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 426 to 450 of 562 results

426. Breaking News: A World Gone Wild

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... cry out to God to help them. There is a difference between the immediate calls of a natural disaster and the ultimate calls. The immediate calls of an earthquake is a fault beneath the earth’s crust. The immediate calls of a tornado is an unstable atmospheric condition combined with warm moist air. The immediate calls of a hurricane is when a large air mass is heated and fueled by the warmth of the ocean. The ultimate cause of all things is God. The Bible makes that plain over and over and over ...

427. Living “I Don’t Know” While “In the Know”

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . But as one went from the outer rings and approached closer to the holy Temple itself, the selectivity and solemnity factor went up. Only Jewish men were allowed to be present in this closer ring, and the focus of those gathered was on study and prayer. The atmosphere in these inner courtyards was one of both piety and pressure. Think Harvard. All those students who get into a great Ivy League school in order to learn from the best, to gain great knowledge, also know there is a whole lot more going on than ...

428. Running over the Cat

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

King Duncan

... , a ruthless competitor. Despite his success, he had never learned to read or write . . . He had been sick recently, and his face and his walking showed it. But he walked over to the widow and started to cry, and she cried with him, and you could feel the atmosphere in the room change. This man who had never read a book in his life spoke the language of the heart and held the key that opened the gates of solace where learned doctors and clergy could not.” (6) How do you comfort someone who is in deep ...

429. Full Immersion

Acts 19:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... tourists or townspeople would be buying their votives dedicated to Artemis. In his Epistle to the Ephesians, you learn from Paul’s metaphor of “armor” how Paul counteracted the mysterious temple rituals and the eroticized climate that permeated the everyday atmosphere Ephesus. All who lived in this city breathed air dominated by Artemis and her temple, her cult statue, and the secret rituals that commemorated the birth of Artemis, which proud Ephesians claimed had happened on a mountain above Ephesus ...

430. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

... , that springs Out of the East, and follows wild and drear The golden Day, which, on eternal wings, Even as a ghost abandoning a bier, Had left the Earth a corpse. Sorrow and fear So struck, so roused, so rapt Urania; So saddened round her like an atmosphere Of stormy mist; so swept her on her way Even to the mournful place where Adonais lay. XXIV. Out of her secret Paradise she sped, Through camps and cities rough with stone, and steel, And human hearts, which to her aery tread Yielding not, wounded the ...

431. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

... be hard,’ they say, `to find Another service such as this.’ My lighter moods are like to these, That out of words a comfort win; But there are other griefs within, And tears that at their fountain freeze; For by the hearth the children sit Cold in that atmosphere of Death, And scarce endure to draw the breath, Or like to noiseless phantoms flit; But open converse is there none, So much the vital spirits sink To see the vacant chair, and think, ‘How good! how kind! and he is gone.’ XXI I sing to him ...

432. Discipleship: Backward or Forward to God

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... of faith. They are at home in the old order and are unwilling to take risks for the new order. They remain mildly content with their parents' definition of reality rather than shaping new realities. Unlike Jesus, who had the courage to leave the repressive atmosphere of Nazareth, this disciple went home again and stayed home, devoted to the old order until at last he was buried in it. Alas, said Jesus, the way to God is not backward, but forward. God is interested in creating a new future. Go, proclaim ...

433. The Fellowship of the Believers

Acts 2:42-47

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... was further characterized by their praising God. Such a manner of life could not help but impress others, and consequently the church enjoyed the favor of all the people. There was no hint as yet of any separation of church and synagogue. In this atmosphere of acceptance and good will, the number of those who were being saved grew daily. The present participle, “were being saved,” gives the sense that they were being maintained in a state to which they had already come. They had been saved (cf., e ...

