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 2026 to 2050 of 4988 results

2026. Face to Face

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... by Jesus into the world as transfigured people don’t cease being ordinary people, vessels of clay, even though we are entrusted with a gospel of gold. We comport a glory that is not ours, with the greatness found in the gift and Giver, not the bearer of the gift. What is this “face” we are called to present to the world? Throughout the gospels, Paul’s writings, and all the other epistles, there is one overwhelming “facial” quality that is extolled: love. Love God. Love neighbor. Love others and ...

2027. Are You Part of the Scandal?

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... family commitment or obligation, was the equivalent of him robbing the family safe-deposit box and taking off over the horizon. That his father ok’d such a self-centered act is the first remarkably gracious action taken by this parent. The father gives his child the gift of freedom, even if it is freedom from the father. It is now the child’s responsibility to live a righteous life within that freedom. The youngest son in today’s text goes down fast and hard. Like a college kid with a Platinum card on ...

2028. Be a Bethany

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... was lifted. It was only a few days later that Lazarus and his sisters held a Sabbath meal in Jesus’ honor. Mary’s gift of the spendy and scented perfume added yet another layer to the celebrity feeling of the evening. Food. Family. Friends. Fragrance. The ... the sense of smell. Jesus stayed in Bethany to engage with and enjoy the company of his great friends. Jesus accepted the gift of Mary’s anointing, of the fragrance that dispelled all the miasma of Lazarus’ death (remember how the KJV put it: “He ...

2029. So Send I You

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ’s child, so we are to go out into the world as God’s sons and daughters. In this one commission on the meaning of discipleship, Jesus affirmed our divine parentage. And as Jesus’ surprising entrance into that locked Upper Room testified, the first gifts of belonging to God’s family are peace and joy. Jesus proclaims that “Peace be with you,” and his disciples respond with great joy. But to be a faithful follower of Jesus entails more than just being filled with peace and joy. Jesus’ followers ...

2030. It’s Complicated

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in Jesus the Christ and choice of his personal presence in our lives. Paul’s Pharisaic training enabled him to present this new reality in a succinct, soul-altering phrase — justification by grace through faith. It is only through faith that we accept the gift of Christ’s love and the miracle of his resurrection. It is only God’s grace that has made this new reality a possibility. The grace of God is the “simplicity” that replaces all the human games, all the contrived complexities, that try to ...

2031. The Lord’s Prayer and The Stones-Serpents-Scorpions Story

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... takes its eyes off Christ. [If you can get an ostrich for us as a prop, either a plain one [www.ostrich.com] or a decorated one from someone who has visited the Middle East, all the better. You might even consider giving an ostrich egg as a gift to your lay leader or key elder as a reminder to keep the church focused on the true Bread of Life.] COMMENTARY At a recent family reunion every family member received a T-shirt proudly proclaiming, “We are kinfolk!” But while all the shirts declared the same ...

2032. The Dirt on Jesus

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of poetry entitled Misadventure (2012), has a poem called “Sky Sports” in which the gods “who can see feelings” watch us on our planet splatting each other paint-ball-style with projected envy, greed, lust, etc., marveling all the while “at this deft/gift of ours for shifting misery/that makes such great viewing.” In today’s gospel text parable Jesus makes it all too clear how “life” and “stuff” are not one and the same. The rich man, enjoying a bumper crop, congratulates himself on ...

2033. The ME and the WE

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ’s family.” Friends of Christ (Orbis Books, 2012). I began with the ME/WE back story to Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech. Let me end this morning with another ME/WE back story to the biggest one-time gift in the history of US philanthropy: the 1.7 billion gift of Joan Kroc (1928-2003), the wife of the founder of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc, to the Salvation Army. When Joan was a small child, her father abandoned the family and left her mother to figure out how to feed the family. In Joan ...

2034. Be Shrewd

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... choice. We can choose to follow the ways of the world and embrace a dishonest life, a self-serving life in which we believe that only we can be the masters of our own future through manipulation and guile. Or we can embrace the “dishonest” gift of God and be assured of a future full of life and grace. Be shrewd about your choices. Which will you choose? _________________________________ COMMENTARY One of the most commonly trotted out critiques about living a life of faith is that it is all about “pie ...

2035. Be Patient

James 5:7-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... receive on Christmas morning a doll much better than the one she was begging for. A doll that she would enjoy more than any doll she ever had. At that moment, though, in her demand for instant gratification all the little girl wanted was a shabby imitation of the gift her mother had already intended to give. Any of you ever had a child like that? Any of you ever been a child like that? Any of you ever been that way with your heavenly Parent? The writer of the epistle of James says to his readers, “Be ...

2036. A Faith that Leaves a Legacy

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... to lay life down.” (1) What a wonderful statement of commitment! It’s hard for us to even imagine such dedication. It’s hard to find a faith like that in our modern world. A woman named Lila Moore tells about her days working at a card-and-gift shop. A young woman came in one day, and spent several hours looking through the books of wedding invitations. Finally she selected just the right one. She filled out the forms, and put in her order so that the invitations to her wedding might come on time. Two ...

2037. The New Census

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... or goodies, but the inheritance of a place in God’s kingdom, of a room in God’s household, of participation in the heavenly presence and peace made possible by Christ’s birth. Once “counted” in this new census, every one of us gets the greatest gift ever given to any human being the “withness” of the divine, “God WITH us.” And because of that new count off, we each get to share the divine “withness”: “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Here is the new head count: “You shall ...

