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 1001 to 1025 of 3082 results

1001. “Love Your Enemies” Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Mike Rowe has made a career out of doing disgusting stuff. As the host of the Discovery Channel series “Dirty Jobs,” Rowe has mucked-out, dug under, flushed, slogged, and slid through some of the most filthy and foul places on the planet. But whether he has been hanging from rafters or slipping through sewers, Rowe has consistently shown his viewers how even the most grungy, grimy, gross job still has its own dirty dignity. Rowe always offers respect to those who are “showing him the ropes,” whether they ...

1002. Love Your Enemies Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Mike Rowe has made a career out of doing disgusting stuff. As the host of the Discovery Channel series “Dirty Jobs,” Rowe would muck-out, dig under, flush, slog, and slide through some of the most filthy and foul places on the planet. But whether he has been hanging from rafters or slipping through sewers, Rowe consistently showed his viewers how even the most grungy, grimy, gross job still has its own dirty dignity. Rowe always offered respect to those who were “showing him the ropes,” whether they were ...

1003. Finding Fault With God

Jeremiah 2:4--3:5

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

It is never a pleasant prospect to deal with someone who has a complaint with you. As a new pastor, and a very young one at that, one of the things I struggled with most was the experience of conflict with members. I remember as if it were yesterday a significant misunderstanding that developed between the congregation's "matriarch" and me very early in my time there. I prayed about the difficulty we were having, and I knew that I needed to go to her home and ask for the opportunity to talk things out. I ...

1004. The Riot in Ephesus

Acts 19:23-41

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Before Luke could launch his travel narrative, he had one more story to tell of Paul’s time in Ephesus. That the silversmiths’ riot was simply a good story may almost have been reason enough to include it. But it had the added attraction of reinforcing Luke’s earlier point that the Christian faith and the Roman state were compatible, as borne out by the attitude of the asiarchs and the city clerk (see disc. on 18:1–17). Incidentally, this story reveals an accurate knowledge of the municipal institutions of ...

1005. The Supremacy of Christ

Colossians 1:15-23

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

The Hymn to Christ Scholars are virtually unanimous in their opinion that verses 15–20 constitute a hymn. Since the existence of hymns in the early church was common (Phil. 2:5–11; Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19), it is not difficult to believe that this is a carefully written poem intended to convey a specific self-contained message about Christ to the readers at Colossae. Paul has already alluded to the work of Christ with respect to deliverance and the forgiveness of sins (1:13, 14). In the hymn he continues to ...

1006. Bringing Back the Ark

1 Chronicles 13:1-14

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem: The four chapters under discussion in this section are often taken as a unit traditionally referred to as the “ark narrative.” Although there are different scholarly views on the existence of such an ark narrative and its divisions (see Additional Note on 13:1–16:43), the contents of these chapters deal mainly with the bringing of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. The exception is 1 Chronicles 14 (taken over from the source text), which deals with seemingly unrelated ...

1007. Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

Deuteronomy 21:1-9

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

Rectifying Public and Private Wrongs: Each of the five sections of this chapter deals with a situation of human distress or misconduct and seeks either to rectify the wrong or to mitigate its worst effects. We have seen already that this is a characteristic feature of Deuteronomy—part of its “pastoral strategy.” Another feature is that the first and fifth of the laws both require actions that involve removing pollution from the sight of God and from the land. 21:1–9 Atonement for an unsolved murder. ...

1008. Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab

1 Kings 22:1-28

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Ahab Dispatched: The house of Ahab stands under the prophetic curse. The full outworking of God’s wrath is to be delayed until the reign of Ahab’s son, because of the king’s response to Elijah (21:27–29). Ahab’s own death, however, has now been foretold by two different prophets, with no delay in prospect (20:41–42; 21:19), and we thus anticipate an early fulfillment of their prophecy. The appearance now of a third prophet brings us to that fulfillment, as Ahab marches out to meet the Arameans at Ramoth ...

1009. Athaliah and Joash

2 Kings 11:1-21

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

“David” Survives “Jezebel”: The destruction of the house of Ahab has impinged to an unsettling extent upon the house of David (2 Kgs. 9:27; 10:12–14). We recall the ominous lack of any restatement of the Davidic promise in 8:25–27. Have the two houses become so identified in intermarriage (8:18, 27) that a distinction is no longer to be maintained between them? Second Kings 11 begins by bringing us almost to the point of believing that this is so. There is a Jezebel in Judah, intent on doing there what ...

1010. Balaam’s Donkey

Numbers 22:21-41

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Speak only what the Lord says. Understanding the Text In Numbers 22:1–19 Balak king of Moab sends dignitaries to try to hire Balaam, a Mesopotamian diviner, to come curse Israel, who has recently come to occupy the plains of Moab. Although Balaam does not object in principle to cursing Israel, Yahweh, apparently in a dream, forbids him to go. But Balak finds Balaam’s refusal unacceptable and sends the dignitaries back to persuade him further. In Numbers 22:20–40, Yahweh once more appears to ...

1011. Denunciation of the Intruding Teachers

Judges 1:1-36

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Major Themes of Judges: Although it is best to establish these through an inductive approach, here the major themes are briefly noted so as to be aware of them as we work through the text. The theme of covenant underlies the entire story, in keeping with its Deuteronomic character. More specifically, Judges is about God’s covenant people, Israel, about their faithfulness and unfaithfulness to covenant commitments made first at Mount Sinai and later renewed, especially at Shechem under Joshua’s leadership ( ...

