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 5000 results

4026. Blago and Radnan, Two Lost Sons

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... accomplish that, Jesus told a third parable on the same topic. We call it the parable of the prodigal son, but that is really not fully descriptive. I think it is more accurate to call it the parable of the two lost sons. It is among the best loved stories in scripture. Unfortunately, the sharp edges of meaning have been worn smooth by the retelling. In order to highlight some of that meaning, I will tell the story from a different perspective. There is a chance you will not like my story. In fact, you may ...

4027. The Rag Doll

Illustration

Randy Spencer

... I found her favorite was a small rag doll she had received on her third birthday. All the other performing dolls had gone, but this simple rag doll had allowed her to love it. The other dolls had caught her eye, but the rag doll had won her heart. To my daughter the rag doll was real and was loved just the way it was, and the scars of love showed as the hair was nearly gone, the eyes were missing, and the clothes were soiled and torn. But, missing all these parts, it was still what it had always been, just ...

4028. In Which City Do You Live?

Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... people together. This is because of a second truth--the city of man is governed by law, the city of God is governed by love. We have laws. Why? Is it not to keep a person from taking unfair advantage of his neighbor? The Federal Bureau of Investigation ... gift. You can’t earn it or buy it or even deserve it. You can only accept it as the free and generous gift of a loving and benevolent God. John saw the Holy City coming down from heaven from God. It did not rise from the earth. The kingdom of God never ...

4029. Next Man Up

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... what we need to succeed in His service. You and I--we have been entrusted to carry on the work of the Messiah. The Deliverer. God in the flesh. And God will give us what we need to be successful in that work. A young man named Pat Dirken loved to surf. However, one day when he was surfing he was hit by a particularly large wave, which injured his spine and left him a quadriplegic. Pat spent months in physical therapy, and traded his surfboard for a wheelchair. Pat never lost his faith in God, but after the ...

4030. All in the Family

Acts 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Hope in our family.”(4) “God brought us all together.” That’s true in our families. That’s true in our church family. And we are thankful and blessed and humbled when we have hope in our families: Hope that comes from the guidance and wisdom of a loving God. Hope that comes from a courageous, selfless faith. Hope that comes from the unity of the Holy Spirit. It is only this power that draws us together and makes us a powerful witness of God’s presence in this world. 1. (WestBow Press). 2. Bill J ...

4031. Time to Pick a Side

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

King Duncan

... : marriage to him, or her education as a nurse. Pick a side. Elizabeth chose nursing. Imagine how hard it was to lose the love of her fiancé. But millions of people all over the world were healed because of her choice. (4) Sometimes you have to choose. ... is the co-founder and president of Teen Mania Ministries where he devotes himself to spreading the message of God’s hope and love to teenagers. (5) At sixteen years old, Ron Luce’s rejected him because of his commitment to Jesus and it changed his life ...

4032. Making Your Life Count

1 Timothy 2:5-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... through him that was the source of his great accomplishments. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,” wrote St. Paul on one occasion, “but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Is that a truth too great for our little hearts? It is to say that if we will but surrender our lives, there is a source of power available to us—that can flow through us—and help us to accomplish ...

4033. The Poor Man in the Mercedes

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... . I honestly don’t know if Dives ended up in a physical hell or not. I do believe this—there probably was not much joy in his life while here was alive. You simply cannot have a truly abundant life without Christ . . . and you cannot love Christ without loving your neighbor. We are responsible for one another. Judgment is a very real part of the Gospel message—what we sow, we reap. Perhaps more than ever in human history, we need a missions-consciousness both at home and abroad. As George Bernard Shaw ...

4034. Free From What? For What?

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... walk away from the lives we are leading. We say we want to be given time to put our affairs in order, to take care of those we love, to say good-bye to friends and family. But the truth is that we really don’t want to let go of what we have, and we ... called to freedom, but we are not to use our freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence of the flesh but rather, through holy love, we are free to become servants of God and slaves to each other. The tale is told of British and American POW’s imprisoned ...

4035. Déjà Vu or Divine Revelation?

Luke 23:35-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... , he reveals himself to be a shepherd who will die to save his sheep. In verses 17 and 18, Jesus says, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down ... us from the penalty of death forever. The second thief saw a King whose agenda was motivated not by dominance but by mercy and love. And finally, the second thief saw a King whose sacrifice was necessary for our salvation. The first thief wanted to be saved from his situation ...

4036. Plastic Hearts

Illustration

King Duncan

... DeBakey, the famed heart surgeon in Houston, Texas, a note that asked this question, “Does a plastic heart have love in it?” Dr. DeBakey replied: “Yes, a plastic heart has love in it, a great deal of love. The love in a plastic heart comes from many people who love other people, and don’t want them to die. So these people work all day and often all night to build a heart that will make people live longer. “If you think of how much love there would be in hundreds of hearts, then that is how much ...

4037. Patches

Luke 5:36

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... people on earth. Jesus said that this kind of thinking was old and out of style. The new thought is that God is a God of love and forgiveness and not hate. There were lots of old ways. For instance, the old way to think about life was that the sick were being ... people who really honored God were made rich and given many children. Jesus said that money didn't matter with God and that the poor were loved by God as much as the rich. Jesus had a lot of new thoughts and He said that they would not work in the old ...

