Dictionary: Face
Synonyms: countenance, physiognomy, profile, features, expression, facial expression, look, appearance, air, manner, bearing, guise, cast, aspect, impression, grimace, scowl, wry face, wince, frown, glower, smirk, pout, moue, side, flank, vertical, surface, plane, facet, wall, elevation, dial, display, (outward) appearance, nature, image, front, show, act, false front, facade, exterior, mask, masquerade, pretence, charade, pose, illusion, smokescreen, veneer, camouflage, respect, honour, esteem, regard, admiration, approbation, acclaim, approval, favour, appreciation, popularity, estimation, veneration, awe, reverence, deference, recognition, prestige, standing, status, dignity, glory, kudos, cachet, effrontery, audacity, nerve, gall, brazenness, brashness, shamelessness, look out on, front on to, look towards, be facing, have/afford/command a view of, look over/across, open out over, look on to, overlook, give on to, give over, be opposite (to), accept, come to accept, become reconciled to, reconcile oneself to, reach an acceptance (of), get used to, become accustomed to, adjust to, accommodate oneself to, acclimatize oneself to, be confronted by, be faced with, encounter, experience, come into contact with, run into, come across, meet, come up against, be forced to contend with, beset, worry, distress, cause trouble to, trouble, bother, confront, burden, brave, face up to, meet head-on, dare, defy, oppose, resist, withstand, cover, clad, skin, overlay, dress, pave, put a facing on, laminate, inlay, plate, coat, line
Antonyms: dodge, fear, back, give way, back down, dodge, avoid, throw in the towel, withdraw, cave in, retreat, succumb to, lay down one's arms, throw in the sponge, defer, submit, escape, bashfulness, shun, evade, elude
Showing 4176 to 4200 of 4935 results
Sermon
David E. Leininger
I am certain that you Bible scholars have experienced the same phenomenon as I have, namely, that you can read the same passage over and over and over again and find something that strikes you anew each time. Scripture does not change, of course, but we change. It is that old saying about not being able to step into the same river twice. That is my experience with this pericope. In years past, I would have noted the Lord’s healing ministry, the way the word spread through the people about this wonder- ...
Teach the Text
C. Hassell Bullock
Big Idea: The message of this psalm, applied to the waiting community in exile, is that “the Lord is great!” proclaimed as a word of hope and deliverance not yet realized, even as they pray, “Come quickly, Lord.” Understanding the Text Psalm 70 is a duplicate of Psalm 40:13–17, with minor variations (see the unit on Ps. 40), and has features of a psalm of lament. Psalms 69 and 70 have common linguistic links (see table 1). It is quite possible that Psalm 69 was written with Psalm 40:13–17 in view in order ...
Teach the Text
Robert B. Chisholm Jr.
Big Idea: When angered by sin, God may severely punish the sinners, but he is willing to relent from his judgment when sinners repent. Understanding the Text As noted above, this final episode in the book corresponds to 2 Samuel 21:1–14 in the concentric structure of the epilogue. In both episodes David successfully appeases God’s anger. In the first instance Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites prompts God’s judgment; in the second instance God’s anger at Israel, presumably due to some unidentified sin, is ...
4179. What a Resume!
2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6
Sermon
Fredrick R. Harm
If you were to visit the Library of Congress and look up Jesus of Nazareth in the card catalog of authors, you will not find a single entry. Thousands of books have been written about Jesus, but he himself wrote no books, not even a pamphlet or tract. He was able to write, we know. When a woman accused of adultery was brought to him, Jesus "bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger" (John 8:5). Giovanni Papini suggested that he chose the sand on which to write "expressly that the wind ...
Sermon
James W. Moore
Jerry Eckles was one of those inspiring young people who just loved being at the church. He literally grew up at St. Luke's. Every time the church doors were open, he was here. Sunday School, youth fellowship, Pure Sound Youth Choir, acolyte practice, worship services, concerts, plays, Scouts, Vacation Bible School, missions trips, all-church events… whatever we were having or doing here at St. Luke's, Jerry was here celebrating, serving and helping us to be the Church. Not counting special moments he ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is one good thing about a recession. It sobers us up. If we’re lucky it causes us to turn our back on things we don’t need and to hold close the things that really matter. After all, periods of recession usually follow periods of wretched excess. Martha Bolton and Phil Callaway, in their book It’s Always Darkest Before the Fridge Door Opens, tell about strolling through a mall one day laughing at all the things in the mall they didn’t need. Here are some of the things they found that they could do ...
