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 4001 to 4025 of 4959 results

4001. Fear Is A Great Motivator

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

... met, one said, “Did you hear those bullets?” Another replied, “I heard them twice, once when they passed me, and once when I passed them!” The farmer accomplished his purpose, since fear kept the boys from further stealing. Fear is a powerful motive-directing behavior. Perhaps love is the most desirable motive, but fear will also do.

4002. Fellowship Over Things

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... entertainments. The young Russian seemed immensely impressed by the amount of things that people were wrapped up with. As the three months drew to a close, everyone expected her to defect and seek political asylum in Canada. She surprised them all by expressing a desire to return to her family in Russia and the small group of believers to which they belonged. She explained that in North America everyone seems wrapped up in “things” and doesn’t have time for people. In Russia, they don’t have as many ...

4003. Aliens To The Rescue

Illustration

Brett Blair

... beings exist and second that their race will not be affected with the same depravity that is so evident in all human endeavor. It also assumes that they would be interested in helping us. It assumes a few other things, but what it is, in a final analysis is a desire for Salvation. An admission that we are lost. It is a hope but it is a blind hope.

4004. Too Close To Temptation

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A wealthy couple desired to employ a chauffeur. The lady of the house advertised, the applicants were screened, and four suitable candidates were brought before her for the final selection. She called the prospective chauffeurs to her balcony and pointed out a brick wall alongside the driveway. Then she asked the men, “How close ...

4005. Life's A Cake Mix

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... with the good-tasting ingredients to produce a delicious final product. God can be trusted to take even the bitter experiences of life and blend them together and make them work together for good. God knows which ingredients are needed, and he knows how to mix them to produce the desired result.

4006. Will of God by Reason

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Just before Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a group of ministers urged him to grant immediate freedom to all slaves. “It is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter,” Lincoln wrote. “And if I can learn what it is, I will do it.… I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation; I must study the plain physical facts of the case … and learn what appears to be wise and right. The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree.”

4007. P-reach C-hrist

Humor Illustration

Michael P. Green

A middle-aged farmer who had been desiring for years to be an evangelist was out working in the field one day when he decided to rest under a tree. As he looked into the sky he saw that the clouds seemed to form into the letters P and C. Immediately he hopped up, sold his farm, and ...

4008. Solomon’s Death

2 Chronicles 9:29-31

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... . These recount Solomon’s many wives and their idolatrous influence on him, Solomon’s adversaries, and Jeroboam’s rebelling against Solomon. These narratives blame Solomon for the division in the monarchy that followed his reign. Given the Chronicler’s desire to idealize Solomon as a prototype of royalty, it is understandable that these Deuteronomistic narratives were not included in the Chronicler’s construction. Summary of 2 Chron. 2:1—9:31 In retrospect, several key ideas clearly dominate the ...

4009. Jehoram King of Judah

2 Chronicles 21:4-20

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... letter notes that Judah’s destruction is preceded by a foreign coalition (the Philistines and Arabs), the Cyrus proclamation precedes the restoration of Judah. 21:20 The NIV’s to no one’s regret is problematic. It literally means “not with precious/desirable things.” This could mean that the dead king was not honored in the usual way by putting some precious objects in his tomb. The Septuagint translated it with a Greek phrase meaning “not to speak of the excellence of a person.” Although ...

4010. Ahaz King of Judah

2 Chronicles 28:1-27

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... the king’s apostasy by indicating that he shut the doors of the LORD’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem, a remark that is absent from Kings. Imagine: a Davidic king barring entrance to the very temple that David desired and Solomon built! The great irony of the king himself now also providing high places to bring sacrifices to other deities in every town in Judah bears repeating. It comes as no surprise that Ahaz’s policy provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers ...

4011. Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Acts 1:12-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... in verse 13, and so the silence of Acts is hardly grounds to condemn the man. As for the method, the coming of the Spirit soon gave the church a more certain guide to God’s will, though at the time their use of the lot was quite legitimate. Their desire was to discover the man of God’s choice. Additional Notes 1:12 The Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city, mg.: “That is, about ¾ mile (about 1,100 meters)”: This was the extent to which a pious Jew was allowed to travel on the ...

4012. The Fellowship of the Believers

Acts 2:42-47

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... in the New Testament only here, though kindred ideas occur. It suggests both sincerity (cf., e.g., 1 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:10) and single-mindedness (cf. Rom. 12:8)—a condition in which deeds and thoughts alike are controlled by one motive, namely, a desire to please God. Like joy (cf. 13:52), “simplicity of heart” is a gift of the Spirit, but like much of the Spirit’s work, it is grounded in the recipient’s wholehearted obedience (see notes on 2:2ff.). 2:47 Their fellowship was further characterized ...

4013. The Stoning of Stephen

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... before the Sanhedrin, the false witnesses, the high priest’s question, the reference to the Son of Man, Stephen’s dying prayer, and the petition for the forgiveness of his murderers. To some extent this may have been a purely literary device—Luke’s desire for consistency of style. There may also have been a theological motive, namely, to show how Christ continued to suffer in his body, the church (see disc. on 1:1 and the introduction to 5:17–42). But the differences between the two narratives ...

4014. The Church in Antioch

Acts 11:19-30

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... to Josephus, Judea was affected between A.D. 44 and 48 (Antiquities, 20.49–53). But, for the church in Antioch, forewarned was forearmed. The believers decided that each according to his ability would send help to Judea (v. 29; cf. 1 Cor. 16:2). Their desire was to provide help for the brothers, where the Greek could mean that they would send as much as they could “for ministry,” recalling the similar expression in 6:1 and making the point that this was simply on a larger scale what had been the ...

