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 513 results

126. The Day of Pentecost

Isaiah 44:1-5

Sermon

... sin which easily besets us all, whether ancient Israelite or modern Christian. As Halford Luccock reports, "We see its infection in the words of a minister who said testily when a bothersome call came over the telephone: 'I'm writing a great sermon on sympathy and do not have time for individuals.' " (Preaching Values in the Epistles of Paul) In the writings of Deutero-Isaiah, we find a reference to the breadth of God's love; God is depicted as reaching out beyond the Israelites, and unbelieving people find ...

127. The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Matthew 20:17-19

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... condemned to death by the authorities should not have come as a surprise to his followers. Enter Zebedee's wife and her two sons. Talk about a power play! Not only was she seeking power for her children, she did not scruple at exercising maternal power and sympathy in an effort to influence Jesus. She knelt, we are told, in an attitude of supplication, not for herself, but for her sons. "Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." Although she ...

128. Breath for Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

... man came walking along the same way and fell into the same grave. The first man simply sat in the corner and listened while the second man yelled and yelled. He reached for the top and could not reach it. He clawed and tried to climb out. Finally, in sympathy, the first man said to the second, "You can’t get out of here" but he did. "Can these bones live?" the Lord asked Ezekiel. Notice that Ezekiel did not respond out of logic and reason and say, "No way, Lord. These are bones of dead men. They are ...

129. Sunday of the Passion

Lk 22:14--23:56 · Isa 50:4-7 · Php 2:6-11

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... , the Lamb without spot as a sacrifice for sin. 4. 23:18-25 - The people's choice of Barabbas. Theme: Jesus is our substitute on the cross. 5. 23:26-31 - People who shared in the cross. Simon of Cyrene - the unwilling bearer of the cross; the weeping women - sympathy. 6. 23:32-38 - The crucifixion. Theme: He could save others but not himself because of obedience to God's will. 7. 23:39-43 - The repentant thief. Theme: It is never too late to turn to Christ for eternal life. 8. 23:44-49 - The death of Jesus ...

130. What God Sees

Isaiah 58:1-14

Sermon

... near Savannah, in Ebeneezer, Georgia. Some fled to Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach lived. Leipzig was not to be outdone by the other German cities in welcoming these refugees. So moved by their plight and thus inspired to arouse public sympathy on their behalf, Bach composed a contata based on this lesson from Isaiah. The feeling in this passage is exile, abandonment, and persecution for religious identity and belief. The need is for restoration. Once home, lands, church, and familiar surroundings ...

131. A Protecting Grace

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Glenn L. Borreson

... person as she herself had been injured. She could make people around her choose sides in a "to-do" that the community had never seen the likes of. That is exactly what happens sometimes when a person acts in "righteous" anger and draws others into sympathy. And what is the outcome? People choosing sides. People hating people. People glancing to the side when they meet others, or avoiding them by going to the other side of the street. The entire community can be injured. What could have avoided this? Just ...

132. To Touch The Untouchable

Luke 5:12-16

Sermon

... prayer does not bring a physical healing, it helps us in other ways. "Prayer's greatest healing is ... not healing, but the courageous acceptance of the terms of mortal life. True prayer does not evade pain, but gains from it insight, patience, courage and sympathy; and at long last, makes it an oblation to God. True healing does not sidestep death, but greets it. This is healing beyond healing."4 Paul Brand is a British physician who has worked with lepers for most of his medical career. He is recognized ...

133. The Christian Life Save Us

Psalm 69:1-36

Bulletin Aid

... our reputations. We have to apologize for things we didn’t do! Left Side: We are guilty, Lord, but not of the things our accusers hold against us. We take comfort that you know our folly and forgive us in your great mercy. Right Side: We looked for sympathy, but there was none on earth. We looked for comforters and we found only you. Left Side: We are in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect us. All: Rescue us from the mire of despair that we may praise your name in song and glorify ...

