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 1351 to 1375 of 2669 results

1351. What Happens When I Die?

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... of the body and the life everlasting. At first glance, we are tempted to say: That can’t be right. Resurrection of the body? This body? What on earth does that phrase mean? Some years ago Redbook magazine published an article titled: The Surprising Beliefs of Future Ministers, in which it reported the results of a survey among students then studying in seminary. The problem is that the people making the survey, in spite of their good intentions, did not have a clue to understanding basic theological terms ...

1352. What about Spiritual Healing?

John 4:43-54

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... some years ago conducted an experiment into the phenomenon known as spiritual healing and reported, “Christian healing has passed beyond the stage of experiment, and its value cannot be questioned. Spiritual healing is no longer the hope of the few, but the belief and practice of a large and rapidly increasing number of persons.” Now, in our Scripture lesson we find an example of healing being done by Jesus at a distance. At first the royal official from Capernaum probably began with the notion of ...

1353. How Free Are We?

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... freedom to move forward toward its goal. So with human beings. The only true freedom we have is the freedom to choose the gods we will serve. Interestingly enough, the Bible never seems overly concerned about atheism. Humanity’s pervading sin is not atheism: belief in no god; it is rather idolatry: the worship of false gods. Sometimes we worship money, or success, or our nation, or ourselves. When we do we become enslaved. Martin Luther insisted that the basic problem with humanity is that we are curved ...

1354. Lazarus Laughed

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus says to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha replies, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Now those are interesting words. Belief in the resurrection was not universal among the Jews of Jesus’ day. By making this confession of her faith, Martha is showing that she follows the teachings of the Pharisees rather than the teaching of the Sadducees, for while the Pharisees believed in a ...

1355. Some Said It Thundered

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... God no longer spoke directly to His world, but rather must communicate through intermediaries such as angels, or faint whispers deep in the human soul, rather than in the mighty organ tones of the past. One can easily understand why people came to such a belief, for who could stand a direct revelation of God, anyway? Sometimes we hear people ask, “Why doesn’t God show Himself?” without realizing what they are asking for. If God should show Himself, how could we ever stand it? There is a certain mercy ...

1356. The Autobiography of God

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... something becomes their God. Interestingly, the Bible never tries to prove the existence of God. It simply assumes it. It is doubtful whether any of the Biblical writers ever met an atheist. For the people of the Bible the problem was not atheism (no belief in God), but idolatry (trust in false gods which ultimately let us down). Ultimate Reality exists—so the question is: what is the nature of that Reality? is Ultimate Reality personal or impersonal, for us or against us, or neutral? Is it benevolent ...

1357. Does God Give Out Blank Checks?

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... a crisis of faith as a result of personal tragedy or loss. Rabbi Kushner says that as a young man he had come to understand God as a Father who rewarded people when they did what was right, and punished them when they did wrong. Then his whole belief system came crashing down around his head when his three-year-old son was diagnosed as having “progeria,” a strange disease that causes the victim to age very rapidly. His lovely son would die of old age in his early teens. Rabbi Kushner’s first response ...

1358. If Christ Had Not Come

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... world would be an improvement; but on balance, I believe that they are wrong. In a provocative recent novel titled “A Skeleton in God’s Closet,” Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, has one of his characters proclaim his belief that Christ’s coming has had nothing but a negative impact on the world. The critic says, “Look to the past... What’s Church history but the unholy saga of oppression and wars over the faith: Christians from Venice looting Christians in ...

1359. Only the Neighbors’ Kid

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... , Heads are erect, and ears stand still. One week they are boys, and then Next week they are slim young men Standing very still and lean, Perilously scrubbed and clean. Enjoy each small boy while you can Tomorrow there will be a man Standing taller than belief, Little boys in church are brief. “Only the neighbor’s kid?” That was the judgment the neighbors made about Jesus on that day so long ago. But God had other plans for Him. At His baptism a voice from heaven proclaimed, “This is my Son, the ...

1360. Angels in the Wilderness

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... . There is nothing that angels do that Jesus does not. To my way of thinking, angels are now unemployed. Nevertheless, the Bible does seem to refer in some places to angels as special creations of God, created for special purposes. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, you and I do not become angels when we die. That’s a relief! In a famous little book entitled “He Sent Leanness,” Englishman David Head gives us the prayer of a “natural man” who says, “...I am not the least bit cheered by ...

1361. On Talking to Oneself

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... Him when they fed the hungry, clothed the naked, or visited the imprisoned. “Lord, when did we see Thee?” they asked. III. “IF I BUT TOUCH THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT, I SHALL BE MADE WELL.” Here we have a woman talking to herself. Contrary to popular belief, talking to oneself is not necessarily a symptom of senility or mental confusion. It can be a very helpful and hopeful thing. All of us are talking to ourselves all of the time. Only most of the time we are saying negative things to ourselves. We set ...

1362. When Compassion Overcomes Irritation

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... the effectiveness of the church in our day: (1.) A serious lack of knowledge about the central tenets of our religion and religious heritage. (2.) An easy credulity or gullibility among North Americans that allows for regular churchgoers to hold contrary beliefs. For example, on average, church goers believe in astrology just as much as do non-church goers. (3.) A lack of spiritual discipline as seen, for example, in prayer life which lacks the structure, focus and intensity required for effectiveness; and ...

1363. When Tradition Gets in the Way

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... H.C. Read, in a sermon titled “The Power of Christian Tradition” says: “Certainly traditions can be fossilized. Certainly traditions can be corrupted. I am not for a moment pleading that nothing whatever should be changed in the words we use to formulate our beliefs, or the forms in which we worship. That is why I believe not just in the Church Catholic, but in the Church Catholic and Reforming. Traditions must always be exposed to the reforming spirit of the living God. But true reformation in the ...

