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 376 to 400 of 513 results

376. Job's Three Friends

Job 2:11-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The scene: Earth. Three friends arrive and in silence sit with Job, mourning. Most believe that Job’s three friends are geographical neighbors. Underlying NIV’s “sympathize” is a Hebrew word that refers to a motion of nodding the head as an expression of commiseration. Sympathy so deep as to be devoid of words, expressible only through this movement, is understandable here. One may note the use of three and seven again (see 1:1–5). Three friends sit silent for seven days and nights.

377. Job's Reply to Eliphaz

Job 6:1–7:21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... die. Indeed, more in line with the way Job feels about God, he wants God to crush him, to complete the job he started. Job turns to address his friends, spiritedly throwing accusations at them (6:14–30). He has expected comfort and sympathy; he has received none. Though only Eliphaz has spoken, Job condemns them all for turning their backs on expected loyalty (NIV’s “devotion,” Hebrew hesed). By doing so, they forsake “the fear [pious reverence] of the Almighty”—a very telling statement out of ...

378. Moab

Isaiah 15:1--16:14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... , and Jahaz. With the fall of these cities, ranging from the far north to the south, Moab has come to an end. The refugees clutch in their hands whatever they can carry and move southward, wailing over their misfortunes. Isaiah joins in the lament and evokes sympathy for the Moabites. They were, after all, Israel’s relatives through Lot (Gen. 19:36–37), and David was a descendant of Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:17). The brooks have dried up, and the waters of Dimon (Dibon?) are filled with blood (15:6, 9 ...

379. Jeremiah's Complaint

Jeremiah 12:1-4, Jeremiah 12:5-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 1–4. There are two answers. The first is to rebuke Jeremiah, saying essentially, “If such (little) problems upset you, how will you successfully deal with weighty issues?” The Jordan Valley has its jungles—a considerable obstacle course. Here is no offer of sympathy nor divine coddling, but a call to toughen up. Far harder to explain than the success of the wicked is God’s overturning of his own people. Verses 7–13, a second answer, give a partial response to the evil about which Jeremiah has ...

380. The Preparation of Daniel and His Friends

Daniel 1:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 7:22–27; 11:1–47). Moreover, the royal court was closely associated with pagan temples, as food and drink were symbolically dedicated to the gods. Daniel humbly asks for permission not to eat the royal diet. The court official shows favor and sympathy to Daniel, even though he fears the wrath of the king. Again Daniel responds with courtesy and understanding regarding the official’s predicament. He requests a test period, during which the power of God’s presence could be made evident in the physical ...

381. God’s Judgment of Apostasy and Social Sin in Samaria and Judah

Micah 1:1-7

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... down a slope (1:4). Verse 5 points the finger at the guilty parties. They are none other than Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of the northern and southern kingdoms respectively. Omri and his son Ahab (1 Kings 16:24), a pair known for their sympathy with the Baal cult in the north, built Samaria. Jerusalem, the city chosen by God for his earthly dwelling place, has time and time again been perverted with the worship of false gods. Even the temple itself has been polluted by the presence of pagan ...

382. Man's Plans and God's

Micah 2:1-5

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The second chapter begins with a woe oracle (2:1–5). The roots of the woe oracle genre are found in funeral laments, expressing sorrow over the loss of the deceased. The prophets, however, adapt the form to their own purposes. No sympathy may be heard in Micah’s voice; rather, threat of sure judgment. The use of the woe threat signifies that the object of the oracle is as good as dead. The object of the oracle is described in general terms in verse 1 and then more specifically in verse 2. ...

383. Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... in 3:2 is symbolic; for Nicodemus is not “of the light”; see, e.g., 1:4–5; 3:19–20; 9:4; 11:10; 13:30.) He reappears in 7:50 at a Sanhedrin meeting giving advice sympathetic to Jesus’s case. And in 19:39 his sympathies become explicit: he joins Joseph of Arimathea in burying and anointing the body of Christ. This passage introduces the first major discourse so typical of Jesus’s teaching in the Fourth Gospel. In this and other such discourses, questions posed to Jesus enable him to transpose the ...

