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 2275 results

1576. A Little Theology at Christmas

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... Christians incarnating the grace of God that became incarnate in Jesus. We need to practice what we believe. This theme is found over and over again both by way of terms like "godliness" (found two times), "good deeds" or "good works" (found four times), and by lists of moral qualities that characterize godly leadership and behavior (three times [cf Titus 1:1, 6-9, 16; 2:1-10, 14; 3:1-3, 8, 14]). For a book of three short chapters, this is a lot! So the grace of God is made known in Jesus Christ so that we ...

1577. Caught in the Middle

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... writing to a select few, nor is he suggesting that they somehow withdraw from the normal life of their vibrant city. He is saying, rather, that because of their relationship with God through Jesus Christ, their lives should be marked by qualities that will set them apart. They are to be holy, set-apart Corinthians. There has always been the danger of being fascinated by Christian ideas, teachings, and things in general, without making particular Christian commitments. In an extreme form this would include ...

1578. Will It Last?

1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... or a side wall carried away. And yet, as arbitrary as it seemed, as we stood looking around us, we knew there were some things at work: the currents of the water that swept in; the amount of debris at any given point; and, obviously, the quality of the structures that withstood the onslaught. Paul is counting on experiences and memories like these in the metaphor he uses today. His readers have seen — or at least heard about — an area that had been devastated by a fire or similar catastrophe where some ...

1579. Yes, You

1 Peter 2:2-10

Sermon

David O. Bales

... and if he went with the crowd he was going to sure death. His friend replied, "I must follow them. I'm their leader." You can lead your pastor. Just, please, make sure that it's the right direction. Throughout Christian history the church has grown in numbers and quality when the entire people of God have taken seriously the dignity God has bestowed upon them. There's a lot more people in the church who aren't pastors than those who are. You people in the pews far outnumber us who stand on this side of the ...

1580. A Truly Universal Operating System

Romans 14:1-12

Sermon

Larry Lange

... to serve this sort of sacred meat at all Macrosoft functions would raise questions in the minds of customers and potential customers alike: If Macrosoft has not properly honored the god of computers, how can Macrosoft guarantee that they sell quality products? The competition would certainly be able to exploit this neglect of standard business practices in the ancient world. Billius personally knew of no corporation that had succeeded without sacrificing meat to idols. "Some people, I suppose, just can't ...

1581. The World According to Paul

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

Book clubs have become quite popular in recent years, largely due to Oprah Winfrey and her outstanding selections of quality books. The Book of the Month Club has been around for generations, but did you know that book clubs originated in the seventeenth century?1 I certainly didn't. Some readers feel that novels are a waste of time when compared with nonfiction. However, our finest novelists have a keen ...

1582. How, Then, Shall We Live?

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... for the end to come, as some of the Thessalonians were doing. Hope is a powerful force in our lives. It changes the way we respond to others and to life's crises. When a loved one dies, our Christian hope injects a different quality into our grieving process. Our grief is appropriate, but it is tempered by the knowledge that even death has been conquered by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 1. David Schnasa Jacobsen, Preaching in the New Creation: The Promise of New Testament Apocalyptic Texts (Louisville ...

1583. The True Marks of Success

Luke 14:1-14

Illustration

R. Robert Cueni

A hundred years ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson noted three qualities he deemed marks of true "success": the ability to discern and appreciate beauty, the ability to see the best in others, and a commitment to leaving the world a better place. Notice that Emerson does not say that success comes in having the best seat at the table, acquiring more ...

1584. What Does It Cost to Follow Jesus?

Luke 14:25-35

Illustration

Edward F. Markquart

... We hear such phrases in our congregation as "We have a great schedule and you can even come for the "early bird special" when the church is open for business at the 7:30 AM worship. At the next service, we have a great church choir and the quality of music rivals the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. At the next worship service, we have a great contemporary worship service with a band that excels all others. We have a great senior's program with so many activities that a senior has an activity planned once or twice ...

1585. Peace and Quiet

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to practice their religion, the quiet of services and prayers uninterrupted by the Roman authorities. This morning, while you have your cell phone on vibrate or are quietly texting all your friends, it might be good to remember that one of the first qualities the church recognized as aiding a Christian life was the sound of silence. Some early Christians did crazy things like live in caves or even on top of pillars or pointed rocky outcroppings to find the solace of silence. Later when the church developed ...

1586. Rooting for the Bad Guys?

Lk 16:1-13

Illustration

King Duncan

Movie producer William Castle was known in the 1950s for his low-quality horror films. In 1961, Castle did something totally unique in movie history: he let the audience choose the ending to his movie. Castle's movie, Mr. Sardonicus, was about a crazed, reclusive killer. Near the end of the film, ushers stopped the film and allowed audiences to vote on whether ...

1587. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Tempted"

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... good times and bad, famine and heat, the villagers held fast to their traditions, until one winter day a sly wind blew in from the North. Chocolat is a movie told almost in a fairy tale kind of format. It has that feel and quality about it. It begins on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The movie is about Lent, temptation, self-denial, self-deception, self-control, rebirth, redemption and second chances. The central characters are the Mayor, the Compte de Reynaud who oversees nearly every aspect of ...

1588. Reversal of Fortune

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

How many of you like Chinese Food? I love Hot and Sour soup and generally judge a restaurant by the quality of their soup. That's not always the case because I like nearly anything with seafood in it, so if they've got a lot of seafood dishes and their soup not the best, I'll still go back. One of the best parts of the Chinese Restaurant is getting ...

