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 201 to 225 of 1270 results

201. Hearts

2 Corinthians 6:14--7:1

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... in Paul’s defense of his apostleship in 2:14–7:4, we recognize that he has repeatedly polemicized against his opponents in Corinth, including their slanderous charges and false values (cf. 2:17; 4:2; 5:12). Paul actually wants the Corinthians to become hostile to his opponents and to shun them completely (5:12), for by siding with the opponents against Paul the Corinthians risk forfeiting their own salvation (cf. 6:1–2; 13:5). For Paul, the issue is black and white (6:14b: “light” and “darkness ...

202. Accusations

2 Corinthians 10:1-18

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... . 10:7 The apostle exhorts the Corinthians: “Look at the things according to the face!” (NIV: you are looking only on the surface), referring back to verse 1. Hence, Paul’s exhortation seems to be an invitation for the Corinthians, especially those who remain hostile to him, to take a closer, more realistic look at him as an apostle, even if they are evaluating according to “the face” rather than the heart (cf. 5:12). Paul maintains that he is also a genuine apostle of Jesus Christ. In particular ...

203. One in Christ

Ephesians 2:11-22

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... on how Christ’s death brought a divided humanity together. He already has given a number of reasons why the Jews and the Gentiles differed from each other (2:11, 12). These racial, social, and religious distinctions resulted in various expressions of hostility and enmity. The apostle refers to the Jewish law with its commandments and regulations as the cause of the divisions that existed between Jews and Gentiles. The effect of that “law,” he states, was like a wall that separated both races and ...

204. The Living Stone and a Chosen People

1 Peter 2:4-12

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... is perilous in the extreme. To such, the stone, and what it represents in the person of Jesus Christ, will result in their inevitable doom. At the climax of his ministry, Jesus applied this verse cited by Peter (Ps. 118:22) to himself when he faced the hostility of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10–11; Luke 20:17). No doubt mindful of his Lord’s use of the psalmist’s words, Peter repeated them in Jerusalem in addressing the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme court, after the healing of the ...

205. To Elders and Young Men

1 Peter 5:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... also caught up in the conflict as fellow-members of the same spiritual army. They too are even now undergoing the same kind of sufferings, not necessarily the particular persecutions facing Peter’s readers, but suffering nonetheless because they live the Christian life in a hostile, ungodly environment. 5:10 Any suffering seems interminable at the time. But it does have an end, in both senses of that word. In terms of time, it will not go on forever: suffering will be only for a little while. That is not ...

206. The Day of the Lord

2 Peter 3:1-18

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... to be the basis of all known phenomena. The Greek word can also refer to the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars; as in Justin, Apology 2.5). Judaism (1 Enoch 60:12; Jubilees 2:2) and Paul (Gal. 4:3, 9; Col. 2:8, 20) both imply that hostile cosmic forces are behind these bodies, and this is probably Peter’s meaning here. The sequence of terms (heavens … elements … earth) forms a trio in descending order, none of which will be excluded from the consequences of the advent of the day of the Lord. The whole ...

207. The Lord Commands Joshua

Joshua 1:1-18

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

... of Joshua begins and ends with challenges and questions. A change of leadership creates anxious moments for a new leader and the people. Joshua faces the especially daunting task of succeeding Moses and leading a collection of tribes to possess a land full of hostile enemies. The passing of Moses signals the end of an old era. In his place Joshua assumes the responsibility for leading the people through a transition to a new era. Joshua knows he will succeed when the tribes succeed. These are the best of ...

208. The Sun Stands Still

Joshua 10:1-15

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

... of the tribal forces through a ritual. Third, the tribal forces feel encouraged by the victory, including the execution of kings and exposure of their bodies, as instructed by Deuteronomy (Deut. 21:22). At Makkedah Joshua follows herem guidelines carefully in eliminating hostile forces (10:28). He leaves no survivors and executes the king of Jerusalem as was required for the king of Jericho. As at Jericho, the spoils are devoted completely to God and the forces leave no survivors. Everything belongs to the ...

209. Naomi and Ruth

Ruth 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... rejuvenation (via David, Ruth 4:22). Nowhere is Yahweh’s mysterious sovereignty more evident than in these two passages. Yahweh’s visits, in other words, come totally at Yahweh’s discretion. Yahweh and Yahweh alone decides whether they are to be peaceful or hostile, beneficent or malevolent. 1:7 She left the place where she had been living and set out on the road. Unlike the Danites (Judg. 18:5) and the Mizpah council (20:18), Naomi conspicuously refrains from going to diviners to find out whether ...

