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 1 to 25 of 102 results

1. The Power of Story

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... thought we knew about God, ourselves, others, and the world. This story today is no different. The “Good” Samaritan –a story that began with a single question: “Who is my neighbor?” And ended with “do likewise.” The lesson? Compassion. How can we teach empathy? We tell stories that allow us to show compassion, to practice it in a safe environment, to learn what it means to be in relationship with those who are different but share our humanity. We broaden what it means to be a “citizen” of ...

2. The Practice

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... how hard this mission will be. He knows what Jesus as a human being is going to have to go through in order to fulfill that mission. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to require the utmost patience, compassion, endurance, support, intuition, empathy, and emotional and spiritual strength. He will be opposed, trashed, defied, threatened. He will be faced with trying to explain the love of God to those who have been trained in the past by rules or harsh treatment or influenced by status and power. He ...

3. The Rhythm of Your Heart

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ? Does your soul leap with joy when you sense God’s presence around you? Does your spirit resonate with the voice of the Holy Spirit of Christ within you? If you know where your treasure lies, your deeds will always follow. Your goals, your inclinations, your empathy and compassion for others will flow from your heart like the blissful sound of the angels. And God’s voice will resonate in your spirit for all to hear! So, lift your voices and sing people of God! Let the music of God’s presence wash ...

4. How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... it would be. We undress them in our minds. Our thoughts are ripe with the pleasures of them. Romans 13:14 warns, "Make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires." This is a road block we next crash quite brazenly. Expedite Estrangement. Encounter. Empathy. Enjoyment. And now, expedite. David actually sent for Bathsheba. And she came to his palace. It was like granting Satan an easement across his property. We decide to go to a weekend business conference. She is there, too. We arrange to stay in the ...

5. A Tireless and Timeless Image

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... it means for the Christian community that Jesus is, as it is expressed in the book of Hebrews, "the great shepherd of the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20). Who is the risen Christ for us? He is one who attends affectionately to our security; who feeds us; who has great empathy for us; who, like the good shepherd going after the one even though the 99 are safe, is tenacious in his endeavors to bring us into the fold of God's care; and one who takes the measure of our hearts, and leads us toward the throne of grace ...

6. Have Mercy!

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... rule of law or cultural/societal expectations. I call it “transcendent compassion,” compassion that extends beyond the norm of our friends, acquaintances, cultural expectations or peer groups. The grace or mercy that we show in chanan or covenantal compassion extends beyond simple pity or empathy. It includes action, the desire to love not only with the strength of God but with the active and purposeful passion of God. That means, we don’t merely act as we might like to be treated or in a way that is ...

7. A Healthy Body

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... ; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." This is a little hard for us to understand. We tend to value rugged individualism. “I'm a self-made man (or woman). I don't ask for help. I can do it all alone. I did it my way." Empathy, that quality of sharing our lives with one another, even the most heartfelt moments, is kind of uncomfortable for us. That's why we present such a nice facade to one another in the church. No matter what is going on in our lives, no matter what emotions are tearing ...

8. When Life Tumbles In

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... of her disease. But Sarah doesn't let her troubles affect her attitude. She wrote an open letter to her peers. In that letter Sarah vowed to profit from her condition. "I am going to gain a powerful weapon," she writes, "empathy. Empathy for all the disfigured people in the world. Empathy for anyone who has had a stroke . . . God has handpicked me to bestow this blessing upon, and I believe when God bestows a blessing, the entire world changes."(5) Friends, that's faith. Sarah's world was changed, but she ...

9. Better Angels of Our Nature

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , where “everyone did what was right in their own eyes?” 4) Reason: can we use the gray matter God gave us to figure things for ourselves and not just trust others to do our thinking for us? These four things, Paul suggests, are our “better angels:” empathy, self-control, morality and reason. Some of our better angels have become lazy and fat. Some of them may even by now be disabled and bored. Let’s wake up our angels. Let’s give our “better angels” a workout this week. Let’s be on the ...

10. Not As the World Gives

John 14:23-29 · John 5:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... is able to touch your feelings and your anxiety, your frustration and your hurt. And just as suddenly that someone steps up and offers him or herself. It may be as simple as helping a befuddled dad down the stairs — or it could be much deeper. It is called empathy. Jesus said, “Peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” What I hope to reach for today is some understanding that we might share about this peace, this peace of Christ. This is the peace that ...

11. What's a Human Book?

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... s cruel remark about her weight inspired her to begin starving herself when she was just a child. A formerly homeless man shared personal details about his life on the streets. (1) Each of these “human books,” by sharing their unique experiences, helped develop empathy for other people’s experiences. I wonder what we would learn if we could spend 30 minutes with the physically challenged woman in today’s Bible story found in Luke 13. The story begins like this: “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in ...

12. Schadenfreude

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... cherish the lives of others. How do you decide what is right? How do you live a life fueled by love for others and joy in their healing, their repentance, their restoration, their lives? We start by recognizing our Schadenfreude, and we cultivate instead our empathy, our relationships, our connections to others. For we do not live a solitary life. We live in relationships with others. And we live in relationship with God. The more you cultivate your heart, the more you will see the good in others, and you ...

13. Memento Vivere

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to a significant memory in your life, a wedding, a funeral, a relationship, a trauma. Our senses help us remember. Jesus, in his most difficult moments, will remember this act of devotion and worship, comfort, and love, and I have to imagine that her extravagant empathy will reassure him that the human spirit is capable of great loyalty and love. That day, Mary did not want to anoint him when dead but to consecrate him while alive, to declare her love, confirm his call, and prepare him for his mission, the ...

