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 3076 to 3100 of 4947 results

3076. The Division of Priests

1 Chronicles 24:1-19

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... that the descendants of Kohath and Merari are mentioned, but not of Gershom. In terms of the structure, I see this section as a general overview that introduces the second group of Levites (in the generic sense). The first group, the Aaronites and associated cultic Levites, was dealt with in the previous subsections. I treat the present subsection as the equivalent of the description of the Aaronites cum Levites (cultic) on the basis of the formulation in 24:31. The Hebrew phrase translated in the NIV as ...

3077. The Rest of the Levites

1 Chronicles 24:20-31

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

3078. King Artaxerxes' Letter to Ezra

Ezra 7:11-28

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... editor used the announcement of Artaxerxes’ letter to reemphasize Ezra’s double role as priest and “scribe” (NRSV), explaining the latter in terms of an understanding of the Torah as the revelation of the divine will for the life of Israel. The reader can sense by now the editor’s spiritual devotion to the Torah, as ardent as that of Psalms 19 and 119 and of the aged Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke 1:6. The official document, which is written in Aramaic, defines Ezra in terms of his credentials ...

3079. The Return to Jerusalem

Ezra 8:15-36

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... and enabling the successful completion of the journey (v. 31). Ezra envisioned himself as fulfilling the divine will and found each step of faith honored by God. 7:28b–8:14 Ezra had just relived, in the outburst of praise in 7:27–28a, his sense of God’s involvement in the generous commission of Artaxerxes. Now he records that this conviction gave him encouragement to get started. He had a record of the party of volunteers available, which he incorporated into his narrative. For the sake of the story ...

3080. Those Guilty of Intermarriage

Ezra 10:18-44

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... appears to be a modification of earlier capital punishment, expressed in terms of being “cut off from the community of Israel” (Exod. 12:19; compare Ezek. 13:9). Literally, the term used here is “be separated,” in a negative sense. The term recurs in the desirable sense, “separate oneself,” in 9:1; 10:11. The penalty for not attending the assembly convened for such separation was to be separated from membership of the community, like the foreign wives and the children of mixed marriages (compare ...

3081. The Completion of the Wall

Nehemiah 6:15-7:3

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... compelling than the fact that nowhere else in the OT is it used with a divine subject. The alternative is to construe the verb as an inf. absolute, here equivalent to a first-person sg. perf., as the ancient versions took it (see BHS). Then the sense is, “But my morale rose even higher” (NJB). It is difficult to make a clear-cut decision. It is interesting that the revisers of the NEB switched from the second interpretation (“So I applied myself to it with greater energy”) to the first in the REB ...

3082. How Beautiful Your Feet

Song of Songs 7:1-13

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... woman interrupts by offering the wine in/of her mouth to her lover. This is a passage rich in sensory imagery. The man moves from sight to touch to smell to taste. The woman picks up the images of taste and touch. The abrupt change of speakers also implies the sense of hearing. 7:10–13 The segment opens with another variation on the mutual possession formula (2:16; 6:3). Verse 10b is a counterpart to (or even a reversal of) Genesis 3:16, where the woman’s desire is for her man. In verse 11, the woman is ...

3083. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

Isaiah 3:1--4:1

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... of speech. As usual the prophet keeps his hearers on their toes. He pictures Yahweh standing up to declare judgment on “peoples” (v. 13, NRSV), which might seem good news to Judah if it meant judgment on its enemies, or even judgment for them in the sense envisaged by 2:2–4. But suddenly the spotlight returns to his people and its elders and leaders (v. 14), and Isaiah announces a motif that will be developed in chapter 5, Yahweh’s vineyard. So on one side are “peoples” and Judah’s elders ...

