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 326 to 350 of 1164 results

326. Will I Really Live Forever?

John 11:18-27, 39-45

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Would anybody here like to live forever? At the crossroads of faith we come today to discuss the question of immortality. Yes, Virginia, there is a heaven. Yes, Jim, you can live forever. I believe that with all of my heart. Yet to explain the unexplainable and to describe the indescribable and to peek through the shadows of earth and catch a glimpse of eternity is often more than our grieving minds can grasp and our questioning intellects can assimilate. We, like Mary and Martha, may be more inclined to ...

327. More

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Sermon

Will Willimon

There is more to life than meets the eye. There is more in our past than history can tell. There is more going on in the present moment than we know. There is more to our relationships with one another than we are aware. And the more we explore the mystery of our lives, the more we learn about ourselves, the more mysterious our selves become. Seldom have we been content with what appeared on the surface; we know there is more. Seldom have we felt fully at ease in the present moment, sensing, however ...

328. People With A Mission

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

"What I have here is really going to turn things around in this country," he said. "Maybe even the world." Actually, he didn't have very much to say. He just kept eating, trying not to seem famished, and all the while never letting a bulging, tattered briefcase off his lap. It wasn't the Sunday noon dinner I had pleasantly anticipated. But there had been a knock on the front door just after noon. Though I'd long before taken down the brass plaque identifying my home as the Lutheran parsonage, I had a ...

329. Misled By Beauty

1 Samuel 15:34-35, 16:1-13

Sermon

Stan Purdum

It seems to me that the so-called "reality" television shows that have proliferated on the airwaves recently have introduced some new lows in the quality of broadcasting, and one of the more unwholesome — and dare I say even ungodly — notions they have reinforced is that what you look like is a measure of your value as a person. Two shows in particular promote this view: Extreme Makeover and Average Joe. On the first of these, Extreme Makeover, from the more than 10,000 applications the show receives for ...

330. The Bread Of Life

John 6:35

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

When the INNS shelter program for the homeless started in Kenosha, I signed up for the training to be a volunteer. After I was trained, I was assigned a three-hour shift on a Sunday night at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, several blocks up the street from my own congregation. My shift was to be from 8:00 till 11:00 P.M. I helped to register the homeless persons as they arrived. Each person received a foam pad for a mattress, a small pillow, a sheet and a blanket. After they had received their gear, we took ...

331. Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

They were 5,000 feet in the air in a two-seat Cessna when suddenly the pilot slumped over. It happened not so long ago near Mount Hope, Indiana, to an 81-year-old passenger who was flying to Indianapolis for lunch. When his 52-year-old friend and pilot unexpectedly died, the elder passenger realized he knew nothing about flying and a lot less about landing! In the next twenty minutes you can bet he gave his total attention to the voices on the radio and the instructions given to him. Another pilot nearby ...

332. “If I Were Hungry I Would Not Tell You, for the World Is Mine, and All That Is in It”

Psalm 50:1-23

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: One of the great dissimilarities between humanity and God is that we are needy people, but God needs nothing. Understanding the Text Psalm 50 is a perfect example of the kind of liturgical piece that might be recited in the seventh year when the Torah was read at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 31:9–13).1Yet when the Book of the Covenant was discovered in the temple during Josiah’s reign (622–609 BC), it seems that this practice had not been observed for some time (2 Kings 23:1–3). In form- ...

333. The Time Is Near

Luke 21:5-19

Sermon

Molly F. James

And he said, ‘Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and, “The time is near!” Do not go after them.’ ” This is the heart of our gospel reading today. For those of us who live a comfortable middle class existence, it can be easy to dismiss our whole reading with its predictions of persecutions, earthquakes, and famines. How could those apply to our lives? For those of us who live comfortable lives in Christian majority countries, we do not know what it is to be ...

334. Faces at a Funeral

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

During the nineteenth century, all Oxford graduates were required to translate a portion of the Greek New Testament aloud. Oscar Wilde was assigned this passage from the passion story of Jesus. His translation was fluent and accurate. Satisfied with his skill, the examiners told him he could stop. But he ignored them and continued to translate. Several times more they tried to call a halt to his reading. Finally he looked up and said, “Oh, do let me go on! I want to see how it ends!” We need to read this ...

335. Victory and Protest

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Richard L. Thulin

Even by the time I was a teenager, I don't think that I had ever heard the word "eucharist." I was a baptized Christian who worshiped faithfully and who participated in the Lord's Supper whenever it was offered (which was once a month). I had almost perfect attendance in Sunday School, and I had three years of Saturday catechetical instruction to my credit. But I still don't think that I had ever heard of "The Eucharist." This fact does not mean that my education regarding the sacramental meal was ...

336. When Desire Goes Bad

1 Kings 21:1-21a

Sermon

Stan Purdum

Nathan, a boy I read about recently, is seven years old. His second grade teacher gave his class an assignment. They were to draw a picture and write an essay about what they would need to have a perfect life. Nathan drew a house and wrote beneath it, "My Home." Also, he drew himself and his dog. Next he drew a checkerboard with faces inside each square and wrote "My Friends" beside that. His essay was titled, "The Perfect Life for Me," and here's what it said: A perfect life for me is the life that I'm in ...

337. Where Did He Get Such Authority?

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Today’s lesson from Mark’s Gospel is one that troubles many modern Christians. Jesus and his disciples are in Capernaum. Capernaum was a fishing town located on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was a fairly large city of about ten thousand people and lay along a major trade route. When Jesus began his public ministry he made Capernaum his home. Our story takes place on the Sabbath. Jesus has gone into the synagogue and begun to teach. The people are amazed at his teaching, because he taught ...

