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 1226 to 1250 of 4770 results

1226. Jesus’ Authority to Perform Miracles

Matthew 8:18-22, Matthew 8:23-27, Matthew 8:28-34, Matthew 9:1-8

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... had given such authority to human beings [anthropois]” (NRSV). If Matthew intends a wordplay here between the “Son of Man” (9:6) and “man” (9:8), as captured in the NIV, then it is precisely Jesus’ role as representative humanity that is in view in this passage (see comments on “Son of Man” at 8:20). Teaching the Text 1. Jesus, as rightful king of this world, has power over nature and forces that work against God’s purposes. Matthew continues to emphasize Jesus’ authority in his Galilean ...

1227. Jesus as Isaianic Messiah and Wisdom Embodied

Matthew 11:1-19

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... Jesus will draw from Isaiah to indicate that his healing work signals his messianic identity (11:5). Yet healings and miracles were not necessarily associated with Jewish messianic expectations, especially in terms of Davidic messianic views (see the sidebar “First-Century Messianic Views”). And the location of his itinerant healing ministry in the backwater region of Galilee also defied expectations. So John’s question provides an opportunity to clarify what kind of Messiah Jesus is. In fact, Jesus ...

1228. Herod and Hometown Misunderstand Jesus’ Identity

Matthew 13:53-58, Matthew 14:1-12

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... uniqueness. In this regard, it is all too easy to create Jesus in our own image. We can see something of this in the array of views about Jesus popular today inside and outside of the church: Jesus as simply a teacher of good deeds, Jesus as the epitome of Western masculinity, or ... Jesus as poster boy for any and every political perspective. Yet to preach Jesus from Matthew’s point of view is to highlight Jesus’ true identity as the Messiah and inaugurator of the kingdom, even if this challenges people’ ...

1229. Jesus, Messiah and Lord, Is True Interpreter of the Torah

Matthew 22:15-22, Matthew 22:23-33, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 22:41-46

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Jesus is not negating the rest of the Jewish law, or even moving to the law’s lowest common denominator. Instead, he is prioritizing love of God and neighbor as an interpretive lens for viewing the rest of the Torah.6The rest of the Torah, which retains validity and applicability for Jesus, hinges upon these two central commands. 22:41–42 Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” In the final scene of ...

1230. The Jewish Leaders as Negative Foil for Jesus’ Followers

Matthew 23:1-39

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... to explore our cultural tendencies for creating and venerating celebrities. How have we given honor to some over others in our wider context and even in our local churches? A telling question to ask is “Who in our own communities do we view as expendable, and who do we feel compelled to honor and praise?” Instead of seeking honor and status, Jesus’ followers should pursue equality in their communities through renunciation of status and recognition that they have only one Father and one Messiah-Teacher ...

1231. Jesus Is Tried before Pilate and Sentenced to Death

Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 27:11-26

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... it. . . . The Christian kerygma as it is addressed to the world has this statement about an Israelite at its very heart.7 Book: Plenty of Blame to Go Around, by Eric Wittenberg and David Petruzzi. In their book, the authors analyze the commonplace view that Jeb Stuart was responsible for the Confederate Army’s loss at Gettysburg. Stuart, a cavalry commander, led his troops on a roundabout ride to Gettysburg and finally arrived on the afternoon of the second day of the battle.8Wittenberg and Petruzzi’s ...

1232. The Actions of the Triune Godhead Prove Jesus’s Divine Office

Mark 1:9-15

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... , with the animals as hostile predators,1or whether this is part of a “paradise” theme, as the animals are reconciled (Isa. 11:6–9) and the wilderness transformed with Jesus, the new Adam.2As part of a new creation theme, the latter view has merit. There are two negative elements (the wilderness, Satan) and two positive elements (the animals, the angels). In the contest Jesus clearly emerges victorious. The picture of the angels caring for the one who is greater than Elijah demonstrates his heavenly ...

1233. Jesus’s Authority to Forgive and Heal Sinners

Mark 2:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... just the right to declare a person forgiven, for the priests had the capability to declare forgiveness on those who had performed the sacrifices; rather, it denotes that Jesus himself possessed God’s authority to forgive. 2:12 He got up . . . and walked out in full view of them all. “Got up” in the Greek is “was raised”; his limbs in effect came back to life. The public nature of the miracle is emphasized. God’s presence and power in Jesus are clear to all there, so the physical miracle is an ...

