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 4026 to 4050 of 4962 results

4026. Catching The Thanksgiving Spirit

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

For some people, Thanksgiving is just another occassion for feasting and football. As someone has said, "If God had meant for us to fast on Thanksgiving, he would never have created 30-pound turkeys." I believe it was Erma Bombeck who said that the most remarkable thing about her mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. Some of us will feel that way after Thanksgiving. Robert Orben reports on the practice of raising your own ...

4027. Living By Faith In A Time of War

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Our nation is at war. We have been at war since we were attacked almost five years ago, on September 11, 2001. This war against terrorism is hotter than the Cold War and will probably last for a generation. Many Americans are not directly affected by the war. Many go about their business as usual, fussing about crime and gasoline prices, anticipating summer vacations and who will win the NBA Championship. However, if you have a loved one in Afghanistan or Iraq, you think about the war all the time. Almost ...

4028. Building Relationships

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

In 1997 the following letter appeared in newspapers throughout our land: Dear Ann Landers: You recently printed a sweet “how‑we‑met” story. The woman said at the end of World War II, she sat behind a soldier in church. He knew all the lyrics to the songs so she figured he couldn’t be all bad. Later, she learned he was a doctor. Three months later, she slipped on an icy walk and injured her arm. That same doctor insisted she stay in the infirmary, and he visited her twice a day. When she was discharged, he ...

4029. Keeping His Word

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

Keeping our word has a long and positive history in our nation. For generations, a man was known by whether or not he kept his word. His word was his bond. Deal after deal was made on that basis. The essentials of the business world found it always helpful and even necessary for commerce to run smoothly. Some of us can remember vividly how these agreements functioned. Woe be unto that man who did not keep his word! If it happened more than once or twice and there were no extenuating circumstances, he was ...

4030. Job Destroys the Friends’ Major Argument

Job 21:1-34

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

Big Idea: Job demonstrates that the observable evidence argues against the absolute application of the retribution principle. Understanding the Text Up to this point in the book, Job has been on the defensive as his friends argue that the retribution principle is an absolute pattern for life. In particular, the friends have insisted that Job must be a sinner, because the wicked are always judged by God with adversity. In his speech in chapter 21, Job unhooks the necessary connection between a person’s acts ...

4031. A Remedy for Rejection

Luke 4:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever been rejected? Have you ever had a door shut in your face? Welcome to the real world. Parents spend years grooming their children for success. Perhaps it would be more profitable to train our children to handle failure and rejection because everyone faces these unhappy experiences sooner or later. Go to Google. Type in the words “famous rejections.” If you do, you will learn that J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of novels, was rejected by 12 different publishers before her work ...

4032. Enemies of the Cross

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Whenever I lead an inquiry class for those who want to learn more about my congregation and the faith we confess, I try to keep things very simple and boiled down to the basics. I call it an inquiry class because by exploring their questions I hope to help them to see what is at the heart and core of the Christian faith. What is that heart and core? It is revealed by a shocking answer to a simple question. It is a question that every human being asks: What do I have to do to be saved? It is a question that ...

4033. Toward A More Sensuous Christianity

Sermon

John A. Stroman

In using the word "sensuous," I am not using the word in a carnal or bestial sense, but rather in a sensory sense. The experience of the Holy Spirit is sensuous in the sense that it is stimulating, inspiring, exciting and at times emotional. The apostle reminds us, "For the kingdom of God is ... joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). When electricity was first introduced some Frenchmen wanted to know how fast electricity moves, so the abbot of a large monastery volunteered his monks for an experiment. ...

4034. Proper 20

1 Timothy 2:1-15, Jeremiah 8:4--9:26, Luke 16:1-15

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Jeremiah 8:18--9:1 Jeremiah mourns for the people. Jeremiah was frank in exposing the sins of Judah and forecasting the consequences of the people's sins. Vividly he told of coming destruction and desolation caused by their sins. In this passage Jeremiah identifies with the suffering of the people. As the weeping prophet, he weeps for the plight of his people. Epistle: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Prayers for all people are acceptable to God who desires all to be saved. Paul urges Timothy to ...

