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 1451 to 1475 of 2669 results

1451. My Laughin’ Place

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... questions? We need to have room for uncertainty, questioning, and growth in our communities, and we also have to empower at least some of us to spread what we have found. If we spread the word, we must then welcome others, in various states of questioning, understanding, and belief, into our fellowship. So I think a more important question than "Do I have God's Spirit within me?" is "Am I willing to receive God's power?" "Am I willing to open myself up to the rush of a mighty wind?" Wind is powerful, and it ...

1452. Letting Go

Acts 7:55-60

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... comfort while the apostles are then free to preach and teach. Stephen was one of these. He showed himself to be a person of faith, a natural leader, and progressive in his ideas. Clearly he believed that all Christians are called to voice a strong witness to their belief in Christ, regardless of their office in the church. He might have been grooming to become an apostle or bishop, if he had lived until the 50s or 60s. But in the mid-30s in Jerusalem, it wasn't good to be a Christian who got attention ...

1453. The Witness of Being

Genesis 1:1—2:4a

Sermon

James L. Killen

... shape to the land masses of the earth. His sister retorted that she didn't believe in that because it didn't fit into her understanding of how the world was created. The geophysicist remembered that his sister had only recently talked at length about her belief in miracles of healing. He asked, "Why is it that you can believe in the little miracles but not in the big ones?" That was how he felt about it. David Wilkerson is a clergyman in the English Methodist Church. He is also an accomplished scientist ...

1454. The Way to Happy Endings

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Sermon

James L. Killen

... at the injustice of his suffering and the self-blame and the great variety of other painful emotions that go with such tragedies. They made no pretense about what was happening. Something bad and unjust was happening, something that called into question all of their beliefs about God and about life. But, in time, they were able to work their way through the experience in faith. Rabbi Kushner was able to write the book, When Bad Things Happen To Good People,2 that has been a best seller among Christians as ...

1455. A Deliverer Is Born

Exodus 1:1-22, 2:1-10

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... hardy Hebrews continue to flourish. Oppressed people in every age have been able to identify with these Hebrews subjected to slave labor. The Black religious tradition, while unique to Black Americans, contributes much in song and theology to the belief that "God is on the side of the oppressed." The Black American experience, in which they groped for meaning, relevance, worth, assurance, reconciliation, civil rights, and a proper response to God, illustrates this common dilemma with the Hebrews in Egypt ...

1456. Peace Be with You!

John 20:19-31

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... of life. All: In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16) Collect Lord of resurrection, we praise you as we receive you in our midst. Though we have not seen, yet we believe, and this day we proclaim our belief to the world. Descend and be with us today as we strive to hear your will for our lives in the words that are spoken aloud as well as through the action of your Spirit in our hearts. These things we pray in your name. Amen. Prayer Of Confession ...

1457. My Get Up and Go Just Got Up and Went

Genesis 12:1-9

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... us again. Let us get up and go. Let us shine brightly in our own right as well, not for our own glory, but for the honor of Jesus. Amen. Prayer Of Confession So what are we waiting for? God called Abram and Sarai to answer an extraordinary call beyond belief. God calls us to amazing ministries that still pale in comparison. Lord Jesus, we hear you. We're coming. At last. Amen. Hymns "Here I Am, Lord" "The God Of Abraham Praise" "We Walk By Faith"

1458. All Our Ducks in a Row

Genesis 1:1—2:4a

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... , how majestic is your name in all the earth! Amen. (Psalm 8:9) Prayer Of Confession Purpose and meaning are built into your universe, O Lord. The stars in the sky, the atoms of the earth, the seen and unseen, what we can explain and what defies belief, all these together are a faint reflection of your unutterable glory. In the face of the majesty and wonder all around us, how can we lose ourselves as your congregation in unworthy actions, petty bickering, and a lack of faith in your providence? But we do ...

1459. Grace Has Appeared

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

James L. Killen

... ones who love you most. Then, think about a love even bigger than that coming from the one who gives you life and comes to meet you in every new day of life. That is grace. Learn to believe that and to live as if it is true and that belief will make a big difference in your life. That is why the text goes on to say, "Grace has appeared, bringing salvation." Salvation means a lot more than many people think it means. It means more than having your guilt atoned for so that you can go to heaven after ...

1460. Thank God for the Church

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

... present one and others who are anxious for the coming of the next pastor because they don't really like any of the pastors they have had. Are there theological differences within your church, some who believe that others just do not hold right beliefs? Are there jealousies between people and groups because each of them thinks that their part of the church's work is more important than the others? Are there arguments about the right way to worship? Are there selfish people who insist upon their own rights ...

1461. The Reward

1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Sermon

James L. Killen

... purposes, of high values, of deep appreciation of beauty and goodness, of integrity and of discipline and of love? Or do we try to build them of the things that magazine advertisements promote? Of what do we build our churches? Are they built of strong beliefs in eternal truths and of deep commitments to the loving purpose of God for the salvation of the world? Or are they built of the comfortable little services designed to serve its own members and, perhaps, to attract some of the desirable outsiders into ...

1462. King of the Mountain

1 Peter 3:13-22

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

... around the "big guy" while you wait for others to attack and throw him off while you are keeping him off balance. Then you jump up and push your rescuers off along with him. It's not a game for the kind-hearted or for those with a strong ethical belief in friendship. When you play "king of the mountain," it's every person for himself or herself. You want to stay on top for as long as you can, and that means keeping everyone else off. In the text from 1 Peter chapter 3, the fifteenth verse says, "In your ...

