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 5000 results

2026. On Doing the Truth

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... who have seen the Light, John says, do the truth. One of the major mistakes the Church has made down through the centuries is making Christianity merely a matter of correct beliefs. Now, correct beliefs are important. It is a good idea to have as clear an understanding of our Christian Faith as possible. We are not asked to park our brains in the narthex when we come to church. But faith in the New Testament is not a matter of believing certain propositions about God and Jesus which may or may not be true ...

2027. Whatever became of Kingdomtide?

John 16:17-33

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... dismal Jesus. The picture of Him which we get in the Gospels is of a Man whose very presence at a party made Him a favorite guest. Little children instinctively loved Him, and children do not ordinarily take to a grouch. Therefore I cannot for the life of me understand the gloomy picture that some people want to paint of our Lord, as the sort of person who would bring his wet blanket to every party. In one of his Chicago Poems Carl Sandburg said of Jesus: “(He) had a way of talking soft and outside of a ...

2028. Only a Carpenter

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... bring to it. We used to talk about God calling certain people to “full-time Christian service,” meaning by that term the ordained ministry, or at least a missionary to some foreign land. We do not use the term much anymore, because we have come to understand that all of us are called to be full-time Christians wherever we are and at whatever trade we find ourselves engaged. II. “HE COULD DO NO MIGHTY WORK THERE,” Mark says about Jesus in His own hometown. Those are blunt words. Too blunt for Matthew ...

2029. Men Like Trees Walking

Mark 8:22-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... sky with the most fantastic hues of red and gold and purple, she turned to us and said, “It was nice of God to do that for us.” She was right! G.K. Chesterton once said that in spite of his advanced years and grown-up understanding of astronomy, he still believed that the sun rose each morning because God said to it: “Get up!” Annie Dillard in her book “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” writes: “The universe was not made in jest but in solemn, incomprehensible earnest... There is nothing to be done ...

2030. On the Singing of Hymns

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... legacy to fall back upon in hard times. It would be tragic if all our children and grandchildren could call upon in time of trial is the jingle of some silly singing commercial! Hymns are important! III. I IMAGINE THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE IN OUR WORLD TODAY WHO CANNOT POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND THIS. Worship is a lost art to them. Picture if you will a young family on the year 70 A.D. in the city of Rome, as they get up early on a Sunday morning before the sun has come up. They get dressed silently, and sneak off to ...

2031. Sleeping through a Revolution

Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... Mount of Olives, opposite the Holy City. Evidently Jesus had some wealthy friend who allowed Him the privilege of using the garden as a place of refuge and prayer at night. Jesus wanted His closest friends to be with Him through His time of agony of spirit. That is understandable. In time of trouble we want someone with us. We do not necessarily want them to do anything. We do not necessarily want them to talk to us or we talk to them. But we want them to be there. And in this, Jesus was intensely human. He ...

2032. What Kind of Vote Would Jesus Get?

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... armed resistance and bloodshed. “You’ve got to knock a few heads together,” he would say, or, “If you want to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs,” or, “You’ve got to fight fire with fire. Violence is the only language those Romans understand!” You see, Barabbas was not a common criminal - he was a “Zealot”- a “terrorist” if you will. The Galilee was full of them, in Jesus’ day. In fact, the Zealot movement began there-led by a man named Judas of Galilee, who began a revolt ...

2033. The Road to Somewhere (I am the way, truth, and life)

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... factors, we embark on our journey. Sometimes, though, even all of these are not enough. Even maps can be confusing. What we long for is a living, breathing human being to guide us along the way--someone who has been there before. In this light, we can fully understand the question of the disciple Thomas in our lesson today. Thomas gets a lot of bad press. Thomas was--for me--the honest, bottom-line disciple. The Lord''s work in Thomas was just beginning. Thomas wanted to be sure that he was on the Road To ...

2034. The Lord's Prayer: Hallowed be Thy Name

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... looking for the real thing. I am going to look into the face of God revealed in Jesus Christ. That is where the source of real holiness comes from. I might even laugh more and fall in love all over again with life. I have come to realize and understand that God''s holiness is to recognize human sinfulness. However, to know of God''s holiness allows us to move from sinfulness to the joy of being forgiven. Please don''t worry about how to live the holy life. First develop the desire and the pursuit of it. God ...

2035. Nightline

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... which ends with a re-enactment of the nativity scene. However, if I were in charge of the show I would end it with Mary and Joseph and Jesus fleeing to Egypt. Each time I see the Christmas Spectacular I know the whole story has not been told. I can understand why an entertainment production would not see fit to tell this part of the story, but I am disappointed that we in the church so often forget what this part of the story is telling. This passage deals with the age-old problem of evil in our own lives ...

2036. Trouble: A Required Course in LIfe

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... position to attack the enemy in all directions." In other words, they were surrounded by trouble. Have there been moments in your journey of faith that you have felt surrounded by the enemy that threatens to sap and destroy your spirit and will to live? As I understand the Christian faith our faith does not deny or prevent the reality of trouble, but can prevent us from having our troubles triumph over us. Our faith gives us the power and perspective not to focus on the trouble, but to focus on how best to ...

2037. Going Home for Christmas?

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... streets of Milan over to where he was painting the Lord''s Supper. Then the artist stood with the man looking at the Last Supper. The artist could not get the convict''s attention. His eyes were glued upon the face of Jesus. The artist said, "Sir, you don''t understand. Here is a chair. I want you to sit in this chair. I am going to paint your face in the blank space where the face of Judas is supposed to be." But the convict stood attentively, looking at the face of Jesus. Thinking that the convict did not ...

