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 2851 to 2875 of 3108 results

2851. A Honeymoon at Church Camp: A Real Homecoming

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

Rachael and Wally first saw each other at church camp when they attended a January orientation meeting for new counselors. Just one look into one another's eyes was all it took for these high school seniors to realize that this might be the start of something wonderful. It was. Over the next four summers at camp, Rachael and Wally's infatuation blossomed into romance. They became engaged with plans to marry during the Christmas season following college graduation. Everyone was thrilled. Here was the ...

2852. A Question of Loyalty

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

Lookout Mountain is a popular tourist destination located in the northwest corner of Georgia, just six miles from Chattanooga, Tennessee. From high atop the mountain, on a clear day seven states are visible with the naked eye. Most photographs fail to capture the beauty of this panoramic view. Information boasts of an unforgettable journey ... "where each step reveals natural beauty and wonders." Lookout Mountain also played a role in the American Civil War. Nearing the end of his life, Joshua called a ...

2853. Rock Bottom

1 Peter 3:13-22

Sermon

David O. Bales

Peter begins a new paragraph here by asking, "Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?" The answer is: lots of people everywhere. Everyone who's attended a school with other than one's own family, or who's read the newspaper, let alone if they've read even a smidgen of history, everyone knows that people who are zealous to do good are abused. An example is Ignaz Semmelweis, not exactly a household name, but important to your health. He was the Hungarian-Austrian medical doctor who ...

2854. God’s Doing

Philippians 1:21-30

Sermon

Larry Lange

Don had not worked like a dog for nothing. He had struggled up the corporate ladder to one rung below the vice-presidents —who were all brothers. So Don knew he wasn't going any higher on the ladder. That was okay with him. They had treated him like family. He had earned a six-figure salary and eight weeks of vacation and had 10,000 frequent flyer miles to play with. Then leukemia drove his wife, Donna, into the hospital where they shoved needles into her and pumped her full of chemicals and new bone ...

2855. All in the Family

1 John 3:1-3

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

"Surprise! You're adopted!" If you were to hear those words from a trusted relative, surprise would be an understatement, I'm sure. Total shock would probably be more descriptive terminology for your emotional state as you examined the official court record and your original birth certificate. "Adopted" does describe each of us though, because we have been adopted by God into God's family. How do we know? The Bible tells us so. When the Spirit of God dwells within us, we are given new birth as God's ...

2856. Lifestyles of the Rich and Faithful

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

When a carnival came to town, the strong man was one of the most popular attractions. One of his tricks was to squeeze an orange dry with his bare hand. Then he would offer $1,000 to anyone in the audience who could manage to squeeze even one more drop from that orange. Having nothing to lose, people were always ready to accept the challenge to make an easy $1,000, but they always failed. They would squeeze and squeeze, but their efforts were fruitless. Then, an older man stepped up to try his strength. ...

2857. A Man Named Useful

Philemon 1:8-25

Sermon

King Duncan

It is always interesting to get a glimpse into the world of the Bible. When we do, we realize very quickly that these were men and women were very much like ourselves, but they lived in a culture quite different from our own. For one thing, biblical people lived in a society that condoned the owning of slaves. Of course, the same thing could be said of our own society up until 150 years ago. And, as in our own nation, to be a runaway slave was a serious event. Today’s scripture centers on one such slave, a ...

2858. Here I Am

Hebrews 12:18-29

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Every now and then one of the TV networks offers up one of those shows with an overview of old TV commercials. We look back and laugh at the hairstyles and clothing and laugh. Some the of the more famous and prominent ad characters are still around. Do you remember E.F Hutton commercials. They were for a stock brokerage firm. The TV ads would show two people talking in the midst of a crowd of noisy people: at a party or a sporting event or a restaurant. The two of them would be discussing stocks. One of ...