1012. The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus

Luke 3:21-38

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

Following John’s witness to Jesus (3:1–20), Luke provides three additional witnesses to Jesus’ messianic identity and mission: (1) the witness of Jesus’ own baptism, at which time the heavenly voice speaks (3:21–22); (2) the witness of his genealogy, which traces Jesus back to Adam, the son of God (3:23–38); and (3) the witness of Jesus’ temptation, in which the character and commitment of Jesus are tested (4:1–13). These components in the Lucan narrative testify to Jesus’ qualifications as Messiah and to ...

1013. Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Luke 4:14-30

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

4:14–15 This brief summarizing section, probably derived from Mark 1:14–15, represents the beginning of Jesus’ Galilean ministry (so Fitzmyer, p. 521; Ellis [pp. 33, 98–99] and Schweizer [pp. 96–97], however, see the beginning at 4:31). Luke wishes to make it clear that Jesus’ ministry begins in the power of the Spirit as he taught in their synagogues (see 1:35; 3:22; 4:1), which parallels the inauguration of the apostolic preaching and teaching in Acts 2. These verses establish the context for an expanded ...

1014. Hearts / Repentance

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

7:2–4 Here, Paul resumes his train of thought from 6:13, that the Corinthians should open wide their hearts to him just as he has done to them. This incidently shows that 6:14–7:1 must be integral to the present context, for otherwise 7:2 would sound redundant coming directly after 6:13. The intervening exhortation in 6:14–7:1 explains how they are to open their heart. As was shown above, 6:14–7:1 exhorts the Corinthians to put into practice the implications of the new covenant for their sanctification, ...

1015. Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead

1 Kings 22:29-40

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

1016. Being Neighborly

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

As a campus pastor in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I served on a committee that supports the local Lutheran Social Services Ministry foster care program. One Thursday, we heard about a young girl who had run away from home at age fourteen. By the time we heard about her, she was sixteen, and LSSM was trying to get her some help by putting her into an independent care program. She’d lived on her own for two years, so it seemed too late to put her into a foster care family. She would receive money for living ...

1017. Natural Or Supernatural?

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Text: Luke 9:29-31 - And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white. And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerasalem. I am sure that there is no one within the sound of my voice who was not vitally aware that a few weeks ago we celebrated Super Sunday. For at least three weeks before that event, every news media, every form of mass communication, had ...

1018. Paul: The Man and His Message

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

Hans Lietzmann, noted New Testament scholar, once remarked that no one has correctly understood Jesus except Paul and no one has correctly understood Paul. The attempts to understand Paul are legion. The literature on him is immense and the interpretations of his thought are varied. To Bultmann he is "the founder of Christian theology," while to Morton Enslin he is not a theologian at all but simply a "practical and forthright man" who taught new life in Christ but had little regard for logical consistency ...

1019. A Prophet Like Me

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

Most people have a rather warped view of the biblical prophets. We have tended to see them as rather like a man I saw outside Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, dressed in what looked like bed sheets, wearing a beard, with a sign around his neck, and carrying a staff, and shouting things to anyone who happened to look his way. He reminded me of some of the cartoons I had seen in the New Yorker magazine, depicting long-bearded characters in similar dress, usually announcing the end of the world. Certainly ...

1020. A Case for Living Together

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

I did a little Googling recently. I put in the question "Why do they hate US?" and I came up with 21,000 links. One Web site is dedicated to answering this question "Why do they hate US?" By going country by country and giving specific reasons why people in that country would hate US so. In my lifetime, it seems like the United States has gone from being talked about by the rest of the world as "The Ugly American" to "Ugly America." After World War II, the US took a combination of capitalism, a new ...

1021. The Man of Lawlessness

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

We come now to the heart of the letter, where Paul attempts to put right some wrong ideas about the Parousia (see Introduction). How Paul learned about the problem we are not told. In 3:11 he speaks of having heard a report that some in the church were idle. If this report were more recent than the one brought by Timothy, it might have included the issues dealt with in this section (see Introduction on The Sequence of the Letters). This is one of the most difficult passages of the NT to interpret, largely ...

1022. Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King

1 Kings 1:1-27

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Solomon Becomes King: The narrative that begins our book (1 Kgs. 1–2) is really not a beginning at all, but the last chapter of the larger story of David, which is found in 1–2 Samuel. It is in 2 Samuel 11 that Bathsheba, who plays such a prominent role in 1 Kings 1–2, first appears—possessed by David at the cost of her husband’s life (2 Sam. 11:6–27). Later the lives of various of David’s sons are recounted (2 Sam. 12–18). The end of 2 Samuel is a sorry tale of wickedness and weakness, which raises a ...

1023. Meet Israel’s New King

1 Sam 9:1–10:8

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: Even when his people’s faith falls short of his expectations, the Lord remains faithful and makes provision for their deliverance. Understanding the Text Israel demanded to have a king like the nations that lived around them (1 Sam. 8). They wanted a leader who would ensure national security (8:19–20) through an army and alliances. Despite how they may have viewed this request, the Lord regarded it as a rejection of his authority (8:7): it showed that the people were not willing to demonstrate ...

1024. Prayer and Worship

1 Timothy 2:1-15

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

2:1–7 · The prayer of all for all:When Paul thinks of the church gathered, he thinks of its being a praying community. He calls for prayer for all people and for those in authority. The short-term goal of the prayer for authorities is that “we may live peaceful and quiet lives” (2:2). However, this is not the “peace and quiet” of middle-class complacency. Paul wants the best platform possible for pressing upon all people that God “wants” them “to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (2:4). As ...

1025. David Makes Solomon King

1 Kings 1:28-53

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

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