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 1101 to 1125 of 1499 results

1101. To Be Somebody

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

A few years ago, Vance Packard wrote a book he called The Staus Seekers. From him and others like him we learn that having an office with a window and a carpet might be more important than getting a raise. So what encouragement is there for those who make sandwiches for a cafeteria? Or who fill mail orders at Wards? Or who make boxes at Hoerner Waldorf? Or who are retired - whose job history is in the past? Martin Luther King Jr. coined a word that says what we all hunger for: somebodiness. It seems to me ...

1102. The Sermon on the Level

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

The word that Christ our Lord would like to have us hear this All Saints’ Sunday is a firm word, gently spoken, lovingly applied. Faintly we recall that he said something similar to this before, in a sermon everyone applauds, but few apply, The Sermon on the Mount. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," we remember, and we like that. It doesn’t touch our assets. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," and we could use a little righteousness like ours around the nation and the church today ...

1103. Life in the Sunbelt

Malachi 4:1-6

Sermon

Remember the song: "That’s what I like about the South"? There appears to be something special about the southern area of our nation. People who live there seem to love it. They say its good for your health. Industry is shifting in that direction. Flocks of snowbirds flee there from winter’s drabness in the North. People like me dream of someday owning a place in Florida. The sunbelt draws us. There is promise in thoughts of it. It must have been a southerner who wrote the old song that says, "Cheer up, my ...

1104. Arise, O Church of God, Arise!

Sermon

"The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted. Jesus draw near and said to them: "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all people everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, to the end of the age." ( ...

1105. The Way He Taught

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

"Jesus finished saying these things, and the crowds were amazed at the way he taught. He wasn't like their teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with buthority." (St. Matthew 7:28, 29 TEV) Our precious Christian faith is first of all and foremost the good news that God loves us and forgives us in Chrst, his son. It is the story of our salvation, the story of the cross and the open tomb. But along with that also goes the challenge of Christianity - the scintilating invitation to carry out God's will in ...

1106. Fixing The Fox!

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

The Bible says that there is no peace for the wicked. It is also true that there is no peace for the righteous, for the two are ever in conflict with each other. For this reason we refer to the church on earth as the church militant. It is ever at war with evil in the world. Jesus once said, "I have not come to bring peace but a sword ..." Paul thinks of a Christian as a soldier who is to put on "the whole armor of God" that he may stand up against the principalities and powers of the world. Among our ...

1107. Born Naked With A Cross

Sermon

Ever hear of a baby born wearing diapers? Of course not! Ever hear of a person being born again wearing nothing but a cross? This happened to St. Francis of Assisi. When Francis decided to be a priest; his father disinherited him and brought him to trial before a bishop. Peter Bernardone demanded that his son give back all the money he took from him for the church and the poor. Francis threw a bag of money at his father's feet. Francis shuddered when he saw how his father clung to the money. Francis called ...

1108. Mustard or Mash Potatoes?

Galatians 5:16-26

Children's Sermon

Object: salt, vinegar, and mustard. Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever tried to hit a ball with a tree branch or walk barefooted on a very hot sidewalk or hot sand? If you have, you know that some things just don't go together. You need shoes to walk across something that is hot and you need a bat to hit a ball. Those things are made to go together and the others are not. I brought along some other things that you know a lot about that I think will help you understand one of God's teachings this ...

1109. Parable on Love and Friendship

Hebrews 13:1-25

Illustration

"I consider him to be my friend, even though he never met me and wouldn't know my name." "What kind of a friend is that?' said Dick. "Well," explained Bill, "it's a friendship of a good man for all humanity. That fellow is always doing good for our community. He helps provide the parks which we enjoy. He worked on the financing of our community playground and he stands for good government. He is my friend because the world is better for his presence." "It seems good to me to count my friends among those ...

1110. The Friday We Call Good

John 18:1-11

Sermon

Dean Lueking

A Strange Title for This Day We call this Friday - good. I recall a comment by a person who challenged this tradition of calling the day of Jesus’ crucifixion a good day. She told me that there was enough betrayal, denial, violence, bloodshed and death in the world. The idea of coming together in a church to hear of all this as it was heaped on Jesus was too much for her. She could not hear of it without coming to tears, or feeling a combination of outrage and depression. From Other Traditions But still we ...

1111. PROPER 29

Ezekiel 34:1-31, Matthew 25:31-46, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Theme: God is a shepherd to his people Call to Worship Pastor: God is aware that his people often feel lost like sheep who have no shepherd. People: We cannot live without divine guidance to lead us through life. Pastor: God loves all his people, and promises to lead us like a shepherd who loves his sheep. People: We trust in God to keep us under his protective love! Collect Gracious Father, who cares for your children like a faithful shepherd: Be near us in all our ...

1112. Possession is Nine Tenths of the Fall

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

D. Wayne Burkette

Graham Greene writes in one of his novels, "If a man loves a place enough he doesn’t need to possess it; it’s enough for him to know that it is safe and unaltered...." (The Tenth Man, New York, Pocket Books, 1986, p. 89.) The trouble is that we never seem to be able to love quite enough, at least not enough to be delivered from the unhappy desire to own our lives and almost everything that touches them. It seems so often that nothing pleases some people more than the feeling that life is like putty in ...

