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 3082 results

1201. Easter Vigil

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Romans 6:1-14, Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The Old Testament lessons for the Easter Vigil represent a wide sweep of texts that explore the mighty acts of God as both savior and creator. The central text for the Easter Vigil is the account of Israel's salvation at the Reed Sea in Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21. The actions of God in our world—from creation to the full realization of a distant future salvation—are all viewed in light of the reality of Israel's salvation at the sea. This event will also be our lens as we read through ...

1202. You Had Better Get It Right

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

James Merritt

Even little children understand that there are some things you had better get right and understand to be true, or you can get yourself into big trouble. For example: I came across a little document entitled "Great truths about life that little children have learned." Here are some of them: No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. If your sister hits you don't hit her back; they always catch the second person. Never ask your three- ...

1203. Is Jesus The Only Way?

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

It may surprise you to know what many Americans consider to be the most serious sin. No, it’s not murder. Even murder can have mitigating factors. According to an article by Daniel Taylor in “Christianity Today,” many Americans consider the worst sin to be intolerance. And guess who are the worst sinners, in the minds of many Americans.... We evangelical Christians! One writer said, "Christians are seen as the pit bulls of culture wars small brains, big teeth, strong jaws, and no interest in compromise." A ...

1204. John 13:31-35

John 13:31-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Most scholars agree that the form John's gospel takes came about after careful literary arranging and theological layering. There is considerable evidence that the author and the Johannine community worked together to record a gospel that reflected both the life of Jesus that the disciples witnessed and the life of faith first-century Christians were living. The so-called "farewell discourse," encompassing the extended portion from 13:31-17:26, reflects these two agendas. Biblical scholars have fits and ...

1205. The Weakest Link

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

I'm beginning a series of messages that I've always wanted to do on probably my favorite portions of Scripture in the Bible—the parables of Jesus. I'm entitling this series "Virtual Reality—God's Favorite Stories." Did you know that 1/3 of all of the things that Jesus taught, He taught with parables? Someone has defined a parable as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That is why I refer to the parables as virtual reality. Because in the parables we learn there is a connection between the visible ...

1206. One Step at a Time

Nehemiah 2:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

Two hundred thousand miles from home. You can't pull over to a gas station. You can't take your spaceship into the garage, but you now know that you have two hours to keep your space ship from becoming a permanent tomb floating in outer space. Jim Lovell, John Swigert, and Fred Haise realized they were facing an elephant of a problem, but they kept their wits about them enough to realize that the way to solve their problem was the same way you eat an elephant - one bite at a time. Has it ever occurred to ...

1207. Mrs. Proverbs

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Stan Purdum

It's a question you've probably not thought much about, but were any parts of the Bible written by women? We count about forty different writers in scripture, and according to the usual assumption, all of them were men. Among the reasons for that conclusion is the fact that the dominant culture of the ancient Middle East was patriarchal. Men were in charge, and women had few rights of their own, not unlike in some of the stricter Muslim countries today. Also, in those times, literacy rates for women were ...

1208. What Outsiders Can Teach Us

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

Those of us ministers actively engaged in congregational worship don't get many opportunities to visit other churches and to worship in different settings. We're pretty much committed to being in our own congregations for the better part of the year. Four or six Sundays at most is about all we have to experience how others go about it. Actually, this pattern begins for most of us even before we're ordained. A colleague related that in divinity school he was a youth minister and only got a couple of Sundays ...

1209. Song Sung Blue

Lamentations 1:1-6

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Some records are made to be broken — like Olympic speed skating; Cal Ripkin, Jr.'s, most consecutive baseball game appearances; and North Dakota's longest cow chip toss. Other records we'd prefer to let stand — the world's deadliest disaster, or the most active hurricane season, for instance. Years 2004 and 2005 will probably make the books as among the most dramatic in weather history. Hurricanes pounded the southern coast of the USA. Floods and blizzards battered the Midwest. Earthquakes devastated parts ...

1210. If Your Sense of Purpose Ever Becomes a Burden, Remember Your Value

Matthew 10:40-42

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Do you ever wish you counted for something, that you had value? All the talk about purpose in church circles these days tries to respond to the natural human desire to count for something, to be somebody. But I worry about that way of thinking. If your value is all about your purpose in life, what if you fail? Are you then without any value? Today's gospel lesson is Jesus' final words of instruction to his disciples, as he commissioned them to undertake their mission and continued instructing them about ...

1211. Unwanted Freedom

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Chris Ewing

The trouble with words is that they can mean so many different things, depending on who is using them. And the bigger and more important the word, the more this tends to be true. Take, for instance, the word "freedom," or "free." That is a very important word to North Americans — to most of the world, in fact — and it appears to have been a very important word to Jesus. But I really wonder if we're all talking about the same thing? Jesus stated in John 8:32 that the truth would make us free. In a runaway ...

1212. For Example

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

David O. Bales

If you're going to study a subject or learn a profession, a good strategy is to investigate one of the earliest theoreticians or practitioners. If you study physics, you might start with Albert Einstein. There were others, but he's a good beginning. If you're interested in drama, you could turn to William Shakespeare. Other playwrights are around, but he'll give you a good start. If you're considering nursing, you could read up on Florence Nightingale. The work of other early nurses would benefit you, but ...

