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 1622 results

201. Hot Air or the Holy Spirit?

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... is still hard to understand and to be understood? How can the Holy Spirit help us understand and be understood in moments like this? I want to suggest a couple of ways. A. It seems to me the Holy Spirit can help us speak the truth in love. In my opinion, the number one sin in the city of Brentwood is gossip. We embrace rumor a lot quicker than we embrace reality. ‘Why be bothered with the truth when I am already convinced of my story and I plan on sticking to it?' When do I understand that every truth is ...

202. Hope to Carry On

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Lee Griess

... ever made?" It was one of those questions that students sometimes ask to cater favor with their professors, for the student was aware of Dr. Simpson's discovery of chloroform and expected a certain answer. But do you know what Dr. Simpson said? He replied, "In my opinion, the greatest discovery a person can ever make is to find the grace of God." And he meant it — not just out of a sense of humility — but he meant it from personal experience. We know that because Dr. Alexander Simpson and his wife had a ...

203. Mistaken Identity

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... jumps too quickly into the embarrassing silence and blurts out that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. But there is no satisfaction here, for the answer is more troubling than the question. As long as Jesus was merely interested in public opinion this discussion was a pleasant way to pass time and share a place in the spotlight of success. But now that Jesus has demanded clarification from them, they cannot hide behind other skirts. The Familiar Stranger What should they say? How do you live ...

204. Dare to Be Different

Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... a reminder that ultimately there is no private sin. My selfishness will inevitably impact others. Within a group selfishness can be manifested not only in exploiting and abusing others, but in excluding them by insisting that our way is the only way; that our opinion is the only valid one. The purpose of Christian community, Paul argued, is not to achieve total homogeneity, but to accommodate a wide variety of persons into the household of faith. Now the challenge to "dare to be different" is not just to be ...

205. Pentecost ... Again!

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... . If you belong to certain families, belong to certain small groups, live in a certain neighborhood, drive a certain car, give a certain amount of money (or at least have the potential to do so), you belong more than others. Your voice, your opinion, your vote counts more than others. At a previous congregation where I served, a wealthy and influential member of the congregation, a patriarch of the congregation, requested a private meeting with me. I was suspicious and my suspicions proved to be true. He ...

206. Freedom and Slavery

Romans 6:15-23

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... -of-bounds, fractured, from the first moment we come into this world. Paul's claim shouldn't come as a total surprise. Even though the cultural orthodoxy of our day promotes the pursuit of personal freedom, there are minority voices that sound a different opinion, an opinion we don't like to hear. The minority voices remind us that we can never be totally free. We have always been determined and shaped by forces and limits beyond our influence. We have been determined by our genes, by our social class, by ...

207. A Truly Universal Operating System

Romans 14:1-12

Sermon

Larry Lange

... . There are no losers here, only one body of beloved equals. And so for those on either side of the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols, the apostle Paul is very clear: We have no business quarreling about it or judging one another based on our opinions about it." Billius' opponent objected, "But how can one live life with love as the only guide? It's untenable ... it's too vague, too ... too...." "Demanding is the word I would use. You're right. Living life with love as your guide demands prayerful ...

208. Reasons for Rejoicing

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... , whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable" (Philippians 4:8). Church hoppers and church shoppers are looking for the perfect, conflict-free church, which does not exist. Where two or more are gathered, there are at least three opinions. Conflict in and of itself is not harmful. It's our improper responses to the conflict that damage the body of Christ. Never give Christ a reason to say, "This is my body, broken by you." Scripture is full of stories about conflict ...

209. A Winning Life

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... conduct of a young woman who found one thousand dollars in the street. Quite remarkably, she turned it in rather than keeping it herself. All fifteen of the students said she was a fool. A reporter asked why the students’ guidance counselor didn’t offer his opinion. He explained, “If I come from the position of what is right and what is wrong, then I’m not their counselor.” What kind of counselor is that? Some years ago, Dennis Prager made a documentary, For Goodness Sake! In this film he showed ...

210. The Receptive Heart

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... who may not respond to the Gospel because they have been conditioned against it. They may sit in a church pew week after week, but they have been so beaten down by their upbringing, by the negative expectations of others they have such a low opinion of themselves they cannot even hear the message of grace. They want to believe, but their low attitude of themselves makes it nearly impossible. Every time a little seed of hope is planted in their hearts, the evil one comes and snatches it away from them ...

211. The Great Inescapable Question of Eternity

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. — Mark 8:36-38 Let us consider what we know about who Jesus Christ is and, finally, ask ourselves, "Who do I say Jesus is?" Popular Opinion "He asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?' They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets' " (vv. 27b-28). "Vox populi! Vox Dei!" It means "The voice of the people is the voice of God." It is the ...

212. Historic: The Declaration of Independence

Illustration

Staff

... one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are ...

213. Were You There?

John 19:17-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... the care of his mother. There were other minor characters who were also there when they crucified him including the mob that cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Ignorant people, stirred to hatred by molders of public opinion who had their own selfish agenda. Those people, like those molders of opinion are still around today crucifying Christ time after time with their anger, their hatred, their greed. The question of the night is, of course, were we there when they crucified our Lord? And the answer is ...

