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 2653 results

2001. Do You Love Me?

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... have been arguing all night long about what to do with the world. John's face is hard and decisive. From time to time his arms go up and down as though he were chopping something apart. Jesus' face, in contrast, is hesitant and tame. His eyes are full of compassion. "Isn't love enough?" Jesus asks. "No," John answers angrily. "The tree is rotten. God called me and gave me the ax, which I then placed at the roots of the tree. I did my duty. Now you do yours; take the ax and strike!" Jesus says, "If I were ...

2002. Calling Out in the Darkness

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Steven Molin

... eternal, and we have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What else is there? What else could we possibly want Jesus to do for us? Perhaps only this; to see the world as Jesus sees it. To look at the fringe people of our world with compassion instead of judgment. To look at the poor and reach out to them in mercy, instead of grabbing and guarding our own purses and billfolds. To see broken, sinful, disobedient people and treat them with forgiveness and grace instead of rejection and scorn. In short, to see ...

2003. The Story That Shapes Us

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... , there are also a significant number of people who are living without a master story. They are disillusioned. Life has no meaning. They have no story and that may be the scariest story of all. Without a master story to guide us, we have no moral compass and our lives become devoid of values. Faith groups have master stories that they share with others in their community. There seems to be a master story for Muslims that is about a faithful prophet who followed God's will completely and was justly rewarded ...

2004. On The Night When He Was Betrayed

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... you knew it was his betrayal that was going to lead to your death, a death you didn't deserve. You wouldn't include him on your guest list as you gathered your loved ones for one last meal together. You wouldn't treat him with all the love and compassion that you showed to all the other guests at your table. You wouldn't get down on your hands and knees and wash his feet. You wouldn't break bread with him and offer him the same blessing you give to all the others who have left everything to be ...

2005. How Do We Make Sense of This?

Romans 8:35-39, Hebrews 10:1-39

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... to say, "Okay, this nonviolence thing isn't working; it's time for plan B." His was a love taken to the ultimate test. Jesus' life on this earth ended the way it had to. It was consistent with the way he lived his life. He was about love and compassion to the nth degree. When his enemies came after him, he couldn't run. When they took him to trial, he couldn't defend himself. When they nailed him to a cross, he couldn't call up his troops and defeat them. He could only do what he was sent ...

2006. Love in Action

1 John 3:16-24

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... you're not loving them. When we give to the poor, are we giving in love? Or are we giving in judgment? I have come to the conclusion that deep down inside most of us pass judgment on the poor. We may want to help them, and we may feel compassion for them. But there is a part of us that believes they are poor because of something they did. Their poverty is a consequence of the way they have lived their lives. When we give to the poor, we often give the stuff that we don't want. If you ...

2007. Bothered and Bewildered

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... those institutions. As he put it: "No one is ever glad to see me coming to their facility." And I added: "But I'm glad that you do it - it is vital to all of us." His willingness to carry the death of Jesus in his body helped to ensure compassion and care for our most vulnerable citizens. In the closing verses of this lectionary passage, Paul moves us into the concrete nature of the Christian life. It is not primarily a belief about what happens to us when we die. It is rather what one of my friends calls ...

2008. Words That Wound, Words That Heal

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... hearts. Do we tend to brood on personal hurts? Do we dwell on insults? Are we filled with bitterness, contempt, anger? If these emotions are devouring our minds we must prayerfully seek a cleansing of the heart so that we can refill ourselves with love, compassion, and forgiveness. I have found that it helps immensely to pray for that person with whom I am most disgusted or who has hurt me the most. Praying for the individual softens the contempt and bitterness in my heart. I recently wondered to myself: If ...

2009. Sleeping in on Sunday

Ephesians 6:10

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... All the trees support and protect each other. Each tree is important to all the other trees in the forest. In the church, we have fellowship with one another and with Christ. Without Christ, the church is nothing. Without fellowship, the church is useless. By our compassion we show the world the difference that Jesus makes. Being rooted and grounded in love we are able to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. "With this in mind, be alert and ...

2010. Antidote for Bad Times

James 5:13-20

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... without judgment when we confess with our whole heart that we are wrong: that we are doing something wrong; that we have said something wrong; that we have gone the wrong direction in life. We need someone in our Christian fellowship who will listen with compassion and tell us, "I love you and will help you turn around and make a better life." The biblical message from the book of James gives sound advice, offering antidotes to life's problems. Pray and confess. Pray in your own times of solitude. Share ...

2011. Is God Fair?

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... In fact, any one of us may suddenly find ourselves alone and unclaimed at some eleventh hour of our lives. That is why we are all eleventh hour people. Grateful for the enduring promises and presence of a just God. But dependent upon the compassion and generosity of a merciful God. Mercy is a uniquely Christian “virtue.” Neither the Greeks nor the Romans saw “mercifulness” as a quality worthy of “virtue” status. And while God’s mercy was poured out upon Israel countless times, the rules of the ...

2012. Matthew 20:1-16

Matthew 20:1-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the same pay, the incongruity made their wages appear paltry. They had done the math. If one hour’s work was worth a denarius, then twelve hours work ought to be worth . . . much more. But the landowner didn’t do math. He did compassion. He did what he wanted with what was his to give. Although the grousing workers had not addressed their employer with any title, the landowner addresses his employees with the term “friend” (“hetaire”). First the landowner reminds the workers that they agreed to ...

