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 4947 results

1451. Trusting Authority

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... , first-century rabbi had become the center of his life. A month later, Sam knelt in front of 300 people and received the lavish blessing of baptism, one year after Lucy had been baptized on the same spot. All of us present that day had a sense that Sam had come home, and he had something to teach the rest of us about submitting to the authority, the lordship of Jesus Christ. The Jewish rabbi from our sister congregation sent me a letter asking that I read it during the baptismal service. He congratulated ...

1452. What Will It Take to Make You Happy?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... that the more we have, the more we demand out of life. So often it is the person who appears to be blessed, with all the external trappings of the good life, who is so easily miffed at God, while the person who has very little feels a much greater sense of gratitude for life’s little joys and pleasures. This is not to say that in order to find happiness, we need to give away everything we possess. That might help or it might be the worst thing we could possibly do. It might fill us with so much resentment ...

1453. Blago and Radnan, Two Lost Sons

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... station at Exit 118 and clean the restrooms. Now, take a guess at which one of us is more likely to get what he wants?” That didn’t happen because Yakob was not a typical parent. His answer to his son’s world-class chutzpah defies common sense. Yakob emptied his savings account and sold a couple of gas stations in order to fill Radnan’s request. Predictably, as soon as the money was deposited in his newly opened bank account, Radnan headed for a distant city. He put a down payment on an expensive ...

1454. In Search of a New Life

Revelation 21:1-5a

Sermon

King Duncan

... a field in those mountains. The bucket had some markings scratched on it. So far, however, no one has been able to make sense of the code, and so, according to the legend, Jesse James’ treasure remains buried somewhere in Oklahoma. (1) If any of you decide ... left me there naked and cold and too hungry to cry. I never blamed her. I’m sure she left hoping I’d have the good sense to die. Oh, don’t call me a lady,” she screams. “I’m only a kitchen slut reeking with sweat. A strumpet men use and ...

1455. Where's the Magic?

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... a way out if we allow God’s Spirit to guide us. Faith is a commitment of all we are and hope to be to God. Faith is an assurance that the God who created us is with us in every battle we may face. Faith is also that unshakable sense of trust that keeps us going through life’s dark and difficult valleys. But there is one thing more found in our lesson for today: Faith is a promise that, as Abraham described it, there is a “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” We speak far less ...

1456. The New Moses

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... though Isaiah was not talking about Jesus, Jesus is still the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy given at another time in another place about another subject. No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that is how prophecy works — strings connected to strings connected to strings. Anyway, Joseph acted by faith and obeyed the message even though it made no sense at all. He took Mary for his wife and when the child is born he named him Jesus. And that’s all there is to the birth story as far as Matthew is ...

1457. Seeing God

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... called to do it. And don’t expect that the people around you will cheer you on. A lot of times, they’ll question you, even reject you. Pastor and author Francis Chan writes, “Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” (4) Think about that for a minute. “Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” The world’s vision for you is not God’s vision for you. The values that are important to this world are not the values of the kingdom of God. If your life makes ...

1458. Clearing the Eyes

John 9:1-12, John 9:13-34, John 9:35-41

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... or have more fun. Now, think of the ancient mind with its filters. If I, in the time of Jesus, believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing God but don’t know the way of DNA, or the science of environmental damage to a unborn baby, it makes perfect sense to filter my view of life through the lens of something bad happening to me or to another as either the result of my parents doing something wrong or me not following God’s ways. After all, God wouldn’t create someone blind without there being a reason or ...

1459. The Gathering at Cana

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... baptism? The timeline in the gospel would suggest not. Was it the third day of the wedding? We don’t know. The third day of the week? This is most likely, since the Jewish days between Sabbaths are counted merely as numbers. That would make sense as well with the time line of the wedding. Jewish weddings were held primarily on Wednesdays (Thursdays for widows). We know that Jesus’ mother was already there, and that Jesus and his disciples came later. We know that Jewish weddings lasted 7 days. If the ...