2859. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Tempted"

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

There was a young man named Fred, from the mountains of eastern Tennessee. He was the poster child for lazy and no-good. When he was called up for duty in the Army during the Vietnam War, Fred had high hopes that he would be exempted because of he had double vision. The doctor said, "See that chart on the wall over there?" "Not very well, Doc. It's all blurry," said Fred. "You've passed," said the doctor. Fred protested, "What do you mean I passed? How can I pass when I told you it's all blurry?" And the ...

2860. Beneath The Shadow Of The Cross

Mark 15:16-37

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A. It was weird. It was really weird. The sky that afternoon had taken on a ghastly, ghostly, almost haunted hue. Ever since the midday bells had rung it had been like the edge of night. The darkness of the day seemed to reflect the way the apostle felt. It seemed to reflect the darkness of his soul and the darkness of the event taking place. John; one of the chosen twelve; one of the inner circle of leadership; the one who always seemed closest to Jesus, stood shrouded in his own sorrow. The lump in his ...

2861. Fighting Back Against Falling Back

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

You’ve had a couple of weeks to adjust. How you doing . . . fighting back against falling back? Spring forward; fall back. These past couple of weeks your bio-rhythms have been batty, fighting back after “falling back” or maybe even “falling flat.” Retreating one hour in order to get back to “Standard Time” is supposed to make our mid-winter mornings less dark and dismal. Unfortunately, as anyone who lives above the 45th parallel knows, those brighter “a.m.’s” come attached to distinctly darker and longer ...

2862. Endurance

Illustration

Mickey Anders

There was a little country schoolhouse that was heated by an old-fashioned, potbellied coal stove. A little boy named Glenn had the job of coming to school early each day and starting the fire to warm up the building. One morning the teacher arrived only to find the building engulfed in flames. Misatking gasoline for karosene Glenn and his brother Floyd has ignited an inferno. The teacher who just arrived, along with other students, got Glenn out in time but his brother didn't make it. Glenn had major ...

2863. Full Body Scans or Re-spect Spectacles

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of you have had the experience of being stripped naked before a room full of strangers? Anyone here this morning ever been strip-searched? You have if you’re a frequent flier. You have if you’ve recently flown through any of the sixty-plus airports that now use “full body scans” as part of their security procedures. Just as the “shoe bomber” made it a requirement for all of us to pad around barefoot on grungy airport floors, the “underwear bomber” has led to the use of these virtual strip-down ...

2864. God Does Not Desert Us

Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 31:8

Illustration

I find it strange that God has never deserted me. I don't understand that kind of grace frankly. I do not deserve his eternal presence, nor do you. Yet, God has forever identified with the human dilemma. There may not be a soul in the world who truly understands your feelings. God understands. All in your life may fall away. God will never fall away. In Tom Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation, a story is told of Mary Wilson, presently of Dallas, Texas. You would never know by looking at this modest woman ...

2865. How Could God Let This Happen?

Matthew 2:13-18

Illustration

King Duncan

Life magazine set out to record what various kids thought about God. They handed out cameras to 56 kids between the ages of 8 and 13, and they asked each kid to go out and take pictures that reflect who God is. Anything that made them think of God was fair game for a photo. One nine-year-old took a picture of his social worker's office. She was nice to him, and that made him think of God. Other children took pictures of people they love, or things that make them happy. But some of the children's pictures ...

2866. Adopted! Thank God!

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Missionary James King tells the true story of an African woman in one of his churches who attended every service accompanied by an old, mongrel dog. The dog would enter with the lady and sit beside her during the service. She always sat on an outside seat beside the aisle. At the conclusion of the service, the woman would always come and kneel at the altar for prayer, and the dog would faithfully take his place beside her. The woman’s husband was a cruel man who deeply resented her devotion to Christ, and ...

2867. The Great Physician

Matthew 4:23-25

Sermon

King Duncan

It was rumored that the owner of a certain hardware store had discovered a cure for arthritis. As you might imagine, this stirred a great deal of interest in the small town where the hardware store was located. One day, the locals saw a little old lady, bent over on her cane, enter the store for a visit. A little later this same lady came out walking almost perfectly straight with her head held high. The crowd cheered. “It’s a miracle!” they declared. Then they wondered. What did the owner of the hardware ...

