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 176 to 200 of 323 results

176. Building Your Home on the Rock

Matthew 7:24-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... the North you'll face floods. If you live in the East you'll face hurricanes. You see, Jesus is not telling us how to find a safe place to live, where the atmosphere is ideal, the winds gentle, the rains controlled, where the sun always shines, and the climate is perfect. That place does not exist anywhere on earth, nor does it exist anywhere in life. There's another true story that is also very fascinating to me that happened over almost sixty years ago. There was a man who lived in Long Island in 1938. It ...

177. Team Work is Dream Work

Psalm 133:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

... descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forever-more." (v.3) Now why did David use dew as an example of unity? I kept thinking to myself, "What do dew do?" Why is dew so special? Well, in that hot Mediterranean climate, dew is absolutely vital to plant life. Dew is like refreshing lotion that God sends to lubricate that dry parched land there in the nation of Israel. We even have a saying here in America that "It is as fresh as the morning dew." You can get up ...

178. Star Witness

John 1:35-51

Sermon

James Merritt

... is the hero, Al Capone is the villain. The entire picture is a portrayal of how Ness is trying to nail Capone and send him to prison. Capone seems to thwart him at every turn until Ness discovers the one person who can put him away—his bookkeeper. The climatic scene in the train station is one of the most exciting I have ever seen, as the mob is trying to get the bookkeeper out of town while Ness is trying to stop them; and he succeeds only after a blazing gun battle ensues over one lowly bookkeeper. You ...

179. A Bridge over Troubled Waters

Psalm 23:2

Sermon

James Merritt

... a great stress reliever. III. Be Refreshed With The Peace Of The Lord “He leads me beside the still waters.” (v.2b) Literally the Hebrew says “the waters of quietness.” Palestine does not have a lot of lush meadows because they do not have a very wet climate. Israel is a rocky, dry, hot, barren land. Between March and October there is virtually no rain. The heat scorches the grass and the water holes dry up, and sheep have to be fed, and they have to be led to sources of water. Every good shepherd ...

180. Deal with It, Get over it, and Get Help

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and power are with us every step of the way . . . to help us deal with it, to help us get over it, and to give us all the help we need to be “more than conquerors.” Divine concern and compassion are not being saved up for some climatic conclusion. God’s presence and power are unfolding, revealing, expanding, embracing us in everything we do, in all we experience. Do you know, as Paul knew, that God works “all things” for the good. Notice that not all things are good. But God works all things for ...

181. The Compassionate Christ

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... one section at a time. Spread the other sections around for others to read. Some of you are parents or grandparents. Take out the pictures of your children or grandchildren and show them to others.” With that brief announcement she changed the emotional climate of that flight. Later, when the flight attendant came near Parker Palmer’s seat he asked her, “What’s your name? What’s the name of your supervisor? I want to write a letter of commendation. That was the best example of group leadership ...

182. Letting Go and New Beginnings

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... and an uncertain future journey initiated. Mary accepted God's invitation, confident that if she would place her trust in him things would be fine. The past was left behind and God's plan for the salvation of humankind entered into its climatic stage. The New Testament presents other important examples of new beginnings that necessitated a change in direction and dropping the past. The call of the apostles itself forced new ways and new beginnings. Somehow these men, simple, unlearned working men from all ...

183. Put Your Hands on the Plow

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Eric Ritz

While we wait and trust, we are also to put our hands to the plow. We are prepared simply by doing the work God has called us to do and doing it faithfully and with vigilance, regardless of the world's clock and the climate that it has surrounded us with. During the Second World War there was a young boy in a small town who had to go to the drugstore for his mother. As he arrived at the drugstore, he saw a poster on the front window that made a great impression upon ...

184. John the Stall Cleaner

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... time) Failures of moral systems (as each new terrorists attack makes painfully evident) Failures of political systems (from Thailand to Pakistan to Bagdad to India) Failures of environmental systems (as the threat of global warming becomes the reality of global climate changes) But despairing is not an Advent attitude. Despairing is letting the fractures in this world cripple us, instead of embracing the Advent of God’s forever new, rebirthing, redeeming, fractal love in this world. Mark’s gospel starts ...

185. Wild Beasts

Genesis 9:8-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... through the grace of God's sacrificial love. The gospel is not simply news of our redemption from the world. The gospel promises redemption of the world. It is no coincidence that the somber period of Lent occurs, for those of us in northern climates at least, during the late Winter/early Spring - a time still cold, still barren, still swaddled in silence. As Easter and Spring approach, the cycle of life begins again: Leaves begin to bud, grass begins to grow, hibernating animals awaken, the entire earth ...

186. Tweed Jackets, Sweat Pants and Wet Suits

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... '' baptism. Can that same spirit find physical, tangible means of expression in your life, and the life of your congregation? Luke's phrase describing Jesus' baptism with "the Holy Spirit and fire" may also be translated as "with wind and fire."Such a changeable climate suggests that as Christians we must be prepared to dress according to which way this Spirit blows. Welcoming the Spirit's presence into our lives today means much more than waiting to be enrobed by the wings of a dove, it means dressing our ...

187. A Match Made in Heaven

Isaiah 61:1—62:12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... four years before. Our reaction capabilities are just a tad slow. The prospect of the heavens and earth coming together is both exhilarating and frightening. Whenever two entities from such different places intersect, there are bound to be explosions, dust storms, even major climatic shifts. We have a God who likes to shake us up. We have a God who delights in putting opposites together and then watching the dust fly. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." How could two things be more ...