1460. Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Harvest time, you can tell exactly who is wheat and who is weed. Imagine those waves of grain on the hillsides of Bethlehem. The crowds must have looked like that to Jesus when they came to celebrate the Harvest festival in Jerusalem –shavuot. Jesus seems to have a sense of urgency about needing workers in the field. God’s kingdom time was coming. And there was much to be done. Would they become part of the bread of life? Or would they be the kind of weeds that would poison the food? (Darnel is in fact ...

1461. Born of the Spirit

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the Son, the baptism into a new community or a new family or a new kingdom, means coming forth from a place of genesis or pregnancy or gestation and into a new birth of understanding, knowing, being. This is coming “into the light.” The darkness in this sense is a time of questioning, inquiring, learning, growing until a decision is reached to come through a major change and into a new kind of life. The change required for this new life will change the way you look at God and the world. It may not be ...

1462. Dry As Toast

Matthew 12:15-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... there. We have no idea how prevalent this disease is. 13% of 77-year olds have Alzheimer’s or a related dementia. By 85, that percentage has gone to almost 50%. It’s a disease that attacks the mind and destroys the cells bit by bit. In a sense, the mind withers away until it can no longer control the body properly. It is a terrible, debilitating disease. So is agnosticism. Let me say that again in another way: Agnosticism is to the soul what Alzheimer’s is to the mind. It’s a debilitation of the ...

1463. Slow Burn

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... eye cannot bear to see the good fortune of others. It is selfish and greedy. A “good eye” enjoys seeing others happy and successful. The eye also represents primeval light, the spiritual light of God, divine radiance. To blacken it, is to black out God. In a sense, this is what Jesus is saying. Your eye can reflect the light of God, or it can black God out with its desire for the “golden calf.” The inner eye (Ruach HaKodesh) is connected to the heart. And we can choose whether to use our eye for ...

1464. Are You a Lemming or a Lassie?

Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:22-34, Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:54-59

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that were right, teach them God’s true will, not the ways of the Pharisees. Only they could do this. So, in a sense, the disciples are Jesus’ Lassies in a lemming world that knew no better than to follow everything the Pharisees told them to do. ... to speak, on an “on call, by need” basis. But the scripture for today reveal warnings that Jesus gives to his disciples. He senses the end growing close. He knows the extent to which he has provoked the Pharisees who are challenging him. He knows the danger ...

1465. Turmoil Brewing, Herod Stewing, Prophecy, and Porridge

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... family under the radar into the area of Nazareth in Galilee, outside of Archelaus’s jurisdiction, as we learn from Matthew. One could say in fact that the more turmoil brewed, the more people relied upon prophecy in order to get them through. But prophecy is in a sense like a pot of porridge or lentil stew. You know something is going to emerge, but you’re not quite sure what it is, how it will taste, or when it will be ready. For God’s stewpot is a mysterious brew. It’s not our own soupy forecast ...

1466. Peter the Petulant

Mark 14:1-11, Mark 14:12-26, Mark 14:27-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... brush to shine the shoes of whomever sits in the chair above. I once got to know one of these shoe shiners –an elderly gentleman, who told me, he had been shining shoes ever since he was young. The seriousness in which he approached his work was for him a sense of pride and honor. Every shoe was special, every foot a service. And he had a very special buffing rag that was his own, one he had kept for many years. It had become for him his talisman, his pride, and his honor. Much as one would pass on a ...

1467. The Stone is My Witness

Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of God’s Spiritual Temple. As the women ask, “Who will roll away the stone?” their question is answered: Only God! When asked his process for sculpting the great “David,” Michelangelo replied, that he just removes everything that isn’t “David.” In a sense, this is what God does for us as well. And it’s the message of the resurrection –not just life, but a return to authenticity, removal of sin, rebirth (as in baptism), and evil made beautiful. In the moving of that stone, God removes ...

