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 3201 to 3225 of 4959 results

3201. The Treasure Principles

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... claim ownership of anything. It finally belongs to God. In effect, God says to us, “I’m going to loan you enough brains, enough health, enough energy, and enough material wealth to not only meet your needs but also satisfy some of your wants. It is my desire that you prosper. But you must never forget that you’re using my assets. Your first responsibility is to promote my Kingdom.” Here is the second treasure principle: WE CAN SERVE GOD OR GREED, BUT NOT BOTH. But that’s not the world’s attitude ...

3202. Why Is Life So Unfair?

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... good mouthpiece in Job’s wife. She urged her husband to “curse God and die.” (Job 2:9) She was at least a quart low on encouragement. Job’s response was “Though God allows the world to slay me, yet will I trust him.” (Job 13:15) Satan’s desire is to destroy us, in this world and the next. So, he first tries to separate us from God, our primary source of strength. A former great preacher in Atlanta, Pierce Harris, lost his wife Mary in a tragic auto accident. A few weeks later a man wrote to Dr ...

3203. I Believe In God The Father Almighty

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... of power and grace. What is God really like? Jesus gave us the best answer when he told the greatest short-story in history. We call it the parable of the Prodigal Son and it is found in Luke 15. You remember the story. A rebellious teenager leaves home, desiring to live as if his father were dead. The father’s heart is broken. The boy takes his money and heads for the fast lane and the bright lights. He wastes all his resources in sin. But then he comes to his senses and decides to return home, repenting ...

3204. Bountiful Faith: Two All Beef Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles...Etc

2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... …because you simply can't out-give God. This bounteous God is a God who delights in giving. This generous God is a God whose giving knows no bounds. This gracious God is a God whose greatest joy is the joy of abundant living, and this God desires that same joy for each of us. This bounteous, generous, gracious God is nothing less than a Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun kind of God. A super-sized God who delights in super-sizing every gift simply ...

3205. Strong in Faith: A Little Dab'll Do Ya

1 Corinthians 16:13

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... Jim writes: "The only clearly-defined center for the Christian life is the love, life, death and resurrection of Jesus." In describing his church, Hyde Park United Methodist Church, he says they determined that: The identifying core of our life together would be the desire to become people in and through whose lives the Christ-centered, cross-shaped love of God would become a tangible, down-to-earth, flesh-and-blood reality. We would keep Jesus at the center and use all our powers to live in solidarity with ...

3206. Moses: On the Manna Diet

Exodus 16:1-5

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... Committee" whose mantra is "Why'd you bring us out here…everything was so much better back in Egypt." I guess just about every time the people of God begin to journey into an unknown future, they have to deal with the "Back to Egypt Committee," a desire for the good old days. Well, God heard their grumblings and, lo and behold, God provided—quail for protein and a generous serving of "What-is-it?" The word manna actually means, "What is it?" Every morning they would find this white, flaky stuff on the ...

3207. The Lord's Song in a Foreign Land

Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... the hopeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. That's the song which needs to be sung, the song which the world needs to hear. Out of the incomprehensible conflict and deadly cost of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln desired to bring the nation together. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House, and two nights later, a crowd of people gathered at the White House to serenade President Lincoln. They asked the President if ...

3208. God Knows....Me!

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... about knowing that underneath are the everlasting arms and that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. But it is also troubling…to know that God knows me so well. It's troubling to know that all my thoughts, my deepest desires and my strongest lusts, my overpowering motives and hidden ambitions, my selfish pride and hurt feelings are all open and known to God. Because, you see, on the outside I look great! I have a perfect job, perfect house, perfect wife with two perfect dogs, 2 ...

3209. A Circle for Dorothy

Ephesians 2:11-22, Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... are found. Once you were nobody, but now you are a somebody. Once you were alone, alien, stranger, but now you are one with the saints, part of the commonwealth, included in the circle of grace…"no longer strangers." I love that phrase. I hope the desire of this congregation is that all persons who enter here will sense that they are "no longer strangers," but they are welcomed, accepted, received, claimed and named as members of the fellowship, part of the family, one in Christ. I am a firm believer in ...

3210. Where Earth and Heaven Meet

John 1:14

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... the first reports of the NASA Stardust mission. Stardust has been collecting dust from comets, some of which are 4 ½ billion years old and still traveling through space. [2] I suppose it has always been a part of the human imagination, deep in the human soul, the desire to try to connect with the stars, to reach for the sun, to build a ladder to the heavens, looking for the point where earth and heaven meet. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the launching of the Voyager 2 spacecraft on August 20 ...

3211. Zechariah II: Thy Prayer is Heard

Luke 1:5-25

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... will hear a voice that they will know from all other voices which will speak their names and bless them." [1] So Zechariah comes to this high and holy moment, with all the mix of emotions, not the least of which is the tragedy of his life, the desire for a son. And lo and behold, right there in the midst of them all, right there to the right of the altar of incense, right in the midst of the ministrations and ritual, an angel of the Lord appears. The encounter took him completely by surprise. (Interesting ...

3212. Unlikely Election

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... have ended like this? Can you hear the veiled resentment in Luke's graphic description of Judas's death and the curse upon the land he purchased with the blood money? Can you imagine the mix of emotions, of grief and disillusionment, anger and the desire for revenge, remorse that one so promising could have fallen so completely? Combine with that the lingering doubts about their own failure to stand faithful in the moments of Christ's suffering and death. All those emotions. All that baggage. Maybe all that ...

