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 66 results

1. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... Aramaic word for twin. Question: what happened to the other twin? In the absence of any clue in the New Testament, I feel free to suggest that Thomas had a twin brother who died, in the full flower of youth, just before Thomas met Jesus. That is my hypothesis. Now let me develop it a little further. Suppose that this twin brother had been very close to Thomas, that he was half of Thomas' life, and that his death left Thomas a mere survivor, with no life of his own -- and that Thomas continued in this state ...

2. The Genealogy of David

Ruth 4:13-22

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... is instead the foundation upon which everything else in the book depends. That is, the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz is written to explain and defend the genealogy, not vice versa. Nielsen posits a rather involved political scenario to support this hypothesis: David’s enemies—the family of Saul, or the “circles supporting the traditions of Samuel”—want to see him defamed as a “foreigner.” The author of Ruth, a staunch supporter of David, writes in “conscious reaction to the smear campaign ...

3. Philemon 1-21

Philemon 1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... martyr Ignatius' letter to the Ephesians, Knox postulated that Ignatius was revealing that the current bishop of Ephesus, whose name was also Onesimus, was the selfsame Onesimus Paul had sent back to Philemon. The wonderful symmetry and "happy ending" quality to Knox's hypothesis found it favor in both scholarly and popular circles. But when we force ourselves to examine just what we have before us in the text, a rather different view of this letter can come into focus. This letter is, it seems, a personal ...

4. Gift

2 Corinthians 8:16--9:5, 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... of the Achaians (cf. above on 8:3a). 9:3 Very likely realizing that his boasting to the Macedonians about the Achaians stretched the truth, Paul wants to ensure that the Achaians (including the Corinthians) are ready as he has boasted they would be. The simplest hypothesis is that the brothers to whom Paul refers here are none other than the ones he has already mentioned in 8:18, 22–23. In both cases, the brothers are being sent by Paul to Corinth and Achaia in order to oversee the collection before he ...

5. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... was an ideal hiding place for the two spies, since in addition to being readily open during the evening, it was built into the city wall. 11:32–35a The words about the lack of time to speak fully of the great paragons of faith could strengthen the hypothesis that Hebrews, in large part if not totally, is a homily (as is suggested by 13:22 and the repeated exhortations of the book). But this kind of expression is not uncommon in purely literary works of the time (e.g., Philo, On the Special Laws, 4.238 ...

6. Titus Sent to Corinth

2 Corinthians 8:16--9:5

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.

Enrico Fermi

8. Willingness to Risk

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... kill yourself. But what they didn’t know was that there was a whole new world just waiting for somebody to discover it. All anybody had to do was just start sailing in that direction. It didn’t really matter what assumptions they had. It didn’t matter what hypothesis they were working from. It didn’t matter what route they navigated. It was out there. All they had to do was to start sailing west. Anybody who tried it would have found it. It just took somebody with courage to go out and try to find a ...

9. Jesus Heals A Paralytic

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

... 7) is a foreshadowing of what is to come. A shadow of death is cast over Jesus' journey from this moment on. One other item of structural interest at this point is the possible relationship of these stories to the Parable of the Sower. We discussed Tolbert's hypothesis in the introduction, that the story of the Parable of the Sower is a kind of plot synopsis of chapters 1-10 of Mark's Gospel. Jesus' parable sets forth four kinds of "hearers of the word." Her contention is that the Pharisees fit the image of ...

10. John the Baptist Beheaded

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

... are those sown among the thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing" (Mark 4:18-19). It is certainly a plausible hypothesis to see Herod as a model of this kind of behavior. Herod had a kind of love/hate relationship with John the Baptist. Herod may have hated John for telling him that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife. That was enough for Herodias ...

11. Natural Or Supernatural?

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... , the supernatural dwindled. And for many of those impressed by natural law, their impulse was to take God to the frontiers of the universe and bow him out. As Staley, one of the great astronomers, has said, "We no longer need the God hypothesis to explain the universe." For many today, the natural order is everything, fills everything, and explains everything. Oh, the sheer nonsense, the ignorant stupidity of splitting up the universe. God lives up there in the supernatural. We live here in the down-to ...

12. Let Christ Speak The Word

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

... in and through everything in God's creation. One of the more intriguing theories has been developed by a Princeton University physicist by the name of Edward Witten. He invites us "to jump into a world of infinite dimension."2 Some have labeled his hypothesis as a "theory of everything." The "string theory," as it is commonly called, does away with the familiar image of a universe composed of billiard ball-like particles which are pushed and pulled by forces of gravity and electricity. In the 1920s, quantum ...

13. The Miracle of Christ

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... , mechanical minds speaking today. A professor at Harvard writes: "Man is responsible to himself and for himself." There is nothing more. There is no future in that. A brilliant professor from the University of California writes: "Supernaturalism is obsolete, and God is a superfluous hypothesis." Do you want to hang your future on that? Put this approach to life into the computer and you will be covered up, not by horses, but by death before A.D. 2000. The computer is good in its place, but it cannot solve ...

14. Salvation as Hope

Romans 13:8-14, 1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... . As Kummel points out, both aspects of eschatology are equally and permanently present in Paul’s thinking, now the one and now the other being in the foreground. The evidence presented by the exponents of "realized" eschatology is incontrovertible, but their hypothesis of the Hellenization of Paul’s thought remains unproven and they fail to appreciate the Old Testament conditioning of the Pauline concepts of man, of corporate solidarity (that is, of being in the first Adam and in the last Adam), of ...

