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 5000 results

3476. From Empty Nets to Full Lives

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... routine way, God is finding a place in that person's life. And that small place, like leaven in the lump, can eventually influence the whole life. We don't have to be theologians to do this -- or blazing witnesses. All we need is to care enough about others to want to help, and to believe deeply enough in God that we will tell them that he can help. Who knows what a catch we will make? Who can say what an eternal achievement can be ours? The opportunity came to Simon Peter in the wake of a night of defeat ...

3477. The Book that Changes Lives

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

King Duncan

... a reminder of what God can do through his word. Does this make sense to you? The Bible not only provides us with a structure for our lives, but when we wrestle with the Word prayerfully the Bible actually shapes our lives, if we will let it. I want to encourage you to adopt a personal discipline, if you have not already done so, of encountering God in his word each day. Many of you will be helped with this task by participating in a Bible study group. It’s amazing how much more meaning we discover, when ...

3478. Unworthy or Not?

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... afraid; from now on you will be catching people." Simon Peter left everything and followed Jesus. What shall we say to all of this? If you are the kind of person who devalues your own worth as a human being, you need to get help with that. Jesus does not want disciples who do not believe in themselves. You will not be effective in serving him. It’s time for you to raise your eyes and say to the world, "I belong here. I don’t have to be intimidated in anyone’s presence but God’s." On the other hand ...

3479. Let Me Say That Again

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ’s Maxims” -- but we all knew that wouldn’t do. I began to think about my preaching -- my communication style. Now I seek by repetition to plant a truth firmly in the mind of listeners. Perhaps you have noted it. Many times, when I state a truth and really want it to sink in -- before I move on to elaborate it, I use a phrase redundantly, “Let me say that again.” So that’s what we called the book -- and that’s what I decided to do in this concluding sermon. What better thing could I do than ...

3480. Keeping Our Souls

John 13:18-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , “the title is one of the most important parts of the sermon. It should be so compelling and captivating that if a busload of people pass by your sign on Sunday morning, they would be instantly motivated to leave the bus and come in to hear your message. So I want you to go home tonight and come up with a title that’s so compelling that those people on the bus will sit up and take note.” The young man said he would. But it was a hard task. All night long he sweated over the issue. What title could ...

3481. The Prize of the High Calling of God

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... wrestle with that, and until, or if I don’t, you can cut out my message from your order of worship and use it for a bookmarker. Here it is: MOST OF US PREFER THE HELL OF A PREDICTABLE SITUATION, RATHER THAN RISK THE JOY OF AN UNPREDICTABLE ONE. I want that to lodge solidly in your minds, especially you graduates who are leaving us. It is one of the most creative sentences I have ever written, and I believe a solid truth. Most of us prefer the hell of a predictable situation, rather than risk the joy of an ...

3482. Comfortable Christianity Is a Big, Fat Lie

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... their life alongside the Sermon on the Mount, and if you cannot find increasing points of contact, don’t listen to them, even if they work miracles. Comfortable Christianity is a big, fat lie, and the reason I have repeated this line over and over is that I do not want to be found among the false prophets who at the end will be cut down and thrown into the fire along with all the silly saints they have seduced into the broad and easy way that ends in destruction. I fear God, and I am not going to let you ...

3483. Obedience Really Matters

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... entry into the kingdom of God? That’s exactly what I’m saying because it is the verdict of Jesus. That the blessing and power of God may come through me to another says nearly nothing about me and everything about the mercy of God for the needy person. God wants to get people help and will use any who are willing to be used. I am, in this case of spiritual gifts, merely a pass through. You may not like it, but God regularly pours the water of life through dirty pipes. If someone sends you money in the ...

3484. Torn Curtain

Luke 23:44-49, Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... will not fall into temptation.” While he is still speaking a crowd comes up, led by his former disciple, Judas. Judas approaches Jesus and kisses him. Jesus asks, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” And, of course, he is. One of Jesus’ disciples wants to defend the Master. He draws a sword and strikes the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. Jesus touches the man’s ear and heals him. So like the Master! They come to him to do him harm; he comes to them to heal ...

3485. Children in the Arms of a Loving God

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Michael Milton

... felt they were being fed on the Word, they enjoyed much about the church, but they said, “We are not lawyers or doctors, and there seems to be a rule here that you must be a professional to join this church.” I assured them that the first ones who would want them to know that they were welcomed were the young professionals in our church. But I also had to ask myself, Do we do anything in the culture of our church that would suggest that there are unwritten rules about who is in and who is not? That is a ...

3486. A Friend in Low Places

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... a gun, shoots him, wounds him. He retreats, leaves the game, goes into obscurity, saying, "Life didn't turn out to be the way I wanted it to be." But then at the age of thirty four, he makes a comeback. He returns to the major leagues. Once again, temptation ... in, having to decide between good and evil, with temptation on one side of him, and, on the other side, somebody who is for him, who wants to help him. That is what life is all about. It is as old as Adam and Eve. It says that there are forces inside of ...

3487. How Moses Handled Stress

Numbers 11:4-35

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... them know that you know about them, that you care about them, that you are thinking about them and praying for them. That is all God needs. The context of this passage in Galatians is one in which somebody has been reprimanded in the Church for their behavior. The Church wants to ostracize them. They write to Paul and ask his advice. We don't know what the offense was, but we know that it must have been pretty serious. We don't know what it was, but we know what Paul's advice to the Galatians was. He said ...

