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 2376 to 2400 of 2747 results

2376. Eliphaz Turns Up His Criticism of Job

Job 15:1-35

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... answer with empty notions? In 12:2 Job dismissed the friends by saying that they think that with their words wisdom will reach its final end. Now Eliphaz uses the same sarcastic tone toward Job, saying in effect that Job is just full of hot air. According to Eliphaz, Job’s words are like the scorching and destructive “hot east wind” that blows off the Arabian desert. In Hosea 12:1 the same image is used to speak of Israel’s deceit and lies. Apparently, Eliphaz thinks that genuine wisdom should ...

2377. Yahweh Speaks as the Master Teacher

Job 38:1--41:34

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... experience perfectly, we must be willing to trust Yahweh, who alone knows and controls all things. Illustrating the Text Yahweh’s plan encompasses more than just human concerns. Bible: Make a reference to some passages in the Bible that mention sparrows and birds of the air, like Psalm 84:1–4; Matthew 6:25–26; or Matthew 10:29–30. Point out that we usually read these passages to assure ourselves that we are of value to God, and the passages clearly carry that as their primary message. However, these ...

2378. “The Lord Watches over the Way of the Righteous”

Psalm 1:1-6

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... appropriate for an introduction to the book. Metaphorically the terms “tree,” “streams of water,” and “chaff” open a window into Israel’s world. The “chaff that the wind blows away” (1:4) is a picture of winnowing, which involves throwing the grain into the air after it has been crushed, with the result that the heavier grain falls to the ground while the lighter hull is blown away by the wind. Still today that custom can be observed in the Middle East. The clue to its date, however, is ...

2379. “May the Net They Hid Entangle Them”

Psalm 35:1-28

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... and rendered as the NIV does, “javelin”; see also the NIV footnote).[7] 35:5 chaff. See Psalm 1:4 for a picture of winnowing. The wheat was placed on the threshing floor, where the grain was beaten out of its husk, then tossed into the air, allowing the wind to blow away the lighter chaff, with the heavier grain falling to the threshing floor. 35:7 without cause. The Hebrew word hinnam (“without cause”) occurs twice in 35:7, with 35:8 stipulating the punishment. 35:8 may the net they hid ...

2380. “No One Can Redeem the Life of Another or Give to God a Ransom for Them”

Psalm 49:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... the cycle is repeated (49:16–19). Yet there is one redeeming factor, God, since only he can “redeem” one’s life from death (49:15). In view of this shocking dilemma, from which there is no escape, except through God, the question hangs in the air: “Why should I fear?” (49:5). And the sage answers his own question as he turns to himself, or perhaps to his audience, and reprovingly admonishes: “Do not fear when one becomes rich” (author’s trans.) because the wealthy will die and leave their ...

2381. “In God I Trust and Am Not Afraid. What Can Mere Mortals Do to Me?”

Psalm 56:1-13

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II: “During the last war, I was taken along with a number of my school-chums to a labour camp in Nazi Germany. All my friends knew that I was a Christian, and sometimes they mocked me, good-naturedly. But when the air raids came and we were in danger and fear, they all tried to be close to me as if I could make them safer.” 20The psalmist had put his trust in God, and he knew that the damage “mere mortals” could do to him was limited (v. 4). Our ...

2382. The Rise of Media, Persia, and Greece

Daniel 8:15-27

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... in order to ensure our children’s future. Likewise, we do not need to fully grasp the chemical process that links bad eating habits with a heart attack or stroke in order to eat well. Rather, a basic awareness of how to operate a computer, what practices result in bad air quality, and how to construct a healthy diet are sufficient. So it is with apocalyptic visions—the basic contours of the text reveal the central message, from which we can draw principles for godly living.

2383. When the Storms of Life Are Raging

Mark 4:35-41

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... reaching around a giant tree. Out in California there are giant trees called Sequoias. Twenty children holding hands could barely manage to circle a giant sequoia tree. It's the biggest living thing in the world. They are big around and they rise high into the air. You would think these giant sequoias would have roots that reach deep down into the ground, wouldn't you? How else would they stand when strong winds blew. Yet we are told these tall trees have roots just beneath the surface of the ground. The ...