1213. The Miegakure Messiah

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

These are the high holy days of gardening season. Everything is at its peak — beans, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers. If you planted zucchini you are probably carrying a sack full of those green torpedoes around in your back seat, trying desperately to give them away to friends and neighbors. [If you have some to give away to those present, all the better.] In North America gardens are usually straightforward and straight-rowed. Planted for ease of watering and weeding, for maximum efficient use of the land, for ...

1214. The Logical Conclusion

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

John Smylie

For several years, I had the privilege of serving a congregation in upstate New York. There were many wonderful, faithful people who were part of that congregation. Before I arrived, the membership had decided to build a columbarium. Unlike many churches that create niches inside the church for burial, this group decided to create a rather elaborate and visually attractive outdoor columbarium. The church was blessed with land. It was a fairly narrow plot that extended a great distance from Main Street down ...

1215. Do You Know Your Place?

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The world of sled dog racing is famous for a truism: “If you aren’t the lead dog, the 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, ...

1216. Good Gossip

James 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One of the most popular shows from last season is returning this fall with ads asking potential audiences, “What would you do if your weren’t ‘handicapped’ by sight?” “The Voice” is a talent show that keeps the judges in the dark, so to speak. It requires them to judge all the contestants only on the quality of their voices. The judges’ backs are turned and they never see the performer. Power, poise, presence, emotion, erudition, excitement — it all has to be conveyed to the judges only by the sound of the ...

1217. Someone Bigger than Phil

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

Several years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a comedy skit called the “2013 Year Old Man.” In the skit, Reiner interviews Brooks, who is the old gentleman. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, “Did you always believe in the Lord?” Brooks replied: “No. We had a guy in our village named Phil, and for a time we worshiped him.” Reiner was surprised: “You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?” Brooks replied: “Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you in two with his bare hands!” Reiner asked: “Did ...

1218. 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

“Transfiguration.” What does this big, fifteen letter word mean? It is the gift of being able to look at the familiar and yet see the extraordinary, to see something wholly new and fresh in the normal. Although we usually think of the traditional “Transfiguration” scene presented in the gospels (Luke 9:28ff; Matthew 17:2ff; Mark 9:2ff) as the source of all transfiguration imagery, Paul extends that concept in two different ways in this week’s epistle text. First, Paul “transfigures” the familiar scripture ...

1219. Be Shrewd

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Have you heard of the carnival barker who kept yelling “Alive! Alive! Here! Here! Did you ever see a two-headed baby? Come in! Come in!” The gaff is that they don’t have a two-headed baby inside the tent. They only asked if you ever saw one. This is the kind of shrewdness being celebrated in today’s Scripture reading. Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012), the Mexican novelist and playwright whom some called “the soul of Mexico,” gave a long interview about his writing shortly after he turned 50 and began to ...

1220. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

One of the most commonly trotted out critiques about living a life of faith is that it is all about “pie-in-the-sky-bye-and-bye.” The critics claim that those who put their ultimate faith in a heavenly reward, don’t really engage with this world. This critique is best expressed in the phrase “so heavenly minded, no earthly good.” Hardships and harassments are accepted in this world because “in the next age” heavenly rewards will far outweigh anything this earthly existence might have to offer. “Pie-in-the- ...

1221. Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam

2 Chronicles 10:1--11:4

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

The Kings of Judah: With the narratives of David and Solomon (1 Chron. 11–29 and 2 Chron. 1–9, respectively) the Chronicler has thus far succeeded in establishing a very clear prototype of Israelite kingship. This kingship rests in the eternal promise made to David by Yahweh, the deity of Israel. And it finds its highest expression in the kingship of Solomon, who sits on Yahweh’s throne. Solomon established a cultic center by building the temple in Jerusalem, where both the tabernacle and ark of the ...

1222. Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos

Acts 18:18-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The end of the “second” and the start of the “third missionary journey” are narrated here with almost breathless haste, as though Luke were anxious to have Paul start on his work at Ephesus. The brevity of the narrative leaves us guessing at a number of points as to where and why he went, but for the most part we can plot his course with reasonable confidence and make good sense of all that he did. Because of the broad similarity between this journey and that in 20:3–21:26—the common elements being a ...

1223. Paul’s Longing to See the Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 2:17--3:5

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Paul reflects “the kindness and sternness” of God as he moves from denouncing the Jews and defending himself against their slanders (2:1–16) to revealing his concern for the Thessalonians. He opens his heart, telling them how much they (the missionaries)—and none more than himself—long to see them. But he had been prevented thus far from returning (2:17–20). Therefore, to set their mind at rest and to “strengthen and encourage” them in what he knew to be difficult and dangerous times, he sent Timothy from ...

1224. Warning to Pay Attention

Hebrews 2:1-4

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

These four verses provide a parenthetical exhortation, the first of a series of such exhortations following the author’s well-designed style and method. He will not discuss theology in the abstract, but constantly calls his readers to its practical significance and to the appropriate response. He writes indeed as an accomplished theologian but also as a preacher with distinct pastoral concerns. 2:1 If the Son is the one of incomparable splendor, then the readers must pay more careful attention to the ...

1225. Boaz Marries Ruth

Ruth 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

Boaz’s Transaction: 4:1 Boaz does not go directly to Elimelech’s kinsman’s house, nor does he summon him to his own. Instead, he goes to the town gate. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along (lit. “wandered by,” ’abar), Boaz says, Come over here, my friend, and sit down. The narrator portrays this all-important meeting like the chance meeting of Ruth and Boaz in 2:3, but events only seem to happen by chance in Ruth. Boaz’s patient anticipation at Bethlehem’s gate contrasts sharply with the ...

Showing results