2013. Jesus Would Do What?

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... one. St. Paul writing in Philippians almost requires us to ask the WWJD question. He writes, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests ...

2014. Clothing and Spiritual Change

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Mickey Anders

... 13:14). And in First Corinthians, "The perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:53). In Colossians, we read, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). Finally, in First Peter we are admonished, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble'" (1 Peter 5 ...

2015. No, I’m Just Seasick

Mark 10:13-16

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... See that man over there," he said. "He is a physician." Bill checked and sure enough that was right. "How could you tell?" he asked the man. "Well," he said, "I saw the caring lines on his forehead and could tell he was a person of great compassion." Bill Henderson pointed to someone else and said, "What about him? What does he do?" "That's a lawyer," the expert said. Bill checked and sure enough, he was. The expert explained that the man had a scholarly look and was somewhat formal, indicating an attorney ...

2016. I Looked in Your Eyes

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... to why you didn't ask them and you did ask me." The old man responded, "I looked into their eyes and could see no love and knew in my own heart it would be useless to ask for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, I saw compassion, love and the willingness to help. I knew you would be glad to give me a ride across the river." The rider was touched. "I'm grateful for what you are saying," he said. "I appreciate it very much." With that, Thomas Jefferson turned and rode off to the White ...

2017. Commissioned for Christ

2 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... same. Although he has no book of prophecy in his name, Elijah was one of the great prophets to the northern kingdom of Israel. His ministry was significant and it centered itself about rooting out evil in the hearts of people. His commission began as a mission of mercy and compassion. He was sent to the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16) to assure her that God had noted her faith and that she and her son would not die due to the great famine in the land. Elijah was next sent to challenge King Ahab and his ...

2018. Let The Shofar Sound!

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... was above him directly to his right. He opened the window and recognized a barnyard light he had passed before. He knew where he was and returned to take the turn he had missed. The day of Ash Wednesday is not too early to fix one's compass on the cross. Like the North Star, the cross atop the hill of Calvary beckons us forward. A painting adorning a sixteenth-century altar in a thirteenth-century church close to Hamburg, Germany, portrays the donor of the painting climbing a trail, staff in hand. Atop a ...

2019. Hope Lifted Up

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... Christ on the tree and "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." The young North African replaced the destructive fire of reveling and licentiousness for the fire of faith in Christ. It can happen to anyone: a felon in prison, a corporate head who turns from greed to compassion for his or her employees who depend upon the company pension, a runaway teen who returns to the love of the parental home. God revealed his love in the bronze serpent in the wilderness. God revealed his love again in the man on the cross. "For ...

2020. Three O’Clock at the Temple

Acts 3:12-19

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... not to harm him and Tsotsi is taken into custody. Tsotsi's fate is not known but the viewer of the movie knows that Tsotsi has been redeemed. The plight of those weaker than he (the baby, the young widow, the teacher, the wheelchair-bound beggar) has moved him to compassion. He has left his life of crime and the hatred for his father behind. He goes to jail but he goes as a free man, a man who has been liberated by love. There are many accounts of Paul, Peter, and other apostles recorded in the book of Acts ...

2021. The Real Underdog!

1 Samuel 17:1, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... is an answer to the question, "Who's in charge here?" The answer comes back resoundingly, "God is in charge of our world and your life and mine." In the end, evil will not have its way. Oh, sure it thrashes around here and there pushing us off our compass course. It terrifies us and tempts us into more nefarious sins. It threatens to keep us turned in on ourselves. David shows us a better way. David shows us how the Goliath who stands for evil really is the underdog in this story. That's why David won that ...

2022. Getting Through the Grief

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... will never forget them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." Charles Earl Spencer said the following about Princess Diana: "Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who ...

2023. Oh, That I Knew Where I Might Find Him

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him" (vv. 8-9). In Hebrew, the four directions that one can go — forward, backward, left, and right — are the same words used for the four directions of the compass (north, south, east, and west). So, we could say, nowhere in the world is God to be found. Such an inaccessible God seems strange for us who have been nourished on the idea of the availability of God. God is very near to us, Paul says, for in him ...

2024. 1 Thessalonians 1:1-8

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... mother . . . so we cared for you” (v.8). While the argument over translation might not be solved the startling intent of Paul’s image is clear. Far from seeking human praise or self-aggrandizement, Paul and Company demonstrated nothing but humility and compassion, concern and love, for the Thessalonian community. In sharing the gospel with them, Paul and Company came to love these new Christians so deeply that they “took delight in sharing our very lives with you.” In first and foremost pleasing God ...

2025. Who Will Wash Your Sins?

Illustration

... one quick movement she threw the six month old baby to his watery death. Native missionary M.V. Varghese often witnesses among the crowds who gather at the Ganges. It was he who came upon Alila that day kneeling in the sand crying uncontrollably and beating her breast. With compassion he knelt down next to her and asked her what was wrong. Through her sobs she told him, "The problems in my home are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the best I have to the goddess Ganges, my first born ...

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