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 2151 to 2175 of 2699 results

2151. Zechariah King of Israel

2 Kings 15:8-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... sat on his throne and repeated the evil of his fathers when he is assassinated. The promise has run its course (v. 12; cf. 2 Kgs. 10:30), and before even one more regnal year has passed, the LORD removes Jehu’s house from government. We have the impression of accumulated wrath, ready to burst in upon Jehu the moment the blockage to the normal flow of events is removed. 15:13–16 Shallum, however, survives for an even briefer time. He holds on to power for a mere month before losing both crown and life to ...

2152. Hezekiah's Illness

2 Kings 20:1-11

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... to nothing. Jerusalem has not suffered the same fate as Samaria. Yet the Davidic promise has been cited in 2 Kings 16–19, not in relation to a wicked king, but in relation to the most pious king Judah has had (19:34). This creates the impression that in these days of accumulated sin, even a good king requires God’s special grace if the kingdom is to survive. It brings into question, therefore, whether Judah may expect in the future, under apostate kings, the kind of special treatment it has received in ...

2153. The Book of Law Found

2 Kings 22:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... that is read to the king and that provides the basis for his actions in the remainder of the narrative. A more difficult question is this: How long is the book envisaged as having been out of the public domain? We are not explicitly told, but the impression throughout Kings has been that it was available to the various rulers of Israel and Judah. They did not conform themselves to its laws by chance, nor did they fail to do so through ignorance. Their success and failure in keeping the law had to do, rather ...

2154. Jehoahaz King of Judah

2 Kings 23:31-35

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... the law of Moses. Hezekiah was a second David. He was (like David) not without flaws, as his first reaction to the Assyrian invasion revealed (18:13–16) and as his later reaction to illness confirmed (20:1–11). His trust in the LORD was, nevertheless, impressive. Yet Hezekiah and Josiah were good kings living in bad times. With the death of Jeroboam II in 2 Kings 14:29, all restraint upon the wrath of God against Israel was lifted and exile for the northern kingdom quickly followed (2 Kgs. 17). It also ...

2155. The Mountain of the Lord

Isaiah 2:1-5

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... coming of Jesus and specifically through Pentecost. It still awaits complete fulfillment, as hinted by Romans 11:12. The original Jerusalem-Zion stood below the height of the country around. While relatively secure, standing on a spur of rock, it was not an impressive sight like (say) Tyre, or even Samaria. Its physical location belied its theological significance as a place that pointed to, reflected, and mediated heaven (Ps. 48:2; 78:69). Even after it expanded to the north and west, it stood below the ...

2156. The Lord's Anger Against Israel

Isaiah 9:8--10:4

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... 14 (will cut off), 19 (will be scorched, will be fuel), and 20 (will devour, be hungry, will eat, not be satisfied). 9:10 Ordinary houses were built of mud-brick, their framework and roofs utilizing beams of a commonplace wood such as that of the fig tree. Impressive houses were built of hewn stone and cedar. See e.g., Gen. 11:3; 1 Kgs. 10:27; Jer. 22:14; Song 1:17. 9:15 The prophets: interestingly, Isaiah gives no indication that he sees himself as a prophet or approves of prophets, though he is designated ...

2157. God’s Judgment on Assyria

Isaiah 10:5-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... way—or turned back to its earlier significance. A declaration of judgment on Judah’s enemies is exactly that. Once again a woe expresses Yahweh’s intention to “visit” someone (see on v. 3), out of distaste for their tough-mindedness (see on 9:9) and exalted impressiveness of look (see 2:11, 17; 3:18). But the recipient of this visit is Assyria, not Judah (v. 12). Assyria was the one through whom Yahweh expressed that snorting wrath (v. 4: see on 5:25). Assyria’s was the hand that Yahweh sent to ...

2158. Woe to Ephraim

Isaiah 28:1-29

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... and so had prophecies beginning “Oh” (see 17:12; 18:1). Indeed, we have seen that Ephraim may have been the subject of 27:7–11. Once again, Isaiah is declaring that the Assyrian storm is about to break out. The warning begins by describing the impressiveness of the Ephraimite capital, the city of Samaria. It sits on a hill that rises gently but firmly from the rolling slopes of northern Israel, and from the top commands a view for miles around of country whose fertility might be the envy of Jerusalem ...

