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 1400 results

1. Public Notions of Jesus' Identity

Mt 16:13-20; Mk 8:27-30

Illustration

Brett Blair

Some, said Peter, say that you are Elijah. Now why would people think that Jesus was the long deceased prophet Elijah? Elijah was, of course, a highly revered personality in the religious life of the Hebrews. His defeat of the 450 prophets of Baal on the top of Mt. Carmel was a story that was known even by little children. It was a commonly held belief among the Hebrews that one day Elijah would return and that would mark the end of the world. In the very last passage in the Old Testament, in the Book of ...

2. Is Suffering Punishment for Sin?

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... brothers and sisters did in the Holocaust. Millions of people suffer today because of the greed and selfishness of other people all around the world, from the Balkans to the Middle East, and all points in between. It is no wonder, then, that Jesus emphatically rejected the notion that all suffering is the result of God’s’ punishment of that person for his or her sin. He rejected the idea here in John 9 and again in Luke 13. But at the same time, He never really gave an answer to the problem of innocent ...

3. The Church: An Enclave of Resistance v1

Romans 12:1-8, Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , we must bind up the broken and identify with the oppressed in order to be a sign of the Kingdom. And three, we must seek and implement strategies for change that are consistent with the mind of Christ. Let me share the most dramatic picture of this notion of the Church that has come to me recently. I just received a gift that overwhelmed me. It is the praying hands of Jesus carved by Carlos Velazquez. It is a gift from Jeannine Brabon, one of our Asbury graduates who is a missionary in Medellin, Colombia ...

4. Suffering for Doing Good

1 Peter 3:8-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... 1 Pet. 3:14–15 (Isa. 8:12–13); Rev. 16:10 (Isa. 8:22). See Dodd, According to the Scriptures, pp. 78–79. Do not be frightened recalls John 14:1 and 14:27, where the same Greek verb (“stormtossed”) is used. 3:15 Be prepared: The notion of readiness occurs twice more in 1 Peter, of “salvation ready to be revealed” (1:5) and of Christ standing “ready to judge the living and the dead” (4:5). Always be prepared to give an answer: “Rabbi Eleazar said, ‘Be eager to study the Torah, and know ...

5. A Love For All Seasons (ii) (communion Meditation)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... forgiveness. And I've just been saying that it is certainly weighed on the side of hope. Still the question remains, how many times do we take the Prodigal back? I also said that we would talk today about balancing the weight of the Gospel against the notion of tough love. We discussed that question last week in the context of drug dependency. And, nowhere is the question a more relevant one, because it's the most common issue with which we have to deal in terms of prodigal living, and taking the prodigal ...

6. Will the Real Jesus Christ Arise?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Carl Jech

... Quest for the Historical Jesus. Beginning on this Easter Day we embark upon a series of sermons that ask the fundamental question: "Will the Real Jesus Christ Arise?" What about all these theories concerning the "Real Jesus"? Are we all just raising up our own notions of who Jesus really is or are we honestly listening to history and the Scriptures as they speak to us of this person named Jesus and his association with the title of Christ? Not long before his untimely death, the gifted theologian and bishop ...

7. Becoming What You Are

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Carl Jech

... , but if we take them too seriously and too literally they can do more harm than good. Our goal is not some static and abstract notion of perfection or peace. That is the kind of peace that the world may give, but it is not the kind of peace offered by ... of whether or not I believe in God with a flat yes or no. God will be what God will be regardless of our doctrines and pet notions. To believe in God is perhaps above all to be humble - and human. The book of Genesis tells us that as human beings we are made ...

8. To Hell and Back

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... on as unreal, half-material shades in a land of silence and forget-ting. Note: It was not necessarily a place of torment. That notion of hell was to come later, as a whole theology developed concerning rewards and punish-ments in the next life for what people did ... time to be part of the cleanup crew! It just doesn’t make sense! Think of the fun you will miss! A lot of people’s notion of what the Christian life is like might be pictured in an old story I once heard. It seems that there was a cowboy who ...

