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 1251 to 1275 of 4963 results

1251. Drought, Famine, Sword

Jeremiah 14:1--15:21

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... be surprised that Jeremiah describes it as a judgment of God. After all, Leviticus and Deuteronomy both cite drought as one of the consequences of breaking the covenant (Deut. 28:22–24; Lev. 26:18–20), and the apostate time of Ahab experienced a horrible drought in response to its worship of Baal (1 Kgs.17:1). 14:3 Cisterns were huge hollowed out pits in the ground where rainfall was stored. That there was no water in a cistern meant that the drought was long and severe. False Prophets (14:11-16): 14:11 ...

1252. Day of Disaster

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... it as part of a complex that comprises the second half of the chapter. In our analysis, verses 14–15 envision a future salvation, then verses 16–18 is a judgment oracle. Verses 19–20 is a prayer of Jeremiah, followed by verse 21, which is a divine response. 16:14–15 With the phrase the days are coming, this oracle looks to the future. It envisions a change to the standard oath formula. Right now when people take an oath they swear by the Lord who brought the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt ...

1253. Jeremiah Threatened with Death

Jeremiah 26:1-24

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... contingent on the people’s staying the course in their sin. If they reform their ways, then God will relent. From the perspective of the people, their future is still open to them. Repentance will avert complete disaster; rejection will bring the Babylonian army. With his responsibility to communicate God’s message to the people out of the way, he now turns to his own fate. On the one hand, he tells them to do what they want with him. However, there is more than an implicit threat in the comment that if ...

1254. The Charge Against Israel

Hosea 4:1-19

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... an untamed heifer, fighting against Yahweh’s yoking law. There is no way it can be let loose into the broad place of responsible freedom, as if it were a lamb in a roomy pasture. The word that the NIV translates with meadow has the meaning of ... broadness is often used in the OT of Yahweh’s salvation; that is, salvation is having room to live, being set in the wide space of responsible freedom (cf. 2 Sam. 22:20, 37; Job 36:16; Ps. 31:8; 118:5; 119:45, 96; Isa. 33:21). Thus, Israel, here called Ephraim, ...

1255. Israel’s Ill-Placed Confidence

Amos 5:18-27

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... occupants; the Israelites were only tenants and stewards (Lev. 25:23, 55). As their covenant Lord, he would provide for their needs even during back-to-back Sabbath Years (Lev. 25:21). The year began on the Day of Atonement, perhaps to emphasize that the best response to God’s redemptive mercy is faith in his provision and mercy to others. Although the Jubilee Year is commanded in the Mosaic law and spoken about by the prophets (Isa. 61:1–2; Ezek. 46:17), rabbis, and Jesus (Luke 4:18–19), Scripture is ...

1256. Jesus, Peter, and the Beloved Disciple

John 21:15-25

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... a firm commitment to continue the Shepherd’s work during the time of the Shepherd’s absence. If he truly loves Jesus, he must obey Jesus’ commandments, and for him the single command is Feed my sheep (cf. 10:7–16). Peter is here given a pastoral responsibility among Jesus’ followers, to help see to it that what the unbroken net represents will come true in fact—that is, that none who belong to Jesus will be lost. A good shepherd, Jesus had said, “lays down his life for the sheep” (10:11, 15 ...

1257. Let Us Love One Another

2 John 1:1-13

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... for the view that the Elder is writing to a group of churches in his sphere of authority in the vicinity of Ephesus. The Elder has, or believes he has (this is, of course, contested by the secessionists and by Diotrephes; see 3 John 9–10), pastoral responsibility for “the care and oversight” of these congregations. The reason for, or perhaps the anticipated result of, the visit is that our joy may be complete. The same hope for fulfilled joy occurs in 1 John 1:4 (cf. John 15:11). There it is one of ...

1258. The Covenant of Circumcision

Genesis 17:1-27

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... Sarah’s name occurs three times in this brief speech. 17:17–18 On hearing God’s words that Sarah was soon to bear a son, Abraham was so flabbergasted, given his and his wife’s advanced age, that he fell facedown and broke out laughing. His response revealed that his hope of having a son by Sarah had been extinguished. Reference to his spontaneous display of incredulity establishes that Abraham did nothing to earn the gift of a son. The birth of Isaac was solely a gift of God’s grace. Neither Sarah ...

