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 1701 to 1725 of 3110 results

1701. True North

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Sha Jahan was the emperor of India during the 1600s. When he lost his wife he was devastated. In fact, his grief was so great that he decided to build a grand temple that would serve as her tomb. Her coffin was placed in the center of a large piece of land and a big temple was built around it. The emperor was determined to build a magnificent resting place for his wife. However, as the weeks turned into months the emperor’s grief was overshadowed by his passion for the project. He was obsessed with the ...

1702. To Drown Hell and Burn Heaven

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

My dad was a good storyteller. He grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota in the days when there were no movie theaters or other kinds of entertainment, so my dad and his friends made their own fun. Judging by his stories, their entertainment involved a lot of pranks. Their imaginations really went wild at Halloween. Some of his stories I can't tell in public, but here's one I can tell. One Halloween night, my father and his friends snuck over to Uncle Ludwig's farm. They proceeded to systematically take ...

1703. Zophar

Job 11:1-20

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

11:1 The last of Job’s three friends makes his debut with rather breathtaking harshness. Zophar rejects Job’s claim to righteousness and even undermines his integrity by classifying Job’s claims as idle mockery which cannot go uncontested. The key to Zophar’s viewpoint is found in 11:6, where he clearly states that Job’s suffering is the result of his sin and is even less severe than deserved. While Zophar does hold out hope for Job, it has little to do with a confrontation with God. Such a collision would ...

1704. Spiritually Prepared

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a ridiculous story about a priest who was about to baptize a young child. He approached the father of the child and said solemnly, “Baptism is a serious step. Are you prepared for it?” “I think so,” the young father replied. “My wife has made appetizers and we have a caterer coming to provide plenty of cookies and cakes for all of our guests.” “I don’t mean that,” the priest responded. “I mean, are you prepared spiritually?” “Oh, sure,” came the reply. “I’ve got a keg of beer and a case of whiskey ...

1705. Everything You Need to Know about Love

John 15:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Our theme for today is love. Of course, ultimately every one of our messages is about love: God’s love for us and our love for one another, and the love we are called to have for the world for which Christ died. However we are going to focus a little more intently than normal on the meaning of love today. In our lesson from John’s Gospel we read these words: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my ...

1706. United We Stand

John 17:11b-19

Sermon

King Duncan

Today is Mother’s Day, a day when we honor our Moms. We learn many things from our Moms. My mother taught me religion. She used to say things like, “You better pray that comes out of the carpet.” My mother taught me medicine: “If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’re going to freeze that way.” My mother taught me how to be a contortionist: “Will you look at the dirt on the back of your neck!” My mother taught me to appreciate a job well done: “If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just ...

1707. Hope for People Who Are Angry

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

Sermon

King Duncan

A man came to work one day with a bad limp. One of his coworkers noticed and asked him what had happened. The man answered, “Oh, nothing. It’s just an old hockey injury that acts up every once in a while.” The coworker was surprised at his answer. “I never knew you played hockey,” he said. The man explained, “Oh, I didn’t play hockey; I hurt it last year during the Stanley Cup play‑offs. When I lost five hundred dollars on the final game, I put my foot through the TV set!” (1) When we’re angry we do some ...

1708. The Trajectory of God’s Grace

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

When I was in junior high, I “inherited” a winter coat from my Uncle George (who is only three years older than I am). It was a very expensive coat and looked practically new, so I knew George hadn’t worn it. The reason was obvious: it was an extremely thick, long ski jacket that made the wearer look like a pregnant, black polar bear. The fur that covered the whole coat had to be four or five inches long. The really sad thing was that the satin lining had a terrific embroidered snow eagle. I would have ...

1709. Join in the Singing

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

The strangest thing happened on Christmas night last year. You may have heard about it on the news. In a small town in Pennsylvania, a man got into an armed standoff with police. Such events occur so often nowadays, we’re likely to forget the details of any particular episode. This episode, however, is different. This man was acting erratically and shooting at police officers. Members of the local SWAT team surrounded him and tried to talk him into surrendering, but he wouldn’t listen. This standoff lasted ...

1710. Recognizing Who God Is

Job 42:7-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Series on the Book of Job, #4 Suggested video clip: "Rudy" This is the last sermon in our series on Job. Maybe you are relieved, as I am relieved. This is heavy stuff. We ended last week's service by pondering the question: What has Job learned from his encounter with the Almighty God? For an answer, I want to turn to the movie Rudy. Rudy is based on the true story of a young man named Rudy Ruettiger whose only goal in life was to play football for Notre Dame. Rudy is small and he lacks athletic ability. ...

1711. Cloak of Power

Psalm 5:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. Malachi 4:2 Props: Prayer Shawl or Tallit (with Tzizit) or Cloak/Diver’s helmet Have you ever had the opportunity to take or watch a scuba diving lesson? What happens is this: a group of students, young and old, listen as the instructor has them practice fitting on the scuba helmet. Of course the helmet is part of the breathing tank apparatus, which supplies them with oxygen down below the surface of the water. You can’t watch this without ...

1712. Lazarus

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: a skunk (if you dare) or a stuffed animal that looks like a skunk [don’t show them what’s in the cage until they come up to see] I have here a friend I’ve brought with me today. He’s here in this cage, and I’m going to take him out for a bit. Come on up some of you. Here he is. His name is Sandy. [Take the skunk out of the cage ….make sure it’s a de-fumed one J….and hold him out to those gathered] What! You are backing away. You don’t want to hold this skunk? [Walk down the aisles with him ...

