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 3776 to 3800 of 4963 results

3776. Practical Ethics

Galatians 6:1-10

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... wrong that could be used to strengthen one’s claim of superiority against the erring sister or brother. Paul completes these exhortations with an appeal for each person to seriously assess their own condition, as one whose only concern is to test their own level of responsibility in the Lord (6:3–5), without falling into an attitude of conceit (6:3). The Galatians are to see that their faithful actions in this area do fulfill a law, namely, the law of Christ (6:3). It is interesting to note that Paul ...

3777. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... secure in our position and future with God. We are secure enough to sacrifice our own interests as an offering to God on behalf of the interests of other people (5:2). It is uncomfortably threatening both to forgive without guarantee of a favorable response and to give up personal anxieties without assurance of provision. But once we realize that our ultimate worth and final provision rest with a God who has been more than favorably disposed all along—and always will be—the threat evaporates (cf. John ...

3778. Paul’s Apostolic Salutation and Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... them today. There were multiple “bishops” in each church who functioned as leaders within the church. The word “deacon” was often used in the Greco-Roman world to refer to those responsible for distributing food and goods. Paul uses the term here to refer to those within the Philippian congregation who are responsible for managing and distributing food and goods to the poor and needy. It is likely that Paul is thanking these people because they helped organize the aid sent to him with Epaphroditus ...

3779. The Man of Lawlessness

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 2:41; 4:4; 10:44; 15:32; 20:2). On the other hand, the teaching may have come via a pseudonymous letter (see Paul’s response in 3:17). However it came, the teaching was that “the day of the Lord has already come” (2:2; on the day of the Lord ... 2 Thess. 1:8), which is here called “the truth” (2:14; Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5). Eternal destiny is dependent on one’s response to the gospel of Christ, and refusing this truth opens a person to deception. Paul adds, “For this reason God sends them a powerful ...

3780. Instructions to Timothy

1 Timothy 4:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... drama Paul sees in Christ’s coming in the middle of time to effect redemption at Satan’s expense (esp. Gal. 1:1–4; Col. 2:15; Eph. 1:3–23; 2:1–10; 3:7–10; 6:12–20). This redemption has prompted an ultimately doomed response by Satan: the unleashing of a “secret power of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:7), masked, ironically, by teachers who promote phony lawfulness, a piety-pretending denial with respect to food and sex (the situation finds a parallel in Col. 2:8–23). Paul sets the opponents ...

3781. Trials and Temptation

James 1:1-18

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... ). Like the bait that lures the fish and the hook that snares it, sin entices and seeks to entrap us. That James does not here mention Satan does not mean that he ignores the power of the tempter (see 4:7). His point is to lay responsibility for sin clearly at the door of each individual. And, as J. A. Bengel remarks, “Even the suggestions of the devil do not occasion danger, before they are made ‘our own’ ” (Bengel, 5:7). Shifting his imagery, James traces the terrible process by which temptation ...

3782. Listening and Doing

James 1:19-27

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... us, “does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (1:20). 1:21–27 · “Be doers of the word”:Many translations and commentaries take verse 21 with verses 19–20, but it really introduces the main topic of the next paragraph: the right response to God’s word. James commands us to receive the word (1:21). Elsewhere in the New Testament, this expression describes conversion, but this cannot be the meaning here, since James addresses people who already are Christian. What he means is well ...

3783. Final Exhortations and Greetings

1 Peter 5:1-11, 1 Peter 5:12-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... He therefore enters into all that that means, sharing those sufferings himself and thus participating in the glory to be revealed. His readers are not alone in their suffering. Peter stands beside them. He urges the elders to be aware of their special responsibility as shepherds. The imperative has an urgency about it—get on with the job! Then in three pairs of balancing phrases (“not . . . but,” 5:2–3) Peter tells them how they should exercise their pastoral care as far as inner motivation (“not ...

3784. To Abide in Christ Is to Attain Victory over Sin

1 John 2:28--3:10

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 9). To be born of God is to eradicate the human bent toward sinning. Parallel to the stories in the Gospel, where a person’s response to the revealer exposed whether one was rooted in light or darkness (John 3:18–21), here the measure of one’s spiritual condition ... This rhetorical move marks an interesting contrast to the Gospel. In John’s Gospel, rootedness in God is exposed by a person’s response to the one who not only speaks the words of God but who is the Word of God. In John’s first epistle ...

3785. Let Us Love One Another!

1 John 4:7-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... in fear but in love; after all, perfect love casts out all fear (4:18). Again, our love as a response to God’s love is emphasized (4:19) as an echo of verse 10. While the saving initiative of God’s love is the central ... hope of the gospel, that reality evokes an irresistible human response of love for God. As in the countered statements of particular targets in his audience in the first two chapters, the elder once ...

3786. Joy at Believers’ Walking in the Truth

3 John 1:1-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... come and reason with him personally (cf. Matt. 18:15–17). Fourth, perhaps Diotrephes was threatened by Johannine egalitarianism, exercise of inclusive ministry, and emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s accessibility to all believers (John 14–16). It may even be in response to Diotrephes and his kin that the elder was motivated to gather the beloved disciple’s witness into a finalized Gospel and circulate it as a reminder of Jesus’s original intention for the church. If indeed the elder has added material ...

3787. 8:2–5

Revelation 8:6--9:21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... of Moses 1.95; cf. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 2.293–95). But, tragically, instead of repenting, “he [Pharaoh] hardened his heart” against God (Exod. 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7). John sees this tragedy of hardened hearts repeated in the human response to the seven trumpet plagues. Nonbelievers continue to worship idols that can neither see nor hear nor truly help them in their hour of need (Rev. 9:20). As God strips away every idol through the plagues until no alternative sources of security are ...