4038. How Would You Introduce Jesus?

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... couldn’t miss the meaning: Jesus is God made flesh. Jesus is full of grace and truth so God is full of grace and truth.” It’s not easy telling others about God. So let’s start there. There really is a God. God really does love you. Now find someone and share the story with them. 1. https://thoughtcatalog.com/january-nelson/2018/06/funny-stories/. 2. “Worst Business Cards of All Time” by Eric Reed, TheStreet.com, Jan. 15, 2014. https://www.thestreet.com/story/12784742/1/worst-business-cards-all ...

4039. You Have a Story to Tell

John 9:1-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... stop him from speaking truth to power. There are some wonderful lyrics to a song titled “My Story” by Big Daddy Weave. The song begins, “If I told you my story You would hear Hope that wouldn't let go . . . And if I told you my story You would hear Love that never gave up . . . And if I told you my story You would hear Life, but it wasn't mine . . . If I should speak then let it be Of the grace that is greater than all my sin . . . Of when justice was served and where mercy wins . . . Of the kindness ...

4040. The Definition of Church

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Molly F. James

... Episcopal church in town, St. John’s, was just an historic building used for events and concerts. It wasn’t an active parish. We worshiped in the next town over which was big enough to have a real downtown and a wonderful Episcopal parish, St. Philip’s. I loved that community for the ways in which it supported and formed me, and for the valuable lessons it taught me. One of those lessons was about what it means to be a church. They taught me that being a church is about people and community. It is not ...

4041. Broken Yet Sincere

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... hand, and signed with Jesus’ authentic blood as he marks your life –-“sincere.” This is the story of the Emmaus Road. It can be your story of your journey from brokenness to beauty. The journey from “breakage to repair” is always a sincere one. Jesus’ love for us is as sincere as you can get. But the “gold” that Jesus uses to restore our lives to God is his own blood. We are washed in the blood of the lamb, and our lives become sincere incarnations of Christ’s resurrected presence. With ...

4042. The Gathering at Cana

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... for worship and zeal for God’s ways? [Hold up the litmus paper] How has your miracle touched your heart? How has it touched the hearts of others? Can others discern it too? Does it make your passion for Jesus rise? Does it make your heart burn with love without even knowing why? That is a sure sign that the Savior is near. [Now hold up the cup or glass of wine] The cup of blessing is always extraordinary and frequently unexpected. It is an unusual vintage, nothing like it. Just as with the Spirit…you ...

4043. Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... was original material. Well, I remember that day when mom and dad said, we were going into town to get new clothes. That was a big event in those days. You dressed in your best clothes, you drove into town together, and you went to the big department store. I loved to ride in the old elevator. They had a man inside the elevator, and his only job all day was to pull shut the elevator gates and operate the elevator for people going up and down the floors of the tall store. Well, we rode up to the fifth floor ...

4044. God Gives the Pharisees the Finger!

John 7:25-44, John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and broken it gets, all it needs is water….and it can be made malleable and fresh again. Jesus IS the living water. We stiff-necked, hard-headed people need a little bit of water from the Holy Spirit each and every day to make our judgments in love, in mercy, with the grace of Jesus, so that we all may be beautiful in His sight. Where there are apostolic energies at play in the church, there is the Pentecostal spirit of fire and water. So when you see the world judging another, when you hear a brother ...

4045. Precocious

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that everything we do can be an act of praise.” [Allow people to come and see the bird. If the bird sings, all the better. J] The church today is behaving like a confined bird. A bird in a cage. But a self-imposed cage. The church has so loved its silence, and its safety, that it has locked itself inside of heavy walls. And when the church stays inside of its walls long enough, it becomes afraid of the world. Once afraid of its mission field, it forgets how to sing. Has the church lost its song? Has THIS ...

4046. Wicked

Luke 20:9-19, Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... multiply…to bear fruit in the world, He is looking at us as His own seed, planted here in His vast estate! But when we take God’s glory for ourselves, refuse to live our lives in praise and glory and gratitude for God’s gift of life and love, we become selfish weeds in the garden of God’s estate. As the prophet Isaiah said….. God has given us everything we need …and still, we refuse to worship our creator. ”What else can I do for my vineyard?” God asks. I’ve given it all I can. Whatever ...

4047. The Gardener

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... With Mary in the Garden Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and ...

4048. The Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a world where bias and fear dictate who our preferred neighbor is, in a world in which hate and violence keep us in each of our own corners, …and for very good reasons, we think! Yet Jesus asks also of us, “Who is your neighbor?” Whom do you need to love as much as yourselves, and as much as God? For Jesus’ audience, it’s a question of relationship. And a question of humanity. And it’s like that for us too still today. Jesus doesn’t have the Samaritan go to the next town and call for help. He ...

4049. Lady of the House / The Practice of Joy

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... smile, look happy! He meant, Martha, BE happy! Because I am here. God is here. And that’s the ONLY truly important thing about this celebration of Sukkot! Be happy to BE with me. Be happy to BE with God. Be happy to SERVE God. Be happy, because God loves YOU. Now the Jewish people have many words for joy, but the most common and the one used here is “simcha.” And the interesting thing about the Hebrew word “simcha” is that it doesn’t refer to the joy of any given individual; but it refers to the ...

4050. Even in Our Hiding

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the world. Just as many times God speaks in dreams….there is a waiting time before that dream comes to fruition. Just as Mary’s pregnancy was a time of incubation until God’s great incarnation, so too was Jesus’ final moments a revelation of God’s love and forgiveness as he spoke on the cross in the moments of his death, only too well knowing that it was only the beginning of God’s victory. When Jesus was born, the “Hitler” of the world was Herod. As recently as 7 BC, he had executed his ...

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