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 126 to 150 of 635 results

126. Let Us Pray!

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... no longer believes in God. The wise and unperturbed woman replies, "Ain't no way you can't believe in God, boy. You just try holding your breath long enough to die." No less than breathing or the sucking of a newborn infant, prayer is instinctive human behavior. The disciples' plea, "Lord, teach us to pray," arises from a primal urge deep within the human psyche. During World War II it was a cliche that there were no atheists in foxholes. Deep calls to deep. Spirit seeks spirit. Speaking autobiographically ...

127. A Faith That Burns

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... and bloodshed. What is disturbingly clear in the biblical account is: not only is God praised by the Hebrew slaves for their deliverance from bondage, but the Holy One is credited with having masterminded the whole plot, including the bloodshed. Our instinctive inclination is to dismiss such a dreadful bias in the story by claiming, for ourselves, a less bloodthirsty understanding of God; one which pictures God taking little lambs into the Divine bosom and gently leading those who are with young. We ...

128. Kingdom Etiquette

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... , even as it did for him. Spiritual maturity means making choices before God and suffering the consequences before the world. The buck stops with us. Instead of forgiveness, we must accept the guilt and despair that go with the risk of trusting our own instincts and being wrong. Discerning God's will requires developing a trust in the credibility and integrity of our own being. Very risky business indeed! There are no guarantees in advance that we will not be mistaken. We can submit our judgments to the ...

129. Fasting In A Fast-food World

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... longer as spring appears. But, for the Christian, for the church, Lent signals that party time is over, Mardi Gras is past, and now a whole new mood prevails. Once more we begin our annual, six-week pilgrimage to Good Friday's cross. We instinctively draw back, for words like repentance, fasting, discipline, and denial are hard words. But if we try to take shortcuts on the journey, or avoid responding to the call, we will never fully participate in the gladness and glory of Easter Day. First, we hear ...

130. Ascension

Acts 1:1-11, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:50-53, Luke 24:36-49

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... " EXPLANATION Mark 16:19-20 Up (v. 19). Where is "up?" How high is "up?" Heaven is considered to be up above us. It reflects the biblical three-story universe. Heaven is above the earth and Hades (Sheol) is under the earth. It is metaphorical language. We instinctively consider God, goodness, truth and holiness to be high above us. To go down is to go to despair, defeat, death and Satan. Heaven (v. 19). Jesus was taken into heaven. Where is heaven? It us "up." What is heaven? Is it a place? Jesus said, "I ...

131. Preaching The Miracles

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... . A visitor to the White House dresses appropriately. When people go to worship, they want to be dressed in their best for their experience with God. But Peter may have had something else in mind. He was ashamed to face Jesus because of his triple denial. Instinctively we want to hide, to cover up. Adam and Eve covered up with fig leaves because they sinned. Peter probably did not want to appear naked or exposed. In a hymn we sing, "Naked, come to thee for dress." Christ covers our sins with the clothes ...

132. Tilted Haloes

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

James Weekley

... . Why are we so fascinated with the devil? Why do we go to great lengths to see how Frankenstein ticks? Perhaps there are two reasons for our infatuation: either we play the devil's fool to escape our boredom, or we are driven by our primitive instincts to explore the unknown. Whatever our motivation, few of us would disagree that he's out there. He baits us with sugar-coated compromises. "Truth and integrity are old fashioned. Hang loose and have some fun for a change." So the ageless drama is churned out ...

133. Hope Against Hope

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Erskine White

... to hope, because God had made a covenant with him. How do you live with hope against hope, even when all the evidence says otherwise? You do it by holding on to your faith in God and letting go of your faith in yourself. For most of us, our first instinct is to trust in ourselves. We rely on our own powers to sustain us or accomplish our goals, and then, when we fall short, we turn to God as a last resort, asking Him to fulfill a promise which we never really believed in anyway. But we should know better ...

