Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: thirstiness, dryness, parched, craving, strong desire, longing, yearning, avidity, hunger, voracity, keenness, eagerness, lust, appetite, passion, love, crave, want, covet, desire, hunger for/after, lust for/after, hanker for/after, have one's heart set on

Antonyms: aversion, distaste, apathy, dislike, hatred, antipathy, disgust, disregard, abhorrence, acrimony, wet, animosity, animus, antagonism, bad feeling, bitterness, be averse to, detestation

Showing 2701 to 2725 of 5000 results

2701. A Stone’s Throw From: Heaven

Matthew 16:13-25

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , too. Up to this point, we've had a pretty good Bible Study lesson. But So What? Here's the answer, here's what I want you take with you. Peter let fear enter his life and faith. That's what was going on in his life. Fear! He was reluctant ... a berry pie where one slice was strawberry, one blueberry, one blackberry, one raspberry, one boysenberry, one mulberry and whatever other berries you want to add, the best that you would get is a Very Berry Pie. You see in baking, all those juices begin to simmer ...

2702. Altar Your Prayers

Mark 1:29-37

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... each of the vows we take build upon each other. They are all necessary pieces to the puzzle or layers to the cake or however you want to describe it. And for me the first step is prayer. You can look at the life of Jesus and see just how important prayer was ... there is to it. Just use your fingers to remind you of who and what to pray for. IV. Listen There's just one more point I want to make. When we pray, it's not all about us. We're not called to run of at the mouth in Holy Language. Sometimes, we simply ...

2703. LOST? Finding Forgiveness

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... hurts and anger and jealousy and the sins of our youth. And the sins of our adulthood. Especially those sins that we don't want ourselves to even know about or remember. And like the roaches in that apartment, the odor and other effects keep creeping back into our ... to us reminding us of how wonderful it was at home, telling us God loves us "Anyway" and "As Is". And all God really wants is for us to return home. And Jesus was that Love Letter made flesh. That Love Letter dressed in the rags of our brokenness ...

2704. Gideon: One Giant Leap

Judges 6:11-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... hot or cold water?" People were flabbergasted when they asked why. Because the group doing it simply said, "We're a group of Christians doing a community service project to show God's love in a practical way. We want to pay for your wash today just to demonstrate God's love to you." Another group has gone into restaurants and asked to clean their toilets, giving a very similar response. Another group started by passing out cold drinks on Fridays across the street from the local High School. Just ...

2705. Jonah: Run!

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , here he is, one of the most unlikely prophets of them all. I'm pretty sure Jonah was kin to Gideon. He has a lot of the same traits multiplied. The story is simple. One day Jonah is minding his own business and suddenly God's there and says, "I want you to go to Nineveh and hold a revival. Tell them they better get there act together and straighten up. I'm watching." Jonah give God a big smile and says, "Sure thing Lord." And the minute God turns His back, Jonah spins around and does a perfect Jesse Owens ...

2706. A Chance To Hear

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... family has been making fun of the things I thought I'd heard. Well, about five months ago I finally had my hearing tested and now I wear hearing aids. The difference for me was remarkable. The only problem is, when Mary asks me to do something I don't want to do, I can no longer tell her: "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." In the passage for today Jesus has a chance encounter with a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment and to everyone's astonishment, Jesus heals him. Jesus gave this man a ...

2707. The Challenge Of Generosity

Malachi 3:10, Luke 6:36-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... nice yellow roses here that I'm offering special today for eighteen cents a dozen." The man pointed to the flower case. "Gee, those would be swell! Yes, Mickey'd sure like those." The man said, "I'll make up a nice spray with ferns and ribbons. Where do you want me to send them?" One of the boys responded, "Would it be all right, Mister, if we took them with us? We'd kind of like to you know give 'em to Mickey ourselves. He'd like it better that way." The florist fixed the spray of flowers and accepted ...

2708. Cross Eyed: Triumph

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... and felt was the deep rumble and thunder of God's laughter. It may have even been the laughter that rolled the stone away. I think God laughed because the joke was on sin and death. They were defeated. They were defeated and they still don't know it. They want us to live in Good Friday when we're the Easter People, the people of a Cross Eyed: Triumph. And that's the difference it makes. The Tomb no longer frightens us. For we have been forgiven and we have be given the promise of eternal life. And once you ...