3213. The Revelation Code V: Cruisin' Toward the Dream

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... end….until the morning breaks and the shadows flee and the Lord comes. So the book ends with this gracious, simple invitation: "Come." The Spirit and the bride say "Come." Let everyone who hears say, "Come." Let all who are thirsty, "Come." Come, all who desire and take the water of life without price. Just come…or better yet, as my Tennessean friends would say, "Y'all come." "All of you…everyone…come to the wedding feast." Come, Chevy drivers and Ford owners and maybe even Dr. Z. Come, "Chicks with ...

3214. What Ever Happened to Norman Rockwell?

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... context of the two preceding paragraphs where he tells us what it takes to build healthy families, homes, human relationships, community. He tells us what to take up and what to leave behind. Put to death infidelity, promiscuity, evil desires, selfishness. Put away anger, gossip, foul talk, lying. Instead put on compassion, kindness, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and above all, put on love which binds everything together. And then he builds to this beautiful benediction, a word of blessing and promise ...

3215. When Seeing is Not Believing

John 20:19-31

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... is not true even because the women and the angels say it was so. Resurrection faith is true because something in this witness to God's way of working connects with your own experience in a way that says, "Yes, of course."[1] Jesus affirms Thomas's desire to see in order to believe, but Jesus also affirms belief which goes before and beyond sight. "Blessed are those who haven't seen and still believe." As you all know, C.S. Lewis was an incredible author of fantasy and science fiction, the Narnia series and ...

3216. In the Upper Room

John 17

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... a "come-on-in" group which sought to welcome…not to conquer or badger or vanquish others, but to save them, redeem them, bless them, love them, befriend them and embrace them. [2] And when the church is wasting its time and energy, fighting with itself, we deny the desire and prayer of our dying Lord "that they would all be one…" 2. So that the world might believe. Jesus says he has sent his disciples into the world in the same way God the Father has sent him. Now he prays for us to be one, "so that ...

3217. On the Mountainside

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... disciples as a sample prayer, a model prayer. In fact, in Luke's gospel, the prayer is offered in response to the specific request, "Lord, teach us to pray." Across the centuries and around the world, this pattern prayer has touched the hearts and expressed the desires of the faithful in every place: OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME. This simple prayer calls us to look beyond ourselves, beyond the petty boundaries of our puny lives, and to get in touch with the wonder and grandeur of the ...

3218. Are You Ready for the Journey?

Mark 8:27-9:1

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... salt over your shoulder or clutching a rabbit's foot. But more deeply, what would it mean to mark our lives with the sign of the cross? To allow our thoughts to be formed after the mind of Christ To plant the cross in our guts, our passions, our deep desires and motivations To place the cross in our hearts so that every emotion, every love, and all our relationships would be shaped by the love of Christ To bear the cross on our right hand so that all we do with our hands, our work and our actions might ...

3219. It's So Daily

Matthew 16:21-28, Luke 9:18-27

Illustration

... we can use that challenge as an opportunity to grow in our relationship with God. Jesus Himself said that those who wanted to be His disciples were expected to be in a continual attitude of self-denial and obedience to Him. Here's how the Lord put it: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Lk. 9:23). As each day unfolds, we must pause and remind ourselves that this is a day dedicated to God, that it is to be used for His glory, and that it ...

3220. In Celebration of American Thanksgiving

Philippians 4:2-9, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Illustration

... going forward all over the world, wherever allied troops are fighting in bivouacs and dugouts, on battlefields, on the high seas, and the highest air. Always this annual festival has been dear to the hearts of the American people. Always there has been that desire for thanksgiving, and never, I think, has there been more justification, more compulsive need than now. It is your Day of Thanksgiving, and when we feel the truth of the facts which are before us, that in three or four years the peaceful, peace ...

3221. Romans 13:8-14

Romans 13:8-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... envelops the entire being. Confessing Christ is not a trip of the tongue. It is an all-body walk through life in which Christ’s character and spirit infuses one’s entire being. This cellular transformation “makes no provision for the flesh,” that is, the previous existence of all those desires found in the “darkness.” The new person in Christ is enrobed in the “armor of light” which is nothing less than Christ himself.

3222. Thanksgiving and Thanksliving

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... for those ministries considered "extension." The implication of that is a subtle way of blighting a much more thorough and complete "outreach!" Ponder that for a moment. You may discover our church has taken the easy way out! 3. A truly grateful person spontaneously desires to share. Ideally, in the hearts and minds of Christians is an unending flow of "great thanksgivings." This is seen so distinctly in the writings of the Apostle Paul. It seems as though he can't stop giving thanks, especially for what he ...

3223. Being Single-minded

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... ! The Christian witness calls attention to itself in ways intended to be powerfully positive. We are being graded. That doesn't mean the teachers always know what they are talking about. It does mean they are either trying to tear down what they experience or desire what we have. We must not fail or if we do, quickly repent with forgiveness and continue our spiritual journey. So much is intended for all of us! The table is filled to overflowing with goodies. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Friends ...

3224. Looking Out for Others

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... hearts, so we can once again feel and understand we are to look out for others. This is not optional! Our trespasses are forgiven as we forgive others their trespasses. Regardless of your leadership role in the life of the church, covenant with the Father to be the person Christ desires you to be, with whomever you find yourself.

3225. Gift of Positive Thinking

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... throughout our land. It is among the most popular and utilized thoughts and themes we have ever known. Cutting across all strata of social and economic patterns it is generally a principle espoused. While the influence generated is obvious, secular and less than desirable ways of life have utilized it. It is frequently taken from a Christian basis and becomes a means to achieve ends that at a minimum are questionable. Of course, there are those who would find this line of thought simply narrow. Saint Paul ...

Showing results