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 1776 to 1800 of 2036 results

1776. One Heaven of a Party

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... graciously given. I have always been deeply struck by the damaging effects of selfishness. If we stop and think about it, selfishness is the cause of more pain, chaos, and destruction than any other human vice. All it takes is some overblown pride fertilized by blind insensitivity for corruption to rear its ugly head. History teaches us this. How many individuals, cultures, and civilizations have been destroyed by the simple, yet consuming demon of selfishness? We know this demon exists in our own hearts ...

1777. Falling Into Faith

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... do you think we often hear of people who came to faith when they were in the midst of great despair or anguish? It is not that God wills pain or suffering on anyone, but often people are more open to the power and purposes of God when pride and selfishness are weakened. “I am in deep,” I cried out to God “I am deeper,” God replied “How deep?” I asked “Let go and see,” God sighed [4] Henri Nouwen beautifully illustrates faith as letting go when he recounts his experience of seeing a German ...

1778. A Happy Ending

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... of a life stuck in the wilderness of the past; the end of a life once stopped by stagnation; the end of a life stunted by fear. And as we look over the grave of our past and have the happiest funeral of our life, we will affirm with honorable pride, “The old has passed. The new has come. I am a new creation in Christ!” Then God just might say with a lump in his throat, “Finally, my child sees but a glimpse of what I see.” In Waiting for Godot, Vladimir asks Pozo: “Where are you going?” Pozo ...

1779. A Vexing Vision

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... go. This man Saul is to be one of my most powerful instruments.” Now, put yourself in Ananias’ shoes. Imagine the shock, con- fusion, and anger of finding out that Jesus wants to use you to recruit a future missionary who presently takes great pride in torturing and murdering Christians. It is not so difficult for me to imagine. Whenever I turn on the television and watch documentaries on the Crusades or the Holocaust and see and hear the horrible and heinous ways that people were tortured and killed ...

1780. I Wonder Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Romans 8:28-29

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... I have seen too many people hang on to it way too long, like a protest, and remain stuck in their faith, or stop believing in God altogether. I have also seen people use it as an excuse. Some feel that as long as they wear a badge of prideful agnosticism they will not have to deal with the truth of God in their lives. Don’t allow unfair pain and suffering to harden your heart. A good way to protect yourself from cynicism is to reflect on the insightful words of Harry Emerson Fosdick: “Goodness is a far ...

1781. How Much Are You Worth?

Matthew 10:29-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... that can help us here. Fonda’s father disagreed with his son’s decision to become an actor. Only grudgingly did he attend his son’s debut performance with the rest of the family. After the performance, Fonda’s mother and sisters glowed with pride and were effusive in their praise. His father, however, said nothing--until one of his sisters made a tiny criticism of Henry’s performance. “Shut up,” said the elder Fonda, “he was perfect!” Now of course Fonda was not perfect. No one is. But ...

1782. While You Wait

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... in is about the guilt you feel about a sin in your life you need to confront. You may be praying to God for the right things but for the wrong reasons. It seems like a noble prayer to everyone else but you know it’s about your ego and pride. You need to look really hard at your motives and ask, “Why am I praying for this? Is it about God or is it about me?” I think you see where this is going. If you are someone who has been waiting for God to answer your prayer and you ...

1783. Defeating Discouragement

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... we just get God’s strength? Would you believe there are obstacles in our lives that hinder our ability to receive God’s strength? Would you believe there are things that clutter up our souls so much that there is no room for God’s strength? For some it is pride. For others it is control. Still, for some, it is a sinful habit which diminishes them but they can’t seem to let it go. A few years ago my friend and his family were on vacation in Sweden. One day they went to a children’s zoo. They had ...

1784. True North

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... ’ve never been able to tell the difference.” Then he walked off. I have never forgotten the lesson I learned that day. Jesus said that people will know we are his followers not by our hatred, not by our judgments, not by our theology, not by our pride, not by our interpretation of scripture, but by our love for one another. In glory, God is not going to say, “Well done child, you were correct in the way you interpreted the book of Revelation… Well done child, you were part of a denomination that was ...

1785. The Cost of Discipleship

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” You see, real life begins when we die to ourselves — when we die to control — when we die to our selfish desires and trivial plans. Real life in Christ begins when we surrender our ego, our pride, and our stubbornness. God can get started on us when we come to the place where we are free from the bondage of trite preoccupations and recognize that our only need is God. This is what it means to die. There are many who never accept this. This ...

1786. Giving and Receiving

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... in the process discovering a whole new form of human satisfaction. This is no easy task for the person who has become accustomed to being strong and helping other people rather than being helped. For those who have always imagined themselves and maybe even prided themselves on being self-reliant and the givers of charity rather than the recipient of charity, it is quite a switch to find the roles suddenly reversed — but this is precisely what happens when crises descend and suddenly the world is literally ...

1787. Playing One Hand

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... "playing one hand" should give helpful and liberating perspective. On the one hand, it underlines the reality of one's limits, of the fact that many forces other than our own also impinge on the process and will affect the outcome. Therefore, neither excessive pride nor shame is appropriate in any endeavor. On the other hand, the image also underlines the real importance of human efforts. The fact that I do not do everything does not mean my efforts amount to nothing. The harvest in Jesus' parable was not ...

1788. Captains or Parties

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... our parents for our shortcomings or our friends or our sensitive emotional makeup. Ultimately we even blame God for some of the bad things in our lives. In our story, the tenants claim everything as their own, even though they are simply renting. They pride themselves on their ability to work, the fruit they produce, and even the vineyard itself. They are like the poem "Invictus" written by William Henley: It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my ...

