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 655 results

1. The Dawn of Forever

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... we put our lives into the hands of Jesus, when we accept not only the truth and the joy of the Resurrection but let them live in our hearts and fill us with hope, we are REFINED. The old ways, the old worldly ways get slowly stripped away. As we INCLINE more and more toward God. We get REFINED more and more. And what are we REFINED into? That's easy: the image of God and the Likeness of Christ. B. A close friend and colleague of mine happened to be one of the clergy on last Kairos prison ministry weekend ...

2. Tale of the Tares

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

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of community also applies within the field of your own heart. What would it mean to see human beings as both saints and sinners –a “field” of the heart that is made “good” in the image of God but that succumbs here and there to sinful inclinations? Can one destroy a person for a mistake he or she makes? For two mistakes? How many times does Jesus say his disciples should forgive? We all are good people living in a world filled with obstacles, temptations, and entanglements that can trip us up and ...

3. Our Attentive Lord

Psalm 116:1-19

Illustration

... , therefore I will call upon him as long as I live." So wrote Israel's ancient singer in Psalm 116, verse 2. Here is the psalmist's picture of God: he is inclined, he has inclined his ear. To be inclined is to be sloped or slanted in some direction; and the psalmist is quite confident of God's inclination: "His ear is inclined toward me." Putting it another way, God is leaned forward listening. Ordinarily, we should not think of God as having human or physical form. But if, for just a moment, we may picture ...

4. The Power of the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that again –we only struggle in the relationships that matter! No friction, no relation. Can you say that after me? No friction, no relation. If you have no interest or engagement or commitment with someone, you don’t need or have any inclination to struggle with that person. No friction, no relation. Friction is necessary and salutary, not contrary and reactionary. Friction is an evolutionary sign not an obituary sign of our most valuable relationships. When one person comes in contact with another, we ...

5. Feasting on Leviathan

Job 38:1--41:34

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... us that only God can slay the beast within! And this is the essence of the Gospel. This very theme in fact is taken up by another creative mind –John Milton. In his epic poem, Paradise Lost, Milton too describes the Hebrew idea of “evil inclination” as opposed to humankind’s creative and divine nature, the yetzer ha tov. While the yetzer ha tov pleases God, the yetzer ha Ra, defies God. But unlike Hobbes, Milton suggests that man cannot master his own leviathan. Not without God. For Milton, we were ...

6. Body

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... do not (Jewish and Pauline Studies [4th ed.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984], p. 196). In light of 2 Cor. 4:7, where Paul refers to his body as a “jar of clay,” we may point out the frequent wordplay in rabbinic texts between God as potter (yōser) and the evil inclination (yeser) that he created in humans (cf. b. Ber. 61a; ʿErub. 18a; Exod. Rab. 46:4; Ruth Rab. 3:1). C. M. Pate argues that the man of 2 Cor. 4:16 is an allusion to Gen. 1:26–28, associated with Ps. 8:5–6, so that the “outer ...

7. Step Two - Hope

Mk 10:46-52 · 2 Cor 12:7-10 · Is 12:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

... of God's which is so much higher. They were pushed to rely on God because their national life was unmanageable. That seems to be what it takes for humankind to turn things over to God. The more confident we become of our own power, the less inclined we are to remember and give thanks to God. Consider the contrast between Narcissus, the Greek and Roman mythical character, and Isaiah, the prophet of God. Narcissus saw himself in a pond. He was so infatuated with his reflection that he desired to grasp it and ...

8. The Flood

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... life on earth, and it alerts humans not to expect that societies from then on would be free from wickedness. Thus God had caused the deluge to punish intolerable violence on earth, not to transform human nature (6:5). Nevertheless, despite the human inclination toward evil, God promised that never again would he destroy all living creatures. In other judgment accounts in Genesis, such as the Tower of Babel (11:1–9) and Sodom and Gomorrah (ch. 19), God judged selectively, not universally. From now on God ...

9. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... could not claim that they lacked teachers, but the promise presupposes that the threat that Isaiah has hinted at, that people lose their teachers when they ignore them (see 8:16–17), has been fulfilled. They will now hear their teachers’ voices when they are inclined to deviate from the path. The word teachers links with the word torah and could apply to the teaching of priests or sages, but in this context will refer to prophets’ teaching (see vv. 9–10; 1:10; 28:9). People will recognize images for ...

10. The Whole World Is under the Curses of the Covenant

Romans 3:9-20

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... just the opposite in Romans 3:9–20 and elsewhere (see Rom. 4:14–15; 7:5, 7–12; 1 Cor. 15:56; Gal. 2:16; 3:10–13, 22; 4:3, 8–11, 21–31; 5:1–12): to rely on the Torah is to stir up the bad inclination. This is why, says Paul in Romans 3:19–20, no one will be justified at the final judgment before God by the works of the law, because, as good and well intentioned as the Torah is, it only stirs up sin within the individual, not obedience. And this is ...

11. House of Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of us want God to deal with us the way we have dealt with others sometime in our lives. Lord have mercy! And thankfully, that’s not the last line of the prayer. For Jesus then adds essentially: Lord, help me do this, guard me from falling into evil inclinations, for in my humanness, I’m going to mess up ….I know it, you know it. Lord, help me! We need the protection of God, because without God, our personal responsibility, our ability to hear and act in new ways in a new covenant with God, is just ...

12. The Rhythm of Your Heart

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of your heart? 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 ...

13. Your Image of Tomorrow

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... of the dimensions of our being, Jesus says, "You are more." But generally our larger interest is in having more; we are more concerned with having than being. We tend to have a greater interest in a kind of breadth than we have in any sort of depth. Our inclination is to take a quick glance at everything and a penetrating look at nothing. It may be an epitome of our time that when we are confronted with a problem, we assemble huge masses of statistics, feed them into a computer, and ask it to tell us what ...

