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 1076 to 1100 of 4770 results

1076. Masks

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... ) Are there sides of yourself that you feel you can't show here? (pause) Are there sides of yourself that you feel you can't show anyone? (pause) What do you hide behind, and when, and why? (pause) What facets of yourself are you masking off from view? (pause) What masks do you have, and why do you wear them? When Jesus watched some of the Pharisees in action, they reminded him of the masked actors at the Roman theaters in the big town of Caesarea. So that's what he called them — hupokritai — hypocrites ...

1077. Converting to Christianity

Acts 2:14, 36-41

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). It's not about judgment, it's about change. It's not about pointing a finger or trying to get someone to adopt my point of view of things, it's about inviting people into a transformation so complete that they will feel as though they are "born from above" (John 3:3). I have to be honest here — this feels more scary to me than the idea of pointing a finger at someone and telling ...

1078. A Change of Mind

Exodus 32:1-14

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... . Aaron instructed the people to take all their gold rings and bring them to him. "He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf." The golden calf or bull was a symbol of pagan religion. The golden image clearly was viewed as a replacement for the absent Moses. In the people's eyes the calf was a visible reassurance of God's presence and activity in their midst as they exclaimed, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" And they worshiped ...

1079. For Example

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

David O. Bales

... this ‘God number' and just hope I win." Instead, Abraham throws his life into God's arms and trusts God will catch him. That's what God asks of us, for which Abraham is our example, the father of our faith. People view examples as differently as they view heroes. One person's hero is another's bum. A recitation by name of our last dozen US presidents and the yeas and boos elicited among us would make such differences obvious. People, likewise, interpret examples differently, especially in sermons. Truth ...

1080. Spiritual Judo

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

... wants us to understand how God's Holy Spirit helps us at the times we suffer. As we reflect upon suffering, we need to think beyond the idea of pain. We all endure pain, but, to grasp the deepest meaning of suffering, we have to consider how we view our pain. Two people can experience the same kind of accident or loss, yet both of them might not consider their condition as suffering. Pain need not lead to suffering, because suffering includes how we respond to pain. But, if we do suffer, we must be careful ...

1081. Freedom and Slavery

Romans 6:15-23

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... . We are at a crossroads. We have a choice as to which road to take. We can go down the road to sin or we can go down the road to God. This point of view assumes that sin is breaking the rules or commandments. Sin is making bad choices. Sin is doing "naughty" things. To that point of view Paul would shout a resounding "No!" "Naughty" actions, breaking the rules, making bad choices are only the symptoms, only the consequences, only the fruits of a condition that is far worse. For Paul, sin is bondage ...

1082. A Truly Universal Operating System

Romans 14:1-12

Sermon

Larry Lange

... that all are made right with God "by his grace, as a gift" (Romans 3:23-24). This seemed to support Billius' point of view that the observance of dietary laws of any kind were not necessary for salvation. In chapter 8, Billius was reassured that nothing could separate ... that exist have been instituted by God!" (Romans 13:1). Billius knew there were Christians who held far less flattering views about the emperor. Finally, right from the very first verses of the chapter, it appeared as if chapter 14 specifically ...

1083. Unconditional Love

Luke 15:1-10; 1 John 4:10

Illustration

King Duncan

... of God? The scowling judge waiting to convict you? The disapproving parent whose love you have to earn? Your view of God affects every decision and relationship in your life. Kathleen Chesto wrote to Catholic Digest to tell them about an incident that occurred in her family. Her five-year-old child approached her one day in the kitchen and asked, "Mom, is God a grown-up or a parent?" ...

1084. Made Perfect In Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... AND STRONG IN HIS WEAKNESS. I. Weakness In Strength What does he mean when he says: "We are made perfect in our weakness. For whenever we are weak then we are strong." From a worldly point of view, that doesn't make sense. How can we be weak when we're strong? But remember, we do look at life from a worldly point of view. You and I are heirs of the Kingdom. You and I have experienced Alpha and Omega moments that have changed how we think. We belong to God. And God's way is different. In the upside down ...

1085. Pride

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

James Merritt

... ) would have won that contest hands down. He had an "i" problem. Five times you will read the little pronoun "i" in these two verses. He was stoned on the drug of self. He suffered from two problems: inflation and deflation. He had an inflated view of who he was, and a deflated view of who God was. His pride had made him too big for his spiritual britches. C. S. Lewis once said, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you can't see something ...

1086. John 1:29-42

John 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... s (as opposed to Matthew’s) personal rendition of Jesus’ first actions in his public ministry. What is common is important. What is distinct is important. Each gospel writer has a body of information to impart. But each gospel writer has a particular point of view, the beat of their own pulse, that shapes and sharpens the details to which they are privy. In John’s gospel the details of Jesus’ baptism are presented in a very different way than they are in the Synoptic gospels. Instead of the “live ...

1087. All Boxed In?

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... emerge after a truly conclusive closure. If every year’s Easter is a celebration of a resurrection, then every year something must die to this world, in order to find itself re-born. The women Mary Magdalen and the “other Mary,” who journeyed to view Jesus’ tomb, were without hope of anything but staring at a rock-blocked cavern. But they were knocked upside the head by no less than an earthquake. The earth upon which these women stood, the strata upon which they trusted their existence, shifted and ...

