Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: thirstiness, dryness, parched, craving, strong desire, longing, yearning, avidity, hunger, voracity, keenness, eagerness, lust, appetite, passion, love, crave, want, covet, desire, hunger for/after, lust for/after, hanker for/after, have one's heart set on

Antonyms: aversion, distaste, apathy, dislike, hatred, antipathy, disgust, disregard, abhorrence, acrimony, wet, animosity, animus, antagonism, bad feeling, bitterness, be averse to, detestation

Showing 501 to 525 of 4959 results

501. King Jesus

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... Ark to be a splendid palace, worthy of the nation's great king. To this task he set his purposes and resources, affirmed, at first, by his advisor, the prophet Nathan (v. 3). Yet that night Nathan received a new word from the Lord. Although David's desires were laudable, he was too much a man of battle to build a palace of peace. David should gather the resources and make the plans, and then pass along to his son the mandate of temple-building. But the prophetic word went further. Because David had tried ...

502. Before the Sanhedrin

Acts 22:30--23:11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... half in an intensive form as though to acknowledge the thoroughness with which he had done it (see disc. on 2:40). For similar visions at decisive moments, see 11:5ff.; 18:9f.; 22:17ff.; 27:23f. This vision brought confirmation of Paul’s own conviction (and desire) that he should see Rome (cf. 19:21; Rom. 1:10f.; also Ps. 34:4f.). Some commentators have seen the comparative statement of this verse as extending beyond the thought of witnessing to the circumstances in which he would do it—as he had been a ...

503. Further Instructions

Colossians 4:2-6

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... is not only for himself, since he includes his co-workers (the plural us) such as Timothy (1:1), Epaphras (1:7; 4:12), Tychicus (4:7), Onesimus (4:9), and others he mentions in his final greeting (4:7–18). The desire for clarity (Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, phaneroō) in his proclamation must not be taken as a second request, because this “purpose clause” is subordinated to the previous one: Paul simply wants an opportunity to preach the mystery of Christ clearly. 4:5–6 In the next two ...

504. Instructions on Worship

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... —in 5:3–16 and 2 Timothy 3:5–9. It is clear from the latter passage that the false teachers are finding their most fruitful hearing among some “weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.” According to 1 Timothy 5, among these women are some younger widows who “live for pleasure” (v. 6), have become “gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to” (v. 13), and by so doing are ...

505. Overseers and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... households from among the earliest converts were normally appointed to such positions (Acts 14:23; cf. 1 Cor. 1:16 and 16:15–16). The saying in fact focuses less on the person than on the position. Thus Paul is not commending people who have a great desire to become leaders; rather, he is saying that the position of overseer is such a significant matter, a noble task, that it should indeed be the kind of task to which a person might aspire. Thus, despite the activities of some, he does not for that reason ...

506. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... eschatological reality, “a heavenly country,” “a city” prepared by God. The implications for the author’s Jewish readers and their present situation are clear. Indeed, it is just this kind of faith that views life as a pilgrimage that the author desires for his readers. 11:13–14 The paragons of faith mentioned thus far, like those about to be mentioned (cf. v. 39), died without receiving the things promised (lit., “the promises”). They died while living by faith, that is, having lived their ...

507. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... depend in living the life of faith. 13:9 The constancy of Jesus Christ should in itself put the readers on guard against innovative and strange teachings by which they may be carried away. The author now specifies what he has in mind. He desires his readers to reject teachings about foods (NIV adds the interpretive word ceremonial) insofar as it is alleged that they have to do with the spiritual well-being of Christians. Strength for the Christian comes not by the partaking or nonpartaking of certain foods ...

508. A Call to Persevere

Jude 1:17-25

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... 2 Peter 3:3–4, the scoffing takes the form of scorning the orthodox belief in the second coming. Jude applies the scoffing to libertines who deride believers that refuse to join them in taking advantage of their Christian liberty to follow their own ungodly desires. Jude had made the same point earlier in his letter when he described such men as those “who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality” (v. 4). 19 These are the men (translating the contemptuous single Greek word houtoi once ...