2159. Hezekiah’s Illness

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

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... . They will not be available for long: see the verses in 2 Kings 18:14–16 which do not appear in the version of that story in Isaiah 36–37. Giving the Babylonians their conducted tour is at best an ambiguous act. It might have been a way of impressing foreigners with what Yahweh had done for Judah: compare the story of the Queen of Sheba (1 Kgs. 10), though that may have its own ambiguity in the light of where the story of Solomon leads (1 Kgs. 11). But in the context of Isaiah it looks at least ...

2160. Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... can still be uttered. To judge from the parallelism of verses 1a and 2a, it is “Jerusalem” that is identified as “my people,” and 52:9 will confirm this. We can assume that the prophet’s audience is in Babylon, as this is the impression that will emerge as these chapters unfold, but throughout chapters 40–55 the poems have a double focus. They (probably) speak to people in Babylon, but they often speak about Jerusalem or to Jerusalem (esp. in chs. 49–55). The focus of the Babylonian community ...

2161. The Helper of Israel

Isaiah 41:1-29

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... arrival of a conqueror from the east (v. 2–4a). Jewish tradition assumed that this conqueror was Abraham (see Gen. 14 for this side to Abraham). Modern critical tradition sees the conqueror as Cyrus the Persian, who in the 540s B.C. was completing an impressive military campaign through the middle east that would terminate in the conquest of Babylon itself in 539 B.C. It is typical of these chapters to leave the prophecy open to being read either way. The prophet is involved in a task of persuasion that ...

2162. Jerusalem to Be Inhabited

Isaiah 44:24--45:25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... direct in English than it does in Hb., for ruins and be dry come from different verbs, but they look the same—both are spelled khareb. 44:28 The temple had not been razed to the ground, and let its foundations be laid might give the wrong impression. Thus NJB suggests “will be refounded.” 45:7 KJV’s “I make peace, and create evil” is misleading. The word ra’ covers anything “bad.” It thus can refer to moral evil, but the context makes clear that here it refers to trouble or calamity. 45:13 ...

2163. Gods of Babylon

Isaiah 46:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... was reckoned to glorify them and was an occasion of great celebration and splendor. The prophet turns it into a parable of their weakness. Gods are supposed to carry you, especially in a crisis. What use is a god who then has to be carried? Instead of being impressed by these images, the Judean community ought to let the parable point to their weakness and Yahweh’s strength (vv. 1–4). What use is a god that is fixed securely in its place so that it can no more move than do anything when you need it ...

2164. The Future Glory of Zion

Isaiah 54:1-17

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... kindness I will have compassion (vv. 7–8). The implication is that Ms Jerusalem has grounds for asking some hard questions before having her man back, and Yahweh is anticipating those questions. So in the section as a whole, Yahweh has both given the impression of having behaved in the manner of a patriarchal husband and also made clear that this self-description does not do justice to all that Yahweh claims to be. In the light of her experience, Ms Zion perhaps looked at Yahweh as a “typical ...

2165. The Year of the Lord’s Favor

Isaiah 61:1-11

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... :1–6, and 50:4–9, where it is also “the Lord Yahweh” who speaks (48:16; 50:4, 5, 7, 9). The claim that “the Lord Yahweh’s spirit is on me” recalls the earlier servant passage 42:1 (and as there, capitalizing “Spirit” risks giving a misleading impression). Like the Poet in 49:1–6 and 50:4–9, this prophet reckons to be the very embodiment of that servant vision in 42:1–9. This gives us a clue to the sort of ministry the prophet exercises. To put it another way, as Second Isaiah stands ...

2166. Praise and Prayer

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... like in the Hb. (see mg.). A more literal translation is thus “We have been from of old people whom you have not ruled, people who have not been called by your name.” 64:1 In MT this is the second half of the previous verse, 63:19b (heightening the impression that it refers to the past); in printed Hebrew Bibles 64:2 is thus 64:1 and so on through chapter 64. 64:5b RSV translates more literally “Thou wast angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?” The Hb ...

2167. Signs, Sayings, and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-11, Ezekiel 14:12-23

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... later (Lust, “Shorter and Longer Texts,” pp. 13–14). However, it is just as likely that a translator might have deleted this short, repetitive oracle as that a later editor would have added it, particularly as vv. 26–28 do not materially affect our impression either of the prophet or of his message. The point, in any case, remains clear: Ezekiel’s prophecies will soon be fulfilled. 13:10 Whitewash. The Heb. term tapel, rendered “whitewash” in the NIV, appears in the HB only in Ezek. (in 13:10 ...