1364. A Sign for a Sign

Mark 8:11-13

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... could this hold it? Not this little box of brains. You haven’t things to hold it with...” Robert Browning, in his poem, “Bishop Blougram’s Apology” has the bishop addressing a skeptical companion: Pure faith indeed - you know not what you ask! Naked belief in God the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, sears too much The sense of conscious creatures to be borne. It were the seeing Him, no flesh shall dare. Some think, Creation’s meant to show Him forth: I say, it’s meant to hide Him all it ...

1365. Sine Qua Non

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... self-centered person who always seems to suffer from “I” trouble. The whole universe revolves around that person and his needs. That is not what Jesus is talking about. He is talking about a healthy respect for one’s self, a love for one’s self, a belief that we are worth something simply because God has loved us. G. K. Chesterton once said that the really great lesson of the story of “Beauty and the Beast” is that a thing must be loved before it is loveable. A person must be loved before that ...

1366. Please, Don't Let me Jabez Anyone Else (Part 5)

1 Chronicles 4:1-23

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... to live in the campus dorms. But the thing was that in some of the dorms, men and women shared not only the same floor, but the same bathrooms. So those Orthodox students argued that living in that kind of environment went against their religious beliefs. They realized that spending years in that kind of a setting could have negative influences on them, and they did not want to run that risk. So they asked for permission to rent apartments off campus, but the school refused to grant their request. In ...

1367. Dealing with the "F" Words of Life

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... . They were marched out and lined up beside the railroad tracks, resigned to unspeakable pain, as they knew they would be separated from one another and ultimately killed. But in the midst of their gloom, they discovered some amazing good news--good news beyond belief! They discovered, in the bright morning sunlight, that they were not in a death camp at all, not in Germany at all, but in Switzerland! During the night, someone, through personal courage and daring, had tripped a switch and sent the train to ...

1368. Don't Let Your Tongue Bite You

James 3:1-12

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... health and illnesses. The writer James declares the same principle is at work in our spiritual life and maturity as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we spend our time at church only criticizing each other and other Christians who may differ from us in our beliefs, then we are not mature in Faith. Our commission is not to be shepherds and sheep--but to lead them to green pastures. We can use the tongue to do so much harm.: To verbally abuse a spouse. To verbally spank a child. To ridicule a classmate ...

1369. The Greatest Table in the World

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... you would consider to be the strength of our denomination? What would you miss most if you became part of another community of faith? Immediately, the practice that comes to mind 90% of the time is our practice of an open Communion Table--our belief and practice that this table is not only a comforting and challenging Sacrament, but a converting one as well. Charles Wesley so beautifully writes in two hymns: Come to the Supper, come Sinners, there still is room; Every soul may be His guest, Jesus gives ...

1370. Looks Like We're in for Stormy Weather

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... . And when the storm strikes us, it also becomes our gut feeling. I have often heard people exclaim that if it wasn't for bad luck they would have no luck at all. It is unfortunate that our first response to the storms of life is the mistaken belief that God has abandoned us. Have we ever thought that God is present in the midst of the storm or maybe even thought that possibly God could have sent the storm? THIRDLY, THIS STORY TEACHES THAT EVERYONE WHO VENTURES IN THE STORMS OF LIFE WILL ULTIMATELY FIND THE ...

1371. Emptying and Exalting (Part XI)

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... of the New Testament. One of the great doctrinal truths of the Christian faith is that of the Trinity. We believe in the Christian faith that we have experienced and know God in three ways: as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To further complicate this doctrine is our belief that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was fully God and fully man. It is easy to get so caught up in crude dogma that we fail to see the great hope for our Christian lives and sacred journey that is found in knowing we love and serve a ...

1372. The Power of a God-Shaped Attitude

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... people in our history was a black gentleman from the South, George Washington Carver. He was born into the system of slavery. However, he never allowed his mind, thoughts, and actions to be enslaved. Mr. Carver, early in his life, had a deep belief that God had something special in store for his life. Other people discovered he had a good mind and talent. He eventually became a chemist who specialized in agricultural products. His recommendation helped the South move from the one crop of cotton to ...

1373. Secrets Shared for the Journey of Life

Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... be read and heeded by boaters. It asks only two questions: 1. Do you have an anchor? 2. Do you know how to use it? Do you have an anchor? Most of us can readily respond in the affirmative to this question. We have a faith and a belief which holds us firm. THIRD, PAUL LEARNS THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST FREES US FROM BEING SHACKLED BY PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES. Paul could have given up when he was imprisoned in Rome and when other obstacles were placed in his way during his missionary journeys. A recent cartoon in ...

1374. Tackling the Tough Tasks

James 2:1-13

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... value. You do not need a Ph.D. in sociology to know that people of certain classes and racial heritage have had a difficult time. But these difficulties must not be replicated in the body of Christ. Remember, Jesus was God''s answer to peoples'' belief that God practiced favoritism with Jews and disliked others. Now look at verses 5 - 9. James is restating that Old Testament truth: Don''t judge by outward appearances. God looks INWARD--before He looks outward. We all know that labels can be very deceptive ...

1375. God's Timing or Our Timing -The Tension of Time

James 4:13-17

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... hands of wrist watches and those events locked away in the mystery and providence of God. We live in that tension between our sense of timing and God''s timing. We know it is better to seek Kingdom time, but we often fall prey to clock time. It is my belief and also a great comfort to me that God knows the human spirit and heart better than anyone else. God has known for a long time that we are not a patient people. God knows that most folks don''t wait very well (I think Adam and Eve first gave ...

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