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 301 to 325 of 376 results

301. The Shepherd and His Flock

John 10:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... ” from all but his personal disciples (12:36). Here in chapter 10 the height of Jesus’s self-revelation is completed: his identity with the Father is now explicit (10:30, 33) and centered on his claim to the title Son of God (10:34–36). Similarly, the hostilities are keen: twice attempts are made on his life, but he escapes (10:31, 39). This narrative epitomizes Jesus’s ultimate claims about himself and the fateful Jewish reaction (10:22–39).

302. Thanksgiving and Appeal

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... . Paul is offended enough by two of them to name them, Phygelus (who is otherwise unknown) and Hermogenes (who may be the person identified in the noncanonical, late-second-century Acts of Paul and Thecla as a coppersmith and Paul’s opponent).Paul is keen to present to Timothy the faithfulness of Ephesus’s own Onesiphorus. Paul prays God’s mercy for Onesiphorus, who has recently found the apostle in his Roman jail and ministered to him there. Paul reminds Timothy of the way Onesiphorus has served them ...

303. The Hidden Spiritual House

1 Peter 2:4-12, 1 Peter 2:13-25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... fleshly desires and still remain committed to ordinary human society (2:11–12), so we submit to worldly authority even though it is to pass away under the judgment of God. We know that God’s world is fallen, but we submit to his ordering of it, keen to testify by our lives to what is to come. Simply by doing good we might silence (literally “muzzle”) people inclined to revile us (2:15). Peter emphasizes this by the verbs he uses in verse 17. The proper attitudes are timely respect for all people (i ...

304. Nothing Is Impossible with God!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... the best gift ever? I will always remember the surprise I experienced the Christmas of 1984. That Christmas I received one of the best gifts an American boy could receive. In the months leading up to Christmas I had begged my parents for it, but they didn’t seem too keen on giving it to me. I had resigned my-self to the fact that I was not going to get it. When I came down the stairs on Christmas morning, my doubts seemed to be confirmed. There was no gift that matched the size and shape of the gift I ...

305. Why Are Christians So Judgmental?

Matthew 6:2, 5, 16, Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... with a bunch of hypocrites. I know someone who goes to church on Sunday and then on Monday he treats his employees like dirt…” “I know someone who goes to church with his wife on Sunday and then cheats on her during the week…” Well, Jesus wasn’t too keen on religious hypocrisy either. In fact, he talked a lot about it. The only time Jesus got good and angry was when he was talking about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day. I want us to hear some of the things Jesus said about the ...

306. To Drown Hell and Burn Heaven

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... bargain. What business is it of theirs to tell him how he should run his affairs? It is his money, his vineyard. Can't he do what he wants with what is his? He asks, "Do you begrudge my generosity?" You bet they do. Like most humans, they have a keen sense of what is fair and what is not. Equal pay for equal work is fair. Equal pay for unequal work is not fair. What's most interesting in this story is how the pay is received, and how it is received depends entirely on what each person believes he ...

307. Ingrafted Branches

Romans 11:11-24

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... the synagogue, but is joined to the historic root of Israel extending from Abraham to Christ. This shows that there remains room on the stock for Jews to be grafted again into their former place. The illustration thus excludes any hint of anti-Semitism. How keenly Karl Barth saw this when he wrote during the Nazi years, “The attack on Judah means the attack on the rock of the work and revelation of God, beside which work and which revelation there is no other” (Dogmatics in Outline, p. 76). To deny ...

308. Greetings and Doxology

Revelation 1:4-8

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... as a community of servants, and who bear witness to God’s rule by offering themselves to the Lord in worship. Thus, John has not diluted the communal and covenantal aspects of the Exodus typology found in the prophetic writings. No doubt he is keen to emphasize this more corporate aspect of God’s love to counter early gnostic teaching, which viewed the effects of God’s salvation in individualistic and interior ways. God is referred to here, and throughout Revelation, as the God and Father of Jesus (2 ...

309. To the Church in Ephesus

Revelation 2:1-7

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... Nicolaitans advocated too much accommodation with the surrounding social and religious order. John’s use of the Balaam typology (Num. 25:1–2; cf. Jude 11) in 2:14 (cf. 2:2) would seem to suggest that Nicolaitan practices did not distinguish keenly enough between their Christian faith and pagan religion to prevent the public appearance (at the very least) of capitulation to idolatry and sexual immorality. 2:4–6 The opening adversative, Yet I hold this against you, indicates a shift from commendation to ...

310. The Scroll and the Lamb

Revelation 5:1-14

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... its telos is still in the future. Salvation has not yet fully come, because evil still pervades and distorts human existence. To the extent of our devotion, evil will have no influence, and the effects of God’s transforming grace will be more keenly felt. Yet, as long as evil persists, the universal and systemic yield of God’s grace and experience of promised shalom will be a real impossibility. John stands within the stream of earliest Christian eschatology. The climactic vision of Christ’s parousia ...

311. The Seventh Trumpet

Revelation 11:15-19

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... Jesus is to bring to an end the world’s rebellion against God and to provide God with the agent worthy enough to open the sealed scroll that declares and institutes God’s sovereignty over the evil powers forever. Apocalypticism is keenly interested in the formation of theological perceptions about God, about the social order, and about human suffering. By focusing the eschatological restoration of God’s people on the two essential moments of the Christ event—by what has been already realized ...

312. The Three Angels

Revelation 14:6-13

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... wrath to those who do not (cf. John 3:16–21; Rom. 1:16–32). 14:8 A second angel continues the evangelical message of the first with another element of the “word of God.” The position and repetition of the aorist verb, fallen, place keen emphasis on the certain and complete destruction of Babylon the Great—the center of the Evil One’s earthly power. This is the first mention of Babylon in Revelation, here echoing Isaiah’s oracle of the city’s eventual destruction and the discrediting of its ...