134. The Foolish Farmer

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

... body - food, clothes, fine surroundings, and all the gadgets of convenience that make life easy. These things can become ends in themselves and insulate a person from what is happening around him and within him. This obsession with material things can wither our sympathy and blind us to other people’s needs. A concentration on material things can close us in on ourselves until we become first cousin to the farmer in the parable. In his book The Compassionate Christ, Walter Russel Bowie quotes an unknown ...

135. Beyond the Ordinary

Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Joe Pennel

... characteristic way. Instead, there is, for Christians, a distinctive characteristic. Matthew was saying that Christians are to love in ways that go beyond the ordinary - to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to give away their underwear, and to have sympathy for those who beg and borrow. That is the kind of love that distinguishes the Christian love from conventional, ordinary love. But Matthew was also saying that Christians are called upon to love beyond the boundaries of life. "If you love only ...

136. Come and Find Rest

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

... -A-I-D-S ... wouldn’t it be nice if we could find relief from all the problems and anxieties of this life simply by swallowing a tablet?" He goes on to explain his own spelling for relief: J-E-S-U-S. Let there be no mistake. Jesus has sympathy for your condition, and after all you have done or failed to do, he still says come to him. It is you he means. He knows about how you are. He knows the trials you have had. He knows your heartaches. He knows the personal losses you have experienced. And ...

137. Epiphany 5

Psalm 112:1-10, 1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Isaiah 58:1-14, Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon Aid

... world through deeds of love and mercy. ("They will know we are Christians by our love." I know a person who lives that way, manifesting genuine love and concern and care for other people. She is always ready to help people, to give comfort, to write notes of sympathy and concern - not one, but many - to those who are hurting. She seems always - and in all ways - to be doing things for others, not to gain praise or reward from people or God, but because this is the nature of her life in Christ. Such people ...

138. Battle Cries

2 Samuel 1:17-27

Sermon

Michael Mills

... not Presbyterians. David is a classic example of grief. Yet he recovers. He never forgets his love for Jonathan and his ambivalent feelings towards Saul. He does take the following steps in the grief process. He talks about the dead loved ones and weeps openly. He accepts sympathy from others in the camp who knew Saul and Jonathan and the others who were slain. The pain of loss does not go away, but with time’s passing it does become more bearable. God uses time to heal us. Grief is a season when we need ...

139. A Most Amazing Night

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

... to the world and the danger He faces from the world. Maybe even the beams from the stable form the shadow of a cross over the infant Jesus! Mary sees the Wise Men look at her deeply, and then they leave. Are they offering her their blessings or their sympathy? We have no pictures of Mary, so we don’t know what she looked like. But she has become a universal woman these last 2,000 years. European artists have made her look European. African artists have made her look African. In Japan, she is Japanese. Yet ...

140. Under Covers

Illustration

Wilson O. Weldon

... tells of visiting Lord Grey of Fallodon, an entrepid English statesman, after Lord Grey had spoken at a church conference. At this time Lord Grey’s eyesight was failing fast and he had learned Braille. During the conversation, someone referred to Grey’s eyesight and expressed sympathy. Lord Grey looked up with a smile and said, "Oh, well, I take my books to bed with me and put them under the covers and read with my fingers and keep warm and comfortable and that is what none of you can do." Then he ...

141. Welcome to the Training Table!

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

... or another: Something happens to those green, untested players who have warmed the bench forever and forever. Suddenly they seem to jell and come together. Against everybody’s expectations they begin to move, to execute smooth plays, to score. Out of admiration and sympathy, the crowd comes to life in support of their performance. Many a game has been won by the second team. Sometimes a star first-stringer gets his or her first opportunity at such a serendipitous moment. That’s God’s style. He calls ...

142. Looking For God?

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... meals for him. In the morning, a child came crying for help but she said she was too busy getting ready for Jesus’ visit. In the afternoon, a beggar came for food, but she turned him away. Toward evening, a neighbor lady with a problem came for advice and sympathy, but she asked her to come another day. But Jesus did not come that day. That night she went to bed with tears. Again she dreamed and saw Jesus. She complained, "Jesus, I cleaned my house for your visit, I baked my best dishes for you, but you ...

