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 2001 to 2025 of 2747 results

2001. The Power of a Vision

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... you belong, becoming what you were made to be. It’s coming to our best selves. It’s realizing our deepest longings. In the third place transformation is facilitating our deepest healing. Some of us are so used to deep pain that it has become part of the air we breathe. It doesn’t have to be that way. If you are full of fear, worry, anxiety, — a time for healing has come for you. If you are gripped by guilt over sins committed, good omitted, — a time for healing has come for you. Maybe you’ve ...

2002. Hands on the Plow

Luke 9:57-62

Illustration

Jess Moody

In the early 1920's Philo Farnsworth was working on a farm, plowing a straight line on a potato farm. His mind was far away, thinking about the possibility of transmitting moving pictures through the air. He had no electronic or engineering background, nor was he a scientist. No one in the world of science would have considered him a serious contender in the chase to find the answer to photographic transmission without the aid of wires. Scientists from all over the world had been struggling ...

2003. What Can Christians Learn From Jews?

Genesis 12:1-3

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... might" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Christian families would do well to teach their children that scripture. This transcendent, relational, holy God created the universe and all that is within it. God said let there be light and there was light. God said let birds fly through the air and the animals inhabit the earth and it was done. Then as James Weldon Johnson puts it in that great piece he entitled Creation: God looked around and said, “I am still lonely." So God sat down on the side of a hill where he could ...

2004. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Lord, a man works only one hour and he gets the same. There's something wrong with that." Joseph Epstein in his book on envy says academia is more heavily laden with envy than any other institution on earth. If you want to smell envy in the air, just visit Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Will Willimon wrote his most recent book on the seven deadly sins, talking about the sins of Christians. He said he had to write that book after going through the process of being elected bishop in the United Methodist Church ...

2005. From Lust to Love

1 Corinthians 13: 1

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... his new-found girlfriend were certainly different than the feelings he had for the elderly ladies at church. After a date or two, the girl, tired of waiting, just grabbed the shy student and locked him into a passionate embrace. When he finally came up for air all he could say was "Scripture, scripture, what's the scripture?" That's when the girl came onto him a second time saying, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Love knows how to get physical, affectionate. The Church ought to claim ...

2006. Pray

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , but rest and relaxation? There is a place of quiet rest. It's near to the heart of God. This kind of prayer has historically been called centering prayer. It's reflective prayer. It's realizing that God is within us, closer than the air we breathe, nearer than our conscious selves. In our noisy, competitive, demanding world, could we not use some quiet contemplation with a God like that? God is in every breath we take. Breathe deeply and know God. IV. PRAYER IS CEASELESS AWARENESS “Pray without ceasing ...

2007. Time to Be a Hero

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Illustration

Keith Wagner

On January 13, 1982, when Air Florida's Flight 90 crashed on takeoff and fell into the icy waters of the Potomac River, Martin Skutnik, age 28, saw the plane go down. He stood with other spectators on the riverbank watching a woman who had survived the crash and was struggling to swim in the cold ...

2008. Surprise

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... like that? So be it Lord, let it happen, I'm ready, let's go. When our boys were little, I would come home from work at the end of the day, and they would meet me at the door. There I would pick them up, toss them in the air, and kiss them on the way down. One by one, time after time, we would repeat the ritual until my arms grew tired or we were called to dinner. When it was time to quit they would always say, “Do it again, Daddy, do it again!" As Christmas comes near ...

2009. Keeping Company with the Weary

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , could you go over that one more time?" I don't know about you, but I am constantly saying to Jesus, “Could you go over that one more time?" Jesus gently replies: “Consider the lilies of the field, watch how they grow. Watch the birds of the air, how freely they fly. Count the stars in the sky, remember who put them there." Try smarter not harder. Have you discovered that in life? - Persons already in a hole seldom reach their destination by digging harder in the wrong direction. - When we are in over ...

2010. Making the Most of Small Beginnings

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . Let those who have ears to hear spiritual things be alert to these little similes of Jesus. I. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS SMALL, LIKE A MUSTARD SEED. A seed which when planted grows to be the largest of garden plants, large enough for birds of the air to perch in its branches. Now technically speaking, Jesus was not right about the mustard seed being the smallest of seeds, and a mustard tree held no comparison to the great cedars of Lebanon to which this Psalmist refers in Psalm 104. Such is the predicament ...

2011. The Gentle Healer

John 9:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to know. I read it now with different eyes than I have read it before and I would like to share with you what is kind of new in this story for me. When you are ill, you use what you've got. The pool of Siloam was an open air basin twenty by thirty feet fed by a conduit into the city leading to a spring in the Kidron Valley. It was built not for healing purposes, but for defense purposes. To think that a combination of dirt and saliva could set in motion a healing process that culminated with ...

2012. A Thousand Points of Light

Isaiah 60:1-3; 18-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... from ordinary people. Herb Kelleher (Chairman of Southwest Airlines) tells the story of a very smart guy at Southwest who “almost graduated from high school." One day this baggage handler asked Mr. Kelleher, “Don't our planes make money in the air instead of the ground?" That concise common sense question played a pivotal role in the Southwest strategic principle of a fifteen to seventeen minute turnaround process. Today I invite this denomination to use BUMC, and particularly its laity, as a teaching ...

2013. Setting the Tone for the Day

Matt 22:36-40; Deut 6:4-9

Illustration

William G. Carter

... the background, and then a man was heard to say, "No, you didn't." It was a funny contest and drew a considerable audience. One morning, however, the third caller said something unusual. The station phone rang. "Good morning, this is FM-106. You're on the air. What did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?" A voice with a Bronx accent replied, "You want to know my first words in the morning?" The bubbly DJ said, "Yes, sir! Tell us what you said." The Bronx voice responded, "Shema, Israel ... Hear ...

