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 1376 to 1400 of 5000 results

1376. Living for God

1 Peter 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... Lord’s work to be carried out, so the fulfilling of God’s will is all the more urgent. 4:4 The lives of the Christians have been so turned around by their conversion to Jesus Christ that pagan neighbors are thoroughly bewildered. They cannot understand how it is that their former boon companions are no longer wanting to join them in the old reckless rush into a flood of dissipation, a way of life abandoned to debauchery. And since they cannot comprehend what has happened, their resentful response is to ...

1377. The Song of Moses and Miriam

Exodus 15:1-21

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... also Exod. 4:22; Num. 11:2). It can also mean “acquired through cost” (such as the loss of life in Egypt) or through labor (as in the Lord’s many interventions). All of the meanings are relevant in the Exodus story, which is the primary basis for our understanding of the word. In Exodus 20 the Lord uses a homonym (qannaʾ) when he says “I am a jealous God” (ʾel-qannaʾ see the discussion at 20:5). The Lord who had gone to so much trouble to redeem the people would not easily let them go. There ...

1378. Offerings for the Tabernacle

Exodus 25:1-9

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... of meeting (25:22; 29:42–43; 30:6; Num. 12:5; Deut. 31:14–15). 25:1–9 The Lord instructed Moses to take a freewill offering to supply specific materials for this dwelling place in the midst of the camp. These verses provide a key for understanding Exodus 25–31 and 35–40. The enterprise was to begin with an offering from the heart. “You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.” Since the Lord would be very specific about the design and artistry of the ...

1379. The Golden Calf

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... has with the Lord. Literally, the text says, “when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” The difference between “visiting” their sin and “punishing” for their sin may seem subtle, but it is important for understanding the consequences of sin in relation to God. This distinction is crucial for understanding God’s identity described in 34:6–7 (see comment below). The Lord’s visitation on those who sinned was in the form of a plague that struck the people. At the end of Exodus 32, the ...

1380. Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth 2:1-23

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... peace-offerings . . . and go away . . . from my house. Stay far away from my court. (Gibson, Canaanite Myths and Legends, p. 85) 2:22 It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed. Naomi understands what Boaz is trying to do and supports him wholeheartedly. Ruth’s long-term welfare stands behind her own desire for Ruth to find a home (1:9; 3:1). Like Boaz, Naomi knows what the world is like, a violent place filled with “hot-tempered men ...

1381. Queen Vashti Deposed

Esther 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... insulted the queen’s appearance as mere entertainment at the all-male party. See further Bickerman, Four Strange Books, pp. 185–86, and Fox, Character, pp. 167–69. 1:13 The wise men who understood the times: The “wise men” may be those who understand (1) the law, (2) the “times” in the sense of how people were thinking, or (3) astrology. Ancient Babylonians and Persians loked for signs from the heavens. Haman will seek a date for destroying the Jews by casting a lot in chapter 3. Interestingly ...

1382. Invitation of Wisdom and of Folly

Proverbs 9:1-18

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... personal hurt) of dealing with these types. 9:8 This is an antithetic saying, similar to Proverbs 15:12a. 9:9 This command reflects the identitv of the wise and righteous, and it is in the spirit of 1:5. 9:10 Verse 10 is a key statement for understanding verses 7–12. Holy One is literally the plural (of majesty) as in 30:3b. Knowledge of the Holy One is a definition of fear of the LORD. As always, knowledge is practical, active, and reverent. 9:11–12 The unexpected me can only be Wisdom; cf. live in ...

1383. More Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 28:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... on verse 14b, the hardened sinner. 28:15 An implicit comparison by means of juxtaposition. A tyrant’s affliction of poor subjects is compared to the instinctive roar and speed of wild beasts (cf. 29:2b). 28:16 Antithetic. The text is uncertain; see Additional Notes. The NIV understands verse 16a as a kind of continuation of verse 15. On verse 16b see 10:2. 28:17 Synthetic. The NIV supposes that a murderer will be driven on by a sense of guilt till the end of his life. A command is issued that no support ...