1259. Abraham Tested

Genesis 22:1-19

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... God repeated a name to get a person’s attention (e.g., v. 11; Exod. 3:4, the call of Moses; 1 Sam. 3:10, the call of Samuel). The ease with which God got Abraham’s attention attests that he was in close fellowship with God. Responsively Abraham replied: “Here I am,” indicating that he was ready to do whatever God asked. 22:2 With three crisp imperatives God gave Abraham a threefold order: take your son Isaac, go to the region of Moriah, and sacrifice him there. The first command, take, stands in ...

1260. Judah and Tamar

Genesis 38:1-30

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... accorded higher moral value than are actions. Although Tamar had committed an illicit act, she acted out of the highest motives. True to her word she had kept herself for marriage to Shelah, but Judah had failed to keep his promise to her. To fulfill her responsibility of having a child for her deceased husband Er, Tamar humbled herself in order to hold Judah accountable for failing to keep his word. That is, her behavior placed the value of the lineage of a clan in Judah over an illicit sexual act. As a ...

1261. Offerings for Priests and Levites

Deuteronomy 18:1-8

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... says the LORD” (cf. Isa. 6:5–7; Ezek. 2:9–3:4; Jer.1:9; 5:14). Fourthly, the true prophet carried God’s authority, for he or she would speak my words . . . in my name (v. 19). Therefore, those who heard the prophet heard God; whatever response they made to the prophet they made to God, and they would take the consequences. 18:20–22 All the marks of true prophets have been stated; now the danger of false prophets have to be faced. Two kinds of falsehood are defined. First, anyone who spoke in the ...

1262. The Widow's Oil

2 Kings 4:1-7

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... she would see a child born but also that she would see that child grow up. Now she is here to accuse him of deceit. Elisha does not take refuge in pedantic quibbling about words (“I didn’t actually say that”), but appears to accept his responsibility in the matter. 4:28 Don’t raise my hopes: What she actually said was “Don’t mislead your servant” (v. 16), and it is that injunction, obscured by the NIV, that she now recalls. Hb. šlh, “to deceive,” is attested in Aramaic (cf. the Tg. to ...

1263. Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

2 Kings 18:17-37

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... foreign attack is a familiar one; he raids the royal treasuries and the temple, even stripping the gold from its doors and doorposts (cf. 1 Kgs. 15:18ff.; 2 Kgs. 12:17–18; 16:7ff.). The opening verses of the chapter did not lead us to expect this response, with its accompanying confession of sin against a foreign king (v. 14). We are presumably to regard it as a regrettable lapse—a disappointing prolog to what will turn out to be Hezekiah’s finest hour. 18:17–25 The rules of the game, as they have ...

1264. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... of the “judges” (e.g., Exod. 2:23; Judg. 2:4; 3:9). The promise is that the cry for help will immediately be answered, so as to leave no scope for ongoing weeping. Normal human life involves this alternating of a cry for help and a responsive hearing. There will be no danger of wandering because the people will have clear guidance (vv. 20b–21). In Isaiah’s day the people could not claim that they lacked teachers, but the promise presupposes that the threat that Isaiah has hinted at, that people lose ...

1265. Hezekiah’s Illness

Isaiah 38:1-22, Isaiah 39:1-8

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... controlled, even by the king. Indeed, it is especially important that the king cannot control prophecy. In chapters 36–39 Isaiah brings four messages to Hezekiah, although he does not ask for any of them. The first, in 37:6, proves the rule because it is a response to a request from Hezekiah, but the request was a request to pray. Hezekiah knows how to respond to a threatening word from God as well as how to respond to a threatening political crisis (vv. 2–3). Like Abraham or Moses, he asks God to have ...

1266. Judgment and Salvation

Isaiah 65:1-16

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... that Yahweh’s words take a form appropriate for a retort to a bold prayer. The fact that Yahweh declares the solemn intent I will not keep silent (v. 6) confirms this. As happens in the story of Job, Yahweh is at last goaded into a response, but the response might make the person regret ever having prayed. How dare anyone claim to have been seeking a Yahweh who had hidden (and making that an excuse for sin)? Yahweh has been standing there before the people (as once before Abraham in Gen. 18:22 mg ...

