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 1176 to 1200 of 2669 results

1176. Called into Friendship

John 15:1-17

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

... with the personal assurance that he is not a vague person who lived somewhere in history, but someone who lives with us today? Pride is that quality which always stands between us and God. It is that spirit within us which wants to be god, that stubborn belief which thinks we can manage life alone and work out our salvation without help from supernatural sources. As long as pride stands between us and God, God’s love and friendship will not flow into our lives. A pastor told about a friend of his called ...

1177. Back To Basics: The Three R's of Baptism

Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

... what was supposed to bring me happiness? Clearly the answer lay somewhere else." He later understood what was missing. He writes, "What I was missing was spiritual direction." Now let me add that I do not condone the spiritual path that Phil Jackson took. He took many beliefs from Hinduism, to Christianity, to New Age thought and blended them all together. He says he has found his path but that to me is nothing but a maze. But his experience points to a very basic need in life. It’s one of the three R ...

1178. Jesus' Visit

John 20:24-31, John 20:19-23

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: How do we help a brother or sister who is having trouble with their belief? It's difficult but the people who knew Jesus had the same problem. We can learn from them. Summary: Carl is having trouble believing in Jesus and Christianity. He relates to Thomas, the disciple, and witnesses Thomas' encounter with the risen Christ. Playing Time: 3 1/2 minutes Setting: Modern ...

1179. Search for The Treasure

John 17:6-19

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... . Maybe we are the God-forsaken ones. BEA: What do you mean? AILY: Listen to this: What if the "height power" is power from God? That would be power out of height, wouldn't it? BEA: God? An almighty being? No one believes in God anymore. That ancient belief is as old as the tablet. AILY: Exactly. As old as this tablet. Exactly. The "pledge of the Father." "The inheritance of the Father." Don't you see? The inheritance of God is the power from the height. BEA: But there is no God. We learned that in school ...

1180. Astonishing!

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

... . Legend has it that in 1589 Galileo summoned learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to the top and pushed off a ten-pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant. The power of belief was so strong, however, that the professors denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right. I believe that this illustrates perfectly what is going on in the world today. You could show the terrible ravaging effects of AIDS and people will have promiscuous ...

1181. The Terrible Tree

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

George Bass

Jesus had to die, according to the religious leaders of Jerusalem, because his continued existence posed a serious threat to their system of religious beliefs and worship in their God’s holy Temple. And now, just before the beginning of the Passover, they were rid of him once and for all. On the orders of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, Jesus was marched out of the city, forced to carry his own cross, and brutally ...

1182. The Final Farewell

Luke 24:50-53, Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

George Bass

... and, in the eyes of the world, so ignominiously, is closed out in triumph. He had to return to his Father, simply because he could not go on, century after century, manifesting his resurrected person to doubters and believers alike. That would have mislocated belief in Christ in the realm of sight, rather than of faith (where it belongs). Even the women and the disciples had to take the Resurrection on faith; no one saw him actually rise from the dead and leave the tomb that first Easter morning. Jesus ...

1183. The Technicolor Sign

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Larry Powell

... , bearing little resemblance to the flawless spirit with which we were endowed. See now the restoration. Yes! In the hands of the Creator, we too can be restored and sing with the Psalmist; "He leads me beside the still waters; he restores my soul." Our belief is not merely an anxious wish, but rather a promise punctuated by signs in which we recognize God’s continuing involvement with what he has made. The bow is still in the clouds. The Cross still hangs above the altar. The covenant is yet binding ...

1184. An Old Plan For New People

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Larry Powell

... need it when there is already light. The moon shines at night when we need light." The tribesmen were unable to comprehend that the sun created the light of day, as well as providing light at night by reflecting off the moon. Their belief was based upon a longstanding tradition which obscured the fact that all things in nature are conceived against the background of sunlight. Sangster suggests that such a primitive, uninformed understanding of reality is no greater an absurdity than the modern mind which ...

1185. A Thimble Full Of Ocean

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Larry Powell

A prominent magazine recently featured a story about a Russian family whose dramatic escape from the Soviet Union attracted world-wide attention. It was not a pretty story. The family’s pentecostal beliefs first brought down hatefully-pronounced warnings from Communist party officials. Soon following, however, the family’s persistent prayer and Bible readings angered the authorities to the point that threats gave way to incidents of violence and persecution. Harassment, repeated interrogations, public ...

1186. What Would We Do Without Friends?

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

... ’s unpaid bills. We too often in the main line denominations have not offered people what they are seeking. Like the crowd in the story, we unintentionally have become a barrier to people coming come to Jesus. Our complacency and lack of enthusiasm for our beliefs are the bricks and mortar. We need to ask ourselves: is the system reaching others for Christ or are we simply meeting one another’s agenda. We somehow have to get beyond routine and maintenance to let people know that we care about them as ...

1187. Going The Wrong Way On A One Way Street

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... seem to be so now. As a matter of fact, the opposite seems to be true. At first glance, it seems that those who disregard God and neighbor are the big successes in life. Appearances are sometimes deceiving. Things are not always what they seem. Belief in God The Pharisees in our text believed in God. Many people today say they believe in God. Sometimes people who say that they believe only appear to believe. Appearances can be deceiving. Not everyone who says he believes really believes. In the famous Grand ...

1188. When A Grain Of Wheat Falls

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Brett Blair

... a shame then when churches and Christian movements de-emphasize the cross. Theologian H. Richard Neibuhr condemns cross-less Christianity whether liberal Protestantism or the evangelical "feel good" seeker-sensitive churches promotes it. With biting sarcasm he describes such beliefs as, "A God without wrath bringing men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross." In a word: There is no Christianity without the Cross! The cross is indispensable. For in ...