3084. The Remnant of Israel

Isaiah 10:20-34

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... :4, suggesting that Midian is the main focus through vv. 26–27, which would explain the odd order in which the exodus is mentioned after Midian—it is an afterthought. In the last phrase of v. 27, NIV “preserves the MT but at the expense of making no sense” (Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, p. 119, n. 2). The Hb. for shoulder (see NIV mg.) is similar to that for fatness. 10:33–34 Out of context this might refer to Judah’s leadership, but the context here suggests Assyria, after vv. 16–17 as well ...

3085. A Prophecy Against Assyria

Isaiah 14:24-27

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... as it operates by the world’s methods (its own inclination), Yahweh treats it in the same way as other peoples, and so it can tellingly appear sandwiched between Damascus and Cush or Arabia and Tyre. The subjects of all the poems thus make sense in the context of Isaiah’s ministry. Nevertheless their perspective is not confined to those decades. Like chapters 1–12, they also refer to contexts beyond Isaiah’s day. These include at least the decline and fall of Assyria itself a century later, the ...

3086. A Song of Praise

Isaiah 26:1-21

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... will nicely round off chapters 13–26, but there will be more to follow. This is reminiscent of the way chapter 22 might have seemed the ending to chapters 13–23. The motifs from chapter 12 recur: in that day, song, salvation in the sense of deliverance from threat and pressure, trust, strong (translated “strength” in 12:2), lofty (translated “exalted” in 12:4). Making the comparison helps to highlight the distinctive feature of this new hymn. That is its focus on the city, which derives from its ...

3087. The Servant of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1-9

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... at-a-loss-ness in 41:5–7). On Zion Yahweh would make a decision for them (the verb “judge,” which is related to the word mishpat), a judgment that would mean the end of war (another reason for the healing nature of Yahweh’s servant’s work?). In a sense, all that verses 1–4 declare is that Yahweh’s servant is now to implement the vision of 2:2–4. 42:5–9 Verses 5–9 begin with the chapter’s first use of the “messenger formula” that indicates that someone speaks with the authority of a ...

3088. Israel's Only Savior

Isaiah 43:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... and evidence to be presented. The evidence lies not in subjective experience, which is not a law court’s concern, but in objective fact. There are events in the world that may seem to make little sense. Indeed, world history as a whole may seem to make little sense. But the Jewish people, and then the Christian church, possesses God’s announcements of intentions and God’s interpretations of actual events, and these provide the keys to understanding the enigmas of history. Isaiah 40–55 presupposes ...

3089. Restoration of Israel

Isaiah 49:8-26

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... whole, then, parallels that of a passage such as 43:14–21. NIV implies the view that God is now addressing the servant who spoke in vv. 1–6, and this makes good sense of some aspects of vv. 7–13. But the section begins simply “the LORD says” not “the LORD says to me,” and it is difficult to make good sense of the whole on this view. The overlaps rather correspond to the overlap between the people’s servant calling and the prophet’s interim fulfillment of such a calling. More likely Yahweh ...

3090. Jeremiah's Complaint

Jeremiah 12:1-4, Jeremiah 12:5-17, Jeremiah 11:18-23

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... prophet (see 11:21; 12:6). It appears that the plot evokes Jeremiah’s lament in 12:1–4. Jeremiah speaks to God in the first of his so-called “confessions” and begins with an affirmation of God’s righteousness in a judicial sense (when I bring a case before you). This legal language again reminds us of the fact that prophets were covenantal lawyers. God’s righteousness would imply that he renders the innocent innocent and the guilty guilty. However, Jeremiah proceeds by questioning precisely that ...

3091. How Well Do You Listen?

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... Spirit saturates his soul. He writes, “In centering prayer, something happens to me that is strange and blessed. I feel the Spirit expanding within me ‘like a fountain of living water,’ as Jesus said, and I begin to experience a transforming presence and a sense of empowerment from God.” (4) You and I may never experience what Tony Campolo experiences in prayer that is that intense. It takes a real commitment to set aside the time to truly listen to God. It’s ironic, isn’t it? We will resolve ...

