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 667 results

1. Hope In A Hostile World

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... run for cover! As God said to the Hebrew people who were trembling between a host of Egyptian devils and the deep Red Sea, “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance of the Lord.” (Exodus 14:13) I am hopeful in the midst of a hostile world because through Christ no situation is hopeless. My third reason for being hopeful is this: BECAUSE OF CHRIST, EVERY BARRIER CAN BE BRIDGED. Most of us Memphians love our city. We celebrate her music, her sports teams, her dynamic economy, and, of course, the river ...

2. Dealing With The Dividing Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

James W. Moore

... from your son. It’s not worth it. Go love your son! Go make peace with your son! Go reconcile! Go fix that! Get that divisive, destructive wall of pride out of there!” Listen! Is your pride separating you from anybody today? Is your pride a divisive wall of hostility? Are you alienated from anybody today? And by the way, do you feel estranged from God? Is your pride keeping you away from God? If so, give it up! Let it go! If you will swallow your pride and turn to God in humility, God can make it right ...

3. Hosanna! Please Save Us!

Matthew 21:1-11, Matthew 26:14-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... the ultimate gift, his life, for the salvation of the world. He left this world not only with open hands, but with nail-scarred hands . . . and it was for us. He knew that those people who greeted him with shouts of “Hosanna!” would soon shout at him in hatred and hostility, but that did not deter him. But fortunately the story doesn’t end here. Holy Week ends with one more h-word, but I dare not say it today. It’s the Hebrew word for “Praise You, Lord!” I’ll let you guess what it is. It’s a ...

4. Walk In Love

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... are loved. We are important persons in God's eyes because of what Christ has done in our behalf. No psychology text ever written will give us a better formula for the low selfesteem that causes us to be slaves to negative emotions. Anger and hostility are destructive, degrading and detract from our Christian witness. But we do have a choice. We can escape their stranglehold. We can be new people. We can be bigger peoplebigger than our negative emotionsby walking in the footsteps of One far greater than we ...

5. Modeling a Necessary Future

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... mean we will pray for diplomats and statesmen and peacemakers. It does mean we will work for peace, understanding, and harmony among the world religions. And as Christians, it means we will celebrate our love for Christ who calls us to break down the walls of hostility and build an inclusive spiritual temple of peace. As the church, we are called to model this necessary future because, as we have seen from the moon, all five or six billion of us on Mother Earth are in this together. 1. Sir Philip Gibbs, The ...

6. Walls, Walls, Everywhere Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... . For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity ... all one family, the family of God. The only hope this world has is that some day we will reach across the walls of hostility between peoples and religions. When that day comes we will understand what the Kingdom of God is that time when God will reign in ...

7. Tear Down This Wall!

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... to, but listen closely to the rest of this paragraph, “[Christ’s] purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” That is not an easy passage to follow, but here is what Paul is saying to us: Christ came ...

8. How Many Times?

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... begins when we get up off the park bench.(2) It takes a toll when we hold on to a grudge. There was an interesting study conducted by the Gallup Organization and reported in 1994. In this study Philadelphia ranked first among U.S. cities on what was called the "hostility index." The hostility index was based on a nine-question scale that asked people how they felt about such things as loud rock music, supermarket checkout lines, and traffic jams. Other cities on the ...

9. Our Ultimate Destination

Revelation 21:1-6a

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... When we are confident in the hope of "that bright land to which I go" we will not be deterred by the distractions along the way — not by the temptations of safe and comfortable lodging on the side of the road, nor by the fears of rough terrain or hostile forces that stand in the way. But in the meantime, we have to keep moving. We have to guard against losing our way, and we must daily commune with God and fellow pilgrims in order to sustain our strength for the journey. Whether newly baptized or going on ...

10. The Uniting Peace of Christ

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , to which Paul refers, are the walls of the Jerusalem temple. In the house of God, there was a place for Gentiles, a place for women, a place for priests, and a place for the holy of holies. To get out of your place meant sudden and certain death. The hostility Paul references is between Jews and Gentiles. Jews hated Gentiles. It was unlawful to help a Gentile woman in need. Better for her to die than run the risk of bearing a child. To enter the house of a Gentile was to render a Jew unclean. If a Jewish ...

11. In the Mood for Murder

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... angry with the government over the way they handled the Branch Dividian crisis in Waco. He got angry . . . so he blew up a building and killed over one hundred innocent men, women, and children. (1) All of us, at some time or other, experience anger, resentment, hostility and rage. Thankfully, we handle it better than Timothy McVeigh. For some of us, however, anger is a big issue in our lives. It causes us to lash out at our spouses and our children. We unleash it on others on the road or in the workplace ...

12. Finding Unity through Christ

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... of being "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (4:5-6a). Paul is clearly trying to demonstrate that the Christian community must be one of heart, attitude, and way of life if it wants to survive in the hostile environment of pagan Ephesus. While Paul is clear that a commonality in mind and heart is essential, there are several routes that individuals can follow to achieve this unified belief. There are various ways that the Spirit manifests himself as we practice different vocations ...

