Sermon and Worship Resources

Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 3751 to 3775 of 4681 results

3751. Accusations

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... , “As for the word which you and I have spoken, see, the Lord is witness between me and you forever” (1 Sam. 20:23), and David makes the same vow to Jonathan (v. 42). In his farewell speech (1 Sam. 12:1–25), Samuel challenges the people to bear witness against him of any wrongdoing that he may have done as judge of Israel (vv. 1–3). When the people agree that they can find nothing incriminating in his conduct (v. 4), Samuel invokes the Lord as “witness among you” of these findings (v. 5); indeed ...

3752. Hearts

2 Corinthians 6:14--7:1

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... of God: An Exegetical Investigation into the Background of ΥΙΟΘΕΣΙΑ in the Pauline Corpus (WUNT 2/48; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992), pp. 187–220. See further G. K. Beale, “The Old Testament Background of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5–7 and its Bearing on the Literary Problem of 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1,” NTS 35 (1989), pp. 550–81; Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn, “The Impact of the Qumran Scrolls on the Understanding of Paul,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (STDJ 10; Leiden ...

3753. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... hear means the Christian stands in the tradition of the OT figures who heard the word or the revelation of the Lord. Hearing means more than noting that something has been spoken; it means understanding and responding to what is heard (cf. Rom. 10:16; 1 Thess. 2:13). It bears the same meaning in Paul and in the rest of the NT (e.g., Mark 4:23; 1 John 1:1; Heb. 2:3) as in our modern context when a person might say “I hear you,” meaning “I accept what you are saying.” The phrase “believe what you ...

3754. Hagar and Sally

Galatians 4:21-31

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... –25 Paul takes the allegory further by speaking of the two women as two covenants. This clearly goes well beyond Genesis, but Paul has admitted that he speaks figuratively. He equates Hagar with Mount Sinai. In doing so he also says that this covenant bears children who are to be slaves, emphasizing this by stating that Mount Sinai is in Arabia, the land in which Ishmael, the child of the slave woman, settled (Gen. 26:18). Whereas Judaism stresses the privilege that comes from the law, Paul here uses the ...

3755. Life by the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-26

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... . Rom. 13:13) suggests, as Burton puts so well, “the eager desire for possession created by the spectacle of another’s possession” (Galatians, p. 307); the word for fits of rage connotes intense anger. Selfish ambition is a difficult word to translate but bears the sense of self-seeking, strife, and contentiousness. Dissensions refer to divisiveness in a group (cf. Rom. 16:17); and factions (cf. 1 Cor. 11:19) to groups who hold to their opinions aggressively and divisively. 5:21 The list continues by ...

3756. Not Circumcision but a New Creation

Galatians 6:11-18

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... believers in Christ. 6:17 Paul appeals that no one should cause him trouble. He conveys an air of confidence that his letter will accomplish its task and that in the future he will no longer be troubled by this situation. Paul knows himself to be one who bears the marks of Jesus on his body. He is certain of his own integrity and that his position will win the day. And, in terms of the outcome of the struggle between the rival evangelists and himself, he was right. 6:18 Paul ends with a grace benediction ...

3757. Spiritual Blessings in Christ

Ephesians 1:1-14

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... is not mentioned, it definitely must include the person of Christ (“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” Rom. 10:9) or the gospel that bears witness to him. Third, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. The imagery behind this phrase comes from the ancient custom of sealing (sphragizō), in which personal possessions (e.g., animals, household goods, slaves) received a mark or stamp ...

3758. Thanksgiving and Prayer

Ephesians 1:15-23

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... Recent Study,” Vox Evangelica, 1 (1962), pp. 29–42. See also J. Coutts, “Ephesians 1:3–14 and 1 Peter 1:3–12,” NTS 3 (1956–57), pp. 115–27; F. L. Cross, 1 Peter: A Pascal Liturgy (London: Mowbray, 1954); F. W. Beare, The First Epistle of Peter, 3d ed. (Oxford: Blackwell’s, 1970). The reference for identifying enlightenment and baptism is in Justin’s Apology I, 61, 65. Additional discussion is in Ysebaret, Greek Baptismal Terminology, pp. 157ff. The Result of Christ’s Enthronement 1:20 ...

