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 2101 to 2125 of 3082 results

2101. Mary of Nazareth

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord ..." Mary is very much a part of the gospel story. The mother of Jesus is one of six women so named in the New Testament. Mary is the Greek form of the Hebrew, Miriam, meaning exalted. Moses’ sister bore that splendid name. Mary of Nazareth - has any individual in Scripture suffered more at the hands of the church? Rome has elevated her to goddess - Mariolatry. It really was late in being officially established, not until December, 1854 when Pious IX promulgated the dogma ...

2102. Phoebe

Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"Sir, a woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs," scoffed Samuel Johnson. "It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."1 Had the celebrated man of letters known Phoebe, he would never have made that unfortunate statement; he also would have escaped the wrath of thousands of effective, dedicated preachers. Who is Phoebe? Only a single sentence in the New Testament reveals any information. Her appearance on life’s stage is all too brief, but appear she does - a woman ...

2103. Can We Really Get Along?

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

In 1991 a black man named Rodney King was beaten unmercifully by white police of Los Angeles. Someone captured that crime on video-tape. The acquittal of the police set off a firestorm. On the other side, of that tragedy, Rodney King asked plaintively, "Can't we all Just get along?" That is America's greatest challenge. Can her majority and minority races accept each other as full partners in the American family? It is not only appropriate but indeed obligatory that we ask that question here in Memphis, ...

2104. Men of Distinction

Acts 11:19-30

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

For a number of years nearly every magazine carrying advertising showed handsome men in various prestige poses and labeled them "Men of Distinction." They were usually found in an elegant setting of impeccable decor, dressed stylishly, and bearing all the distinguishing marks of affluent, successful men of the world. There was a thoroughbred kind of casualness in the demeanor and an aura of "we have arrived." The ads had a compelling quality. The subliminal message fairly screamed that if one used the ...

2105. When The Cheering Stopped

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Brett Blair

Some years ago a book was written by a noted American historian entitled “When The Cheering Stopped.” It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following WWI. When that war was over Wilson was an international hero, There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought and the world had been made safe for democracy. On his first visit to Paris after the war Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs. He was actually more ...

2106. In Which Direction Do You Travel?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Certain events in life occur that are both odd and dangerous. One such event happened to me upon returning from the state capital this year. I was driving up Interstate 26 from Columbia to Greenville, SC, when my eyes beheld a strange and frightening sight. An automobile was coming down the right hand side of the interstate in the wrong direction. Apparently, its driver, in wanting to head East, had gotten confused, missed a ramp, and entered the westbound flow of traffic. The immediate reaction of the ...

2107. While We Watch for the Coming

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Matthew 24 is a tough one! Some preachers are not honest with its interpretation. In this chapter the author of Matthew gathers together interweaving strands of material about the future. The sentences are all mixed up, and they deal with six different subjects of the future. There is advice given by Jesus as to what to expect. 1. The attack in Jerusalem by Titus. "So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, ... then let those who are in Judea flee ...

2108. Chapter IV

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

"Remember the sabbath day, to set it apart for holy purposes. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh (day) is a sabbath to the Lord your God. In it you will not do any work, you or your son, your daghter, your male servant or your female servant, or your beast of burden, or the resident alien who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh (day). Therefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath ...

2109. Whispering The Lyrics (revised)

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Thomas Long

Many of you probably have stashed away in a drawer somewhere around your home the old 45 rpm records. If you have some from the 50s and early 60s you will have Elvis' grinding out "Hound Dog," Buddy Holly and the Crickets' hiccupping "Peggy Sue," Chuck Berry's joyful hot licks in "Maybellene," the Coasters' slapstick tour de force "Charlie Brown," the mournful "Tears On My Pillow" by Little Anthony and the Imperials, the impenetrable and probably scandalous "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen, and the teenaged ...

2110. Coming Down The Mountain

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

There is a story that a university in Scotland once wished to honor a scholar who had done some significant inquiry into the life and work of one of its own most illustrious former scholars, the 16th century Scottish reformer, John Knox. The tradition in that and several other universities was that, if possible, a cap belonging to the subject of the study - in this case John Knox - would be given to the person being honored, if such a cap could be found. In that way the honoree would have something ...

2111. John Calvin, God’s Man

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Picture a police officer, like Dan Dusenbery* of our congregation, arriving on the porch of Dr. Ralph Dorner* one evening, putting him under arrest, and taking him to the new Polk County jail. Can you imagine his then being taken to the courthouse by prosecutor Dan Johnston* and tried before our church council for heresy because he did not believe as we did? Can you further envision his being found guilty by Judge Leo Oxburger* in spite of attorney Phil Miller’s* pleas, brought to Nollen Plaza mid-morning ...

2112. When Nothing Can Be Done

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Thomas Long

"I’m sorry, nothing can be done." There are probably no more terrible words than these. They mark the end of labor, the end of possibility, the end of hope. The family holds vigil in the surgical waiting room. The dated magazines on the table have been read and re-read. The wall clock moves in slow motion, and the family waits. A dark spot on an X-ray demanded attention. "We just don’t know," the surgeon had said. "We’ll have to go in and check." Now he appears, a loosened surgical mask around his neck, ...