4035. Proper 16

Lk 13:22-30 · Heb 12:5-7, 11-13, 18-29 · Jer 28:1-9 · Isa 66:18-23

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Jeremiah 28:1-9 Hananiah, a prophet, contradicts Jeremiah's prophecy of doom. Jeremiah is confronted by Hananiah, a prophet from Gibeon, in the temple. It is a dramatic scene with Jeremiah's wearing a yoke to symbolize the coming bondage of Judah to Babylon. To Jeremiah in the presence of the priests and people, Hananiah tells Jeremiah that Babylon will be defeated and within two years the king, exiles, and the temple treasures will be returned to Jerusalem. Sarcastically Jeremiah says "Amen" to ...

4036. Judgement Day Is Coming

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

When I was a college student I was tempted by only one other profession than the preaching ministry. That was the practice of law. And I am convinced that God is just as delighted with a Christian lawyer as He is with a Christian pastor. Those poor attorneys! Everybody tells lawyer jokes, including lawyers themselves. And I admire them for that. The only two groups in our society who have the grace and self-confidence to tell funny stories about themselves are attorneys and rednecks. May God bless both ...

4037. Inevitabilities and the Last Days

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

Few natural phenomena are as spectacular as the storm clouds that assemble over a mountaintop. One can hear the thunder grumble ominously among them. The tempo increases until its grumble glides into a rumble and an intermittent crash. In the forest below, one feels the quickening fresh-scented breeze turn into a hard-muscled wind that bends the creaking leafy forest giants into submission. The camper cringes in his tent as, in the now imminent storm, the thunder applauds the pyrotechnics of the lightning ...

4038. Sight for Blind Eyes

John 9:1-12, John 9:13-34, John 9:35-41

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Quite a story...particularly for that fellow by the road! Put yourself in his place. It was very difficult for you to get to sleep last night, wasn't it? There was no way that you wanted to close your eyes. After all, those eyes had been sightless since you were born. Again and again you looked at everything in that little Judean home...the mud walls that had become an ever lighter beige over the years, the brown chairs and table, the red color of your father's cloak, the wrinkled hands of your mother as ...

4039. Preparing for Christmas

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor John Ortberg was giving a bath to his three children. Johnny was still in the tub. Laura was out and safely in her pajamas. He was trying to get Mallory dried off. Mallory was out of the water, but was doing what has come to be known in their family as the Dee Dah Day dance. This dance consists of running around and around in circles, singing over and over again, "Dee dah day, dee dah day." It was a relatively simple dance expressing great joy. When Mallory is too happy to hold it in any longer, ...

4040. Stirring Things Up

Mark 13:1-8, Hebrews 10:11-25

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The Union Tribune carried a series of articles this last week on the variety of religions that are emerging as we approach the millennium. We used to talk about religion in America as Protestant, Catholic and Jew. Now there are more Muslims in America than there are Episcopalians, and soon there will be more than there are Jews. Now with the largest in-migration to this country from Asia, there will soon be a lot of Buddhists to add to the mix in America. So while at the beginning of the 20th century you ...

4041. Death by Chocolate

Hebrews 9:11-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"Death by Chocolate." Just the words put moisture in your mouth. [If you can bring out here some parishioner's recipe of Death by Chocolate, and tease them with its deliciousness, so much the better.] Almost every upscale, elegant restaurant seems to offer their own version of this extra rich, extra decadent, extra artery-clogging delight they dub Death by Chocolate. For committed chocoholics this dessert offers the ultimate attempt to sweeten the bitterest reality life offers all of us the plain and ...

