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 2101 to 2125 of 4952 results

2101. “You Are Not a God Who Is Pleased with Wickedness”

Psalm 5:1-12

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... presence. And further, the verb “are not welcome” (gur) is used of going to the sanctuary in Psalms 15:1 and 61:4. 5:5–6 You hate all who do wrong. The language of “hate” (5:5) and “detest” (5:6) is strong. In Israel’s world people thought in terms of opposites, so Malachi records the Lord’s words, “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated” (1:3). In this instance it is another way for the Lord to say, “I chose Jacob, but I did not choose Esau.” However, our present text is ...

2102. “Lord, Who May Dwell in Your Sacred Tent?”

Psalm 15:1-5

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... a vile person,” and perhaps also “honors those who fear the Lord” and “keeps an oath”). The first quality in this set may trouble us, especially since Jesus commanded us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44). Yet there is a strain of theological thought in the Old Testament that expresses obligation to hate Yahweh’s haters and to love his lovers (e.g., Ps. 139:21–22). We should, therefore, recognize that with the Psalms, we have not yet come that far in the ethical progress of Scripture, even ...

2103. “When I Awake, I Will Be Satisfied with Seeing Your Likeness”

Psalm 17:1-15

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... by which he has guarded (shmr, “to guard” or “be careful”; NIV: “kept”) his steps against the influences of the wicked: “Notwithstanding the doings of men, by the word of Thy lips I have guarded myself against the way of the violent.”[10] That makes the parallel thought of 17:5 an affirmation of 17:4b–c. 17:5 My steps have held to your paths. The word “steps” comes from a verb “to step.” The noun occurs in Psalm 40:2 (NIV: “place to stand”) and the verb in Proverbs 4:14 (NIV ...

2104. “I Love You, Lord, My Strength”

Psalm 18:1-50

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... of war and nature. Yet God’s accommodating of himself to the harsh realities of our world is not so much an endorsement of them as it is the reassurance of his presence with us in their midst. This is the place when the contextualizing thought of the psalm can be reintroduced: “I love you, Lord.” We may conclude the lesson/sermon on the topic of grace (see the sidebar), emphasizing David’s affirmation in the larger context of God’s love for Israel corporately (Deut. 7) and for him personally ...

2105. “Show Me Your Ways, Lord”

Psalm 25:1-22

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... 25:1–7) 2. Reflection (25:8–10) 3. Prayer (25:11) 4. Reflection (25:12–15) 5. Prayer (25:16–22) Historical and Cultural Background The title “to/for David,” for the most part, fits the psalm into a Davidic frame. David’s enemies preoccupy his thoughts in many psalms. The enemies of Psalm 25 (25:2, 19) have not yet gotten the upper hand in the psalmist’s life, and David prays that their increased numbers and augmented hatred would not triumph, nor give any semblance that he has been rejected ...

2106. “The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation—Whom Shall I Fear?”

Psalm 27:1-14

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... ) was still located at Gibeon at the beginning of Solomon’s reign, to be distinguished from the tent that David prepared in Jerusalem to receive the ark of the covenant. “Dwelling” (sukkah) is the term for the sanctuary (Ps. 76:2; NIV: “tent”). The thought of “hiding” is in deference to the danger the psalmist faces. The place “high upon a rock,” a place of safety and security, is parallel to the sanctuary as a place of safety (Ps. 18:2), “where the surge of earthly perils cannot reach ...

2107. “Truly My Soul Finds Rest in God”

Psalm 62:1-12

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... riches (62:10), which probably include both illegal money and that which is honestly earned. “Do not trust” them; “do not set your heart on” them (Matt. 6:21; 1 Tim. 6:17–19). The conclusion of the psalm brings together a pair of thoughts. First is the dual thought of God’s power and love: God exercises his power by the standard of love (hesed), within the compass of his covenant. We can trust a God like that. The second concluding truth is that God will reward each person “according to what ...

