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 1201 to 1225 of 3285 results

1201. The Girl Who Was Too Smart to Learn

Luke 2:25

Children's Sermon

... out on the court every chance he got and she got better quickly. She won a tournament for children aged twelve and under, and everyone thought she had a great future in the sport. Her father wanted her to keep playing in order to reach the next level of ability, but the girl said, "No, Daddy, I already know how to play tennis. Let me do something else." The little girl was too smart to learn ... or, I should say, she thought she was too smart to learn. As soon as she knew a little bit about something, she ...

1202. People Skills

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... of one million dollars per year. Schwab, a steel executive, was once asked what it was that made him worth so much. He replied, ‘It's not that I know more about steel than anybody else. The greatest asset I possess is my ability to arouse enthusiasm among people. I have learned that people respond best to appreciation and encouragement.’ People may respond to threats or bribery, but neither their respect nor affection is won. However, if people are affirmed and thanked and encouraged, their hearts will ...

1203. Second Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 11:1-16

Bulletin Aid

... description of the ideal Davidic king (i.e., the hoped-for Messiah) contains three pairs of desired qualities: wisdom and understanding (intellectual), counsel and might (political), and knowledge and fear of God (spiritual). All of these derive, not from the ruler's innate abilities, but from the Spirit of God that will be upon him; and the righteousness that will "gird" him will bias him toward the poor and the meek, and will lead to a paradisal, peaceful state that will affect, not only Israel ("my holy ...

1204. Lent 2

Romans 4:1-25

Bulletin Aid

... awaits your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession God of boundless mercy, we confess that we do not really put our faith in you and your grace, but try instead to make our fortunes and build our futures through our own abilities and achievements; and we admit that we lead pointless and pitiful lives as a result. Forgive us, O God, and give us the faith of our father Abraham and our mother Sarah, who centered their lives and placed their hopes in your promises, and found fulfillment ...

1205. Third Sunday in Lent

Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 95:1-11, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Bulletin Aid

... , like the Israelites of old, we have tried you and tested you by breaking your commandments, ignoring your will, and doubting your word, and we have wound up wandering aimlessly in a spiritual wilderness of our own making. Forgive us, we pray; give us by your grace the desire and ability to commit ourselves fully and to entrust ourselves completely to you; and lead us finally into the promised glory of your coming Reign and the image of Christ Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen

1206. Lent 4

John 9:1-12

Bulletin Aid

... the restoration of sight in this carefully-tailored narrative works at two levels: (1) at the literal, it is a mighty act that demonstrates the inbreaking of God's Reign and the identity of Jesus as the Messiah; and (2) at the figurative, it refers to the ability of this Christ to deliver people from spiritual blindness (as well as the capacity of some to choose blindness by rejecting him). Call to Worship (based on Psalm 23) Leader: Let us enter God's house! People: LET US SIT AT GOD'S TABLE! Leader: Let ...

1207. Lent 5

Romans 8:1-17

Bulletin Aid

... boundless Spirit, you have declared in scripture and demonstrated in Jesus the power to bring life out of death. Revive us as well: that, the dead parts of our souls and lives thus resurrected, we may become living and breathing testimonies of your gracious ability to save. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession God of life-giving power, we acknowledge with the deepest regret the deadly hold that we allow the things of the world to have over us, and especially power, possessions, privilege, and ...

1208. Proper 13

Exodus 12:1-30

Bulletin Aid

... of Confession Most patient God, we confess that we do not live lives of true faith, believing that the good things that you have promised will come to pass, but rather lower our expectations and qualify our trust, and wind up relying upon ourselves and our own abilities rather than upon your power and providence. Forgive us, we pray, and cultivate within us by your Holy Spirit the conviction that you are as good as your word, that you will be active in our lives in redemptive ways, and that you will be our ...

1209. Proper 14

Psalm 106:1-48, Exodus 13:17--14:31

Bulletin Aid

... handiwork. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession Loving God of mercy, we confess that whenever we encounter "deep waters" in the course of our lives, our first impulse is to deal with them under our own power and relying upon our own abilities; and we admit that, more often than not, we wind up "over our heads." Forgive us, we pray, and remind us with the example of the Israelites at the Red Sea that you will be active on our behalf to overcome whatever obstacles we encounter, however ...

1210. God's Word at Work

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Bulletin Aid

... of you. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession God of wondrous love, we confess with shame that we have not tapped the power of your holy Word that you most graciously have instilled in us; that we have relied too much on our own abilities and strengths; and that we have failed to do justice to your holy gospel as a result. Forgive us, we pray, and give us the wisdom to search within ourselves for your divine power, the good fortune to find it, and the good sense to use it in our ...

1211. Proper 27

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Bulletin Aid

... oneness with him: that, realizing our present unity with him, we may be active in our continuing mission until he comes. In his precious name we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession Faithful God, we confess that, when we look at our troubled world, we often despair at our ability to do anything at all to help it, and sometimes use the conviction that Jesus will come again and fix it all as an excuse to sit back and do nothing except long for that day. Forgive us, we pray, and make our faith in the coming of ...

1212. Easter 2

John 20:19-23

Sermon Aid

... who have created loneliness for themselves through false pride and phobic fear. (silence) 5. Pray for words to restore self respect and to awaken hope; for sensitiveness to know the time to speak and the time to be silent; for courage to be frank and the ability to speak the truth in love. (silence) 6. Pray for freedom from self and such commitment to Christ and his kingdom as will liberate us to be perpetual intercessors, living for and with other people in the name of the Lord. (silence) 7. Finally, pray ...