1589. Wedding Bell Blues

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... I just heard about the woman at the airport check-in counter. She asked the agent for window seats for both her and her husband. The clerk pointed out that would prevent them from sitting together. The woman replied, "Sweetie, I just spent ten days of quality time in a compact rental car with this man. I know what I’m requesting." (1) Even if there is strife, sometimes, in a marriage, marriage is still a wonderful institution. You get to live with your best friend. You get to raise your children. And ...

1590. Fast Forward Faith

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . God always loves us, no matter what. God is always willing to transform our names and our lives into "sons and daughters of honor," "sons and daughters of the beloved." All we need is FAITH ENOUGH TO ASK. II. Faith Enough To Believe The second quality Bartimaeus had was faith enough to believe. Bartimaeus had faith enough to believe that Jesus could and would heal him and restore his sight. Fred Craddock tells the story of serving in an area where all the local pastors rotated turns as chaplain at the ...

1591. The Dawn of Forever

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . But if there is a God of the traditional kind, natural laws only operate because he makes them operate." Swineburne used the Bayes Theorem to assign values to things like the probability that God is real, Jesus' behavior during his lifetime, and the quality of witness testimony after his death. Then he plugged the numbers into a probability formula and added everything up. The results? There's a 97 percent probability that the resurrection really happened. (1) That's nice to know. It's one more tool ...

1592. 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... is to judge the living and the dead” and suggesting that this eschatological age, while yet in the future, is nevertheless already “in view.” The specifics of the “charge” Paul lays upon Timothy recall many of the “useful” qualities of scripture just itemized. First and foremost, Timothy is to “proclaim” or “preach” the word, that is, the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Secondly, Paul commands Timothy to be “prepared” or “persistent” at all times — regardless of whether the ...

1593. Didn’t You Hear the Bells?

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

Keith Wagner

A blind man was invited to attend the wedding of a friend. The couple had chosen to be married in a village church that was known for its picturesque qualities. As the couple left the chapel, the mother of the groom said to the blind man, "What a pity that you couldn't see the chapel. It really is so lovely. And such a pretty garden." She later repeated this to some mutual friends at the reception. The blind man ...

1594. Whose Wife Will She Be?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Cremains are the ashes left from cremating a human body. In other words, rather than putting the ashes of a loved one in an urn sitting on your mantle or scattering those ashes on the water or from a mountaintop, LifeGem will compress those ashes into a high quality diamond which you could wear around your neck if you chose or on your finger. Prices range from $2,500 to $14,000. One LifeGem customer, a widow, had the wedding bands that she and her husband had worn melted into a cross and at the center of ...

1595. Luke 23:33-43

Luke 23:26-43

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Christianity’s liturgical calendar has some unusual qualities. It celebrates or commemorates things that now are often unfamiliar to the twenty-first century church. So it is that the lectionary readings for this Sunday, especially the gospel text, may seem strangely out of place at this point in the calendar year. Pop culture is already revved-up for ...

1596. John Had an Outlook

Matt 3:1-12; John 3:22-36

Illustration

Leonard Mann

... , up to then, had conspired to accomplish only one purpose, and that was just to get him into the world. He saw himself as creation's ultimate achievement, the apex toward which all else had forever been aimed, and beyond which nothing of any notable quality would ever appear again. There isn't much future in that. This man John was a different type; beyond himself he saw something else, something better, something to be cherished and looked forward to. "He who is coming after me is mightier than I," says ...

1597. Jesus Calls the Common Man

John 1:29-42; Matt 4:12-22

Illustration

Gary Inrig

... his other rough spots as well. Not only was he ignorant of spiritual truths, he was only barely literate, and his spoken grammar was atrocious. The year-long probation did not help very much. At his second interview, there was only a minimal improvement in the quality of his answers, but since it was obvious that he was a sincere and committed (if ignorant) Christian, they accepted him as a church member. Over the next years, I am sure that many people looked at that young man and, convinced that God would ...

1598. God’s Kind of Happiness

Matthew 5:1-12

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

... competitive spirit. "Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires." We have been taught that happiness lies in the desire to conform to the values of our own society. "Happy are those who are merciful to others." We have been taught that the quality of mercy is a sign of weakness. "Happy are the pure in heart." Tell that one to the guys and gals at work! "Happy are those who work for peace." We have been taught that happiness is defined in terms of preparedness for war. "Happy are those ...

1599. The Case of the Dancing Men

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... on our actions, but God’s action in Jesus Christ who died that we might live. God’s grace grows out of God’s unconditional love for every one of us. In November 1991, Jerry Jenkins wrote a bizarre true story that is a great reminder of the quality of the Father’s love. The story is about a man who was awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call. He was groggy. The girl on the other end was weeping. “Daddy,” she said, “I’m pregnant.” Though stunned beyond belief, this man forgave ...

1600. It Is Your Choice

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Robert Bachelder

In Huxley's Brave New World, Savage is contending with Mustapha Mond, the world controller. Savage's sensibility has been shaped by the Bible and Shakespeare, readings no longer allowed to be read. He complains to Mond about the antiseptic quality of life in the new society. The controller says to him: "We prefer to do things comfortably." Savage rejoins: "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." Many people think of God as ...

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