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 151 to 175 of 635 results

151. What Makes Us Human?

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... than ourselves. Our morality, our sense of guilt, our need to love and to be loved, things like this cannot be dispensed with just by calling them "cultural taboos," or "evolving herd customs." The scientist can't explain his own instinctive, dynamic imperative to search for truth in that way. Humans must worship, because we are human and because we feel ourselves responsible to something infinitely larger, something infinitely wiser, and something infinitely more powerful than ourselves. Oh, we may make ...

152. On Having "The Right Stuff"

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... part with family, to endure suffering, to face enormity of the task, and to give up everything for the sake of the Kingdom. Here, compressed in these brief verses, is the delineation of the "right stuff" required of anyone who accepts Jesus’ offer to follow him. Instinctively, we want to back away from such harsh words. We do not want to be told that there will be suffering and hardship if we follow Jesus. We are not ready for that any more than were the first disciples. They first resisted verbally, "God ...

153. The Godness Of God

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

... folks do to God's name. We use it irreverently in terms of swearing, profanity, and cursing. Little do we seem to realize that we are disparaging and despising the holy and great nature of God Almighty. Since God is the greatest we can imagine, and even beyond that, instinctively we feel a reverence for God and all associated with him. In worship, we want to bow before him with awe and in a spirit of mystery. Before his greatness, we need to be still and know that he is God. "The Lord is in his holy temple ...

154. Proper 11

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

... what is better than himself. If our humanism has failed, it is perhaps because it was centered in man alone and was utilitarian, not heroic ..." (The Range of Reason, Maritain, Jacques, Charles Scribner Sons, New York, 1952, page 202) Moses, either by training or by instinct, knew what we need to know. That is, when we find our purpose in God's purpose, then the Almighty stands behind us, is with us, is within us, his strength supplements our strength, his love expands our love, and our lives grow in the ...

155. Proper 4

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

... full of overcoming of it." Humanity was not made to be like a fat caterpillar, munching on a cabbage leaf of ease. People were made to risk the conflict, to wrestle with the hard problems, and, in the struggle, to make something worthy of themselves. Instinctively, we know this. Dr. Paul Shearer tells of Sir Francis Drake's sailors sitting on a rocky coast in England, spinning yarns for the young people about the adventure of the sea. Those men didn't talk about the balmy seas, the pleasant climates, and ...

156. Proper 7

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

... assurance. God essentially answered his thoughts. Jacob felt lonesome, so the Lord said, "I will be with you." Jacob feared Esau, so he was assured, "I will keep you." He knew not what hardships he might meet, but God promised to bring him back safely. Instinctively, Jacob knew God had spoken to him, and decided the reason he had dreamed this was because God was especially in this particular spot, though he (Jacob) hadn't been aware of it earlier. So he said, "This place is the gateway to heaven." Therefore ...

157. Good News for the Multitudes

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Thomas C. Short

... hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26) That word of warning penetrated like a shot into the hearts of many of the lukewarm followers. Instinctively, some of the members of the multitude must have thought about pulling back and reconsidering. But that was not the end of Jesus’ warning. He followed with these words: "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple." (Luke ...

158. The Second Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Kendall K. McCabe

... tells of meeting the guard from the concentration camp where she and her family had been held by the Nazis. She had been speaking at a large church meeting, and after the meeting he had come forward. He put out his hand to her, and she instinctively pulled back, remembering the horrors to which that hand had been put or in which it had cooperated, but then, she testified, something came over her, she knew not what, and she reached out and grasped his hand and extended her forgiveness as the tears rolled ...

159. Practicing and Preaching

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

... from the pulpit. They're often the same tight-fisted people who should be embarrassed by such a discussion. The Bible is very forth-right in its mention of money. It claims we own nothing and hold all we have as a trust from God. The instinct to acquire that makes America tick made the prophets furious. Jesus, whom the Bible records more often talking about money than about prayer, said wealth always is one of two things - dangerous or damnable. To soft-pedal stewardship is to concede the field to mammon ...

160. Honest to Goodness Religion

Hosea 4:1-19

Sermon

... lookout for bargain-sale salvation, cheap commitment and discount discipleship. We have a wistful yearning to do better and to make some real changes in our lives, but fortunately (usually) the impulse does not last too long and we return to normal. God’s people instinctively know where to go for help and where to find answers. Even though the Lord has allowed them to feel the results of their rebellion, they know they can come back. They say, "Let us return to the Lord." The implication of these first ...

161. Not Blind but Seeing

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... Who sinned," they asked, "this man or his parents?" It’s the kind of question we can understand. One predictable emotion in parents who are told that their newborn has a calamitous affliction such as blindness is the haunting sense of guilt. We humans instinctively search for the reasons why things happen - particularly tragic things. In the Old Testament we do learn that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those that hate him (Deuteronomy 5:9), but ...

162. A Sermon for Passion Sunday

Matthew 27:45-56

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... , and written across the ribbon was the single word, "Why?" How many times hasn’t that word reappeared in a thousand ways, "Why did this happen to me?" A husband loses his wife, a mother loses her son, a man loses his hearing, a child loses its sight. Instinctively the question which comes to our lips is "Why?" Why should life be so unfair? Why should the world be so cold and unfeeling? Why should fate be so bitter and cruel? How easy it is, seeing Jesus Christ hanging on his Cross and hearing him speak ...

163. Easter 3

Acts 9:1-19a, Revelation 5:1-14, John 21:1-14

Sermon Aid

... and then jumped off the boat to swim to Jesus. Why? Was it only a case of modesty? Or was it a symbol of Peter's guilt for having sinned by his denials? When Adam and Eve sinned, they clothed themselves with fig leaves. When we do wrong, we instinctively want to cover up. 3. Third (v. 17). We can understand, can't we, why Peter was aggravated by Jesus' asking him the same question three times. Since Jesus knew all things, he knew that Peter loved him. Why then repeat the question? Was it to match the triple ...

