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 3351 to 3375 of 4959 results

3351. Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 's text. Matthew himself then cites the text as "the virgin shall conceive," further emphasizing Mary's innocence and thus the divine parentage and heritage that Jesus enjoys. There is some argument that the Septuagint's choice of the term parthenos was based on the desire to depict Israel's role as the virgin awaiting God's activity. It is the virgin Israel, in this rendition, not any particular individual, that will give birth to the Messiah in the redemptive future. Yet Matthew's use of this text and his ...

3352. Matthew 2:13-23

Matthew 2:13-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... are dead," just as Moses received instructions to return because the men "who were seeking your life are dead" (Exodus 4:19). The angel's pronouncement in verse 20 exactly parallels that of verse 13 - the call to return mirrors the call to flee. Matthew's desire to recall the first exodus event may also be indicated by the unique designation given their place of return in verses 20 and 21 - "the land of Israel." These are the only two references to "the land of Israel" as a name-place in the New Testament ...

3353. Ephesians 2:4-25

Ephesians 2:4-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... as though God's love for us is so overwhelming that it cannot all be contained in one act - even an act as soul-saving and sin-shattering as the resurrection. An eternity is needed, this writer insists, before we can ever fully receive God's desires for us. Verses 8 and 9 pick up the parenthetical remark made in verse 5 and develop it into an articulate, even creedal, theological statement. Like Paul, the writer of Ephesians is anxious to impress upon his readers their complete dependence on God's grace for ...

3354. Mark 4:26-34

Mark 4:26-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... not only see things differently, but see different things. They need not even fear death (vs. 15). Third, to be "in Christ" means to march forward daily towards Christlikeness. The glorious hope in verse ten of being transformed at His appearing does not mitigate our desire now to progress in Christ's likeness. There is no excuse for stagnancy or the status quo in the life of the believer. Finally, to be "in Christ" has cosmic implications. The translation we deem best - "So if anyone is in Christ, there is ...

3355. Mark 6:30-44

Mark 6:30-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the time (verse 2) markedly contrasts David's role as king to the lives of his soldiers. The soft life behind the lines tempts David to abuse his power as king and reject the front-lines laws of God. Like a common despot David sees Bathsheba, desires her, and so takes her, without any consideration for her commitment to her husband, Uriah's commitment to his king and country, or David's own commitment to his God. If David is thoughtless and spontaneous when he takes Bathsheba, he makes up for it by then ...

3356. Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... work quietly and with dignity to create a community based upon divine love and respect. Finally in 5:1 Paul encapsulates the mandate which establishes the believers' uniqueness they are to be "imitators of God." Christians demonstrate their love for God with their desire to be like God as children mimic their own parents' behavior and attitudes. God has shown us the divine attitude towards all creation with the sacrifice of Christ for its sake. Paul's directive that we imitate this behavior is then no small ...

3357. Mark 12:38-44

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and celebrations (the center of prestigious social life). In all these situations Jesus has already entreated his disciples to always take the "lowroad" (see 9:35; 10:31; 10:4344), insisting that to be "last," to be a "servant," must be the desire of a true follower. Scribes and disciples are thus easily positioned (too easily for the historian) as exact opposites. Verse 40 indicts the scribes even more thoroughly, for it focuses not just on the pompous exterior cultivated by religious functionaries, but ...

3358. Philippians 4:49

Philippians 4:49

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... into full members of the community - worthy of and capable of praise. The reward, the gift from God of redemption, also takes a gentle form here in Zephaniah. Rather than dwelling upon the victory and the vanquished enemy, the prophet focuses on what every lost heart desires. God, it is promised, is the one who still "brings you home, at the time when I gather you" (vs. 20). Zephaniah's song is bursting with confidence in the mercy, love, and compassion of God and God's complete ability to turn a disastrous ...

3359. Galatians 6:7-18

Galatians 6:7-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , many which focused on physical pleasure and immediate gratification through sex or food or frivolous behavior. Thus there was a real temptation to these Galatians of growing "weary" of always thinking in line with the Spirit, of carefully processing their thoughts and desires and measuring them against the Spirit's high standards of excellence. Paul knows that sometimes it's just hard to be good! By emphasizing the chasm between acts of the flesh and those of the Spirit, Paul tries to convey the critical ...

3360. Colossians 3:1-11

Colossians 3:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and prohibitions in the law as the body has members. The vices or negatives sketch out to the reader what a Christian is not. First, individual traits (v.5), typically identified as "pagan" in character, are listed: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed. The writer follows these with five more negatives (verse 8) that are evils that emerge when humans live in community with one another: anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language. The double-listing of five virtues are not given ...

3361. 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... brought to offer (2:12ff). These sons of Eli used their servants to threaten others into paying them with the best part of their offering (v.16). They used their positions of power to twist the moral standards of sexual behavior in order to serve their own desires (v.22). It seems the text's summation of the character of Eli's sons, they "were scoundrels" (v.12), was perfectly correct. An unnamed "man of God" (v.27) comes to Eli and delivers the first of God's pronouncements against that prophet's wicked ...

3362. Mark 9:2-9

Mark 9:2-9

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . The roof was supposed to give only minimal shelter from the elements. Ideally the stars, the lights of heaven, should be visible through the roof in several places. More than we have appreciated, Peter may have realized the transient nature of the occurrence. Desirous to do something to commemorate the event, he proposed building temporary shelter for them to dwell in. The voice that descends on this mountaintop gathering is intended to be the same as that which spoke at Jesus' baptism (Mark 1:11). At the ...

