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 1726 to 1750 of 3285 results

1726. Mystery

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... promises to unveil the secret to weight loss. Want to figure out how to access all the riches of information and opportunity on the internet? Just purchase P.C.'s for Dummies and all will become clear. Want to empower your earning capacity and leadership abilities to the max? Just shell-out for Tony Robbins' latest lecture/book/CD package that guarantees to transform you from a mensch to a millionaire. This past Christmas the big hit on popular book lists was the fictional The DaVinci Code. The big secret ...

1727. Are You a Leg-Grabbing Christian?

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... grabbers. But turkey legs aren't the only legs that attract little children. At our six year old's last soccer game, one of the parent-coaches was striding up and down the sidelines, shouting encouragement and instructions to his son's team. This soccer-Dad's ability to keep up with the ball's rapid back-and-forth progress was hampered by one factor. Firmly attached to his left leg was his eighteen month old daughter, while glued to his right leg was his three year old son. Watching him struggling to keep ...

1728. Death by Chocolate

Hebrews 9:11-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... giant stack of advice and insight generated by the genre of death literature, scholars warn that denying the reality of death is a stage that many of us get stuck in. It is as though, if we refuse to acknowledge death, it will loose its ability to catch us up in its grip. There is an old story about three friends one afternoon who were vaguely contemplating the inevitability of their own deaths. They posed the following question to themselves: "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning ...

1729. The Whole Shebang in Six Words

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a neural knot. Spirit is not a genome. Religion is not an outcome of neurobiology. Humans are hardwired for religious experience, but it's a spiritual hardwiring, not a biological one. Materialism is the source of many of our problems. It robs us of our ability to be in relationship with wholeness and truth. Maybe we're wrapped up in church work. Paul A. Lowe, Jr., pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist church in Winston-Salem NC, makes the distinction between doing church work and doing the work of the church ...

1730. Squeaky Wheels

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... those video-tapes (you can purchase them) that chronicle the tireless, sometimes hilarious, often balletic attempts of the wily squirrel to beat all the safety devices humans install to keep them away from the birdseed? Demonstrating tremendous problem-solving abilities as well as physical dexterity, hungry squirrels have figured out how to climb around baffles, ride whirlygigs, leap unbelievable distances, and hang from their toenails in order to reach and pillage the beckoning bird feeder. [At this point ...

1731. The Longest Distance in the Universe

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Kids in 4-H are usually involved in some kind of rural, agricultural activities. They raise sheep and goats, chickens, rabbits, and llamas. The 4-H fair has horse shows and dog shows and judging contests all designed to measure the abilities of the kids and their critters. Just as the Boy Scouts have their well-known pledge, the 4-H-ers have their own pledge and commitment. In fact the 4-H motto is the reason for the designation "4-H." The four h's are head, heart, hand, and health ...

1732. Salted with Fire

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in a fireplace. It then becomes obvious: this hunk of night-light is actually salt. It's one enormous salt crystal gathered from deep under ocean waters. The company that collects these salt chunks and wires them to emit light boasts of the salt crystal's ability to simultaneously soothe and energize, based on the positive ions the crystal gives off when it's warmed by the electric light within it. That may, of course, simply be some shinola added to the shine of their product. But no matter. Its physically ...

1733. Atlas or Jesus?

1 John 1:1-4

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... struggling, splintered house churches for whom he felt pastorally responsible. He also saw two essentially disparate images of Christianity being presented to the communities he served. Those who touted their identity as children of God believed they had the ability to be sinless, whole, and self-reliant. They saw no need for divine help or intervention. They felt completely capable of living a perfected, righteous life without the continual need to acknowledge any (nonexistent) sins, without relying upon ...

1734. Are You Running?

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . But the truth that each crowd proclaims isn't always discernible. It seems that in a crowd the discernment of any single mind become stretched into distortions of the truth. The flaws and imperfections that cloud any one individual's rational abilities become magnified by the mass of a crowd mind, causing an exponential explosion of error, misconception, and just plain falsehood. When NASA technicians calculate the timing and trajectory for launching one of their deep space probes, they admit that the ...

1735. The World's Greatest Cover Up

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... miraculous event, such a transforming moment, fail to effect exterior changes in believers, as well as creating a new interior life of faith? Paul does not disregard the rightness of torah law. But he's adamant in distinguishing its essential "rightness" from any ability the law itself may have to imbue righteousness in the individual. Righteousness can only be received from God; righteousness can only be a gift that comes by grace through faith. Yet especially here in America, where we like to think we can ...

1736. Fear Factor

Psalm 25:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... other words, "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). Perfect love is, of course, a state none of us can achieve by ourselves. Like the psalmist who recognized his own sins and transgressions, we're all too aware of how tenuous and tepid our abilities to love remain. The only one who patterns perfect love for us, who offers perfect love to us, is Jesus the Christ. Despite our fears, our imperfections, our shortcomings, Jesus promises to be "with you always, even to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28 ...

1737. All God's Children Can Dance

Psalm 30:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... because he had known himself to be at death's door. He could taste the dust of the Pit in his mouth even as he opened it to cry out to the Lord in prayer and supplication (verse 8). He knew himself to be broken beyond repair by any human abilities. In turning to God at last, the psalmist finally realized that God was all he had. When healing comes, the psalmist knows that God is all he needed. In my favorite words from Larry Crabb's vast corpus of writings, "Brokenness is realizing he is all we have. Hope ...