338. The Acceptable Time

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

When Paul arrived at the city of Corinth, Greece, the middle of the first century A.D., he knew he had a challenge on his hands. Located on the isthmus between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf, Corinth was a prosperous port city where boats were transported overland from the Aegean to the Adriatic, thereby cutting many dangerous miles off their voyage. The marketplace abounded with goods and traders from many lands. Though never known as a center of learning, traveling philosophers and teachers ...

339. To Be Somebody

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

A few years ago, Vance Packard wrote a book he called The Staus Seekers. From him and others like him we learn that having an office with a window and a carpet might be more important than getting a raise. So what encouragement is there for those who make sandwiches for a cafeteria? Or who fill mail orders at Wards? Or who make boxes at Hoerner Waldorf? Or who are retired - whose job history is in the past? Martin Luther King Jr. coined a word that says what we all hunger for: somebodiness. It seems to me ...

340. Sometimes It's Simple

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

Do you ever feel religion is complicated beyond belief? A very pious chap was once explaining to a friend the difference between his denomination and another with which his had been at swordpoints for centuries. "One group believes you are baptized into Christ, and the other believes you are baptized in Christ," he said. "There have been strife, arguments and battles over the issue for as long as anyone can remember. I would bet my soul that my church is correct, and the other one is wrong! It is a matter ...

341. A Christian's Resumé

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

It's time to update your resume! If you're a part of the workforce of the early twenty-first century, that's a common-sounding statement. Job security is almost nonexistent. Competitive wages might mean a couple dollars above minimum wage. Advancement could very well propose that for your good efforts you would be awarded more work for the same salary. Benefits rarely include 100 percent paid insurance and retirement fund, but rather offer you both at cost to be deducted from your paycheck. With those ...

342. The Difference between Happiness and Joy

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One of our favorite family board games (aka "bored games" - played eagerly when electronic screens go flat, dull or dead), is called Careers. The goal of the Careers game is to fulfill your Success Formulae, a formula each player creates out of three categories: money, ($), fame, and happiness. Traveling around the board each player earns points for landing on squares like "Find Cure For Hiccups" (Score 10 ?), or "Take A Florida Vacation" (score 8 ?). Whichever player successfully gets enough money, fame, ...

343. Testing Time

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

To live the Christian life is to be tested. As day follows night and night follows day, we experience it all of our days. The deeper we go, the more testing comes upon us. So, there is nothing unique about all of this. If we expect our daily walk with Christ to be any different, we are guilty of self-deception. Sometimes it is really severe and we wonder about its cessation. Patience becomes virtually non-existent. Strength seems to go out the window and we languish not only in pain but borderline ...

344. In the Mirror

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

The first birth is extraordinarily exciting, isn’t it? My wife and I were married less than a year when our firstborn came along. We knew right away that she was the most beautiful, most intelligent, most promising human being that had ever come into this world! Parenting the firstborn is an experiment in everything new. First smile, first coo, first steps, first words… One first we did not anticipate, however, was the first time our little Kristyn recognized herself in the mirror. We had often held her up ...

345. A Holy Way for Us All

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

This passage has many affinities with the prophecies of Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55), and it has often been attributed to him. But there are differences. In Isaiah 40:3, the “way” is for the Lord, here it is for the redeemed and ransomed (vv. 9-10). In Isaiah 51:11, the reference is to the return from Babylonian exile. Here in verse 10, that context is missing, and those who are returning to Zion are the members of Israel dispersed throughout the ancient Near East. Thus, this text is probably from a time ...

346. It’s Anybody’s Guess

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

Several years ago, it was the week before Father's Day and the children and I were looking for a gift for their dad. As we strolled through the men's section of a department store our eyes spotted the perfect gift at the same moment. It was a bright, splashy Hawaiian style shirt with matching shorts. We giggled as we purchased it because Dan is a pretty conservative dresser. As I was handing the money to the woman at the cash register, I asked our oldest daughter, "But, do you think he will actually wear ...

347. Happy Meal or Holy Meal

John 6:25-59

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: Conveying the difference between natural bread and wine and the Bread and Wine used in communion. Props: A McDonald’s Happy Meal with a soft drink and the elements of Bread and Wine as your tradition uses them. Lesson: Good Morning. (response) Place the Happy Meal before the kids. Hide the elements of Communion, if you can. Guess what we are going to have today. (a happy meal) No, we are going to have Communion. Use your traditions common term for the Eucharist. What do you mean a happy ...

348. The Assurance of Bread

John 6:35, 51

Illustration

Michael P. Green

During World War II, the Germans forced many twelve-and thirteen-year-old boys into the Junior Gestapo. These boys were treated very harshly and given inhumane jobs to perform. When the war ended, most had lost track of their families and wandered without food or shelter. As part of an aid program to post-war Germany, many of these youths were placed in tent cities. Here doctors and psychologists worked with the boys in an attempt to restore their mental and physical health. They found that many of the ...

349. The New Heaven and New Earth

Revelation 21:1-27

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: God will live with his people in the new creation. Understanding the Text The final vision of Revelation (21:1–22:5) highlights the primary goal and theme of the entire book and all of Scripture: God’s presence among his people in the new creation. From the time sin and death intruded upon God’s good creation, God purposed to defeat his enemies and live among his people in a new garden city. This final vision of Revelation represents the fulfillment of the promises to those who overcome (Rev. 2–3 ...

350. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR ALL SAINTS’

Drama

Tom Eberle

A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR ALL SAINTS’ [Placed in the chancel area of the sanctuary is a large cardboard box, about two to three feet high, with a chair setting in it. At the end of the prelude "Box" takes his place on the chair. Immediately in front of the pews, on both sides of the center aisle, is an arrangement of candles. Five candles are necessary for the chancel drama, plus a candle for each member of the congregation who died in the past 12 months.] Prelude Box: Before we go any further, let’s lay all ...

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