3363. John 12:20-33

John 12:20-33

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

John gives us a scene that has no parallel in any of the synoptic gospels. Following on the heels of the Pharisees' disgruntled observation, "Look, the world has gone after him" (v.19), John notes the arrival of "some Greeks" who voice their desire to "see Jesus" (vv.20-21). The fact that these "Greeks" have apparently gone up to worship at the temple during the Passover festival and that they are interested in "seeing" the now notable Jesus indicates that these figures are either "God-fearers" (Torah- ...

3364. Mark 16:1-8

Mark 16:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... serves as a redactional device allowing Mark to show these same women present at Jesus' death, his burial and now at the scene of his Resurrection. These women can give eyewitness testimony to the grim reality of Jesus' death and the burial of his body. The desire to offer his poor dead body one final act of service caused the women to return to Jesus' tomb early that morning. They planned to anoint him with spices that would mask the odor of death and decay that they already expected to find permeating the ...

3365. Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8:26-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... fact and the Isaiah tradition to evangelize for Christ. The balance between the established Scripture and tradition of Judaism and the new message of the gospel is delicately maintained in today's lesson from Acts. In response to the eunuch's expressed desire to understand what he is reading, Philip takes up the tradition begun by Jesus himself, proclaiming the fulfillment of Hebrew Scripture in the life and person of Jesus Christ. According to Philip's witness, the continuity between the two is unbroken ...

3366. Mark 3:20-35

Mark 3:20-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... him out to them, so that they might confront him privately, without the gathered crowd hanging on to their every exchange. The family members even avoid directly asking Jesus to come by having the crowd itself announce their presence and their desire to see him (v.32). Jesus' answer avoids insulting his family, as would ignoring them or directly refusing their wishes. Outright disobedience to parental authority on Jesus' part would lower his own honored status into the gutter. But Jesus avoids this trap ...

3367. John 6:24-35

John 6:24-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... that the true gift God's bread provided them, and does still now, was not a full stomach. It was the true bread that comes down from heaven, the bread that "gives life to the world" (v.33). Only now is Jesus prepared to give the manna so hotly desired by the crowd. But notice what "manna" they get: Their nourishment takes the form of the first of Jesus' "I am" statements that run through John's gospel. "I am the bread of life," Jesus declares to the crowd that stands with its hands out instead of its hearts ...

3368. Mark 8:27-38

Mark 8:27-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and the focus on the cross, a device of physical torture. But there is an additional obvious sense of "life" here as well. A sense of individual identity, of "oneself," and the unique "soul" that animates every living person, are part of the natural desire for self-preservation which Jesus turns topsy-turvy with his words. Jesus' rhetorical question, "What can they give in return for their life?" leads his listeners to the conclusion that only "life itself" can be offered as an adequate response to the gift ...

3369. James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... James challenges these potential teachers with a kind of "trick question." "Who is wise and understanding among you?" (v.13). To any who might pipe up too quickly, the epistle writer is ready with a warning. If envy or ambition makes up any part of your desire to act as teacher, then "do not be boastful and false to the truth"(v.14). One of the most telling signs of genuine wisdom, James insists, is gentleness or what we might better term "humility" or even "meekness." Wisdom is not boastful about itself ...

3370. 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... into the long tradition of God's people including the Hebrew prophets (1 Thessalonians 2:15). Paul is concerned that the Thessalonians see themselves as part of a continuing apostolic mission especially as they face adversity and suffering because of their faith. Thus, Paul's closing words express his own desire to return to Thessalonia and be with them, while he urges them to "increase and abound in love" and good works and "holiness."

3371. John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... off with the body. Many scholars believe that the author's primary motivation in noting the closed doors has less to do with Jewish authorities (there is no mention of the Jews in Jesus' second appearance in verse 26) as it does with the Johannine desire to make a point about the body of Jesus. The doors being "closed" or "shut" Jesus nevertheless appears before them and the body which the disciples see has nonetheless retained some sort of corporeality. No gnostic Docetism here (see 1 John 1:1-2). They ...

3372. Acts 16:9-15

Acts 16:9-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the first-person voice at this crucial moment in the Christian missionary journey, however, may have served even more to demonstrate the collegial relationship at work among these first believers. The gospel travels to Macedonia, not because of one person's desires or because other routes are barred. The turn westward is achieved through the sure guidance of the Spirit, the unique vision received by Paul, and the missionary group's conclusion and concurrence with the above. Once the destination decision is ...

3373. John 16:12-15

John 16:12-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of his team of disciples as witnesses to both Jesus' earthly life and his resurrected glory. Today's text highlights this simultaneously cosmic and communal paradox of John's gospel. Beginning in 15:18, Jesus outlines both the dreadful and the desirous developments that await his disciples. First, Jesus offers words of warning: He predicts the world's hatred of his disciples because of their closeness to him and chosenness. But this closeness and chosenness also make possible a special gift Jesus' disciples ...

3374. 2 Kings 5:1-14

2 Kings 5:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... that accompanied Naaman on his journey. Though it is apparently a rare period of peacetime between Israel and Syria (Aram), traipsing into enemy territory, heavily laden with gold and silver, accompanied only by servants, was a perilous undertaking. Only Naaman's overwhelming desire to be rid of his leper's identity tips the scales against the combined weight of all these risks. Naaman would go anywhere, do anything, see anyone to be whole again. One interesting facet of today's text is its glimpses into ...

3375. A Powerful Sacrament

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... failed us. It is the role of the church and its ministry to disengage us from this failed script. And here’s the final thesis for today: the entry point, says Brueggemann, into this counterscript for our lives is baptism. Baptism is sign and seal that we desire a new script for our lives, a script written by Christ himself. Baptism, Brueggemann says, is a “bold counteract.” In baptism we claim a new set of values. This is so important. The purpose of baptism is to set us free from the script that has ...

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