1234. Mission and Rejection in Galilee

Mark 6:14-29, Mark 6:7-13

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... the popular understanding of Jesus at that time. These are not well-thought-out opinions but popular legends. Certainly any view that Jesus was John redivivus (revived from the dead) could be held only by those who knew nothing about John’s birth and death vis-à-vis ... Jesus. Still, that is the view that Antipas embraces. We know from 1:14 (cf. Matt. 4:12) that John was arrested just before Jesus began his Galilean ...

1235. A Special Child Promised

Luke 1:5-25

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... of speech serves as the “sign” of God’s miraculous power that he has requested (1:18). From a literary point of view, Zechariah’s loss of speech provides the basis for the striking scenes of the people’s recognition of his “vision” (1:21 ... coming of God himself. John will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb (1:15). This is remarkable in view of the fact that Jesus’s endowment with the Spirit will be mentioned only from the time of his baptism (3:22; 4:1). This ...

1236. The Baby Messiah Recognized

Luke 2:21-40

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R.T. France

... growing older.” He writes, “I invite you to explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but also the hope and fulfillment—and even joy—that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day.”3 Music: There are many beautiful musical settings for the Nunc Dimittis (Canticle/Song of Simeon), which has been sung in the church for over fifteen hundred years and is part of Evensong in the Anglican liturgical ...

1237. Testing in the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... calls “Satan,” as the leader of opposition to God’s purposes for his world. Under Satan’s control are the demonic forces most frequently met in the Gospel as evil spirits possessing people (11:17–18). There is an ambivalence in the biblical view of Satan, who is regarded not only as a real and powerful force determined to destroy God’s work but also as operating under the overall sovereignty of God. This tension, never fully resolved in Scripture, comes out clearly in this passage, where the ...

1238. Two Memorable Healings

Luke 5:17-26, Luke 5:12-16

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... questioning it. Jesus’s comments on the forgiveness of the paralyzed man must be read in the light of that popular view. Interpretive Insights 5:12 covered with leprosy. This indicates an advanced state of the disease, so it is all the more remarkable that the man simply assumes ... that Jesus could heal him if he wished, given the general view that the disease was incurable. 5:13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. To touch someone with “ ...

1239. Lord of the Sabbath and Appointing the Twelve

Luke 6:12-16, Luke 6:1-11

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... Gen. 2:2) and the Old Testament Sabbath laws (Exod. 20:8–11; Deut. 5:12–15), consider Paul’s words about our freedom in Christ in Romans 14:5–6 and Colossians 1:16. Try also to get hearers to see the situation from the scribal point of view. Why did they regard Jesus’s attitude to legal rules as dangerous? What risks are inherent in his more positive and flexible approach to the issue? Do we need such rules and regulations now, and if so, what is their purpose? The second key issue in this passage ...

1240. Jesus and Women

Luke 7:36--8:3

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the reluctance in some modern churches to accept the full involvement of women in mission and leadership, and it suggests that a simplistic view of women as essentially subordinate to men (on the basis of Paul’s so-called submission texts) does not represent all the ... women. What sort of community would Jesus himself have promoted? How far did the early church follow his lead? In view of the prominent and distorted portrayal of Mary Magdalene in some recent popular literature (e.g., The Da Vinci Code), ...

1241. A Sick Woman and a Dead Girl

Luke 8:40-56

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... Jesus addresses someone as “daughter” (though cf. 13:16), a reassuringly intimate term for this distressed woman. “Healed” is literally “saved.” The primary reference here (as when the same formula is used in 17:19; 18:42) is to physical healing, but in view of this woman’s condition, there may also be a wider sense of “salvation” to include the restoration of the full normal life from which she had been excluded (cf. the same formula in a nonphysical sense in 7:50). 8:49 Your daughter ...

1242. Interpreting the Times

Luke 12:54-59, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:35-48

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... to let things drift. Once the legal process has been started, there is no way out. It is inappropriate to press the details of the cameo by asking who is represented by the “adversary,” what the offense was, or what sort of “reconciliation” is in view. The point is in being alert to one’s danger before it is too late. Sitting on the fence is not an option when the kingdom of God has dawned and God’s judgment is imminent. Theological Insights There is an overriding sense of eschatological urgency ...