2108. What Can I Get By With?

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... into self-pity and/or self-righteousness. Isn’t it easy, mothers, to slip into a slew of self-pity because of all the demands that are made of you by your children and keeping the home going. You don’t use the same words, but you affirm the thought: “A man’s work is from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.” And fathers don’t escape either. We’re moving toward a damaging self-pity when we begin to say things like, “I’d hoped the children would more appreciative, that they would ...

2109. The Grace Question: “Are You a Teacher…and Yet Do Not Understand These Things?”

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... room just as all of this took place. The mother said, “Honey, that was surely not very nice. I think the devil made you do that.” The girl replied, “The devil may have made me push him down, and the devil may have made me call him names, but I thought of the spittin’ all by myself.” I like that—the honesty of it. And we need to be honest. We live as though we deserved life—that we had something to do with getting it and keeping it. But, think about it. What did you do to receive life? What ...

2110. The God of Hope

Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... is hope for you and me. In London during the Second World War, Hitler’s war planes were bombing that great city with regularity. In order to safeguard the children, trainloads of them were evacuated to the country. Somebody asked one young lad, “Where are you going?” He thought for a minute and replied, “I don’t know, but the king knows.” We are in the same situation. We don’t know what the future holds, but our king knows, he who is King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the season of the ...

2111. Assurance

Isaiah 55:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... a call to the people to have faith in him and to openly show their faith by repentance from their evil works (55:6–9). There is still the possibility of reconciliation and forgiveness. Yahweh is greater than man; as such, his thoughts cannot be likened to man’s thoughts. Man’s thoughts are evil for evil, but Yahweh can be gracious even when he has been hurt, dishonored, and disobeyed. Now is the day for the people to come to Yahweh in faith. The prophet calls on the people to respond by signing the ...

2112. Gog

Ezekiel 38:1-39:29

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... , but not because Ezekiel prophesied it over two thousand years ago. Modern “futurists” are not alone in trying to equate Gog and Magog with some contemporary fierce and evil force. In the second century BC, Gog was thought to be Antiochus Epiphanes. Early Christians thought it was the Roman Empire. Luther thought Gog was the Turks of his day. Maybe they are all right. Any threatening, militaristic, self-aggrandizing nation of any era has the potential to be Gog. But in any showdown of God versus Gog we ...

2113. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... . Such love also “never fails” to express itself—whether in the past, the present, or the future—among those who belong to God. It will continue to do so even after prophecies, tongues, and knowledge cease (13:8; there is no indication here that Paul thought any of these events likely before the time when God’s kingdom is perfectly or completely manifested [13:10; 15:20–28]). For our knowledge of God and our words spoken in worship in the light of what we know (whether our knowledge is expressed ...

2114. The Cost of Paul’s Ministry

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... Lord who is the very image of God (and therefore the true and second Adam, the beginning of a new creation [see 2 Cor. 5:17]). Only through Christ can the full light of God’s glory become known. A change of metaphor signals the beginning of a new thought, though it is closely related to all that Paul has just said. For the light of the gospel may also be described as that which has been placed within the minds and hearts of its human bearers as a treasure placed within “jars of clay” (cf. Matt. 13:44 ...

2115. Jesus Christ Superior to Moses

Hebrews 3:1-6

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... with the perspective of this author (Heb. 11:26; 13:8) and of the New Testament generally (1 Cor. 3:10; Jude 5). The Son is the builder (Heb. 3:4) only as the executor of the Father’s will (1:2), unless, as a number of commentators have thought, the author intends here to call Jesus God. The true superiority of Jesus to Moses will be adequately measured only in this way: Moses was never anything more than a member of the house that Christ was building and a servant in that house over which Christ ruled as ...

2116. A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God

Hebrews 4:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... must not suppose that they will obtain the rest of God because they are accepted by human beings or are counted as members of the people of God. The faith required is to be exercised and will be measured in the day of Christ as much in the thoughts of the heart as in outward conformity to the will of God. The phrases “soul and spirit, joints and marrow” (4:12) denote the inner life of humankind in all its aspects. The terms no more prove that human persons are composed of three parts (spirit, soul, and ...