9. Aren’t All Religions Basically Alike?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... that everything that happens, be it good, bad, or indifferent, is “the will of Allah,” with the Christian belief that our lives are not in the hands of a blind Fate, but rather in the hands of a loving God? How can one reconcile the Hindu notion that the soul is reincarnated again and again until at last it is purified and breaks from the law of karma with the Christian teaching about the resurrection of the individual unto life everlasting? And we also must consider the fact that the Bible doesn’t ...

10. Stirred, Not Shaken

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... : God knows and God will judge accordingly. These behaviors that are mandated by faithfulness are behaviors that continually stir the pot. They stir up the established notion that the "other" may be dismissed, discounted, disenfranchised, dissed. They stir up the established notion that caring for family includes only those with whom we have a blood relationship. They stir up the established notion that we're only wrong or bad if we get caught and/or punished by human powers. They stir up the established ...

11. Christmas Eve\Christmas Day

Luke 2:1-7, Isaiah 9:1-7, Psalm 96:1-13, Titus 2:1-15, Luke 2:8-20

Sermon Aid

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

... of the child in Isaiah 9:6-7a takes place in the setting of holy war and is not about a romantic manger scene. God's breaking into our world through incarnation unleashes a new kind of power that will inevitably put us in conflict with all human notions of power and security. It is this new power freely given to us that we celebrate at Christmas. In doing this at Christmas, we, like Israel at the time of Isaiah, see the light and participate in God's holy war of justice and righteousness. This holy war ...

12. Daniel Interprets the Dream

Daniel 2:24-49

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... the king (Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar) the future (Gen. 41:25, 28; Dan. 2:28). Both have the hero promoted as a reward for his service (Gen. 41:40–42; Dan. 2:48; also note the gold chain of Gen. 41:42, paralleled later in Dan. 5:29, and the notion that the Spirit of God dwells within Joseph [Gen. 41:38], paralleled in Dan. 4:8, 9, 18; 5:11, 14). There are differences as well as similarities. Daniel might be considered to be greater than Joseph, because he not only interprets the dream but is able to reveal ...

13. Jesus, Mary, Gustav Mahler, Brother Martin, and the Magi

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Carl Jech

... own way. His great "Resurrection Symphony No. 2" is one of the great contemporary statements of the Christian theme of resurrection. It would be impossible to calculate how many people have been inspired by this amazing piece of music. Nietzsche's virtually irreligious notion of self-reliance seems to fly in the face of the Christian message of reliance upon the grace of God, but on one level at least, these opposite concepts lead to a similar attitude. Out of traditional Christian reliance upon the grace ...

14. Giving Away the Store

Luke 22:7-38, John 13:1-17

Sermon

Carl Jech

... Jesus - "Take and drink. This is my blood." To the extent that we accept the concept of "eatingand drinking the body and blood of our Lord" as an appropriate symbol we have to realize that such imagery would have asked Jews to give up one of their most pious notions - the kosher taboo against eating blood. In a sense, to ask Jews to give up this taboo is like asking them to "give away the store." Here we have an example of how we may sometimes give up a pious and seemingly central belief for the sake of a ...

15. Jesus Meets Buddha and Confucius

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Carl Jech

... interpretation of Jesus as a Messiah whose main project was to bring saving knowledge. What is to be preached in the name of Jesus is not knowledge, but love and forgiveness of sins! "Repentance" is a change of mind not toward an abstract notion of cosmic consciousness but a change of mind that affects our everyday behavior in relationship to others. The grace of God as seen in Jesus is directed primarily toward helping us face the ethical challenge of promoting righteousness and justice, without falling ...

16. Pilgrim Living in a Vagabond World

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... ; it just happens while people nibble, not really going anywhere, and seeing no farther than the next sweet morsel to be nibbled at. I know that the prospect of walking in the "narrow way" comes through to many people as boring and unexciting. Many have the notion that what is right is dreary and unadventurous. I recall hearing of an elderly lady who had never eaten ice cream. When the opportunity came to partake of it, she took one taste, pushed the dish away, and said, "Anything that good can’t be right ...

17. Whatever Happened to those Mansions?

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... or challenge would not be heaven, but would, in fact, be hell. “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places.” We may stop and rest awhile in one of them, but I have an idea that we then move on to greater glory. This is a most helpful notion, for it answers the age-old question: “What is God going to do with those who have sinned and fallen short, and who might not feel comfortable in heaven immediately?” (I have an idea that includes most of us!) This idea, if correct, means that we have an ...