384. Thanksgiving and Prayer

Philemon 1:1-7

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... letters as an “apostle” or “slave” of Christ. With the use of “prisoner” here Paul is probably (1) reminding his readers of his imprisonment, which results from his identification with Christ and his work for Christ, (2) evoking some emotional sympathy from Philemon and church members, (3) appealing to Philemon not based on his apostolic authority, and (4) identifying with Onesimus in a similarly humble status. Second, Timothy is included as a cosender (similar to Col. 1:1), probably because he ...

385. Jesus Christ Superior to Moses

Hebrews 3:1-6

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The author draws together his previous themes in a striking exhortation (3:1) that concludes the previous section and introduces the next. The readers’ failure to give Christ the place in their minds and hearts that his divine supremacy, mediatorial work, and human sympathy deserve has led to their crisis of faith. The holy direction and management of the heart and its thoughts is fundamental to sturdy faith and holy living (Prov. 4:23; Col. 3:1–2). Only in Hebrews is Jesus called an apostle, though ...

386. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... believers have already distinguished themselves, especially in regard to prisoners (Heb. 6:10; 10:33–34). Abraham is again invoked as an example, this time of hospitality (Gen. 18:1–16; cf. 1 Pet. 4:9) and of the blessing that attends the gracious host. Christian sympathy and fellow feeling (cf. Rom. 14:15; 1 Cor. 12:26) will not be satisfied with the simpler forms of charity but will extend itself to those who cannot be brought into the home (Matt. 25:35–36). Sexual impurity and the love of money (13 ...

387. Fix It, Daddy

John 11:17-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... lawn. In the course of their play Michaelson accidentally hit the small boy with his elbow. The young fellow was just about to burst into tears when he looked into his father’s eyes. Instead of anger, his young son saw there his father’s sorrow and sympathy. Instead of bursting into tears, said Michaelson, the young boy suddenly burst into laughter. It made all the difference in the world what he saw in his father’s eyes. The picture of Jesus weeping beside the tomb of Lazarus is such an important and ...

388. Getting Under Someone's Skin

Matthew 5:7

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

In the original Aramaic which Jesus spoke, the word "merciful" means literally "to get under someone's skin." It means to wear his skin, as it were; to see life from his perspective, to stand in his shoes. It means more than sympathy; it means active empathy or merciful understanding. Let me illustrate. A prominent minister was holding a weekend seminar at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, several years ago. He kept noticing a man in the front row nodding sleepily. This aggravated the speaker. Preachers don' ...

389. The Plot Against Jesus

Matthew 26:1-5

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... significant influence that Annas continued to exercise among the priestly hierarchy in Jerusalem. To do away with Jesus during a religious festival posed a special problem. It could incite a riot on the part of the many worshipers, who had flocked to Jerusalem for the Passover and would be in sympathy with Jesus. Mē en tē heortē (not during the Feast) probably means “apart from the festal crowd” rather than “not during the time of the feast” (See Jeremias, The Eucharistic Words of Jesus, p. 48).

390. The Parable of the Sower

Mark 4:1-20

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... his ministry. Earlier, in 3:33–35, Jesus describes his disciples as his true family, and here another very positive privilege is theirs as well. The distinction between those outside and those given the secret may sound offensive to modern readers with a sympathy for fairness to all and a dislike for favoritism. Two points must be made. First, the idea of certain people being chosen has roots in the OT presentation of Israel as a chosen nation and the prophetic teaching that God would select a “remnant ...

391. Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... brings Paul to argue with a vigor that can seem overbearing from afar, although one should recognize that Paul apparently thought such elaborate and forceful discussion was needed at the time. Indeed, students of the Corinthian church’s history can develop a deep sympathy for Paul’s difficult situation when they read 1 Clement, a letter from a later church leader in Rome, written in the last decade of the first century A.D., some forty years after Paul’s own letter. This later letter shows that ...