1713. The Curse of the Tongue

James 3:1-12, James 3:13-18, 2 Timothy 2:14-26, Psalm 34:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them." (Jesus --Mark 7:15) “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4) “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen… Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” ...

1714. Plucked from the Blaze

Zechariah 3:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

We are shaped by our experiences. You are who you are because of what has happened to you and your response to those happenings. At least in part. Every one of us has memories of times in our lives that we can identify as crucial milestones –moments that became momentous, moments that changed us in some way, made of who we are, shaped our thoughts, branded our memories, imprinted our feelings. What is your most vivid memory? Often, the experiences we remember the most are those that were most traumatic. ...

1715. Choosing to Be Grateful

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?” — Luke 17:17 There was once a minister who was well known for his beautiful and moving prayers. He always knew just what to say because, I am told, his heart overflowed with gratitude. But one Sunday morning he woke up to the kind of day we preachers dread. If it was not a full-blown nor’easter, it came pretty close. The wind was howling and the rain was coming down in sheets. As a result, many people stayed home from worship ...

1716. A Costly Cross

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

King Duncan

Colorful preacher Clarence Jordan was once taken on a tour of one of the greatest churches in America. As the tour guide brought him to the very front of the church where he could look up at the altar, the guide said: “Do you see that cross? It’s a gold cross. It was donated by one of our wealthiest members in memory of his wife. That cross, Mr. Jordan,” he continued, “which is covered with gold leaf, cost over $750,000.” Jordan responded, “Shucks! Time was you could get one for free!” (1) And that’s true ...

1717. Go!

Acts 9:10-19

Sermon

Will Willimon

About a year after he graduated from Duke, he left an excited message on our telephone answering machine. "I've got my big break! I got hired for a TV show! I'm going to be on 'Friends,' tonight, Eastern Standard Time, 8:00 p.m. Watch for me." I was surprised, but pleased for him. I had advised him, just before graduation, that attempting to go into acting was the dumbest thing I had ever heard of ''Nobody gets hired for TV," I said. "It's mostly about being a waiter for the rest of your life," I had said ...

1718. Ordinary People

Ruth 1:1-16

Sermon

Will Willimon

It's Parents' Weekend here and, through some act of divine serendipity, the lectionary has assigned as our first reading a passage from the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth is a family story, an ancient novella which may be three thousand years old. It's an old story, but I'm claiming that it's a true story because it's a story about a family in trouble. Here is a middle-class family that's hit on hard times and has to move, a father who dies leaving his wife and sons poorly provided for, two sons who marry ...

1719. God Doesn’t Always Behave Like We Think He Should

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

In some ways life hasn’t treated you like you wish it had, right? All the childhood dreams have not been fulfilled, have they? Some friends have been lost along the way. Beloved family members are gone. Maybe family life hasn’t been quite what we’d hoped. The job’s not all we thought it would be. You name it. For all of us life hasn’t turned out just the way we had planned. Life is not like the prosperity gospel preachers have promised.[1] God has not delivered on what they promised. He has not seemed to ...

1720. Family Reunion

Genesis 29:15-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

"I wish I had no history to report. I've pretended for so long, that my childhood did not happen. I had to keep it tight, up near the chest. I could not let it out. I followed the redoubtable example or my mother. It's an act or will to have a memory or not, I chose not to have one. Because I needed to love my mother and father in all their flawed, outrageous humanity, I could not afford to address them directly about the felonies committed against all of us. I could not hold them accountable or indict ...

1721. Rock Stars at the Top

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

If I were a Hollywood writer, the Transfiguration story would be a great setting. I could see it ranking right up there with “The Ten Commandments,” “Samson and Delilah,” “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” or any of the others. I would title it, “Rock Stars At The Top.” The stars would include Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, John, and the Voice and I’m still contemplating who I would cast in the roles. It would be a great media-hype type movie with spectacular special effects…a hard to climb mountain, ...

1722. Why the Cross?

Hebrews 2:17-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Why did Jesus have to die a brutal death in order for God to forgive us? If you struggle with that question or you know someone who does, this message is for you. Most Christians believe that the cross represents God’s redemptive act in Christ forgiving us of sin and reconciling us to him. Take a look at these words from Hebrews: For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make ...

1723. God's Little Acre

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

"Another parable he put before them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to one who sowed good seeds in his field...'" I'll admit it. Sometimes I have this fantasy about the church. The fantasy is this: That someday, somewhere, there will be this church where there will be no inactive members, nobody who slams the door in your face when you go soliciting pledges in the fall pledge campaign. Nobody in this church ever says "No" when they're asked to keep the nursery or teach Sunday school, in ...

1724. A Good Name

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9

Sermon

Will Willimon

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 Do you believe that? It's from the book of Proverbs. You get this sort of moral platitude there. "A good name is better than silver or gold." Sounds a little quaint, this talk of "a good name." But this is typical of Proverbs. Here is ethics done the old-fashioned (600 B.C.) way -- an older person telling a younger person how to live in order to have a good life. The book of Proverbs is, ...

1725. Stay—Tuned

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Everybody loves a good story. We begin our earliest understandings through stories. The Tortoise and the Hare, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Ugly Duckling. We learned lessons in behavior from stories like The Little Boy Who Cried ‘Wolf ’ and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The tradition of storytelling is as old as humanity itself. Ancient cultures have stories to tell younger generations about their heritage. Go to the earliest chapters of our scripture and see how our own cultural ...

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