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 4176 to 4200 of 4681 results

4176. The King Who Exalts Himself

Daniel 11:36-45

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... (11:39). 11:40–45 Verses 40–45 pose some difficulties, not because the content is unclear but because the events recounted up to this point have dovetailed so well with external historical records while in contrast, the events of the last section of chapter 11 bear no relation to the end of Antiochus Epiphanes’s life as we know it. For this reason some understand that a major shift takes place here so that the biblical writer is no longer describing the life of the oppressor of the second century B.C ...

4177. Jesus the Lamb of God

John 1:29-34

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... s world is to be purified; all sin will be purged from the earth, and everything evil will be destroyed. Lamb of God by itself suggests a quite different image, the blood sacrifice of an innocent victim, but the point of the saying is not so much that the Lamb bears the guilt of the world’s sin as that the Lamb quite literally takes sin away. The focus is on the result of the Lamb’s work, not on the means of reaching that result. The best commentary on this message is 1 John 3:5, in which the language ...

4178. “I Am from Him and He Sent Me”

John 7:25-44

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... ; 6:30; Mark 13:22), and that the sheer number or frequency of his miracles testifies to his identity. These notions, while not widely attested in Jewish sources, are assumed to be part of the Jewish expectation in 20:30, 31 as well: Jesus’ miracles bear witness that he is the Messiah, and the ones written about are but a sampling from a much larger number. In the immediate context at the Feast of Tabernacles, however, Jesus himself has referred only to “one miracle” (v. 21). The crowd’s reaction in ...

4179. The Claims of Jesus About Himself

John 8:48-59, John 8:31-41, John 8:42-47

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 8:31–32 If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Cf. Jesus’ words in his farewell discourse to those who were genuinely his disciples: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (15:8); “I no longer speak of you as slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is about. Instead, I call you friends, since I have made known to you all that I heard from my Father ...

4180. The Disciples' Grief Will Turn to Joy

John 16:17-33, John 16:5-16

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... most part, on tracks that never met, but in chapters 15–17 they do meet and come into conflict, even though Jesus traces only faintly the precise contours of that conflict. I have much more to say to you, he says to his disciples, more than you can now bear (v. 12). He leaves it to the Spirit to spell out more clearly what is yet to come (v. 13), that is, the nature of the disciples’ mission and the world’s opposition to it, and the final outcome of all their efforts. Jesus takes this opportunity to ...

4181. Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:6-19

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... v. 10. But what specific name is meant? A comparison with Phil. 2:9–11 might suggest that the name “Lord” (Gr.: kyrios; the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Yahweh or Jehovah) is in view, and Thomas’ confession in 20:28 could be understood as bearing out this conclusion. A related, and more likely, suggestion is that the name is “I am” (Gr.: egō eimi; Heb.: ‘anî hû’), the self-designation of God in the OT (especially in Isaiah) that Jesus adopted at several crucial points in this Gospel and ...

4182. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

John 20:10-18

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (Matt. 28:10). Both in Matthew and in John, an encounter with an angel (or angels) at the tomb is reinforced by an encounter with Jesus himself. The main difference is that in Matthew the angel bears testimony to Jesus’ resurrection, whereas the two angels in John merely ask Mary why she is crying. Yet in John’s Gospel the very positioning of the angels one at the head and the other at the foot in the place where Jesus’ body had been (v. 12 ...

4183. Faith or Observance of the Law

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

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 ...

4184. Praying for Endurance and Healing

James 5:1-6, James 4:13-17, 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 ...

4185. Praying for Endurance and Healing

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

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

4186. Praying for Endurance and Healing

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

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

4187. Praise to God for a Living Hope

1 Peter 1:1-12

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... in the future.”). Searched intently and with the greatest care translates the Greek exezētēsan kai exēraunēsan. The rendering “made earnest quest and query” seeks to bring out the word-play (paronomasia), a notable feature of the Greek of 1 Peter (Beare, p. 90). 1:11 Trying to find out translates one word, eraunōntes, a verb used elsewhere of searching the Scriptures (John 5:39; 7:52). The time and circumstances: The Greek eis tina ē poion kairon poses problems, for tina (accusative of tis) can ...

4188. The Call of Abram

Genesis 12:1-9

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... ; 15:5; 17:5–6; 22:16–17; 26:4; 28:14; 35:11. Their number will be as great as the dust (13:16; 28:14), the stars (15:5; 22:17; 26:4), and the sand on the seashore (22:17). Twice God specifically promises that Sarai will bear a son (17:16; 18:10). The promise that the nations will find blessing through Abram’s seed appears in 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Acts 3:25; Gal. 3:8 (cf. 27:29). At other times these promises are a part of the flow of the narrative (24 ...