14. They Didn't Have To Do It, But They Did

Genesis 14:1-24

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... goods that were stolen, and gave them safe passage home. Abram cared about his people. He did the good deed because he had empathy for those in difficulty. One man, who was rescued by another man from his burning car, said, "Thank you for going out of ... "thank you" for a job well done. They don't have to do it, but they do, and we thank God for their compassion, love, and empathy for people in need. We thank God for their blessings in our lives. We give honor and glory to God for their willingness to go out ...

15. What Money Can't Buy

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... answer has come. Money did not buy the servant girl. Money did not buy her desire to end her master's suffering. Money did not buy her willingness to share valuable information which would ultimately save Naaman's life. Money did not buy her sympathy, empathy and concern for another human being. In this world of the Faustian impulse, where people will sell their souls to the devil on a whim for momentary pleasure, the fact that people are still willing to share something that money cannot buy gives us all ...

16. To All Those Who Have, More Will Be Given

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Phyllis Faaborg Wolk

... to become an even better teacher. You will be able to reach still more people with my love on an even deeper level." The second disciple was excited, too. His gifts of compassion and empathy had allowed him to touch the lives of people in a way he had never experienced before. He told Jesus, "When you entrusted me with the gifts of compassion and empathy, I was a little shocked. As I was growing up, people would always tell me that it wasn't manly to hug, or share feelings, or cry. But after you gave me the ...

17. The One Thing That Would Make The Biggest Difference

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... that happens when we are not clear about our boundaries is that we mistake other people's feelings for our own. As I just said, we become unhappy when others are unhappy. Some think that is Christian empathy. After all Paul says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). In empathy, however, we knowingly choose to be happy when someone else is happy and to weep when someone else weeps. When we don't know where our boundaries are, we think the other person is making us happy ...

18. Growing No Feathers

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

... were and was filled with compassion. Yahweh needed someone who had also seen, heard, and known the life of a Hebrew slave. Every year of Moses' youth he learned about their misery, a misery orchestrated by his own class. And he learned compassion, but his empathy had no outlet. He was Pharaoh's adopted grandson, which made him too close to criticize. With no outlet, one day he exploded! He murdered an Egyptian taskmaster. He killed for a slave. He was so sympathetic, he threw away everything and became an ...

19. Christmas Concern

Sermon

James Bjorge

... and stands by, but he also identifies with us. Jesus took on human form to be our substitute. Thus he could take my sin upon himself at Calvary. This also enabled him to feel in his own body that which all the children of men feel. We can call it empathy or merely the ability to identify with another person. Mary was a little girl who was asked to run an errand for her mother shortly before dinner. She dashed away to the store to get some bread. But dinner was on the table and the family gathered around and ...

20. A Way Back In

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... the community of nations. Parents are the best models for such loving/knowing. All over the world prodigal sons and daughters are being let go to find their own ways only later to be welcomed back home with open arms. Parents know from experience and empathy the itch their youths have to find their own self-expression. They love them enough to grant them freedom, trusting that in due time they will come to themselves which is, after all, to come back in. At this moment countless people are watching others ...

21. The Mother Side Of God

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... with Vaseline (TM) smeared on their glasses and count money with three fingers on each hand taped together. The idea was to give them a better understanding of what older customers with glaucoma or arthritis may be going through. (4) What a difference a little empathy, a little understanding, can make in a relationship. In the book The Aladdin Factor, there is a story by Jane Nelson that could help a great many mothers and fathers. Nelson once received a call from a frantic single mother who was caught in a ...

22. A Thousand Years Of Ashes

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... many a violent offender shaken to his very core when he hears from his victim’s mouth the extent of his victim’s suffering. For many of them, this is the first time they have even thought about the effects of their choices. Their sense of empathy and remorse motivates many of these hardened criminals to change their behavior. (5) If you have come into this service with a feeling of remorse, that is a good thing. It says something about you and you character. It says something good about you and your ...

23. Thorns of Grace

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the flesh. Is it a mere coincidence that when Christ hung on the cross, his head was crowned with thorns? Mary Tyler Moore was right, “none of us gets out of here without pain.” But pain can ultimately bless us if it gives us empathy for others, if it helps us be more approachable and help others more easily relate to us, and especially if it gives us a new sensitivity to God. 1. David C. Egner, http://preceptaustin.org/hebrews_9‑10_sermon_illustrations.htm. 2. Reader’s Digest, date unknown. 3 ...

24. Your Home Page

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as rotating host, stranger, and guest. We are all dependent on God and interdependent on each other, and human need is the filter that fine-tunes a Jesus home page. For the follower of Jesus, hospitality is not an occasion for showing off, but for showing empathy and showing obedience to God’s love. When you read the Hebrew Scriptures the “name” of God is never spelled out completely. The actual name of God was too holy to bandy about, to write down, to use in everyday speech. The proper “name” of ...

25. Badger or Bonobo?

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... abundantly through compassion and kindness rather than dominance and aggression.[5] If only humans could follow suit. Whether in our homes, our communities, our churches, or in our nation, the more we cultivate among ourselves Jesus’ vision of collaboration, compassion, empathy, and sharing rather than territorialism, competition, control, and tribalism, the more we will understand God’s kingdom vision. For God so loved the world….that he gave his son. The least we can do is give Jesus’ lessons on ...

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