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 226 to 250 of 2669 results

226. Prime The Pump

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... . After you have had a drink, refill this jug for the next man who comes along.” What would the man dying of thirst do? To follow the instructions and prime the pump without first taking a drink would be an exercise of the kind of belief the Bible speaks of. Biblical belief requires that one stake his life on the truth of the promise. If the man follows the instructions, he takes the chance of pouring out all the water and getting none to drink if the pump fails. So he must trust that the message is right ...

227. The Apostles Persecuted

Acts 5:17-42

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... salvation to Jesus. How precisely Jesus was able to save or the people to receive his salvation is not explained. Peter may have said more than Luke tells us, or he may have left such questions unanswered, contenting himself simply with this bald statement of his belief (cf. 4:12). 5:32 He ended by adding that the apostles were witnesses of these things, that is, to the facts on which this faith rested—the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus (cf. 1:3, 9). But there was another witness also ...

228. In Pisidian Antioch

Acts 13:13-52

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... earlier events of Jesus’ life was a secondary development (pp. 138–44). It is sometimes argued that this verse gave rise to the belief that Jesus was adopted by God as his Son at the resurrection and that only later did Christians believe that he was God’ ... conviction that he was divine sent the first Christians searching for texts such as this and not that the texts shaped their belief. 13:39 Justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses: It is noteworthy that the ...

229. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Faith

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... , p. 31). The description of God as Father adds the dimension of love to the thought of God’s care for the church, while the title Lord bears further witness to Paul’s estimate of Jesus. The use of this title comes out of the early church’s belief in the resurrection of Jesus, which, more than anything else, convinced them that God had made him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Additional Notes 1:1 In God … and the Lord Jesus Christ: Not only is this phrase with the preposition in (en) unusual in a ...

230. The Man of Lawlessness

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... says, while there is no disputing that the idea of a realized eschatology was in the air, as far as his readers were concerned that was not the problem. The problem for them was what to make of such an idea in the light of their own firmly held belief in a future eschatology, i.e., that there was something still to come (reflected, e.g., in the presuppositions of the teaching in 1 Thess. 4:13–18). The only firm data that we have to work with are the letters themselves, and Bruce suggests (p. 166) that all ...

231. Warnings Against Idleness

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the disorderly in 2 Thessalonians is a new one concerning a group setting themselves up as spiritual authorities. There is little to commend this suggestion). Most scholars find the idleness to be rooted in an eschatological excitement stemming from the Thessalonians’ belief in the imminence of the Parousia (see, e.g., von Dobschütz, Die Thessalonicher—Briefe, pp. 179–82; B. Rigaux, Saint Paul Les Epîtres aux Thessaloniciens [Paris: J. Gabalda, 1956], pp. 519–21; Best, pp. 176–78; Bruce, pp. 90f ...

232. A Call to Persevere

Hebrews 10:19-39

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... is the faith that would have been confessed by these Christians at their baptism. What justifies our efforts at faithfulness is God’s faithfulness: he who promised is faithful (cf. 11:11). What Christians believe, and the hope that is a part of that belief, may be trusted fully and held firmly, because God’s faithful character is beyond questioning. 10:24–25 The third exhortation in this section directs the readers to be concerned with the welfare of others in the community of faith. There is a need ...

233. Trials and Temptations

James 1:1-18, James 1:19-27

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... . It must end in death. There is only one escape, and that he gives in a contrasting chain in the following verses (1:16–18). 1:16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Deceived about what? Does this verse end the previous paragraph and refer to a belief that one could blame God or harbor desire or sin without any consequences? Or does it refer to a deception about where testing comes from (1:13)? Or does it head the following paragraph and refer to a failure to realize that God gives good and brings ...

234. Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth 2:1-23

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... Apart from the sheer joy of writing great literature in a wonderfully flexible language, the narrator’s point is that Ruth is grateful. Ruth knows who she is—a foreigner, a stranger, a person easily recognized by her speech, her customs, and her beliefs. She also knows that foreigners, widows, and sojourners are usually forced to live on the fringes of society. Thus she is grateful that Boaz’s behavior contrasts so sharply with, say, the behavior of the Levite from Ephraim: When they were near Jebus ...

235. Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... believed in beings of great power in heaven. The movements of the planets, which represented them, reflected the way these beings shaped destinies on earth. Again this was evidently a temptation to the Babylonians’ Judean subjects, just as it corresponds to a belief held by many people in the modern world. But what are these planets? They are subordinates marshaled by Yahweh, not one of whom dares to be late on parade (v. 26b). Imagine entertaining the thought that Yahweh might be the same class ...

236. Government and Marriage

Mark 12:18-27, Mark 12:13-17

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... the Text David Daube has shown that the next four passages (12:13–37 = Matt. 22:15–46) correspond to the four major types of rabbinic questions: (1) of wisdom, on a point of Torah regarding taxes (12:13–17); (2) of mockery (scoffing at a belief), on the issue of resurrection (12:18–27); (3) of moral conduct, on the relationship between God and humanity (12:28–34); (4) of biblical exegesis, on a seeming contradiction between passages (12:35–37).1In this, Jesus is shown to have true knowledge and ...

237. Priorities

Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:22-34

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... does not drop it into their beaks. But the point is that food is there to be found because God makes provision for all that he has created. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Compare 12:7; 13:15–16. Such comparative valuations depend on the belief that humankind is the peak of God’s creation. They do not devalue the animal creation or justify human exploitation of animals; rather, it is because the birds really do matter to God that we can be sure that he cares for us even more. 12:25 add ...

238. At the Tomb

Luke 24:1-12, Luke 23:50-56

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... some prominence as evidence. Luke’s account does not develop this theme, nor does it convey any hint that it was on this occasion that the risen Lord “appeared to Simon” (24:34). He leaves the tomb in amazement, not yet with a firm belief in Jesus’s resurrection. Theological Insights Luke’s relatively spare account of Jesus’s burial and of the finding of the empty tomb provides useful material for Christian apologetics in two ways: (1) the reality of Jesus’s death is clearly taken for granted ...

239. Resurrection and Christian Living

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... to refer to the issue as a general practice, and it functioned well as an argument for the obvious necessity of the resurrection. Paul’s point is that the mere suggestion that baptism enables loved ones to meet up again after death demands a belief in resurrection. 15:30–32 why do we endanger ourselves every hour? Paul continues his argument by adding new questions that affirm the foolishness of rejecting resurrection. What would be the sense of exposing oneself to danger and risk of death if there ...

240. The Priestly Portions of Sacrifices

Lev 6:8–7:38

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... : “If the community failed to punish the offender or failed to uncover the offense, God would mete out punishment in His own way and in His own good time.”2 However, in favor of Milgrom’s view is the evidence later in the Old Testament for belief in an afterlife. Saul in 1 Samuel 28:8–20 seeks through a medium to consult with the deceased Samuel, and Samuel actually comes back and gives an accurate prophecy of Saul’s impending death. Certain texts in the Psalms also suggest an afterlife (Pss. 16 ...

241. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... their knowledge of his commitment to God. Earlier, Daniel had referred to his God privately with his friends (2:17–19), in his confrontation of Nebuchadnezzar (2:28; 4:25), and in his public rebuke of Belshazzar (5:23). Daniel may have revealed his beliefs and practices to the other administrators verbally or through his semipublic prayers (6:10). 6:6–7 went as a group. The NIV’s “went” is too mild. The Aramaic term r e gash likely connotes “an angry, conspiring throng.”9 This is intensified ...

242. Treatise: The Efficacy of Grace over Law

Galatians 3:1-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... unified standard, no part of which could be violated (3:10). Thus, any believers finding themselves to be violators of that law would not be pleasing at all to God but would be under the curse contained in that covenant (3:10–12). Thus, contrary to the opponents’ beliefs, Paul shows that Christ does not make a person able to obey the law but accepts the curse of the Mosaic covenant (and, in effect, removes it from the covenant) in his own death (3:13–14). Such a removal of the curse opens the way for ...