434. The Apostles Persecuted

Acts 5:17-42

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... them to transfer his title to Jesus, who was, after all, “another king” to believers (17:7)? The idea, however, is not peculiarly Hellenistic, and the soil from which the Christian use sprang is much more likely to have been the Old Testament, though the prevailing atmosphere of Caesar worship may well have hastened its growth. In the Old Testament, God is Savior, and when the salvation of which he is the author was found to be in Christ, the title Savior was easily given to him. 5:34 A Pharisee named ...

435. Paul in Ephesus

Acts 19:1-22

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... . 16:19). 19:11–12 Luke tells us little of Paul’s years at Ephesus, but the little he does tell shows how great an impact Paul had on the city; at the same time, it portrays accurately the religious and moral atmosphere of the place. “At Ephesus,” writes Rackham, “Hellenistic culture and philosophy had made a disastrous union with oriental superstition” (p. 339). The result was a city preoccupied with magic. Paul must have deplored their superstition, and yet the very interest of the Ephesians ...

436. Paul the Roman Citizen

Acts 22:22-29

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... by the circumstances in which the commander obtained his citizenship. As noted, under Claudius, the privilege was often won by means of bribery, but under Nero this scandal was brought to an end and, as far as we know, did not recur. So “the historical atmosphere of the Lysias incident is exactly right for the time of Claudius” (Sherwin-White, p. 156; see also Hanson, pp. 10f., who finds evidence in this detail that the author of Acts lived near to the events he was relating, or was using sources that ...

437. Identification and a Wish for Grace and Peace

Galatians 1:1-10

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... Hylaeus and Phlous, and also the monstrous Cretan Bull, and the gigantic lion under Nemea’s rock. You shocked the lake of Styx into trembling” (7.293–94; trans. Jackson Knight, pp. 209–10). By inviting his readers to share in the atmosphere of worship, Paul fosters a sense of unity or shared experience before beginning his admonishments. Paul’s Astonishment, Condemnation of the Agitators, and Self-Defense 1:6–9 Paul’s abrupt expression of astonishment—I am astonished—right after the letter ...

438. Thanksgiving and Prayer

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... looked forward to sharing this respite with the Thessalonians—and to us as well. “When we are thinking of the great apostle as bringing consolation and encouragement to his persecuted friends, it is easy to think of him as living in a different atmosphere. We tend to forget that he shared the same world as that inhabited by the Thessalonians; he, too, was afflicted (2 Cor. 11:23–29)” (Morris, Themes, p. 53). Relief will come when the Lord Jesus is revealed—the word is apokalypsis, literally ...

439. 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

... by private confession where public confession would not be appropriate) lays the basis for public prayer, in which people freed from all grudges and resentments, and reconciled through confession and forgiveness, pray for healing for each other. In this kind of atmosphere, the services of the elders at the bedside will rarely be needed. Second, the prayer of a righteous [person] is powerful and effective. The righteous person is not sinlessly perfect, but is the person who has confessed any known sin and ...

440. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 21:1-31

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... answered in an hour of need (whether by man or by God). 21:14 Synonymous. The note of secrecy (cf. 17:23) indicates that real bribes are meant (contrast 15:27; 17:8; 18:16). The fold of the cloak served as a pocket. 21:15 Antithetic. The atmosphere is judicial. Verse 15a can mean that the righteous personally enjoys acting rightly, and is not merely reacting to the just actions of others. 21:16 Synthetic. Folly leads to death. There may be some sarcasm in “resting” among the dead (Hb. r e pāʾim, the ...

441. Disaster from the North

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... is a scorching wind. The language describes the sirocco, “a hot ‘east wind’ off the desert, very strong, and often leaving destruction in its wake. The temperature rises sharply just before the wind reaches gale force, when it then clouds the atmosphere with fine sand, greatly reducing visibility” (Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20, p. 343). The wind comes from the barren heights, the place earlier associated with the adulterous/idolatrous activities of God’s people (Jer. 3:2, 21). The image is probably of ...