2168. Riddles and Metaphors

Ezekiel 15:1-8, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 17:1-24

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah swore to Babylon (see, though, 17:13, 18). For Ezekiel, however, these acts of political expediency demonstrate, as surely as the worship of idols, Israel’s lack of faith in the Lord. Indeed, separating the two creates a false impression. The Israelites carried out the acts of prostitution that verses 23–29 describe on mounds and in lofty shrines: that is, in places of idol worship (with Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1, pp. 342–43). Similarly, in Amos 2:6–8, the prophet moves ...

2169. Egypt

Ezekiel 29:1-21, Ezekiel 30:1-26, Ezekiel 31:1-18, Ezekiel 32:1-32

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... the HB is Dan. 12:2, a text that in its final form dates to the second century B.C.: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” By contrast, the impression that most texts about the underworld give is that the dead in Sheol are dead, removed from the living, worshipping community of Israel. So, in his thanksgiving prayer following his healing, Hezekiah says: For [Sheol] cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise ...

2170. Jesus’ Baptism by John

Matthew 3:1-12, Matthew 3:13-17

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... and return to God in covenant loyalty and trust.[12] An important facet of this motif in both Matthew and Scripture more broadly is the initiating work of God in redemption. It can be relatively easy in preaching repentance to give our congregations the impression that God waits for humans to make the first move. But this would be a misrepresentation of the biblical witness that reveals God as covenant initiator. From calling and giving a promise to Abraham, who was not yet a follower of Yahweh (Gen. 12 ...

2171. Sermon on the Mount: Praying, Not Judging

Matthew 7:7-12, Matthew 7:1-6

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... in others, he nonetheless hides behind a persona himself. In spite of regular assertions of his truthfulness to the reader (e.g., “I’m not kidding”; “If you want to know the truth . . .”), he consistently pretends to be what he is not to impress other people. For example, he withholds his real name from people he meets, using pseudonyms such as “Jim Steele.” Holden’s tirades against phonies are an indictment of his own motives and behavior. In terms that Jesus uses, Holden focuses on the ...

2172. Parables Discourse: Importance of Response to the Kingdom Message

Matthew 13:1-23

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... (“I follow Paul . . . I follow Apollos . . . I follow Cephas” [1:12; cf. 4:6–7]), to their presumptuous claims to heavenly tongues, prophetic utterances, and all mysteries and knowledge (13:1–3), some of the Corinthian believers were under the erroneous impression that they, in contrast to others, had an inside knowledge of the divine. Paul addresses these gnostic-like assumptions by identifying those who hold them as “puffed up” (physioo [4:6, 18; 5:2]). And the antidote to being puffed up ...

2173. Community Discourse: Lavish Forgiveness in the Kingdom

Matthew 18:21-35

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... in place of the cycle of unlimited revenge that is pictured in Genesis after the fall of humanity. This reversal is rooted in the arrival of God’s kingdom that formatively shapes the Christian community. Preaching this extravagant forgiveness involves impressing upon the church that such forgiveness is a marker of who they are; extravagant forgiveness is a sign of communal covenant faithfulness. Those who see the church in its particular manifestations should be able to identify forgiveness as its ...

2174. The Resurrection of Jesus and the Promise of Victory

Mark 16:1-20

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... said nothing to anyone. The first half of this verse is in agreement with Matthew 28:8, where the women “hurried away . . . afraid,” but Matthew adds “yet filled with joy, [they] ran to tell the disciples.” Mark yields quite the opposite impression. In all three of the other Gospels the women faithfully fulfill their mission. Yet here their terror forces a complete silence on them, and they say nothing to anyone. The ending of Mark’s masterwork (see “Additional Insights”), “because they were ...

2175. A Special Child Promised

Luke 1:5-25

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... had not offered incense before were eligible to cast lots (m. Tamid 5:2). So this was Zechariah’s big day, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime event. Interpretive Insights 1:6 Both of them were righteous. Readers of the Gospels sometimes gain the impression that Jewish religion at the time of Jesus was corrupt and superficial. But Luke introduces us to ordinary, pious people, faithfully following God’s call to holy living. In the case of Zechariah and Elizabeth there was the added dimension that both came ...

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