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 601 to 625 of 3285 results

601. Spiritual Blessings in Christ

Ephesians 1:1-14

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... and insight as coming from God’s grace. The two terms, wisdom (sophia) and understanding (phronēsis), though not consistently distinguished in Scripture, generally refer to the knowledge of something, followed by the ability to apply that knowledge or wisdom to a right course of action. God has provided the knowledge and ability to know and to do his will. 1:9 God’s gift of wisdom and insight enables the believer to understand the mystery of his will (cf. GNB: “secret plan”). In Colossians, that ...

602. A Prayer for the Ephesians

Ephesians 3:14-21

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... convincing (pp. 131–32). 3:16 In this prayer, the apostle draws upon the vast reservoir of God’s resources—I pray that out of his glorious riches. The glory of God is the essence of all that God is, and so there is no limit to his ability to give. Normally, one’s prayers are limited by the inability to comprehend God’s riches and ask accordingly (3:20; James 4:2, 3). Ephesians reminds believers that God gives out of his glorious riches! The first request is for inner strength from the Holy Spirit ...

603. Rules for Holy Living

Colossians 3:1-17

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... believer is continually being called upon to become in reality what he or she is in fact. But how, one may ask, is this seemingly impossible task to be accomplished? How can a person make the right choices? Who will give this new self the necessary ability and strength? The answer, says Paul, lies in the activity of God: the new self … is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (cf. Rom. 8:29). These words recall Genesis 1:27, which states that originally human beings were created in the ...

604. Rules for Christian Households

Colossians 3:18-4:1

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... make me a Gentile … a woman … a boor.” Slaves suffered a similar fate in Greek and Roman society. Much secular literature of that period speaks of slaves in derogatory and demeaning terms. A slave was a living tool and, with the exception of the ability to speak, was considered no better than a beast. Their masters had powers of life and death over them, and they could be abandoned when their usefulness was gone. Many were killed at the slightest provocation. At the same time, there are many examples ...

605. To Elders and Young Men

1 Peter 5:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... . In Judaism, persecutors are often likened to lions: Jer. 4:7; Ezek. 19:6; 1QH 5.5; 4Q169 on Nah. 2:11–12. Devour (katapiein): lit. “to swallow down.” 5:9 Resist here means to withstand, not to fight against, for that is beyond the ability of human beings faced by a spiritual foe like the devil. Only in Christ is there victory (Luke 10:17). Standing firm translates one Greek word, stereoi, solid, firm; the corresponding verb occurs in Acts 16:5, “the churches were strengthened in the faith.” See ...

606. False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 Peter 2:1-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... materialistic and fleshly pleasures will ultimately so corrupt their own body, mind, and spirit that they lose even the ability to enjoy such pleasures. Sensuality is self-destructive (Gal. 6:8). The self-indulgent striving after pleasure yields diminishing ... by flouting that gospel after once having known it, and thus they have rejected the only source of salvation. Furthermore, their future ability to resist sin has been fatally weakened by their returning to embrace it. 2:21 Someone who has never known the ...

607. Manna and Quail

Exodus 16:1-36

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... they were to do it this way. They would learn to trust the Lord for what they did not know. In the middle of verse 4 the Lord brings the bigger, underlying theological problem to the surface. In this way I will test them (“prove their ability”) and see whether they will follow my instructions (lit., “walk in my torah”). The Lord’s plan was to form this assembly into a people who would bless the world through the way they lived. God was preparing them for the more comprehensive instruction (torah ...

608. The Birth of Samson

Judges 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... affirm in all kinds of ways that “It ain’t over till it’s over”: But you are going to conceive and have a son. It is impossible to overstate the impact of these words in a culture in which a woman’s value was measured by her ability to bear children, especially male children (cf. Gen. 30:1; 1 Sam. 1:1–11). The angel then provided a list of instructions about the woman’s prenatal care. She was not to drink . . . wine or other fermented drink (beer) and not to eat anything unclean, the reason ...