Sermon
Erskine White
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. (Acts 2:44) We Americans are generally a religious people. According to a recent Gallup survey conducted nationwide, more than ninety percent of us believe in God. Eighty-four percent of us believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Two-thirds of us describe our religious faith as a personal commitment. Yet that same survey also showed a gigantic gap in the American understanding of Christianity. Only half of the American ...
Sermon
Most of us would say that the Beatitudes are well known and greatly loved by Christian people. They are beautiful. They dance and sing on the lips of those who say them. They have an unparalleled syntax that only the Jewish mind can capture and express. They are immortal. Hymns, anthems, songs, prayers, and liturgy have reflected upon their meaning and beauty. Although we read them in our personal devotion because of their beauty, most of us do not get very excited about poverty of spirit, mourning, ...
4184. On Being a Tenant
Matthew 21:33-46
Sermon
Jerry L. Schmalemberger
All the details of the story that Jesus tells about being a tenant and owning a vineyard would have been familiar facts to the people who heard him tell it. I have on several occasions seen the vineyards of Israel, which are surrounded by a stone wall. On top of the wall is placed brambles that keep the wild animals from coming into the vineyard. They also protect the vineyard from thieves climbing over the stone wall. Many of the vineyards that I saw had a wine-press located right on the spot. A tower was ...
Drama
Sarah Walton Miller
This skit, based on Luke 15:11-32, is a series of monologues in which each character gives his version of the conflict. The older brother has been made an older sister to show the story’s adaptability. Simple staging: four stools or chairs, so arranged that there is the illusion of isolation, each from the others. Always use any available levels. Actors, use your stools: stand by, sit or lean on them at will. Avoid eye contact with the other players. Freeze when not speaking. Characters are the FATHER, ...
Sermon
Brett Blair
Rev. David Chadwell posed a rather interesting question: Which would you prefer for a next-door neighbor: a person of excellent habits or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a good friend: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a husband or a wife: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a child: a child with excellent habits, or a child with a good heart? It is wonderful to have a neighbor ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
In many Moravian churches, the fourth Sunday in Advent is known as "Morning Star Sunday." The large multi-pointed paper star hangs from the ceiling of the Sanctuary, filling the darkness with light. The congregation sings, "Morning Star, O cheering sight; ere thou camest how dark earth's night! Jesus, mine, in me shine; fill my heart with light divine." For us who stand at the threshold of Christmas, the morning star points to both an end and a beginning. The morning star appears on a clear night in the ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Elie Wiesel is one of the great story-tellers of our time. He is a Jew who has a passionate memory of the Holocaust. He tells stories with a clarity and a passion that sets your soul on fire. In fact, a collection of his Hasidic stories is entitled "Souls on Fire". Let me read you the introduction to that book: "My father, an enlightened spirit, believed in man, My grandfather, a fervent Hasid, believed in God. The one taught me to speak, the other to sing. Both loved stories. And when I tell mine, I hear ...
Sermon
While waiting for a first appointment in the reception room of a new physician, I noticed the framed certificate which bore his full name. Convinced that I had heard it before, I racked my brain until I remembered that a tall, gawky kid with a similar-sounding name had been in my high school class, some 45 years ago. But upon being ushered into his office, I knew….just knew….I was wrong. I mean, this balding, graying man with the double chin and a face the quality of old shoe leather was far too old to ...
4190. The God of All Comfort
2 Corinthians 1:1-11
Understanding Series
James M. Scott
In an ancient letter, the purpose of an opening, or prescript, is to establish a relationship between the sender and the addressees. Accordingly, in 2 Corinthians Paul and Timothy are named as the senders of the letter; “the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia” represents the recipients; and “grace and peace” is the expression of greeting and good will. Paul deviates somewhat from the established form by adding details about the senders, and by using the word “peace” in ...
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
The End of Judah: Josiah, like Ahab, humbled himself before the LORD, and judgment, as in Ahab’s case, did not fall during Josiah’s reign. The implication of the analogy is that we may expect it to fall during the reign of Josiah’s son (cf. 1 Kgs. 21:28–29). This is exactly what we find now, as the story of Kings comes to its end. It is not, however, the first of Josiah’s sons to sit on his throne (Jehoahaz) who experiences the full force of God’s wrath (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:51–2 Kgs. 1:18), or even the second, ...