2709. Are You Plugged In?

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... off. (you can see it coming can't you?) And right on cue, Dana stood up, turned to the congregation, and yelled, "Go home and get your lunch!" and all the people promptly gathered up their things and left. (1) Now don't get any ideas. I don't want you to go home and get your lunch. Refreshments of a spiritual nature will be served shortly when we celebrated the Lord's Supper. Besides, the Super Bowl doesn't start until this evening. I wonder if there was ever a point in His ministry that Jesus wished the ...

2710. Haiti

Job 1:6-22

Sermon

Brett Blair

... events of this past week? It is because, even though 4000 years separate the two events, life, and I mean the things that make life meaningful, have not changed at all. Not even over 4 millennia. We all must make a living. We all love our family. We all want security. We all want a home. I So what do we do in tragedy? We do what Job did when he learned of his loss. We mourn. He was silent when he received the first two reports that his business and livestock had been wiped out. But when he received the news ...

2711. The Gift of Preparation

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... putting him in a shopping cart as a manger. But at the same time, it was almost perfect, too. Not because of the characters, but because of this boy's love for God and Jesus and Christmas that went into building the scene out of materials at hand and wanting to share it with his parents. What could be more perfect than that? Even if it did feel like drinking a dill pickle milkshake. That's the way we feel when John the Baptist shows up in our Christmas celebration. And here he is again. Once more muddying ...

2712. One Lord, One Table

Exodus 20:1-4

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of pear trees and one big cooking apple tree. For us kids, it was our own private fruit stand. We could eat any of the fruit we wanted as long as we didn't waste it and as long as we didn't eat from Mrs. Wallace's cooking apple tree. Oh, every now and ... I hate cooking dinner." "We're not even religious. We don't even know a grace. This is ridiculous." The counselor held her ground. "You wanted my help. This is my prescription. And here's a grace you can all memorize: 'God is great, God is great, now we thank ...

2713. Follow Your Questions (Series: An Invitation to Christian Discipleship)

John 20:24-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... evil prosper? It is one of the psalmists’ favorite complaints. Psalm 73:12 says, “This is what the wicked are like, always carefree, constantly increasing in wealth.” He was in his mid-forties when he popped the question to me, his pastor. “Howard, I just want to know why people who cheat on their expense accounts, take advantage of their customers, and don’t worry about being faithful to their wives make more money that I do when I try to live by the Christian values?” How does one answer that ...

2714. Radical Love at Home (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... aged and on a mission to regain his lost youth. Even worse, he could have been some old fool who has lived long enough to know better. Whatever his age, he reckons with a truth: money won’t buy us love; travel won’t bring us happiness; getting what we want doesn’t mean having what we need. Too many selfish dreams leave us stranded in some pig pen. What draws us to the prodigal son? Are we drawn to his wild spirit? Is there not a rebellious nature in us all? Is that why he’s attractive? We, too, have ...

2715. Stewardship of the Church (Series: Stewardship: Discover This Word and Love It!)

Acts 20:13-38

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of the world. I count it a privilege to be a member of a church, how about you? II. The Church Is the Body of Christ, Broken and Spilled Out for the World. “Be shepherds of the Church of God, which Christ bought with his own blood.” Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.” Have you learned that principle of inversion? You can win by losing; you can gain by giving; and you can live by letting go. Most of us believe in the ...

2716. Go

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . "GO" is such a simple word with a simple meaning. "Don't just stand there, do something." We use it to start races, "On your mark, get set, "GO." There's not a racer anywhere who hearing those words and hearing the starting pistol says: "Who, me?" This morning I want to deal with the Who, Where, How and Why of the "E" word. the Who, Where, How and Why of the command to GO and make Disciples. I. Who A. The first is WHO? Unfortunately, most of us act like the out-of shape, overweight man who decided to take ...

