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 3376 to 3400 of 4959 results

3376. 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... other. Paul treats all of them as though they formed one malignant lump - a tumor sapping strength and health from the body of Christ. But Paul's rejection of party ideologies being foisted on the Corinthian church is not simply the apostle's desire to divorce religious life from its civic environment. The party politics Paul denounces so utterly is the first-century type that was based strictly on inherited class and economic status. In Paul's day political struggles tended to be between the rich, landed ...

3377. Romans 7:15-25a

Romans 7:15-25a

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Christ's grace and forgiveness. Biblical scholar Paul J. Achtemeier suggests that Paul is therefore not speaking of his present condition in Romans 7:15-25, but rather is describing his pre-conversion, Pharisaic self. That Paul was certainly driven by a desire to be obedient to the law prior to his Damascus road experience is without question. His whole life was dedicated toward not only upholding the law himself but protecting it from encroachments of the nonobservant. But Paul's confession here suggests ...

3378. Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of "banking" in those days - so the peasant carefully takes the necessary legal steps (purchasing the field) to make the buried wealth legally his in every way. In the second tale (v.45) the main character is a wealthy pearl merchant. Pearls were so desired in that culture that they were actually valued more highly than gold. Thus, with no hesitation, the merchant sells all his other jewels to buy this one great pearl. Jesus' third illustration (vv.47-50) describes a typical fishing practice in the Sea of ...

3379. Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28

Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... see how the table of God set before Israel may be stretched to accommodate a far more inclusive group of diners. But note that it is not the woman's cleverness Jesus praises or deems as the reason he will now give her the healing she desires. With his declaration, "Great is your faith," Jesus defines the new qualification for admission to the table - faithfulness. Jesus had attempted to keep the power of his presence restricted to the Israelites alone. He had even invoked the same language in verse 24 as he ...

3380. Romans 13:8-14

Romans 13:8-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the eschaton is accomplished by being so committed to Christ it is as though he were a closely clinging garment. With Christ's presence so bound to the Christian's mind/body/spirit, it is little wonder Paul demands believers "make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." Only a continual, committed adornment of agape-love could sanctify Christ's presence in the believer's life.

3381. Romans 14:1-12

Romans 14:1-12

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

At the end of Romans 13, Paul had warned against giving in to "fleshly desires." This might have led some believers to assume the apostle was advocating an ascetic norm for life. But Paul's words in chapter 14 quickly dispel that conclusion, for here he makes clear that matters of food and drink and rigorously maintained schedules of discipline are actually matters of adiaphora - ...

3382. Philippians 1:21-30

Philippians 1:21-30

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... must still in some way remain in vital, intimate contact with the Lord (see Romans 14:8). Having stated the "benefits" of both life and death, Paul reveals in verse 23 what at first seems to be a preference for death. Death appears to be his personal desire. But Paul immediately follows this personal wish with a call for life (v.24) based on his pastoral duty. Indeed Paul's actual debate between life and death is very short-lived. By verse 25, he has already resolved the dilemma by testifying that he knows ...

3383. Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... renewal in which the Israelites had participated earlier (Joshua 8:30-35), Joshua is not concerned with the people hearing and promising to obey every jot and tittle of the Law. Now, near the end of his life of leadership and service, Joshua desires to hear a much more basic commitment from his people. Chapter 24 opens by carefully locating this event at Shechem. The setting is important, for it was at Shechem that Jacob ordered all the "foreign gods" (handily portable stone idols) harbored by members ...

3384. Ephesians 2:1-10

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of all those who are spiritually dead to God and slaves to this world's evil ruler. Membership in this fallen population was hardly select. Indeed "all of us once lived" as captives to evil, living for "the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath" (v.3). This is not some prudish condemnation of sexual appetites and physical pleasures. With both body and mind completely indulged, the human spirit was wantonly selfish doing whatever the body ...

3385. John 12:20-33

John 12:20-33

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... question, "What shall I say?" or is actually a petition standing by itself. (In those translations that view it as a genuine petition, there is no question mark after "Father, save me from this hour.") No matter how sincerely or how momentarily Jesus entertained the desire to avoid his fate, he completes his thought in verse 27 by utterly rejecting deliverance. Jesus knows that the Son of Man who is able to call and keep disciples, the Jesus who is worth journeying to see, the Jesus who will speak to Jew ...

3386. John 6:24-35

John 6:24-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... it, but John qualifies this "work" theme and separates it from any notion of "earning" by stressing that the Son of Man gives the gift of eternal life. John's distinction between working and earning insures that while eternal life must be actively sought by people who desire it, in the end it is freely given by the Son of Man. This "beyond our grasp" but not "beyond our gain" nature of eternal life is further emphasized by John's use of the term "Son of Man," an eschatological name that links eternal life ...

3387. James 1:17-27

James 1:17-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... definitely references to astronomical events (trope and parallage) the events themselves are not specified (i.e., an eclipse, the waxing and waning of the moon or the shift between night and day). Verse 18 contrasts with the reference in verse 15 to "that desire ... "which "gives birth to sin." James' unique vocabulary is evidenced again by the fact that the phrase "gives birth to" is found only in these biblical verses. God's demonstration of the ultimate good generous act was having "brought us forth by ...

3388. Mark 10:2-16

Mark 10:2-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... -87.) Jesus denounces this standard legal practice by proclaiming it not divinely sanctioned, but merely Moses' human attempt to deal with the "hardness of heart" of the obstinate Israelite people. Instead of taking human resistance to God as his pattern for desired behavior, Jesus focuses on what God had originally intended for human beings at the time of creation. Jesus emphasizes the divine purpose for marriage from the moment of creation citing Genesis 1:27, "male and female he created them" as evidence ...

