Sermon and Worship Resources

Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 826 to 850 of 975 results

826. Nebuchadnezzer’s Dream of a Tree

Daniel 4:1-18

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... . But here the king narrates the dream, while Daniel only provides the interpretation. With a slight emendation (see Additional Note on 4:9) it is possible to read “here” instead of “visions.” Then the verb “tell” would only go with “its interpretation,” yielding “Here is my dream that I saw; tell its interpretation.” 4:10–18 Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream: he saw a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous (4:10); its top touched the sky (4:11). It produced abundant ...

827. The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... consonants prsyn in the text and vocalize the word as a dual, parsayin, then it represents two halves. Although it is normally understood to be half-minas, it might be construed as half-shekels. Using the rate of sixty shekels to the mina yields the number sixty-two: one mina equals sixty shekels, plus one shekel, plus two half-shekels, equals sixty-two shekels (Goldingay, Daniel, p. 112). However, as already noted, there is more support for reading peres, not parsin, and furthermore, the understanding of a ...

828. The Kings of the South and the North

Daniel 11:2-35

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... that umashal mimshal rab memshalto means “and he will rule a great dominion, his dominion,” which is incomplete. A number of scholars emend memshalto to mimmemshalto (so also BHS n. 5d). Adding the comparative min on the front makes much more sense, yielding “and he will rule a dominion greater than his dominion,” that is, Seleucus will rule a dominion greater than Ptolemy’s dominion. With two mems (the Hebrew letter m) in the text already, a third could easily have dropped out. This accords ...

829. The Narrow Door

Luke 13:22-30

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... made was judged. And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, full of dangers and involved in great hardships. But the entrances of the greater world are broad and safe, and really yield the fruit of immortality. Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and vain experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them” (RSV). Lachs (p. 146) cites the following rabbinic parallel: “It is like the one who sat ...

830. The Parable of the Tenants

Luke 20:9-19

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... not be overlooked. In his Song of the Vineyard the eighth-century prophet sings a parable describing God’s loving care for his “vineyard” (his people Israel). He has denied his vineyard nothing. But when it is harvest time the vineyard does not yield good grapes, only sour grapes. What will God do? He will abandon his vineyard, allowing it to be drought-stricken, choked with weeds, and trampled under foot. Later Jewish interpretation came to understand Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard as a prophecy of ...

831. Jesus Before Pilate and Herod

Luke 22:66--23:25

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... , they shout for clemency. Despite finding Jesus innocent, Pilate, nonetheless, bows to the pressure of the crowd. His was a harsh and unpopular rule in Judea, and the last thing that this governor needed was more trouble. Thus, Pilate’s authority yields to the demands of the people, thereby enabling Luke to place the blame for Jesus’ execution more squarely on the shoulders of the Jewish religious leaders. Not only does this serve Luke’s broader theological program in which he consistently portrays ...

832. Doxology

Romans 11:33-36

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... taught that worship begins where theology ends. Where the legs of reason grow weary, the heart may yet soar on wings like eagles. Verse 33 marks the frontier between theological argumentation and sublime worship. Paul’s long and difficult philosophy of history now yields to a doxology to God’s wisdom. A lesser soul than Paul, having plunged into the labyrinth of divine sovereignty and human sin, might, like Job, have emerged shaking his head in despair. Not so the apostle. The severity of the problem ...

833. One Like a Son of Man

Revelation 1:9-20

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... . This feature of apocalyptic literature intends to provide the reader with a cipher for decoding more obscure images found in the immediate context of the vision. These “clues” are found frequently throughout Revelation—no doubt added by the seer—and always yield critical keys to help the reader along the way. Additional Notes 1:10a Boring suggests that on the Lord’s Day was an idiom for early Christianity’s celebration of “Easter,” which provides an even more concrete occasion for John’s ...

834. The King Who Exalts Himself

Daniel 11:36-45

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... be best to follow the MT. The expression lemibtsere maʿuzzim, “fortresses of strongholds,” is usually understood as the superlative, “mightiest fortresses.” If we repoint “mightiest” (lemibtseru) as a piel participle instead of a noun, it yields “those who enclose fortresses” or “those who fortify strongholds” (Collins, Daniel, pp. 368, 388). Then the word ʿm could be revocalized as the noun “people” (ʿam) instead of the preposition “with” (ʿim; “the help of” is supplied ...

835. Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-31, John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... according to a simple pattern repeated in verses 15–20 and verse 21. In answer to the last question, Jesus does not carry the thought further, but simply repeats the pattern for a third time, only now with a negative corollary (vv. 23–24). The section as a whole yields the following picture: If you love me, you will obey what I command (v. 15). Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to ...

836. Forgiveness for the Sinner

2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... the desert when they rebelled against Moses and Aaron after Korah’s rebellion (Num. 16:41–50). During that judgment, Aaron is said to have intervened on behalf of the people by an intercessory prayer (Wis. 18:22, 23), so that the destroyer yielded: “for merely the trial [or, experience] of the wrath was enough (hikanos)” (v. 25). In other words, it was deemed sufficient that the community suffered the plague without being completely consumed (see also Isa. 40:2). Likewise in 2 Corinthians 2:6, the ...

