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 2351 to 2375 of 4770 results

2351. Happy New Year?

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... free." Each of us, according to the Scriptures, is born in slavery to sin and Satan. Since we are conceived and born in sin, we come into the world under the dominion of Satan. This was the definite position of Saint Paul who repeatedly expressed this view in his letters. In fact, the whole creation has fallen under the power of Satan and it groans, waiting for redemption. No one in the slavery of sin can be happy. Each one is miserable with fear, worry, and faced with doom and destruction. We Christians ...

2352. Why Prophets Get Under Our Skin

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... 's advice for a person with two tunics to share one of them with him who had none is simplistic. To be sure, even Jesus' advice to share a cup of cold water with the thirsty and some food and clothing with the needy sounds too easy in view of the crunching, grinding poverty so prevalent in much of today's world. However, both John and Jesus had something greater in mind than cleaning our closets of old clothes for the poor to make room for the new we bought at recent sales. Both were suggesting something ...

2353. The Inner Galaxy

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... Wisconsin, on our way to the school Christmas program, I was entranced by the splendid glory of the winter sky. Through the years the wonder has never diminished and has grown even more as now we read of galaxies and stars in the making as viewed through the Hubble telescope. These galaxies, vast beyond description, distant beyond imagination, lure the mind and soul toward the edges of the infinite and beyond. Robert Frost spoke of it when he wrote: As I came to the edge of the woods, Thrush music -- hark ...

2354. When the Word Comes to the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

... It frightens me, for the obvious reason that I have a job like Annas and Caiaphas. Like the priests in the Bible, the people of God expect me to have some measure of ease in handling holy things. It is my job to break the bread in plain view and pour the cup without spilling it. I offer professional guidance to the acolytes, and tell them to light the first two purple candles on the Advent wreath. When nobody else is around, I walk around these holy spaces and never worry about being struck by lightning. I ...

2355. Same Question, Same Answer

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

... you tell me what you want me to do?” It is a sobering challenge for preachers, and it’s a good question for the rest of you to ask. Perhaps you have gone to a meeting where some important topic is discussed and debated. Various points of view are given. A consensus begins to form. Soon, everybody is nodding his or her head in agreement. “Yes, something needs to be done!” Just then, somebody raises a hand and says, “I move we adjourn.” And nothing more ever happens. Or say, for instance, that you ...

2356. And On the Third Day...

John 2:1-11

Sermon

William G. Carter

... t sliced thinly enough. Worst of all, the caterers ran out of Zinfandel and Chablis. It must have been awful. But Jesus was there. He produced some wine, and everybody escaped what would have been a catering disaster!” That, too, is an interesting view of the wedding at Cana. However, with all apologies to Martha Stewart, the Jesus portrayed in this text is not the least bit concerned about saving people from social miscues. He seems totally unconcerned about etiquette. Jesus took six stone jars normally ...

2357. Hated, Excluded, Reviled, Defamed — And Leaping For Joy

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

William G. Carter

... Jesus Christ. Are you all that people say about you, whisper about you, murmur about you? No, you have been baptized into the name of the Trinity, and no one can take that away. Blessed are you. If you can swallow these words, it develops a different view on reality. Sometime before she died, someone had the audacity to ask Mother Teresa, “Why do you spend so much energy on the poor, the hungry, and the weeping of those in Calcutta?” She respond, “Don’t you believe the Bible? Jesus says the poor are ...

2358. Getting It Together

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

William G. Carter

... Risen Lord calls us to move toward a unity of word and deed, a consistency of intention and accomplishment, an integrity between what is seen and what is hidden. It is so easy to mislead ourselves. The evidence of our sin is that we can construct a view of the world that ignores the obstructions of our own making. When I was a student in seminary, I preached my first sermon to a dozen classmates. It was preaching class, and they were scattered around Miller Chapel. Each of my classmates sat a few pews apart ...

