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 1876 to 1900 of 3285 results

1876. Healing Aerobics

2 Kings 5:1-15ab

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... might prescribe a possible course of treatment. Naaman was a conqueror, her master, the commander of a victorious army - but in the innocent truthful observation of this young girl, he was only a leper who needed to be cleansed and healed. Do we have the ability to see past our own shallow successes and our cosmetically-concealed shortcomings in order to take that first step and admit that we too are lepers in need of God's healing touch? Naaman could have ignored his condition, covered it up and even could ...

1877. Shame on You

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... have dogs as pets - it allows us to wield the power of punishment and forgiveness with such clear-cut, unambiguous results. Unfortunately for God, human beings are not nearly as reliable or repentant. Indeed, we seem to possess an uncanny ability to shift blame, ignore consequences and shirk responsibility. After one particularly corrupt boondoggle had been exposed in the infamous administration of Chicago's Mayor Richard J. Daley, he was confronted by a young reporter. "Aren't you concerned and embarrassed ...

1878. ...More...

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... -class" Americans are fooling themselves if they believe that the distance, dispositions and distributions between themselves and the "poor" are very significant. The increasing wealth and power of that tiny minority of the colossal rich stands as impressive testimony to that group's ability to grasp "more." The problem is that when there isn't any "more" to gather in, "more" must be found somewhere. This "more" then comes from the middle-class, which is not so much "shrinking" as it is being sucked dry by ...

1879. Give Us a Break

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of the faith. Paul's letter is an effort to make sure that those who call themselves Christians in Thessalonia are literate in this tradition. The power of the gospel to guard and guide these new Christians is only as effective as the ability of the Christ-body community to transmit it. Paul's message is, of course, equally crucial to struggling Christians, new and mature, in our day. The texts and traditions are our true "sponsors," whose words we should be hearing, despite the bombardments of advertising ...

1880. O Holy Nightmare

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the joy of Christ's impending entry into the world should remain tempered with the recognition of our own sins and shortcomings. Yet somehow we have managed to move from this tempered vision of joy to a full-out celebration of the human ability to completely maul and misconstrue God's intended purpose in the incarnation. Advent has been transformed from a season of preparing for Christ's birth into a condensed exercise of self-conscious absorption with things and money, grabbing and getting. It is up ...

1881. Is Your Christmas Spirit a Controlled Substance?

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Spirit.” He urged the Thessalonians not to “despise the words of prophets.” Paul would not have written these negative directives if he did not know those negatives were already out there. Paul’s confidence in the spirit, in the discerning ability that the true, God-spirit can bestow upon a faith community, was unwavering. False spirits will show ultimately their false colors. Paul knows all those who are genuinely “in Christ” will be able to recognize these false colors and “abstain” from ...

1882. I Love You, Man... And I Don't Want Your Beer

John 15:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Disciples of Jesus are "commanded" to build grace-based communities of joy, forgiveness and love. The ability of Madison Avenue to make the profound seem trivial while transforming the trivial into the profound is wickedly wondrous. Of course, that really is the whole goal of advertising to make whatever you are selling, no matter how trivial, appear at that moment to be the most important consideration consumers ...

1883. Build a Bridge and Get Over It

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of Jesus. Now there's a novel idea, and one that may be a lot clearer anyway, especially to a culture wearing the T-shirt "Jesus: Save me from some of your followers." F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that the test of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the head at the same time and still be able to function. Or to paraphrase James M. Cain's classic noir thriller, "The Postmodernist Always Rings Twice." Postmodern pluralism has created a world of double takes, a world that faces in ...

1884. Soulistic Health

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... become kind of holistic junkies trying every new remedy, exploring every suggested avenue, in their hope that the key to personal wholeness will be found in that next cure-all therapy. The "hole" in "holistic" medicine is that it puts its faith in our own ability to balance our life our body, our spirit, our mind. While it is imperative that we do take responsibility for and control of our lifestyle, we cannot manipulate and maneuver our life force. We have only to look at our postmodern culture to see the ...

1885. The Gravity of Grace

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will" (v.5). The greatest lie perpetuated by those caught in the emptiness of a life floating in zero morality is that they are "free." "Freedom" is not the ability to do anything you want. Freedom is not some "if-it-feels-good-do-it" pleasure principle. Does the "freedom" to lie and cheat bring joy? Does the "freedom" never to establish a committed, loving relationship bring joy? Does the "freedom" to get drunk and ...

1886. Had-To

James 1:17-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... baby out in the trash to die. Those are the real culture shocks events still too far outside the realm of what our cultural psyche deems acceptable that they send tremors through our souls. Each one of us has his or her own threshold of "shock-ability." Some changes roll right off your back. Other changes merely annoy you. Others disturb you down to the depths of your soul. But did you ever notice that those people who seem most sensitive to every little cultural change, every lifestyle blip are the same ...

1887. Wanted: A Lasting Marriage. Only Good Chemists, Bad mathematicians, Expert Soul-O-Flexors Need Apply

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , but joint prayer correlates at a level twice as high. For couples where at least one partner seriously considered divorce but who since have reconciled, 85 percent engaged in joint prayer. While other factors were also present (such as equality, ability to disagree constructively and frequency of sex), none made the impact of joint prayer. Religion and spirituality play a more important role in marital happiness than most people realize. In a Gallup survey, religious beliefs enhanced marital stability for ...

1888. A Concert of Prayer

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Drama

Leonard Sweet

... to do alone. If you are doing something, and you can do it without God's help, then where is God? It's only when we begin to do things for God that we can't do without God's help, that are beyond our powers or abilities to accomplish, that God is in it. Thank God in your prayer circle for the EAPs in your life - the Evidences of Answered Prayer. MUSIC TRANSITION: "Revive Us Again" III. Congregational Prayer (Everyone should now be in one large circle, holding hands, ringing the sanctuary.) Our nation needs ...