837. Boasting

2 Corinthians 11:16-33, 2 Corinthians 1:1-11, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... NIV has seen fit to connect the clause in question to verse 7, to ignore the inferential conjunction, and to translate the sentence as if it began with the immediately following subordinate conjunction hina (“in order that”). This maneuver yields a tolerably coherent translation that may approximate what was originally meant. Unfortunately, the NIV fails to represent the fact that the Greek text twice repeats the purpose clause (“in order that I might not become conceited”), once at the beginning ...

838. Paul's Vision and His Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

839. Listening and Doing

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

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... pure gold” in them. They should not look fearfully at testing, but look through it, for the result will be perseverance. This ability is hardly a virtue to be winked at. First, it is a virtue that only suffering and trials will produce. Second, it yields to a stable character, a firm, settled disposition of faith: It is a heroic virtue. A person possessing such a virtue could be trusted to hold out, whatever the circumstances. Such people were surely in demand as leaders in the church. Third, it relates ...

840. Two Kinds of Wisdom

James 3:13-18, James 3:1-12

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... seen in the distance were sweet and travel miles accordingly. See further E. F. F. Bishop, Apostles of Palestine, p. 187; or D. Y. Hadidian, “Palestinian Pictures in the Epistle of James,” p. 228. The King James Version reads, “So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh”; this reading follows an inferior Greek text that harmonized 3:12 with 3:11. The NIV follows a better text and thus shows James’ shifting thought, making a good transition to the next section. 3:13 The word-pair wise ...

841. Praying for Endurance and Healing

James 5:1-6, James 4:13-17, James 5:7-12, James 5:13-20

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... . Their crucial virtue was the ability to endure, whatever the trials. Whether an Amos commanded not to speak (Amos 7) or an Elijah pursued by Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1ff.) or a Jeremiah imprisoned by King Zedekiah (Jer. 38), these people endured. Reflection on them yields two facts: (1) the lot of a servant of God often involves suffering, and (2) a person can endure the suffering and remain faithful. 5:11 In their own day prophets were regarded as reactionary fossils who did not like the modern trends in ...

842. Praying for Endurance and Healing

James 5:7-12, James 4:13-17, James 5:1-6, James 5:13-20

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

843. Praying for Endurance and Healing

James 5:13-20, James 4:13-17, James 5:1-6, James 5:7-12

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

844. Faith in the Son of God

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

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... A. Trites, The New Testament Concept of Witness (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1977), and J. M. Boice, Witness and Revelation in the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970). 5:10 The variation in the use of the Greek prepositions with the verb for believe does not yield any difference in meaning. It is typical of this author to vary his style of writing with no significance to the variation; Brown, Epistles, p. 589. This verse, along with the rest of 5:6–11, John 15:26, and Rom. 8:16, formed the ...

845. Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom

Proverbs 1:8-19

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... situation. My son can be a stereotypical phrase used by the sages in the instruction of youth. Wisdom and virtue are frequently portrayed in terms of precious ornaments and clothing (cf. 3:3, 22; 4:9). An admonition follows in verses 10–19: one is not to yield to the enticements that sinners will offer to youth. Their proposition is to rob and slay someone in order to share a common purse. They will waylay some harmless soul (v. 11) only to waylay themselves (v. 18). Verse 16 seems to be a quotation from ...

846. A Prophecy Against Assyria

Isaiah 14:24-27

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... Tyre sought to assert independence over against Assyria during the years of Isaiah’s ministry, that they allied with each other in doing so, and that they sought to involve Judah in such movements. Isaiah believes it to be bad politics for Judah to yield to their tempting blandishments—not because he is a better worldly politician, but because he knows what Yahweh’s priorities and intentions are. Yahweh is going to put down all these nations; it is foolish to put trust in any of them. An implication ...

847. How Well Do You Listen?

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the seed fell on good ground and they brought forth fruit--in some cases a hundred-fold. The seed falling on good soil, he later explained “refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” In what condition is the soil which is your heart? It’s simply a matter of listening. 1. (New York: Berkley Books, 1990). 2. Adapted. Source unknown. 3. Holman New Testament Commentary--Mark: 2 (Kindle Edition ...

848. We've Got a Friend in High Places

1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28, Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... the world on our shoulders, or we can say, ‘I give up, Lord; here’s my life. I give you my world, the whole world.’” (7) What a simple but beautiful reminder of a choice we make everyday--to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders or to yield that burden to our friend who sits at the right hand of God. Some of you can remember when Phil Rizzuto was the record-setting shortstop for the New York Yankees. We’re told that in one game Rizzuto trotted out to his position in the top of the ninth ...

849. The Sacred Power of a Listening Heart

1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19

Sermon

King Duncan

... for. Bob and his wife lived in DC. What with the city’s international flavor, they chose a different land to pray for every day. So along those lines, Bob decided to pray daily for Kenya. Not much happened for four or five months. The prayer experiment was yielding little. Then one night he sat next to a woman at a dinner party. She was from Kenya. She ran an orphanage. Bob related that he felt as though ice water was suddenly running through his veins. He had been fantasizing about how to spend the $500 ...

850. Have You Been Pruned?

John 15:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... rows of ugly-looking stumps and a few “runners” stretching from each of those stumps. “It looks disastrous,” Mitchell remarked to his guide. “Don’t worry, the guide replied. “We do that for three years to every vine [we cut it back] before it’s allowed to [yield] any fruit. For these vines, this was the third year. Just wait a few months, and you will see grapes nearly as big as ping pong balls!” That’s an image to get your mouth watering--grapes as big as ping pong balls. But there’s ...

Showing results