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 51 to 75 of 655 results

51. The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh

Nahum 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... is a strong crag or rock, “a crag of strength/refuge” (Ps. 31:2; Isa. 17:10; cf. also 2 Sam. 22:32–33). Here Yahweh’s being people’s refuge or strength is set over against the ultimate unreliability of the rocks people might be inclined to trust in (v. 6). It also correlates to the opening description of Yahweh as one who takes redress and is full of wrath. Psalms commonly plead for two actions from Yahweh, the putting down of the suppliants’ attackers and the deliverance of the suppliants ...

52. Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

Habakkuk 2:2-20, Habakkuk 1:12--2:1

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... Judah, but now the subject is the nation that Yahweh has appointed as a means of disciplining Judah. Given the impossibility of Yahweh looking at wrongdoing and just shrugging shoulders, why is Yahweh doing that with regard to the treacherous? That English word is inclined to suggest the behavior of human beings towards one another, but it is not obvious how Babylon has been treacherous, at least to Israel, and bagad more often refers to a stance people take in relation to God, to unfaithfulness (e.g., Isa ...

53. A Call to Build the House of the Lord

Haggai 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... raises and any question one can imagine a prophet such as Amos asking. For other prophets, the problem is that people are only too ready to build a house for Yahweh, and make offerings to Yahweh, and pray to Yahweh, and praise Yahweh because they are inclined to think that they have then done their duty by Yahweh. Prophets therefore have to disabuse the people of this misunderstanding (see, e.g., Jer. 7). The question this raises is not only a preexilic one. The prophecies in Isaiah 56–66 also belong to ...

54. Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5--2:14, 1 John 2:15-17

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... of v. 8. Not only do the opponents claim not to “have sin” as a principle or disposition within them, they claim not to have committed specific sins. Hence they do not need redemption by the “blood of Jesus” (1:7). Gnostically inclined, the death/blood of Jesus offended them, as did any “enfleshment” of the divine Christ (4:2; 2 John 7). Their own “perfectionism” and high, yet self-deceived, spirituality could do without the cross, as modern psychologies of self-actualization and “success ...

55. God’s Love and Ours

1 John 4:7-21, 1 John 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... baptism to his death, or (c) may both refer to his death, when water and blood came from his wounded side (John 19:34). While we cannot know fully what was in the author’s mind, the clues contained in the rest of v. 6 and in the Fourth Gospel incline toward some form of solution (b). Clearly, in the remainder of v. 6, the Elder is arguing against his opponents, who could affirm that the Son of God, the Christ, came by water only. They denied that the divine Son of God, the Christ, came by blood as well ...

56. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 13:1--14:23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... , and thus in ours. 13:1 Babylon here appears in Isaiah for the first time; it is the subject through 14:23. Its prominence in chapters 13–23 may reflect two facts. In Isaiah’s day, Babylon was significant as a powerful city that was inclined to rebel against Assyria, like other powers nearer Judah such as Philistia and Egypt, and in collaboration with them. When the prophet Isaiah puts in his last personal appearance in the book, in chapter 39, it will be in connection with a Babylonian embassy’s ...

57. Salvation for Others

Isaiah 56:1-8

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... the coming of the nations may have been primarily designed to encourage the depressed Judean community. Here the promise focuses more on the way that this is good news for foreigners themselves. Judeans might be inclined to be offended at Yahweh’s openness to such people, or inclined to wonder whether Yahweh can fulfill this commitment when the smaller commitment of bringing Judeans themselves back remains unfulfilled. If so, verse 8 reminds them that the one who speaks is the Sovereign Yahweh. Additional ...

58. God's Accusation Against the Wicked

Isaiah 56:9--57:13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... (as we might expect) that the worship of the period of the monarchy has continued through the sixth century B.C. into the period when some Judeans have returned from Babylon. Chapters 40–55 have suggested that the Judeans in Babylon were no more inclined to the Yahwism of the prophets than were their parents and grandparents. But the portrait here may suggest different issues from those that images in chapters 40–55 raised about worship. It may be that the prophet is attacking people who had stayed in ...

59. Failure to Enter the Land

Num 13:1–14:9

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... Moses merely prays that God choose to act on the basis of his gracious side (v. 19). And God answers that prayer: he does not destroy Israel (14:20), though in holiness he condemns that generation to the wilderness (vv. 21–35). God, while holy, is inclined to forgiveness and grace. We, like Moses, can pray that God act on the basis of his grace. Teaching the Text 1. Intercessory prayer is powerful. Although this passage is not intended to teach us how to pray, it shows several features of how Moses prayed ...

60. Condemned to Wilderness Wandering

Numbers 14:1-45

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

61. “When I Awake, I Will Be Satisfied with Seeing Your Likeness”

Psalm 17:1-15

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... of innocence, based particularly on 17:3–5.[1] Others, in view of 17:1–2 and 6–9, consider it an individual lament. While the categories of form criticism are helpful, the psalmists were not working with those categories as such, and they were sometimes inclined to mix genres. Obviously the psalmist is lamenting false accusations by his enemies (17:10–12), and although he does not receive the answer he asks for, he is confident he will (17:15). We have already observed that Psalms 15, 16, and 17 are ...

62. “No One Can Redeem the Life of Another or Give to God a Ransom for Them”

Psalm 49:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... in the Psalms and Job, are more human longings than expectations and so do not fall in the category of revealed truth. David J. A. Clines proposes, for example, that Job 19:25 belongs in the category of Job’s desires rather than his knowledge.1I am inclined, however, to believe that the opening verb “I know” governs the rest of the text (Job 19:25–27). Although Job looks enviously at a tree and laments that it has a much stronger hope of living again than does a person (Job 14:7–17), Job ...