15. When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough

Ecc 2:1-26

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... On and on, that theme is repeated through twelve chapters. It is the work of an angry, cynical, skeptical man who doubts that there is permanent value in anything. Have you ever wondered about that? We must give the ancient Teacher credit though. Despite his opening hypothesis that there is nothing in this life that has any enduring worth, he at least tests his theory. He decides to see if wisdom and knowledge will do the trick and resolves to become the wisest in the world, but he notes that both the wise ...

16. The Danger of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to a ball game last week, so it was only fair. There is a young man here hoping against hope that he will meet a special young lady. Lots of reasons. But of all the possible reasons why you are here this morning, let us assume, just as a working hypothesis, that you are all here because you are trying to follow Jesus. You could have slept late - lots of people do. You could have gone to the lake or played golf; its a good day for that. But perhaps you are here in worship because you are trying, in your ...

17. When You Feel Helpless

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... Webber, but there is much more to it than that. He proceeded to expand its meaning to “never live as though God does not exist." Or, stated positively, “Always live in awareness of God's existence." (5) If you claim to be helpless, according to professor Webber's hypothesis, you are taking God's name in vain. As one author reminds us: God knows our name (John 10:3). God numbers the hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30). God counts the steps of our feet (Job 14:16). God bottles the tears from our eyes (Psalm ...

18. No Longer Orphans

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... orphan universe which seems to have been swept clean of the presence of God in recent years. The French mathematician and astronomer LaPlace, when asked what role God played in his picture of the universe, replied simply that he had "no need of that hypothesis." Carl Sagan's entertaining "Cosmos" series on the Public Broadcasting System seemed to say that all questions in heaven and earth could be answered by science, so who needs God? How orphaned we all feel when we are confronted with the vastness of the ...

19. Secretary to Saint Peter

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... DO SCHOLARS KNOW WHICH GOSPEL WAS THE FIRST? They don’t. Their theory is based on a highly-educated guess. It is a complicated process and I have no desire to bore you to death with the technical details of what is called the Four-Document Hypothesis developed in the early part of this century by Prof. B. H.Streeter in his famous book The Four Gospels (1924). Suffice to say that when we read the Gospels we see that there are many remarkable similarities between them...especially the first three. The first ...

20. The Whole Shebang in Six Words

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. The idea of a soul, distinct from the body and not subject to our own scientific laws, is a myth" (The Astonishing Hypothesis [Touchstone Books, 1995]}. Other scientists have discovered two small knots of neuronal tissue above each ear they have nicknamed "god spots." These knots seem to mediate peak experiences in religion, creativity and intuition. When these god spots are stimulated, the person ...

21. Proper 26

Joshua 3:1-4:24, Matthew 23:1-39, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... . Those revising the lectionary show good judgment and wisdom in altering the epistle lesson for this Sunday from I Thessalonians 2:9-13, 17, 20 to the more coherent reading of 2:9-13. The previous lesson was based either on a debatable scholarly hypothesis that 2:14-16 is an interpolation into the original letter, or it implies faintheartedness. The lesson simply follows last Sunday's reading. In 2:1-12 the apostles recall their manner of ministry in Thessalonica. In our lesson, 2:9-12 concentrates on ...

22. Against All Hope

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... die simply because they think it’s time for them to die. They give up, as it were. Others, with a more hopeful attitude, seem to live long vigorous lives. There was a study at the State University of New York at Geneseo which tested this hypothesis. A psychologist began suggesting to fifteen healthy eighty-year-olds in a New York City nursing home that they could have a happy long life. And seemingly it worked. On average these people lived an average of 6.2 years longer than a matching control group ...

23. Just Know Him In His Visible Return

Revelation 1:7-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... no hesitation, no equivocation, no indecision about the fact that Jesus is coming again. a. Bold Declaration of His Coming John says, "He is coming." He did not state this as a possibility, a plausibility, or even a probability. Nor did he put it forth as a Hypothesis or a theory. He says flatly, "Jesus is coming again." More surely than the sun rising in the east, and setting in the west; more surely than the sun shining by day, and the moon shining by night; more surely than the wetness of water, and the ...

24. And Again I Say...Amen!

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... biggest problem now is that we are running out of horses, and the flies are getting thick. You can always find a reason not to say "Yes." Indecision is the byproduct of the critical method. Using the modern scientific method, we can sometimes disprove a hypothesis, but we can hardly prove one. No matter how many times the sun rises each morning, there is no way you can prove conclusively that the sun will rise tomorrow. Indeed, you can more effectively prove that there is reason to doubt whether indeed it ...

25. Hebrews 13:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... has been some suggestion that a different author composed this addendum at a different time and place - leaving the church to affix this conclusion at some later date. But while most scholars note this possibility, few actually adhere to the hypothesis. While the style of prose changes in chapter 13, the author's essential vocabulary and primary concerns remain the same. A less drastic theory states that while the author was concerned with voicing general guidelines and Christian attitudes in the first ...

Showing results

Showing 1 to 25 of 66 results

1. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

2. The Genealogy of David

Ruth 4:13-22

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

3. Philemon 1-21

Philemon 1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

4. Gift

2 Corinthians 8:16--9:5, 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

5. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

6. Titus Sent to Corinth

2 Corinthians 8:16--9:5

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.

Enrico Fermi

8. Willingness to Risk

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

9. Jesus Heals A Paralytic

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

10. John the Baptist Beheaded

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen