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 3551 to 3575 of 5000 results

3551. A Prophet in a Panic

1 Kings 19:9-18

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the area. We had killed a large copperhead. Each night as I began walking up that dirt road, I feared the possibility that I might step on a snake in the dark. So, I began trotting, feeling that the faster I moved, the harder I would be to hit. Before long, every noise I heard along the road was a snake. Before I got home, I was running wide open and occasionally leaping high in the air. The exercise was helpful, but the wear and tear on my nerves was awful. When we read St. Paul's admonition in Ephesians 6 ...

3552. Advertised Goodness

Matthew 6:1-2, Matthew 6:5-6

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... journey for a slow moving frog. But in the pond where he resided, there were some Canadian geese. The observant frog noted how much they liked corn. This enterprising frog found a flat, strong stick about four feet long. He approached the geese with a proposition: "If two of you will take the two ends of this stick in your mouths, I will clamp my strong jaws onto the middle of the stick. Then I will just hold on while you deliver me by air to that pond two ...

3553. Getting on the Active List

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... and Christmas. For goodness sakes, use this window of opportunity to invite someone to worship with us and to experience the Christian fellowship of your class or group. My prayer is that at least 1000 of us will be willing to be like Andrew, that disciple of long ago who was the link between Simon Peter and Jesus. In just a few moments I will give you an opportunity to be part of what we are calling "Operation Andrew." Right now I want you to find an Operation Andrew card in your book rack or Friendship ...

3554. The Seeds of Social Conflict

Genesis 4:1-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... for, and you will be tempted to rage in response. Your own brother or sister may not help you care for an aging parent, and you will be tempted to rage in response. At those tough moments, remember the words of Genesis: “Sin is waiting to attack you, longing to destroy you. But you can conquer it!” How can we conquer it? Because “the One who is in us – the Christ Spirit – is greater than the one who is in the world.” Since I started with the story of two brothers, let me close with another story ...

3555. God of Wrath and Grace

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... can not abide our sin. But the good news is that even his wrath points us toward his grace. The story of Noah tells us that long ago God wiped out all life from this planet except for one man’s family and selected pairs of the Earth’s creatures. While we don ... love word. Because God cannot overlook our sin, there is always agony in the heart of God. Calvary is a finished sacrifice, but as long as any of us sins, there will be agony in the heart of God. Note throughout the patience of God. It took quite a ...

3556. Right on the Money!

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... bank. You may start with less than 1 percent being deducted, but it will grow. Most financial counselors recommend that you build up to an amount equal to two to three months' salary, placed in a secure savings account. Then you can gradually work on long-term s with CDS, mutual funds, or other investments. Even the ants and the squirrels understand the principle of savings; surely those of us made in God’s image should do as well. The second admonition from Proverbs is: Save for the future. THE THIRD ...

3557. 'Nevertheless': A Word of Faith

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... a different understanding of his launching. In his autobiography, Just As I Am, he tells about a retreat he attended just a few months before that crusade. One night he was restless so he got up and took a walk. The moon was out, and the shadows were long in the San Bernardino Mountains. Dropping to his knees there in the woods, he opened the Bible at random on a tree stump in front of him. That tree stump became an altar. Graham prayed a prayer that went something like this: “0 God, there are many things ...

3558. Home Free

Romans 5:1-11

Children's Sermon

Tim Carpenter

... the teammate just tag the runner out when the runner is standing on the base? (Because he’s safe on the base) You mean that as long as the runner stands on the base step up on the base he is safe? (response) Application: Keeping your foot on the base. Did you ... that we are safe if we stand in God’s grace? Even though bad things happen, God can use those things to make us stronger as long as we stand in his grace. And even though we might do something we ought not to do, God will save us if we stand in ...

3559. Never Underestimate The Power of a Cup of Cold Water

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Brett Blair

... Christ. It is quite likely we shall never be tested to the extent that the disciples were but there are some ways to gauge our commitment. Let’s look at a couple this morning: I. Sacrifice is a Sign of Mature Faith. If you have been a Christian for some long time, I would suggest that the sacrifices you make are the tell-tale sign of a mature commitment. Let’s look at the text. Jesus does not mince words with the 12 Apostles. He says, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to earth. I did not ...

3560. Making a Name for Ourselves

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... merchants passed that way, one would ask the other, “Who left that pile of bricks over there?” And the other merchant would reply, “Well, according to the story I heard, it was once a huge tower that almost reached the clouds. Evidently the people who lived here a long time ago wanted to really make a name for themselves. So they built a tower, and that pile of rubble is all that’s left of it. I think they called it the Tower of Babel.” Now, come back to the present. Each of us is building some ...

3561. Someone At the Door

Revelation 3:14-22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... 20 of our scripture. It is this meal that Jesus wants to share with us...a time of intimate fellowship. Doesn’t it blow your mind to know that Jesus Christ yearns to hang out with people like you and me? Despite all our frailties, failings and sins, God Almighty longs to be close to us. That is just amazing! HERE IS THE THIRD TRUTH THAT I FIND IN OUR SCRIPTURE: THE NEXT MOVE IS OURS. Jesus cannot do anything in your life or mine until you and I hear his voice and open the door. The Greek verb “to open ...

3562. Friction Points

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the contention by Charles Grodin and other talk show hosts that even if the president is guilty as charged, it does not matter. Some Americans believe that whether a politician cheats on his wife should have no bearing on his fitness for public office. They say, "As long as the stock market is up and inflation down, who cares what he does in his personal life? After all, he lives under a lot of pressure." That might be okay if God were not righteous and if America did not need God. Then any behavior would ...

3563. All You Need To Know About Heaven

John 14:5-14, John 14:1-4

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the only one who has died and then returned to tell us what is on the other side. Whereas eighty years is a long time to spend on earth, one is still practically a rookie in heaven after a thousand years. Therefore, it makes sense to give ... is! Now, if some cynic tells you that thinking about heaven is escapist or hopelessly sentimental, tell that person this: Only when I have my long-term future secured can I live fully in the present. If I don't know my final destination, I’ll be mighty confused along the ...

3564. How to Handle Criticism

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... became skilled in this art in record time. One of our ladies almost drove the shopkeepers crazy. But when we got to Greece, especially in those fashionable shops in Athens, there was no bartering. Whatever the price tag said, that was the firm price. As long as someone is talking about your house or your habits or your politics or your work, let it be like Israelis prices, open to negotiation and bartering, subject to diverse opinions. But when the subject is your fundamental worth as a person, let that be ...

3565. Our Lord's Abundant Table

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Brett Blair

... basis. The point of the story of feeding of the five thousand is not to prove that miracles happen. The point of the story is to teach us three things: I First it teaches us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Word of the Lord. How long the Israelites had waited for the Messiah to come. It had been centuries, four centuries to be exact, since the last prophet had spoken in the Land. Malachi called a backslidden nation to repentance 400 years before Christ. It had been longer still since Israel and Judah ...

3566. Legends Of Christmas

Drama

Georgianna Summers

... center of the stage area as part of Danny’s dream.] Student: [Standing and reading] One of the legends about Christmas is that when Christ was born in Bethlehem the bees sang praises to him, and that is why bees hum to this day. Because of this legend it was long a custom in England to put a sprig of holly in each beehive at Christmas. The English also like to decorate their houses with holly, and in the big manor houses in merry old England it was the job of the servants to see that this was done. Marcia ...

3567. Reconciliation

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Burton F. Blair

... that a man is a sinner and that he is guilty before God is to say something about his relationship with God," writes William Hordern.1 Sin comes into our lives when we forget who and what we are. We are part of God’s mysterious creation, yet we have longed to be equal with the Creator. The Psalmist, speaking of the nature of human beings, wrote, "Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor" (8:5). We sin because we have been given such a high place in creation and ...

3568. Suffering

John 19:28-37

Sermon

Burton F. Blair

... And we must remember that, during this time in church history, a dangerous twist to Christianity had developed and was being preached. The movement was called Gnosticism. The Gnostics were greatly influenced by Greek philosophy, and as a thought form were in existence long before Christianity came on the scene. Gnostics taught that spirit is good, and matter, the physical, is evil. So, they denied that Jesus was a physical being, but instead was a phantom in human form, in which the Spirit of God had taken ...

3569. God’s Chosen Country

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Susan Hedahl

... we see a further unfolding of God’s plan of salvation as the peoples of the world look toward one nation, the Hebrews, sent on a mission that would affect us all. The sacred scriptures of the Hebrews are filled with an urgency and a gentler longing for something better. It became apparent through the centuries that the something would be Someone. The Spirit of the Sovereign God is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; God has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted ...

3570. Small-town Revolution

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Susan Hedahl

... of the prophet came true. What would the kings and rulers of the day think if they had heard such a liberating challenge from the lips of a young woman, pregnant, living in an obscure Galilean village? Mary’s song is ours. She sang of the liberation for which we long - in our lives, our family, our daily work. And just as her child’s lullaby began in an obscure locale, so often does liberation begin that way for us. It takes only a word, a thought, a deed to affirm a change in our lives which claims the ...

3571. Christmas I

Luke 2:22-40

Children's Sermon

Susan Hedahl

... people say I will try to lose weight. I will make my bed every morning. I plan to get better grades. Most of the time by the middle of the year or earlier, people have forgotten about their promises. God made a promise to everyone in the world a long time ago. It was something that everyone looked forward to. The Bible contains all of these promises. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God kept the promise. Do you know which one came true? Yes! God promised to send Jesus to all of us. No one has gotten ...

3572. Rediscovering Our Spiritual Dimension

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... America’s youth has tended to "show a hunger for some spiritual dimension which is all too scarce in contemporary adult American life." In his book, The Research Magnificent, H. G. Wells told of a young man who regarded his life as one long succession of days that became more and more filled with aimlessness, purposelessness and shabby trivialities. Eventually for him daily life became flat, insipid and meaningless, and in his desperate plight he cried out, "O God, give me back my visions!" Do we want ...

3573. A Perspective on the Ascension

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... from God and was given by God a mission to fulfill. All this was now accomplished and he could do no more than return to the God who sent him. So, the idealist says, "Case closed!" b. A second perspective is that of the materialist. He takes a long, detached look at the whole story and dismisses it out of hand. To him it is an absurdity - just another myth. The early gospel writers had to dispose of Jesus somehow, and hence they wove this tale out of sheer fantasy. Moreover, the materialists ask: how could ...

3574. One’s Proper Service

Isaiah 58:1-14

Illustration

Larry Powell

... the choir for probably fifty years. He was not a person of means and not physically able to participate in the church’s visitation program or serve on any committee. His days were spent sitting at home with his good wife who had been in poor health for as long as I could remember. He could however, do one thing for his church. He could manage to get away for a couple of hours on Sunday morning and sing in the choir. His service though, as precious as it was to him, was no longer appreciated. I suppose the ...

3575. A Mountain-Top Experience

Mark 9:2-13

Illustration

Larry Powell

... Hermon. There, he was "transfigured;" that is to say, in a moment of spiritual union with God the Father, his countenance was transformed. Even his garments became glistening, intensely white (Mark 9:3), and Moses appeared with Elijah to speak with him. A cloud, long identified with the presence of God, i.e., "firey, cloudly pillar," overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud; "This is my beloved son; listen to him" (Mark 9:7). Dramatically, the carpenter’s son was now understood to be the "Son ...

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