1113. A Joyful New Beginning

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Let us pray: Gracious and everliving Father, on this day which is greater than all the days, we come seeking to understand the eternal message of the gospel and how it may transform our lives. May we in these moments not only come to know that Jesus lives, but may we come to know him as brother and friend. In Christ's holy name we pray, Amen. The philosopher Sidney Hook writes in an article titled "In Defense of Voluntary Euthanasia" about how at one point in his life he was near death. The treatment for ...

1114. First Sunday after Christmas

Matthew 2:13-18

Bulletin Aid

Theme: God's road to freedom Exegetical note Everything about this uniquely Matthewan account suggests that his purpose is not to recount actual history, but to depict Jesus as (1) the fulfillment of the Davidic-messianic expectations of the prophets, (2) Moses redivivus, and (3) the new Israel itself, called out of Egypt. In this context, the sojourn and eventual departure of the Holy Family for Galilee (under angelic orders!) suggest the beginning of a journey out of captivity and toward freedom. Call to ...

1115. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Daniel 2:24-49, Daniel 2:1-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

My friend Mary Jane had just picked up her little boy from kindergarten. She was in a hurry, so she eased through a stop sign instead of coming to a complete stop. A city policeman saw it all and pulled her over. He was very abrupt and stern. She tried to offer a word of explanation but he interrupted and said, "I'm going back to my car and write you up." Mary Jane sat there seething with anger. She said out loud, "That turkey! That guy is an absolute turkey!" She forgot that her four-year-old son was ...

1116. "I appeal to Caesar!"

Acts 24:1-27, Acts 25:1-12

Sermon Aid

CSS

Two years at Caesarea! Today people might regard that as an ideal vacation - warm Mediterranean breezes, a rocky shoreline with some sandy beaches, daily pageantry with the drills of the Roman legions, plenty of sunshine and swimming. Today, only a few miles to the south, the shore is lined with the high-rise resort hotels of Tel-Aviv. Caesarea itself has become a tourist mecca, carefully excavated and restored to indicate some of the amenities of Roman civilization - paved streets, aqueducts to bring ...

1117. Suffering for Christ

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

Jesus said: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who ...

1118. Does God Give A Damn?

Exodus 5:22--6:12

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"Moreover I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold in bondage and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment, and I will take you for my people, and I will be your God.’ " When someone does not care, bitterly we say in the vernacular, "He does not ...

1119. Children of the Eighth Day

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

It’s a long way from the bottom to the top. But that is the call of the Christian life. "That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4b). The title of this chapter belongs to Thornton Wilder. In his book, the scene opens on New Year’s Eve, 1899, just before the new century is born. A group of men are sitting around the stove in a country store. Dr. Gillis, the community seer, is facing the question, "What will the new ...

1120. BE A DARKNESS DISPELLER

Illustration

John H. Krahn

As you got out of bed this morning, did you feel like you belonged to a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God? And tomorrow morning, as the daily grind begins again, will you be thinking as you brush the old ivories, "What ways am I going to declare God’s wonderful deeds today?" Will any of us plot how we might upset the devil, the prince of terrorists? How many of us will let the light of Christ shine through us and be among the darkness dispellers? Will any of us ...

1121. WASHED ANY FEET LATELY?

Illustration

John H. Krahn

As Jesus and his disciples gathered in the upper room, something seemed to be wrong. Although it is not explicitly stated in the narrative, we can surmise what it might have been. But first let us set the stage. In the Lord’s day when people gathered for a meal, it was the slave’s duty to wash the people’s feet before the meal began. The Lord and his disciples were poor; therefore the disciples probably took turns washing off the dust of the roads from the sandaled feet of the little brotherhood. Normally ...

1122. The Guy With The Donkey

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

There is an old story about a pastor who was having problems and decided to leave the ministry. But he ran into trouble finding another job. Finally, in desperation, he took a job at the local zoo. The gorilla had died, and since it had been the children's favorite animal, the zoo officials decided to put someone in a gorilla costume until a real replacement could be found. To the minister's surprise, he liked the job. He got lots of attention and could eat all he wanted. There was no stress--no deadlines ...

1123. Mary Magdalene, Stephanus, and Lucia

Drama

Jon Joyce

Setting Night on a Jerusalem street. Properties may include background painting of a first century building in front of which Mary Magdalene is standing when she encounters Stephanus and Lucia. Normally, no properties are required other than the audience’s imagination. Costumes Mary: flowing robe of black and white. Veil of same material, white, to cover hair. Sandals. A sparkling ring or two on her hands. Stephanus: simple white toga, sandals. Lucia: long, simple dress of bright colors. She may wear ...

1124. It’s Not So Bad To Be A Beggar

Acts 3:1-10

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Nobody wants to be a beggar. They used to come to our door, when I was a child, and my mother always fed them. They must have had a special language among them, for it seemed to us children that every hungry, needy beggar finally found his way to our house. Mother never turned one away. We were very poor ourselves, and when we would protest her constant kindness to them in giving them a free meal, our mother had a standard reply: "Now children, you know the Bible says ‘Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least ...

1125. When We Mourn

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Did you ever wish you could have been in on the heart to heart talks that Jesus had with that little band of twelve? In our Gospel for this All Saints’ Sunday, we have what are called "Beatitudes" from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew has a habit of collecting together all the sayings of Jesus on a particular subject and putting them together in his Gospel. Most scholars agree that this sermon on the mount is Matthew’s collection and distillation and summary of Jesus’ consistent teaching to his disciples. ...

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