143. The Joy of Sorrow?

Matthew 5:4

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... wrote to those first century churches. He writes about how he has personally suffered because of some "thorn in his flesh." He says he prayed three times that it might be taken away, and after that he lost count. We find in those letters qualities of sympathy and understanding that would otherwise be missing. An old Arab proverb says that, "All sunshine makes a desert." Because the ground in a desert is dry and parched, nothing will grow in it. When we accept the fact that the rainfall of sorrow and trouble ...

144. What Is Your Mercy Quotient?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... what it is like to sit and wait, or to be treated like a number, how would he feel? If the nurse were to change places with the patient in the bed and find out how disorienting a hospital stay can be, how might that sharpen the edge of her sympathies? If the minister were to be the sick person and know what a visit can mean, how much more important might that part of his work become to him? What a difference it would make if the teacher could be the student, the lawyer the client, the social worker the ...

145. Journey to the Cross I: Jesus And The Demon-Possessed Man

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... full to his son’s face. The little boy was stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt… and he was just about to burst into tears. But then, he looked into his father’s eyes. Instead of anger or hostility, he saw there his father’s sympathy and concern; he saw there his father’s love and compassion. Then, instead of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter. What he saw in his father’s eyes... made all the difference! This is one of the reasons Jesus is so important to us ...

146. Journey To The Cross IV: Jesus and Judas

Mark 14:43-52

Sermon

James W. Moore

... him a simplistic caricature… a bad guy! They painted him as a dramatically evil and wicked man… and history has dealt with him even more harshly… to the point that today no name carries such shame as that of Judas Iscariot. There is no feeling of sympathy toward him at all… almost to the point that we wonder if perhaps history has made him the scapegoat for the terrible things that happened to Jesus as He was arrested, tried, and crucified. But I keep wondering, what is Judas’ story? What is the ...

147. A SUNDAY OF THE PASSION [PALM SUNDAY] SERMON-DRAMA

Drama

Tom Eberle

... of the processional entry into Jerusalem. It does develop in dramatic form our inability to grasp the possibility of suffering as a redeeming activity. The focus of the drama is not the rationale for Judas Iscariot’s actions, but our own natural sympathies with reasoning that resists the element of suffering. The drama presents the discord between our own resistance to suffering and the passion of Christ. A SUNDAY OF THE PASSION [PALM SUNDAY] SERMON-DRAMA [The characters are arranged in a setting similar ...

148. Are You Under Arrest?

Heb 5:11-13; 10:39

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... are content to continue seeing through a glass darkly. One of the saddest sights religiously speaking is the sight of someone who is religiously stagnant, and while these people, in their religious rigidity, often evoke our ire, what they really need is our sympathy. I’m of the conviction that a person’s faith should be marked by adventure and excitement and that involves risk and trust. When our Matthew wants to tell us something that he thinks we may possibly find objectionable, he often begins by ...

149. God and the Weather

Matthew 5:45; 16:2-3 · Psalm 18:7-11; 46:1-3, 11

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... as we wrestle with this thorny problem of God and human calamity that God is for us what a good parent is to a suffering child. Wrote Nels Ferre years ago - God’s suffering is completely outgoing, through and through redemptive. It is pure sympathy, the feeling with the creatures, His own children, a craving for them the fuller fellowship ... We can throw our burdens on Him, for He understands. He carries all sorrows and shares all sufferings. God knows, cares, and suffers with us.5 Tragedy can throw ...

150. IN THE BEGINNING ... THERE WAS LOVE ...

Drama

Marcia Millerf

... : I’m not sarcastic. I’m not angry. I’m not even cross. Now leave me alone. Alone; do you hear me? [As he again starts up the stairs, THE GIRL begins playing again.] STOP THAT! [THE GIRL starts to cry softly.] And don’t think you can get any sympathy from me by crying. [He starts towards her.] That’s an old trick that won’t work with me. So stop it! [He reaches toward her.] GIRL: You leave me alone. BOY: [Tenderly.] How can I leave you alone. You’re the only thing that has ever happened to me ...

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