18. Does God Give Out Blank Checks?

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... asked her why, she replied, “I’m mad at God.” “Why?” her parents asked. “Because I’ve asked Him and asked Him to make me six, and He won’t!” Of course not. There are some things even God cannot do. That’s not a heretical notion, for across the centuries theologians have insisted that God cannot do something that is logically contradictory. All sorts of dumb questions have been asked like, “Can God make a square circle?” or “Can God make a stone so heavy that even He cannot lift it ...

19. Luke 18:9-14

Luke 18:9-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . The reason Jesus and the Pharisees seemed to butt heads on so many issues may rest in their different notions about how best to preserve the integrity of their Torah community. While the Pharisees strictly adhered to the separatism ... his own feelings about the private aspects of piety, prayer and charity. Just as the Pharisee's behavior demonstrates an extreme notion of self- worth, the tax collector's attitude offers the opposite hyperbole - complete self-loathing and shame. With his single message ...

20. False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 Peter 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... they do not understand. For all their pretensions to a plane of higher spirituality, they are in reality completely out of their depth. They are no better than unreasoning brute beasts that live simply according to the dictates of their natural instinct and that have no notion of moral issues. The destiny of such creatures is to come to a violent end, for they are born only to be caught and destroyed by man or beast (Ps. 49:12). In like manner, these evil men are slaves to their animal instincts, and in ...

21. The Faithfulness of God and the Covenantal Curses on Israel

Romans 3:1-8

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... .g., Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Job 34:10–12; Ezra 9:15; Neh. 9:32–33; Lam. 1:18; Dan. 9:14; Pss. Sol. 2.15–18; cf. Rom. 2:5; 2 Thess. 1:5–6). Another idea impinging upon Romans 3:1–8 is antinomianism and the notion that we should sin so that grace may abound (see the sidebar and commentary on Rom. 6:1). Interpretive Insights The best way to cover Romans 3:1–8 is to follow the diatribe style that governs these verses, especially the three Jewish objections that Paul answers regarding his thesis ...

22. Resurrection and Transformation (Part 1)

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... grave. God will raise them from the dead with a new body restored and fitted for a new reality in God’s eternal kingdom. Understanding the Text As if to make sure no one will misunderstand and confuse his emphasis on the bodily resurrection with a notion that somehow the flesh that decays in the grave will be reinvigorated (cf. 2 Bar. 49.2; 50.2), Paul concludes his discussion on resurrection with a climactic statement on the nature of the resurrected body. Different from the body that belongs to the age ...

23. Defeat, Death, and Departure

1 Sam 4:2-22

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... defeat of Jericho (Josh. 6:6–13). When the Canaanites and Amalekites defeated Israel in the days of Moses, the ark was conspicuous by its absence (Num. 14:42–45).4 So one can see why some might think of it as a guarantee of victory, but such a notion is fundamentally pagan. The Lord cannot be manipulated or coerced into intervening for his people, and we should not view the Lord as being like a rabbit’s foot or four-leaf clover. 4:4 And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark ...

24. How Do You Get Rid of Evil without Destroying Good?

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of law the ultimate route of God. It interests me that some of the groups that are rigid in doctrine, purists in their belief, are cold and calloused, and in my mind, furthest from the compassionate mind of Christ. Others who hold to the notion that the church is to be a “called out people—untainted by the world,” put their emphasis on morality. And usually the emphasis is upon what they would call “sins of the flesh.” They refuse to marry people who have been divorced. They excommunicate ...

25. Eliphaz's Second Speech to Job

Job 15:1-35

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... 20:1; 21:1; 22:1; 23:1; 25:1; 26:1) have the sense of “enter/continue debate.” 15:2 The idiom of empty notions is different, but similar, to that of Ecclesiastes’ “chasing after the wind” (2:11, Heb. reʿut ruakh, meaning “vain, empty striving”). Eliphaz’s phrase ... (Job), rather than God. In vv. 2–3, Eliphaz begins his argument by discrediting the words of Job as “empty notions” (Heb. daʿat ruakh) and a “hot east wind” (qadim). In v. 13, he characterizes Job as so carried away that ...

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