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 3476 to 3500 of 4961 results

3476. 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 ...

3477. I Want My Dollar Back!

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

David Russell, a pastor in Union City, Tennessee tells about Nathan, a precocious three-year-old in his church. Nathan’s parents were trying to introduce him to what it means to be in church. One Sunday they gave him a one-dollar bill that Nathan was to place in the offering plate. When the plate moved down Nathan’s pew, his parents held it in front of him and told him to place the dollar in the plate. Nathan balked. Finally his mother gently took the dollar from him. She placed it in the plate, and it was ...

3478. Why Christianity?

Romans 1:1-7

Sermon

Charley Reeb

I went to Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. It was a wonderful experience. After seminary, I was appointed as an associate pastor at First UMC of Lakeland and had a good relationship with the college. In fact, one of my favorite professors once invited me to be a guest speaker in his class. It was a sociology class, and they were studying religion and society. He wanted a local pastor to come and speak about the church and community. I was still a little wet behind the ears, but I thought I ...

3479. The Last Laugh

Luke 24:1-35

Sermon

Will Willimon

Early in his ministry, critics came to Jesus saying, "The disciples of John fast often, but yours eat and drink." Jesus replied, "can the wedding guest fast when the bridegroom arrives?" Do you find it interesting that one of the earliest charges against Jesus' people is that they had too much fun? "Why don't your disciples go around fasting, wearing sad faces and mournful looks -- like the disciples of John the Baptist? We can tell that John's disciples are religious -- they're miserable!" Would the same ...

3480. Faith is a River That Flows

Genesis 19:1-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Faith is a river that flows. May our prayers be reeds that cling to the rock From which springs somehow the living waters." I’ll bet all of you remember the first time you climbed the “big slide.” I mean the “BIG” slide, that one that you looked at as a child and thought –that’s awesome. But scary! Real scary! I mean, it’s WAY high, and it’s a long way to the bottom, and okay, wow! On the one hand, you are filled with that weird exhilaration to climb up there and have that experience of the wind whipping ...

3481. Trying to Face the Strain

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

Johnny Dean

In the late 1960’s a new genre (which is just a fancy word for "type" or "style") of music appeared on the American cultural scene. It was called "protest music," because that’s exactly what it was about. The songwriters and performing artists wanted to express their displeasure or discontent with a variety of social or political issues of the day: the war in Viet Nam; the rules and regulations parents place upon children; the style of clothing or length of hair you had to have in order to be considered " ...

3482. A Change of Direction

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

"... but afterward he repented and went." - Matthew 21:29 In Matthew 21:28-32 Jesus tells a story about afterthoughts. In this story two young men had second thoughts about choices they had made. Each had made up his mind to go in a certain direction, but later reconsidered and went another. Here is the story as Jesus told it: "A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' and he answered, 'I will not;' but afterward he repented and went. And he went to ...

3483. The Sounds at the Summit

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

Shortly before dawn one morning a couple years ago, a gasoline pipeline erupted and a terrible fire flared up right down the middle of a suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, street. A woman delivering newspapers was caught in the flames; her car ignited and she was severely burned, but survived. People were awakened to discover flames shooting higher than telegraph poles. "The whole neighborhood is on fire," was one person’s description. In one home, a father woke up his wife, told her to get her daughter while ...

3484. Proper 16 & Pentecost 14

Isaiah 22:1-25, Psalm 95:1-11, Psalm 138:1-8, Isaiah 51:1-16, Exodus 5:22--6:12, Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Summer is over, and fall has begun with its return of people to the churches and their activities, and the church is now entering the last quarter of the church year. Informed people will realize that about two and a half months remain in the Pentecost Cycle/Season. They are also aware that such things as Rally Day, Installation of Church School teachers, programs and retreats involving the young, the women, and the men of the churches are getting under way. Halloween decorations and cards ...

3485. Binding Up the Fractured World

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Hubert Beck

The universe is held together in a most remarkable unity. When one reads scientific descriptions of how everything works, whether it be in the cosmic dimensions of the heavenly bodies or whether it be in the mini-dimensions of the atom, one is overwhelmed with wonder. What keeps everything together and holds it in its place? Why doesn’t it fly off into every direction and dissolve into absolute chaos? We know, of course, for it is part of our confession of faith, that somehow we tie all this to the work of ...

3486. IN THE BEGINNING ... THERE WAS LOVE ...

Drama

Marcia Millerf

This is a fantasy of one person becoming aware of another. It is considered biblical because at one time there was that first encounter. At the same time it must be remembered that each one of us has had that same first encounter; a time when we must admit there are other needs in the world beside our own personal needs, desires, and wants. The costuming for this play must be at the simplest level - black leotards and tights. The stage setting is also simple. On stage there are two tower-like structures ...

3487. Beating Babel

Acts 2:1-13, Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Once upon a time, in the dim and distant past, a little Jewish child asked, "Mommy, Daddy, why do people from different countries talk funny?" And the response came from an even dimmer and more distant past - the story of the Tower of Babel that we find in the 11th chapter of Genesis. Human pride had decided it would make a name for itself and would build a city and a tower that would be a gateway to heaven; God would not allow such presumption so the speech of the workers was confused, they fell to ...

3488. A Time For Silence

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

A most unusual protest took place this past fall in a convent in New Jersey. Four nuns locked themselves in a tiny second floor infirmary and have taken a vow of "near silence." They are protesting new rules established by their new prioress, Mother Theresa Hewitt. It seems that Mother Theresa has introduced television, secular videos, recorded music, bright lights, and (horror of horrors) daily "sweets" into the convent. The sweets consist of a tin of candy which is passed around each day and each nun is ...

