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 1326 to 1350 of 1913 results

1326. Jesus, Mary, Gustav Mahler, Brother Martin, and the Magi

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Carl Jech

The scribes and the chief priests ... perceived that he had told this parable against them. (Luke 20:19) No doubt you are wondering what Jesus, his mother, Mary, the composer, Gustav Mahler, Martin Luther and the three Wise Men (the Magi) have in common. The list sounds like it comes from one of Johnny Carson's "Carnak" bits, doesn't it? The simple answer is that all of these people were willing to take a new look at the traditions they had inherited. Like Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, they could celebrate ...

1327. Faith Reaches into the Eternal

Hebrews 11:1-40

Bulletin Aid

Carl Hoefler

Call to Worship Pastor: The great people of faith in the Old Testament died before their hopes and dreams became a reality. People: They believed that God would establish them as a great nation, to be his children for all eternity. Pastor: Yes, which shows that faith touches the eternal, beyond what our physical eyes can see, confident of the city whose builder and maker is God. People: With eyes of faith we see God's eternal home as a reality through Christ Jesus our Savior. Collect Almighty God, who has ...

1328. Living Christ's Love

Colossians 3:1-17

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call to Worship Leader: Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord! People: In the mountains and the hills we are in awe of Your majesty. Leader: In the heavens above we sense the vastness of Your Creation. People: In the winds and the storms we know You are the Almighty God. Leader: In the gift of our Savior, we know You are Love. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect Almighty and merciful God, in Your infinite strength You extend to us Your gentle forgiveness and grace. Lord, help us to use our ...

1329. Wash One Another's Feet

John 13:1-17

Illustration

Lee Griess

Sociologist Robert Wuthnow of Princeton University has explored how it is that people make everyday ethical decisions. Many people, he found, perform deeds of compassion, service, and mercy because at some point in their past someone acted with compassion toward them. He wrote, "The caring we receive may touch us so deeply that we feel especially gratified when we are able to pass it on to someone else." He tells the story of Jack Casey, who was employed as an emergency worker on an ambulance rescue squad ...

1330. The Lord's People Together

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

"... if two of you agree ... about anything ..." - Matthew 18:19 The inimitable Will Rogers was once asked, "What's wrong with the world?" And he replied, "People!" Of course, the famous humorist was being humorous. Others have been seriously cynical concerning the human race. One said, "The world would be a pretty good place to live if it weren't for the people in it." But when all the cynics have had their say, I will still believe, that in general, we human creatures really have some pretty good things ...

1331. Museum or Mission?

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

An inner city church, located in an area of the downtown where there were few residents, was forced to a decision. A large corporation was offering them a great deal of money for their site, on which the corporation wanted to put a parking lot. The money would enable the church to move to another part of the inner city where they would find many more people to serve. Even though this was exciting to some of the congregation, other members were resistant to the idea. They pointed out that the church was the ...

1332. The Witness and the Witnesses

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

Easter ends and the season of Pentecost begins with the singing of an old and much beloved hymn: Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire And lighten with celestial fire; Thou the anointing Spirit art Who dost thy seven-fold gifts impart. Thy blessed unction from above Is comfort, life, and fire of love. Enable with perpetual light The dullness of our blinded sight. Finally, we pray: Teach us to know the Father, Son, And thee, of both, to be but One; That through the ages all along This may be our endless song ...

1333. Some Man

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good ...

1334. 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." ( ...

1335. The Challenge of God's Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon

"Then saith he unto his disciples, 'The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will sent forth laborers into his harvest.' " (St. Matthew 9:37, 38 KJV) What a stirring picture Jesus lays before us in this text! He looks out, as it were, on the whole world. He sees mankind as a great field to be harvested. Have you ever looked out on a golden grain field in the summertime? Here in Wisconsin it always seems to be such a beautiful sight - ...

1336. God Is Good But Not Easy

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Vindicate me against my adversary.' For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.’ " And the Lord ...

1337. 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 ...

1338. Good Friday

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

After this solemn reading of the passion narrative, one stands uncertainly to preach, because surely the power of the story itself moves us by its very rehearsal. It touches each of us at a point unique to ourselves, in this hour of our particular need as we hear it again. But someone may be asking why do we do this twice in one week. It was only this past Sunday we heard the whole passion narrative according to Matthew, and now today we come to hear John tell it all over again! But it isn't the same story ...

1339. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

"The word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long." (v. 8) Prayer: Lord, you have called us to a faith that is much more than a sentimental security blanket. You have challenged us to live out what we say we believe. You never said it would be easy. Give us the courage to stand up and be counted, and also the courage to keep standing after we have been counted. "I beg your pardon; I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine, there’s got to be a little rain, ...