188. Connect the Dots

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 't come to see Christ in you. 1. Make every stranger you meet glad to have met you. Have you ever known a person whose presence in any group made everything else different? Someone who, when he or she entered a room, made the spiritual and moral climate of that room better, who lifted the mood and spirit of that meeting? Why not make it a matter of principle that no one who ever comes into your presence will leave worse, only better? 2. Bring peace to every meeting. Medical doctor Gerald Jampolsky wrote a ...

189. And Again I Say...Amen!

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... tomorrow. Indeed, you can more effectively prove that there is reason to doubt whether indeed it will rise tomorrow. That is why scientists have such a hard time reaching conclusions on such cause and effect relationships as smoking/cancer; acid rain and hfc/climate changes; carbon dioxide/greenhouse effect. A So-Do-It Spirit doesn't wait for the last confirming report to drag in. Undoubtedly, there is still some clerk somewhere trying to determine if the "frisbee" will really catch on. A So-Do-It-Spirit ...

190. Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... with the power he had been offered; it deals only with the much-too-high-price the devil seeks to extract. For Luke, Jerusalem and the temple are always moving onto center stage. Fittingly then, in Luke's sequence of the temptations, Jesus' final climatic confrontation with the tempter takes place on the pinnacle of that holy place in that holy city. The devil dares Jesus to deny his humanity, with its accompanying mortality, and to allow his divine nature full rein. If Jesus descended from the top of the ...

191. Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... instead of the defining act of "emptying out," there is active obedience to a greater goal. It is easy to read this testimony as the mission of the historical human Jesus - a mission that was not completed simply by the act of incarnation, but by the climatic ending of his work through his death on the cross. It is this obedience, even to death, that gives the human Jesus his claim to Lordship and which encourages his disciples to follow in his footsteps. The final three verses of this hymn reflect as high ...

192. Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)

Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... reigned for 52 years and except for being quarantined in the last years of his rule due to a leprous condition, found success in his various endeavors. Concern over the continuance of peace and prosperity following the death of Uzziah created a climate of anxiety throughout Judah. And it was in this context that Isaiah accepted God's challenge for a prophetic spokesman. The six-winged seraphim described in this passage are otherwise unknown in the Scriptures, this being the only reference. These attendants ...

193. The Comforts of "Thy Rod and Thy Staff": Rulership or Relationship

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... life in every detail of your existence, you are selling out to the culture (zeitgeist). Wait a minute . . . in nature differences and adaptations are the way populations of the same species learn to survive and thrive in a variety of environments. Climate changes, shifting food sources, and population density all challenge species to change in order to succeed and reproduce. Successful species are always “locavores.” Have you heard that word? It was one of the top new words of 2007. There is even ...

194. Survivor

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

... key point that I want you to hear that so many people miss when it comes to this area of stewardship and giving. God does not want us to give so that we become poorer; God wants us to give so that we might become richer. So Jesus reaches two climatic statements in this parable. “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true ...

195. Life on the Rock

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

James Merritt

... in the North you'll face floods; if you live in the East you'll face hurricanes. You see Jesus is not telling us how to find a safe place to live where the atmosphere is ideal, the winds gentle, the rains controlled, the sun always shines, and the climate is perfect. That place doesn't exist really anywhere on earth, nor does it exist anywhere in life. I want to share with you another true story that is very fascinating. It happened almost seventy years ago. There was a man who lived in Long Island in 1938 ...

196. Mrs. Proverbs

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... Fortuin's feet, and recalling how she had often kissed the feet of his children, he bent over and kissed her feet, an act that moved the other worshipers to tears. Eventually the press learned of what Judge Oliver had done, and in that hostile social climate, it was big news. Thus, it was not surprising that soon thereafter, the judge was shunted aside for a chief judgeship he had been promised. Learning about that, the pastor of the black church visited the judge to apologize for putting him in that career ...

197. Worship Services that Seek to Accommodate Rather than Dictate

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Timothy Wright

... actually frightened. I am unsure what they think will happen to them, but whatever it is, they think it could be awful. Visitor-oriented congregations take those feelings seriously and design services that put guests at ease. An informal setting encourages visitors to settle in and relax. An upbeat, celebratory climate, friendly people and enthusiastic music help guests forget their fears."

198. Essentials

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... young people grew excited. A few bearded elders cautioned the rest, but soon Dunker youths were traveling to India, Africa, and China, baptizing people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And they realized that people in these hot climates were not going to wear prayer coverings and Dunker beards and dark clothing. It made sense. The plain garb didn't matter. Horses and buggies didn't matter. Instead, like others in the mission fields, the missionaries preached a simple gospel. It was ...

199. What a Deal: Investing in Hope

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... nothingness, the experts tell us; but we profess faith in God who is the Lord of creation. For the founders of that little bank in that little town, investing their hard-earned cash money in the future of their community proved to be a good deal despite the economic climate of the Great Depression. But God offers us so much more. In Christ, we are given the strength to stand on hope when others are bailing out. In faith, we sign the deed to our lives over to him in full view of a skeptical public just as ...

200. Tears Are Our First Words

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in the first century—-like that of the twenty-first century—-was big business. Have you noticed that as the economy has fallen, the number of ads for life insurance are on the rise? In the face of an uncertain economic climate, unstable global relationships, catastrophic environmental scenarios, and butt-headed political stalemates, there is always one thing that remains certain . . . death. You can always bank on death showing up. The grief industry never has a down turn. When Jesus finally arrived at ...

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