins. We're not all such terrible people. It's just that we've chosen to go our own ways, to form our own opinions, and to clutch our own values. Until pretty soon, it's "mine, mine, mine" that I'm worried about. We slowly push God out of our daily decisions. We've chosen not to pray about daily, mundane matters. We pretend we don't want to bother God with such trivialities ...

1025. Leaders Worthy of Imitation

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... . We know how street-corner criers present a negative impression of Christianity. The apostle Paul had to contend with some strange preachers in his day, too. Itinerant evangelists gave both the gospel and Paul a bad name. People in Paul's day formed opinions of his religion based on their experiences with some of these itinerant preachers. Many were con artists, out to make a fast buck any way they could. In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul appears to be defensive, and rightly, he is. His integrity ...

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