2384. How to Escape Being Possessed By Our Possessions

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” In the vast Dallas – Ft. Worth Airport is the mounted skeleton of a plesiosaur. His bones were found during the excavating necessary to build that ultra-modern air terminal. The plesiosaur is said to be 70 million years old. He was a great lizard, 25 feet long and weighing 10,000 pounds. When you stand in the midst of that monument to the latest in modern technology, you can’t help but be impressed by ...

2385. In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Isaiah 55:1-3, Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... arms. Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; heaven and earth shall flee away when comes to reign. In the bleak mid-winter a stable place sufficed the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. Angels and arch-angels may have gathered there, cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; but his mother only, in her maiden bliss, worshiped the beloved with a kiss. So, how do we respond to that? Isn’t that a legitimate question? What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I ...

2386. Unnoticed at Your Own Party

Isaiah 35:1-10, Matthew 11:2-11, James 5:7-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... airport. When he landed Dempsey was found with his face 12 inches off the runway, still alive, but with his hands so tightly gripped around the rails that his fingers had to be pried open. (2) I’ve not fallen out of an airplane at 4,000 feet in the air, but I have had experiences--as many of you have--when it took every bit of strength I have just to hold on. Someone has compared our situation to the tenacity of a bulldog. He said, “The reason God made a bulldog like he did was so he could hold ...

2387. The Plagues of Hail, Locust, and Darkness

Ex 9:13–10:29

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... children as hostages. The ninth plague (10:21–29) attacks the sun god, Amun-Re. It is a darkness “that can be felt” (10:21), possibly the sharav, a dry heat wave in which winds from the Arabian desert raise fine dust in the air, often obscuring the sun. Furthermore, in the ancient world, darkness was terrifying and dangerous, palpably “felt” in that sense. Amun was the god most closely linked with Pharaoh as a divine figure. In fear, Pharaoh orders Moses to leave with all the people and worship ...

2388. Separating Physical Impurities from Persons

Leviticus 11:1-47

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 25). Noah already knew the difference between clean and unclean animals (Gen. 7:2, 8–9; 8:20), but Leviticus 11 enumerates the distinctions in detail within the broad categories of creatures inhabiting and moving in the different zones of planet Earth: land, air, and water (11:46; cf. Gen. 1:1–31). There are simple criteria for recognizing clean land animals (split hooves and cud chewing), water creatures (fins and scales), and some edible kinds of insects (jointed legs to leap). For birds there are no ...

2389. Quail from the Lord

Numbers 11:4-35

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... about two cubits,” which is about three feet) above the ground (with NKJV, NIV 1984; not left on the ground to a depth of two cubits, as NIV, NRSV, NASB, NJPS, and NJB read) would be easy prey for the Israelites to knock out of the air. The ravenous Israelites work around the clock to gather a huge number of the hapless birds, at least ten homers (originally donkey loads, or about ten and a half bushels) of quail each (11:32). Flocks consisting of millions of migrating quail have been recorded as recently ...

2390. Living as People of the Name

Deut 14:1-29

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... dead and fertility rituals. The creatures listed in verses 4–21 are categorized as they are in Leviticus 11:1–23—in the order of their primary habitat, just as they appear in the creation account: land (14:4–8), water (14:9–10), and air (14:11–20). The basis for dividing these creatures up into clean and unclean is not immediately apparent, but it may involve hygienic reasons, avoidance of heathen religions, and the fact that those who ate unclean flesh were producers of death. Surely the use of ...

2391. Boaz’s Acceptance

Ruth 4:1-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... to the matter as anticipated by Naomi (3:18). Reaching a decision entails assembling Boaz and the redeemer to sit and discuss the matter in the company of ten elders, the number required for legal and marriage benedictions (4:1–2). Once Boaz fully airs the matter with the nameless kinsman-redeemer, the latter determines he cannot fulfill his obligations for personal reasons (4:3–6). The curious omission of the redeemer’s personal name represents the author’s way of giving a high profile to the act ...

2392. Cush

Isaiah 18:1-7

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... four months to mature. God is likened to a vinedresser who, instead of waiting for the fruit to mature, comes in the heat of the summer to his vineyard and cuts off the shoots and the spreading branches, leaving these for the animals or for the birds of the air (18:5–6). The people so carefully described in verse 2 are described in the same way in verse 7. They are still tall and awe-inspiring, but this time they are coming not as messengers of war but as worshipers of Yahweh. They are bringing gifts to ...