1267. 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

... God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.2 Putting trust in Jesus and following him are right responses to experiencing his authority. Poetry: “A Tent for a Home,” by Jeannine Brown. This lyric about allegiance and security is drawn from Matthew 8:18–22: The fox has its hole and the bird its nest, But the Son has no place to lay his head, So they ...

1268. Jesus Demonstrates Status Inversion in the Kingdom

Matthew 19:1-12, Matthew 19:13-15, Matthew 19:16-30

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... literature warns of inappropriate reliance on riches (Prov. 11:28), but it also shows that wealth comes from living wisely in the fear of the Lord (Prov. 8:18–21; 22:4). Jesus turns the latter notion on its head. The disciples’ response confirms the surprising quality of Jesus’ teaching. 19:25 Who then can be saved? The disciples’ question implies incredulity at anyone being saved if this rich person cannot. Their question implicitly raises the issue of status, since a wealthy person would have ...

1269. The Christian Shema: Loving God and Neighbor

Mark 12:28-34

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... 4–5). The Triune Godhead is one God, and this truth defines New Testament Christianity. 2. Love God with all you have. Loving God (the natural response to God’s depth of love for us) is the key to both Judaism (the Shema [Deut. 6:4–5]) and to Christianity (the Christian ... it well: “Do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” So we have responsibility for all around us but especially for fellow followers of Christ. The goal of the early church was simple: “no ...

1270. The Necessity of Vigilance in Light of the Parousia

Mark 13:32-37

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... every follower to pray, “Your kingdom come” (Matt. 6:10), and cry out, “Come, Lord!” (1 Cor. 16:22 [cf. Rev. 22:12, 20]). The promise of resurrection is one of joy and vindication, filling God’s people with longing. (2) There is also a somber note of responsibility, since at the parousia every believer will give account to God (1 Cor. 3:12–15; Heb. 13:17; 2 Tim. 2:15) and be judged on the basis of their faithfulness to Christ. This is the major theme here and in Matthew 24:42–25:30. Teaching ...

1271. Jesus Interprets the Passover Seder of Himself

Mark 14:12-26

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... Great Britain in which people were asked about their belief in God. One of the questions asked, “Do you believe in a God who intervenes in human history, who changes the course of affairs, who performs miracles, etc.?” One man’s answer summarized the typical response to that question: “No, I don’t believe in that God; I believe in the ordinary God.”11 What about you? Do you believe in the God of the Bible, who is sovereign over all of life? Or is your god simply “ordinary”? God’s sovereign ...

1272. The Birth of Jesus

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the world was in such an ordinary domestic scene rather than in the abnormal setting of a stable or cave (the latter was a persistent tradition in the early church). Illustrating the Text God’s miraculous work and self-revelation bring different responses in different people, but all of them bring him glory. Personal Stories: Tell about a time when you and a close circle of companions or family members all experienced the same miraculous moment, but each processed it differently. Perhaps you might reflect ...

1273. Power over Illness and Death

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

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the life (John 11:25). This passage can be dramatically taught: encourage listeners to picture a big funeral, with the whole community involved, and then to put themselves in the place of those who witnessed this stranger’s dramatic intervention. Be sure to discuss the response of the crowds in 7:16. How much theological depth should be found in these acclamations? Did the people see Jesus as a prophet on a par with Elijah and Elisha? As much more than a prophet? Did they think that Jesus was actually God ...

1274. Two Testing Questions

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

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... Quote: “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr. This eloquent letter (August 1963) is addressed to eight white Alabama pastors who argued that the racial battle had to be fought in the courts and not on the streets, a response to King’s participation in the Birmingham campaign. The document is worth knowing thoroughly because it addresses the church’s sin in being, in King’s words, a “thermometer instead of a thermostat”—a striking metaphor. The following paragraph shows the ...

1275. The Four Horsemen

Revelation 6:1-17

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... 6:9–17 encourages us to stand strong as faithful witnesses regardless of any opposition we may face. Outline ii. The fifth seal (6:9–11) (1) The souls of the martyrs under the altar (6:9) (2) Their plea for divine judgment and vindication (6:10) (3) God’s response (6:11) iii. The sixth seal (6:12–17) (1) Cosmic disturbances (6:12–14) (2) The reaction of unbelievers (6:15–16) (3) Who can withstand the wrath of God and the Lamb? (6:17) b. The seventh seal: Silence in heaven (8:1) [see 8:1–12 for ...

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