1463. No Longer Damned

Romans 8:1-11

Sermon

William G. Carter

... if we are God's gatekeepers. How shortsighted! It reminds me of what Kathleen Norris says about predestination. The South Dakota writer says: The most intriguing thing about the doctrine of predestination (which John Calvin inherited from Saint Augustine) is not his belief that some are gratituously predestined by God to eternal salvation and some to damnation but that no one but God knows who is who. There, among the heroin addicts, is one destined for eternal joy. There, among the faithful of an ordinary ...

1464. Heaping Coals and Virtues

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... ardent in spirit." Christianity is, or should be, a passionate adventure. When Paul wrote, being a Christian was likely to cause a series of problems for believers, possibly even ending in death, as it did for Paul himself. Only those passionate about their belief need bother to participate. While it seems as if this passionate level of participation has diminished greatly today, the fact that Paul includes such a comment in this list indicates that passion was something people in his day could have trouble ...

1465. Always?

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Rick Brand

... the work of faith to take our fragile pieces and hold them together in a miracle of purpose and meaning. But not only is faith supposed to help us find a comprehensive wholeness for our pieces, the work of faith is constantly to be making our picture larger. "Belief makes the mind abundant," said W. B. Yeats. Faith's work is to open up life to larger and larger realities, to open up life on all its sides, at every level to new possibilities and new life. Beyers Naudeacute was a 69-year-old white clergyman ...

1466. A Radical Faith

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... books, where there is another rule outlined for us, often in twelve steps, or four rules, something simple that, we are told, if we only follow, we will find our dreams. I suggest to you it is the same thing. Luther gave himself totally to the monastic rule in the belief that it would lead him to God. He said, "If ever a monk got into heaven by his monkery it was I." If doing something good is the way you accumulate merit, then the best thing in the Middle Ages that anybody could do was to make a pilgrimage ...

1467. Dig In

Jeremiah 29:1-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the changes that have happened in our society, all the diversity. I can remember when we lived in homogeneous communities. At least they appeared that way, and certainly they operated that way. Everyone seemed to have the same values. Everyone seemed to have the same beliefs. But all that has changed now. Homogeneity is hard to come by in our time. Diversity is what describes us as a society now, especially in California. And when you add all of that up, many people say, "I want out." And they find ways ...

1468. Family Matters

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... renewal, even within the whole nation. William Placher said, "Mainline churches are among the few places in our society where people from widely diverse places across the political spectrum can talk about substantive issues, within the context of an ongoing community of shared belief." That's a benchmark in this whole discussion. It means that like the first century church, we have a mission to the community outside the walls of this church. And we can perform this mission simply by being who the church is ...

1469. Here We Go Again

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... Turkey. Some of you, I know, have been there as tourists and seen these ancient churches founded in the first century, such as Ephesus. This gospel is addressed to one of those churches. They had heard about what happened at Jerusalem. They undoubtedly knew the Jewish belief that when Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed that would be the precipitating event for God to put an end to this world, and to establish a new world. The Temple was destroyed. The city now lies in ruins. 70 A.D. What does it mean ...

1470. Hosea's Marriage Troubles

Hosea 2:14-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... and they were also included in the Old Testament, but these four prophets lived at the same time, in a geographically small area we know as Palestine. There were prophets in Israel because there was a covenant in Israel. The covenant was the belief that God had rescued the Jews from slavery in Egypt, had led them safely across the desert, established them in the Promised Land, and demanded of them that they live righteously. Righteousness meant obeying the commandments of God. The contribution of the ...

1471. If I Were a Rich Man

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... not the product of our goodness, but the gift of grace. Then the man's question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" He is the last person you would ever expect to ask that question. It, too, is devastating to that whole popular religious belief structure which said, if you obey the law, do all the right things, you will know eternal life. He should know it. So why is he asking the question? Then Jesus says, "You know the commandments." He then recites them. Actually he recites five commandments, the ...

1472. Joy to the World

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... brilliantly illumined with light, as if they had come from the kingdom of light into this realm of darkness. Surrounding that spaceship were the most beautiful harmonies, especially when they opened the door to the spaceship, reflecting the ancient belief that the mathematical predictability and precision of the heavens was translated into harmony, into music. The ancients called that "the music of the spheres." The "spheres" meaning the planets. Spielberg's movie dramatized that mythology that there is a ...

1473. Landing Instructions

Isaiah 40:25-31

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... to describe it. They are the only words we seem to find that are appropriate. Humankind has always done that. Nothing expresses this drive to overcome adversity in our lives, or even overcome human limitation, better than metaphors of flight. It expresses our belief that there is something in each one of us that seeks the highest. There is something in us that wants to strive for greatness. Indeed there is something in us that wants to overcome human limitation. The metaphor of flight illustrates that ...

1474. Pre-Game Analysis

I Corinthians 9:19-27

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... held, and then Panhellenic games, all the city-states connecting with one another in what were called the Olympic games, named for Mt.Olympus, where the gods reside. It was a religious festival. It was a time when they remembered their heritage and honored the beliefs that they held as a people. The participants in these games were called "athletes." Athlete is a Greek word. It is from the word, "athlon," which means, "prize." So an athlete is somebody who competes for a prize. In Greece the prize was a ...

1475. Scandalous News

Luke 4:16-30

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... was established as the Word of God. For those of us who are in the Protestant tradition, this is so important, because we believe that scripture is the Word of God. We believe that God reveals God's self to us in scripture. This is the source of that belief, this incident. It takes place in 458 B.C., in Jerusalem. The Jews have just returned from the Exile in Babylon. It is difficult for us to even imagine what that event meant to the life of the Jews. It devastated them. Prior to the Exile, Jewish religion ...

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