509. The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20:1-21

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... of this tradition of interpretation can be traced through the apocryphal writings between the end of the OT and the NT. Jesus supported the rabbinic tradition of “you shall not defraud” as well as the radical internalized meaning of not feeling desire for one’s neighbor’s goods. In his conversation with the rich young ruler he accepted the ruler’s recitation of the law, that included “you shall not defraud” (apostereō), rather than (epithumeō) “covet” (Mark 10:17–22). It is helpful ...

510. Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth 2:1-23

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... and Legends, p. 85) 2:22 It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed. Naomi understands what Boaz is trying to do and supports him wholeheartedly. Ruth’s long-term welfare stands behind her own desire for Ruth to find a home (1:9; 3:1). Like Boaz, Naomi knows what the world is like, a violent place filled with “hot-tempered men” (Judg. 18:25). 2:23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat ...

511. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... MT reads: “From the fruit of his mouth a man eats good (things),” that is, there is profit from his words. This presumes that the speech of a (good) person will be rewarded. The parallelism with verse 2b, where the soul (or “life,” “desire,” or craving) of the deceivers is violence, is quite obscure. There seems to be a contrast between the fruitless greed of the unfaithful and the one who uses speech effectively and profitably. The text is uncertain; see Additional Notes. 13:3 Antithetic and ...

512. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 21:1-31

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... Hb. wbyt ḥbr (lit. “and house of association”) at the end of v. 9b (also appearing in 25:24). Although the phrase occurs also in the Ugaritic texts, the meaning is obscure (common house?). 21:26 Verse 26a is lit. “the whole day he (or, one) desires a desire”—a cognate accusative construction. One should not be misled by the catchword in v. 25 (crave). Emendation of the text on the basis of the Gk., which introduces asebēs, “evil one,” as the subject of v. 26a, is not helpful. 21:28 The LXX ...

513. If Only You Were To Me A Bother

Song of Songs 8:1-14

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... 12, this is the first hint of corresponding language for the man, and it is a wish rather than an address to him. The use of brother/sister language for romantic attachment is also found in Egyptian texts. 8:2 My mother’s house: The woman’s desire to bring the lover to the mother’s house has appeared before (3:4). She who has taught me: This expression is often emended to “she who bore me” to correspond with 8:5. This emendation, however, involves both a change of a consonant and its transposition ...

514. Unfaithful Israel

Jeremiah 3:6-4:4

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... land, namely the promised land, which today we call Palestine. Deuteronomy 32:8–9 describes how God gave each nation their inheritance. As in our passage, biblical authors frequently comment on the peculiar beauty and desirability of Israel’s portion (Exod. 3:8, 17; Lam. 2:15; Ezek. 20:6; Dan. 11:16, 41). God intended to establish an intimate relationship with Israel. They would call him Father and be like sons to him. But, changing the metaphor to one that has been common in the ...

515. Punishment for Israel

Hosea 9:1--10:15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... more likely that the mention of Gilgal in verse 15 is referring to Israel’s lack of trust in God, exhibited by its desire to have a king “like all the other nations” (1 Sam. 8:20). Indeed, the punishment that Yahweh therefore decrees, according to verse 17 ... to death. God, the lover of his bride Israel (2:15), God who reared his infant son of a people (11:1–4), God who desires to heal his people (6:11–7:1) and who agonizes over losing them (11:8–9), God who finally will begin his salvation history ...

516. Shining as Stars

Philippians 2:12-18

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... , that when he was permanently absent they would be left to their own resources. It is God, he tells them, who works in you—not only in you individually but among you collectively. By his indwelling Spirit he works in them to will and to act—both the desire to act according to his good purpose and the power to carry it out. This is part of Paul’s teaching about the Holy Spirit, even if the Spirit is not explicitly mentioned here. As he emphasizes elsewhere, the Spirit does what the law could not: the ...

517. Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-26

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... this sin that impelled him to express his bitter feelings by attacking another. In this warning Yahweh offered Cain the hope that he could control this impulse to commit sin, even though it was strong. Should Cain act wrongfully, it would be because he yielded to the desire of sin, not because God had rejected his offering. 4:8 Some time later Cain made an appointment with Abel to meet him in a field, a remote place that offered the sense of privacy. In the field Cain spoke with Abel, but the MT records ...

518. Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

Genesis 19:30-38, Genesis 19:1-29

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... Lot’s offer of hospitality when he was only a resident alien, these men had come to embarrass Lot and to satisfy their lust at the expense of these strangers. Brazenly they ordered Lot to bring . . . out the visitors that they might satisfy their sexual desires. These men had no regard for the weak or for strangers. This incident was symptomatic of the gross depravity that had overtaken Sodom; other texts depict Sodom as full of all kinds of acts of oppression and violence (Jer. 23:14; Ezek. 16:49). 19:6 ...

519. Jacob Meets Esau

Genesis 33:1-20

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... fulfilled the conditions of Jacob’s vow about returning to Canaan (28:21). God had been faithful to Jacob through the many trials he faced in Paddan Aram. Jacob encamped close to the city of Shechem, which was Abraham’s first stopping place in Canaan (12:6). Desiring to settle in this area, for a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, a plot of land where he pitched his tent. Since the value of this unit of silver cannot be determined, it is difficult to know ...

520. Love the Lord Your God

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... ). In the legal texts it is frequently used in the sense of “a person, an individual, anyone,” or in the sense of “a life” that can be taken or lost. But most often it is used to express the whole inner self, with all the emotions, desires, and personal characteristics that make each human being unique. “Bless the LORD, O my nepeš,” sings the Psalmist, who then amplifies his meaning, “and all that is within me bless his holy name” (Ps. 103:1 RSV). To love God, then, with all your heart and ...

521. Driving Out the Nations

Deuteronomy 7:1-26

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... 34:8; Deut. 21:11; cf. 10:15). The other word is the commonest, ʾāhab, which we encountered in 6:5. The running sentence from the beginning of verse 7 to the beginning of verse 8 thus reads, (lit.) “Not because of your being numerous . . . did Yahweh desire you . . . but because of Yahweh’s loving you . . . ” God loved you because God loved you! And God proved it through action. 7:9–10 And so we come to the core of the chapter, affirming Yahweh as God and affirming God’s character as Yahweh. In ...

522. Naboth’s Vineyard

1 Kings 21:1-29

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... keep land in the family and to prevent its accumulation in the hands of a few (e.g., Lev. 25:8ff.; Deut. 25:5–10). Naboth is obligated to refuse Ahab’s offer, then, and in making it Ahab has disregarded Israelite law. The fact that he desires a vegetable garden (Hb. gan-yārāq) in particular is significant. The phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Deuteronomy 11:10, where a contrast is offered between Egypt (a vegetable garden requiring human care) and the promised land (which “the LORD your God ...

523. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 13:1--14:23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... fall. Indeed, Yahweh’s intention to stir up the Medes will be taken up in 41:2, 25—verses that may see this prophecy’s fulfillment in the rise of Cyrus. The blessings in Psalm 137:8–9 have often offended people, as if believers should not have such desires. This passage enables us to see that the blessings in the psalm are simply prayers that what Yahweh has announced here in verses 16 and 18 should come about. 14:1–2 Nothing in the book so far clarifies the link between 14:1–2 and what precedes ...

524. The Jewish Leaders as Negative Foil for Jesus’ Followers

Matthew 23:1-39

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... greed and self-indulgence. The Pharisees have been characterized by disobedience to the central Torah commands (e.g., 15:1–20) and by a desire for honor (23:1–12; cf. 6:1–18). Here Jesus adds the accusation of greed and self-indulgence. The latter (akrasia [see ... a lack of self-control. Though the Pharisees in Matthew outwardly appear to be all that they should be, their insatiable desire for more defines them. 23:26 First clean the inside of the cup. Jesus teaches that attention to the inward life ...

525. Lessons on Devotion and Prayer

Luke 11:1-13, Luke 10:38-42

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the word of God) that Mary has chosen. On either reading there is a deliberate word play on what is “needed” for the meal and what is spiritually most necessary. Mary has chosen what is better. Spiritual food takes priority over physical food. Martha’s desire to provide the best hospitality was not wrong in itself, but she had her priorities wrong. 11:1 teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. Here is one of several incidental indications of a continuing group of followers of John the ...

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