3092. The Baby or the Window?

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... it.” What Jesus is saying to us is that a fulfilling life only comes to those who have determined what really matters in this world and then give everything they have to pursuing that one thing. That makes sense, doesn’t it? If there is one thing in life that matters more than anything else, it would make sense to lock in on that one thing and make it the single most important priority in your life. That’s the way to have a successful life. Of course, some people have difficulty deciding what is most ...

3093. John Mellencamp and the Danger of Procrastination

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... call and followed him. That says a lot about how Jesus came across to people, but it also says much about them. And perhaps it says even more about the task he had called them to. Mark shows us a Jesus who is in a hurry; a man with a sense of urgency. Someone has noticed that Mark used one word in his Gospel more than any other. It is the word “immediately.” This word is used forty times in those brief 16 chapters of Mark’s Gospel. The last thing Jesus wants is procrastinators. That’s clear in Mark ...

3094. Actors

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

John Jamison

... now, and although he started out talking about things that were theological, he was now getting to things that actually made sense to everyone. It was nice to hear him say how the poor are actually blessed, and the weak will one day inherit the earth, but while ... those ideas are comforting, they are really kind of hard to make any real sense of in the day-to-day things that go on. He was talking about things that were real, like praying, giving, and fasting. These ...

3095. Zeal!

John 2:13-22

Sermon

John Jamison

... Looking back on it, it may not have been all that smart, but you had had enough and you did it. Can you remember one of those times? Take just a moment and search your memory, and maybe this story about Jesus cleansing the temple will make a little more sense. But before we actually begin the story let’s recognize some of the confusion around this incident and get it out of the way so we can hear what the story actually has to say to us. Sometimes we get distracted by things and miss out on what the story ...

3096. Does Easter Really Matter?

Mark 16:1-8, John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... all. Does it matter that Christ has risen from the dead? It is if you have ever loved or been loved. It is if you value life and want to cling to it forever. It also matters whether Christ is risen from the grave if you want to make any sense out of living. Easter is important not only because of what it says about life beyond the grave, but because of what it says about life on this side of the grave. If Christ lives, then life has meaning. There is hope even in the most difficult circumstances. Even at ...

3097. A Divided Family

Mark 3:20-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... Jerusalem. Of course Jerusalem was also the seat of ecclesiastical power for Jewish believers, so theologically one might be on safe ground to speak of these ecclesiastical luminaries as coming down from Jerusalem. It’s a small point but I am trying to make sense out of this passage. And it is quite jarring to think that Jesus’ own family was questioning whether he was out of his mind. So, why would Mark include it? There are some possibilities that come to mind. First of all, Mark mentions it because ...

3098. Chaos and Solitude

Mark 6:30-44, 53-56

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... of thousands of people when he came to visit our chaotic world. Chaos is catching, but Jesus did not succumb. There was chaos all around him because so many wanted to see him, touch him, and hear him. But there was a serenity within him that people could sense. Jesus was and is the still point in a chaotic and churning world. Jesus said, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while" (Mark 6:31). Jesus knew that life includes heavy demands and hard work. Life has to have a counterpoint ...

3099. A Cross-Shaped Life

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... word agape. It's not the Greek word eros which is a kind of romantic or erotic love that depends on attraction. It's not philia, the kind of friendship love that depends on a common background or a common interest, on the same taste in music or the same sense of humor. Agape is the kind of love described in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." This is a love that is chosen, a love that is acted out -- it doesn't depend on good behavior, it perseveres even through disappointment ...

3100. Filling the Emptiness Within

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... truth is that God created a good world, and life is good, when we live it for God and base our lives on his Word. When we live away from God,” Buchanan writes, “‘life sucks and then you die.’ [But] when you live your life for God life makes sense because it is based on the truth, and because your life is based on the truth, it works.” (7) Dr. Buchanan is right. Building a life on God does work. “I am the bread of life . . .” says Jesus. What does that mean to you? Bestselling author Max Lucado ...

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