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 2926 to 2950 of 3108 results

2926. Coincidence or Providence?

Acts 16:11-15

Sermon

King Duncan

Way back in 1669 a most unusual occurrence took place. The entire village of Runswick, England, slipped into the sea. Yes, such tragedies occur from time to time. The entire town was swallowed up in the raging tides. Here’s what is interesting, though not a single inhabitant of Runswick drowned! Why? All the residents of the town were attending a funeral in a neighboring village at the time of the catastrophe. (1) Amazing! Now, if you had been a resident of that village where not a single life was lost in ...

2927. The Dirt on Jesus

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of us have a garage that can no longer be parked anymore because it is filled up with so much other “stuff?” How many of us have an off-site storage unit because we have too much “stuff” to keep in our homes, so we arrange for visitation rights to see our “stuff?” The late comedian George Carlin famously did an entire monologue on this “stuff” — proclaiming that the “meaning of life is trying to find a place to put your stuff” and that “A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out ...

2928. Waiting for Christmas

James 5:7-12

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

Excitement is building on this the third Sunday of Advent knowing that Christmas will soon be here. Children have made their Christmas wish lists of all the wonderful things they desire. Some might have had long lists while others might have subtracted an item or two, still others might have added a few more gifts during the past weeks. We have heard people ask, “What do you want for Christmas?” Most of us, young and old alike, have no problem sharing our wish list with anyone who asks. On our mad rush to ...

2929. A One Sentence Legacy

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

King Duncan

I heard recently about a guy named Bob. Bob was single and lived with his father. Bob worked in the family business, a very successful family business. When it became apparent that his father would not live much longer, and that he would soon inherit quite a fortune, Bob decided to find a wife with whom to share his soon-to-be abundant wealth. One evening, at an investment meeting, Bob spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. “I may look like just an ...

2930. The Lamb

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Argile Smith

Have you ever heard of a man named Polycarp? Don’t feel badly if you haven’t. Polycarp’s not exactly a household name, at least in most houses. Yes, it’s an odd name, to our ears anyway. The name conjures up for most people today a product that’s manufactured from something made of plastic that tastes like freshwater fish. In the history of the church, the name lived through one century after another, and the person who bore it gave good reason for people to keep on mentioning the name. Because of the ...

2931. The Door of the Cross

John 10:1-21

Sermon

David O. Bales

Last summer my wife and I enjoyed visiting our friends Dick and Mary in Montana. They have about 45 quarter horses and they were thrilled to show us the herd and take us along one evening to feed them. That evening we also helped get a three-month-old filly into the barn in order to medicate a cut on her face. The filly was a little skittish, but we got her into the barn and into a large stall and then Dick tried to get a halter on her head to hold her still in order to clean and medicate the cut. She, ...

2932. Hope from a Stump

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

In a radio interview, Nazi concentration camp survivor Gerta Weissman recalled an episode one spring when she and her fellow concentration camp inmates stood for roll call for hours on end, nearly collapsing with hunger and fatigue. She said, “We noticed in the corner of this bleak, horrid, gray place that the concrete had broken in a corner and a flower had poked its head through it. And you would see thousands of feet shuffle every morning to avoid stepping on that flower . . .” No wonder they were ...

2933. A Faith that Leaves a Legacy

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

What would you like to have as your epitaph some day? Have you ever given that any thought? What will people say about you after you’re gone? It’s always interesting to me to read some of the humorous inscriptions that have appeared on tombstones in days gone past. For example, here is one that should have been edited: Here lies Col. Brown . . . Shot in battle by an enemy soldier. “Well Done Thou Good and Faithful Servant.” A tombstone in Girard, Pennsylvania carries an epitaph that probably would be the ...

2934. In the Shadow of His Brother

John 1:35-42

Sermon

King Duncan

A priest at a parochial school, wanted to point out the proper behavior for church. He was trying to elicit from the youngsters, rules that their parents might give before taking them to a nice restaurant. “Don’t play with your food,” one second grader cited. “Don’t be loud,” said another, and so on . . . “And what rule do your parents give you before you go out to eat?” the priest inquired of one little boy. Without batting an eye, the child replied, “Order something cheap.” (1) Some of you with children ...

2935. What If You Truly Were Born Again?

John 3:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

“It’ll be dark soon,” a character says in the 1968 western Firecreek, starring Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda. Then he adds, “Things happen at night.” (1) Well, they do happen at night. Take our lesson from John for example. “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night . . .” So begins one of the best known stories in Scripture . . . and also one of the most important. Nicodemus probably came under the cover of night because he was ...

2936. Can These Bones Live Again?

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

I’ve asked [our children or a member of the choir a cappella] to give the opening to today’s sermon: Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Now hear the word of the Lord. Toe bone connected to the foot bone Foot bone connected to the leg bone Leg bone connected to the knee bone Knee bone connected to the thigh bone Thigh bone connected to the back bone The back bone connected to the neck bone The neck bone connected to the head bone Oh ...

2937. Where the Church Gets Its Power

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s an exciting thing to be part of the church of Jesus Christ. We’ve got a good thing here, and we need to let the rest of the world know just how exciting it is. There’s an old story about a young high school football star who was being recruited by a coach from a major college. The coach had never seen the young man play, so he asked him some direct questions. “Son,” he said, “I understand that you do the passing for your team. Are you a pretty good passer?” “Am I a good passer?” the boy answered. “Why ...