2038. What a Difference a Day Makes

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... , dead-end streets. No matter where they turn, it seems to be the wrong way and a poor choice. When I read in the Bible what happened to the disciples between the time of the arrest of Jesus and the placing of his body in a borrowed tomb, I can understand why they would also ask, "How do we believe and sing when there is no music or joy in our soul?" I am glad you asked. My task today is not to give an academic defense to the question of whether or not the resurrection really happened. You can read ...

2039. Handling the Harshness of Life

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... question. But I have never lost faith in God. I''ve had moments of anger and protest. But as a Jew who comes from such a profoundly religious family, and because of my passion for study, I never left God although He may have left me. "Nor can I understand the silence of the eclipse of God in years when we needed Him most. But that does not push me farther away from Him. I would say that sometimes I have been closer to Him for that reason." Remember, the Apostle Paul shared: "We are afflicted in every way ...

2040. Reverse Direction

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Paul E. Flesner

... a journey toward a cross and an empty tomb to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves! Christmas is a holy day because the invisible God of the universe became visible in a way that we could see directly! If Christmas is merely a "holiday," then it is understandable to see Advent as a time when we try to get into the holiday spirit. However, since Christmas is a holy day, Advent is a time for us to prepare for an encounter with the Holy One. You might not care too much right now about meeting the Holy One ...

2041. Too Good to Be True?

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... than we will ever say.1 Good news, here, but frankly, it makes us quake in our clogs. So little wonder that Jesus says to these shaking, quaking disciples: "Peace be with you." Or to put it colloquially, "Chill! It's going to be fine. I know you don't understand how all this has come to pass, but it's going to be all right. In fact, very all right." What now follows is a time when Jesus invites these people to touch him and feed him, and in that way they come to know that they are a companioned ...

2042. Together, But Not Enmeshed

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... articulated and presented, and in that way a seed was planted. The result was the church of which you are presently a member. God, John tells us, is the vine grower. And Jesus is "the true vine." It is this connectional theology that provides us with an understanding of who we are and how we live. We define what for the Christian community is this special relationship to God all the time. We do that through what becomes our glib use of a five-word phrase: "through Jesus Christ our Lord." The phrase points ...

2043. Presented to the Lord

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” I wish every child could be surrounded by the kind of love and understanding Jesus received from his parents. Let me tell you another story from Rabbi Marc Gafni. Gafni recalls one of the first bar mitzvahs he ever performed. It was for a boy named Louis. Louis was awkward and sad. His insensitive parents did little to encourage his self ...

2044. Time Out!

Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... into the world, he could have set up a clinic in downtown Jerusalem. It would have been flooded with needy people day and night. But it would never have been possible for him to see them all. Jesus’ plan was much bigger. It is important that we understand this, too. His plan was to touch the lives of a few men and women who, on the Day of Pentecost, would be transformed into a mighty spiritual army, the church of Jesus Christ. And over the centuries, this spiritual army would build tens of thousands of ...

2045. The Meaning of It All

Mark 1:9-13

Drama

Angela Akers

... out to be the refrigerator light again.” Therapist: (cautious) “Again. Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t go to pieces over the whole thing, (Looking at his watch) “Oh, gee! Look at the time. Sorry to rush you out of here. I have another appointment. You understand, I’m sure.” Creme Wafer: “Oh, of course. I’m sorry you don’t get to hear the rest of my story. It’s a good one.” Therapist: (rushing Creme out the door) “I’m sure it is, and I’ll be holding my breath until our next ...

2046. What a Resume!

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Sermon

Fredrick R. Harm

... with sin, Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin. A mess of pottage, another drink, a game -- and he travels on. He's going once and going twice, he's going and almost gone! But the Master comes. And the foolish crowd never can quite understand The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought, by the touch of the Master's hand!1 How wonderful it is that our lives have been touched by our Lord's nail-pierced hand. He has brought us up out of a pit of meaninglessness into the ...

2047. Grace in the Midst of Suffering

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

... don't rely on what you think you know" (3:5, 6 TEV). When it comes to suffering, only God knows the fullness of what is being accomplished in our lives. From time to time, however, we are granted clues. Every now and then the doors of understanding are nudged open. So it is with Paul's personal reflections in the first five chapters of this epistle. In our present text he acknowledges the nearness of pain. God's grace, however, will win out -- both present grace and future grace in the midst of suffering ...

2048. Morning Has Broken

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Curtis Lewis

... asking you to explain something to them. Light on the subject occurs on the mental or emotional level, but there is also a third and deeper level of meaning, the spiritual level. On this level we deal with the nature and character of God. The Apostle John helps us understand the nature and character of God as light when he writes in his prologue (John 1) of the "true light coming into the world." In his first epistle, John states that "God is light and in him there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5b). Thus ...

2049. Waiting for God

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the church. When the church has been persecuted, when times have been hard, the cry has gone up with fervor, Maranatha! “Come quickly Lord.” Anyone who has ever lain in a hospital bed for a long time, in pain, with little hope in sight understands. “Come quickly Lord.” But God’s timing is not our timing. Faith is the belief that God will come, even when the clock is ticking very slowly. Unless you are going through a particularly difficult time, you are probably not too concerned when Christ ...

2050. Being Christ

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... this is the second big thing I want to say today. There is a difference between following Jesus and being in Christ. There is a difference between following Jesus and being in Christ. Hear me clearly now, for this is a crucial dimension of the New Testament understanding of who we are to be as Christians. To see the patterning of our lives after that of Jesus as the essence of Christianity misses the point. And this has been the major failure of the Christian church from the second century on. To emphasize ...

Showing results