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 3076 to 3100 of 4961 results

3076. Anything Better Than the Golden Rule?

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

William G. Carter

A few years ago, I accepted an invitation to preach in a church in upstate New York. The sermon was based on Matthew’s version of what we have just heard from the Gospel of Luke: “Turn the other cheek. Give to everyone who begs from you. Pray for those who curse you. And love your enemies.” These are nearly impossible words to put into practice, much less hear, and I said as much in my sermon. Jesus is instructing us to take the initiative for making peace, to move beyond revenge and retaliation. We cannot ...

3077. It's O.K. To Be Extravagant

John 12:1-11

Sermon

James W. Moore

A few years ago Mark Trotter told a true story about a man in New York City who was kidnapped. His kidnappers called his wife and asked for $100,000 ransom. She talked them down to $30,000. The story had a happy ending: the man returned home unharmed, the money was recovered, and the kidnappers were caught and sent to jail. But, don’t you wonder what happened when the man got home and found that his wife got him back for a discount? Calvin Trillin wrote about this incident. He imagined out loud what the ...

3078. Be Careful What You Wish For, You Just Might Get It!

1 Samuel 8:1-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Graduation. Big time. Congratulations on a job WELL... DONE - the emphasis for parents is on WELL, but we know the emphasis for you graduates is on DONE. I appreciated what the President said to the graduates Friday at Chelsea's commencement: "I ask you at the beginning to indulge your folks if we seem a little sad or we act a little weird. You see, today we are remembering your first day in school, and all the triumphs and travails between then and now...Though we have raised you for this moment of ...

3079. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

What a week! The confluences of history have flowed together as never before. On the one hand, bombshells in Baghdad; on the other, bombast in Washington. For someone who is as much of a history buff as I am, these would seem to be exciting times, but instead they are just sickening. As one congressman noted in the impeachment debate on Friday, this is "The Nightmare before Christmas." Under normal circumstances, you would have found me glued to the tube on Friday and Saturday. After all, this was history ...

3080. Who Says A Good Man Is Hard To Find?

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

It's not easy being a parent. Someone has said, "You don't really know a person until you have observed his behavior with a child, a flat tire, when the boss is away, and when he thinks no one will ever know." A home without problems of one kind or another is a fantasy. Someone has said that undoubtedly, the first man who ever tore a telephone book in two had a teenage daughter. (1) It's not easy. That's why we set aside one day a year to honor those men who live out in their families the love which they ...

3081. The Baptism of Our Work

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Sermon

King Duncan

A young man came to his teacher with this question, "Who can I get to give me maximum happiness?" The teacher smiled and answered, "Your question reminds me of an old farmer I once knew. Someone asked him how much milk a certain cow gave. He answered, "She doesn't give any. You have to take every drop away from her." One of the hard lessons we learn is that not many worthwhile things in life are given most have to be earned. It appears that work is part of the plan of God for our lives. St. Paul believed ...

3082. It's Hard To Be Number Two

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

One day in high school during lunch hour Bob Laurent was standing around with a group of guys. Suddenly, the only girl in the whole school who could make the corneas of Bob's eyes steam up walked right up to him and said very silkily, almost musically, "Hi, Bob." Bob wasn't ready for this bold greeting. He recalls that the entire left side of his face started twitching. He stuttered out, "Uhh-h-h, Hi ya, Doris." A few moments later the bell rang and Doris moved toward Bob to say goodbye. In doing so she ...

3083. Let Not Thy Will Roar, When Thy Power Can But Whisper

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

As most of you know, I have been away for awhile. I hope you know that. It started out to be a two-month renewal leave. It ended up being six weeks – two of those were work, but four wonderful weeks spent in renewal. I didn’t know how desperately I needed it. I had no agenda, other than to walk the beach, relax, read, reflect, and pray. I began that time of renewal with a three-day fast (Jerry and I together). I wanted to disconnect from an arduous work schedule and to connect with unscheduled days, and ...

