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 101 to 125 of 2078 results

101. The Law of Unintended Consequences

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... was no cure. And so the only thing to do with such persons was to isolate them so they could not infect others. We saw the same phenomenon when the AIDS epidemic hit a few years ago to a certain extent. Fear. The desire to isolate those affected. Worse than the disease itself was the ostracizing that went with it. Did you notice in the reading of scripture the remarkable fact that Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man with leprosy as he said, “I am willing. Be clean!” There were times when ...

102. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

... of the abyss Of tenfold-complicated change, Descend, and touch, and enter; hear The wish too strong for words to name; That in this blindness of the frame My Ghost may feel that thine is near. XCIV How pure at heart and sound in head, With what divine affections bold Should be the man whose thought would hold An hour’s communion with the dead. In vain shalt thou, or any, call The spirits from their golden day, Except, like them, thou too canst say, My spirit is at peace with all. They haunt the silence of ...

103. Habakkuk’s Complaint

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... . But it is not exercised (lit., it does not go out) in accordance with torah. As is often the case, the two parallel lines in verse 4a need to be interwoven to understand their point. Torah does not prevail in the sense that it does not affect the way decisions get made; decision-making authority fails in the sense that it is not exercised in accordance with torah. Verse 4b sums up the point of verses 2–4a. The first line sums up verses 2–3. The words wicked (rashaʿ) and righteous (tsaddiq) are ...

104. A Call to Build the House of the Lord

Haggai 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... And thus the problem is a general one that means disaster for all crops. Haggai again alludes to warnings such as the one found in Deuteronomy 28:51 when he describes the way this drought affects fields and mountains and thus grain and vines and olive trees as well. It affects human beings and animals. It affects everything that people labor to produce. While there will be force to Haggai’s words at this season in connection with the actual and projected harvests for that year, he is likely also implying ...

105. People Who Procrastinate

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

King Duncan

... But the tentacles of addiction are slowly enfolding them into its grip. Can we reach them before it’s too late and their very lives are strangled out of them? It ought to be plain now that the really important things in life cannot be put off--showing our affection for loved ones before it is too late--ridding ourselves of a destructive habit or weakness or sin, before it is too late--or committing our life to Christ, before it is too late. If we put off turning to Christ, it is unlikely that we will ever ...

106. Imitating Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... community to foster a sense of oneness and a common purpose, not only with one another, but between them and Paul. He and they are bound together in the loving fellowship of the Spirit. 2:2 There was already sufficient evidence of oneness of purpose and mutual affection in the Philippian church to give Paul cause for joy. He has already said that his prayers for the Philippian Christians are joyful prayers (1:4). Now, he says, fill my cup of joy to the brim; make my joy complete. Let me hear that you are ...

107. Ahijah's Prophecy Against Jeroboam

1 Kings 14:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... at least, will be buried. The real tragedy is what will happen to the house of Jeroboam as a whole. There are further echoes here, of course, of David’s story. David, too, lost a sick child (2 Sam. 12:15–23) because of sin; his sin also affected his whole house, as God brought calamity (Hb. rāʿâh) upon him (2 Sam. 12:10–12). Yet there was never any suggestion that his house would be destroyed. The death of his first son by Bathsheba was immediately followed by the birth of his second, Solomon—the ...

108. The Glory Departs

Ezekiel 8:1-18, Ezekiel 9:1-11, Ezekiel 10:1-22, Ezekiel 11:1-15, Ezekiel 11:16-25

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... leaders of Jerusalem has immediate effect. It may be that the death of Hananiah, Jeremiah’s prophetic adversary who died soon after Jeremiah rebuked him publicly (Jer. 28:1–17), influenced Ezekiel here. In any case, the vision of Pelatiah’s death profoundly affects Ezekiel. For the third time in this book—and indeed, for the second time in this vision report (see 9:8)—Ezekiel falls on his face and cries out in protest: “Ah, Sovereign LORD! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?” (v ...

109. Consider Others Higher Than Yourself

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... . Illustrating the Text Wrong will never be right, but without selfless love, right can become wrong. Human Metaphor: Share several scenarios in which a person’s right to do a thing becomes inadvisable because of love for another person who would be adversely affected. For example, a couple marries and discovers that one is severely allergic to the other’s beloved pet. Or a father who enjoys growing a beard discovers that it petrifies an infant daughter for a season of her childhood. Or perhaps a person ...

110. Worship and Proper Attire

1 Corinthians 11:2-16

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... suit, or borrow clerical robes or a Roman collar. The point is to make a (tasteful and appropriate) radical departure in dress and invite people to consider their reactions. Is it harder for them to listen to you when you dress differently? How does it affect their perception of you? Why? What might outsiders not familiar with church think of the new clothes—would they feel more or less welcomed if you dressed that way all the time? Point out that in the early church era (and still today), many preachers ...

111. “Create in Me a Pure Heart, O God, and Renew a Steadfast Spirit within Me”

Psalm 51:1-19

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... the condition of this stage of repentance as “a broken and contrite heart” (51:17), recognizing that ultimately his sin is against God and God only (51:4), which expresses the gravity of his sin. Others have been hurt in the process, but his sin has affected God most severely, because it was an infraction of his moral law. The third stage of repentance is restoration. That is what David prays for when he has acknowledged his sins and laid them out before God (51:10, 12). Note also that if we listen ...

112. Death through Adam, Life through Christ

Romans 5:12-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... to him—that is, everybody who receives the gift of God’s grace (5:17), who acknowledges Jesus as Lord (5:11), who is “in Christ” (3:24; 6:11; 8:1), just as Adam’s disobedience is universal in the sense that it affects all people who belong to him, in other words, all his biological descendants. Verse 19 restates and explains verse 18: Adam’s disobedience resulted in the sinfulness of humankind, while Jesus’s obedience resulted in God’s saving righteousness being extended to sinners. Paul ...