2717. A Gratitude Adjustment

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... she's even more affectionate than that and will actually take my hand in her mouth, which is a Labs way of saying thank you. And Pearl, well, have you ever heard a Guinea Pig purr. That's what she does. She makes this little chittering sound of contentment and wants to be petted. Now the reason I tell you this is because Midnight and Pearl are animals. I'm sure it's a learned trait but they both express or appear to express a sense of gratitude. It all focuses mainly around food, but there's also a sense of ...

2718. More Than We Are - Graduation

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... spell of a gnawing discontent. Again, I’m glad it’s that way. To be sure this discontent must be disciplined. It must be kept under the control of a dedicated and sensible self-will. But it should never be stifled to the point of complete repression. We ought to want to be more than we are. The question is, how can we? In the healthy sense of the word, how can we be more than we are? I IMAGINATION will help. It’s amazing what a sanctified imagination can do for us. A person is in bad shape who does ...

2719. Take Off Your Shoes...You Are Standing on Holy Ground

Acts 7:1-53

Sermon

James W. Moore

... to be a Christian and one of the ways I do that is through the practice of medicine.’” When he said those words, I wanted to take off my shoes because I knew I was standing on holy ground. Wasn’t that great the way he put that? “My calling ... to treat the custodian with kindness and how to speak to the young man who picks up the dirty towels.” When I heard that, I wanted to take off my shoes because I knew that I was standing on Holy Ground… the holy ground of love and respect for others. Have you ...

2720. Happy Marriage...It's All About Choices

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James W. Moore

... Barclay, Commentary on Matthew, p. 110.) The choice is yours… You can be a trouble-maker or a peace-maker. You can build up or you can tear down! Let me illustrate and amplify the point with three ideas… and maybe we can find ourselves somewhere between the lines. I want to give you all three of the ideas up front so you can move along with me as we develop them. Here they are. In marriage and in life, the choice is yours: 1. You can encourage or you can discourage. 2. You can laugh or you can lament. 3 ...

2721. On the Emmaus Road with Cleopas and His Friend

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

James W. Moore

... for her ice cream… (and discreetly fanning her flushed face) went outside… proud of how disciplined and poised she had been in the presence of Paul Newman. Out on the sidewalk, she realized that she didn’t have her ice cream cone. She was so embarrassed, but she thought: “I wanted that ice cream cone. I paid for it… and I’m going to go back in there and get it!” Back inside, she told the clerk: “I didn’t get my ice cream cone. I paid for it and didn’t get it!” “Well, I gave it to you ...

2722. Holiness of Heart and Life

Romans 2:21-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... with a most popular Eastern guru who had just arrived from Tibet. Or, by the young man teacher, deeply religious, but not Christian, who just finished a crash course in How To Conduct a Séance, which for him was what prayer is all about. I don’t want person who are not Christian, maybe some who are explicitly non-Christian, modeling for children what prayer is all about. Do you see the point I a making. Christian prayer is an act of the people of God who are committed to God’s sovereignty and holiness ...

2723. There Is a Price for Everything

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... so many different ways, but he wrote with such deep feeling about sitting in the pew and picking up the booklet that lists the 269 opportunities for us to be involved in volunteer ministry here at our church. He said he had never seen anything like it and he wanted to become a part of a church that thought in that fashion. That’s also the reason we ask every person to express their Christian faith in the way we use our money. We’ve been asked to bring our estimates of giving to worship today. In a few ...

2724. Ministering Angels

Exodus 23:20-33

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... York, 1973, P. 1-2) We don’t talk about angels very much – Do we? When was the last time you talked seriously about angels? When we do talk about them, we do so very vaguely. We think about them far more than we talk about them. Today, I want to talk about angels, because that’s what our scripture lesson is about. I’m not going to argue their nature and existence. I’m simply going to accept our text today. The Bible never debates that angels do work in our lives. God said to the Hebrews, “Behold ...

2725. In the Lions' Den (Dealing with Stress)

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and hell and punishment. All having to do with stress. We’ll come back to our scripture later. For now, let’s line out some suggestions for living in the lions’ den – some directions that may enable us to survive stress, even to use it for our benefit. I want to pursue four lines of thought which will at least plot a path for us to follow as we move in and out of the lions’ den. These suggestions all begin with an “A”; so maybe you c n remember them if you’re not taking notes. 1. Acknowledge ...

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