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 2326 to 2350 of 5000 results

2326. The Little Point

Luke 10:25-37

Illustration

Steven Burt

... the world by narrowing, not by widening, one's focus. To the Easterner, narrowing the focus is like concentrating all the energy into a laser. There's more, not less, power. The satori then, is that moment of heightened awareness, that explosion of understanding, what we call the "Aha!" moment or the "Eureka!" experience that comes out of focusing on the little point. It's like a tightly compressed hand grenade of awareness exploding in the mind. That realization, that sudden awareness that the world can be ...

2327. Being Open to the Impossible

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... talk about the fact that they had only one loaf of bread and that was not enough for them all to lunch on. Already they had forgotten, and Jesus confronted them with it. “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Don’t you yet understand? Are your hearts hardened? What are you doing with your eyes? - can’t you see? What are you doing with your ears? - can’t you hear. And then He asked the question that must have caused their faces to grow red with embarrassment. “And do you not remember ...

2328. Heart Religion

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in our thinking in order to appropriate what Jesus is calling for — for He is calling for heart religion. I The first thing that grabs our attention is Jesus’ scathing address to the Pharisees. He calls them hypocrites. It will help us, I think, to understand the essence of what it means to be a Christian by thinking about the meaning of hypocrisy. The word hypocrite has an interesting and revealing history. “It begins by meaning, simply, one who answers it goes on to mean one who answers in a set ...

2329. Looking at Jesus from Behind Prison Bars

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... had been willing to accept Jesus as the one who was coming, but he had had some questions all along.1 John didn't understand why the one who would judge the whole world needed to be baptized for the cleansing of sin (Matthew 3:14). After John was put ... us. We can't find any oasis from the guilt. Our prison may be something else, and we feel isolated because we think no one would understand. We hold on tight to our secret. If we look at some prisons that hold us in, we may ask a question that sounds a lot ...

2330. A Shepherd's Story

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... how to do. I hire myself out for the night shift watching other people's sheep. Tending sheep would not be my first choice, you understand. First, I have to stay awake all night. Then, there's counting the sheep to make sure one or two haven't wandered off. ... like to be pushed around, and for sure that family knows what it's like to be pushed around. Another thing I don't quite understand is that the angel said this baby was the Lord. That's what he said, "the Messiah, the Lord." There's only one Lord. ...

2331. Light and Hope for the New Year

John 1:10-18

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... of the darkness seems appropriate. Despite the best efforts of the best minds, we don't know why evil exists or where it comes from. It is just there. That's the way John says it. The darkness is just there in verse 5. If we don't understand this darkness, we still recognize it. We have seen it in the rest of the gospel of John. Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, the darkness that represents doubt struggling to find faith. Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus leads to John's declaration that "the light has come ...

2332. Scaring the Church, So It Will Be the Church

Matthew 5:13-20

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... toward others, even how to think. Matthew is the only gospel writer who puts these two metaphors — the church as both salt and light — side by side like this. These two images define what Matthew thinks the church should be in the world. As we try to understand what that means, maybe the best place to begin is not with what salt and light mean, but with what the world is like, with why the world needs salt and light to begin with. Scripture teaches us that the world is God's creation, and is inherently ...

2333. The Way and The Truth and The Life

John 14:1-14

Sermon

Lee Griess

... 14 of John is part of a great discourse, a body of teaching material that Jesus spoke to the disciples in the upper room. The end of his earthly ministry approaching, the cross looming before him, Jesus gathered his disciples around him and to help them understand his life and work, his approaching death and resurrection, he spoke to them these words, which include him saying, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Let us pause a few moments this morning in our busy lives to give these words some ...

2334. Political Pardon

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... " sins against him. That makes sense to us, even if we don't want to admit it. It is far easier to pretend to deal with people and matters that are at a distance. We can choose to hate terrorists and then choose to talk with politically correct understanding about them because few of us have ever actually been terrorized firsthand. But if a murder has happened in our family, or if a drunk driver has destroyed our property or our health or the life of a loved one, things become highly personal and our glib ...

2335. What About the Baby?

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

Tony Everett

... again to Isaiah's list of names for the child and pay attention to how they describe how the reign of that baby will turn our lives, our darkened world, upside down. Wonderful Counselor — Here is wisdom that both listens to our heart hungers with understanding care and also shows us right and faithful paths through whatever valley of shadows that we may travel. Mighty God — Here is the power we desperately want and need from the King of kings. Here is power, but not in terms of the world's expectations ...

2336. Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Isaiah 52:13--53:12, Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... Paul writes so cogently, cannot manage to do the things we know are good and right, but instead we do the things that we know are wrong. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree ... is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I ...

2337. God, What Are You Up To?

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... of us who try to obey God. Generally, God's purposes do not become clear for a long time, and sometimes not in this lifetime. In that regard, the Genesis story is a more realistic model than the television show. In fact, it's not difficult to understand why, as the series developed, Joan came to obey God somewhat more readily; it's because she saw how his previous instructions worked out. In our lives, God's purposes often remain a mystery. During the opening credits for Joan of Arcadia each week, we heard ...

2338. Caught in the Middle

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... willing to label them hypocrites, but it does seem that their holiness had not invaded every facet of their lives. We are called to be saints, in particular, in the realities of our daily lives. There is also the general: The Corinthians were not only to understand themselves as set apart for God's service in the Corinthian crossroads of the world, but in the whole world (or at least the whole Mediterranean basin, which for Paul would have been the world), with all those who called upon the name of the Lord ...

2339. For Example

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

David O. Bales

... . So it was with Abraham and God. So it is with all who trust that we're now set right with God through Jesus. We trust God's promise that Jesus is the way to forgiveness and to eternal life. People can try to divert or subvert that central understanding, but Paul for one will always bring us back to a relationship with Christ built on promise and trust. Twice in my ministry, I've had men phone me, anonymously, and say something like, "I've heard you know a lot about the Bible." After a couple responses ...

2340. Lighting up Lent

Ephesians 5:8-14

Sermon

David O. Bales

... . They expended great effort to learn by experience what Paul identified as "what is pleasing to the Lord," and thus in the worst of places the light of Christ shined. We'll never on this earth learn enough about God, study the Bible as we might. We won't understand perfectly what God would have us do, pray as seriously as we can. We'll never be the people in this world that we're going to be in the next, although we speak as honestly as possible about how God is working within us now. Yet, despite the ...

2341. Oddballs for God

1 Peter 1:17-23

Sermon

David O. Bales

... , a group of God's aliens set in the middle of a hostile world, and we take our orders from somewhere beyond. Any loyalty we give to the world's insistent calls for our allegiance is provisional. If Christians feel all snuggly with the culture around them, they don't understand the Christian faith. We need to learn that we are different for God's sake, as difficult as that is to get used to. Peter reminds us of how we must think of our faith, as opposed to how the world around views us, whether it be at the ...

2342. Righteous!

Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-31

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... feel. When I was your age my brothers and their buddies used to do things like that all the time to me. It is too bad that they are so inconsiderate." Alex knew that Uncle Herbert was different. Unlike so many of the men in his family, he seemed to understand people. He sensed when people's feelings were hurt. He always found a way to say the right thing at the right time. Alex felt better. Uncle Herbert put his arm around Alex. That arm felt so strong and so good. "Hey, Alex. I have an idea. Do you like ...

2343. A Man Named Useful

Philemon 1:8-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... now he is Onesimus, useful.” Christ has done that for millions of people through the ages, hasn’t he? Christ has changed them from useless to useful. And so, Paul asks Philemon to give Onesimus a second chance. Christian faith is the faith of the second chance. You do understand that, don’t you? That is the heart of our theology. That is what the cross is all about. We were all—every one of us useless at one time or another. But Christ gave his life to make us useful to God. You don’t have to be ...

2344. The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock

Matthew 7:24-29

Children's Sermon

Marti Kramer Suddarth

... ? This is an old song that children have been singing at church for a long, long time, but it isn’t really about beach construction. This song uses symbolism to help us understand what Jesus is teaching. Symbolism is when one thing represents or stands for something else. Sometimes, Jesus used an easy-to-understand symbol to help people understand more difficult ideas. Let’s think about the words to this song. The wise man really is a wise man, and the foolish man really is a foolish man. In both verses ...

2345. Radiate Love

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is discord, union; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek To be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen You and I are called to Sow Love, or to Radiate Love wherever we ...

2346. The Burning Question

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... one winter day a sly wind blew in from the North." If you've seen the movie you know that this "sly wind from the North" would affect the whole community. And change their lives forever. The members of the congregation in the movie Chocolat, didn't understand the significance of that "sly wind which blew in from the North" that day. Had no idea just how important that wind would be. They were probably asking themselves, "What was that all about?" Or "What does this mean?" The same could be said of the wind ...

2347. It's Not Booby Trapped, But . . .

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Your Focus, and Live Gratefully. I. Be Prepared The first thing Paul tells us is to BE PREPARED. In verses 15 & 16 Paul says, "Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil." I understand that to mean BE PREPARED. I spent 4 years in US Coast Guard, and seriously considered making a career out of it. One of the things I love most about the Coast Guard is its "Semper Paratus" Always Ready. The main focus of the Coast Guard and the most ...

2348. I Doubt It

John 20:19-31, Act 4:32-37

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... a doubt. Conclusion Maybe you feel a little like Thomas when it comes to some aspect of the faith. That's OK. Or maybe like the bird in the cartoon, you just feel a little like an outsider because of your faith or your questions. That's OK, too. God understands. God is reaching out to you right now. And all God's wants is to wrap you in the arms of love, through the arms which were stretched out on the cross for you. The arms of Christ Jesus. God wants to Breathe the Holy Spirit into your life so ...

2349. People of the Book

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... old man said, “Look at the basket.” The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean. “Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out.” (6) That is the work of God in our lives to change us from the inside out and to slowly transform us into the image of God’s Son. Millions of Christians ...

2350. Changed from the Inside Out

2 Tim 3:14-4:5

Illustration

King Duncan

... Grandpa was up early reading from his old worn‑out Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?" The grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water." The boy did as ...

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