2117. Faith Defined and Exemplified

Hebrews 11:1-40

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... author assumes that some divine communication was given to Moses’s parents of God’s purpose for their son, and their courage in the face of Pharaoh’s edict (Exod. 1:22) resulted in greater security and station for their son than they had thought possible. Moses later turned his back on the exalted status he enjoyed to identify himself with the downtrodden people of God (11:24–26). The short-lived pleasures of the Egyptian court were not to be compared with the eternal inheritance that God bestows ...

2118. Live Spelled Backward

Matthew 26:14-27:66

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... you are real smart, Thomas, not driven by emotions like Peter but a thinker." I'm sure he tried to convince Thomas, a man given to doubts and fears. "Thomas, don't you think he is a little crazy, going around here stirring up people?" And Thomas said, "I've thought that on occasion, but every time I decide that it's a foolish pursuit following him, he does something new that astounds me and I want to follow him anew." Don't you know he must have tried to win over Peter, next to Jesus the leader of the group ...

2119. A Happy Ending

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... us. We see ungodly things in the world we never saw before and are motivated to stand against them. We see Godlike things in the world and stand up for them. We grow in ways that we never thought we could grow. We live in ways that we never thought we would live. We arrive at a level of faith we never thought we could experience. We sense God’s sanctifying and glorifying grace at work within us, all because we said, “Yes,” to a new beginning! I challenge you to claim the new beginning that God has in ...

2120. Elephants in the Room: Sexploitation

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... not belong to us; they belong to God. When we act out in lust, we dishonor God and his love which lives inside us. We are to glorify God with our bodies. So maybe you are thinking, “Okay, I get it. But how am I to keep from having lustful thoughts? I can’t turn off my brain!” Well, Martin Luther gave the best advice about this. He said, “You can’t control birds from flying over your head, but you can control whether or not you will build a nest for them on your head!” How do you apply this ...

2121. Elephants in the Room: Depression

Lamentations 3:17-26

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... he is still alive. You see, when Bill was a college student at Emory he went into a deep depression. In February of 1970 on a dark, cold, rainy afternoon Bill decided he could not take his depression anymore. He wanted to take his own life. At first he thought about driving down the highway and crashing into something, but he didn’t want to hurt anyone else. Then he went to the school’s library and proceeded to the balcony door. He was going to jump from the balcony but when he reached the door to the ...

2122. Does Prayer Make Any Diﬀerence?

Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... I have this need and…. Is God really listening or am I just talking to myself? … I do need to get to the grocery store… There is that email I need to return…. Well, I can always pray later. After all, this is God. He knows me. He knows my thoughts before I think them. Why do I have to pray when he knows what I am going to say? I can be doing something more productive with my time…” Can you relate? Some of you may be skeptical about prayer. Maybe you think it is just wishful thinking or whistling ...

2123. Hallelujah! Come On, Get Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... and three children. I hadn't been here three weeks when my husband took off and left me and the kids alone. I was so scared I thought I'd die. I was unskilled and hadn't planned to work until the kids were older. One of my neighbors called Walter on the telephone. ... in his home state, he voted against impeachment. "I looked down into my open grave..." he said, but he did what he thought was right even if it meant his political death — which it did. It doesn't sound like the decision produced happiness for ...

2124. The Healing of a Demon-possessed Man

Luke 8:26-39

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... to do with why Jesus would accommodate the demons’ wish in the first place, why he would send the demons into the herd of swine, and why the herd stampeded into the lake. It has been suggested that the demons (whether real or imagined) were mistakenly thought to have entered the swine; that the swine stampeded when frightened by the loud cries of the tormented man. But this explanation and others like it are hardly plausible. The fact of the matter is that we really do not know just exactly what happened ...

2125. The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

Luke 16:1-15

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... to be entrusted with the rewards and wealth that last forever (cf. Matt. 6:25–34). Implicitly, one’s stewardship in this life will form the basis for future reward and responsibility in heaven (see Matt. 25:14–30). Verse 12 adds a new thought to this second lesson: if Jesus’ disciples have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property (i.e., God’s “property”), who (God) will give them property (rewards) of their own? Verse 13 provides a third lesson drawn from the Parable of the Shrewd ...

Showing results