113. Thanks-Giving Is Good for Everyone

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... by the thankfulness of the one. So far as thanksgiving is concerned, it has been said that the mass of people can be divided into two classes. There are those who take things for granted, and those who take things with gratitude. The attitude we assume affects others. To take benefits from God or from other people without a thought or a word of thanks creates a spirit of ill-will. Winston Churchill told of a man who risked his life to save a drowning child. When he delivered the child to his mother ...

114. The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy 5:1-33

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... and prohibited behaviors for the covenant people as matters of fundamental principle. The inclusion of coveting shows that covenant loyalty in Israel went far deeper than external conformity to statute law. The God who claimed the people’s love also claimed the rest of their affections and desires. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). These words were not ...

115. John Mellencamp and the Danger of Procrastination

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-62). Jesus’ call is one of urgency. This is the way life is. The really important things require us to respond without delay. Consider, for example, how urgent it is that we demonstrate our affection for those we love. Years ago when the original “Dear Abby” was asked what letter was requested the most for reprinting, she put into her syndicated column this one: “Dear Abby: I am the most heartbroken person on the earth. I always found time to go ...

116. If Your Cry for Help Is Loud Enough...

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... their own. For the rest of us, yelling “Help!” should be our first option. Our Bible passage today is about ten men with leprosy who had no way of saving themselves. Their disease affected them physically, with inflammation and severe nerve damage. It affected them socially, cutting them off from contact with others. And it affected them spiritually, cutting them off from worship in the Temple. The first, last and only option these men had was to cry out for help, and Jesus heard them. It reminds me of ...

117. A Robot in the Pulpit

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... changed. This is how Jesus fulfilled his promise that he will show himself to those who love him. When we love like Jesus, he changes our identity and our priorities into his identity and his priorities. And that change doesn’t just affect our lives. It affects all those around us too. Back in 2006, journalist Cathleen Falsani covered an awards ceremony in which a French man named Jean Vanier was receiving a humanitarian award for his work with people with disabilities. In 1964, Vanier had witnessed how ...

118. A Fruitful Life

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... your life truly reflected the spirit and the image of God? If your life overflowed with the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—how would it affect the people around you? How would it affect your work? How would it affect your priorities? Fruit can’t be hidden. It is an outward and visible expression of the inner life of a tree. What is our outward life—our character and actions—revealing about our inner life? Fruitfulness ...

119. Blessings for a Defiled People

Haggai 2:10-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... of the restoration proper. It is thus a significant day and one that illuminates and is illuminated by the three prophecies. But whether we understand Haggai to be referring to the earlier beginning of the work, or to a ceremonial event on this day, does not affect the import of his question; either way, he goes on to look behind this to the ongoing situation before people committed themselves to the work. After the harvest you would come to what should be a grain stack of twenty measures and there are only ...

120. Good News / Bad News

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... read music? And where might I have ended up, had I blown off that meeting at our church where the dean of the seminary was speaking? Each one of these was a choice I made, a small choice in the grand scheme of things, but a choice that ended up affecting the direction of my entire life. And each one is a choice I’m glad I made. Christianity is another choice I made. And usually, I’m glad I made it ― usually. But, you know, it’s not always easy being a Christian. Jesus understood that his way was not ...

121. A Call To Community

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... and he certainly wouldn't go anywhere in the house but the front room. The family wondered if Cocoa had been beaten by his first owner and if that was what caused his fearfulness. No matter. Cocoa was the most loving dog they had ever seen. He hungered for the affection of the children. He loved to have someone pet him. And if you stopped petting before he was ready for you to stop, he would simply put both of his paws in your lap until you resumed your petting and he got his fill. Cocoa wasn't really a ...

122. A New Kingdom Coming

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... , but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). How many tickets would you like for your spirit? The coming kingdom is waiting for you like the water reservoir is waiting for you to turn the faucet. Your closed faucet affects not the reservoir's reality, but yours. Like a mighty reservoir of justice and peace and love, God's kingdom is waiting for us to turn on the rusted faucet, waiting for us to cleanse the hardened arteries of constricted spirituality, to remove the plaque of ...

123. Weather Signs

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... that people can read the signs of spiritual consequences from human behavior and God's activities as certainly as they can read the weather signs. The urgency and importance of reading the signs are even greater for where the winds of the Spirit blow. They affect eternity. CONTEXT Context of the Lectionary The First Lesson. (Isaiah 5:1-7) The image of a vineyard belonging to the Lord is described. The Lord exerted a great amount of effort to clear the ground, plant it, and expected it to produce fruit ...

124. The Limits Of Love

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... of bigots and you have a fight on your hands. Can you imagine someone at the height of the cold war talking about how God had a preferential option for the Soviets, or some white preacher in the old south talking about how God had a particular affection for black activists -- while Bull Conner was releasing his dogs on them? "They were filled with wrath," says the text, "and rose up to put him out of the city." That sounds like a lynch mob! It is dangerous to talk about love to those whose lives feed ...

125. The Man With Two Umbrellas

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

William L. Self

... of the interruption was none other than the God of Israel. Samuel would not have been able to respond to the call of God had it not been for the influence of old Eli. The influence of one life upon another is powerful. We are all tremendously affected by what other people do or say. There is an invisible pull of one life upon another. For example, in a Nazi concentration camp where Martin Niemoller was imprisoned, a Nazi agent was placed in a cell next to that of Dr. Niemoller in the hope of converting ...

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