3759. Made Alive in Christ

Ephesians 2:1-10

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... fulfilled. That there is an “inauguration” of the eschatological process does not, however, eliminate the futuristic element. Paul retains the conviction that the eschatological process now begun is moving forward toward a final day of consummation. This has a significant bearing upon Paul’s theology because it places the individual in tension between the two aeons—the one begun with the coming of Christ and the one yet to come at his Parousia. The Christian occupies a position between the times ...

3760. One in Christ

Ephesians 2:11-22

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... that threatened the church, it became necessary to establish an authentic line of tradition through the apostles and prophets (Houlden, p. 292). T. K. Abbott reasons that the cornerstone was more important to Orientals because of its function in connecting and bearing the weight of the building (p. 71). This view does have some appeal, because in the context of the passage the emphasis is upon the function of Christ in keeping this growing structure unified. The cornerstone would have provided the key ...

3761. Slaves and Masters

Ephesians 6:5-9

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... masters and so their believing slaves share the same heavenly Lord (you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven). “In civil law, the slave had no rights as against his master, but under Christianity the obligations are reciprocal” (Beare, p. 735). A higher social or economic status is of no advantage in the Christian community as far as one’s relationship with the Lord is concerned. With Christ there is no favoritism (lit., “before him there is no partiality,” prosōpolēmpsia ...

3762. The Supremacy of Christ

Colossians 1:15-23

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... and the Father are one” (10:30), and “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9). Such a claim could not be made for any angel or spiritual power. Christ’s sovereignty is attested to by his personal and unique relationship to God. By bearing the image of God in this way, Christ stands apart from the created order as the firstborn over all creation. The phrase firstborn (prōtotokos) has often been taken in a temporal sense implying that Christ is the first one to be created and thus belongs ...

3763. Timothy’s Encouraging Report

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... , it is argued, as this verse says he will, he must first have come for them. A number of other passages are enlisted to corroborate this scenario (e.g., Mark 13:27; Rev. 11:11f.), but none of them, and least of all 1 Thessalonians 3:13, can bear the weight of this interpretation. Some would even doubt that the holy ones refers to his saints; but allowing that it does (see the disc.), what more is Paul saying here than he says, for example, in 4:14? Paul wants to assure the Thessalonians that their dead ...

3764. Final Instructions

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... The weak” are the weak in faith (Rom. 14:1). The train of thought leading from the second to the third injunction is clear, and Paul is still requiring this pastoral concern of his readers in Romans 15:1 when he wrote, “we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not please ourselves.” Fourth, they are to be patient (makrothymeō) with everyone. In Galatians 5:22, patience (makrothymia) is a fruit of the Spirit (cf. also 1 Cor. 13:4; Eph. 4:2; Col. 1:11; 3:12), reproducing in us ...

3765. Final Greetings

2 Thessalonians 3:16-18

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the subject; 2 Tim. 4:22; cf. also Matt. 28:20). The answer to this prayer is the answer also to the first, for the Lord (Jesus) is our peace, putting us at peace with each other (to the extent that we allow his influence, his Spirit, to come to bear on our lives) and reconciling us to God through the cross (cf. Eph. 2:14; Col. 1:20; also Mark 9:50). 3:17 It was unusual for a letter writer in the ancient world to sign his or her name at the end, as is our practice. It was ...

3766. Overseers and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... , see Hanson, pp. 77–78. For the tacit assumption of marital infidelity in Greco-Roman culture, see Demosthenes, Oration 59:122: “Mistresses we keep for the sake of pleasure, concubines for the daily care of the body, but wives to bear us legitimate children” (Loeb, VI, 445, 447, slightly modified). Kelly thinks that both hospitality and teaching reflect official duties. But since hospitality is expected of all believers, it is difficult to see anything “official” here. It is possible that since ...

3767. Christ's Sacrifice Once for All

Hebrews 10:1-18

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... of his key texts (Jer. 31:33–34), the author asserts that what he has argued is in precise accord with Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning the new covenant. The Holy Spirit is regarded as the ultimate inspiration of the prophet Jeremiah’s words; thus the Spirit bears witness through what he wrote (cf. 3:7; 9:8; 8:8). The quotation is given in two parts: the first predicts the reality of the new covenant positively, whereas the second (v. 17) refers to the blotting out of sins (with the strongest negatives ...