1384. A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... proper times and are simply confounded by time in its broader aspect. The serene tone of the preceding poem, then, comes to an abrupt end. There is a time for everything, but we humans are unable to comprehend this. In the final analysis, we simply cannot understand God’s work. And yet, there is nothing better than happiness, eating and drinking, and finding satisfaction in one’s work. This is not only from God (as in 2:24), but should be understood as the gift of God. God’s work endures and is ...

1385. Obey the King

Ecclesiastes 8:2-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... “no one can comprehend” (8:17).The reader’s response to this section is likely to be complex and perhaps even contradictory. On the one hand, it contains Qohelet’s most thoroughgoing rejection of human wisdom: no one, not even the wisest, understands. On the other hand, Qohelet addresses readers directly in negative and positive imperatives (7:16–17, 21; 8:2–3). With a confident tone Qohelet commands the reader toward unusual behavior, namely, not to be too righteous or too wise and not ...

1386. If Only You Were To Me A Bother

Song of Songs 8:1-14

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... the wealth of the household/kingdom, rather than in terms of love. Others read verses 8 and 9 as spoken by the central woman about her own little sister. There is no textual motivation for doing so. The use of “we” makes it most natural to understand a group as speakers and there has been no indication that the central woman has a little sister. The central woman does, however, speak in verse 10. She uses the imagery of the preceding verses to protest their assumptions. She resists both the claim that ...

1387. Disaster from the North

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... here. He is the one whose advance is elsewhere pictured on a cloud chariot (Ps. 18:7–15; 68:33; 104:3; Nah. 1:3) or a whirlwind (Job 38:1, but see Isa. 5:28 for a similar description of a human enemy). Perhaps the best understanding is that it is God, the Divine Warrior, leading the tool of his judgment, the Babylonians, against his people. This would explain the plurals (chariots/horses). The northern origin of this attack is made clear in v. 15. The voice proclaiming disaster comes from Dan (Tell el ...

1388. Jerusalem Under Siege

Jeremiah 6:1-30

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... destroyed. Here we find a more radical expression of judgment. The tool of God’s judgment is here seen as the gleaner (one gathering grapes) who passes his hand over the vine again to knock all the grapes off the vine. 6:10–11a As mentioned above, we understand these verses to be Jeremiah’s words to God. He objects that no one will listen to him. Their ears are closed (see Additional Notes). However, even though they do not listen, he cannot hold it in because he is filled with God’s wrath. 6:11b ...

1389. Sin and Punishment

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... only true wisdom is a wisdom bequeathed by God himself (Prov. 1:7). However, Jeremiah knows of wise men whose purposes are at odds with God (Jer. 18:18). Whether he uses this term in a purely professional sense is a matter of debate. The safest way to understand the expression here is to think of these people as those who are wise in their own eyes. 9:25–26 This passage has been debated through the centuries. The difficulty has to do primarily with what seems to be a contradiction between vv. 25 and 26 ...

1390. I am the Man Who Has Seen Affliction

Lamentations 3:1-66

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... must comes to terms with the way they have chosen to go. Of course, according to Jeremiah 17:9–10, since the heart is callous, it is only God who can do this with precise accuracy: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” Thus, the psalmist calls on God to examine his heart: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my ...

1391. The Charge Against Israel

Hosea 4:1-19

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... ) at the beginning of verse 11 belongs with verse 10. But the following line, old wine and new, begins a new oracle. In addition, my people is the subject of the first line of verse 12. Thus the whole should read: Old wine and new take away understanding (v. 11b). My people consult a wooden idol (v. 12). Their staff gives them oracles (reading the suffixes in the pl. instead of the Hb. sing.; cf. the RSV). The reference to wine reads like a typical wisdom saying. “New wine” refers to grape juice freshly ...

1392. Witnesses Summoned Against Israel

Amos 3:1-15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... Isa. 45:7; Phil. 1:12; 2:13; Rom. 8:28–30). It therefore behooves believers to ask, when evil befalls an individual, city, society, or nation, if the Lord has done it, and to inquire just what the Lord intends by such an event. Amos 4:6–11 understands some historical and natural catastrophes to be God’s means of calling to repentance (cf. Isa. 9:13). And that too is a healthy corrective for a secular age that believes God to be totally absent from the world. Third, verse 7 is a profound summary of the ...