210. Opposition to the Rebuilding

Nehemiah 4:1-23

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... prove beyond all doubt that right lay on the side of those who were praying. The prayer Nehemiah prayed as representative of the covenant community took the Samarian ridicule with absolute seriousness—not only as a weapon of demoralization, but also as an indication of hostility to God’s own work and will. So he claimed divine help. Judah’s enemies heard the ridicule, but then God heard the call of Nehemiah. The battle lines were implacably drawn. 4:6–9 This next report on the wall, given in verse 6 ...

211. The Call of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... point of Jeremiah’s ministry. He not only insists Get yourself ready, he also informs Jeremiah that he has readied him for the task. By using a series of military metaphors—fortified city, iron pillar, bronze wall, God describes how he has prepared the prophet to encounter hostility. No one will be able to overcome him. Why is the prophet so resilient? God tells him I am with you and will rescue you. This is a variation of the covenant theme. God is with his prophet to protect him and to see that his ...

212. Jesus and Those Who “Believed”

John 8:31-41, John 8:42-47, John 8:48-59

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... James the reference is to Abraham’s willingness to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice (Gen. 22:1–14), but here Jesus apparently has in mind Abraham’s warm welcome of God’s messengers (Gen. 18:1–8). It is to this that he contrasts the hostile behavior of Abraham’s self-proclaimed “children” (v. 40). 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil: lit., “you are of the father, the devil,” or even “you are of the father of the devil” (!). The end of the verse (he is a liar and the father ...

213. The Impending Departure II

John 16:5-16, John 16:17-33

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... is forever on a collision course with the world, whether of Jew or Gentile. The greater the willingness to acknowledge the world’s reality and to recognize concretely what it means for Christians to live there, the greater the possibility of a negative or even hostile view of the world. In chapter 14, the disciples and the world moved, for the most part, on tracks that never met, but in chapters 15–17 they do meet and come into conflict, even though Jesus traces only faintly the precise contours of that ...

214. Isaac and Abimelech

Genesis 26:1-35

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... two high-ranking officials, Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces, Abimelech visited Isaac. Isaac, however, disgusted at Abimelech’s earlier treatment, confronted him about the reason for his visit, pointing out how he had acted with hostility toward him, especially in ordering him to leave Gerar. At once Abimelech sought to mollify Isaac by conceding that he had become aware of Isaac’s success as a result of Yahweh’s being with him. Abimelech’s awareness motivated him ...

215. Ben-Hadad Attacks Samaria

1 Kings 20:1-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... be reminded of it. 20:26–34 The vast army of the Arameans marches up a second time against Israel, whose forces are by comparison but two small flocks of goats (vv. 26–28). On this occasion the Israelites, better prepared (v. 22), meet the hostile force further north at Aphek (v. 26). The result, however, is the same. To show that he is truly God, the LORD delivers the Aramean army into Israel’s hands a second time (vv. 28–30). Extraordinary casualties are inflicted both by the Israelites themselves ...

216. Jehoshaphat King of Judah

1 Kings 22:41-50

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... as it implicitly does even in those better NT MSS that read “Beelzebul” instead of “Beelzebub.” It may well be, in fact, that Baal-Zebub is itself a deliberate corruption of “Baal-Zebul” (“Baal the exalted”), intended to express the authors’ scorn of or hostility towards this “deity.” We may note here the analogous substitution of Hb. bōšeṯ, “shame,” for Baal in 2 Sam. 2:8 (cf. 1 Chron. 8:33) and 2 Sam. 11:21 (cf. Judg. 6:32); and the substitution of Hb. šiqquṣ, “detested ...

217. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia

Ezekiel 25:1-7, Ezekiel 25:8-11, Ezekiel 25:12-14, Ezekiel 25:15-17

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... suggest that the people Ezekiel has in mind are Kedarites—Arabian tribes out of the eastern desert. Jeremiah 49:28, where “people of the East” refers to the Arab kingdom of Kedar, supports this identification. The Kedarite Arabs were an aggressive and hostile force on the borders of all the kingdoms in the Transjordan. By Ezekiel’s time they had already expanded into Edom and were a continual threat to Moab. The second judgment against Ammon is more vague: “you have clapped your hands and stamped ...

