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 2876 to 2900 of 5000 results

2876. It Is Always the Third Day

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... of her wings. If the fox got too close, the hen launched an attack against the predator. The hen was willing to sacrifice her life for her brood. Jesus tells us that God’s love for us is like that. “There have been so many times that I wanted to gather the children of God together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” On the one hand, that is a warm and wonderful simile. We should not, however, misunderstand. The hen cannot guarantee her brood an under-wing safe haven from misfortune. In fact ...

2877. Blago and Radnan, Two Lost Sons

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... . It would be a terrible mistake for that woman to tell neighbors about replenishing her household stack of silver coins. Common sense dictates that when you have a fortune in silver in the house, it is best kept a secret. If you don’t want burglarized, don’t tell anyone. And consider the foolishness of leaving 99 sheep to find and return a wanderer. That would be irresponsible. A competent shepherd does not leave the flock defenseless and exposed to the dangers of the wilderness and the ravages of ...

2878. From Deep Unto Deep

Luke 22:14--23:56

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... , of course, we will awake to the joyous news that “Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia! He is risen indeed.” We are not, however, there as yet. To get to Easter, we have to go through the events that led up to the resurrection. The point I want to make this morning is that the difficult journey through this week has the potential to drive our spiritual lives from deep unto deep. Things seem to get off to a good start. On the Sunday prior to Easter, the one we observe today, there was a parade ...

2879. Next Man Up

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... leaning over us, He whispers, ‘Let’s go do that together.’” (5) Isn’t that great? “Let’s go do that together.” God wants us to do His work with joy. He knows that we yearn for a greater purpose and calling than just taking care of ... to us, “Let’s go do that together.” Why is this Jesus’ final prayer for us? Because there is still work to do, and because He wants to enable us to do our part. But there is one thing more we need to see: Jesus’ final prayer is a reminder that we are ...

2880. Free From What? For What?

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... us to do. We live in a society that worships independence. We have long prided ourselves as being a nation of rugged individualists. We love to hear stories of people who have bucked the system and overcome great odds to get what they want. We constantly preach on the importance of gaining independence from parents, siblings, and peers. We say a person must be physically, intellectually, and emotionally independent in order to be fully developed. In other words, we feel we all must learn to act, think ...

2881. Pay Attention!

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... praised for kneeling down at a man’s feet and keeping her mouth shut. If you find yourself disturbed by this story, then you’re not alone. In fact, generally, if you’re not disturbed by Jesus’ actions and parables, you’re not paying attention. Jesus wanted to get people to look at life differently, and the only way to get people out of their old ways of thinking and begin viewing life from the perspective of the kingdom was to shock them. Martha was a good and faithful servant. When Jesus stopped ...

2882. Clearing the Eyes

John 9:1-12, John 9:13-34, John 9:35-41

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... to the scripture that said we can only see partially now, while in this place, sight will be restored. So what is it that Jesus wants us to see? First, we walk past needs of the world all the time and normally, we don’t stop. Jesus was simply on a ... from your knees (a child’s view) is the backside of pants and frankly, sometimes the smell. Being in the service is then defined by wanting to escape to where I could see, which we who are parents know, leads to a constant struggle to get kids to stay put. If ...

2883. Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . This is called metamorphosis. This is what Jesus does for us. When we allow him into our hearts, he changes us so completely that we are nothing like we were before! Would you take the wings from a butterfly and paste them to a caterpillar? [NO!] Would you want to take Jesus –the Lord of the Sabbath—and try to make him conform to all of the Pharisees’ laws and thoughts when he has come to bring you something better and new? [NO!] This is the meaning of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a promise that God ...

2884. Soul Food

Luke 9:10-17, Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, John 6:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... just delivered his tray to the sidebar, I went up and smiled at him, said hello and reached out to hug him. The astonished look on his face stunned me. I realized, he was not used to anyone addressing him, especially not with a smile, and for someone to want to touch him was a shock. It had been so long since he had been able to receive a smile, a touch, a respectful conversation that it almost brought him to tears. The power of relationship. The power of touch. Visit a nursing home, and you see the same ...

2885. The Light That Dwells Among Us

Matthew 16:13-20, Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... baptize by fire. This corresponds also to the story in Elijah of the “baptizing” of the altar with water, only to be consumed by a baptism of fire by God’s own hand. (See 1 Kings 18) Both Elijah and John came from the “wilderness.” And both wanted to “open the eyes” of those to the power and mystery of God. Likewise, Jesus and Moses have similarities as well. The messiah was said to fulfill and realize the charge of Moses and the Jewish nation. Moses in fact was known by the Jews as a “king ...

2886. Grounds for Blessing

Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:1-15, Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... where we can go. The good news is for all of us. It doesn’t matter what stage we are at, how deeply our roots have been planted, or how tall we so far have grown. We are all in the same garden, helping each other to become everything God wants us to be, beautiful, bright everlasting luminaries of Jesus’ love and glory. May our fields be abundant with the glory of God. May our lives be filled with the flowers of His love. May our fruit bear seed to every generation. May God’s Kingdom come on earth as ...

2887. No Fair!

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... their “just desserts” –except us! When we come to the heavenly gates, we aren’t going to ask God for God’s justice! We aren’t going to say, “I’m ready, Lord. Give me what’s fair!” We’re asking for God’s mercy! All of us want God’s mercy…even though we don’t deserve it. “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.” God is not fair. God is merciful. Not one of us “deserves” the gifts that God bestows upon us. Not one of us deserves anything from God. And yet ...