2393. Proof that Israel Does Not Know God

Hosea 4:1-19

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... of their covenant relationship with God. Instead of correcting the sinful people, the priests relish the people’s involvement in various acts of wickedness (4:8). Second, the worship of the Israelites is characterized by excessive drinking of wine, sacrificing at open-air Baal temples, worshiping wooden idols, and sacred prostitution by both men and women (4:10–14). This is not the kind of worship that God ordained in Leviticus; it is the kind of sexually perverted pagan worship widely practiced at Baal ...

2394. Proof of Deceitful Ways

Hosea 11:12--12:14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... evaporate, just as the morning mist and dew evaporate when the sun comes out, (2) will be scattered far and wide just as the chaff from a threshing floor is scattered abroad by the wind, and (3) will disappear just as smoke rising in the air is gradually diffused until it cannot be seen anymore. All the deceptions going on in the northern nation undermine the truthfulness of Israel’s commitment to their covenant relationship with God, so if there is no change God will eventually act against his covenant ...

2395. Jonah’s Unjustified Anger and God’s Response

Jonah 4:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... so that it withers and dies, and finally the Lord appoints an east wind to blow on the vulnerable Jonah. At the height of summer, the desert temperature can reach 110 degrees and, combined with the sirocco, or east wind, can render the air and ground devoid of any moisture whatsoever. The effects of the sirocco are so severe that people normally seek sturdy, protective shelter from the fierce winds. Jonah remains unprotected except for a booth, a small, temporary three-sided shelter consisting of large ...

2396. Three Short Parables

Mark 4:21-25, Mark 4:26-29, Mark 4:30-34

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... . 11:2; Jer. 22:23). Jesus, however, likens the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, so small that it is practically invisible. From insignificance and obscurity, God’s kingdom grows into a bush or tree that provides refuge for “the birds of the air” (NASB, RSV)—which may imply the inclusion of all the nations in God’s coming kingdom. Mark’s concluding explanation of parables in verses 33–34 resembles verses 10–12 and resumes the theme of insiders-outsiders. Jesus spoke “many similar parables ...

2397. The Fig Tree and the Temple

Mark 11:12-19, Mark 11:20-25 (26)

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... temple in verses 15–19. Herod the Great commenced building the temple in Jerusalem in 20 BC, and it was still under construction in Jesus’s day. The temple consisted of four majestic divisions, the first of which, the Court of Gentiles, an open-air rectangle of 500 × 325 yards (35 acres!) enclosed by a perimeter of massive porticoes, was accessible to both Jews and Gentiles. The Court of Gentiles, where animals were sold for sacrifice and currency exchanged for the Tyrian shekel (made of pure metal and ...

2398. The Parable of the Lost Son

Luke 15:11-32

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... was a necessity because of the return to life of the lost younger son (15:32). Notice that the father reminds the older brother of his relationship to his kin by saying, “this brother of yours” (15:32). The parable ends up in the air. Will the older son enter the party? Jesus is defending his association with tax collectors and sinners. The festive eating with them is a necessity, for it symbolizes God’s joy over their repentance. And his acceptance of them indicates his forgiving grace. Like ...

2399. God’s Faithfulness

Romans 3:1-8

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Paul knows that his argument in chapter 2 will provoke objections from Jews. He is willing to air these objections since he is dealing with serious questions, which have immense implications for the understanding of God, of salvation, and of who belongs to God’s people. In 3:1–4 Paul notes objections which insist that the privileges of the Jews cannot have been annulled. When the question ...

2400. The Rights of an Apostle

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... much in “strict training” to attempt to gain the winner’s “crown” in “the games” (9:24–25). Paul does not renounce his rights to no purpose, like a halfhearted runner running aimlessly, or a casual boxer who is always punching the air. Rather, like the serious athlete, he beats back his physical needs until they conform with the priorities of his Christian ministry, lest after proclaiming to others Jesus’s call to abandon all and follow him, Paul himself should be found seeking to retain ...

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