609. A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... “gift of God” (3:13). Yet the lack of understanding remains heavy “burden” (3:10). It is not coincidental that the letdown occurs when the role of God is made explicit. It is God who has “set eternity in the hearts of men” but withheld the ability to “fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (3:11). The passage develops and explains the exclamation of 1:13, “What a heavy burden God has laid on men!” The next verses (3:16–17) introduce the issue of injustice, here in the context ...

610. The Call of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... tree to blossom after winter. The point is that God is watching over his word. He will accomplish it. This oracle serves as a warning to God’s people who hear of God’s coming judgment on their sin, but doubt that he has the will or the ability to affect it. The second of the two opening oracles is introduced in verse 13 again by the divine question: What do you see? Jeremiah responds that he sees a boiling pot, tilting away from the north. God then interprets the vision for the prophet by warning him ...

611. The Second Journey to Egypt

Genesis 43:1-34

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... head, they threw themselves to the ground before him, 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 ...

612. The Appointment of Leaders

Deuteronomy 1:9-18

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... 12). The words are graphic and remind us of the many occasions in the wilderness narrative when the people murmured, complained, disputed, and argued—taxing even Moses’ outstanding leadership ability. 1:13–15 The qualifications for those who were to be appointed to subordinate leadership include both ability (wise and understanding), and social standing (respected, lit. “known”). They would thus have the gifts and the respect to carry the judicial responsibilities laid on them. The more explicitly ...

613. Oracles of Restoration

Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Ezekiel 37:15-28

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... and Jer. 31:31–34). For Greenberg, this also means that Israel will no longer be free: “so that God’s name never again suffer disgrace, Israel’s restoration must be irreversible. Such it can be only if Israel be denied the ability ever again to disobey God’s laws. God’s uninterrupted glorification entails the curtailment of human freedom” (Ezekiel 21–37, p. 735). Indeed, Israel’s restoration and purification (vv. 28–29), and even the fruitfulness of the land (vv. 29–30), are intended ...

614. Jesus’s Authority to Forgive and Heal Sinners

Mark 2:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... ,” a general term that could indicate any number of diseases or accidents that make a person unable to walk. The fact that four of his friends carry him (on a mat or poor man’s bedroll [cf. Matt. 9:2]) shows that they share his faith in Jesus’s ability to heal. 2:4 they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat. When the crippled man and his friends arrive, they find that the huge crowd at Simon’s house makes it impossible to get the man to Jesus in ...

615. More Parables of the Kingdom

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29, Mark 4:21-25

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... in a recruit is not what the men anticipated, and the least likely man in the group, Edwards, a New York City policeman, is selected. We often think that to be effective in ministry we need to have a scintillating personality, enormous intellectual prowess, an amazing ability to communicate, and so on. What we really need are people who are willing to surrender fully to God and to his Word, and who are willing to allow him to work through them. If you do not feel qualified to be used by God, be encouraged ...

616. Possessions and Choice in the New Kingdom Community

Mark 10:17-31

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... religion is that people are okay if they are more good than bad. This was the problem of the young man: not trying to buy salvation with works, but thinking that good works were enough. Eternal salvation is not based on human goodness (John Calvin called this human ability to do good works “common grace”), for sinful human beings can never be good enough. All of us were born in sin and have lived in sin all our lives (“all have sinned” [Rom. 3:23; 5:12]). This is the whole point. There was only one ...

617. Power over Illness and Death

Luke 7:11-17, Luke 7:1-10

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... at a distance is recorded in Mark 7:24–30, again involving a Gentile “patient.”1 The centurion has no doubt of Jesus’s ability to heal, only of his willingness to enter his house. But the latter is no barrier to effective healing. 7:8 a man under ... important differences in emphasis, the first focusing on the faith of a non-Israelite and the second on Jesus’s remarkable ability to raise the dead. They may profitably be taught either together or separately. 1. The centurion’s servant. A sermon or ...