Understanding Series
Robert H. Mounce
4:1 The baptism of Jesus, which culminated with the voice from heaven declaring divine approval, is followed immediately (Mark 1:12 has “at once”) by a time of temptation. The parallel account in Luke indicates that Jesus was tempted by Satan throughout a forty-day period (Luke 4:22). Matthew describes the dramatic conclusion of this period (“after [Jesus fasted] forty days and forty nights … the tempter came to him,” vv. 2–3). It is not at all uncommon for temptation to follow closely our times of ...
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
The End of Judah: Josiah, like Ahab, humbled himself before the LORD, and judgment, as in Ahab’s case, did not fall during Josiah’s reign. The implication of the analogy is that we may expect it to fall during the reign of Josiah’s son (cf. 1 Kgs. 21:28–29). This is exactly what we find now, as the story of Kings comes to its end. It is not, however, the first of Josiah’s sons to sit on his throne (Jehoahaz) who experiences the full force of God’s wrath (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:51–2 Kgs. 1:18), or even the second, ...
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
The End of Judah: Josiah, like Ahab, humbled himself before the LORD, and judgment, as in Ahab’s case, did not fall during Josiah’s reign. The implication of the analogy is that we may expect it to fall during the reign of Josiah’s son (cf. 1 Kgs. 21:28–29). This is exactly what we find now, as the story of Kings comes to its end. It is not, however, the first of Josiah’s sons to sit on his throne (Jehoahaz) who experiences the full force of God’s wrath (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:51–2 Kgs. 1:18), or even the second, ...
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
The End of Judah: Josiah, like Ahab, humbled himself before the LORD, and judgment, as in Ahab’s case, did not fall during Josiah’s reign. The implication of the analogy is that we may expect it to fall during the reign of Josiah’s son (cf. 1 Kgs. 21:28–29). This is exactly what we find now, as the story of Kings comes to its end. It is not, however, the first of Josiah’s sons to sit on his throne (Jehoahaz) who experiences the full force of God’s wrath (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:51–2 Kgs. 1:18), or even the second, ...
4196. The Fall of Jerusalem
2 Kings 24:20b--25:26
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
The End of Judah: Josiah, like Ahab, humbled himself before the LORD, and judgment, as in Ahab’s case, did not fall during Josiah’s reign. The implication of the analogy is that we may expect it to fall during the reign of Josiah’s son (cf. 1 Kgs. 21:28–29). This is exactly what we find now, as the story of Kings comes to its end. It is not, however, the first of Josiah’s sons to sit on his throne (Jehoahaz) who experiences the full force of God’s wrath (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:51–2 Kgs. 1:18), or even the second, ...
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
As the salesman came to the front door, he turned to the little boy sitting on the steps and asked, “Is your mother home?” The boy said “Yes,” and the salesman began to ring the doorbell. After several rings and no response, he turned to the boy and said, “I thought you said that your mother was home.” To which the boy replied, “She is, but this isn’t my house.” Sometimes we get the wrong answers because we don’t ask the right questions. In Mark 10, we read: “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ...
4198. Supper's Ready!
Matthew 22:1-14
Sermon
Stephen M. Crotts
Let's pretend! Let's pretend that you've been invited by the Queen of England to attend a banquet at Buckingham Palace. Close your eyes for a moment and think. What would you wear? What would you talk about at the dinner table? Should you arrive ten minutes early, take a taxi, or will you be nervous? Better still, would you turn down the invitation? When John Kennedy was president of the United States, he invited a number of accomplished artists to a White House banquet. Among those invited was the then ...
Teach the Text
C. Marvin Pate
Big Idea: In chapter 6 Paul presents another blessing: new dominion. The first Adam forfeited his dominion over the earth. But Christ, the last Adam, inaugurated a new age and new covenant, restoring the lost dominion. Believers enter that new dominion by uniting with Christ’s death and resurrection: they become dead to sin and alive to God. Understanding the Text While Romans 3:21–5:21 developed the theme of justification, Romans 6:1–8:16 is devoted to the topic of sanctification.1On the one hand, ...
4200. Epiphany 5
Psalm 138:1-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Judges 6:1-40, Isaiah 6:1-13, Luke 5:1-11
Sermon Aid
George Bass
THEOLOGICAL CLUE The thematic and theological framework of the Christian tends to be rather "thin" by the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany; the manifestation of Jesus to the world and the beginning of his ministry remain, however, to inform the church about Jesus in its worship and work. The readings tend to reinforce the weak signals that are being sent out by the kerygmatic content of the church year, mainly because they have been selected with the theological themes of Epiphany in mind. As also happens ...
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