1088. The Miegakure Messiah

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as one walks within the garden. Pathways intentionally meander. Walking moves from light to dark. You go up hill and down, on paths scattered with stones. And the purpose of all this nonlinearity? To reveal only a portion of the garden or a particular view of the landscape at any one time. A mie-gakure garden would never have one of our favorites — the “scenic overlook” — that one-stop-shop where you pull your car over and see everything there is to see from a single vantage point. After 30 seconds ...

1089. The Logical Conclusion

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

John Smylie

... like that without going into orbit. One of his students decided at that point to become skeptical of academic religious classes. He is not the only one who shares that view. There are others whom I would describe as liberal literalists who have shared his opinion. In fact, one of the more published bishops of the Episcopal Church shares this view. What their comments showed was their narrow and limited minds' ability to grasp the mystery of the incarnation. The fact is that none of us will likely be able to ...

1090. Planning Your Way Out

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... the hearts of many people in our generation, is that it does not define its understanding of "winning." If death is the end of existence, and the one who dies with the most toys wins, then what kind of "winning" is that? The philosophical materialism view of death is summed up in the sentence, "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Good-bye!" "Winning," it seems, leaves all its possessions behind and is therefore no different from losing. How can winning and death be mentioned in the same sentence ...

1091. The Vision of God

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... Paul wants to add his name to the list of visionaries, and he also wants to reorient the Corinthians in their view of such visions. In our modern, flattened, one-dimensional world, the ideas of such visions may seem quaint but primitive. The ... having a vision of God is essential for all of us. How we "see" God, how we "see" ourselves, and how we envision life is essential. Our view of life will either move us closer to or farther from the true center of our gravity: the grace of God. Paul's discussion of his ...

1092. The Last Compact

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... into human hearts. Tablets of stone exist outside human flesh and bone. The renewed contract would be part and parcel of people; not over against them and judging them but inside them, stitched and woven into their very bodies and souls. From the post-resurrection point of view, one would say that the meeting with God at the mountain of Sinai has been supplanted by the meeting with God at the hill of Golgotha, at the cross. The fire and glory of the majestic God at the top of the mountain has become God the ...

1093. Body of Christ: Making Beautiful Music

Illustration

... , a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony orchestra perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and unathletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose "loud" as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players seemed ...

1094. The Devil Made Me Do It

Illustration

Michael Horton

... on with preparing the way for Christ's return. Evidently, personal responsibility for sin can be dismissed by blaming it on an external force. Yet Flip Wilson's famous quip, "The devil made me do it" is hardly comedy when we're talking about the biblical view of sin. For these metaphysical evangelists, even personal sins can be attributed to the bad god, since he is, after all, sovereign over this earthly realm as the good god is relatively in charge of the spiritual domain. Here again, then, is the echo of ...

1095. Men of Enterprise

Illustration

Staff

... these questions as part of this building process, knowing that when used in love and wisdom they will help men open their hearts to each other. Have I been with a woman in the past week that could be viewed as compromising? Have all my financial dealings been filled with integrity? Have I viewed sexually explicit material? Have I spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer? Have I spent quality time and given priority to my family? Have I fulfilled the mandates of my calling? Have I just lied to you?

1096. In the Know

Illustration

Michael Horton

... potent threats to early Christianity came from the heretical group known as the Gnostics. Blending elements of Christianity, Greek philosophy, and oriental mysticism, the Gnostics denied the orthodox view of God, man, and the world, and Christ. The apostle John included them in the camp of the Antichrist. The Gnostics were so called because of their view of revelation. The word gnosis is the Greek word for "knowledge." In many cases the Gnostic heretics did not make a frontal assault against the apostles or ...

1097. Dimes In Your Eyes

Illustration

Cedric Gowler

In I Talk Back to the Devil, A.W. Tozer reminds us: "Money often comes between men and God. Someone has said that you can take two small ten-cent pieces, just two dimes, and shut out the view of a panoramic landscape. Go to the mountains and just hold two coins closely in front of your eyes the mountains are still there, but you cannot see them at all because there is a dime shutting off the vision in each eye." It doesn't take large quantities of ...

1098. Do You Know Your Place?

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... scenery never changes.” In other words, only the lead dog gets to see what is up ahead. Only the lead dog gets to sniff out new possibilities, gets to choose a new path. For the rest of the pack, there is nothing but a view of bushy backsides. No wonder in life we are all constantly striving to be “lead dogs.” Across the political spectrum, there is one common refrain. As the 2012 political races heat up every candidate, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal or libertarian, encourages their ...

1099. Breaking Loose

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... to play. Larimore wondered if she would risk the momentary shock. Was the memory of the pain she had experienced in the past too scary? As the family slowly moved down the beach, the dog stayed in the yard. When the playful puppies were out of view, the retriever sunk down, Larimore declares, and literally moaned. The next morning while out for a walk Dr. Larimore met the dog’s owner and shared his observations from the evening before. The owner laughed. “You know,” he said, “we’ve had that wire ...

1100. Toss Your Cap Over the Wall

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... was one he had at a state dinner with Nancy Astor, whose own reputation for acid wit and instant repartee was considerable. During this dinner Lady Astor was compelled to listen to Churchill expound his views on a great number of subjects, all of them at variance with her own strongly held views. Finally, no longer able to hold her tongue, she spat, “Winston, if you were my husband, I would flavor your coffee with poison.” To which Churchill immediately replied, “Madam, if I were your husband, I ...

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