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 251 to 275 of 376 results

251. Philippians 3:17-4:1

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... divine redemption that the cross represents. Those who are “enemies of the cross” are those who reject Jesus as God’s ultimate pathway for rescuing humanity from the grip of sin and death. No wonder Paul shed tears, weeps (“klaion”) as one keening over a coffin, at the rejection by some of the soul-saving event of the cross. These “enemies” are those whose “god is the belly.” This “belly” (“koilia”) is a reference to a fixation upon bodily, earthly life — the “stomach,” the ...

252. The Cross Burden or Blessing?

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

253. The Best Gift of All

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... to help. Many years have passed; Rose is married and has her own children. She longed to try something different at Christmas. She suggested that instead of buying expensive gifts that they help meet someone else’s needs. At first her husband was not too keen on the idea. She made the same suggestion the next year and the next. When her children were older she made the same suggestion but they were not interested either. One day she explained her desire to make Christmas less commercial and more a time ...

254. The Healing Power of Faith

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... the eyes of the Jews, a foreigner “from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Perhaps this is why he was the only one of the ten who returned. His was the greater gratitude. He had felt his need more keenly and deeply than the rest. He knew he needed to be saved, genuinely saved spiritually as well as physically. Despite the fact that he had never known the real promises of God and that he had been without God in this world, he now knew God, and it was ...

255. A New Name for a New Year

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... same. There’s still pollution and war and stupidity and greed. Things haven’t changed. I say what kind of future is this? I thought things were supposed to improve. I thought the future was supposed to be better.” Hobbes replies with his usual keen insight, “The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present.” The New Year is traditionally a time for reflection. We look back over the year and assess our successes and failures. We gain some satisfaction over our successes, and we ...

256. The Knot: Frayed (Part 1)

1 Peter 3:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... , if he is not, or becoming better if he is. Peter does give us a clue on how God can use us to change our husband. “When they see your respectful and pure conduct.” (1 Peter 3:2, ESV) The word “see” literally means to “look into something very keenly.” It would be like today watching an instant replay of a close call in a ball game. In order words, a husband is not influenced by what his wife says, but by what his wife shows. You know this. Men are visual. Women are more emotional. Women are ...

257. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

... Thy footsteps to a slope of green access Where, like an infant’s smile, over the dead A light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread; L. And grey walls moulder round, on which dull Time Feeds, like slow fire upon a hoary brand; And one keen pyramid with wedge sublime, Pavilioning the dust of him who planned This refuge for his memory, doth stand Like flame transformed to marble; and beneath, A field is spread, on which a newer band Have pitched in Heaven’s smile their camp of death, Welcoming him ...

258. Moving On Up

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... Benson who was a columnist for the Toledo Blade in Toledo, Ohio. Benson’s husband was terminally ill. To help provide for her family, Benson devoted her spare time to a dream she had nurtured for many years. Under the pen name of Carolyn Keene she began writing mysteries for young girls. You may have heard of the main character in those mysteries, Nancy Drew. Benson was surprised at the impact this resourceful fictional character had on the lives of her readers. Many women found the inspiration to improve ...

259. Brushing Your Teeth with Oreos

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the Ten Commandments is “Honor your father and your mother.” However, it is important to note that even at age twelve, Jesus was conscious of his special relationship with God. That should not surprise us. Some children very early in life have a keen insight into what they want to do with their lives. In his autobiography, Steve Jobs, the genius who guided Apple Computer to its current status as one of the world’s most successful companies, wrote about his early fascination with computers. “I was ...

260. Doing Good to All

Galatians 6:1-10

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... ,” corrected for his or her own good. Paul spends greater time on the manner and special dangers of the ones who might be called on to restore the transgressor than he does on the transgressor. In this regard Betz comments that “Paul seems keenly aware that a self-righteous posture of prosecutors can cause greater damage to the community than the offense done by a wrongdoer” (Galatians, p. 298). The “spiritual” ones are to do their work “gently,” that is, they are to demonstrate the fruit of ...

261. To Elders and Young Men

1 Peter 5:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... the clouding of the senses, and so a lack of apprehending spiritual realities. Peter’s exhortation to self-control (also in 1:13; 4:7) is always a positive one, with a view to action. Similarly, believers are to be alert, to be on the watch like keen sentinels, aware that the foe may attack at any time and from any quarter. Unseen he may be, but the spiritual fact is that their enemy the devil is forever seeking a way to infiltrate and take advantage of any weakness among God’s army of believers ...

262. Gideon

Judges 6:1-40

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... on the threshing floor overnight, and if it were wet with dew in the morning and all the ground around it dry, he would know that the Lord would save Israel by his hand. The nearly identical phrases are repeated twice, expressing emphasis. Gideon was keen to know that God was committed to him and his mission. Many commentators and preachers have criticized Gideon for his “little faith” in asking for such a sign, and even a reverse sign—which would have been an even greater miracle, for wool absorbs ...

263. Zebah and Zalmunna

Judges 8:1-21

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... to this point, we have not been told why Gideon was relentlessly trailing the Midianites so far from the scene of the battle. Now we know: he had a personal interest in capturing the two Midianite kings. The leaders of Succoth were not keen on feeding three hundred hungry Israelite soldiers and promptly refused Gideon’s request. But they responded not with a simple no but with a pair of derogatory rhetorical questions that betrayed their skepticism that Gideon would catch the Midianite kings and pay them ...

264. Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness

Ecclesiastes 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... for the oppressed. Because redress for the oppressed is an expectation of both God and the king in biblical religion (see, e.g., Jer. 22:11–19; Ezek. 22:6–16), criticism of either or both may be implicit here. Nevertheless, Qohelet is too keenly aware of the dangers of offending the powerful to express such criticism directly. It is clear that the persona of Solomon, used earlier for the experiment in wisdom and pleasure, is no longer used. A king this outraged about oppression could take action against ...