4189. Aaron's Staff Becomes a Snake

Exodus 7:8-13

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... plagues. In the central three plagues no staff is used. The staff in Moses’ hand is used for the third three plagues. After these events, Moses alone takes center stage as God’s spokesman and staffbearer. Aaron reemerges as the chief priest later in the book. His staff blossoms and bears almonds in the tabernacle and is thereafter kept with the ark (Num. 17:8–10; Heb. 9:4).

4190. Sabbath Law

Exodus 23:10-13

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... and olive grove. In this way “the poor . . . may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave.” A parallel text in Leviticus 25:1–7, 20–22 emphasizes the Lord’s provision. The seventh-day rest also points to those who bear the heaviest labor. Rest “so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.” The Lord’s concern for sustaining and restoring the most vulnerable, the poor and the nonhuman creation, is ...

4191. The Ephod

Exodus 28:6-14

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... see v. 22). The Lord described the engraving and its purpose in detail: engrave the way a gem cutter engraves a seal; engrave the names, six names on one stone and . . . six on the other, in the order of their birth; their purpose is that Aaron bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the LORD. Aaron represented the whole community before the Lord. For further detail, see the discussion in the following section. Additional Notes 28:9 Onyx is a semiprecious stone of chalcedony quartz that can be ...

4192. The Breastplate

Exodus 28:15-30

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

28:15–30 Aaron’s breastpiece for making decisions was attached to his ephod-vest. It represented a twofold burden that Aaron was called upon to bear over his heart (vv. 29–30). Aaron was to enter the Holy Place daily to attend to the lamps (27:20–21). So whenever he enters the presence of the LORD he is to wear the breastpiece with its twelve precious engraved stones and the Urim and Thummim. The first ...

4193. Bezalel and Oholiab (II)

Exodus 35:30--36:7

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... Christians. Brueggemann describes these texts as indicative of an “evangelical generosity” and the cost of discipleship (Matt. 10:8; Luke 14:28; 1 Cor. 3:9; 4:7; 2 Cor. 8:7). True faith in the Lord has an economic cost that followers bear gladly. In both the OT and the NT, forgiveness and reconciliation prompt giving. The gospel of the Lord moves people from selfishness to generosity (see Brueggemann, “Exodus,” p. 963). Additional Notes 35:35 Commentators often include 36:1 with Exod. 35 since Moses ...

4194. The Lord is God

Deuteronomy 4:32-40

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... as savior of the world, is grounded in the uniqueness of Israel itself and of Yahweh as God, for according to the NT Jesus embodied the one and incarnated the other. And the central struggle of early Christianity, to which the NT bears witness, was to recognize and express this final truth within the parameters of an undiluted commitment to the dynamic monotheism of Israel’s own faith as affirmed here. The missiological urgency of the interfaith debate must be grounded in a fully biblical understanding ...

4195. The Song of Moses

Deuteronomy 31:30--32:47

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... What then did Israel deserve for this treatment of the father-mother God? The answer follows directly. 32:19–25 God, the rejected parent, declares the rejection of such perverse offspring. There is anger in verses 19f., but also pain. The God who sees (v. 19) cannot bear to see and so hides God’s face (v. 20). The pain turns to bitter irony in the sarcastic wordplay of verse 21: “They have made me jealous by a no-god (lōʾ-ʾēl); I will make them jealous by a no-people (lōʾ-ʿām).” Israel would ...

4196. The Death of Moses

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... with an acknowledgment of the incomparability of Moses himself. Indeed, one Jewish tradition links the two rather beautifully by envisaging God declaring as a profoundly affectionate compliment, “Moses said of me, ‘There is none like Yahweh,’ and so I in turn bear witness that ‘There is none like Moses’ ” (see additional note). The posthumous decoration in these verses helps to soften the denial of a physical presence in the land. And so this mountain of a man reached the summit of his last ...

4197. Ahab Defeats Ben-Hadad

1 Kings 20:13-34

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... must obey) and the same punishment pronounced (a lion will kill you). As there, the implication is clear: if disobedient prophets cannot escape God’s judgment, then disobedient kings certainly will not. The politeness of the prophetic request has, of course, no bearing on the matter, although the NIV invites misunderstanding on this point by representing the request as being phrased differently on the two occasions it was made (vv. 35, 37). 20:39 A talent of silver: The intriguing thing about the silver ...

4198. A Prophet Condemns Ahab

1 Kings 20:35-43

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

4199. Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

2 Kings 2:1-18

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... , is to treat God with disrespect and to risk immediate retribution—as various of the prophetic narratives thus far have told us (e.g., 1 Kgs. 13:1–4; 2 Kgs. 1:2–17). Elisha shows himself to be a true prophet as he curses the children and sees two bears come out of the woods and maul forty-two of them (v. 24; cf. 1 Kgs. 13:20–28 and 20:35–36 for divine judgment through animals in response to prophetic words). The succession narrative ends with Elisha’s trip to Mount Carmel (v. 25), the scene of ...

4200. Healing of the Water

2 Kings 2:19-22

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

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