2938. Follow the Directions

Psalm 119:9, 18, 89

Sermon

James Merritt

There is one thing in common with every single person on this planet who has ever been born and who ever will be. It has never been more illustrated than it has in the 21st century. We have an unquenchable thirst and an insatiable appetite for information and communication. We want to know who is doing what and we want to know what people are doing. We’ve never been more saturated with information and more soaked with communication than we are today. From cell phones, to television, to email, to radios, to ...

2939. Ignite: Fire Extinguishers

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

Five words and regardless of where you are on the political spectrum you would agree they became one of the most famous political slogans of any political candidate in the last 50 years, “Change We Can Believe In.” Regardless of what you think about the slogan or even the man, one thing we all can agree on is that change is difficult. The older you get the harder change is. There are a lot of people I know who are more comfortable with putting up with old problems than they are finding new solutions. They ...

2940. One Thing

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

James Merritt

I believe that every year that God gives us on this earth is to be a year where we are as productive as we can be for His work and as pleasing as we can be for His glory. The longer you live the more you realize just how fleeting these years are and just how important it is to maximize the potential of each year for being what we ought to be and doing what we ought to do. Every year at least half of us in this will do something that in the beginning will be very exhilarating, but in the end very ...

2941. All In: Skin In the Game

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

James Merritt

One of the richest men in the United States is Warren Buffet, who is probably the most famous investor in modern times. He said that in his experience the high-ranking insiders and corporate leaders who do the best job in running their company are those people who invest heavily in their own stock. He said the higher up you go on the corporate ladder the more you ought to have “Skin In The Game.” If you are a college football fan, whatever your team might be, you probably at one time or another have or ...

2942. An Invitation to a Wedding

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

An older couple was being married. Both had lost their spouses to death and had grown children. The combined children sent out this wedding invitation in their behalf: “Phil, Richard, Karen and Allison, and John, Matt and Steve request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their Mother and Father. Because they are combining two households, they already have at least two of everything. So please, no presents! Reception and garage sale immediately following the ceremony.” (1) There is no more hopeful ...

2943. An Announcement about Our Future

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

The Reverend Richard L. Pearson at one time served the Crescent Park United Methodist Church in Sioux City, Iowa. For several years that church had a living nativity scene. On one particular night it was Pastor Dick’s job, along with a man who had a pick‑up truck, to get a pregnant ewe, which was bedded down in the parsonage garage, to the church. They went to get her about a half hour before performance time. Due to her delicate condition they carefully lifted her into the bed of the truck, and Dick rode ...

2944. We Are Not The Light

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

By now, most congregations are in the home stretch of their pre-Christmas preparations. There is much at stake for the life of any church. Try and imagine what a bad or indifferent Christmas would do to the morale of your church. We want if not a “Currier and Ives” Christmas for our families at least enough joy and good cheer to override any past enmity. Hopefully tinsel, garlands, and ornaments will chase away any seasonal affective disorder we may be suffering. Most of us are determined that the ...

2945. Jesus Is Baptized

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

The Rev. Timothy T. Boggess tells what he says is a true story. A mother was at home with her two young daughters one lazy afternoon. Everything seemed to be just fine until the mother realized something strange. The house was quiet. And as every parent knows, a quiet house in the daytime can only mean one thing: the kids are up to no good. Quietly walking into each of the girls’ rooms and not finding them there, she began to get worried. Then she heard it: the sound of whispering followed by the flushing ...

2946. Get Out the Ticker Tape - Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a time-honored story about a little boy who was sick. It was Palm Sunday and the children waved palm branches to open the service. But this young man stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do we wave palm branches on Palm Sunday, Dad, and why do we call it Palm Sunday?” “You see,” his Dad explained, “when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we got palm branches in the ...

2947. Who Is Right

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

Two homes in one city, but in two totally different areas with two totally different residents. One home was situated in a very comfortable, gated neighborhood with a well-kept yard with flowers around the mailbox and a mat at the front of the door that said, “Welcome” in soft navy letters. Inside that home lives a minister with his family. At the front of the house are bay windows where the pastor kneels to pray every morning hoping that his neighbors will see him, because he wants to be a witness. The ...

2948. A Small Town Is Blessed

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you grew up in a small town, so you can identify with some of those lists that begin with “You know you live in a small town when . . .” For example, “You know you live in a small town when . . .” City limits signs are both on the same post. Your car breaks down outside of town and news of it gets back to town before you do. Without thinking, you wave to all oncoming traffic. You know you live in a small town when the New Year’s baby is born in October. A “Night on the Town” takes only 11 minutes. ...

2949. I'm Not Worth It

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In 1959, 40-year-old Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox was suffering from a pinched nerve in his neck. “It was so bad that I could hardly turn my head to look at the pitcher,” he said. For the first time in his remarkable career, he batted under 300. hitting just. 254 and only ten home runs. Williams was the highest salaried player in sports that year, making $125,000. The next year, the Red Sox offered him the same contract. “I told them I wouldn’t sign it until they gave me the full pay cut allowed, 28 ...

2950. Barking Like A Seal

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Some time ago, the Saturday Evening Post ran a humorous article that traced the tendency for marriage partners to drift from a height of bliss into the humdrum of routine attitudes. Called “The Seven Ages of the Married Cold,” the article likens the state of the marriage to the reaction of a husband to his wife’s colds during seven years of marriage. The first year: “Sugar dumpling, I’m worried about my baby girl. You’ve got a bad sniffle and there’s no telling about these things with all this strep around ...

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