265. An Invasion of Locusts

Joel 1:1-12

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... they have suffered is from the hand of God. He therefore summons three groups in Judah to lament for three gifts of God’s grace and favor that have been withdrawn. Using extremely strong verbs, he calls upon them to weep and wail (v. 5), to mourn or keen (v. 8), and to be dismayed (despair, v. 11) and grieve over the loss of these gifts. Contrary to the usual interpretation of these verses, this is not yet a call to a communal lamentation, but rather the prophet’s attempt to get his people to understand ...

266. Habakkuk’s Prayer

Habakkuk 3:1-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... ) before telling us what it is (Dan. 2:29–45). So Habakkuk has moved from dispute to submission, like Job. Yet this does not mean he simply yields to silence (any more than Job does?). There are two senses in which he declines to do so. First, he is not keen on the idea that Yahweh’s action might have to wait a long time (it will actually wait many decades, of course), and he wants to make sure that does not happen. Rhetorically, this will be a way of reassuring his audience of that point. So as well as ...

267. The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem

Zechariah 8:1-23

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... past confirms the reliability of God’s word about the present and future. (Just as I had determined . . . so now I have determined, vv. 14–15.) The next oracle also combines the three elements of retrospective, salvation announcement, and admonition. Zechariah’s audience was keenly aware that God’s determination to bring disaster had been carried out. The former prophets had used these very words to announce judgment (zmm in Jer. 4:28; Zech 1:6; and rʿʿ in Jer. 25:29; 31:28). Zechariah 7:11–14 ...

268. Jesus’ Love and the World’s Hatred

John 15:1-17

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... the promise that he will send the Spirit to the disciples from the Father (v. 26). Even more than in the first discourse, the Spirit’s presence with the disciples is promised especially in situations of persecution, when they would feel Jesus’ absence most keenly. To this extent the Spirit’s function is the same as it is in the synoptic Gospels: to enable the disciples to stand firm under hostile questioning and to testify faithfully about Jesus to their persecutors (vv. 26–27; cf. Mark 13:11; Matt ...

269. God’s Covenant with Abram

Genesis 15:1-18

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... deeds or acts of devotion. Abram thereby becomes the model of all who worship Yahweh by faith. The audacity of his believing stands out against the bleakness of his situation. Furthermore, Abram’s complaints show that a person of faith at times feels keen disappointment and frustration. Nevertheless, such a person is not afraid to express that feeling to God. On hearing God’s answer, Abram had to decide whether to continue to exercise faith or not. Now as then, God often demands that one maintain faith ...

270. Driving Out the Nations

Deuteronomy 7:1-26

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... and “drive out” the nations. God would “deliver” the nations into Israel’s hand. To emphasize the need for divine initiative and action, the many nations are listed and described as larger and stronger than the Israelites. This is a perspective that Deuteronomy is keen to stress in order to deflate any incipient Israelite arrogance (v. 7) and to exalt the power and initiative of Yahweh (cf. 4:38; 9:3; 11:23). When Yahweh had done his part, however, the Israelites were to do theirs—destroy them ...

271. The Only Place of Worship

Deuteronomy 12:1-32

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... clear from the quotation of Isaiah 45:23 and the use of “Lord” in v. 11), then Christian concern to protect the name of Jesus Christ from being equated with any other names (for example in certain kinds of public multifaith worship) should be as keen as Deuteronomy’s passion for the uniqueness of the name of Yahweh over against all other religious manifestations. 12:5 Deuteronomy 12:5–12, dealing with the worship of Israel at the place God would choose, is the first of the two major central sections ...

272. Renewal of the Covenant

Deuteronomy 29:1-29

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... of profanity. The solemn warning of this section is that the disaster of destruction and exile will be as much an expression of the logic of the covenant (Why? . . . Because . . . )as anything else in Israel’s history. Ezekiel sees and feels this most keenly, standing as he does amidst the smoldering wreckage after the judgment has indeed fallen. But in that perception Ezekiel sees the seeds of hope, for Yahweh will always finally act for the vindication of his own name (Ezek. 36:16–36). Only in that ...

273. Solomon's Adversaries

1 Kings 11:14-25

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... quite good at playing the snake, if not quite so convincing as the dove (1 Kgs. 2). As far as wisdom in administration is concerned (1 Kgs. 4–5), the NT is plainly in favor of it (e.g., Acts 6:3). Yet the NT is, like the Solomon story, keenly aware of the inadequacies of and dangers inherent in a wisdom that is simply “from below.” The NT authors know that it can express itself as idle words and empty philosophy, if not as outright apostasy and “freedom” from God’s law (e.g., Rom. 1:21–25; Col ...

274. Elijah and Obadiah

1 Kings 18:1-15

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... , would be able to respond to shouts, no matter what he was doing. But he would be most unlikely in any event to be travelling or busy (i.e., attending to bodily functions, relieving himself), much less having a lunchtime snooze. The humor is keen, if basic. 18:29 Their frantic prophesying: The kind of condition apparently in view is also well-attested outside Palestine. The most interesting example from the point of view of this passage is given by the Egyptian traveller Wen-Amon (around 1100 B.C.), who ...

275. Naaman Healed of Leprosy

2 Kings 5:1-27

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... . It is the directness of God’s action that has convinced Naaman of God’s reality—and it was necessary to take him to the Jordan if he was to experience that directness. Ambiguity would have remained, had Elisha been involved. The lesson learned, Elisha is keen to drive it home. He refuses to accept any gift; for that is to trade in Naaman’s old currency. It is the living LORD, and not Elisha, who must take center stage. Naaman’s response reveals his grasp of what has happened. He will never ...

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