1213. A High Opinion of Self

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

R. Curtis Fussell

... millions of high school students take each year. On that test there are a number of other questions besides the ones about math and English which the students are asked to answer. For instance, they are asked to evaluate their leadership ability. Recently in an exam, seventy percent of the students rated themselves as above average in leadership, and only two percent as below average. Sixty percent rated themselves as above average in athletics while only six percent said below. When they rated themselves ...

1214. A Glory Revealed in Liberty

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... Death ruled (as king)4 from Adam to Moses."5 In these scriptures sin is not merely a minor defect or flaw in human character; it is not merely a misdirected or weakened will. Sin is stronger than our will, our intelligence, our moral ability, or our physical prowess. Sin is revealed as an objective power, a mighty lord, which seizes, imprisons, mistreats, and eventually kills its victims. People under sin’s power reminded me of a public television presentation I saw once. The program described the return ...

1215. A Glory Revealed in the King

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Charles M. Mountain

... kind of King. Zechariah foresaw his strange glory, and saw the King arriving at the Holy City not mounted on a traditional military symbol of a horse nor in a chariot, but instead on a donkey. We do not think much of donkeys in our day, neither their ability to work, nor their symbolic value. But this kind of mount may have spoken volumes to the crowds of first century Palestine. Jesus came as King, to be sure, but by riding on the donkey he was silently declaring that he was a King coming as the Prince ...

1216. Dry Bones And Live Hope

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Charles Curley

... which enabled her to make sense out of life. As she faced the irreversible, physical evidence of Lazarus’ death, something inside her died as well. In this world, there are many ways to die. Relationships die, belief withers, confidence in our own ability to cope evaporates, hopes for peace, health and happiness fade away before the harsh realities of life. Look around you, the evidence is there before your eyes that Lazarus is dead in our world as well: problems which defy solution ... emptiness and ...

1217. "On The Way To The Cross"

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

... go to Jerusalem, that he must suffer, that he must die ... they never heard. All the securities they clung to as they celebrated in triumph that Palm Sunday kept them from hearing Jesus. I don’t know if we are any further along than the disciples in our ability to hear Jesus this day. What do we need from Jesus which blocks us from hearing him this Palm Sunday? "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace!" His peace comes from the very things we want to flee. His peace comes to those ...

1218. Poured Out for Many

Exodus 24:1-18, Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

... Supper prefigures something that we can only now dimly perceive - like the wedding feast of the Lamb perhaps? Maybe when we drink Christ’s blood of the New Covenant, we are looking through a glass darkly, drawn into a great Mystery that far exceeds our perceptual abilities. I would go even further and suggest that the communion language about blood is intended to throw you off a bit. An elder once complained to a pastor about the use of a common loaf and cup in communion. "It’s so messy," she said, "it ...

1219. Don't Let the Parade Pass You By

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... . Ronald Reagan’s attitude toward John Hinckley, the man who tried to kill him, made a deep impression on Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis. She wrote, "(On the day following the attack) my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley." (3) To forgive is to set a prisoner free and to discover that the prisoner was you! Jesus gave us the instruction and then set the example. He said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate ...

1220. A Fool’s Tools

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

... know. But after discovery has occurred, there are other reasons why a tool still may be ignored. Fear can be devastating. We can fear ourselves ... perhaps even convincing ourselves that we can’t use the tool. Words like "I can’t" or "I really don’t have the ability" can flow glibly across our tongues. Then there’s the fear of others - fear of what might happen to us if we did use that tool. And we might pull back ... not getting involved. Then the same thing could be said of us that might have been ...

1221. For Freedom!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

... children. Spouses do it to each other. Bosses do it to employees. Pastors sometimes even do it to the members of their congregations. God in whom we trust is gracious - he gives us far more than we can merit or deserve. Included in that gift is the permission and ability to like ourselves, to hold our heads up, to feel good about ourselves in Christ. When we demand of one another that the services we render or the favors we supply be noted on a balance sheet and, somehow, be paid in kind at some time in the ...

1222. Repent Your Way To A Merry Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

... no more taxes than is appointed to you. And soldiers also came and asked: And what shall we do? And he said: Rob no more and do not make false accusations. In other words, whatever your role or task is in life, do it ethically to the best of your ability. If you are a tax collector, then be an honest tax collector. If you are a soldier, be a good soldier and not a cruel, corrupt one. In whatever role you are in, do what you can where you are. Christian service is not just a missionary in a foreign ...

1223. Sinners Anonymous

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... a similar excuse of weakness). The parent who does not attend adult Bible class cannot understand why the life of his teenager does not conform with the biblical pattern. Always there is this inability to understand the sins of others. Always there is this ability to soundly condemn those whose problems take a different form from ours. We develop a kind of snobbishness about our own sins. But the unusual thing here is that Christ seems to be rather insistent, and so are the Scriptures, that there is only ...

1224. Echoes of Eternity

Matthew 10:24-32

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... souls just as precious as our own. Jesus urges us to acknowledge him before others. (10:32) Of course, there will always be enough excuses for not doing this. Most will sound plausible to our ears. We may even be happy in our clever ability to keep ourselves so busy doing the little perishable things such as keeping social engagements where the name of Christ is never mentioned, taking friends of friends on Sunday morning outings, showing them every beach, zoo, park, and flower garden, but shuddering to ...

1225. Scenes From a Marriage

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Craig Erickson

... and frank - brutally frank at times. They are articulate about their deepest needs, fears, and disappointments - so articulate, in fact, that one wonders who will be left to pick up the pieces. The genius of Bergman’s screenplay lies in his ability to show how otherwise desirable virtues can be destructive to human relationships. Open communication? Sure. That’s what you want in a marriage. But in Bergman’s film, it provokes a defensive hostility that causes the marriage to unravel. How about "being ...

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