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 4076 to 4100 of 4959 results

4076. Seventy Years of Captivity

Jeremiah 25:1-14

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... be judged for their guilt. Their guilt is not specified. Though used by God in his judgment of Israel, the Babylonians were not conscious of this fact and were motivated rather by their devotion to their own gods, particularly Marduk, and their own desire for empire. For their own sins, the Babylonians will be destroyed and will become a desolate wasteland. This is exactly what happened to the political entity called Babylon. In 539 B.C., the native Babylonian dynasty led by Nabonidus and his son and ...

4077. A Letter to the Exiles

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... Nebuchadnezzar who will put them to death. It appears that false prophecy is only one of the serious crimes that these men commit against God and their fellow citizens. They are also committing adultery and thus are breaking the seventh commandment. What God desires and Nebuchadnezzar accomplishes is only justice. Indeed, the names of the prophets will be associated with a curse: the LORD treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire. Additional Notes 29:2 The queen mother is ...

4078. Flight to Egypt

Jeremiah 41:16--43:13

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... they come to Jeremiah and ask him to pray to the LORD for guidance. Their prayer is right and proper. It is God who should tell them where we should go and what we should do. Jeremiah readily receives their request. He likely was encouraged by their earnest desire to seek the guidance of Yahweh in this matter. He promises them that he will inform them of the answer (I will tell you everything the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do). The people then respond and put themselves ...

4079. I am the Man Who Has Seen Affliction

Lamentations 3:1-66

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... (see Additional Notes for 3:46–48) of the Hebrew alphabet. The stanza expands the description of the grief of the poet, speaking in the persona of the “man of affliction.” His grief is limitless; his tears do not stop. Verse 50 suggests that the poet desires that his tears will cause the Lord to pay attention with the implicit hope that that will cause him to change course in his attitudes and actions toward the city. God is in heaven and has covered himself “with a cloud so that no prayer can get ...

4080. The New Covenant Acted Out

Hosea 3:1-5

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... , so that word and symbolic action together began to set in motion the fulfillment of God’s purpose for this people. There is no specific mention that a divorce has taken place. Thus, Gomer’s relations with her “friend,” a word which may be used of a desired lover (cf. Jer. 3:1, 20 Hb.; Song Sol. 5:16), are indeed “adulterous.” She is still married to the prophet, but has become the property of another man. It is therefore necessary that she be bought back from the other man, and the total price ...

4081. The Nations Judged

Joel 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... have been turned over to our own evil devices. Surely that is one of the most terrifying judgments that can befall any individual or nation! To be free of God, the Lord and sustainer, the guide and redeemer of all of life—that is not a situation to be desired! Additional Notes 3:1 In those days and at that time is found elsewhere only in Jer. 33:15; 50:4, 20, which also deal with the coming of the kingdom. 3:2 The Valley of Jehoshaphat: Both the Targum and Theodotion interpret the meaning of the name by ...

4082. Israel’s Ill-Placed Confidence

Amos 5:18-27

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... a climactic day, when God came to establish a kingdom over all the earth, he would destroy all of its enemies and exalt Israel above all nations. It is that confidence in the day that Amos attacks in 5:18. The prophet’s announcement is that Israel, in desiring the day of the Lord, is longing for its own doom, for on that day there will be darkness and not light, death and not life. God will fight not only against his enemies outside of Israel, but also against those within it. Though Israel has previously ...

4083. Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line

Amos 7:1-9

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... visions in verses 1–6 form an apologetic for the prophet’s ministry, as did 3:3–8. By telling of his intercessions on behalf of his sinful compatriots, intercessions that have twice turned aside the wrath of God, Amos shows that he has had no desire to see the death of his people. Like so many of the prophets both before and after him, he has vigorously exercised the prophetic function of interceding for the good of his nation. We do not often realize that the prophets of the OT not only proclaimed ...