1889. Strength's Weakness

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... know who is responsible for this massive, looming work of people's art, this icon to a sports god, is by one symbol in the upper right-hand corner: a swoosh (Nike)! Professional athletes make their livelihood off their Herculean bodies and physical abilities. Yet those very bodies are finally an athlete's downfall. Tendonitis and arthritis slow down a pitcher's arm. Torn ligaments and floating cartilage cripple a running back's knees. Tennis elbow stops all "ace" servers cold. That which was once an athlete ...

1890. The Five Habits of Highly Spiritual Leaders

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... spiritually. If corporate America is making Stephen Covey a rich man, convinced that his message of moral transformation is the key to success and well-being, why are our churches still half-empty on Sunday morning? Could it be that we have lost our ability to communicate the essential transformative message at the heart of the gospel? Why is it suddenly okay to be principled and spiritually aware in the office Monday through Friday but Sunday morning is still reserved for an early golf game or a leisurely ...

1891. The Four R's

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the power of these '4-R's' is such that when all are positively present, they can bring us to the very brink of the kingdom of heaven. In Jesus' parable, the sower casts out seeds which fall on four different environments. The environment determines the seeds' ability to grow and survive and to bear fruit. R #1: ROOTS The second batch of seeds cast in the parable of the sower fall onto the rocky ground. Immediately, they shoot up high stalks, for there was virtually no soil for putting down roots. But all ...

1892. Ten Commandments of Trust

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... am not the Messiah.' Every day ask yourself, 'Are you God?' Answer with these words, 'I am not God.'" 3. Thou shalt place trust at the very heart of faith. A Christian perspective on the world is one of radical trust, a willingness to trust God and, therefore, an ability to trust others. The church must embody trust. Our evangelism to a postmodern culture must proclaim a God who can be trusted to take care of us, to take hold of us, to heal us, to save us, and a community that can itself be trusted. 4. Thou ...

1893. Was Jesus the First Buster?

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Miami, FL33014 When asked, on a VH1 on-line chat, about the theological nature of the song, Osborne responded (electronically, of course), "I do have strong feelings about [religion] and about questions of faith. To me, the beauty of 'One of Us' is its ability to make people think about God without filtering their thoughts through the structure of organized religion. ['What if God was one of us?'] is a very innocent question, but it touches on a lot of complicated feelings as evidenced by the many different ...

1894. An Action-Packed Faith

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Presbyterians had left their pew to move down closer to the front." A true "Presbyterian miracle" had taken place (Thanks to Houston Hodges). Jesus urged his disciples to have love for one another so that "everyone will know that you are my disciples." The ability to love all even the most unlovable of sorts, has always been the test of this discipleship-love. After the crowds had stoned him, mocked him, spit upon him, screamed "crucify him," Jesus could still cry out in love, "Forgive them, they know not ...

1895. Fingerprints of the Soul

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , the saints imitated Christ and embodied Christ-like virtues. The popular notion of Christian virtue has had a history as up and down as the saints themselves. The concept of "virtue" has Old Testament roots where it was used to connote ability, efficiency and moral worth. In the New Testament, the Greek "arete" focused on the excellence of a person, including the wonderful deeds such a person could enact. "Virtue" was also derived from the Greek "dynamis," meaning "power" or "influence," especially the ...

1896. What Is a Good Samaritan?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... new best-selling book Crossing the Threshold of Hope (New York: Knopf, 1993), Pope John Paul II loves to quote Georges Bernanos: "What the church needs is not more reformers, but more saints." Actually, I think he's right. Sainthood is Aliveness: one's ability to experience anything fully whether pain or pleasure and to participate wholly in life. There are three ways we can become the Good Samaritan disciple Jesus is calling us to be. 1. A Good Samaritan Disciple is ... Alive with Faith. If the truth be ...

1897. How to Stay Spiritually Fresh

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... s Prayer," has at least three components: 1. Daily Scripture Reading. This does not mean books of scholarship about Scripture, or study guides and manuals for investigating Scripture, though these are key growth-agents in the life of faith. But prior to that is the ability simply to steep yourself in the Word through repeated readings of the Bible. The men and women of the Old and New Testaments should not be strangers to us. They are our family. We are related to them in the faith. Daily readings soaked in ...

1898. Do You Know Your Name?

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... or even specific DNA matches. The higher the level of security, the more biological and less numerical the passwords. But the ultimate, unrepeatable identifier for each one of us has yet to be mapped out. I call them “soul scans.” We do not have the ability to perform “soul scans” on people who come before us. The secrets locked in the heart and mind, the honesty of our words and the authenticity of our deeds, the motivations behind all our actions these are locked deep in the recesses of our souls ...

1899. Strain Forward

Illustration

Arthur Caliandro

... try. As a baby elephant, he was tied to a huge stake that he could not pull out of the ground. Weeks of pulling and tugging only wore a trench around the stake, and finally he gave up. Now that he is full-grown, with great strength and the physical ability to pull the peg out of the ground, he remembers only the futility of past efforts and does not even attempt to escape. He is conditioned to failure. If you are straining forward to what is ahead this New Year, make a fresh start and forget the things that ...

1900. Living for Balance

Illustration

Richard A. Wing

... without interrupting. 3. Read books that demand concentration (games, too). 4. Avoid irritating people. 5. Plan for some personal quiet time each day. 6. Finally, things worth being are better than things worth having. Remember the people who were here first. The Native Americans had an ability to live by the ages rather than by the day. Among certain tribes in North America were those who would make decisions for the tribe based on how that decision would affect people seven generations into the future!

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