243. The Victory That Overcomes the World

1 John 5:1-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... manifested in the world through faithfulness. In the final chapter of 1 John as a circular read among the Asia Minor churches, both faith and faithfulness are lifted up as a response to, and an implication of, that victory of God which overcomes the world. 5:1–3 · Belief in Jesus as the Christ is victory:Just as the original ending of the Gospel of John (John 20:31) is written in order that hearers and readers might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in believing have life in his name ...

244. God Is Trying to Tell You Something

John 1:(1-9) 10-18

Sermon

James L. Killen

... people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God..." (John 11-12). A certain man has told the story of how this worked out for him. Fred chose to let the wrong set of beliefs shape his life. He had grown up hearing the story of Jesus, but he chose to let our materialistic culture tell him what life is all about. Fred was an ambitious young man. Even before he finished high school, he knew that he wanted to succeed in business and to ...

245. I Wonder if God Exists

Genesis 1:1-5

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... is the reason for this chapter. Some want legitimate arguments for the existence of God to help bring them to faith in God. Others desire clear and concise explanations for God’s existence in order to feel prepared when articulating the reason for their beliefs when they are challenged. My prayer is that what follows will satisfy your requests. Everything Begins With God People have been wondering about God’s existence since there has been a human being on earth who could reflect on the meaning of life ...

246. God's Wrath Against Mankind

Romans 1:18-32

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... godlessness and wickedness, see Schlatter, Gottes Gerechtigkeit, p. 49, and Str-B, vol. 3, p. 31. 1:19–21 The hallmark of the Enlightenment was free inquiry through unimpeded reason, which included a rejection of all forms of revelation or church authority, belief in the essential goodness of humanity, and an understanding of nature as a perfect machine with God as its manufacturer. Thus, reason and nature became the (only) two avenues of knowledge about God, thus reducing religion generally to a code of ...

247. The Resurrection of the Dead

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... of experiencing the power of God’s resurrection (see esp. Rom. 6). If there were no resurrection of the dead, then being baptized in behalf of the dead made no sense. Paul means to imply that by their actions some of the Corinthians indicate a concern with or belief in the resurrection of the dead. 15:30–31 Paul again shifts the point of view in formulating a string of arguments in favor of the reality of the resurrection of the dead. Now he speaks from a personal point of view in reference to his work ...

248. Introducing Job

Job 1:1-5

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... the prophetic, rather than geographic, interpretation. The literary relationship between Prov. 22:17–24:22 and the Egyptian wisdom text of Amenemopet also demonstrates that the editors of the Wisdom literature were not afraid to adapt such texts to their own beliefs and purposes. For an ET of the Amenemopet text, see “The Instruction of Amen-em-Opet,” in ANET, pp. 421–25. Other, less persuasive suggestions for a symbolic rendering of the name Job include: “the penitent one” (compare the Arabic ...

249. Zophar

Job 11:1-20

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... sincerity (and agony): the desire to be heard by God! 11:6 If God were to confront Job as Zophar wishes, he would reveal to Job secrets of wisdom that he could not otherwise know. This is, of course, a way of denigrating the “flawless beliefs” Job is relying so heavily upon. Since true wisdom has two sides—perhaps meaning there is one side available to human observation and experience as well as another side known only to God—Zophar asserts that Job has some surprises coming when God reveals the ...

250. Intercession for the King Before Battle

Psalm 20:1-9

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... in horses, but we trust (better to read “will prevail”) in the name of the LORD our God. This confession is both disarming and empowering. It recognizes the reality of military might but also implicitly takes hold of a superior power. This belief is fundamental to Deuteronomy (20:1–4), which presents itself as Moses’ speeches to Israel prior to the conquest of Canaan. Here the king was explicitly forbidden to “acquire great numbers of horses” (17:16). Insofar as the state of Israel exercised ...

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