1393. Warnings and Exhortations for Jerusalem and Judah

Zephaniah 2:4-7, Zephaniah 2:8-11, Zephaniah 2:12, Zephaniah 2:13-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... creatures, like Babylon in Isaiah 13:21–22. As was the case in that picture, the prophecy then makes explicit what this implies about the impressive buildings of this great capital. At least as significant is the contrast between Assyria’s self-understanding and what its destruction signifies (v. 15). The description uses expressions that recur elsewhere to describe a great city or world power taken from the heights to the depths. Nineveh has been a carefree or exultant city, like Tyre before it falls ...

1394. The Day of the Lord

Malachi 4:1-6

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... 4:4 repeats their valedictory wisdom to the people of God in the fifth century B.C. and beyond. References to covenant law abound in the short book of Malachi, although they are not labeled “the law of Moses.” Malachi even builds upon an understanding of the relationships created by the covenant to go beyond the letter of the law (e.g., the marriage covenant). Verse 4 does not mention covenant, but the decrees (khuqqim) and laws (mishpatim) are the ones God gave him [Moses] at Horeb for all Israel ...

1395. The First Two Days: John the Baptist’s Message

John 1:19-28, John 1:29-34

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... from where John had baptized in Jordan.” But elsewhere in John’s Gospel (i.e., 3:26; 10:40) the phrase “on the other side of the Jordan” clearly refers to the east bank (i.e., the present kingdom of Jordan), and there is no reason to understand it differently here. It is in any case unlikely that the writer would identify the well-known Bethany of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in such a strange manner (contrast 11:1, 18). So the location of this other Bethany east of the Jordan remains undetermined. Two ...

1396. Jesus Clears the Temple

John 2:12-25

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... the two notices by commenting that the disciples believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken (v. 22). The same emphasis on the postresurrection faith of the disciples reappears in the account of the triumphal entry: “At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him” (12:16). In 2:22, the reference to the disciples’ faith becomes a sequel to 2:11 ...

1397. The Second Appearance and Its Sequel

John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... as a whole. Jesus’ ministry in its entirety is characterized as a series of miraculous signs written down in order to foster belief in him as the Christ, the Son of God (in contrast to those who saw his miracles but refused to believe, cf. 12:37). Such an understanding has much to commend it if the end of this chapter is also the end of the book, but in John’s Gospel as it stands, this is not the case. Another chapter follows, with its own appropriate postscript to the book as a whole (21:25). To what ...

1398. Thanksgiving and Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... you (Gk. epi pasē tē mneia hymōn) might be rendered “every time you remember me” (if hymōn is subjective, not objective, genitive); cf. Moffatt: “for all your remembrance of me.” P. T. O’Brien thinks it “best to understand the phrase as a reference to the Philippians’ remembrance of Paul by means of their monetary support on several earlier occasions” (Introductory Thanksgivings, p. 23). If this is maintained, then Paul mentions three reasons for this thanksgiving: their remembrance of ...

1399. Imitating Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... :5 Your attitude should be: Gk. touto phroneite en hymin, “be thus minded in (among) yourselves.” The interpretative problem in this verse lies partly in the supplying of a verb for the adjective clause ho kai en Christō Iēsou and partly in the understanding of the phrase en Christō Iēsou. These two issues are interrelated, for if, with J. B. Lightfoot (ad loc.), we supply the verb ephroneito (“was minded”), then en Christō lēsou will most naturally mean “in the person of Christ Jesus”; if ...

1400. Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... this new Master and fulfill the purpose for which he had conscripted him—to “lay hold on that,” as he put it, “for which also I was laid hold on by Jesus Christ” (ASV). Every phase of Paul’s subsequent life and action, every element in his understanding and preaching of the gospel, can be traced back to the revelation of Jesus Christ that was granted to him there and then. 3:13 No indeed, he says, I do not imagine that I have gained perfection yet or fully attained the purpose for which I was ...

Showing results