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 2669 results

2001. How to Hug

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... on their own experience or their personal whims. Eighty-four percent say they would break the rules of their own religion. And 81 percent have violated a law they felt to be inappropriate. Only 30 percent say they would be willing to die for their religious beliefs or for God. (3) Am I the only one who is disturbed by these figures? Are we sliding with increasing momentum down the slippery slope of moral relativity into the murky waters of a world with no moral order? Love does not negate the Law, but ...

2002. Seventy-Seven

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... cross, and crosses all boundaries and all dividing walls. It took Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross for forgiveness to “go viral” within the bloodstream of humanity Instead of advocating a “religion,” a set and sworn system of rites, rituals and beliefs, Jesus offered all humanity who would receive the gift of faith a relationship with God that was personal and pulsating — alive to everyday moments and face-to-face encounters. Jesus offered reasons to receive God’s love and reasons to reciprocate ...

2003. Living “I Don’t Know” While “In the Know”

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... is a lot of “wasted knowledge” even with all our know-it-alls. The philosophical study of “how we know what we know” is called “epistemology.” A scholarly study of epistemology considers the differences between knowledge of facts, of beliefs, and of truths. Each of those involves a different kind of “knowledge.” But epistemological scholars ironically never take into consideration “who” you know as a form of knowledge. That is why epistemological scholars are sitting in cramped little ...

2004. Leave Your Calculator Home

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... she was storing up. She walked up to her front door and opened her purse to get out her key, and she was shocked by what happened next: somehow a huge moth had gotten into her purse and when she opened it, the moth fluttered and flew out. Surprised beyond belief she decided that God used that moth to teach her a lesson: she didn’t need to be storing up her money; she needed to be using it for God. She returned to the church (she lived just across the street) and asked for her card back. She doubled her ...

2005. About that Salesman

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... impressed by the authenticity that the new Pope, Pope Francis, has brought to his high office. Francis has been noted for his humility, his concern for the poor, and his commitment to dialogue as a way to build bridges between people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and faiths. We have been touched by such decisions Francis has made such as that of choosing to live in a Vatican guesthouse rather than the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace formerly used by his predecessors. The much beloved Pope John XXIII ...

2006. Humvee Holiness and Humble Holiness

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... calendar as “All Saints Day.” “All Saints” is a celebration and commemoration of those who were never about pretense, but who devoted their lives to expressing true faithfulness and genuine piety. The church lives, not by the majesty of its beliefs but by the manifestation of its manifold witness through the magnificence of its “communion of saints.” Who are these “all saints?” The “all saints” are all the everyday, ordinary men and women who live lives of humility and service in ...

2007. We Are Not The Light

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... go the way they have. Those churches find themselves on the outside looking in at the levers of power and prestige they formerly held. For some, the world of science and the globalization of economic and political life have challenged verities of faith and belief. In today’s lectionary reading, Paul outlines his program for those who find themselves trying to read the signs of the times by flickering light. “Rejoice always” is a tall order in our day, just as it must have seemed a great challenge to ...

2008. Still Surprised After Christmas

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... as Paul wrote in our New Testament lection for all who come to know God as Father (Galatians 4:6). Simeon’s identification of Mary’s baby with God’s salvation is reminiscent of Jesus’ words to grieving Martha outside Lazarus’ tomb. She affirms a belief in a resurrection that is an event — “on the last day” (John 11:24). Jesus’ response, however, suggests that the resurrection is not found in an event or a point in time, but in a person — “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25 ...

2009. Odd Ducks in a Rubber-Ducky World

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... others?” (Matthew 5:47). We live focused towards a future that the rest of the world longs for. We live with resurrection faith and hope, not monetary heap-it-up urges or emotional pile-it-higher-and-deeper surges. We live odd lives with odd beliefs and odd dreams, odd ducks in a rubber-ducky world. In Paul’s words to the first century’s first generation of the faithful in Thessalonia, he does not belittle their grieving over those who have died as believers before Jesus returned to this world. Paul ...

2010. A Call for Repentance - Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Still, there is a sense in which we do suffer for wrongdoing. One of the most insightful passages in modern literature appears in a novel written more than a half-century ago by noted author James Michener titled, The Fires of Spring. The passage deals with the belief that some Christians have that there is a recording angel who keeps a record of every sin that we have ever committed. The novel is about a couple who are burdened with a load of guilt from their past. They wander into a Quaker meeting. They ...

2011. The Kingdom Is at Hand

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... I am!” (4) The wretchedness of a person with sin in their heart cannot be overstated. In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that many of us have the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior.” He goes on to say, “It is revival without reformation, without repentance.” It is an illusion. It can’t be done. Again, there is not enough room in your soul for God and for sin. So the first requirement is to ...

2012. Everything Must Go: “Abandon Ship!”

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

Sermon

James Merritt

... understand money. You will never see money correctly. Your mind will not be right about money until you get that one foundational truth down in your heart. Nothing you have is yours. It all belongs to God. I am not just taking one verse here and building a whole belief on it. That is the universal view of the Bible. Psalm 24:1 says this, “The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1, ESV) God not only owns your stuff, but He owns you. That is good ...