3084. Abraham and God's Promise

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Mickey Anders tells a hilarious story about a man who took his film to a one-hour photo developing service in downtown Chicago. He left his film and returned in an hour to discover that the place was no longer a one-hour photo shop. Now it was a one-hour dry cleaners. The confused man hesitantly entered the store, met the same clerk, and asked about his film. The gentleman behind the counter said, “Was that a suit or just shirts?” The man replied, “It was 35-millimeter film.” The clerk asked, “Was it ...

3085. Mary: The Promise Conceived

Luke 1:26-55

Sermon

James Merritt

Promises, Promises. Every time someone breaks a promise, they just blame it on the old saying "Promises were meant to be broken." It is very hard not to believe that and accept that as a way of life. The world's three most famous promises are promises that are never kept. Do you know what they are? The check is in the mail I'll love you in the morning I'm from the government and I'm here to help you Let's face it. Politicians are famous for making promises they don't keep. In the 20th century these are ...

3086. Up Close & Personal: Drawing Near

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

James Merritt

There is no substitute for 20/20 vision whether it is corrected or uncorrected. Everybody wants to be able to see everything. That is true, not just in the physical world, but that is true in the spiritual world. There is nothing like getting “up close and personal” with God and seeing Him in HD and hearing Him in surround-sound. We are in a series we are calling “Up Close & Personal,” because that is the kind of relationship we can have with God. God sent His son to remove every barrier, tear down every ...

3087. Woe to Ephraim

Isaiah 28:1-29

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Oh You Drunken Leaders: Introduction to Chapters 28–33: We return to the kind of material that occupied chapters 1–12—prophecies and stories directly concerning eighth-century B.C. Judah and Jerusalem. The difference is that much of these chapters relates to a subsequent period, the reign of Hezekiah and the period of his seeking help from Egypt in asserting freedom from Assyrian domination in 705–701 B.C. The fundamental issues in Judah’s life remain as they were a few years earlier. Centrally, the ...

3088. In Search of a New Life

Revelation 21:1-5a

Sermon

King Duncan

Do you like stories of buried treasure? Here’s one that you may not have heard. According to a legend from the Wild West, back in the 1870s, notorious outlaw Jesse James and his gang stole millions of dollars worth of gold bullion from a Mexican general. The men proceeded to bury their treasure somewhere in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. Rumor had it that Jesse had scratched a secretly-coded map on an old bucket and left it as a marker. One source says that after Jesse’s death, his brother Frank James ...

3089. The Rock Of Faith

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

Most libraries divide popular novels into categories: westerns, mysteries, romance, spy novels and science fiction. The novels in those categories follow a certain formula. I'm watching to see if a library will someday have a shelf for the threat-to-Christianity novel. The threat-to-Christianity novel is one in which the hero has discovered a document that proves that Christianity is false. Sometimes it's a fifth gospel or a letter from Jesus written in his old age or some incontrovertible evidence that ...

3090. Easter 2

Jn 20:19-31 · 1 Pet 1:3-9 · Acts 2:14a, 22-32 · Ps 16 · Ps 111

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

THIS WEEK'S TEXT Revised Common: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 · 1 Pet 1:3-9 · Jn 20:19-31 Roman Catholic: Acts 2:42-47 · 1 Pet 1:3-9 · Jn 20:19-31 Episcopal: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 or 1 Pet 1:3-9 or Jn 20:19-31 · Gen 8:6-16; 9:8-16 · Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Lutheran: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 · 1 Pet 1:3-9 · Jn 20:19-31 Theme For The Day: The theme of faith and doubt runs through the lessons for today. In the First Lesson, Peter attempts to elicit faith on the part of his hearers in the risen Christ. In the Second Lesson, Peter points ...

3091. Weakness into Strength

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

James McCormick

Occasionally I stumble across wisdom in an unlikely place. Some time ago, when we were living in Arizona, I was driving from one appointment to another. My mind was wandering in a dozen different directions, as usual. The radio was playing, but I was not paying much attention to it – that is, until the commercial came on. It was a catchy little advertisement for a Savings and Loan Association. A man, obviously unschooled in the complexities of finance, was being interviewed. He was asked a lot of questions ...