1340. The Emmaus Stranger

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Dean Lueking

This beautiful text from Luke 24 has inspired poets, musicians, artists, and above all - those who preach and hear the story of the risen Lord appearing to the two disciples as they walked from Jerusalem to the nearby town of Emmaus. The evening hymn, "Abide with Me," is based upon this story. Rembrandt painted the picture of the two disciples with their guest at Emmaus. I have in mind another well-known painting that I have seen in many homes with the memorable scene of Jesus walking along side of the ...

1341. Proper 10

Lk 10:25-37 · Col 1:1-20 · 2 Ki 2:1, 6-14 · Deut 30:9-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY 2 Kings 2:1, 6-14 Elisha succeeds Elijah as prophet of Israel. We have just completed a series of Lessons on Elijah and now we start a series of four Lessons from 2 Kings on his successor, Elisha. This first in the series appropriately deals with the transfer from Elijah to Elisha as prophet of Israel. Elisha was a faithful and devout disciple of Elijah. So loyal was he that he would not let Elijah out of his sight. Knowing that he was soon going to depart this world, Elijah asked Elisha what he ...

1342. The Baptism of Our Lord

Lk 3:15-17, 21-22 · Acts 8:14-17; 10:34-38 · Isa 42:1-7; 61:1-4

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Isaiah 61:1-4 God's servant is anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to the afflicted. Verses 1-3 constitute Jesus' text for his inaugural sermon at Nazareth. The passage is the work of an unknown author of the sixth century B.C. when the Babylonian exiles returned to Jerusalem to find their city and temple in ruins. The Holy Spirit anoints the servant who gives a message of liberty, comfort, and encouragement to the people. Isaiah 42:1-7 God anointed his servant with the Spirit to bring ...

1343. Epiphany 7

Lk 6:27-38 · 1 Cor 15:45-49 · 1 Sam 26:1-25 · Gen 45:3-11, 15

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Genesis 45:3-11, 15 Joseph discloses his identity to his brothers. How does a person who has reached the zenith of success in terms of prestige, power, and authority deal with those who put him down to nothing but a slave and a prisoner falsely accused? In the story of Joseph, we have the dramatic moment when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers who sold him into slavery. One could expect retaliation and revenge, but Joseph returns good for evil, loves his enemies, and does good to them by ...

1344. Joseph’s Dream

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

God was working overtime when he visited Joseph, Mary’s fiance, in a fantastic dream shortly before the two of them were to be married. An angel - it must have been Gabriel - appeared in his dream and told him to go ahead with the marriage, despite the fact Mary was pregnant. That would make a story in itself; who would think of marrying someone who was going to deliver a child fathered by another person, especially in those times and that kind of society? But this is not the beginning of the story. ...

1345. No Weedless Garden

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Richard L. Thulin

Not long ago a student of mine wrote a descriptive essay on the Church. It was one of the most celebrative and exuberant pieces that I had read in quite a while. He used the body imagery of St. Paul to draw his picture of the Church, but he could just as easily have used the positive agricultural figures of today's parable. It would be true to the spirit of his paper to call the Church a weedless and ripening field. Into rich soil good seeds have been planted and now as far as the eye can see there is ...

1346. 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 ...

1347. God’s Safety Net

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

D. Wayne Burkette

Political jargon over the last decade has given us a new understanding of an old term. The term is ‘safety net.’ My first recollection of a safety net was at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus when it was still performing under the big top. Who could forget those daring acrobats balanced on the trapeze or high wire and, under them, a net. When the act was finished they would fall gracefully from their lofty perch into the open arms of the net, a kind of tease, I suppose, a hint of the ...

1348. The Keeper of the Covenant

Exodus 31:1-11

Sermon

Moses had been gone too long from the people of Israel. He had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, after he had given them the terms of the covenant with the Lord, their God. They thought he was dead, that he would never come back, that they would never see him again. It was time to make their future secure, thus they asked Aaron to make gods to replace the God of the Covenant - and he did that. He took up a collection, melted down their gold, and turned it into an idol, a golden calf, for them ...

1349. Let Christ Speak The Word

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Let us pray: Gracious and eternal God, today we come to you seeking to deepen our understanding of the ways in which you are present and working in our lives to heal us of our afflictions. May we in these moments receive the gift of wisdom. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You may be familiar with the life story of Thomas Dooley, the Christian military doctor who devoted his life to serving sick and dying people living in Vietnam and Laos in the 1950s. When he died of cancer in 1961, the world considered his ...

1350. The Master Has Come - And Is Calling For You

John 11:38-44

Sermon

When I was a student in seminary we served a country circuit which had four churches. One of them was Allen-Lee Memorial, named in part after Young John Allen. It was located in the community of Lone Oak, Georgia. When Young John Allen was fifteen he attended a revival at the Methodist church in Lone Oak. During the service he became so deeply convicted of the need of salvation that he jumped out of a window of the church and ran off in the woods to hide. But, he returned to the church, and gave his life ...

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