3488. Prayer

Psalm 42:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... only from personal communication with God. I this a new thought to you? Have you failed to pray consistently because God did not seem real to you? What an insight: God does not seem real because we do not pray. Do you see the implication of that? If we want to realize God, we must pray. Ponder that for a few minutes. It is a valuable thought about God. How does it fit into your experience of God? It may be that we will never learn to pray, never have any ongoing, creatively disciplined prayer life until our ...

3489. Discipline

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... in my journey, I said to God, ‘Okay, if I have to go through this, then give me everything. Teach me everything you want to teach me through this. Don’t let this incredible pain be wasted in my life!’” She continues, “God allows good and bad ... for others experiencing pain or loss. (6) If you’re battling with a terrible hardship right now, whatever it might be, here’s what I want you to pray. “Lord I know you’re with me, and that you won’t leave me. If possible, I would like this cup taken ...

3490. Pass the Pigweed

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... is forgiven." The man said, "What lack of faith? I believed the Lord would provide and look what happened! The flood got me! I should complain that I was not cared for!" Pete said, "Not cared for? We sent a bus, a boat, and a helicopter. What more do you want?" Actually that is the mood of the nation of Israel as we find them in the Wilderness of Sin or Sinai this morning. Today's First Reading tells of a time soon after leaving Egypt when the going gets tough but the tough fail to get going. It's about ...

3491. The Seeing Eye

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... of Mephibosheth. What do we know about Saul? We know he lied about David and ordered the army to hunt him down, saying that David wanted to kill Saul and the whole royal family. But David believed God when he said that God's anointed was his chosen, and David would ... swatch of cloth he had cut from Saul's robe! While Saul is shocked at finding his robe cut, David yells, "King Saul, if I wanted to kill you, don't you think I would have done it already?" "The Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward ...

3492. Experiencing the Reality of God

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

James L. Killen

... in the world. It tells of the emerging of a very important aspect of the Christian faith and of the birth of the church. It is a story that is exciting to some people. But, quite frankly, it is a story that scares some other people and makes them want to back away. All of this talk about wind and fire and speaking in foreign tongues excites some people but it turns some off. It may be that we have focused our attention on the wrong aspect of the story. What was actually happening to those first followers of ...

3493. Strong Medicine

Judges 4:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... short, and stops before the narrative gets going. Don't tell the lectionary committee, but we are going to drink a little more than they want us to. I don't think it will hurt us. We are going to take in the whole story, murder and all. The background of ... pen and sexually assaulted. Ajak was only twenty years old. Salsgiver was repulsed by what he saw and heard. At one point he wrote, "I want my memory erased. No one should have to see this or ever live through it." Just as Jael had to do what no one should ...

3494. Look Who Is Standing at the Door

James 4:1-12; 5:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

... now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you" (James 5:1). All of a sudden our own culture and perhaps some aspects of our own lifestyles are on the stage on which the biblical drama is being played out. What does James want to tell Christians who are living in the midst of cultural circumstances like these? Don't give in. Keep living the life of faith and of love that you have learned from Christ, even in the midst of the competitiveness and greed and envy of our culture. And ...

3495. Different

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Sermon

James L. Killen

... most of the people in our own culture find it foolishness, something contrary to the way they usually think and act, something they would want to reject? (And isn't there something within even those of us who profess faith that argues with our faith and feels the same ... that attacks us and against which we have to defend ourselves. To see life as the gift and embodiment of someone who loves us and wants what is good for us is a real stretch. But when we think of the giver of life as one who loves us enough to ...

3496. Abraham Believed God

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

... to be a great flood. He didn't just get down on his knees and pray for deliverance, he built an ark. Moses believed God wanted his people, the Israelites, to be free from Egyptian captivity. He didn't hide in the wilderness and wait to join the great exodus, he ... promise. And yet we still hold back when it comes to putting that faith to the test in our day-to-day living. We don't always want to do what we know God is telling us to do. When we look at a lifetime, we can accept the concept of God's grace by ...

3497. Taking You Up with Him

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

... , but our lives have been changed because Jesus has changed them. And because we are eternally connected to his life, we have the power to change the lives of others. When others view us in our "resurrected" lives, they are able to see Jesus. Joey was six years old and wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with his mom's chocolate chip cookies and a couple of small cans of orange juice as he started his journey. He hadn't gone very far from home when he ...

3498. Uncle Abraham

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

William G. Carter

... 'Big Daddy.' " And Abraham laughed, and said, "O God, get serious." And God said, "I am serious; in fact, I'm so serious, I want you to get circumcised at the age of 99, after which you're going to become a father." Abraham did as he was told, even though it ... felt like his body was as good as dead. Maybe you might think God loved him because he did what God wanted him to do. The truth is, God had already said, "I'm going to make you the father of a huge multitude." Then came that day ...

3499. Thank God, We're Already Dead

Romans 6:1b-11

Sermon

William G. Carter

... old life has died. But then again, some people are lifted right out of the dust, because they were willing to let go of the wreckage they once suffered. I was talking with a woman in the hospital. She was there because she lost her gall bladder. But what she wanted to talk about was losing her life. "I married a man when I was twenty," she said, "and my son was born six months later. Shortly after that, my husband drove off and never came back. I didn't know if I would ever make it." But she did. Forty ...

3500. Slaves of a Different Master

Romans 6:12-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

... being her own person." Sure enough, she won. Our culture would like us to believe that stuff: You are free to do whatever you want, go wherever you wish, buy whatever you desire. Meanwhile, there are a lot of people telling us what to do, where to go, what ... Christ. That is his identity. That gives him a purpose. He says this because he knows if the only thing he does is what he wants to do, if the only opinion he listens to is his opinion or his friends' opinions, if the only purpose for his life is to ...

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