4015. In Pisidian Antioch

Acts 13:13-52

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... Gentiles. He had been told at the beginning that he would make God known to the Gentiles (9:15), and events at Antioch had finally established him in that role. However, his commission had also included preaching to the people of Israel, and it remained his heart’s desire that all Israel should be saved (Rom. 9:1–3; 10:1). Never did he cease to identify himself with them. Always in every place that he went he would go first to the Jews, and when one synagogue turned him out he would go to another (cf ...

4016. Paul and Silas In Prison

Acts 16:16-40

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... many Romans did in fact practice illicit cults (cf. 18:12ff.). The authorities were generally content to apply three tests as a rule of thumb to any new religion: Would it upset the dominant position of Roman cults? Was it politically safe? Was it morally desirable? If these tests were satisfied, toleration was complete, and the law was let lie. But there were cases on record where it had been invoked to restrain the excesses of some sect or other (the Druids, the Magians, the devotees of Isis), and it may ...

4017. Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

Acts 20:13-38

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the Ephesians themselves to seduce the congregation. Experience had taught him to fear for this flock, and history has shown that his fears were justified (cf. 1 Tim. 1:3, 20; 2 Tim. 1:15; 2:17; 3:8, 13; 1 John 2:18f.; 2 and 3 John). The desire of these teachers would be to draw away disciples after themselves—an implied contrast with the call of the disciple to follow Christ. The verb means “to tear away from that to which one is attached.” 20:31 The pastoral metaphor is maintained as Paul urged the ...

4018. Paul’s Arrival at Jerusalem

Acts 21:17-26

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

The remaining chapters of Acts describe the “bonds and hardships” that Paul had to endure. That so much of the book is given to this may be due to a desire on Luke’s part to simulate the passion narrative of the Gospel, in which the events of a few days are told at a length that seems disproportionate to the whole (see disc. on 19:21–41). But it must also be remembered that Luke himself was probably involved in ...

4019. Paul the Roman Citizen

Acts 22:22-29

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... his words from what they knew of him) without their submitting first to the “yoke” of the law (cf. 15:10). They would hear no more of this (cf. 7:57), and the opportunity was gone for Paul to defend himself, had that been his desire, against the specific charge that he had “brought Greeks into the temple area” (21:28b). But in any case, that charge was only incidental. The Jews’ real objection, that he had taught “against our people and our law and this place” (21:28a), had been sufficiently ...

4020. The Plot to Kill Paul

Acts 23:12-22

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... from the Tower, to kill him. It was a desperate plan with little chance of success, conceived perhaps in the knowledge that the Sanhedrin lacked the power in most cases to inflict capital punishment and as much a symptom of their frustration with Roman rule as of their desire to be rid of Paul. It is far from certain, however, that the prefect would have agreed to a new inquiry. 23:16 As it happened, the matter was never put to the test. Somehow Paul’s family got wind of the plot, and his nephew came to ...

4021. The Shipwreck

Acts 27:27-44

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... , and not least like that of the Last Supper (cf. Lk. 9:16; 22:19; 24:30), that it is sometimes supposed that this had become a “communion service” for the two or three Christians on board. This may be questioned, but Paul’s action had the desired effect: They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves (v. 36). 27:37 The number of people on board is given at two hundred seventy-six. This has sometimes surprised modern readers and inclined them to accept the lesser figure of seventy-six found in ...

4022. Paul Preaches at Rome Under Guard

Acts 28:17-31

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the opinion that Paul “could have been set free” (26:32), Festus might have agreed, as he might at least be assumed to have done, whether he actually said so or not. 28:19 It is not recorded that the Jews had expressly opposed the governor’s desire to release Paul, but their opposition is clearly implied in their persisting with the charges against him even after the lapse of two years (25:2, 7). It is presupposed also in Festus’ proposal of 25:9. Believing, then, that he would sooner or later fall ...

4023. Accusations

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... building the Corinthians up and not for destroying them (2 Cor. 10:8; 12:19–21). Already in 1 Corinthians Paul had warned the church that he might have to come to them “with a stick” (1 Cor. 4:21). 1:24 Since Paul’s stated desire to spare the Corinthians from judgment (v. 23) strongly implies his apostolic authority to judge the Corinthians, Paul tries to avoid appearing too authoritarian and to reassure the Corinthians. When Paul states that we do not lord it over the Corinthians in the context of ...

4024. Body / Ambassador

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... that Christ died for all and therefore all died? At first, the inference that Paul makes here does not appear compelling, for it is not immediately obvious how the death of a single individual effects the death of others, let alone why that might be a desirable event and a motivation for Paul’s apostolic ministry. According to Paul, all people are sinners who are estranged from God, sold into slavery under the power of sin, and condemned to death (Rom. 1–3; 7:14). In order to rectify this situation, the ...

4025. Paul Opposes Peter

Galatians 2:11-21

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... the just, and put confidence and trust in them” (Cato the Younger 44.8 [Perrin, LCL]). To be just was to be like a god (Plutarch, Aristeides 6.2). The battle between Paul and his opponents, then, was over convincing the Galatians not of the desirability of righteousness but of the correct means of becoming righteous. The hook that the rival evangelists had in the Galatians was that their way—the way of works of law—resonated both with the Jewish tradition to which Paul’s converts were attracted and ...

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