14. Dust Off The Throne

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:26-38, Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... advisors, his assistants, his generals. We might look at the national and international landscape to see what favorable circumstances permitted him to achieve such a position of security, but we would not naturally think to attribute the matter to God. David himself, however, would be inclined to give the credit to God. After all, he knew, even as a boy facing his first enemy that “the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand” (1 Samuel 17:47). Romans 16:25-27 Our New Testament lesson ...

15. The Fall of Jerusalem

2 Chronicles 36:15-23

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... receiving a proper burial in the City of David together with deceased royalty of the past. The other side of the spectrum is represented by concepts such as “to forsake” (?azab) Yahweh and “to be disloyal/apostate” (ma?al) to Yahweh. This inclination leads to losing battles, falling ill, dying, and not being buried with the royal fathers. Between these two extremes of the spectrum, there are no alternatives. e. The seeking of Yahweh is not a generalized category ascribed to certain kings and not ...

16. Praise and Prayer

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... do not revere you? (v. 17a). “Wander” (ta‘ah) was originally a verb to describe wandering about in the desert, when you do not know where to go (Gen. 21:14; 37:15) or have lost the path (Ps. 107:4). It is something that sheep are especially inclined to do (Ps. 119:176). “Wander” is then a verb that can describe someone’s moral life after leaving the right path—something some children do as soon as they are born (Ps. 58:3). People can sometimes make themselves wander (Jer. 42:20; cf. Hos. 4:12 ...

17. “In Your Heart You Devise Injustice”

Psalm 58:1-11

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... 1) whose “hands mete out [lit., “weigh out,” pls] violence on the earth” (58:2), using their own rigged scales, but their lying behavior seems to represent the history of human conduct (“even from birth,” “from the womb,” 58:3). Sadly, their evil inclination has been generated in their inner being (58:2), leaving little hope that their social behavior is only a temporary departure from the ethical norm. If we understand the subject of 58:1 to be the “gods,” then the wicked of verse 3 are ...

18. The Invitation

Isaiah 55:1-9

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (v. 2). “Why do you eat out of dumpsters when I have prepared for you a free banquet of Ritz Carlton proportions? Isn’t it about time you listened to my invitation? Isn’t it about time you inclined your ear in my direction? Isn’t it about time you allowed the wise words of life I have shared to become flesh within you?” Some listen; others don’t. For there are those who would agree that more does not make people happier, but they don’t ...

19. True Fasting

Isaiah 58:1-14

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... to having Yahweh fulfill those promises in chapters 40–55 (v. 8b): for righteousness see, for example, 51:1, 5, 7; for Yahweh’s glory appearing, see 40:5; and for Yahweh as rear guard, see 52:12. And that is the key to making Yahweh inclined to answer their prayer (v. 9a). As well as taking up the promises of the Poet, the Preacher thus takes up the challenges of the Ambassador. Isaiah had begun by declaring that demonstrations of enthusiastic worship impressed Yahweh not at all when commitment to the ...

20. Vendetta

2 Kings 1:1-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... out in his discussion with some Pharisees, “it is craziness to be an adversary against yourself!” Yet in a sense, at one time or another, we all do it. We don’t always act in our own best interests. Sometimes, we do rely on our lesser inclinations, and they always result in the worst outcomes. We are our own worst enemy. A similar situation happened with Saul. In our scriptures for today, we see Saul growing more and more unhinged over David’s victories in the battlefield. Saul is jealous. He thinks ...

21. God’s HS Smart App is Always Watching

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the light-filled Jedi’s will win the day. Of course, in the end, the Jedi always wins. And the power of good always prevails. And yet the battle never seems to end. Every generation, someone succumbs to the power of the dark force, is tempted by evil inclinations, greed, power, anger, doubt. And in every generation, that darkness must be faced down by the power of good. In no Star Wars movie, or in any tale worthy of being told, will we ever find that evil is made better with more evil, that darkness is ...

22. Uncommonly Good

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... obviously we all look different –we have different features, different noses, eyes, hands, body shapes, coloring, or hair texture –we also have a unique personality, a character all our own, our own motives, dreams, and aspirations, our own fears, inclinations, likes, and preferences. In scripture, the word meaning different or “set apart” from others is “holy.” To be holy for Jews and later for Christians meant to be different, unique, not simply ordinary. That’s an important distinction ...

23. God Knows!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... character of our sin and helplessness. Helpless sinners can only survive by grace. Our strength is futile in itself; we are spiritually impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. We may dislike giving our attention to God's wrath and justice, but until we incline ourselves to these aspects of God's nature, we will never appreciate what has been wrought for us by grace. Even Edward's sermon on sinners in God's hands was not designed to stress the flames of hell. The resounding accent falls not on ...

24. The Meek

Sermon

John A. Terry

... students if they were not already convinced of their own knowledge." "Blessed is the person who has the humility to know his own ignorance, his own weakness, and his own need." To be meek is to be controlled. Meekness brings with it the ability to control our feelings and inclinations so we are bridled and can act according to God's will and way. To be meek, to give ourselves over to God's will, we receive what others only long for. It was Dante who said, "In His will is our peace." It reminds me of some ...

25. Liberating Truth

John 8:31-41

Sermon

William G. Carter

... and truth" (John 1:14). According to this writer, the single watershed event in the history of the world is the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. On the one hand, it is a disclosure of sheer grace. The incarnation announces that God is recklessly, relentlessly inclined in our favor, that "God so loved the world that he sent his only Son." Yet on the other hand, the coming of Christ is also a disclosure about ourselves. Jesus reveals the truth about who we are and who we are not. In Jesus, truth comes ...

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