2359. Beyond Our Sight, Within Our Hearing

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

William G. Carter

... first turning to the three to say, “Come, follow me.” We don’t know what they were thinking. Did they know he had once climbed a mountain before? Right after his baptism, he headed for the hills. One day he was so high up, he had a good view of all the kingdoms of the world. The buildings glistened with glory. Jesus could sense the authority and power of the world. Just then, trouble struck. Jesus had to fend off a liar who told him, “This could all be yours. Just sign on the dotted line.” “Get ...

2360. Role Reversal: Baby and Priest

Hebrews 10:1-18

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... Sabbath. They would have appreciated the role reversal in the letter. This Jesus, who attacked the temple and its priests, is pictured in the letter as the High Priest whose sacrifice (his bodily death) makes everyone holy. Basic to an understanding of Hebrews is its view of salvation history. The old covenant with its law and cult is replaced by the new covenant which begins with the sending of the Son and his once-and-for-all-time sacrifice. The sacrificial cult is abolished by this new high priest who ...

2361. Having to Stay When You Want Out

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... Christmas season the strength to set our sail and remain upright in situations which threaten to capsize our spirits? It is precisely at this point that today’s epistle proves instructive. The nativity of our Lord is forever linked to our baptism. Many interpreters view this lesson from Titus as reminiscent of ancient baptismal liturgies.2 The author of the passage writes it in a single long sentence in Greek. Titus, in spite of his less than ideal situation, is being pointed to God’s saving grace in ...

2362. From Crumbs to Half a Loaf

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... . If they accept the judgment of the circumstances, they, like the two late-arriving Boy Scouts, are reduced to subservient bottom-feeders in order to survive. Yet mere survival is hardly the basis for developing an accurate and positive identity. Some people tend to view the New Testament church as God’s Plan B, the afterthought that had to be executed after Plan A (Israel) strayed off the mark. There is plenty of evidence from this perspective to make such a claim. One of the most vivid images in the ...

2363. What Are Spiritual Gifts For?

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... spirituality is a real concern in contemporary American culture. Books about angels and Armageddon sell quickly and often. Most people who don’t belong to a church still consider themselves to be “very spiritual.” Consequently it is most tempting to view Paul’s words as an appeal for cooperation and leave the message there. Actually, the divisions in Corinth are probably centered around competing house churches instead of individuals within a single church.[2] Corinth was a large city and easily ...

2364. Respect

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... and Elizabeth came to pay a fee to the inn to allow them to come over once or twice a week and have tea with the guests. Roland and Elizabeth, out of their desperation, cared little where the strangers were from, what religious or political views animated from their one-day-stand comrades, or what personal or spiritual gifts were in the possession of their table guests. Roland and Elizabeth just wanted a little community, for however fleeting a moment it could be theirs. How those things we take for granted ...

2365. Good News for Good Living

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... a chance meeting with potential replacements in life and a few “yes sirs” and “no sirs” to snap the issue around to, “What’s going to happen to me when I die?” Unfortunately during the season of Epiphany there is a tendency to view today’s text as suitable only for an Easter proclamation. Yet we do well to remember that it is the “made revealed” and “recognized” nature of the resurrection faith that gives meaning to Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Today’s text, which reminds us ...

2366. Exposed!

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... fellow human beings as we retreat into what Paul calls “secret and shameful ways” (4:2). Paul clearly renounces the “chosen people” ideal of legalistically keeping to laws (the Jews had 613 of them) as a kind of divine insurance policy. Rather than viewing faith in Christ as a divine aspirin to take in secret to ease morbid anxieties over our own health, Paul is encouraging his charges to expose themselves and let their faith become public as it interacts with the world around them. In this regard ...

2367. Even Our Business Belongs to God!

Jeremiah 32:1-44

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... Our commitment to the principle of separating church and state has led to a “culture of disbelief,” one in which it is all right to be religious in private, but not publicly when we are on the job.1 But that is not the way that the Bible views the world of business! This morning’s First Lesson makes that clear. Our text, Jeremiah 32, is the most detailed account of a business transaction recorded in the Bible. It is all about Jeremiah’s purchase of land in Anathoth (a town just three miles north of ...

2368. Your Sins Are Remembered No More! You Are Free!

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... the regrets, to the suspicions, to the bad habits? God has forgotten them; you can too! Are you concerned about what other people or what society says about you, what your image in the community is? That does not matter either. God does not count such views. He has forgotten them along with the sins you have committed. What a freeing Word! All the behaviors and memories or the slanderous impressions others have of you, that have held you captive, no longer matter. Even more glorious is that we do not have ...

2369. A Fresh Start

Joel 2:28-32, Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... off the old dead ends in favor of embracing the new creatures that Christ is creating in you and me (Ephesians 4:22-24). The greatest Reformed theologian of our century, a Swiss German ethnic named Karl Barth, offered a profound insight about the Holy Spirit. In his view, “to have the Spirit, to live in the Spirit means being set free and being permitted to live in freedom.”4 Freedom is precisely what a person and society who have run out of options do not have. At the end of your rope, you have no ...

2370. Life's Not Always Fair, But God Will Straighten It Out

Habakkuk 2:2-20, Habakkuk 1:12--2:1, Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... in the good news’ ” (Mark 1:14-15). God always has been, is in Jesus, and will continue to be a God of the future. And that is a glorious word of hope! It is a glorious word, because when you have God’s future, his kingdom in view, you have a perspective from which to critique the present. You are no longer chained by the heartaches, the dead ends, the insecurities, and the unjust structures of the present. You have an alternative. You have a new perspective on things and a hope that the way things ...

2371. Living Free

Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... dynamics of their day will want to get involved and serve their neighbors. That is how to “live free.” Martin Luther King, Jr., made similar points when he claimed that “freedom is responsibility.” Failure to exercise this responsibility accounted in his view for why the new freedoms won for African-Americans had not solved all the social problems. As he put it: “The great majority of Americans ... are uneasy with injustice but unwilling yet to pay a significant price to eradicate it.”4 Most ...

2372. Salvation Includes Social Justice

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... or prediction of the Coming of Christ. Jeremiah proceeds to proclaim what the Messiah would do, what salvation would be like. There are some surprises at this point. He does not refer to Christ’s role in saving souls. No, it seems that in Jeremiah’s view the Reign of Christ would have all sorts of political implications. Although God’s people are scattered, God promises to bring those who become exiles back home and to give them prosperity (v. 3). Fear will no longer be a way of life for these once ...

2373. True or False?

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

John W. Wurster

... feels good? Have you been to Sodom lately? I wonder if you’d recognize it. People spend lots of time and even more money pursuing pleasure. Sex has become a social craze. The most intimate of actions are widely displayed and intensely viewed. The society seems to demand a constant supply of bodies to watch and pursue. Voyeurism is rampant. Lust is a commodity. Sex pervades the marketplace, the politics, the entertainments of a culture whose indiscretions have no boundaries. That’s what Sodom has become ...

2374. There Could Be, Couldn't There?

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

Sermon

John W. Wurster

... a stand for what is right, those men and women who boldly proclaimed God’s word whatever the cost — wouldn’t they remain true, even when so many have wandered, the prophets, the preachers? Well, again let me give you an insider’s view here: preaching can easily be hijacked by the preacher’s personal preferences, pet peeves, attachments to social issues, or individual needs and concerns. A word that seems profoundly prophetic to the preacher can sound simply self-serving to everyone else. You’ve ...

2375. At The Potter's House

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15

Sermon

John W. Wurster

(Note: This monologue is from the point of view of an imagined contemporary of Jeremiah.) I was down at the potter’s house yesterday. Have you been recently? I haven’t see you there. In fact, I haven’t see many people there at all recently. Nobody much comes to the potter’s house these days. It’s certainly ...

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