1189. When The Cheering Stopped

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Brett Blair

... spoke up and said: “I have a problem with your use of the word commitment. That sounds very binding and restricting.” Listen to what Methodist Bishop Kenneth Carder (Tennessee) wrote recently: “The church of today has become an institution in which even belief in God is optional or peripheral. Marketing techniques for a multiple option institution have replaced response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the means of membership enlistment. The basic appeal is to self-defined needs rather than a call to ...

1190. A Good God and the Problem of Suffering

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... taking a pleasant drive in the evening; two drunks, coming around a curve at seventy miles per hour, hit my friends head-on. My friends died; the two drunks lived. Why? In a retreat I asked the group, "What is your most difficult problem relative to Christian Belief?" This was the answer of one woman: "Giving up all our children, whom we so much wanted and loved. First an infant son. Second an infant daughter. Third a daughter 13 1/2 years old. There was no bitterness in my soul - but a deep heart hunger ...

1191. Coping When It Seems Impossible

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... do get sick. The unhappy person is the target for any and every kind of illness." Larson goes on to share the secret of his ability to cope with life: "We Christians, of all people, have a good reason to hope. Hope is a gift of God based on the belief that God created us and is our friend and helper. If I believe in a God who cares about me and enters into my life, then my future is truly unlimited. If I am an accident of creation or a biological mistake, then I have no reason to think that ...

1192. What?

John 6:56-69

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... offers to all who believe what will sustain us and bring newness of life. Come, let us open our hearts to receive the truth God would have us know. Let us worship the God of life. Collect We come to you, O living God, knowing that we waver between belief and unbelief, between faith and no faith. We come to you wanting to take you into our lives. We want to receive nourishment and sustenance as rich as the food that builds and rebuilds the cells of our bodies. Be life to us, O God. Amen. Prayer of Confession ...

1193. The Dynamic Word

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

"The whole life and substance of the church," said Luther, "is in the Word of God." To the Reformer the Word of God was something much more than a collection of sentences or a set of beliefs. It is the living voice of God himself as he speaks to us, revealing, reconciling, energizing, creating, and sustaining the church. This is precisely the way scripture, both the Old Testament and the New, describes the Word of God. Let us examine this dynamic Word, observing first the dynamic nature ...

1194. The Choice Is Always Ours

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... too severe fall upon us?" 3) "Is there life beyond ambiguities, these paradoxical happenings which bring together success and failure, happiness and sorrow, life and death?" But, having acknowledged this, we must follow Saint Paul’s lead, a strategy and a belief dramatically illustrated by his life, to affirm that we must take responsiblity that is ours when defeats, disasters, and tragedies completely overwhelm us. For the "ball-of-fortune" will be returned to our court, and when it does, we will have ...

1195. Dying to Become

2 Corinthians 5:17

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... Dying to become" is possible to a person who chooses to die to the old self in order that the new self - the new creation - may emerge. From his studies in the history of religions, Mircea Eliade describes, in his book Birth and Rebirth, the belief of primitive persons that a state of being cannot be changed without first being annihilated. Eliade describes the puberty rite of a primitive tribe in Australia that includes the three stages of "death, gestation, and rebirth." In this rite, the son is torn away ...

1196. Thomas Didymus: An Honest Skeptic

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... cannot rely only on the five senses, one must rely on the knowledge which comes to the spirit through faith. Easter day has come and gone; are you like Thomas, the doubter who said he could not accept such nonsense about resurrection? Saint Paul said the Christian belief in the Living Lord was a stumbling block to the Jews, and a folly to the Gentiles. Look around you this morning ... are you ready to be a fool for Christ and say with the now believing Thomas, "My Lord and My God," on the spiritual evidence ...

1197. In Praise of Feeling Guilty

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... naturally, I poisoned all my lovers. But now I’m happy, I have learned The lesson this has taught; That everything I do that’s wrong Is someone else’s fault. b) This fits also into behaviorism and B. F. Skinner’s belief that all behavior is predetermined by the environment and thus involuntary. Free will was denied - and token economies and behavior mod and programmed learning blossomed everywhere. In many situations the effectiveness of these approches is astounding, and it is at our own peril ...

1198. Preconceived Ideas

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

... knew his Bible. Elijah was suppose to come back before the end time. When the disciples told Jesus that some people thought he was Elijah, they were expressing a common thought among the people that the end was very near. The Jews had held fast to this belief for over 900 years. Little wonder then that when Jesus was on the cross and he spoke the words “Eli Eli,” which actually means “My God, My God,” that some mistook him to be calling on Elijah. In Mark 13:35 it reads: “Behold, he is calling ...

1199. Who Are You?

John 1:19-28

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... in our hearts. Please turn to your neighbor and give voice to one or two words about yourself. Collect We come here, O God, as your people with the special identity of being your children. We come with all our diversity of plans, beliefs, backgrounds, and credentials. We come as yours in expectation of your coming in human form to us. Amen. Prayer of Confession "Who are you?" This question calls us to attention. The list grows from defining ourselves in terms of our relationships to ascribing particular ...

1200. What Must I DO to Receive Life?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

... just as confused as our rich young ruler. He had no peace in his life. He was a monk who wanted to please God but he felt like an awful sinner. On a trip to Rome he encountered the church’s corrupt practice of selling indulgences the belief that financial contributions to the church could release loved ones from purgatory. He paid the fee to climb Pilate’s stairs—the supposed staircase that Jesus climbed the day He was sentenced to death. There where 28 steps. You were to crawl on your hands and knees ...

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