63. “God Looks Down from Heaven . . . to See If There Are Any Who Understand”

Psalm 53:1-6

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... brought low not by armies and fleets, the almighty dollar, the CIA and so on, but by a God long since pronounced dead, never entered their heads. But it has come to pass and this Christmas, all over the world, wise men will be less inclined to mock, and more inclined to worship—as happened at the first Christmas.6 And so the church has a living Lord, who sometimes, perhaps more often than not, works in ways that only those who believe can perceive. Respectable sins Human Experience: In Psalm 53:1–3 we ...

64. Ingrafted Branches

Romans 11:11-24

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... will transfer them from death to life. The majority of modern commentators follows the first view, seeing in life from the dead a fixed eschatological expression, that when Israel converts en masse to the gospel, the Parousia, the return of Christ, would be imminent. I am inclined, on the other hand, to see it as a reference to the salvation just noted in verses 11 and 14, and thus take it to be more figurative than eschatological. Paul’s topic, after all, is not the end of history and the final judgment ...

65. Listening and Doing

James 1:19-27, James 1:1-18

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... the way of God would turn back and follow his or her evil nature to the detriment of the community: No man shall walk in the stubbornness of his heart so that he strays after his heart and eyes and evil inclination, but he shall circumcise in the Community the foreskin of evil inclination and of stiffness of neck that they may lay a foundation of truth for Israel, for the community of the everlasting Council (1 QS 5:4–5). People who did turn back were surely condemned: As for them, they dissemble, they ...

66. Walking in the Light and the Problem of Sin

1 John 2:15-17, 1 John 1:5--2:14

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

67. Faith in the Son of God

1 John 5:1-12, 1 John 4:7-21

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

68. Mercy Me!

Romans 14:1--15:13, Luke 6:27-36, Luke 6:37-42, Luke 6:43-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of sin, because they sever us so severely from the will of God. What are these burdens? They’re negative inclinations we harbor and fester deep within us, like spite, malice, criticism, jealousy, and gossip, --the harbingers of a condemning heart, ... heart will be merciful. When our heart and eye and spirit is focused only on Jesus, we will not have the time or the inclination or even the ability to notice what anyone else is doing. For in the end, we answer only to the Lord. And His concern will only be ...

69. Turf Fights and Rewrites: That's What Stiff-Necked People Are Made Of

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... trip up our stubbornness and waywardness, so that we might stop and struggle with ourselves and with God, and hopefully choose the right way. Following Jesus is seldom an easy, “ok I’ll do it” kind of repentance, but a hard, slow, struggle with our inclinations and our guilt and anger and opinions and ideas. We are, as God says, “stiff-necked” –as stiff-necked and unyielding as the Babel tower perhaps! And yet God could topple it. And God can topple us. Sometimes, we must tear down the rotting ...

70. A Protestant (And Catholic) Way To Confess

Romans 10:8b-13

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... .” That’s precisely the message and value system you take into your personal life too. Add to that that the millennial generation has been raised with the ethic of putting yourself first and being good to yourself, and you can understand why so many of us are inclined to go our own way, to go it alone when others are tying you down.[5] No doubt, we need an antidote to the rampant “do it my way” ethos of today. Confession is that antidote. For when you confess, you are confessing not just your faith ...

71. One Tough Master?

Matthew 25:14-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... master? We know only that he is rich, that he went away and then finally came back, that be risked a fabulous amount of money on three servants and then gave all the money back to two of the servants while taking it all away from the third. Our first inclination is to agree with the third servant's assessment of the master. "Master, I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you do not sow, gathering where you haven't even scattered. You are a hard man. Tough." But come to think of it, that's only the ...

72. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... which Antiochus now controlled. 11:17 He . . . will make an alliance with the king of the South. Although the power and wealth of Antiochus inclined him to attack Egypt again, the rise of Rome caused him to seek a marriage treaty instead. In 197 BC, he gave his daughter ... to fulfill this vision through violent political efforts. The frailty of human kingdoms should give us pause when we are inclined to rely too heavily on them. Although they serve a purpose in God’s plans, their power is limited. Moreover ...

73. The Seventy “Sevens”

Daniel 9:20-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... not attentive enough to details. For example, number 3 deals with sin, as do the first two, but is positive in focusing on atonement, as opposed to numbers 1 and 2, which are negative and parallel to each other in the notion of eliminating evil. Others incline to an A B C / Aʹ Bʹ Cʹ pattern—that is, 1 corresponds to 4, 2 to 5, and 3 to 6—but this is not wholly convincing. Finishing transgression (1) naturally leads to the arrival of everlasting righteousness (4). Atonement rituals (3) can be related ...

74. Badger or Bonobo?

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... opinions of themselves and learn to lift up others, see others as equals and as people in need of God’s blessings. And they must commit to Jesus’ mission of love and inclusion, having faith in him, trusting his vision, and not acting on their lesser inclinations. This requires letting go of “control” and embracing faith in Jesus’ mission, letting go of self-interest and becoming interested in God’s people.[4] Being a disciple of Jesus will feel “antithetical” at times to our human natural ...

75. Eyes Like a Hawk

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to Cicero, da Vinci, and William Shakespeare. But it’s truly Jewish thought that pays close attention to the way our eyes can deceive us, lure us away from God, or cause our hearts to lust after unhealthy inclinations. The opposite can also be true. Our hearts, if inclined toward criticism, judgmentalism, or mean-spirited emotions, can direct our eyes to pay attention to the most minute details about other people rather than focusing on God and our own self-improvement. Even more so, we can judge ...

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