1789. Paying What's Due

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since, in fact, we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust, and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice, and thought, and we have to choose (in order) to be human at all... why then we must stand fast a little — even at the risk of being heroes.” (Robert Bolt, A Man ...

1790. Signs of the End of the Age

Mark 13:1-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... successful accomplishing of the worldwide preaching of the gospel mentioned in 13:10. Additional Notes 13:1 What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!: Though Herod the Great was not well liked among the Jews, the temple he planned and began was the pride of religious Jews in the time before its destruction. Descriptions of the structure in Josephus and in the rabbinic materials do not fully agree, but by all accounts it was magnificent in size and appearance. (See “Temple, Jerusalem,” IDB, vol. 4 ...

1791. Paul's Longing to Visit Rome

Romans 1:1-17

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... was not without effect” (1 Cor. 15:9–10). The consciousness of being God’s chosen instrument is further established by set apart. Paul’s election was understood not as a general truism (e.g., that all people are loved by God), nor in a sense of national pride (e.g., that most peoples consider their nations to play a unique role in history). Like every Jew, Paul knew that God had chosen men and women in the history of Israel to do his particular will (e.g., Jer. 1:4–5). Set apart expressed Paul’s ...

1792. God's Wrath Against Mankind

Romans 1:18-32

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... Gentile sins of idolatry and immorality. His accusations, which are generally typical of Jewish allegations of Gentiles, are remarkably similar to those found in Wisdom of Solomon 12–15. In 2:1–3:20 Paul then turns to Jews and their problems of pride, judgment, and disobedience. But despite the particular sins of Gentiles and Jews, both represent the larger fundamental problem of humanity. “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:22–23). Paul’s negative ...

1793. No One Is Righteous

Romans 3:9-20

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... the law is powerless to save (vv. 19–20). Paul enters the final round against his fellow Jews who suppose that the advantage of the law (3:2) secures favor with God. Since 2:1 he has attacked Jewish presumption to judge Gentile sinners and Jewish pride in Torah and circumcision as their means of salvation. The result of the close and unyielding web of argumentation from 1:18 to 3:20 is that there is no possibility of a moral righteousness before God. In a concluding series of blows the apostle hammers ...

1794. Peace and Joy

Romans 5:1-11

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... to the life of faith. Here, and again in verses 3 and 11, we encounter that vintage Pauline word, “to boast” (rejoice), occurring in various forms 55 times in Paul, but only four times elsewhere in the NT. Normally, Paul regards boasting as an expression of pride, the flaunting of the sinner’s independence of God. On rare occasions, however (and this is one of them), Paul employs the term positively of boasting not in self but in God (Jer. 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17). To fail to rejoice ...

1795. All Israel Will Be Saved

Romans 11:25-32

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... all the doors to Paul’s gospel (Der Römerbrief, vol. 2, pp. 209–13). That may be an overstatement, but it certainly is the master key to Romans 9–11. What a breathtaking conclusion: God goes so far as to hand over all peoples to disobedience—Jews to pride in the law and Gentiles to rebellion against the law—in order to show mercy to both. At long last comes the answer to the dreary rehearsal of sin in Romans 1–3. “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ...

1796. Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

Romans 15:14-22

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... tempting to seize the calling in Promethean fashion and pit himself against the God who gave it. It cannot be coincidental that Paul uses the word kauchēsis, “boasting” (NIV, glory) at this point, a word that often (e.g., 3:27) denotes arrogant pride against God. The apostle, however, refuses to arrogate glory to himself, but chooses rather to glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God (v. 17). Paul harbors no illusions of himself being the demiurge of salvation. He is simply its “minister” (v. 16 ...

1797. Personal Greetings

Romans 16:1-27

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... endearing is the note on Tertius, Paul’s amanuensis who transcribed the epistle, who interjects a personal greeting in the first person in verse 22. It was common in rabbinic literature to mention the name of an amanuensis, but one can sense Tertius’ special pride in being the transcriber of such a monumental work. Since Paul is writing from Corinth, the Gaius of verse 23 is probably the same Gaius of 1 Corinthians 1:14 who was baptized by Paul. An inscription to an Erastus, commissioner of public works ...

1798. Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... let humans dictate terms; and so he acts in sheer defiance of their expectations so that God’s own way of working is presented as a saving reality that humans can experience only on God’s terms. Humans are forced to shelve their standards and to swallow their pride; they either accept or reject God for who he shows himself to be. But, Paul declares, Jews and Gentiles who hear God’s call, who believe in God’s saving work in the cross of Christ, receive a revelation of God’s true power and wisdom. 1 ...

1799. Food Sacrificed to Idols

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... as the hallmark of Christian character and community. For now, he makes a play on the imagery of “increase” by saying that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up in order to expose the difference between that which yields arrogance or pride and that which produces positive, constructive results. 8:2 Paul remarks that knowledge is of no value in itself. Knowledge for mere self-aggrandizement reveals a deeper ignorance, and preoccupation with self-glorifying knowledge is pretentious. Paul’s choice of ...

1800. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... plain sense of the notion of Paul’s hypothetically surrendering his body to the flames, although the other reading is difficult to account for if it is not original. Whichever reading is authentic, the sense of Paul’s statement is that either the pride or the selflessness of sacrifice is worthless without the authorizing motivation of love. See J. K. Elliott, “In Favour of kauthēsomai at 1 Corinthians 13:3,” ZNW 62 (1971), pp. 297–98; J. H. Petzer, “Contextual Evidence in Favour of KAUCHĒSOMAI ...

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