313. Seven Angels With Seven Plagues

Revelation 15:1-8

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... institution can do to reverse them. Salvation comes from outside of history, from God’s heavenly abode. In returning to the theme of divine judgment, already so vividly drawn in his visions of seven seals and trumpets, John is making this same point more keenly: salvation is from God and not from Babylon’s rulers. John’s is an imperialistic politic that champions the sovereign rule of God, and there is no room for compromise. Perhaps this is why he begins this particular vision with echoes of the ...

314. The New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:1-27

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... , but with one important Christian interpretation. Earlier, he noted that the names of the apostles are inscribed on the foundations of the city wall (21:14), thus linking the church’s spiritual and eschatological foundations to the teaching of the apostles. Reader keenly notes that the list of gems in 21:19b–20, stated in the nominative case, is not appositional to 21:19a, which is stated in the dative. Rather, John supposes that each foundation stone consists of one single enormous gem (so Reader ...

315. Samuel Rebukes Saul

1 Samuel 13:1-15

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... Saul. 13:13–14 There is no question of the kingship being taken away from Saul at this stage. However, Samuel informs him that his behavior means that he will never be able to found a dynasty. Samuel’s response may have had its root in his keen memories of the attempt of earlier military leaders to manipulate God by using the ark as a kind of good-luck charm. Saul’s action could be seen as following a similar pattern and making the same theological error. God’s presence and God’s blessing could ...

316. Absalom’s Death

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... ’s qualms but asked to be allowed to run anyway. David was sitting between the inner and outer gates (v. 24). This meant that he could be in touch with the watchman on the top of the wall by the gate but could also watch. He remained keenly interested to hear what was going on at the front. With a greater knowledge of the territory, Ahimaaz was able to outrun the Cushite and, just as Joab had predicted, he found that David’s first concern was for Absalom. He therefore gained what credit might be found ...

317. Job's Third Reply to Bildad

Job 26:1--31:40

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... from God than longing for restored blessing. The statement, when the Almighty was still with me, offers a glimpse into what Job considers his present state. His focus remains on the loss of relationship with God rather than on loss of possessions and wealth. Job is keenly aware of his feelings of abandonment by God. When Job says, my children were around me, it sounds as if he is recalling his sons and daughters prior to their destruction. The Hebrew is a bit more ambiguous than that, as the word for “my ...

318. Blessed Are Those Who Meditate on the Lord’s Instruction

Psalm 1:1-6

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... not necessarily describe a present, visible reality; it describes what will transpire at some unspecified time in the future. Elsewhere in the Psalms the expression, “the law of the LORD,” is found in 19:7 and 119:1. Our psalm shares with them a keen interest in the way of wisdom revealed in “the law of the LORD.” “Law” is an unfortunate translation of the Hebrew term tôrâ, which is more literally “instruction” (cf. the Hb. verbal form, hôrâ, “to instruct”). Psalms 19 and 119 use ...

319. A Wisdom Prayer for Those Who Fear the Lord

Psalm 25:1-22

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... motif in wisdom psalms (19:9; 34:7, 9, 11; 112:1; Ps. 119, five times; cf. 145:19), though not exclusive to them. The concern for inheriting the land is an important motif in Psalm 37 (vv. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34). Psalm 25 also reflects a keen awareness of personal sin (vv. 7, 11, 18). Generally among the psalms, those that speak of sin as part of the general human condition (i.e., its mention is not connected with a current sickness or affliction) stem from the time of the exile or shortly thereafter (Ps ...

320. The Writing on the Wall

Daniel 5:1-31

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... in vv. 11 and 12. The thought of v. 11 continues in v. 12, so there should probably not be a period after v. 11 as there is in the NIV. In Aramaic it reads, “King Nebuchadnezzar . . . appointed him chief of the . . . diviners because a keen mind and knowledge . . . were found in him, in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar.” Also, the NIV, by starting a new sentence, moved the introduction of the name, “Daniel,” to an earlier spot, smoothing over what is actually a bit rough in the Aramaic ...

321. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... conclusion of chapter 5 (5:29). What distinguishes Daniel are his exceptional qualities (6:3). A translation closer to the Aramaic would be “an excellent spirit was in him.” This reminds us of earlier statements. Daniel “was found to have a keen mind [Aram. “excellent spirit”] and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems” (5:12). In Daniel was “the spirit of the holy gods” (4:8, 9, 18; 5:11). Apparently, Daniel’s ...

322. To the Church in Philadelphia

Revelation 3:7-13

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... this determination on the basis of deeds: whether you have kept my word and have not denied my name. According to the biblical faith, good works are the evidence of true repentance (cf. 1 John 3:9–12; Luke 3:7–17; 10:25–28). Thus, John is keenly interested in the deeds which mark out a repentant and faithful witness to Christ. In this context, the assurance of eternal life is never justified by those who merely claim God’s salvation but whose deeds are opposed to God’s reign. In fact, they are no ...

323. The Thousand Years

Revelation 20:1-7

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... , then, is that the parousia is a day of vindication for the Messiah’s community, even as it is for the Messiah. The church is triumphant too because of God’s Lamb (cf. Mounce, Revelation, pp. 358–59). The point can be more keenly made when the two different images of the millennium are juxtaposed. On the one hand, John envisions an exiled Satan; and on the other, he envisions a reigning Christ with his devoted community. In spite of current appearances and experiences, God’s creation belongs ...

324. Israel Without Weapons

1 Samuel 13:16-22

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

325. David Mourns

2 Sam 18:19–19:8

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

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