442. People Who Are Down on Themselves

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

King Duncan

... would have breakfast at a little downtown diner. And every morning, he would see the same crowd who also started their day at the diner. One day, the pastor walked into the diner and introduced himself to the crowd, hoping to create a friendlier atmosphere in the place. It worked. Barriers were broken down. People began conversing with strangers. It worked for everyone but the owner. All he would reveal of himself was his name, Harry. A few weeks passed, and as all the regular customers became friends, the ...

443. Testimonies About Jesus

John 5:31-47

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... of life giving and judgment is still in view, but attention for the moment centers on Jesus’ role as judge. His decisions are just and not arbitrary or based on personal whim: I seek not to please myself but him who sent me (v. 30). The atmosphere is that of a courtroom. From the standpoint of the Jewish authorities (cf. v. 18), Jesus is on trial, but from the Gospel writer’s standpoint they themselves are on trial, and Jesus is the prosecuting attorney. His case is built on the scriptural principle ...

444. The Plot to Kill Jesus

John 11:45-57

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... to Jerusalem to keep the festival. The early visit to Jerusalem involving the cleansing of the temple (2:13–22) had given the impression that Jesus’ Passion was about to begin, but it did not. Now the Passion is soon to begin, and the narrator creates an atmosphere of expectancy for his story. He does not immediately state that “Jesus went up to Jerusalem” (2:13), but says that many (v. 55) did so, and that when they arrived, they looked for Jesus, asking What do you think? Isn‘t he coming to the ...

445. The Last Passover

John 12:1-11

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

446. Imitating Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

Call for Mutual Consideration Paul’s concern for unity of mind and mutual consideration among the members of the Philippian church need not imply that there was an atmosphere of dissension there. The fact that two members are singled out by name and urged to agree in 4:2 could suggest (unless 4:2 belongs to an originally separate letter) that theirs was an exceptional case of conflict. We do not know what Epaphroditus had told Paul about the ...

447. Pharaoh's Dreams

Genesis 41:1-40

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... . Pharaoh recounted his dreams to these trained diviners, but none of them could give him an acceptable interpretation. It is easy to imagine that some of the interpreters tried unsuccessfully to impress Pharaoh with an explanation. 41:9–13 Amid the tense atmosphere at court the chief cupbearer stepped forward and told Pharaoh how Joseph had interpreted his dream and that of the chief baker. He emphasized that Joseph, a young Hebrew who was serving the captain of the guard, was skilled at interpreting ...

448. The Second Journey to Egypt

Genesis 43:1-34

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... fulfilling in even greater measure the dreams of Joseph’s youth. Taking advantage of the moment, Joseph heaped shame on them by asking why they had dared to do such a wrong in light of his ability to find things out by divination. The atmosphere was ripe for his discovering the true character of his brothers and the sincerity of their acceptance of Benjamin. Would they heap blame for their present precarious fate on another son of Rachel? Or would they defend Benjamin, thereby giving convincing proof that ...

449. Solomon's Throne Established

1 Kings 2:13-46

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... faithful priest” who will “minister before my anointed one always” (1 Sam. 2:35), then, is Zadok (1 Kgs. 2:35). Kings is very interested in this idea of prophecy and fulfillment—one of the themes that binds the book together and gives it its distinctive atmosphere (see further on 1 Kgs. 13). 2:31 Strike him down and bury him: See the additional note on 1:49–53. Joab’s “guilt” may or may not be regarded as having been established. What is certain, however, is that in ordering his execution ...

450. Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

1 Kings 8:22-61

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... the people brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace (vv. 51; cf. Deut. 4:20). Surely a second Exodus, from a different land, is not beyond the bounds of possibility! What is striking about these seven petitions is how different they are in atmosphere from the first part of the prayer in verses 23–26. There the stress was upon the necessity of obedience. Here, however, human disobedience is simply presupposed (esp. in v. 46: there is no one who does not sin), and the prayer moves beyond God ...

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