2013. The Door Is Open

John 10:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... finding the meaning of his existence in the universe in which the earth and even the solar system may be no larger in relation to the whole than an atom is to the earth. At the same time, materialistic values – based on the belief that scientific progress will automatically lead to man’s happiness and fulfillment - just proves sadly disillusioning. As a result, many people are groping about, bewildered and bitter, unable to find any enduring faith or to develop a satisfying philosophy of life. [In other ...

2014. When You Reach the Rejection Hotline

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... particularly disturbed by the Apostles’ claim that Jesus was resurrected from of the dead. The Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection from the dead. Christ’s resurrection, if true, presented them with a real dilemma. It struck down one of their core beliefs. And so they seized Peter and John and had them put in jail. The following morning those who were disturbed by the Apostles’ teaching interrogated Peter. “By what power or what name did you do this?” they asked. Instead of answering their ...

2015. Digging Deeper

Luke 1:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... basically teach the same thing and are leading us to the same path is false, it is the Christian faith. The reasons for that are many, but the greatest reason is this. The Christian faith is based on one single man. Not only that, it is based on the belief that this man, named Jesus, not only lived like every other man and died like every other man, but was crucified for the sins of the world and became the only man in history to be physically raised from the dead. No other religious faith is so completely ...

2016. When Walls Shift and the Ceiling Collapses

John 8:31-36

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... the following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg… those who are unable to be present and debate orally with us, may do so by letter."[3] Luther intended to start a respectful, scholarly conversation on what he considered very important issues in Christian belief and practice. Instead, his 95 Theses set the Protestant Reformation in motion. Like today, that was a time of enormous change that sent shock waves of anxiety through the people of God. "What is this all about? Where is it going?" To use ...

2017. King Jesus

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... of the church throughout the ages. Even in our era, when democratic social movements topple kings and weigh in against tyrannical regimes, the largest social organization in the entire human race, the Church of Jesus Christ, holds as one of its core tenets of belief that Jesus is king. Mary's beautiful song is one of the key passages undergirding all New Testament theological testimonies that declare Jesus to be king. Why should Jesus be a king? He was born into a poor family during a time of foreign ...

2018. Getting at the Truth

John 14:16-17

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... , underlying these convictions is a deeper conviction that at the bottom of things, the world is orderly. The late Harvard mathematician and philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead, maintained that the whole scientific enterprise of the western world rested upon the belief that at the bottom of things science would find order rather than chaos. If animists were afraid to probe a world enchanted with demons and spirits, western scientists dissected, investigated, explored, and probed into the depths of the atom ...

2019. A Complicated Disciple

John 18:15-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... caught him,” says Matthew. Not only did Jesus rescue him, but he also taught him a lesson. As He was lifting him from possible death, he asked, “You of little faith, why did you doubt (v. 31)?” Later, at Caesarea Philippi, Peter declared his belief that Jesus was the “Christ, the Son of the living God.” Christ called him “blessed,” saying the revelation came not from himself but from the heavenly Father (Matthew 16:16-18). Jesus called him Peter--in Greek Petros and Aramaic Keophas--meaning a ...

2020. Nursery Rhyme Hermeneutics

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... the Black Death. Each phrase of the rhyme refers to an aspect of the plague. “Ring o’roses” is a reference to the small, red rashlike areas that developed on people infected with the plague. “Pocket full of posies” is a reference to the ancient belief that evil smells were the poisonous breath of demons who afflicted people with the disease. It was thought that sweet-smelling herbs and flowers would drive them off. “A-tishoo! A-tishoo!” is a reference to the sneezing that was a symptom of the ...

2021. Polls Don't Count

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... Christ have preached if he’d taken a poll in Israel? Where would the Reformation have gone if Martin Luther had taken a poll? It isn’t the polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership—men with fortitude, honesty, and a belief in the right—that makes epochs in the history of the world.”

2022. Complexity of a Chromosome

Illustration

Brett Blair

Years ago Dr. Carl Sagan was all the rage in the scientific community. A famous astronomer and author who professed to have no belief in God or the Bible, but nevertheless recognized the complexity of the design of creation. In his book The Dragons of Eden (New York: Ballantine, 1978) he describes the complexity of a chromosome: A single human chromosome contains twenty billion bits of information. How much information is twenty billion bits? ...

2023. The Dying Thief Excuse

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... heaven.” The minister then asked if he had partaken of the Lord’s Table. The man responded, “No, but the dying thief didn’t either, and Christ still received him.” The minister then commented: “The only difference between you and the dying thief is that he was dying in his belief and you are dead in yours.”

2024. Teaches One Thing, Practices Another

Illustration

Francis Schaeffer

... of coins and the rolling of dice to make sure that no personal element enters into the final product. The result is music that has no form, no structure and, for the most part, no appeal. Though Cage’s professional life accurately reflects his belief in a universe that has no order, his personal life does not, for his favorite pastime is mycology, the collecting of mushrooms, and because of the potentially lethal results of picking a wrong mushroom, he cannot approach it on a purely by-chance basis ...

2025. Kierkegaard’s Story of the Prince

John 3:16, 16:5-33; Mt 28:16-20

Illustration

Brett Blair

We affirm a belief in the Son, Jesus Christ. We say that God took on human form, came and lived among us, suffered the same trials that we suffered, experienced the same feelings that we experienced. Jesus was purely human and purely divine. Jesus was not God. Jesus was God incarnate. There is a ...

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