3389. Mark 12:28-34

Mark 12:28-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Hebrew concept of heart included both the emotional and intellectual center of an individual. The heart was both a thinking and a feeling organ. "Soul" in Hebrew is less than "spirit," more than "self", including as it does the human will, needs and desires. Mark's use of "strength" (Greek ischus) instead of "might" is also more literally muscle-bound than the original Hebrew for might (and the Septuagint's Greek dumanis) has less reference to raw muscle and more to an inner source of fortitude. The second ...

3390. About Sex

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... relationship. We remember the old joke about the little boy who was asked what you call the practice of having two wives and he answered, “Bigamy.” Then he was asked what having one wife was called. “Monotony,” he answered. It’s also called smart. Desirable. We also might call it, “What God intended for most people.” Please do not misunderstand. Marriage is not for everyone. It wasn’t for St. Paul. At least not at this stage in his life. There is evidence that Paul had been married at one ...

3391. Are You Better at Wearing or Bearing Crosses?

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and forgiveness. When Jesus prayed it was not to a divine king, but to a divine Father, “Abba,” “Papa,” or even more familiarly, “Daddy.” This is the “good news” of the “gospel.” Jesus offered a new vision of God, a God who desires a relationship with the world. The “king” of a “kingdom” was nothing new to his first-century listeners. The “king” as the divine God was old hat too. Every Caesar declared himself divine and worthy of worship. No, the new message of Jesus ...

3392. A Dramatic Career Change

Mark 1:14-20

Illustration

Scott H. Bowerman

I want to tell you about a man named Denny Brauer. Denny was a bricklayer, and made a good living at it. But he had another passion - bass fishing. One day in 1980 Denny came home and revealed the deepest desire of his heart, which no doubt shocked his wife to the core. He wanted to move from their home in Nebraska to a place where he could fish - full time - as a professional bass fisherman. I guess you can imagine Denny's wife thought of this. Jack McCallum in Sports ...

3393. A Demon Speaks Out in Church

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... along and said, “Money is the root of all hurt. Let me help you with your portfolio.” Then a minister came along and said, “If you learn to praise the Lord in all your circumstances, you won’t hurt so much. Your spiritual life leaves something to be desired. Start reading your Bible and praying every day, and it will get better.” Finally a little girl came along and said, “Mister, why don’t you get off the tack?” (4) Some of us need to get off the tack. We need to get moving and get help ...

3394. Demons in Our Modern World

Mark 1:21-28

Illustration

Roger Ray

I was just as naive as I was sincere when I wrote a letter to a missionary in Papua, New Guinea. I was a 19-year-old college student trying to make sense out of the Bible. I was reading the gospels with an ardent desire to believe what I was reading but I kept getting hung up on these stories about demon exorcisms. If the gospels were true then there were real demons in the world and yet I didn't see anyone but quacks and nut cases doing demon exorcisms on TV. Someone in ...

3395. God's Workmanship

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... , Dr. Watson finds the great detective studying a rose. Holmes holds the rose up to a window, looking at its dainty blend of crimson and green. Holmes suggests that our highest assurance of the goodness of God rests in flowers. Everything else our powers, our desires, our food are necessary for our existence. “But [a] rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras,” say Holmes. That’s true. Flowers are much more ...

3396. Was It Really Necessary?

John 19:17-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... what an odd device to put on a church steeple or in a sanctuary or on an altar table. The cross was a cruel, barbaric way to die. Michael Card, in his book A Violent Grace, describes in gruesome detail how determined the Romans were in their desire to make an example of those who had offended the state. First of all the condemned man was flogged. He could die from that alone. The flogging was brutal. The flesh would hang from the condemned man’s back. Flogging was followed by crucifixion. While the flesh ...

3397. Where a Cross Should Be Worn

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

... of that child’s life.” (1) [I doubt that any of us will make that mistake after we are marked this night with the sign of the cross. It’s a little cool to lie in the sun, anyway.] If I read the little book of Joel right, God’s desire is not that we wear a cross on our forehead, but that it be basted on our hearts. “Rend your heart and not your garments,” says Joel 2:23. That’s much harder to do, isn’t it? It’s much easier to rend your clothes than to rend your ...

3398. Jesus Is Contagious!

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Paul chose a second path, a path that was determined by his apostolic destiny and his contagious love for Christ. Paul declared himself a “captive” for Christ, he preached the gospel because it was what God had called him to do, regardless of his own desires. Paul was on fire for God. Paul could not, would not, accept payment for his preaching, for sharing the knowledge of the good news. Why? Because he saw himself as a “slave” of Christ, bound under the “law of Christ” and so beyond the scope ...

3399. A Vision for Coca-Cola

Mark 1:29-39

Illustration

Gary Nicolosi

At the end of World War II, Robert Woodruff, president of the Coca-Cola Company from 1923 to 1955, had a mission. "In my generation," he declared, "it is my desire that everyone in the world have a taste of Coca-Cola." With a vision and dedication rarely matched in corporate American culture, Woodruff and his colleagues spanned the globe with their soft drink. Why is it all right for people to feel that passionate about a soft drink but not ...

3400. Evangelism is Holy Communion

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... we won’t worship separately, because location, ethnicity, race, ritual, and style won’t matter. Traditional and contemporary won’t matter. Organ or guitar won’t matter. Immersion or sprinkling won’t matter. One cup or many won’t matter. For the worship God desires is in spirit and truth. In spirit, because you can’t worship the God of Life apart from the essence of your own life. In truth, because pretense and hypocrisy are contrary to God. In truth, which means we don’t substitute worship ...

Showing results