214. Outside of Himself

Mark 3:20-30

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... of his own family to the conclusion that Jesus was seeing things that no one else could see and the reason was simple: he was out of his ever-loving mind! And it does appear that it was especially Jesus' emphasis on the demonic that yielded this opinion because no sooner does Jesus' family accuse him of being mad, and the religious leaders chime in with their own verdict. Because they limit their comments to the demonic, it's a good bet that it was this aspect of Jesus' ministry that was generating the most ...

215. Amazing Faith

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... between a Christian and a person considered lost. Telling someone, "I'm sorry for the way Christians have misrepresented Christ," always surprises non-Christians. Frankly, most non-Christians have learned to see Christians as arrogant and unconcerned about their opinions ... "defending the space" means we practice apologizing to non-Christians for the sins Christians have committed against them. We simply say something like, "I'm sorry that we've failed: that really doesn't look much like Jesus, does it ...

216. Someone Bigger than Phil

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

... for judgment!” The discussion raged on for some time and finally someone offered up this idea, “God is whatever we think God is. One person’s idea is as good as another person’s idea. We shouldn’t be judging other people’s religious ideas.” This opinion seemed to gain traction with the group. Benedict, who had been mostly silent to this point, then asked a question. “What about Son of Sam’s idea of God? He said God told him to kill some people. Is his idea of God okay?” The group decided ...

217. Suffered under (Saint) Pontius Pilate

John 18:28-40

Sermon

David O. Bales

... that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (8:37). This mystifies Pilate. So, Pilate just gives up and allows public opinion to pronounce the verdict against Jesus. Pilate doesn’t understand what Jesus says about truth, and it’s foreign to our way of thinking also. Jesus and Pilate are speaking Greek, the common international language. Pilate doesn’t have a Berlitz phrase book or Rosetta ...

218. Who Is Right

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... is looking? He is not looking at the catcher, because it doesn’t matter what the catcher thinks. He is not looking at his teammates, because it doesn’t matter what his teammates think. He is not looking at himself. It doesn’t matter what he thinks. The only opinion at that moment that mattered was the umpire’s. One man was right that day and one man was wrong. One man went home in the kingdom and one man went home out of the kingdom. One man said he was innocent, but he went home guilty. One man ...

219. Can Two Become One?

Matthew 19:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... goes on to say this: “How much does this matter? More than words can say. There is no single force causing as much measureable hardship and human misery in this country as the collapse of marriage.”[1] Everybody is entitled to an opinion, but the one opinion that really matters is the person who invented marriage. Even though Jesus was single and never married, He knew more about marriage than any counselor or pastor who has ever lived, because He did invent it. In just a few short sentences, Jesus ...

I have often wondered how it is that every man sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. So much more respect have we to what our neighbors think of us than to what we think of ourselves.

Marcus Aurelius

221. Stephen Seized

Acts 6:8-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... sensitive the Jews were on these issues (see, e.g., Josephus, War 2.145–149 and 12.223–227; Antiquities 18.29–35). Undoubtedly the charge was false in the form in which it was made. But false witnesses do sometimes hint at the truth, and Stephen did hold opinions on the law and the temple that must have been as disturbing for many Christians as they were for Jews. The key to Stephen’s thought lies, perhaps, in the vision of Christ that he had at the end of his trial. He saw Jesus as “the Son of ...

222. The Church in Antioch

Acts 11:19-30

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... Barnabas to Antioch to investigate (v. 22). This was not necessarily a hostile reaction. There were those, of course, who held that Gentile converts should accept the “yoke of the law” (see disc. on 15:10; cf. 11:2f.; 15:1), but not all shared that opinion or held it as strongly as they did. It is better, perhaps, to see their sending of Barnabas as an attempt to establish a relationship with the Christians of Antioch, in the same way that Peter and John had been sent to the Samaritans (8:14ff.). Being ...

223. The Council at Jerusalem

Acts 15:1-21

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... in Antioch to represent them at this council. This raises the question whether this was one of the two visits to Jerusalem mentioned in Galatians 1:18f. and 2:1–10. It is generally agreed that the first of these is the visit of Acts 9:26–30, but opinion is divided as to whether the second, Galatians 2:1–10, is the one described in this chapter or the famine visit of Acts 11:30. In support of the latter, it is pointed out that this is the second visit following Paul’s conversion, as Galatians 2:1 ...

224. In Athens

Acts 17:16-34

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... a shallow lot, who spent their time [the imperfect indicates that this was their habit] doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas (v. 21) and never (by implication) coming to grips with what they heard. Nor did Luke hold this opinion on his own. It was shared by some of their own countrymen (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.38; Demosthenes, First Philippic 43; The Letter of Philip 156f.). 17:22–23 Whatever the spirit in which it was asked, Paul took their question ...

225. Ashore on Malta

Acts 28:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the islanders’ latest estimate of the apostle. But though Luke certainly believed that Paul, in common with all the apostles, possessed miraculous powers, he never set him apart, as the islanders did, from ordinary men (see disc. on 27:21). Indeed, far from endorsing their opinion of Paul, Luke seems more intent in this passage on poking fun at them. There are now no vipers on the island of Malta, but it is carping criticism at its worst to suggest (as some have) that for that reason the story is not ...

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