2038. A Miracle Story

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... tax collectors and “sinners” of all stripes, for the entirety of his ministry. *It only took the miracle of the resurrection — the greatest event in the history of the world, the divine demonstration of God’s power of life over death, and the transforming, infusing gift of the Holy Spirit to give Peter this final insight. Talk about “divine patience.” All God had to do was to send his only Son as an example of God’s love and as a sacrifice for our stubborn sinfulness. Before Jesus all God had ...

2039. When We No Longer Recognize Ourselves

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... a kiss. A dignified man running down the driveway and hugging and kissing his son does this sound like a father who is holding a grudge? No! It is not the Father who is withholding forgiveness; it is the son who needs to repent before he can accept the gift of his Father’s undeserved love. The son tries to choke out a confession, but he never gets the chance. The father interrupts him with the news that they are throwing a party. For whom? For him, of course. For the sinful son who rejected and shamed his ...

2040. The Foolishness of God

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

King Duncan

... church very long has seen some silly things occur. There’s an old, old story of a small country church that was given a big gift of money. They had a board meeting to decide how to spend this money. You know how church board meetings can be sometimes not ... for creation. It is centered in this group of people. Now the obvious question is: Are you dropping in your pebble? Are you using your gift to the glory of God or was God just being foolish in centering His plans in us? That’s a question only you can ...

2041. Mud Makeovers

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... before he goes to wash in the pool of Siloam — adding another layer of darkness to the man’s sightless eyes by packing on a mud wall before he has all darkness peeled back and the light shines in. But the Pharisee’s insistence that the gift of sight to this “blind from birth” man was unprecedented, their conviction that “never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind,” seems to convey that this man’s blindness was more profound than simple ...

2042. Outpouring and Indwelling

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus Christ’s seedtime and harvest we now have the potential of being infused with the greatest Spirit of life possible, the Spirit of God. The “Spirit of God gives life to your mortal bodies,” Paul insisted. We don’t have to be gifted with special spiritual “super-powers” to pass along the gift of new life. We just have to be able to nurture a seed along so that it can bear fruit. To bear fruit is to seed Christ’s Spirit into the world. To bear the fruit of the indwelling Spirit of Christ is ...

2043. Good News about Sparrows

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... about belief in an omnipotent God who sees every sparrow and counts every hair. If we have even the smallest amount of such faith faith like a grain of a mustard seed we can move mountains (Matthew 20:17). Such faith is not something we earn. It is a free gift from our heavenly Father. The best things in life are free says the old proverb and, of course, that’s true. You can’t put a price on love, health or friendship. However, there is a sense in which you can earn them. To have a friend, it’s said ...

2044. Envision: A Church After God’s Heart

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

James Merritt

... people to love God as He deserves to be loved. The one thing that God wants from us more than anything else is love. It is our most treasured gift, because that is one thing God will not force us to do. Any parent knows that the one thing you want from your children more than anything else and ... you are, so you can do what He wants you to do. He wants to take who you are, your passions, your gifts, your skills and your abilities and put them to work in the service of the church. Every single person, who is a ...

2045. Leave Your Calculator Home

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... and buy a big basketful of groceries and go to an address of a poor family I will give you. Then when you have given your gift, you sit down with them to find out what they need. Let them know that you are interested in them and that you are their friend. ... received her pledge card she wrote down an amount on it that was a very “safe” amount. It was not a radically generous gift at all. That evening Dykes spoke on the passage in which Jesus says, “Don’t store up your treasures on earth, where moth ...

2046. Night of Light

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Timothy Cargal

... as escape from God’s eternal judgment. Christ has redeemed and purified us so that we might become “a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds” (v. 14). Christmas is not supposed to be just a time to recognize and celebrate God’s gift to us. That gift is always to be a challenge to act in such ways as to extend God’s grace to others. Even as we are busy driving back the physical darkness with all our decorations, we need to be busy driving back the spiritual, emotional, and social darkness ...

2047. The Full Advent: Whoa! No Way? Wow!

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... home in Bethlehem. These first witnesses journeyed from a place where they were outcasts to a place where were the first cast in the Advent drama. The lowest became the highest. The lowest enjoyed the highest privilege of being made new by Jesus’ presence. “Wow, what a gift.” The shepherds are each one of us. We are all outcasts, left out and “out in left field.” We all need to be made new by the Jesus’ presence in our lives. And if you open yourself to The Full Advent this year, you will be ...

2048. Why Matter Matters

2 Peter 3:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... found that a miracle had happened. The pebbles had been transformed into diamonds, rubies, and other precious gems. They remembered the voice, and they were both glad and sorry. Glad they had taken some . . . Sorry they had not taken more. God’s gifts are only gifts if we receive them and open them. Advent prepares us to accept the sacrament of matter. With the birth of Jesus, physical matter doesn’t just “matter,” but is deemed good. Even more than that, this incarnated physical matter is not just ...

2049. The Kingdom Is at Hand

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... again. Quite naturally, Mollie became depressed. Her depression caused her to become uncooperative, and she cried a great deal. She only seemed to perk up when the morning mail arrived. Most of her gifts were books, games, stuffed animals all appropriate gifts for a bedridden child. Then one day a different sort of gift came, this one from an aunt far away. When Mollie tore open the package, she found a pair of shiny, black, patent‑leather shoes. The nurses in the room mumbled something about “people ...

2050. Shockproof

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... we dealt with a situation where it is your fault, not theirs. You are the one that is the offender. In that case, Jesus said this, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24, ESV) If on the other hand as we have been dealing with in the last part of this series, it is not your fault, but it is theirs ...

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