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 2976 to 3000 of 5000 results

2976. Excuse Me!

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Carl Jech

... bomb" in the world is a person who hates himself or herself! Such persons do not feel good about life, do not respect life - their own or anyone else's. One of the most common ingredients in low self-esteem is the feeling that one is not loved, not accepted and loved unconditionally simply because of one's own intrinsic value as a human being. A person who feels this way often fails to learn how to relate to another person in a relationship for the sake of the value of that relationship alone. Even the most ...

2977. Faking It or Making It?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... I do not pick up the cross in our time--make those hard choices and assume those difficult responsibilities that are required to ensure that the church of Jesus Christ accomplishes its mission—our children’s children will not know the old, old story of Jesus and his love. It is sad but true—many of us don’t want to do anything that requires us to sacrifice some of our time and resources. We sing “Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No there’s a cross for everyone and there ...

2978. Choosing to Be Grateful

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

... away. As you may know, I read a lot of books but rarely does a book move me the way this one did. It’s called, Love and Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow, and it was written by a Unitarian minister by the name of Forrest Church, who was ... driver in a car which almost ran over my children and me to awaken me once again to the wonder of life and the blessings of love.”5 As I sat in the cabin of our boat and pondered the brave and beautiful, life-in-the-face-of-death words such as these, ...

2979. The Sign of Noah

Mark 1:4-11 · Song of Songs 6:9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... across our path. And yet, we honor the “dove” as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, a sign of peace, restoration, and love. These birds, all species of the Columbidae[1] family, are one and the same. While we have tended to call those flocking ... the sacrificial gift of your Creator God, who in the power of the Holy Spirit has also blessed you in covenant for eternal the loving redemption. In Jesus, God has sacrificed God’s own self, so that you can live. May your heart give thanks, and may you be ever ...

2980. Proclaiming Death

1 Corinthians 11:26

Sermon

Will Willimon

... , but it is not inconsequential. My actions, even the best of them, arise from mixed motives. Self-interest infects all I do. Even my love is often an extension of my inflated ego. Dare I gaze in the mirror of truth for more than a moment? I even stand ... thousand years, I shall not see God until I see myself in that mirror." Our sin, my sin, is not cheap. Somebody pays. The people who love me, trust me pay every day. If I stopped to add it all up -- the pain I have caused, the ones I have offended, let down, ...

2981. Because We Are Chosen

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... world.” The words “in Christ” appears ten times in the book of Ephesians. Paul wants us to realize that Jesus did the work for us. We don’t have to earn it. We don’t have to be “good enough” to deserve it. Out of his love for us, Jesus sacrificed his own life to guarantee us all the spiritual blessings that flow from his relationship with God. So when we read that “in Christ” we become children of God, it means that our identity and inheritance are sealed by the sacrificial, unconditional ...

2982. Our Need and God's Provision

John 6:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... good things of life. Do you understand how wonderful that truth is? God didn’t have to create each of us. God didn’t have to reveal Himself to us in Jesus Christ. But that is God’s character. His very nature is to give. He is love. Love is always giving. Indeed, God gives extravagantly. If we are not receiving from Him, the problem may be on our end, for He is a giving God. Famous dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse was known for being abundantly generous. When he went out with friends or colleagues ...

2983. What Do You Expect?

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... them or to prove his superiority over them. His motive was to bring them closer to God. Jesus uses truth-telling to make us aware of the gap between what we say we believe and what we actually believe. We say, for example, that God is love—pure love, everlasting love, agape love—Who always has our best good at heart. But, in truth, most of us don’t really trust God with our future, our family, or our finances, do we? We lie in our beds at night worrying about what the next day will bring forgetting ...

2984. Out of the Saltshaker

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... our world out of the saltshaker? Really, there is only one way and that is for followers of Jesus to live as Christ lived, showing his love for all the world to see. “You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus said. “But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be ... only one way for that to happen as well. That is by each of us drawing closer to him so that his love will radiate through us. “You are the salt of the world,” said Jesus . . . 1. http://www.christianitytoday.com/lyris/subscribe/leadership ...

2985. Big Boys Do Cry

Joel 2:1-2,12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... back, I’ll just thank God that I survived. (3) I believe a few tears would be appropriate over such a society, don’t you? It’s all right to cry over our nation. Lord knows someone should be weeping. And, it’s all right to cry over someone you love. In John 11:35 we read, “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her ...

2986. A New Beginning

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... human point of view (v.16a). Don’t look at things from a human point of view, because we are in a new time. God clearly does not do things our way and does not work in accord with our expectations. The way in which our Lord loves and forgives makes that apparent. The great reformed theologian of the last century, Karl Barth, profoundly explains the nature of God’s forgiveness in this text. He wrote: The act of divine forgiveness is that God sees and knows this stain [of human sin] infinitely better than ...

2987. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... not in the text, but there’s a piece of me that envisions Jesus rolling his eyes in frustration as he says, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip and you still do not know me?” I confess here that there is a part of me that loves the disciples for their cluelessness. It makes me feel a little better about my own inability comprehend things. I do believe, though, that whether it’s Philip, the other disciples, or you, or me, Jesus still rolls his eyes when we say things like this. Do for this or ...

