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 1576 to 1600 of 2653 results

1576. The Holidaze Craze

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... community. In other words, these gifts of grace are given so that this testimony, their witness for and about Christ and their service to others in Christ's name, may be strengthened. Gifts of grace show Christ to the world. Christ's love. Christ's compassion. Christ's empathy. Christ's sacrifice. Christ's power to transform. The Corinthians needed this reminder because some of them had turned these gifts of grace into gifts of glory. Gifts of glory glorify the self and show off the self's status and power ...

1577. Live and Learn

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Canaanite woman dispute the primacy of the house of Israel or of Jesus' special responsibility as Son of David to tend those lost sheep. And the woman herself learns from Jesus' words to her. But what SHE learns is to see the ribbon of faithfulness, compassion, and never-dimming divine love that keeps God intimately bound to God's people. Jesus' declaration "It's not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs" depicts a household image that this woman instantly recognizes. She knows that ALL ...

1578. Why Are Christians Such Bad Tippers?

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... everyday, ordinary, undistinguished disciple. To the one who is thoughtful enough even just in something as small as offering a cup of cold water, they too will reap the reward of the prophet and the righteous. A small, simple act of everyday compassion brings with it the wealth of the joy of the kingdom of heaven come near. According to Matthew's gospel a favorite reference to those who were faithful, yet simple followers, was little ones. Commentators aren't sure whether these diminutive disciples were ...

1579. I Like Brussels Sprouts, but...

Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... despite Jesus' seeming failure to obey Torah law (by associating with the obviously immoral tax collectors and sinners), he was actually fulfilling the true essence of the law. Jesus instructs the outraged Pharisees to "Go and learn" that mercy and compassion, that love itself, is the true heart of God's torah. The second incident - the healing of the hemorrhaging woman and the resurrection of the dead girl - dramatically demonstrates Jesus' divine empowerment. Those miracles couldn't occur unless God's ...

1580. Tell You the Truth

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to be told. Jesus' truth revealed more about God than had ever been revealed before. Jesus told the truth about a Father's love and forgiveness. Jesus told the truth about God's plans for the salvation of the world. Jesus told the truth about how compassion, sacrifice, suffering, and mercy could be signs, not of human weakness but of divine strength. When Jesus told the truth about God, it was never quite as we would expect it to be. For those convinced they were righteous and blessed by their piety and ...

1581. The Purple Church

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that can often leave bruises. Deep, purple bruises. Yet this purple is nothing less that a divine gift. Purple is indeed the sign of true Christian community at work. " The color purple is the sign of sacrifice. " " The color purple is the sign of compassion. " " The color purple is the sign of love for each other. " Not red. Not blue. The combination of those two extreme colors brings a new, deeper, richer color to the world's landscape. The Color Purple. Purple has a long, regal bloodline. The color ...

1582. Come Back

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... image of Jesus turning around and looking as his betrayer, both in the Upper Room, and when "the cock crowed." But his eyes aren't angry or condemning eyes; his eyes aren't rejecting or judgmental eyes. His eyes are the eyes of love, the eyes of compassion, the eyes of "come back." Jesus looks at us this morning with those same "come back" eyes. Peter came back. All the disciples except Judas came back. We're betrayers, all. But the message of the gospel this morning is "come back." Jesus invites us back ...

1583. Keep on Praying

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... presence was so great that this judge, this man who neither feared God nor had respect for people (verse 2), felt completely beaten up by her powerless persistence. This judge's eyes were not opened to justice. His heart wasn't warmed with compassion. His spirit wasn't compelled to righteousness. This judge simply wimped out and wore out. Woody Allen is famously quoted as insisting that "90 percent of life is just showing up." The parable of the annoyingly persistent widow-woman teaches that we must ...

1584. Soul Deep Not Skin Deep

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with our souls than with our skins. Jesus looks at the eternal, not the epidermis. Life is not what you make it. Life is what you let God make it. Turn away from the mirror for a minute, and let something else get under your skin: Let compassion for others get under your skin; Let feeding the hungry get under your skin; Let forgiveness of those who have wronged you get under your skin; Let a thirst for justice get under your skin; Let the needs of your children, your spouse, your parents, your church ...

1585. Stirred, Not Shaken

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of good acts disciples of Jesus should do and be seen doing. Here's one of the great juxtapositions of the Bible: the juxtaposition between the shaking of heaven and earth by a vast omnipotent deity in chapter 12, and the small acts of solidarity, love, compassion, and steadfastness called for in chapter 13. At first flush they seem almost comically incongruous. What does it matter what each one of us may or may not do in our own lives, within our own families, in the midst of our own community of faith ...

1586. Thanks for Nothing!

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Even in the worst of times, we're a country with a plenitude of riches – abundant food, comfortable homes, and make-life-easier gadgets and gizmos. Yes, there are those who are hungry and homeless around us. But as a nation we do have the capacity, however much the compassion or the will is lacking, to tend to the most basic needs of all our neighbors for whom "this land is your land, this land is my land." Among those gifts we've celebrated and for which we've given thanks has been one of the rarest but ...

1587. Follow That Star (New Year's Day)

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... murder. Unwilling to follow The STAR and pay homage to God's chosen one, Herod ordered the murder of the innocents and threw himself down the path of self-destruction and insanity. Epiphany is the annual event that allows us all to recheck our spiritual compasses-taking a moment to examine exactly what course our life is on and who or what we are following. Philosopher Dallas Willard is the author of The Divine Conspiracy-one of the most important Christian books published in the 1990s. When his students at ...

1588. Get a Peace of the Rock

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the cultural acceptance of the practice of "selling cabbages" - the Hutu reference to the offer of fifty Rwandan francs a piece (about 30 cents) for severed Tutsi heads. Here's the Height: The height of the sin was demonstrated by the apparent lobotomizing of all human compassion and conscience. "The scale of the horror seemed to numb people to the very idea of death. I saw one man walking with a bundle in his arms, chatting to another man. When he arrived at the mass grave, he tossed the inert body of his ...