2113. The Generation Gap

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

William McKee Aber

We live in an age of gaps. There is the generation gap (best known, probably, because of the alliteration of the title, and for the fact that we have all felt ourselves a part of it at one time or another), and the marriage gap, the racial gap, the economic gap, and a host of others. In a world desperately needing unity lest it blow itself to smithereens, we live separated by chasms and gulfs. It would seem that God - if He is really a part of our world in the present age - speaks to our separations. Hence ...

2114. A WALL OF ROCK AND THE EVERYBODY GAP

Drama

William McKee Aber

A Dialogue - Drama for presentation in the church chancel This dialogue-drama was written by Dr. William Aber and the Rev. William Myers and was adapted from a presentation given at the First Congregational Church of Downers Grove, Illinois. It was first presented in this form at the Hiland Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the conclusion of a series of sermons on "The Gaps of our Age." The theme of this dialogue-drama is that people build walls between themselves in everyday life. They ...

2115. Extended Light

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

All Christians in Saint Paul's time firmly believed in the early coming again of Christ. In this scripture, the apostle says that this means the end of time itself. Therefore all that is temporal was soon to be closed out, he was sure. Now what happened is that Saint Paul drew the right conclusion but for the wrong reason. Many and many a lesser man has done the same. We all do sometimes. All that is temporal is being closed out, or to use Saint Paul's language, the form of this world is passing away, not ...

2116. Luther of Wittenberg

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

"All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death ..." Philippians 3:8-11 Participants enter and take their places in the chancel. As they come forward, the congregation sings the hymn, "In the Hour of Trial." When the hymn is completed, the drama begins. LECTOR: I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown ...

2117. What’s Happened To My Dear Old Church?

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Richard Patt

"Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?" (v. 5, TEV) There’s a grand old hymn I haven’t seen in many hymn hooks, but we used to sing it in my boyhood church. The opening words are these: My church, my church, my dear old church, my fathers’ and my own. On prophets and apostles built, and Christ the cornerstone. All else beside by storm or tide may yet be overthrown, But not my church, my dear old church, my fathers ...

2118. Job - A Probe Into the Shadow World of Despair

Job 6:1-7:21

Sermon

In Robert Frost’s The Masque of Reason God tells the "Easy Answers Committee" that it is mistaken. This sermon does the same. Its probing, illuminating force conforms to the terrain of human experience. It conforms to the terrain of God’s experience in Emmanuel - God with us. Rich textual reference, literary allusions, carefully chosen language, experience common to all keep the listeners listening, the readers reading. An atheist is expected to ask the "Why?" of things. It’s part of the practicing atheist ...

2119. Divine Alka-Seltzer

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

This sermon’s subject is one of the tough ones; in fact, the toughest: human suffering. What persuades here more than any individual characteristic is that which pervades all - compassion. After first tracing some of his own evasive, hidden, superficial, though genuine response, the preacher then moves to instances of his own and his parishioners’ sufferings which will not budge, unless. Concreteness of language and example - the specifics will not let the listener escape. Suffering can shrink a vision and ...

2120. When The Cheering Stopped

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Brett Blair

2121. Twenty-First Century Reformation

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." (v. 36) On October 31, 1517, the eve of All-Saints’ Day, at high noon, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg. (We acknowledge that some scholars consider the story to be a pious legend.) It is easy to over-dramatize the event, but one cannot be unmindful of those hammer blows which echoed around the world. The Reformation had begun! Precisely, what was Luther doing? Existentially, he was listing 95 reasons ...

2122. Location, Location, Location

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

William G. Carter

A cigar-chomping realtor was driving around a young couple to search for their first dream house. After listening to their concerns about mortgage points, maintenance costs, and school systems, he decided to give them a bit of advice. "I've been selling homes for 23 years," he said, "and I've discovered only three things matter when you're buying a home: location, location, location." To prove his point, he drove the couple to see two homes. The paint was peeling on the first house, and the driveway was ...

2123. And On the Third Day...

John 2:1-11

Sermon

William G. Carter

The story of the wedding at Cana is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. It has been the basis of many sermons and numerous misinterpretations. In fact, there are so many good misinterpretations of the text, I am not sure which misinterpretation I like the best. I recall hearing a sermon based on this text. The preacher said, “In Cana, everybody was having a good time at the wedding banquet. There was a lot of music and dancing. It was a hot day. People got thirsty. They ran out of wine. Everybody ...

2124. Hated, Excluded, Reviled, Defamed — And Leaping For Joy

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

William G. Carter

In a certain town, a man walked into a bookstore to return a purchase. “It’s a Bible,” he said, handing to the clerk at the cash register. “Was it a gift?” asked the clerk. “No, I bought it for myself,” he said, “and I made a mistake.” “Didn’t you like the translation? Or the format?” “Oh no,” the man said, “the format was clear and the translation was fine. I made a mistake.” The clerk said, “Well, I need to write down a reason for the return.” “In that case,” said the man, “write down that there is a lot ...

2125. The Spirit Has Landed

Luke 3:1-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

On January 3, 2004, the Mars rover named “Spirit” began its diligent exploration. It began sending back so many photographs that NASA figured out a way to teach the little rover how to detect changes in images, so that it sent only images back to Earth with new information. For example, if Rover was taking photographs of dust devils, it would pause and waits until the image changed before taking the next photo. That meant less work for the scientists sifting through the many, many amazing photographs ' ...

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