392. Offerings at the Dedication of the Tabernacle

Numbers 7:1-89

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

... propositional but pragmatic and material. The details of the Priestly version of the community’s history become proclamation for a later audience. The repetitious style of this chapter demands much from readers today, but the task of interpretation calls for reading in sympathy with the text—and such a reading bears fruit. Additional Notes 7:3 Covered is a plausible rendering of tsab, but the precise meaning of the term is uncertain. NIV follows the clues of the ancient translations. The syntax with the ...

393. Israel Asks for a King

1 Samuel 8:1-22

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... illustrated and strengthened. 8:6–20 Samuel’s displeasure stemmed primarily from his feeling of rejection. Unlike Eli, he seemed to have found it hard to accept that the people did not endorse his choice of his sons to follow him. This, along with God’s sympathy for Samuel’s position, is brought out in the injunction to Samuel to listen to what the people were saying. They had rejected as their king not Samuel but God. In spite of the Philistine defeat (ch. 7), Israel had not fully accepted that God ...

394. David at Nob

1 Samuel 21:1-9

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... break between Saul and David but near enough for him to be aware of Saul’s problems and the existence of tension. As there had so far been no question of David opposing Saul, it would have been difficult to ascertain where Ahimelech’s sympathies lay. David’s unwillingness to tell Ahimelech the truth and Saul’s suspicion of betrayal are understandable. 21:4 Nothing in the law would have permitted Ahimelech to give consecrated bread (Lev. 24:5–9) to soldiers even if they were ritually clean. Whether ...

395. The Advice of Hushai and Ahithophel

2 Sam 16:15–17:29

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... for him to a kingdom where David reigned, so he went back to his own hometown, put all his affairs in order, and hanged himself. The story is told with no assessment of Ahithophel’s motivation, indeed, with no editorial comment. But there is a hint of sympathy in recording that he was buried in his father’s tomb. However much his final acts betrayed David, they were preceded by a lifetime of service to his God, his country, and his king. The story of his death forms a sad prelude to that of Absalom ...

396. Job's Reply to Bildad

Job 9:1–10:22

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... section (“Your hands shaped me,” v. 8, emphasis added). In a near parody of the divine questioning of Job in chapters 38–42, Job directs his deepest concern to God in the form of a series of pointed questions. These questions are intended to encourage sympathy toward Job’s plight and to force God to acknowledge the implications of Job’s suffering for divine justice. Job’s questions build on the essential otherness of God established in 9:32 with the statement, “He is not a man like me.” As a ...

397. The Healing of Two Demon-possessed Men

Matthew 8:28-34

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... is plural, whereas he agelē, the herd, is singular), although it is assumed that the pigs were drowned as well. The entire episode would be a vivid demonstration to the demoniacs and to all observers that Jesus possessed authority over the realm of evil spirits. Sympathy for the pigs and their owners overlooks the priority Jesus puts on the value of the individual made in God’s image. When the people of the nearby town learn what happened they flock out to meet Jesus, but upon seeing him they urge him ...

398. The Faith of the Canaanite Woman

Matthew 15:21-28

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... few loaves and fish, a large crowd), they also diverge at many important places. The number of people fed, loaves available, and baskets of fragments remaining are all different. The lessons Jesus teaches are different (utter dependence on God in the first and sympathy for the gentile world in the second). The most important point, however, is that Jesus himself separates the two feedings. In Matthew 16:9–10 he says, “Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand … or the seven loaves for ...

399. Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

Matthew 15:29-39

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

400. Gethsemane

Matthew 26:36-46

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... imperatives emphasizing continuing action) that they may be spared the coming trial (of fidelity). Their failure in the approaching crisis stemmed from their halfhearted commitment to prayer. Even at a time like this, when Jesus needed the support and human sympathy of his closest companions, he could offer an explanation for their thoughtless conduct: the spirit is willing, but the body is weak (v. 41). Human nature cannot always measure up to the noble aspirations of the spirit. In the most central ...

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