1589. More!!!

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... glass jar in our lab. One by one they came, grain by grain, all those of the house of David, like grains of sand to be counted. The inn was full. When Joseph knocked, his wife was already in labour; there was no room even for compassion. Until the barn was offered. That was the precipitating factor. A child was born, and the pattern changed forever, the cosmos shaken with that silent explosion.” – Madeleine L'Engle's "The Bethlehem Explosion" in A Cry Like a Bell After centuries of waiting, after almost ...

1590. Obstacles as Popsicles

Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... her daughter's reactions and suggestions, in her heart she must still have feared that rejection, betrayal, and death would be the result of her traitorous behavior. In the end Moses' mother couldn't rely on her weaving skills, the strength of the bulrushes, the pity and compassion of the Egyptian princess. In the end all she could do was to rely on God. God's care. God's providence. God's love. 2) There's always somebody who sees better than you do the direction God is taking you. They are just hiding in ...

1591. Pay It Forward!

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ridden into Jerusalem. Jesus now needs you to be his hands and feet, his day-by-day, minute-by-minute incarnation in this world. · The only way God's love can provide a new home for a homeless family is if we hammer the nails. · The only way God's compassion can protect children from disease is if our hands administer the vaccinations. · The only way God's joy can be expressed is if our feet dance. · The only way God's heart can break is if our tears flow. · The only way God's peace can endure is if ...

1592. The Shadow

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

At Dolphin Cay, our home on Orcas Island, Washington, we have standing just outside our front door an old ship's binnacle--a 3.5-foot tall wooden post fitted with a maritime compass and leveling weights. But in the black of night, with the dim, blue-black porch light burning behind it, this benign binnacle takes on an insidious nature. Coming down our hallway anytime after midnight, it looks as though some rather short, stocky person is peeking in at us from just ...

1593. The Ultimate Happy Meal

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... just fed you a delicious meal? In today's gospel text, Jesus is depicted as both a healer of physical infirmities, and one who feeds the poor multitudes that follow him. Both activities are motivated, Matthew's text makes clear, by compassion. There's nothing that testifies so directly to the power of the Incarnation as does Jesus' continual concern with the physical – not just spiritual – welfare of people. Disease, deformity, and death were human conditions that Jesus could never ignore, never avoid ...

1594. WaterFire Disciples

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for an ancient, 600 year-old redwood in the rainy Northern California forests that she lived in the tree for two years, never leaving it until Pacific Lumber Company promised not to cut it down. Do you burn? John Barnett, of Charlotte, North Carolina, burned with compassion for people in prison after the Million Man March in Washington, but he knew it had to start with him. So he wrote the man who murdered his brother in 1994 and said "I've forgiven you," starting a prison ministry called THUG (True Healing ...

1595. Are You Turned On to Christ?

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... though they were not present to see the risen Lord? 1 Peter states it simply: "You love him" (verse 8). This love brings with it an indescribable and glorious joy. For the Christian . . . · Love turns you on. · Forgiveness turns you on. · Hope turns you on. · Compassion turns you on. · Faith turns you on. Each new Easter Sunday, Christians should be fully charged up, turned-on by the miracle of Christ's resurrection, of God's grace and love. And not for just the fifty days of the Easter season, but for ...

1596. The Spiritually Incorrect Spirit

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Think right now: when was the last time you were taken in a direction you do not wish to go. Abraham was asked, in the words of Allan A. Boesak, to "go to a land he did not see, to move in a direction he had never gone. Without a compass to guide him, without a map to show him the direction, he moved. His faith was trusting in the unseen presence of God to navigate the steps of his life." Are you trusting this morning in that unseen, spiritually incorrect Spirit? Are you living a Spirit-driven life? Are you ...

1597. Learning the Three Step Faith Walk

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... DEEP Jesus doesn't call us to take half or half-hearted steps. Jesus calls us to launch out into the deep waters of discipleship. The walk of faith is not about safety or risk-free living. The walk of faith is all about passion and compassion. In fact, theologian Douglas John Hall insists that "Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it's delivered as easy and amusing, it's another kind of religion altogether." (Journal for Preachers, Lent 2000, as quoted in Martin E. Marty's Context, 32 [15 ...

1598. Death by Chocolate

Hebrews 9:11-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in Christ, in the once-and-for-all nature of Jesus' death, then life and death in this world become a synthesis not an antithesis. Our lives become an extension of Christ's death. For Christians our living takes its power and persistence, its commitment and compassion, from our death-to-come. Christ's sacrifice gave both life to life and life to our death. One of my favorite stories that I often use at memorial services is this one from Norman Vincent Peale. It's a graphic story of a conversation between ...

1599. The Longest Distance in the Universe

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as a goal for integrating all the various components of our lives, its right on track. The old 4-H pledge recognizes that human beings are animated by different, and sometimes conflicting, aspects of the self. Intellect and reason rule the head. Passions and compassion move the heart. But it takes the actions of our hands to bring our thoughts and feelings to fruition in this world. The disciples in today's gospel text definitely have their thinking caps on. They have been puzzling out how best they might ...

1600. Drop It!

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to God would look, Jesus blew away all the traditional models. Jesus called disciples . . . to righteousness, not respectability; to actions, not assertions; to justice, not jurisprudence; to trust, not tradition; to sacrifice, not sanctimony; to love, not legalism; to compassion, not convention; to prayer, not profits. To everything that the world holds up and holds onto as the symbols of success, of goodness, of power, Jesus declared . . . DROP IT! I invited some "Bambis" here to church this morning. One ...

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