134. Come The Judgment Day

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

Erskine White

... heart and think they serve us well. But sooner or later, they are swept away like broken twigs before the onrushing tide of truth. Right now we may see in a mirror dimly, but then we shall see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12), and we will instinctively know God's right and God's wrong as they have been since the beginning of time. The other lesson about judgment from Solomon Blatt's story is also found in our text from Jeremiah: "All who amass wealth unjustly ... at their end will prove to be fools." Now ...

135. The Still Small Voice

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Steven Burt

... our best as much as possible. In some way, what we’re doing today -- celebrating the Lord’s Supper -- is like the EIijah experience. Elijah was coming to the end of a long, hard week and was trying to get up to meeting another week. Something instinctively made him escape -- partly for the practical reason that his life was in danger, but also because his well-being, his being well on God’s behalf, was also threatened. On the journey, God provided food and drink -- for Elijah under the broom tree, for ...

136. He Preached Good News

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

James Garrett

... , Artaban notices an unusual commotion during Passover time. He inquires as to what is happening. “We are going to the place called Golgotha, just outside the walls of the city, to see two robbers and a man named Jesus of Nazareth hanged on a Cross.” Artaban knows instinctively this is the King he has been searching for all his life. He rushed to the scene. On his way he meets a young girl being sold into slavery. She falls at his feet and pleads with him to rescue her. His heart is moved and he gives ...

137. Good News From A Graveyard

John 20:1-9

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... takes care of the knotty problem of God. But it is motivated by the desire of the creature who insists that their bodies are their own to do with as they wish and that life's destiny lies, not in God's hands, but their own. Our basic instincts resist granting God power over our live or our death! Furthermore belief in the resurrection means that we are exposed to the shocking way sin which God purposes to work in this world. It seems the Lord God is rather careless about the means by which the Divine ...

138. The Story Of The Scandalized Neighbors

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... warmth and comfort of the servants' quarters." You know what happened next. That fool father was out there looking for him, as was his custom every day. Only this day was different. This day he saw against the horizon the stooped form of a man hobbling down the road. Instinctively he sensed it was his son and he ran to him, the pain in his heart was transformed into compassion. Judah stopped. He wanted to run but he was frozen with fear. You see, he wasn't sure of the emotional state of the old man who ran ...

139. Overcoming The Blues

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Robert Allen

... it grew out of their attitude toward property and the ownership of land. The word “Baal” means owner and in the beginning, it had nothing to do with religion. But, Baalism gradually became a god, a god that offered his followers the things human instincts crave, a god of the flesh, a god who encouraged his people to follow their natural inclinations. Baalism was worshiped in indulgence, expressed in lust, and adored in selfishness. Baalism had no inhibitions and simply said, “If it feels good, do it ...

140. Let It Shine!

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... Just as the physical darkness got jealous when God said the light was good and separated them from each other, God has called you to be separate, apart, because you have something good. Now you need to stop trying to make those of lesser quality, lesser instinct, lesser capacity be receptive to you. God gave you more light. Shine your light. God didn't call you to compromise your gifts, talents, and skills to make the children of darkness comfortable. Let your light shine for Jesus and get a good life! Put ...

141. Dim Visions And Blind Guides

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... . Consider the Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto. In 1944, he was the minister of the largest Protestant congregation in southern Japan. It was in the city of Hiroshima. Tanimoto must have been proud of his large church. Then one day, a yellow flash came. Mr. Tanimoto dove instinctively into a garden and wedged himself between two huge rocks. A powerful blast of wind and fire blew over him. It knocked him unconscious. When he came to and got on his feet, the city was flat as a desert. Sixty-eight thousand human ...

142. Wedding: A Special Kind of Love

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon Aid

Jeffrey A. Nelson

... many as 102 different definitions. The love which has brought us together today, though, is a very special kind of love. The love in which ____ and ____ unite is not a sensual, physical kind of love. It has nothing to do with the senses or with the instincts. Rather, it is a kind of moral love; a love which conveys the idea of goodwill and friendship. It is a thoughtful love with a spiritual quality; in a sense, a sort of reverence which indicates what our attitude toward God and toward each other ought to ...