618. Use It or Lose It

Luke 19:11-27

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... at the heart of the story, but the imagery seems broadly applicable to all areas of responsibility that God expects of his people. The parable indicates that he expects those responsibilities to be fulfilled to the best of our ability, with the recognition that those abilities may vary between individual disciples. It also teaches that the proper exercise of such responsibility will be rewarded, but that to back out of such responsibility is the way of spiritual ruin. Teaching the Text Luke apparently has ...

619. Applying God’s Wisdom to Life’s Issues

1 Corinthians 2:6-16, 1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... God’s Spirit in human weakness. The mismatch is now exposed in the strongest way. In contrast to human cleverness and persuasive ability stands a demonstration of God’s presence and power (4:19–20). Paul’s language is deliberate. Using the language of ... from trees.” Such an idiom would have made much sense in Corinth. Eloquent expositors of wisdom were rated on their ability to “preach squirrels down from trees.” With this backdrop, Paul reminds the Christians to be careful not to confuse the ...

620. Leadership and Servanthood

1 Corinthians 4:1-21, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... in the praise of other humans than in the praise of God. 3. It is one thing to claim to be a servant; it is quite another to actually be one. As Paul teaches here, true servanthood springs from a person’s mental attitude. Physical ability enables everyone to do acts of service. True servants, however, do not just do service; they recognize their position as servants and act accordingly. They do not consider serving to be paying a price. Rather, being asked to serve is like “gaining a price”—it ...

621. Christian Success and Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... that genuine Christian faith has power. Opposite the powerless “air” of the inflated Corinthians, Paul will soon come and reveal the powerful “wind” of God’s Spirit (4:19; cf. 2:1–4). The true test of those belonging to God’s kingdom8is not their ability to talk but their empowerment by God’s Spirit. Those who truly belong to God’s kingdom evidence God’s presence; their pride is in Christ, not in themselves. 4:21 with a rod of discipline, or . . . in love. Paul now turns his reminder ...

622. Marriage, Sexual Intimacy, and Spiritual Devotion

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... the room was pitch black and the box full of light? Suggest that in the same way that a box full of light can illuminate darkness, but a box full of darkness cannot snuff out the light, so a believer’s faith and example have the ability to shine and impact the lives of others. Assure your listeners that Jesus’s light shines in them and that, because it is based on his strength and righteousness, the darkness cannot overcome it. Quote: Erma Bombeck. Humorist and author Bombeck says of her family, “We ...

623. Many Parts, One Body

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:1). then gifts of healing, of helping. Listing “helping” in the same breath as the gift of healing reveals the breadth of Paul’s thinking and his unwillingness to separate spirituality from ministry. Beyond the general ability to support others in need, Paul likely refers to the role of the patron as the benefactor of the weak.[12] guidance. The Greek word kybern?seis, sometimes translated as “administration” or “leadership,” points to those who are given directive roles.[13 ...

624. Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Growth

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... way at the right time to break through. Contrasting Concept: Show a short video clip of a magician doing a trick, the more dramatic the better. Point out that what makes the trick gripping is the fact that what we see seems beyond the natural abilities of humans and appears to be supernatural. Magicians claim to be the ones exercising this supernatural power for their own fame and glory, but we call it a “trick” or an “illusion.” The difference with manifestations and gifts of the Spirit is that the ...

625. Ingratitude and Judgment

Num 11:1-35

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... Insights” following the unit on Numbers 1:1–2:34. 11:22 all the fish in the sea. The hyperbole indicates that huge quantities are required. 11:23 Is the Lord’s arm too short? This is a rhetorical question affirming God’s ability to fulfill any promise. The plagues on Egypt had previously demonstrated God’s immense power. 11:24 seventy of their elders . . . around the tent. This probably indicates a semicircle before the tent’s entrance. 11:25 the cloud. See Leviticus 16:2; Numbers ...

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