164. The Epiphany Season

Mt 2:1-12 · Eph 3:1-12 · Isa 60:1-6 · Ps 72:1-7, 10-14

Sermon Aid

... of worship because it deals with the glory of God manifested in Jesus. The season begins with the Wise Men's coming to worship the newborn king. The season ends with the worship experience on Mount Transfiguration. When people see Jesus as God's Son, they instinctively fall down to worship him as Lord. 2. A Time to Witness - Epiphany is the season of light, and light shows and reveals. The light burns that all might see the truth and the way to God. It is the time for emphasis upon evangelism, the telling ...

165. Epiphany 5

Lk 5:1-11 · 1 Cor 14:12-20; 15:1-11 · Isa 6:1-8

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... , since they fished all night and caught not a fish, there were no fish to be caught. "But" Peter said they would obey his word. Here we see the human failure on one hand and trust on the other - trust in the word of God. 3. Depart (v. 8). Instinctively Peter felt unworthy of being in Jesus' presence. The miraculous catch of fish revealed to him that Jesus was no ordinary man. He had superhuman wisdom to know where the fish were and superhuman power to bring the fish in the nets. Peter felt he was in the ...

166. Epiphany 7

Lk 6:27-38 · 1 Cor 15:45-49 · 1 Sam 26:1-25 · Gen 45:3-11, 15

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... under control, and to see how and why Jesus, in the "Sermon on the Plain" (see today's gospel) stressed the opposite: forgive your enemies. Outline: A. We can do our worst 1. All of us are double-minded: good and evil tug for control inside. 2. Our best instincts don't always rule when opportunity arises. 3. David had reason to hate Saul, who had persecuted him; he had a chance to kill him quickly and cleanly. 4. Sooner or later someone else's fate will be "in our hands." B. We can do our best 1. David ...

167. If the Son Makes You Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... could wait no longer to try it out. "Come fly with me," he implored once again. "Caterpillars can’t fly," maintained his companion. "Have it your way," said the first as he stepped off the limb and stepped into the air. His flight was instinctive, though not effortless. Its gracefulness not learned, not acquired, not the result of hours of practice, but innate, automatic, the simple exercise of a magnificent and magnanimous gift. If he wanted to be graceless, now that would take some effort. He soared and ...

168. Repairing Your Broken Dreams

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... experience. Consider Rev. 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 ...

169. Responding to Christ's Birth

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

... continue to stalk the world and try to discover ways to silence the message. In our modern world, there are evil forces which tirelessly attempt to silence the message of Christ. Those who have responded to the revelation of God in Christ instinctively know that rejection is possible. As H. Richard Niebuhr notes in The Meaning of Revelation: When we speak of revelation ... we mean rather that something has happened which compels our faith and which requires us to seek rationality and unity in the whole ...

170. Beyond the Ordinary

Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Joe Pennel

... truth. But once we have met the Gospel's truth, something makes us very uneasy with the path of the world's truth. It is difficult to live out the Gospel's truth because what controls Christians also happens to control non-Christians - very human instincts and impulses. And yet, Jesus said that there is another possibility. There is the possibility that when we are controlled by what love demands, we will be different from other people. When we are controlled by the spirit that lies behind turning the other ...

171. Poured Out for Many

Exodus 24:1-18, Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

... for many. The ancient Hebrews who gathered under Moses at Mount Sinai to seal their covenant in blood, may not have understood the Rh factor or the mysteries of hemoglobin. But they did understand that blood stood for life. Quite naturally, their religious instincts guided them to the conclusion that blood was sacred, for it was life. Everything that touches life is in close contact with God, who is the origin of all life. For the Hebrews, this understanding of blood brought three immediate consequences: a ...

172. Sovereignty: God’s Domain

Zephaniah 1:4-13

Sermon

... that assumes godlike proportions. Step out of line and just see what happens. Demonic forces can be and are at work, not only suppressing the person’s right to say a word similar to Zephaniah’s, but corrupting once healthy perspectives. Christian unity knows, instinctively, that God is active. He is with us, guiding us all the way. Jude’s doxology plays its lofty tune, continually, in the background: "Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the ...

173. Let Yes Be Yes!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

... must have thought - perhaps she ought to give his messenger a try. Nobody else was helping, that was certain. In fact, it may be true that Israel’s God persuaded her to trust herself to Jesus. That is, God said "Yes!" to her. He said, "You can believe your instincts. Yes! I love your daughter just as much as any of those others. But you must believe it." And she did. 2. She Answered With a "Yes" What happened next is really where the text begins. She came to Jesus. By the time she had decided to seek out ...

174. Returning: Real or Ruse?

Hosea 5:1-15

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... explaining salvation by grace alone, he found an earthworm and put it in the middle of a circle of dried leaves. Then he set the leaves afire all around the edge. The worm tried to escape but ran into fire whatever way he went. Finally, maybe instinctively knowing the situation was hopeless, he crawled back to the center, went limp, resigned to die. At this point, the Indian convert reached down and plucked the worm from the flame and said to the people: "This is what it means to be saved. When we abandon ...

175. We Are Driven!

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... , we have even more grounds to say, "God is good," because that baby boy born in a barn in Bethlehem was God’s greatest gift to the world, for God was in that child. He gave himself to us. When something unusually good happens to us, we instinctively and joyfully have to tell someone. We just can’t keep it to ourselves, right? Haven’t you had that experience? It is like the children who, on Palm Sunday, sang praises to Jesus as the Messiah and irked the jealous Pharisees. The Pharisees complained and ...

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