13. Ten Million Dollar Winners

Matthew 18:23-35

Sermon

Shirley Gupton Lynn

... " (Matthew 26:28). Results of sin in the world remain, but in God's eyes, it is as though we had never sinned. The guilt is gone. Our sin is blotted out of God's sight forever, to be remembered against us no more. Do you want to replace your hostile heart with a forgiving heart? Then let's ask God to forgive us for Christ's sake, and go out from here to live and forgive like the $10 million winners we are! The hymn writer says it well: My sin—O the bliss of this glorious thought— My sin ...

14. The Unsuspected Trojan Horse

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... asked me to forgive him; he hasn’t said he was sorry, and what he did still hurts me. Every time I think of it, I get angry.” Remember what we said earlier about what resentment is. It is “feeling again and again the same anger and hostility”. You look at people like that, and you wonder about what’s going on within them when they’re not thinking about their situation. I believe those enemies are creeping out of that Trojan horse during the night, during our times when we’re not thinking about ...

15. Hope for People Who Are Angry

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... by Dr. Redford Williams, professor of psychiatry and psychology at Duke University. Twenty-five years later, those with low hostility scores had about one-fourth the risk of experiencing heart disease than those with high hostility. When looking at death from all causes, only 2 percent in the low hostility group died in the years following those tests versus 13 percent in the high hostility group. (6) Bitterness, rage and anger are dangerous to those who have offended us, but they do at least as much ...

16. Tale of the Tares

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... are eybah and awr. Ayab is the word used in the phrase from Genesis: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed….” (3:15). From the beginning of time, the “seed” of evil or temptation/inclination for hostility is compared to the seed of God. Yet it’s important to note that no one in humankind is inherently evil! The parable clearly says that God spread all good seed! In another parable, Jesus also explains, sometimes some seeds “take” and others don’t ...

17. Wonderful Story

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... Wonderful story. That briar patch, so fearful a place to Bre'er Fox and his kind, was the natural habitat for Bre'er Rabbit who knew how to survive there, "Born and raised in a briar patch." My analogy is only intended to say that in an unbelievably hostile environment such as this world, Jesus knew exactly how to cope and survive. Of course, in a sense, Jesus did not survive. But that was a choice made in response to a higher power. And ultimately, Jesus not only survived, but showed us all how to survive ...

18. A Hope for Peace

Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

James L. Killen

... been accomplished, or at least made a real possibility and as a part of God's promise, through Jesus. Again in Ephesians, we read, "He is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us" (Ephesians 2:14). And in the letter to the Galatians, Paul shares his vision for something that God was causing to be true, first in the church and then in the world. "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there ...

19. Stirring Things Up

Mark 13:1-8, Hebrews 10:11-25

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... good works," and then return to the battle. So Hebrews says, "Stir up one another to love and good works...encourage one another," because it's not easy out there, if you take it seriously, and seek to live a Christian life. You are doing it in a hostile world. Some years ago, a parent gave me an essay that her son wrote about this church. It is wonderful. Let me read it. As Christians, we should spread God's love by helping other people. Our church is involved in many projects to do this, such as housing ...

20. When It's Time to Reconcile

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... together into a team while a community was angry and ready to riot. Thanks to an all-American high school kid by the name of Gary, and a star defensive player by the name of Julius, the impossible happens in the movie. The walls of hatred and hostility begin to break and come down. These two great football players lead their team toward a state championship. It is a high moment in their team life. Then Gary suffers an automobile accident and winds up in a hospital. When Julius comes to see him, Gary’s ...

21. Breaking News: The Middle East

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... be too many to count, and that she will call the name of the son “Ishmael”. Then, he says this in verse 12, “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” (Genesis 16:12, NIV) In other words, Ishmael and his descendants will be like a donkey that you can’t tame; free and roving like a wild donkey in the desert. This is the kind of people they would become. Then he says, “His hand ...

22. House of God

Ephesians 2:1-10, Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to ...

23. True Worship

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Will Willimon

... was his reason for worship? Turn back a page or so in Ephesians, I think you'll find Paul's reason. We talked about it last Sunday: "For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility,...that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of two, so making peace,…" (Eph. 2:14-16) There's the reason. Paul has been talking about the tough problem of divisions, walls within the church, specifically divisions between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians ...

24. Whom Shall We Obey?

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... the world, therefore the world hates you ... But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father ... he will bear witness to me" (John 15:18-19, 26). When we choose to be faithful witnesses for Christ, we may encounter rejection and hostility in the world. If we remain faithful to our call, in spite of our suffering, we will experience the blessing that comes from faithful obedience to God. There is no deeper joy in life than to sense that affirmation that comes from pleasing our Father ...

25. The Peace Treaty

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

... a sign of trust, and such an appointment is one of the highest honors any country can bestow upon a citizen. Yet here is the president of the United States saying that your safety as ambassador cannot be guaranteed ‚--û that in fact we can count on a hostile reception. You will be ambassador of the most powerful nation on earth, yet you are asked to go, hat in hand, to our sworn enemy and petition for reconciliation! Is this any way for a superpower to act? But this is exactly what Paul claims: that he ...

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