3092. A Sense of Place

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6-10

Sermon

Stan Purdum

In one of his books, writer Scott Russell Sanders tells that whenever his father would come to new place, he would bend down, scoop up a pinch of dirt, sniff it, stir it around in his palm, squeeze it, and finally rake it across his tongue. When asked why he did this, he explained, "Just trying to figure out where I am."1 I have never used that particular method to locate myself, but being in ministry in a denomination where the bishop periodically sends pastors to new churches and communities, the dirt- ...

3093. Breaking News: God and Government

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

No matter what your politics might be, whether you are Democrat, Republican or Independent, by common consensus one of the wittiest and funniest presidents in human history was Ronald Reagan. I came across some of his famous one-liners the other day and I thought you would get a kick out of them. It is true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take the chance? I’m not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself. I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of a ...

3094. She Gave More than Bill Gates

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

King Duncan

I don’t know about you, but I love it when I see wealthy people giving their money away. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t see their giving as in any way sacrificial. They will still have more money in their possession than any of us will ever dream of. But still, it was quite a sight a few years back to see 168 billionaires (yes, that is billionaire with a b) worldwide line up with Bill Gates, the richest man in the world and Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world, to announce that they will give ...

3095. Let God Be God

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

The concern of the prophet Zephaniah, from whom one of the lessons was read this morning, was with a society of people who had drifted into a condition of moral and religious chaos. On the one hand, they were pretending to worship both Baal and the Lord. On the other hand, they were in reality a rebellious, defiled, and oppressive people who listened to no voice and accepted no correction from any source. What Zephaniah saw as essential for them to do was to get their act together by learning to "call on ...

3096. Picking A Winner, Claiming A Treasure

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald tells about a slightly crooked Texan who was a big racer of horses. He took one of his prize thoroughbreds to London for an international race. The Texan was back in the stable area prior to the race feeding his horse some suspicious-looking little white pills. The Duke of Marlborough who also had a horse in the race, happened to see what the Texan was doing. "My good man," he said, "Don't you know that that is illegal. You cannot give a horse any performance-enhancing drugs. I ...

3097. Using our Special Talents

Romans 12:6-8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Cup, scissors, picture. Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on this beautiful winter morning? Winter must be a very special season for God, because He decorates His earth with snow and beautiful cloud formations in the heavens. It is wonderful how the various seasons do different things and make us feel differently. It makes me think of some good friends around my house that have special jobs. Let me show you what I mean. First of all there is my friend, Charley Cup. [Hold up cup, admiring it ...

3098. Who Needs a Bigger Barn?

Luke 12:13-21

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A large package of chewing gum What would you think of a man who had so much food that he would have to knock down his barn and build a bigger one to keep it all in, when there are people who are hungry and have nothing to eat? (Let them answer.) You wouldn’t think much of him, would you? I see things like this all of the time. How many of you like Gum? What do you like best about chewing gum? (Let them them answer.) You like the taste. You like to chew it. I have a large pack of gum here, and I ...

3099. The Grief Grinch

John 11:17-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

We are approaching an exciting time of the year - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. Times of celebration. Times for friends and family. Times of joy. And for some, times of incredible sadness. The holidays will be hard because someone with whom previous special days were shared is gone. To paraphrase Tennyson's In Memoriam, "Never Christmas wore to New Year's but some heart did break." If you have never experienced that, I would be tempted to offer congratulations, but I will not. They would probably ...

3100. Traveling Light

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Caroly R. Gibson

Sometime back a young family left for West Africa. Lee and Becky Prior and their three small children packed up and moved to the Ivory Coast. A carpenter and a homemaker, Lee and Becky have joined a group called the New Tribes Mission. Their task is to translate the Bible into the language of the multiple African tribes who have yet to know the story of Jesus ” to bring them the Gospel. They had made a decision to be missionaries for Christ. They had heard his call first to come to him and receive his love ...

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