1738. Looking for Shoots or Roots?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus has just sent his disciples off on their first unchaperoned mission journey. Chapter 10 records Jesus’ lengthy instructions to his chosen twelve as they go out to heal and teach with Jesus’ authority. The role of master over disciple, Jesus’ ability to instruct and direct, are the focal points of this commissioning act. As chapter 11 opens, Jesus himself is described as continuing his own mission “to teach and proclaim his message in their cities” (v.1). Matthew’s typical transitional verb ...

1739. Follow Me!

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

James McCormick

... can be prayed. He prayed, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” So, the cross we are called to bear is the same as the cross Jesus was called to bear. The cross is the cross of obedience. Hear that: the cross of obedience…the willingness and the ability to pray, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” My, that’s difficult. Again and again I have had people tell me that the single most difficult thing about being a disciple is giving up control. We want to decide what commandments we will obey and which we ...

1740. Make Room for Mystery

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

James McCormick

... that we can understand everything. For many of our contemporaries there is no longer any room for mystery, not even any room for God. I. We are living at a time in history when great emphasis is placed upon the rational. We have great confidence in the ability of the human mind to understand life and the world in which we live. And, I am proud to say, the Christian Church has had a major role in the development of human knowledge. The first great universities in this country were founded by the Christian ...

1741. It Is Good News!

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

James McCormick

... at the point of impact, gradually diminish and then disappear. But with Jesus, just the opposite took place. He was little known throughout the world just following his death and resurrection. But today, 20 centuries later, his influence goes far beyond our ability to express. I think about that man who was lukewarm, if not indifferent, about Christian missions, that is, until he took a trip around the world and saw first-hand the impact of Jesus’ life. He returned an enthusiastic spokesman for Christian ...

1742. The Church on Main Street

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

James McCormick

... who belong to God, and who, consequently, deal daily with the things that really matter! It’s when we do that that we move onto Main Street. What are the things that matter? What are those things that are worthy of the investment of our time, our ability, our resources, our very lives? Well, Jesus tells us in the scripture I read a few moments ago. It is recorded in the 28th chapter of Matthew. It’s the last thing Jesus said to his disciples. We pay close attention to last words, because usually they ...

1743. What Is That in Your Hand?

Exodus 4:1-17

Sermon

James McCormick

... thing is that, once God has added His touch to our efforts, our efforts are enough. I can’t tell you how important it is to understand that the result is not our responsibility, the effort is. As someone said, the point is not our ability, the point is our availability! Once we begin to calculate our chances for success in the big enterprises of life, we will feel like giving up before we begin. Listen: our resources are always inadequate! God’s people are always outnumbered, overwhelmed, and under ...

1744. It Is Also Blessed to Receive

John 13:1-17

Sermon

James McCormick

... must not miss. When Peter resisted Jesus’ gift of servant love, Jesus said, “If I do not wash your feet, then you will have no part of me.” Do you understand what Jesus was saying? He was saying that the willingness and the ability to receive is essential to relationship. If Peter refused to allow Jesus to give him something, they could have no meaningful relationship. Relationship requires giving and receiving. In the scripture I read from Acts, Paul reports some words of Jesus that are not included ...

1745. In Life Nothing Works but the Impossible

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in rescuing the drowning victim as to insure that the person they are trying to save won’t succeed in drowning them! It is not just the “drowning” that put up such a fight. You see, being “saved” requires that we relinquish our own ability to save ourselves. Being “saved” means that we trust another to be able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Being “saved” means that we need to live in uncertainty, because rescuers can’t always communicate to those they are rescuing exactly ...

1746. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Scholars sometimes contrast the doctrine mode of Paul with the story mode of the gospels and the metaphor mode of Jesus. Yet a large part of the enduring power and persuasiveness of Paul's letters lies in his ability to transform familiar images into moving metaphors. In today's epistle text Paul concludes his personal defense and pointed challenge to his Corinthian opponents by suddenly shifting into the language of sport. In fact, in these four brief verses Paul piles on enough sporting references and ...

1747. Mark 1:21-28

Mark 1:21-28

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth" (verse 24). This is a formulaic response that categorically rejects any sense of community connection with the one who is being addressed. Here the demon rejects any connection to Jesus and his heavenly power, while tacitly acknowledging Jesus' ability to "destroy us." Jesus' unique identity and status is revealed by the demon when it names Jesus as "the Holy One of God." This title is used only this one time in Mark. It appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in Luke 4 ...

1748. The Counter Intelligence of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... church. Rather he designates (rather amazingly, given their “issues”) all of these Corinthian Christians as “sanctified in Christ” and “called to be holy” (or as the NRSV puts it “called to be saints”). This sanctification, this “holiness” is not any ethical ability on their part. It simply describes the faithful who belong to God. Because this identity is made possible by God, not by the individual, it can be expanded to all, to “those in every place” who “call on the name of our ...

1749. Cha-cha-cha Christians: The Dance that Advances

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ,” but such discoveries still aren’t as chancy as they sound. Louis Pasteur liked to note that chance discoveries, unlooked for breakthroughs, still came most readily to “the prepared mind.” The originality of a Chance discovery lies in the ability to see happenstance or accident in the light it throws on everything else. Even the “cha” of Chance discovery comes to light more through a series of steps than with any blazing “eureka!” moment. Even as scientific discoveries advance through ...

1750. Advent 4

Psalm 80:1-19, Isaiah 7:1-25, Romans 1:1-17, Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... 10-17 tell how the prophet encountered the king a second time. Significance. Isaiah 7:10-17 is about divine signs of salvation during times of siege. The passage opens with Isaiah encouraging Ahaz to believe by testing God with a sign—any sign, big or small! The ability to test would confirm faith. Ahaz responds, however, in v. 12 with pious religiosity that is meant to mask his unbelief, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." The text closes in vv. 13-17 with a prophetic sign meant to ...

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