4042. All in the Family

1 Timothy 3:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

Howard Rutledge, a United States air force pilot, was shot down over North Vietnam during the early stages of the Vietnamese War. He spent several miserable, terrible years in the hands of the Vietnamese before being released when the war ended. He shares a testimony of something God taught him in that terrible place that really relates to where we are this morning. "During those longer periods of enforced reflection, it became so much easier to separate the important from the trivial, the worthwhile from ...

4043. A Voice in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to give you a memory test. How many of you remember these chilling words? “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the FCC and federal, state and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed to tune to one of the broadcast stations in your area.” It’s been ten years since the Emergency Broadcast System broadcast ...

4044. Seeking Christ

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometime back Dr. Phil Berry took a picture outside a roadside convenience store. The store was on the Texas border on the highway leading to Colorado. It was one of those portable advertising signs with flashing lights along the top meant to lure in passersby. At the top of the sign it read, “Last chance Lotto Texas, clean restrooms, snacks.” Then, at the bottom of the sign, almost like an afterthought, it read, “Jesus is Lord.” “It’s like, on the way out of Texas, whatever you need, they have it,” says ...

4045. Cultivating Faithfulness Until the Flourishing Wicked Wither

Psalm 37:1-40

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

To make sense of this wisdom psalm we must first pay heed to hints of its social setting. The wicked have wealth, the righteous little (v. 16). A chief concern is that of “possessing (Hb. yrš, NIV ‘inherit’) the land” (vv. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34). Verse 3b literally reads, “Tent the land and shepherd faithfulness.” This may suggest that the righteous live as pastoralists or semi-nomads, not as settlers. They live in the land but the wicked are its owners. The notions of righteousness and justice (esp. vv. 6, 28 ...

4046. Redeemed

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: paycheck (month) or $2000-$3000 in cash [Hold up the check or cash.] I’m holding here a paycheck for $3,000. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s an approximate month’s take-home salary for an average American today. $4,000 gross. $3,000 net. Some of you probably make more than that, some less. But that’s the national average for 2015. At the dawn of the first century, an average wage for an Israelite would have been the equivalent of about 7 or 8 silver shekels per month (in ...

4047. The Joy Of Being Found

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Richard Hasler

D. L. Moody tells the story somewhere of going to a jail to preach and when he began to preach he saw a sign in the back of the hall that read in large bold letters: DO NOT PREACH ON THE PRODIGAL SON. Apparently, the prisoners had had enough sermons on that particular parable, even though it is one of Jesus’ most powerful parables about God’s redeeming grace. Fortunately, our lectionary text Luke 15:1-10 does not include the parable of the prodigal son. We do have two similar parables: the lost sheep and ...

4048. Tyre, Sidon—and Israel

Ezekiel 26:1-21, Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-19, Ezekiel 28:20-26

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

In the final form of Ezekiel, a collection of oracles against the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (26:1–28:19) interrupts a series of short oracles against the minor kingdoms surrounding Israel (beginning in 25:1). The pattern of short oracles resumes with a brief oracle against the second major Phoenician port city, Sidon (28:20–23), followed by a summary and conclusion to all the oracles against the nations (28:24) and a promise of salvation for Israel (28:25–26). It seems likely, then, that this series of ...

4049. Bad Timing

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Thomas Long

Some people are masters of bad timing. These are the people who burst into a party wearing a lamp shade and a hula skirt just as the conversation has taken a serious turn, a turn, say, toward a discussion of human rights or world hunger. Masters of bad timing buy high and sell low. They are the folks who try to rouse the hayriding young people to one more chorus of "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain" just as the mood has shifted to the romantic. They telephone with questions about corrections to the ...

4050. That All-Pervasive Snake

Genesis 2:4-25, Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Joann Hary

Do you believe in original sin? If I asked, some of you might answer quite cutely, "Yes, I believe in original sin, in fact I have always thought that if I was going to sin, I might as well be original about it." Then, of course, there are the many stories, such as the one about the church billboard that said, "If you desire to be done with sin, come on in." As the people read more closely, they discovered that someone had written in lipstick, "But if you are not quite sure, call 555-5271." What is ...

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