4084. Jonah Flees from the Lord

Jonah 1:1-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... the power of Yahweh, and their prayer to him in verse 14 is couched in the language of urgent entreaty. “Please, Yahweh,” they entreat, “let us not die for the life of this man, and do not lay upon us innocent blood, for you, Yahweh have done as you desired” (MT). The sailors have been pawns in the contest between Jonah and his God, and they do not want to be held accountable to Yahweh for the results of that contest. 1:15–16 God wants Jonah hurled into the sea. God wants Jonah to experience the ...

4085. Man's Plans and God's

Micah 2:1-5

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... ), and thus when Micah exclaims “Woe” over the citizens of Jerusalem, he is saying that they are as good as dead. Those addressed by Micah’s hôy are those in power in the capital, who have the position and authority to fulfill their desires, verse 1. This is the energetic bunch, the Type A personalities, who can make plans and meet goals and subordinate the lives of others to their own as they fulfill their schemes. Their schemes, moreover, involve always getting more. Not satisfied with the comfort ...

4086. The Mountain of the Lord

Micah 4:1-5

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... because Yahweh resides there, and it is there alone that they can hear the Lord’s word spoken to them, verse 2. The Israelite custom of pilgrimage to the temple (cf. Ps. 84; 122) will be universalized. The nations will go up to Zion because they desire to learn how to walk according to Yahweh’s tôrâ or instruction, in accordance with God’s will, verse 2. In short, the nations will come to realize that Yahweh’s way alone can bring them satisfactory life, and their pilgrimage will be quite voluntary ...

4087. Israel's Misery

Micah 7:1-7

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... God or human beings, verse 2 (see the comment at 6:8). Instead, each person looks only to his or her own interest, violating the code of neighborly consideration. Rulers demand gifts in exchange for their favors, judges ask for bribes, the powerful act only as whim and desire dictate, verse 3. Even the best of them is like a prickly thorn in a thorn hedge that can wound and tear, verse 4a–b (cf. Ezek. 2:6; 28:24). As a result, the day announced by their watchman, the prophet, has come, the day of their ...

4088. Israel Will Rise

Micah 7:8-13

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... Jesus at his crucifixion (Mark 15:29–32 and parallels; cf. Ps. 22:7). The taunt of the enemy always is Where is the LORD your God? (Mic. 7:10; cf. Ps. 42:3, 10; 79:10; 115:2). “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him” (Matt. 27:43 RSV). God is powerless, the enemy thinks, unable to fulfill his word or to save the elected one, whom he has professed to love (cf. Num. 14:16; Deut. 9:28; 2 Kgs. 18:35). What the enemy does not know is that they have not ...

4089. Woe to Nineveh

Nahum 3:1-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... at the reasons for Yahweh’s anger, but the opening and close of chapter 3 are more concrete. Here Yahweh speaks all through the chapter. Yahweh confronts the city because it is responsible for the deaths of so many people as a result of its desire to accumulate wealth, which has led it into empire-building and war-making. Its apparent strength will not save it. 3:1–4 Woe is an over-translation; the Hebrew hoy resembles English “Oh,” which we can use in many contexts with many connotations. One ...

4090. Warnings and Exhortations for Jerusalem and Judah

Zephaniah 1:1-3, Zephaniah 1:4-13, Zephaniah 1:14--2:3

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... Hebrew word for “their king.” Some OT references speak of sacrifice to Molech in association with sacrifices in connection with the dead, and it may be that Molech is the king of Sheol. Judean involvement with Molech, then, would link with the regular human desire to keep up links with members of the family who have died, to express one’s concern for them, and to gain help from them. More literally, Zephaniah speaks of people who swear to Yahweh and swear by Molech (cf. TNIV). They swear allegiance ...

4091. Clean Garments for the High Priest

Zechariah 3:1-10

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... orchards, was part of the original promise of the land (cf. 1 Kgs. 4:25). Zechariah’s oracle adds the element of neighborly accord that could and should result from keeping torah. A single sentence communicates the good news of the life that God desires to give. Additional Notes 3:1 Satan . . . accuse: In the OT, a satan is never an independent supernatural power who rules an evil realm. The noun (satan) and its denominative verb are regularly used of human adversaries. Rebels against kings (1 Sam. 29:4 ...