3788. You Are a Child of God…Uh-Oh

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... of light, from the kingdom of strife to the kingdom of love, from the stark reality of certain death to the promise of glorious and everlasting life. Baptism should never be regarded lightly. One reason that baptism is an “uh-oh” experience is that it represents responsibilities on our part. Uh-oh! We [or the child whom we are presenting for baptism] are becoming part of the body of Christ. That means we are becoming part of the church. It means that we are to love our fellow believers as well as the ...

3789. Are You Sorry Enough to Wash Your Face?

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... shame of her time that caused her so to act? That is not the same as Lenten repentance today. Then there is Mordecai's reaction to Haman's decree as recorded in Esther 4:1-3. Mordecai felt personally responsible for what happened but there is no indicator that Mordecai's response was because of great faith in God for there is no mention of God and no record of accompanying prayer. It was, if anything, a psychological reaction to a national downturn. Again it is not about anything like biblical repentance ...

3790. A Jiffy for Eternity

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... . This is no ordinary birth. It is birth "from above." Nicodemus recognizes the difference right away and responds with a question: "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" (v. 4). In his response, the Lord expands his birth metaphor: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that ...

3791. Oh Say, Can You See by the Dawn’s Early Light?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... what it is. We dare not measure our level of commitment with the adjudged level of someone else's. There is only one against whom we measure our commitment level and that is the Lord Christ himself. One man, asked to serve on a church board, tried to dodge the responsibility that comes with such a position. He said to his pastor, "Let someone else do it. I don't want to be tied down." "Why not?" his pastor asked. Then the pastor added, "Jesus wasn't tied down. He was nailed down! If he did that for you, how ...

3792. Come and See

John 1:29-42

Sermon

James L. Killen

... fullness of life. When we hear those witnesses, we know that God is still doing those same saving works in the lives of people who need them today. We should be alert to recognize those saving works when they are happening in our lives and in our world and be responsive so that God can do his saving work in our lives. Let's look at one example of how that might work. The disciples of John may have wondered what John meant by calling Jesus "The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." That is one ...

3793. Falling Into Faith

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... very own son, would produce as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. At this point, we would expect Abraham to chime in with the cynical sigh, “Promises, promises.” That is what most of us would have done. But this time, Abraham’s response was different: no complaints, no questions, no doubts, only belief that all of God’s promises would be fulfilled. As we follow this dialogue, now is the time some may ask, “What just happened?” One moment Abraham is a pouting protestor, and the next ...

3794. I Wonder about God’s Will for My Life

Romans 12:1-2

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... . They often say, “I have a big decision, and I need to know what God wants me to do! I am at a crossroad, and I wonder what God’s will is for my life?” When I ask people what they would like to hear a sermon on, a frequent response is, “Finding God’s will for my life.” Obviously, finding God’s will is important for many of us. God’s Will is Not a Secret I have great news! God wants us to know his will even more than we want to know his will. God’s will is ...

3795. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 10:1-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the dust from their feet in protest against the Jews of Pisidian Antioch. Paul shakes out his clothes in Acts 18:6 (cf. Neh. 5:13) in protest against the Jews of Corinth and says, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility.” For the Jewish custom, see Str.-B., vol. 1, p. 571. 10:15 Sodom and Gomorrah: Sodom is the most often mentioned (thirty-six times) of the “cities of the valley.” It became the symbol of wickedness, and its destruction, along with that of Gomorrah, is held ...

3796. Lord of the Sabbath

Matthew 12:1-14

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... of true religion. The freedom with which Jesus acted was a serious threat to their traditional point of view. What they could not grasp was that freedom from ritual commandment need not lead to moral chaos but within the kingdom of God imposes a responsibility far greater than any law could demand. Jesus’ person was so authoritative and his reasoning so persuasive that those who would not agree had but one option—get rid of him. What began as name-calling (e.g., 9:34) ended in crucifixion. Additional ...

3797. Divorce

Matthew 19:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... a perfect marriage becomes an argument against marriage itself. Tasker writes that “this is the voice of the perfectionist, and the ascetic, who because the best is unlikely to be attained would avoid the second-best” (p. 183). 19:11–12 Jesus’ response to his disciples’ conclusion about marriage is that not all men are able to accept (chōreō, “to make room,” thus, in a mental sense, “to comprehend or accept,” BAGD, p. 890) this saying (ton logon touton), but only those “who have ...

3798. Gratitude and Coping

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... for their being here so late, because I have been teaching and healing them. This is not a buck we have a right to pass. We must do something about this problem of hunger and the late hour. You give them something to eat." It is clear from this response that for Jesus the way out was always the way through. To him the solution of a problem never lay behind him or off on a tangent somewhere. It lay straight on the other side of the difficulty. For Jesus, the good news always comes by facing up to the ...

3799. Crowds Follow Jesus

Mark 3:7-12

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... followers. The reference to the evil spirits (3:11–12) again shows Jesus’ authority over these demons and his unwillingness to accept their acclamation (cf. 1:23–25, 34). Both the crowd and the evil spirits, then, attest to the significance of Jesus, but also show inadequate responses to him. The cry of the demons is very significant, You are the Son of God. Elsewhere in the narrative, only God (1:11; 9:7), other demons (5:7), and the centurion at the cross call Jesus by this title (15:39). Mark 1:1 ...

3800. Divorce

Mark 10:1-12

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... who joins together husband and wife (v. 9) refers to the creation plan of God that every marriage is obligated to follow, and it means that, like OT prophets (e.g., Mal. 2:10–16), Jesus defines marriage as a relationship in which both husband and wife are responsible both to each other and to God for maintaining its sanctity For Mark’s readers, this means that once again, as with the question of food practices (7:1–23) or fasting (2:18–22) or Sabbath observance (2:23–3:6), their conduct is not to ...

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