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 5000 results

4076. Living with the Aches and Alleluias

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... history--there will be no stopping it. The only power I know to be it''s equal--is the power of the first coming. This power is still with us today. Predictions of the second coming of Christ and the end of the world have been with us for a long time. Do not waste time or energy trying to figure it out. Let me offer three points for your consideration today on why the second coming is not to be feared but welcomed. First, get on with living your life for God in the present moment. The gospel lesson assures ...

4077. The Marvelous Meaning of the Cross

Galatians 6:11-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... the sight of the cross give us insight on how to deal with our burdens? How can Christ''s death on the cross insure forgiveness of our sins? It is not far from Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, to Golgotha, where He died on the cross. The distance is not long. As you stand on the lonely hill at Golgotha and look all the way back to Bethlehem, one haunting question comes to mind, "Was it worth it--was Jesus'' trip worth what it cost?" On that fateful day, when the sun hid its face in shame, when He cried out ...

4078. Reverse Direction

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Paul E. Flesner

... . I suspect our understanding of repentance is more associated with "hell fire and brimstone" and is characterized by cartoons with a long-bearded man and his sign which announces the end of the world and calls people to repent, lest they be damned ... called to drop the barriers that we erect in our lives which prevent us from being open and sensitive to the spirit of God! As long as we have erected barriers in our lives against other people, the net result will be a barrier against God! My friends, if you' ...

4079. Life: From the Inside Out

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... the longer we live with these strategies and learn about them, the more sense they begin to make. Anticipating what was ahead, Jesus began to acquaint his inner circle with how difficult life would become for him; it was to be short on joy and long on pain. Peter took exception to this, and having just completed a Dale Carnegie course on winning friends and influencing people, began to take Jesus to task for his foreboding anticipation. Jesus had to be more upbeat, Peter implied. Jesus would have none of it ...

4080. No Angels, No Shepherds, No Star

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... been made.” When we could do nothing for ourselves, God stepped in to save us. A man by the name of Bob Considine tells of the time he accompanied an infant Vietnamese orphan to the U.S. so she could be adopted after the Vietnam War. On the long flight to the U.S. the baby’s eyes overflowed with tears, but she made absolutely no sound. Considine found a stewardess and asked her what the problem was. The stewardess had seen war orphans before, and was quick to tell Considine that this was normal. As she ...

4081. God Help the Fish

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... in a church that could handle an oversized load. Luckily he knew a Baptist minister, having dated his daughter in college. Ray dropped by to see this pastor and asked him if he would consider performing the service. The good pastor paused a minute or two, gave Ray a long thoughtful look up and down and said, “Ray, if you’re serious about this, a dipping just won’t do it for you. We’ll have to find a place to anchor you overnight.” (1) Yes, the same could be said for us. They’d have to find a ...

4082. A Higher Calling

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... stay on the good side of God, but we want to do it from a distance. We will stay in our boats and give lip service and leave it to someone else to leave their nets and follow Jesus. There was an amusing item in the press not too long back. It concerned the funeral of James Smith, a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. When mourners arrived at the funeral home, they found the recently deceased Mr. Smith, 55, propped up in his favorite armchair in black-and- gold pajamas, a beer and a pack ...

4083. The Meaning of It All

Mark 1:9-13

Drama

Angela Akers

... it is, and I’ll be holding my breath until our next appointment. Have a great day!” (Therapist slams door, wipes his brow and rolls his eyes like he is exhausted. