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 201 to 225 of 562 results

201. The Fulfilled Promise

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... but instruments of this basic purpose. The church exists by mission, as Emil Brunner puts it, just as fire exists by burning. The objective of the mission is not merely to teach Christian ideas, to promote Christian ideals, to create Christian atmosphere, to furnish a sequestered nook to which people may occasionally retreat while they go about their everyday activities in their own way. The mission aims at nothing less than a personal encounter with Christ himself and a whole-hearted personal commitment ...

202. The Choice Is Always Ours

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... along with - and no amount of railing or resistance will accomplish anything but daydreams and nightsweats. The revision of our appetites and attitudes in the direction of service and fellowship rather than competition and conquest could well create an atmosphere of tenderness and realism which would lift all of life. Freedom from the frenzy for outdistancing others might free up other acts to lessen the distances between human hearts. Conclusion I close with this reference to Bruno Bettelheim concerning ...

203. When the Sermon Turns Sour

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... . The student was from India, and said, “I’ve never gone to a Christian worship service. I would like to go.” Clarence took him to Rehoboth Baptist Church, and it is reported that “the presence of his dark skin miraculously chilled the hot, humid southern Georgia atmosphere.”4 It didn’t matter that he was from India. He had dark skin, not a red neck —and so he did not fit in. After worship, the pastor drove out to Jordan’s farm and said, “You can’t come with somebody like that. It causes ...

204. He Commanded Us to Preach

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... sins? Truth tellers are called whistle blowers. Many of them have been ostracized and stigmatized by their own families and communities. Some churches have become bastions and citadels of untruth. The power of the gospel has been liquidated by a prevailing atmosphere of lies and untruths that have become a part of church life and culture. Preachers are afraid to confront people creatively and lovingly for wrongdoing and are afraid to put themselves on trial for their own sins. Parishioners are afraid to ...

205. His Trial

Luke 22:66--23:25

Sermon

Brett Blair

... market day crowd. It was religious tradition that brought these people together. It was the festival of the Passover and Jews from far and near had migrated to the holy city of Jerusalem. It was this same religious fervor that created a certain tense atmosphere in the city. Jesus, the Nazarene carpenter, the one whom some called Messiah, had been placed under arrest by the Roman authorities due to pressure from the Jewish Sanhedrin. Now it was a custom at the Festival season for the Governor to release to ...

206. Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... garden of the home where he was staying. The gentle breeze provided just the faint rustle of leaves in the trees; the moon was bright, having only recently begun to lose its Passover fullness; the stars twinkled in the clear desert sky. We talked softly as was befitting the atmosphere. I was very open with him. I said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher come from God, for no one could do the miraculous things you do if God were not with him. Share with me, if you will, the message God has sent you to bring ...

207. The Apostles' Creed: Maker of Heaven and Earth

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... depth of earth's oceans. If they had been much deeper back in the dim and distant beginning, that much more water would have been absorbed or would have dissolved the carbon dioxide and oxygen out of the air. Life could never have begun without an appropriate atmosphere. Not only are the oceans the right depth, the earth's crust is just the right thickness. If the earth were only ten feet thicker on the outside than it is, that much additional matter would have oxidized all the free oxygen out of the air ...

208. Beating Babel

Acts 2:1-13, Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... seismic proportions" and concludes, "Never in recent memory has spirituality seemed to be so much on people's minds."(6) What an opportunity for us! Can we experience the miracle of Pentecost again in our day? Can that sense of joyful abandon, the party atmosphere, return? Of course. The Spirit is still active...still ready to bridge those communication gaps. The task of the church is to make itself available for the Spirit to come in real power. If we can restore corporate prayer to the important place it ...

209. Be Careful What You Wish For, You Just Might Get It!

1 Samuel 8:1-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... it than a human being. If it looked sick, drooped or fell dead, the miners knew that they had to get to the surface...and NOW! Prophets, both in ancient Israel and in the modern world, are like canaries in that they have a heightened sensitivity to our moral atmosphere. If there is poison in the air, the prophet knows it. No one else may have seen anything wrong, but the prophet has - thus, the warning to act before it is too late.(3) So Samuel does. In spades! BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...YOU JUST MIGHT ...

210. Religion and Politics

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , now. So saying, I will have to admit that even though it is only August I am already weary of this year's campaign. As we all know, we are a nation that is deeply divided along partisan lines, and I am sorry about that. The atmosphere is toxic, and the result has been a mean-spiritedness and reluctance to compromise or cooperate on even the most inconsequential issues. The temptation is to just find some comfortable cocoon somewhere and hide for awhile. But the message of God through Isaiah the prophet is ...

211. Going Fishing

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... job. One cyber friend of mine writes, The dedicated fishermen in my parish...are ever watchful and sensitive to change - they watch the currents in the water, sniff the air for moisture, aware of changes in weather as lows and highs invade the atmosphere, watch the terrain under the boat looking for habitat that contain the fish. And they change - when the circumstances change going deeper in the water, switching lures when light intensity in the water changes or when they are in clear water versus darker ...

212. Tragedy and Triumph

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... flash of orange and red, sparks billowing away from the space craft looking like some gigantic conclusion to a Fourth of July picnic. Then there were more pictures, pictures of spectators at the launch site -- people who indeed WERE in a picnic atmosphere as they watched their friends and relatives take off on their magnificent adventure, but whose joyous expressions turned ashen as they realized the enormity of the tragedy they had just watched with their own eyes. I remember watching as their eyes began ...

213. A World in Turmoil

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... has a feeling about it. Something is bubbling up and about to boil over. There is tension. There is danger. The Greek word is seio and means to rock to and fro or to agitate, to quake or shake. And contrary to the parade and party atmosphere that we often associate with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, this is the more descriptive. The Holy City was a heated cauldron about to boil over. Governor Pilate was preoccupied with the political intrigues of faraway Rome. The puppet King Herod was viewed ...

214. How Can You Tell A Christian?

John 13:31-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... pointing at the girl. "Unbind her feet!" With the bandages off, Gladys moved to her knees, pried the girl's toes away from the sole of her foot and massaged them. "Five little piggies all ready to go to market," smiled Gladys, and the atmosphere suddenly lightened. The little girl was delighted. Women of varying ages immediately pushed forward, all of them chattering about the pain they had endured for so many years. Gladys was quickly promoted from a "foreign devil" to a person of honor. When the Japanese ...

215. Hope Wins!

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... . "Regardless of how bad things are today," he believes, "they will be worse tomorrow." There are many who share Vonnegut's view. And, perhaps, with good reason. Humanity is presently spewing nearly a billion tons of pollutants into the Earth's atmospheric envelope every year. In Africa 29 trees are being cut down for every one planted. Environmental crises are very real. For example, the earth does appear to be in a warming trend. Devastating floods ravaged Europe earlier this year as unseasonably ...

216. The Get-ready Man

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... are overly pessimistic. I was encouraged to read a few years ago about a conference on Global Warming that was canceled in Washington, D.C. due to a record-breaking cold wave. Still it’s sobering to realize how dependent we are on a thin layer of atmosphere over our heads and a thin layer of soil beneath our feet. We live in a fragile universe. You may have seen the bumper sticker: LIFE IS SHORT; EAT DESSERT FIRST. Our individual lives are as fragile as the world we inhabit. Who was not shocked a ...

217. The Manger Is Empty

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... a wilderness. There is a scourge of drugs and alcoholism that is killing our nation. There is a plague of poverty in our cities. There are places around the world where hatred runs so deep that violence explodes as regularly as clockwork. The atmosphere is choking because of overpopulation and over consumption. And then there's just the downright stupid, selfish, sick behavior that takes place everyday in high places and in low places alike. Our sinfulness gets in the way of our preparation. The greatest ...

218. Watch!

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

King Duncan

"Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." (vs. 42). That is what is wrong with many of us today ”we have quit watching. Rather than living on tip-toe in an atmosphere of expectancy we are drowning in pessimism and despair. Even many devout Christians are prone to operate from fear rather than faith. That is why churches are faltering today. We are afraid. We have no faith. How different we are from those earlier followers of our Lord. It was far ...

219. Coming Alive To Christ

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place ...

220. How Have We Made It This Far?

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... fund transfers are directed to computers and laptops at the rear of the church. Those who prefer to use iPads can open them. Those who prefer telephone banking, take out your cell phones to transfer your contribution to the church.” “The holy atmosphere of the Church becomes electrified as ALL the smart phones, iPads, PCs and laptops beep and flicker.” And here is how Professor Killian visualizes the Final Blessing: “This week’s ministry cell meetings will be held at the various Facebook group ...

221. Time To Walk On The Water

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... earth, but would stream off into space. Logically the experts were quite right. But Marconi tried, persisted and succeeded in sending a signal across the Atlantic. Neither Marconi nor the experts knew about the electrically charged layer in the upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, which bounced back the wireless waves that would otherwise have streamed off into space as predicted by the experts. It was only this layer which made communication possible. By being wrong Marconi arrived at a conclusion he could ...

222. Blessed Are The Believers

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... streaking through a dark winter night with its tail skywriting in our behalf, "I love you, God." Of course, if that happened, immediately a group of cynics would get together and explain to us that it was just a freak product of certain atmospheric conditions. But why doesn't God do something spectacular like that? We can sympathize with British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell who was once asked what he would say if after death he found himself confronted by God. Russell replied, "I shall say ...

223. Meeting Jesus Along The Way

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... , men who really did walk there and who went fishing there. Standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee he could not help but think of the hymn, "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked." He spent the day fishing with local fishermen. In that holy atmosphere Dan recalled the stories he had learned from the Bible. It was a memory he would carry with him all his life (2) On the road to Emmaus Jesus taught and interpreted the scriptures to Cleopas and the other believer. They also would remember that special ...

224. The Second Step

Romans 6:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... idols, started as a sculptor's model. He won "the most handsome man" contest sponsored by Ladies' World magazine. He was working in 1915 for the Essanay studio in Chicago for $250 a week. His agent David Freedman, however, knew that in the gold-rush atmosphere that prevailed among the competing film studios in those early days of movie making, the sky was the limit for talent with a proven following. How to prove it was the problem, and Freedman conceived of a plan. The agent instructed Bushman to take the ...

225. Like A Rock

Isaiah 44:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The rock still didn’t move. Someone said in exasperation, "The darn thing must be welded to a steel beam down the middle of it!" Superman arrived at the party to promote one of his films. The crowds were enjoying the rock-moving party atmosphere. The rock became the most watched rock in the Los Angeles basin! Just before sundown, three days after the assault had started, a herculean effort involving a one-inch steel cable and a skiploader caused the Malibu rock to come tumbling down, crashing through ...

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