1468. Faith is a River That Flows

Genesis 19:1-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God may call. Where you go…I will be with you. Ruth echoes the promise of God in her story, in which she and Naomi set out from where they are to go to where there may be hope of new beginnings, or at least lack of famine. In a sense, “famine” as a metaphor (likewise wilderness and desert) is the past we leave behind, one that no longer nourishes us in some way or another. Something dead and that needs to be left in the past. While the “promised land” is that place where God leads us, often by the ...

1469. Stop the PANIC!

Luke 15:1-32 · Exodux 15:1-27--16:36 · Psalm 23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... thickets of life, is part of our human condition. We see things “up close and personal.” All of us in some sense lack the “Big Picture” point of view. And so, when faced with venturing into new territories or navigating difficult and unknown ... . Be aware of Jesus’ presence, of that Shepherd’s rod and staff that serves as both map and compass, that allows us to make sense again of where we are and where we need to go. Jesus, who can calm our fears, restore our faith, still our stubbornness, lift ...

1470. Garden of Love

John 20:10-18, Song of Songs 4:1-16, Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... special that its melody has become engraved upon the author’s heart and soul. That relationship is a very personal one, an intimate one. It is the relationship between the poet and God. And like a song or the scent that passes by and lingers upon one’s senses, that fragrant memory wafts through every part of the author’s being, reminding him of where he’s been and to whom his heart belongs. The Song of Songs, your song of songs, is that special song that belongs only to you and God. You can feel the ...

1471. Holy Goat!

Leviticus 16:1-34, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Day of Atonement. One is sacrificed, its blood spilled to atone for the sins of the people. But another has sins cast upon it in a ritual, and then it is released into the wilderness live, taking the sins of the community with it! The scape goat is in a sense an escape goat, which allows us to escape the prisons of our doubt and anxiety, by taking them from us and freeing us of the burden. Likewise, a goat skin can represent that kind of “sin” -- a kind of clothing of doubt/sin that can overlay our own ...

1472. Vendetta

2 Kings 1:1-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . But for whatever reason, Ahaziah does this, and as a result, he receives a message from Elijah that because he has not appealed to YHWH for healing, he in fact, will not be healed but will be relegated to his mat forever until his death. In a sense, Ahaziah allows himself to appeal to his fallen nature. Instead of putting his trust in YHWH, the God of Israel, he seeks instead to appeal to a baser spirit. And in this, he dishonors himself. Ahaziah may have been looking at the Philistine god Baalzebub as an ...

1473. The Prodigal

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... celebrate our homecoming. What will you choose? God is a prodigal God, and God calls us to be a prodigal people. God loves to throw a party. God’s everlasting feast is just waiting for us to accept it, if only we will lay aside our pride, our sense of justice, our vindictiveness, and our judgements, even our own guilt, and allow Him to welcome us back into relationship with Him. Jesus is a Big Spender. He is excited and yearning to spend and expend the most amazing grace and love upon us in every kind of ...

1474. God Encounter

Luke 1:1-4, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... civilized world starts to overtake us, we all need those thin spaces. We all need to make time for God encounters. And when you do, no matter what else you are dealing with in your life, that encounter with God will change you, instill in you a sense of promise, of peace, of vision, of God’s sacred dream. And you will emerge, different. You will be…different. For God’s promise is a promise of difference –a firm promise that nothing will be the same again, but will change you and everything around ...

1475. Trust Your Intuition

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . And the smartest people among us - the ones who make great intellectual leaps forward - cannot do this without harnessing the power of intuition,” says Bruce Kasanoff.** The more we trust our intuition, the more reliable, and relational, and connected, our sense of knowledge. Intuition is relational knowledge. It’s the way we know our partners, our children, our friends, ourselves. And intuition is the primary faculty we use to recognize and connect to God. Today is All Saints Day. Happy All Saints ...

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