2014. Seinfeld's Last Episode

Luke 10:25-37

Illustration

Brett Blair

Most of you remember the Seinfeld show and many of you were fans. In its final Episode, which aired at the end of the 1998 TV season, the main characters (Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer) receive a one year sentence for failing to help someone who was being robbed. What happens is this: Jerry has just received a contract from NBC to do a sitcom and the network is ...

2015. Three Basic Attitudes about Life

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... screamed at him, honked, made obscene gestures. They were upset that the wreck was slowing down their morning commute. Butler tried desperately to get someone to call for an ambulance, but those drivers who weren’t hostile to him were indifferent. Finally, an Air Force computer specialist, Larry Meade, stopped to help. Hundreds of other motorists passed the accident that day, and no one else offered to help. (2) I’m sure there were many conscientious people who passed by that scene. They knew they, too ...

2016. What Happens When You Are Not Number One?

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... do, don’t they? Isn’t it a shame that we lose that? What freedom would be ours if we could remember this that God created us. God loves us. We’re all special to God. Jesus gave us some graphic pictures of it. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6: 26) Jesus even went so far as to say that the hairs on our head are numbered. And you remember the story He told ...

2017. Encapsulated and Unavailable

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

Richard Patt

... age when just about all human contact has to be scheduled. Why? Because more and more we force ourselves into situations where we are encapsuled and, therefore, unavailable. Our homes are electronically gated. In apartments and condominiums our entrances are unapproachable. Our air-controlled cars mean windows up; even our telephones are equipped with screening that implies, "You may call me if you want, but I'll have to get back to you." There are few front porches left. We allow limited access into most ...

2018. The Prayer Life of Highly Effective Christians

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... but prayers that had already faced the hard facts of almost certain death. Then the custodian prayed. His friend reported that it was the most athletic prayer he had ever witnessed. The custodian wrestled with God, shouted at God, anguished with God. His finger jabbed the air and his body shook. “You’ve got to save him! You just can’t let him die!” this custodian practically screamed at God. “You’ve done it many times, Lord! You’ve done it for others, you’ve done it for me, now I am begging ...

2019. Hebrews 11:1-2; 8-16

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Some compositions are meant to be read: the words are most powerful on the page. Other compositions are meant to be spoken: the words best move from the air into the ear to reveal the true nature of their meaning. The author of Hebrews writes extensively about complex issues, theological constructs, the reality of faith. But his message is composed more like a powerful sermon than a progressive exploration of ideas. That is why even though there is no ...

2020. Mulliganeers, All

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in any manufactured arsenal. It is fitting that in the game of golf, a game often played in defiance of the Sabbath, a truly bad shot, a whack into the water, a slice into an impenetrable bramble bush, a ball that simply disappears into thin air, can be erased by a “mulligan.” I love “mulligans.” A “mulligan” is a gift of grace, a “second chance,” a “do-over” that is neither earned nor expected. A “mulligan” makes it possible for a player to stay in the game despite having made a ...

2021. A Kingdom that Cannot Be Shaken

Hebrews 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... hillbillies on the eastern end. Then, on December 16th, 1811, a massive earthquake rolled across the southern United States. The ground cracked and shifted, houses collapsed, mountains spewed forth jets of hot water, and the smell of sulfur filled the air. And suddenly, people across Tennessee and the whole South began to pray. A number of small earthquakes followed the big one. And along with the increase in earthquakes came an increase in church attendance. The Methodist Church alone, says Neely, reported ...

2022. Who's Who

John 1:29-42

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... . In that first episode, the writers and director want to introduce all of the main characters. In a television series, what we learn about the main characters in the first episode helps us understand them for the rest of the time the show is on the air and to see how they develop over the course of the series. John's narrative begins after the prologue, a hymn or poem that sets John's theological agenda. Once the narrative begins in verse 19, John focuses on identifying the characters of his gospel. All ...

2023. The Cross No One Wants To See

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Lee Griess

... by the whipping and flogging, prisoners were marched through the streets to the cries of the crowds. And for the crowd, it was great fun, a diversion in an otherwise unentertaining existence. No, a crucifixion was great excitement. Like a bullfight, blood was in the air. And so it was for Jesus that fateful Friday. As he climbed the hill of Golgotha, as he ascended that "place of the skull," the cries of the crowd were filled with anger. The mocking intended to shame. "You saved others. Save yourself if you ...

2024. and Forgiveness Come Easy When You’re Filled with The Spirit

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... breath of God! When you understand the Holy Spirit in that way, then the Holy Spirit's role in your life becomes a little clearer. Why as the breath of God, the Spirit is as essential for our doing good works, as essential for us when forgiving others, as the air we breathe is necessary to keep us alive! When you see it that way, life is not as hard. Forgiveness, like life, does not always come easy. It's so hard to forgive the son-of-a-gun who did you dirty, right? It is so hard sometimes to face ...

2025. All Who Share This Hope

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... , quoted by Jeff Cook. 4. Lydia Gruchy was the first woman ordained in the United Church of Canada, in 1936. 5. Op cit, Jeff Cook. 6. Quoted by Richard Bolin, note #9 of sermonshop_1996_11_01.topic@ecunet.org. Exact source not indicated. 7. Brian Wren, "There's A Spirit In The Air," in Voices United (Carol Stream: Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1979).

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