143. Death of a Twelve-year-old Boy

Matthew 18:1-9

Eulogy

John M. Braaten

... by the beauty of our Lord's words. Consider a child's ability to forgive and forget. Often a youngster "blows up" at a parent, or sister, or friend - then moments later embraces them or plays with them as though nothing had happened. Children instinctively know they need other people. They need to be loved because life is for sharing. So, to recover happiness, they must forgive and forget. We adults tend to nurse grudges, dwell on misfortunes, shift blame, and thus experience much unhappiness. Would that we ...

144. Candle Lighting · all five services

Matthew 3:1-12, Psalm 119:1-176, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, 1 Peter 1:1-12

Bulletin Aid

J. B. Quisenberry

... eyes and walk away. These people disturb us. Perhaps it is because they make us feel guilty that we do not want to share what we have with them. Perhaps it is because we know that, but for fortune, we could be in their position. Whatever the reason, our first instinct is to turn our backs on them, and to forget about them. God's love won't let us do that. It shines on them with the same tenderness that it showers on us. We are, after all, children of the same spiritual Father, brothers and sisters in Christ ...

145. Dealing with the Devil

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... ? What is there in our genetic makeup that seems to be drawn to the forbidden, that’s preoccupied with whatever is denied to us, that ignores the tremendous amount of freedom we enjoy and instead focuses on the limitations of our lives and inevitably, almost instinctively, rebels against them? We certainly don’t get that from studying the life of Jesus, do we? Does the devil make us do it, as we so often claim? "Oh, come on, preacher – you don’t really believe there is a ‘Devil’ do you? The ...

146. Where the Scary Things Live

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... the LOVE of Jesus Christ – is every bit as real as a sunrise? Hear the good news: "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned." And like new, green plants which grow instinctively toward the sun, our exposure to the true light of Jesus calls us to grow toward him, to live in the warmth of his love, to learn who we are and how to use the gifts and talents God has given us to "catch people," to begin the transformation of ...

147. The Christian's Tears of Failure

Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... graduating from West Point, he fought in the Mexican War and lost an arm. That was the end of his military career. His other dream was to live with a woman he loved. He found her when her carriage had an accident. When they first saw each other, they knew instinctively that they loved each other and were meant for each other. But, the problem was that she was on her way to the home of a wealthy widower whom she was scheduled to marry. He was a failure in life's two best things. Some people try to avoid the ...

148. Tears on Easter?

John 20:10-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... of Truth Tears of joy come to us at Easter, because we have in the resurrected Christ the truth of God, ourselves, and our salvation. When Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus, she exclaimed, "Rabonni!" meaning "Teacher." Of all possible names, the one that instinctively came to her was the one that dealt with his teaching the truth. We need to know and understand the truth of God for our stability and security. Without the truth, we are confused. We want answers and solutions; we already have plenty ...

149. Encounters With Christ V: Jesus and James and John

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

James W. Moore

... things are fragile and fleeting. No, true greatness is found in ‘being a servant.’ That’s a hard lesson to learn, isn’t it?” J. Wallace Hamilton spoke about this some years ago and here’s what he said: “We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. Or – as Carl Sandburg once put it – ‘We all want to play Hamlet.’ Alfred Adler, one of the founders of modern psychiatry, names it the dominant impulse in ...

150. Jesus Reflects -- A Dramatic Monologue

Isaiah 9:1-7, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Drama

Edward G. Hunter

Jesus of Nazareth speaks: This is the 33rd year since my birth, and in my travels I have come to Bethlehem several times. But, this is the first time I have been here on the night of my birth. I felt drawn here this year, for somehow I instinctively feel I will be unable to visit it again. I know those who oppose me seek to silence me, and I fear before long they may succeed. But, I did not come here to reflect on such thoughts. I have come to see once again the place where my mother ...

Showing results