3768. Praying for Endurance and Healing

James 4:13-17, James 5:1-6, James 5:7-12, James 5:13-20

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... of commitment to God that the prayer expresses, it will be ineffectual. The faith lies in the elders, not in the sick person (about whose faith nothing is said). The elders’ faith is critical: If something “goes wrong” it is they, not the sick person, who bear the onus. The promise is the Lord will raise him up. In Greek it is clearly physical healing, not just spiritual preparation for death, that James is concerned with, and it is the Lord’s action that does the healing, not the oil, the hands, or ...

3769. Suffering for Being a Christian

1 Peter 4:12-19

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... in the apostolic preaching (“Christ” is, of course, simply the Greek version of the Hebrew term “Messiah”). Whatever the reason for opponents calling them by the name Christian, let believers praise God when they are so labeled. By the translation that you bear that name, the NIV has paraphrased the Greek (which literally is simply “in this name”) and assumes that name refers back to the title Christian earlier in the verse. For readers familiar with the OT, however, name can be a technical term ...

3770. Making One's Calling and Election Sure

2 Peter 1:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... his disposal. On the one hand, without the believer’s active cooperation, all the qualities listed will stagnate and come to nothing. On the other hand, their fostering and development will prevent the Christian from being ineffective by being out of action, and unproductive, bearing no spiritual fruit. A growing knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, of his person and of his ways, is thus the climax and the prize of Christian endeavor, as it is also its source and accompaniment (vv. 3, 6; cf. John 17:3; Col ...

3771. Prophecy of Scripture

2 Peter 1:12-21

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... prophetic role of Jesus, already foretold by Moses: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him” (Deut. 18:15). Came: Instead of the usual word for “come,” Peter here has the verb pherein, to bear (as appears also in Acts 2:2, for the coming of the Pentecostal wind). Peter makes use of the same verb in 1 Pet. 2:24, 2 Pet. 1:18 (in connection with the gift of prophecy), and in 2:11). Majestic Glory is a rare expression, but a typical ...

3772. The Day of the Lord

2 Peter 3:1-18

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... carrying forward his earlier revelations of divine purposes now that Jesus the Messiah had come. There was nothing incongruous in setting apostolic words on a level with the Old Testament (1 Cor. 12:8; 2 Cor. 13:3; 1 Thess. 2:13). Additional Notes 3:15 Bear in mind (hēgeisthe) that our Lord’s patience means salvation pointedly balances the use of the same verb in v. 9: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand (hēgountai) slowness.” Peter’s reference to our dear (agapētos ...

3773. Crossing the Sea

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... had indeed communicated such things in Egypt in their worst moments (5:20–21; 6:9). The reference to “graves in Egypt” is ironic, considering the proliferation of ancient pyramid tombs. This would not be the last time that their situation was “too much to bear.” They would speak of preferring to serve and die in Egypt twice again in Exodus (16:3; 17:3). Whom they would serve/worship remained the issue in the midst of the crisis. Their experience of bondage had taught them to avoid these kinds of ...

3774. The Song of Moses and Miriam

Exodus 15:1-21

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy. The first part of the stanza is a witness to the Lord’s deliverance (vv. 2–3). Its focus is on the Lord as. . . my strength, my song, my salvation, my God, my father’s God . . . and as a warrior. The singer bears testimony to the saving power the Lord provided by intervening in the historical circumstance at the sea. Yahweh (the Lord) is his name. God fights to create and establish the people (Deut. 1:30; 3:22; 20:4; Josh. 10:14, 42; 23:3, 10). They have no army ...

3775. The Waters of Marah and Elim

Exodus 15:22-27

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... 26 The Lord’s concern for health and healing in the 613 Sinai laws is extensive (Exod. 19–Num. 10:10). Community order in itself is a health issue. Keeping the Ten Commandments (e.g., you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet) deeply reduces violent crime in any community. The Sinai laws are also full of legal procedures with extensive instruction on how to maintain a just court, establishing a system of rule by law rather than by force. The laws also ...

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