1243. The Revolutionary Values of the Kingdom of God

Luke 18:31-34, Luke 18:18-30, Luke 18:15-17

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... them out of tune with God’s value scale. 18:18 a certain ruler. This indicates a leading member of society, perhaps a synagogue leader. what must I do to inherit eternal life? Have Jesus’s comments about entering the kingdom of God worried him in view of his much higher place in the social order? The same question was asked by the lawyer in 10:25 (see comments there). Note the assumption that eternal life depends on doing something. Jesus’s reply will be equally practical (18:22), but it will go ...

1244. Use It or Lose It

Luke 19:11-27

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the same issue that the Pharisees raised in 17:20 (see comments there). Jesus’s determined approach to the capital seems to have led some to assume a political objective. We are not told who “the people” (the Greek text has simply “they”) were who thought this; in view of Jesus’s clear statements (as recently as 18:31–33) of what was to happen, his disciples at least ought not to have had such ideas, but Luke has twice noted their failure to grasp what Jesus meant (9:45; 18:34). In giving this ...

1245. Two Testing Questions

Luke 20:27-40, Luke 20:20-26

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... has been controversial ever since. Jesus’s answer here is not just “clever,” for it also teaches that it is possible to be both a faithful Christian and a responsible citizen; the kingdom of God can coexist with the empire of Rome. Paul expresses a similar view in Romans 13:1–7 (cf. 1 Pet. 2:13–17) that even pagan rulers have a God-given function. Paul wrote in the earlier part of Nero’s reign, when the imperial government was still relatively benign. A very different picture emerges in the book ...

1246. The New-Covenant Blessings: Peace and Hope

Romans 5:1-11

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... in place of the sinner draws on the imagery of an animal being sacrificed on behalf of the worshiper for the remission of sins. Second, as James Dunn shows, Christ’s sacrificial death is also portrayed against the backdrop of the Maccabean martyrs, whose deaths were viewed as atonement for the sins of ancient Israel (2 Macc. 7:9; 8:21; 4 Macc. 1:8, 10).1 2. The words “much more” in 5:9, 10, 15, 17 indicate that Paul is using another rabbinic hermeneutical technique, qal wahomer (light and heavy) (see ...

1247. The Mystery and Mercy of God

Romans 11:25-32

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... Israel will transpire. And the date of Israel’s change of heart regarding Jesus will occur in and around the events of his return. Concerning the second sermon/lesson, the problem of Israel’s belief looms large in the New Testament. Jesus’ answer to that quandary was to view Isaiah 6:9–10 as a prophecy of Israel’s future rejection of God and his Messiah (compare Isa. 6:9–10 with Mark 4:11–12). Paul probably taps into that prophecy here in Romans 11:25–27. God’s procedure in all of this is ...

1248. Paul the Apostle of the New Covenant to the Gentiles

Romans 15:14-22

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... –15a) 2. Paul’s calling to be the eschatological apostle to the Gentiles (15:15b–21) a. The object of Paul’s calling (15:15b–19a) b. The area of Paul’s calling (15:19b) c. The principle of Paul’s calling (15:20–21) Most commentators view 15:14–21 as a self-contained paragraph. Thus, 15:14–21 focuses on Paul’s past travel plans, while 15:22–23 focuses on Paul’s future travel plans. Historical and Cultural Background Two key ideas form the background to Romans 15:14–21 and, indeed ...

1249. Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain

Romans 16:1-27

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... all ethnicities, genders, and socioeconomic groups. Personal Testimony: I (Marvin) recently attended the funeral of the father of one of my student advisees. The service was both touching and triumphant. It was obvious that Jeff had lived a Christian life in view of the diversity of the body of Christ. Over five hundred people attended his memorial service. They represented different ethnic groups: men and women, haves and have nots, highly educated and not. During his life Jeff had touched each of those ...

1250. Resurrection and Christian Living

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... strongest way (cf. Gal. 1:6–9). Paul’s use of the passive voice throughout this whole passage does not suggest Paul thinks of resurrection as something that happens automatically without the need for God’s direct intervention (as if his view is a mere variant of the Corinthians’ view). That it is God who actively raised Christ and who actively will raise believers becomes unquestionably clear from verse 15. Eternal life is not an inherent quality of human life (15:53; cf. 1 Tim. 6:16). 15:16–19 ...

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