2888. What If It's True?

John 20:1-18 · Matthew 28:10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... life as well as the testimonies after his death, Swinburne calculated the probability of the resurrection at a whopping 97 percent. He later published his “proof” of the resurrection in the Oxford University Press book The Resurrection of God Incarnate (2003). Now, who doesn’t want the big-gun philosophers weighing in on the Christian side, since so many are on the other side. But this is not the “proof” I’m talking about. The Bible is not a book where the truth is in the science, but truth is ...

2889. Vetted

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... life and His mission on earth. He IS the Son of God. In that wilderness experience, Jesus has been vetted. Our friend Luke wants to be sure that we know this. He in fact follows Jesus’ baptism, in which God identifies Jesus as His Son, with an ... said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” The ...

2890. Sparkle

Luke 4:31-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... [..."'] Image Exegesis: Sparkle “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another daily, lest one be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 13-14) So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within ...

2891. Reveille

Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” Image Exegesis: Reveille The scriptures of Jesus sending out his disciples, first 12, and then 72 in Luke (and perhaps many more later) suggest an urgency and use ...

2892. Ten Pounds of Mercy, One Pound of Faith

Luke 19:11-27, Matthew 25:1-13, Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and reaching out to you in your life? If we truly believed this to be true….wouldn’t we be filled with joy? Wouldn’t we be fired up? Wouldn’t we be ambitious to invest in Jesus’ mission in our communities and in our neighbors? Don’t we want everyone to know that He’s ALIVE!!!! And POWERFUL!! And can HEAL! And SAVE! The greatest challenge to faith is not doubt. It’s not even atheism. It’s agnosticism. It’s saying, “I don’t know anymore if Jesus is real.” “I don’t know any more ...

2893. Turmoil Brewing, Herod Stewing, Prophecy, and Porridge

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... cool, still waters that lie within our reach once we grasp onto that little bit of faith, that little bit of God. We can stew all we want. We can come up with our own recipes for our lives. We can concoct our own plans for the future. But God will always prepare our ... right in the Jewish community. The Romans could punish terribly, especially when uprisings happened. And often they did. The people wanted freedom, and hoped for peace. They hoped for a king who would displace Herod and his sons. Later Herod’ ...

2894. The Apothecary

Isaiah 40:1-31, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a call to “healing” in whatever ways that healing manifested itself in the service of those in need. In Medieval and Renaissance times, Jesus too was frequently depicted in art as not just a healer, but specifically as an apothecary. [You may want to show paintings of Jesus as apothecary from this time on screen.] For Catholics, Jesus was the source for the “prescriptive life,” doling out medicaments, such as humility and charity for ailments, such as gluttony, pride, avarice, and other sins. For ...

2895. The Raising of Paul

Acts 14:8-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... or even another—is in need of care…..we in the church gather round. Wherever you gather…wherever two or more are gathered…Jesus is there. (Matt 18:20) John Wesley knew this. That’s why he told his preachers to go out into the places no one else wanted to go, gather around the lonely, the lost, the hurting. Jesus is already there. He is in the midst of the wounds of the world, ready for you to do miracles in His Name. When the people pray, the Church becomes the most powerful force on earth –a ...

2896. Rain of Grace

Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... fit the bill of the “10 hard and fast rules of discipleship,” or sacrifice a bull on some altar somewhere. God doesn’t care what shape the church carpet is in. Gasp! Or if we’ve forgotten to wash our hands before dinner. All God wants is for us to “acknowledge” Him, says the prophet Hosea. Whoa! And . . . Wow! What does that mean, “acknowledge” God? Does it mean, just say to yourself, “Hey, I think God exists!” “Okay, I acknowledge, there is a God!” or maybe “I give a ‘nod’ to ...

2897. Who is That Crouching at Your Door?

Genesis 4:1-26

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... serving the Lord? We deserve some recognition for doing all of that. Right? Most of the time, when we do something good, we do want something back. Whether we recognize it or not, it’s rare that we truly give something to others for free. No? There’s a ... Kayin and Hevel have much to tell. Kayin means acquisition/possession. And his character in the story reflects this name. He wants to “acquire” (kanah) God’s grace and love and favorable “gaze.” As a tiller of the soil, he is also attached ...

2898. You Are Gifted

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... up, competitive world, so that our children can be bigger, better, more successful, have more prestige, attain more status than we were able to attain. And in the meantime, we’re still on our own attainment train of “more-I want it,” “more-I want it,” “more-I want it,” “more-I want it.” This has gotten so bad in our culture that by the age of 5, parents may already have enrolled their small children in at least 3 or 4 different classes or activities from nursery school to toddler’s gym ...

2899. Shepherd Dreams

Jeremiah 23:1-8, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 80:1-19, Psalm 23:1-6, John 10:22-42, John 10:1-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... invite your girlfriend over for dinner all the while surreptitiously watching her interactions with you to make sure she’s the kind of girl who won’t break your heart! And she’s full of all kinds of helpful relationship advice, isn’t she? Some wanted. Some…maybe not. That inborn instinct of a parent to look out for their children may be the closest thing to “shepherding” that we can imagine, at least the kind of shepherd God was imagining for the people of God. When you read the descriptions ...

2900. Raison d’Etre

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... at the airport. Today, over 7,200 Americans from the age of 21 to 60 are serving in the Peace Corps in 65 countries around the world. Another 80,000 serve every year in Americorps (formerly VISTA) helping people simply because they want to. They want to make the world a better place. They want to shape the evolution of the universe toward light and life.[3] I have never been one who believes that every moment of every day has been determined by God. It just doesn’t seem very loving or just to think that ...

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