2988. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

2989. Bible Wagon

Ephesians 5:8-14

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... society that surrounded the church in Ephesus, as it surrounds us here in this time and in this place. It is this unfruitful work of darkness that we are to ex- pose with the light of Christ. The light is truth, self-control, generosity, edification of others, love, purity, wisdom, and joy. As we are a part of a church family, the Body of Christ, we know the blessings of being surrounded by children of the light. Those of us sitting in the pews of this sanctuary are good people, maybe not perfect, but good ...

2990. The Sawdust Trail

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... he was the pastor. When Dr. Wogaman taught ethics at Wesley he would begin the first class of each new semester by asking the same question: “What is the central theme of the Bible?” And each semester he got his traditional expected answers, with salvation and love always ranking the highest. Dr. Wogaman would then startle the class when he informed the students that the central theme of the Bible is hope. In the Bible every story of obedience, every story of faith, is a story of hope. It is the belief ...

2991. Converts Or Disciples?

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

... lived in deep poverty for most of his life. Yet he went out to preach, because he was a Christian. And being a Presbyterian, he went out to begin a school. It was a school for poor Native Americans, to teach them to read, write, and to love God. A friend took him to England for an eighteen-month preaching tour, and the Reverend Samson Occom raised a lot of money for the sake of education. He was a convincing preacher. Even King George III made a personal donation. When he returned to the American colonies ...

2992. Herding Cats

Matthew 9:35-10:8-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and make their lives better and more peaceful and more beautiful! Help them in their daily lives and build relationships of trust and true caring. The Good Shepherd does not pretend to love the sheep. The Good Shepherd truly DOES love the sheep! And everything more derives from that loving relationship, that loving intent. Finally, heal them. Change their lives in real and tangible ways. When Jesus traveled during his life and ministry throughout all regions of the Jewish and Gentile world at that time ...

2993. God's Will for Your Life

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” The mother of the brilliant German poet, playwright and author Goethe once wrote these simple but meaningful lines: “I rejoice in my life because the lamp still glows; I seek no thorny ways; I love the small pleasures of life, If the doors are too low, I bend. If I can remove a stone from the path, I do so; If it is too heavy, I go around it. I find something in every day that pleases me. The cornerstone, my belief in God ...

2994. Trouble in the Vineyard

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... his or her sacred worth in the eyes of God, excited about doing God’s mission, and able to celebrate the good gifts of all whom God welcomes into the fold. We are able to see all people through the eyes of God––as good, worthy, beautiful, and loved. Now that is a happy vineyard, and one that will bear excellent fruit in the years to come. Each and every church is a micro-vineyard in God’s kingdom. So, ask yourselves today, are you growing something beautiful for the benefit of God’s kingdom? Or is ...

2995. Fearless

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... –that we somehow will be hurt, lose our sense of security or freedom, or somehow fail. This “fear of failure” can undermine our relationships, our business ventures, our wellness, our parenting, and our churches. What you do not invest in can never grow, never love, never flourish, and never help anyone but you. That’s the opposite of what a Christian is called to be and do. To be a Christian is a calling to be fearless –to take risks that feel sometimes frightening, to choose relationships and ...

2996. I Am Somebody!

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... lightened by daily imaginary conversations with his wife and by scrawling notes for his book on all the bits and scraps of paper he could find. Now Frankl has written eloquently of these two insights to cope with life: first, the discovery and certainty of being loved, and, second, having a clear and controlling purpose in life.[4] Both are the messages we receive in Christian baptism. One of my cyber-friends wrote,[5] “I think of the story that appeared a few years ago in the midst of the upheaval in the ...

2997. The Glory of God

Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

... God has rejected you conceited Gentiles. All shall be saved. All? What kind of way is this to run a world? What good is it to have crawled out of bed this hot August morning all dressed up and come down here to the chapel if God is going to love even our roommates who slept in? Is this any way to run a world? Forget the mysteries, we want answers! Across the narrow lines of our petty religion, our puny notions of what can and can't be, our standards of good and right thunders this great, glorious God saying ...

2998. Comfort My People

Isaiah 40:1-8

Eulogy

George Reed

... best of us and we quit our job when we have no prospects for another one. We disregard all the advice of health professionals and continue practices that put our health and even our lives at risk. We choose to look out only for ourselves and soon those we loved have been pushed out of our lives. Sometimes we are just at the end of a chain of consequences that we had nothing to do about. Like the people who were born in exile, we find ourselves living in a toxic world that destroys our health because of the ...

2999. But, Why?

Titus 3:4-7

Sermon

Scott Bryte & Kimberly Miller van Driel

... God choose to take flesh and live among us? This world is messy, and we are very far from perfect. Yes, we love, laugh, and write songs. We imagine, build, and occasionally do heroic, selfless things. But we also lie to each other and cheat ... understand and unite with us. God came to us because God couldn’t stay away. God came to his broken and imperfect world because he made it, loved it, and called it “very good.” God was born among us to be among us. Jesus died to save us so that we would be saved. ...

3000. Creation Reborn

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... and all would understand: “I was not. I was. I am not. I don’t care.” Tragic ― cynical ― hopeless. I have officiated at hundreds of funerals over the past 35 years, and never met a family which would have dared place that testimony over the grave of a loved one. We cry. We weep. We wail. One young man even jumped on top of the casket as it was being lowered into the cold earth, pounding in horrible grief on the unforgiving final home of his brother’s body. Even when death is “good,” and an ...

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