4092. Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting

Zechariah 7:1-14

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... protections, proverbs, and prophetic warnings in the OT like Zechariah 7:9–10 are evidence that more powerful people within Israel often defrauded and hurt these classes of individuals (e.g., Amos 4:1). The final prohibition extends behind the actions to the desire and plans that give birth to such injustice. “In your hearts do not think evil of each other.” Do not even think about hurting others. Occupy your mind and commit your will to live out the positive virtues of justice, mercy, and compassion ...

4093. The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem

Zechariah 8:1-23

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... for the sake of ten righteous men, but ten men could not be found. Many, many people (many multiples of ten) from the other nations will seek the Lord. In a bold move, they will grasp the hem of one Jew’s robe. This physical action lays claim to a desired relationship (cf. Ruth 3:9; 1 Sam. 15:27; Ezek. 16:8). By faith the woman suffering a long-term hemorrhage touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed (Matt. 9:20–22; Mark 5:25–34; Luke 8:43–48). The hem of a garment was an extension ...

4094. Mourning for the One They Pierced

Zechariah 12:10-14

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... pour out on “the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” a spirit of grace and supplication. God’s gracious gift will come first, and repentance will follow. Pouring out implies a generous gift, distributed to all. The concept of “spirit” includes both desire and ability. God will inspire and empower the people to pray for God’s merciful acceptance and help. “Supplication” is the kind of prayer uttered by people who confess their sinfulness (e.g., Pss. 130:2; 143:1; Jer. 3:21; 31:9 ...

4095. Judah Unfaithful

Malachi 2:10-16

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... for divorce are vague (“something indecent about her,” Deut. 24:1), and they were still a matter of dispute in Jesus’ day (Matt. 19:3–9). Hate is the only reason given in Malachi 2:16 for the husband’s action. It refers to his desire to send away his wife but names no grounds based on her behavior for divorce: If he hates and divorces . . . then he covers his garment with violence . . . (See the additional note, below). The strong disapproval of divorce that verse 16 expresses is unique in the ...

4096. When Jesus Prays

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... in many ways is a scandalous affront to the uniting work that Jesus did on Calvary by bringing us into relationship with God the Father and ultimately bringing us into relationship with each other. That is why we are known as the body of Christ. The unity that he desires for his church is the same kind of unity he has with the Father. “The real church is a body of men and women united to each other because they are united to Christ.” Listen again to his words, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray ...

4097. An Army Officer Deeply Concerned

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... La Mesa penitentiary in Tijuana, Mexico. She had delivered donations in the past to the prison, each visit filling her with compassion. But now she threw herself completely into a new life of total service to the inmates of this less-than-desirable penitentiary. Here is how Parade magazine described her work: Upon arrival at the penitentiary, each inmate is introduced to his overseers through a ceremony called grito, which is Spanish for “scream.” Alone, he is paraded between rows of guards and prison ...

4098. The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-18

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... was coming into the world. 1:13 Not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will: lit., “not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of the male”; i.e., not by ordinary sexual intercourse initiated by a husband’s desire. They are, of course, born physically by those means, but this is not the birth referred to here. 1:14 The One and Only, who came from the Father: The phrase is more than a metaphor. Jesus does not receive glory as if God were his Father and he the ...

4099. Jesus' First Disciples

John 1:35-42, John 1:43-51

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... v. 43. Why? The narrator apparently does not want the call of Simon Peter (verses 40–42) to detract from the more extended account of the call of Nathanael, which is where his chief interest lies. The call of Simon is part of his tradition and he has no desire to leave it out, but strictly speaking it has no day of its own assigned to it in the sixday sequence. It is simply an appendix to Day Three, included for the sake of completeness and to prepare for the events of Day Four. Andrew finds Simon and ...

4100. Jesus Walks on the Water

John 6:16-24

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... ’ end. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven. (Ps. 107:23–30) The last lines in particular are dramatized in the strange statement of verse 21 that when the disciples tried to take Jesus aboard, immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. The whole scene has a supernatural quality about ...

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