218. Jesus’s Authority to Forgive and Heal Sinners

Mark 2:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... man to tell no one; this event is obvious for all to see. We have never seen anything like this! Once again (see 1:22, 27) everyone is “amazed,” and they “praise God” (or “give glory to God”). It is difficult to know whether the “everyone” includes the hostile scribes from 2:6–7. On the surface it seems so, but in the rest of 2:13–3:6 the leaders remain opposed to Jesus, and in 3:22 the scribes accuse him of being possessed by Beelzebul. It seems best to think that “everyone” means ...

219. Jesus’s Fallible Followers

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:46-50, Luke 9:37-45

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the east side of the Jordan to avoid passing through Samaritan territory. Jesus’s more inclusive attitude is revealed again by this chosen itinerary. 9:53 the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. This is not hostility to Jesus himself so much as to any Jewish pilgrim group going through their territory to the “apostate” temple. 9:54 James and John. This incident perhaps explains why Jesus gave this pair of brothers the nickname “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3 ...

220. Negative Responses to Jesus

Luke 11:33-36, Luke 11:29-32, Luke 11:14-28

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... rather than a thought-out theological declaration about Mary (cf. 1:42, 45, 48). Jesus’s deflating response recalls 8:21 (see comment there). Family pride is subordinated to the demands of true discipleship. 11:29 It asks for a sign. The second of the hostile approaches mentioned in 11:15–16 was the demand for “a sign from heaven.” The Old Testament is familiar with the idea of miraculous events to authenticate prophetic utterances (e.g., Exod. 4:1–9; 1 Kings 18:36–39; Isa. 7:10–14; 38 ...

221. The Coming of the King

Luke 19:45-48, Luke 19:28-44

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the Lord coming to purify his temple) and Zechariah 14:21 (the elimination of commerce from the house of the Lord), both understood to be part of the eschatological judgment. 19:47 were trying to kill him. The preceding verses suggest that this hostility on the part of the Jerusalem authorities (here listed in a way similar to 9:22; 20:19) arose from Jesus’s high-handed attitude toward the temple establishment. They could hardly ignore his action, especially if they had become aware that the messianic ...

222. Challenge and Counterchallenge

Luke 20:9-19, Luke 20:1-8

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... for living in conformity with God’s will (3:8–9; 6:43–45; 8:1–21; 13:6–9), and the reader who has followed Luke’s story so far will find it easy to contrast Jesus’s proclamation of the kingdom of God with the leaders’ hostility to that message. Theirs has become a self-serving leadership, shutting God out of his own vineyard. So it is time for a radical change, and the quotation from Psalm 118:22 sums up the coming regime change, when the kingdom of God will triumph over human opposition ...

223. Jesus Takes the Initiative

Luke 21:5-38, Luke 21:1-4, Luke 20:41-47

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... answer scenario of the first part of Jesus’s public ministry in the temple (20:1–40), we now have a series of pronouncements by Jesus that bring that phase of the Jerusalem story to an end. They begin with a response to the leaders’ hostile questioning, in which Jesus raises the question of the nature of messiahship. But that is the end of Luke’s record of Jesus’s encounter with the religious leaders, and thereafter Jesus speaks rather to his disciples (though with the crowd still listening for 20 ...

224. On the Mount of Olives

Luke 22:47-53, Luke 22:39-46, Luke 22:7-38

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... , take it. The previous missions of the disciples (9:1–6; 10:1–4) were in Galilee, where they could travel light and rely on the hospitality of supporters. But now that they are in Jerusalem, and Jesus’s enemies are moving against him, they should expect hostility and rejection. They will need to look after themselves. if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. In 22:49–51 Jesus will forbid his disciples to use their swords in his defense, and his words in 22:52 make sense only if ...

225. The New-Covenant Blessings: Peace and Hope

Romans 5:1-11

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... to give up his Son—that is, to withhold his love from his Son on the cross. The death of Christ on the cross for humankind obviously revealed his immense love for sinners. That love not only absorbed the sin of a hostile world but also was willing to suffer divine abandonment and hostility, even if only for a time. And the Holy Spirit is the one who transcends time in order to bring to the sinner’s consciousness the depth of love displayed on the cross, making the death of Jesus an existential reality ...

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