2868. Life’s Three Guides on the Pilgrim Way

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Do you bring along a sandwich in your coat pocket when you are invited to dinner at a friend’s house? Of course not! Can you imagine inviting twenty people to a party, but only buying enough food to serve ten? Never! Would you send your child out into a snowstorm in a swimsuit? No way! As rude and self-centered and uncaring as we all can be, we still abide by some basics of good behavior. So why do we think God won’t? Jesus’ message in today’s gospel text chides his listeners for “worrying” — worrying ...

2869. Are We Brave enough to Bet It All?

John 20:1-18

Illustration

Thomas Long

In John Updike's A Month of Sundays, there is a parable about how the Christian faith is, indeed, an improbable wager on the impossible possibility. In one episode, a group of men are playing a variation of poker. In this game, each person is dealt several cards, some of them on the table face up and the others concealed in the hand. In one round, the main character, a man named Thomas, has been dealt a very strong hand, and he decides to bet heavily. As Thomas keeps sweetening the pot and raising the ...

2870. Wrong!

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the church. The symbols of the Pentecost gift are wind and fire. Every birthday is accompanied by a cake over which there is the ritual of wind and fire. But in the course of blowing out candles in your lifetime, have you ever missed one? Ever miscalculate the amount of wind needed to get it 100% right? [To make your sermon more EPIC, you might want to showcase a birthday cake, and blow out some candles. You could even have some fun and include some gag (magic re- ...

2871. Kissing Cousins (Father's Day)

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

If you happened to look at a church calendar for today, the first Sunday after Pentecost, you may have seen that today is called Trinity Sunday. That might have given you cause for alarm. You may have thought to yourself, “Oh, no, a deep, dull sermon is coming on the mystery of the Trinity.” That would be a perfectly natural reaction. So, to keep you awake, I’m going to address an entirely different subject that of kissing. And I’m going to begin with the worst joke about kissing that I know. It seems a ...

2872. You Can’t Will Them All

Matthew 10:14

Illustration

Mark Trotter

The 1962 New York Mets baseball team managed to lose 120 games that season. The last game of the season, a player named Joe Pignatano hit into a triple play to end the game. It was a fitting ending for an infamous season for the Mets. Casey Stengel was the manager of the Mets that year. After that last game, he called the team together in the locker room, and said, "Fellers, don't feel bad about this. It's been a team effort all the way." "You Can't Win Them All" sounds like baseball wisdom. But I would ...

2873. The Receptive Heart

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

Life is a matter of attitude. All the great motivational speakers tell us that. To succeed in life, attitude is critical. Of course, not everyone has a great attitude. In fact, some people have a downright rotten attitude. The Internet carried an item recently that reflects a rotten attitude. It is called the “Cynic’s Guide to Life.” It’s a clever take-off on some of life’s familiar clichés. See if you recognize any of these: The journey of a thousand miles . . . begins with . . . a broken fan belt and a ...

2874. Hope

John 12:20-33

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Word had begun to spread about Jesus. This was Palm Sunday afternoon now — crowds had already greeted his entry into Jerusalem. In John's chronology, this was hard on the heels of his raising Lazarus to life after four days in the tomb. Jesus was beginning to attract significant crowds, and they were even bigger than normal because this was a festival week, and folks had traveled from all over the known world to celebrate the Passover here. Word about Jesus had apparently spread to the visitors in the city ...

2875. The Day God Voted

1 Samuel 15:34-35, 16:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Are you ready to vote? These days it seems as if that were a perpetual question. One campaign is hardly over before the next one begins. The political commercials on television are endless: the charges and the countercharges, one side "pointing with pride," the other "viewing with alarm." Someone once said, "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it wrongly, and applying unsuitable remedies." Sounds like a perfect description of what we get with all these thirty- ...

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