3489. The Compelling Call

Drama

Karren Boehr

Theme: Paul: Apostle To The Early Church This set of four scenes is especially suitable to accompany a series of sermons or studies on the early church. The scenes carefully follow the scripture text while making the struggles of the early church, and particularly those of the apostle Paul, come alive. This drama is very useful for teaching profound Biblical truths, as God's plan for his church powerfully unfolds. These scenes can easily be produced on consecutive Sundays or used individually as stand- ...

3490. I Thought You'd Never Ask

John 1:35-46

Sermon

Mark Trotter

We all know about famous last words. They are collected because they are supposed to be important. We expect something deep and profound from someone as their last words, the distillation of the wisdom of a lifetime. We also know about the last words of Jesus. Every gospel writer records his own version of the last words of Jesus. They are all different, his words from the cross. And every Good Friday, some place around the world, some church is commemorating the cross by meditating on the seven last words ...

3491. You Shall Be My Witness

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A picture is worth a thousand words. So let me try to paint the picture, with words. Better, you paint the picture in your mind as I tell the story. An 83-year-old grandmother is standing in the checkout line of a K-Mart store. She chats with a young boy who is very proud of his $5.98 watch he has just purchased. Somewhere in their friendly conversation she asks the boy where he goes to Sunday school. He doesn’t go. “Really? I think you’d like it. Could I call your mother and see if I can pick you up. We ...

3492. Lent 2

Philippians 3:12-4:1, Genesis 15:1-18, Luke 13:31-35, Jeremiah 26:1-24

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Yahweh makes a covenant with Abraham who is promised a son and a land. This passage is one of several accounts of Yahweh's covenant with Abraham. It is noteworthy that Yahweh came to Abraham with a covenant proposal. Yahweh comes to Abraham as a shield (v. 1) and thus Abraham has no need to fear being in Yahweh's holy presence. In this account, Yahweh promises Abraham three tremendous blessings: a son, a nation, and a country. The covenant is made legal and ...

3493. But God Can

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

Larry Powell

She was all alone now, this widow of Nain. The Scriptures make no mention that she had brothers or sisters or other family members. They surely would have been with her, consoling her, moving slowly along in the sad procession. A "large crowd from the city was with her." We are grateful for that. Sometime before, we don't know how long, she had stood by the grave of her husband and now the lifeless body of her only son was being carried out of the city. Only a widowed parent can know the grief that poor ...

3494. Proper 23

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

George Paul Mocko

Atlas, Hercules and Tantalus; a Powerful and Deadly Fruit; All About War and Rape and Divorce; Laziness and Guilt Trips and Punishment for All The Above But Don't Despair: a Touch of Salvation Too. As a boy, I was facinated with those Greek myths, the stories of Hercules and Atlas, Zeus and Mercury, Narcissus and Neptune. Let me tell you one of those - one which brings together the familiar words "Nectar", "Ambrosia", and "Tantalize". It was King Tantalus of Phrygia whose birth, as often is the case in ...

3495. Good Soldiers, Bad Wars

Joshua 11:1-23, Matthew 8:5-13

Sermon

Erskine White

It has become commonplace for the church to talk about peace in recent years; indeed, dozens of church statements have been issued for the purpose of condemning war. And this is entirely appropriate, since Christ has charged His people to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) in a world which is weary of war. But amid all the verbiage of ecclesiastical pronouncements, the church has been nearly silent about soldiers! It's as if we have nothing to say to the people who risk and give their lives. The soldiers seem ...

3496. The Crowing of a Rooster

Matthew 26:31-35, Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

I sat with a farm family a few weeks ago for the noonday meal. The scene outside the kitchen window was typical of rural eastern North Carolina. There were open fields where this particular farmer grew corn. Leftover husks lay where he had broken the land for spring planting. While we were eating, one family member called our attention to a flock of birds that had landed in the field out back. We all turned to look, and the area was covered with blackbirds. "I'll bet there are five thousand birds out there ...

3497. The Importance of Forgiving Others

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Archbishop’s Easter Message, read the headlines for one newspaper on Easter Monday, 1986, followed by a sub-heading in larger print, "Runcie applauds forgiving vicar." The reporter, Clifford Longley, wrote, "The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie, yesterday bestowed an Easter absolution on the perpetrators of the recent horrific incident in a west London vicarage." Longley was referring to the attack upon a Church of England clergyman, his daughter, and her boy friend that occurred in the middle ...

3498. In The Beginning

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Robert Allen

Walter de la Mare wrote a fascinating little poem titled, "The Listeners." He wrote: "Is anybody there?" asked the Traveler, Knocking on the moonlight door; And his horse in the silence chomped the grasses Of the forest’s ferny floor; And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the traveler’s head: And he smote upon the door again a second time; "Is anybody there?" he said. But no one descended to the traveler, No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his gray eyes, Where he stood ...

3499. A Man Who Was a Lion-Tamer

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

In our consideration of the favorite men of the Bible, we have looked at them in chronological order, trying to retell the story of God’s redemption of his fallen creatures. We have followed God’s chosen people (through Abraham) into the land of promise (Moses) and have seen the building of a mighty kingdom (David). Then came the division of the nation - between the north and the south - and the captivity of God’s people. During this time, the great prophets of Israel appeared. Their primary purpose was to ...

3500. A Man With a Scalpel and a Pen

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

The favorite man of the Bible for this chapter is one who is rarely mentioned in the Scriptures, yet is an important Bible personality. Not only is he a biblical character; he is also one who was responsible for writing part of the Bible, one who helped to bring the New Testament into being. His name is Luke. Luke, the Doctor We could call him Dr. Luke, because we read that he was "Luke, the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). Actually, we know very little about the man. We do know that he was a doctor. ...

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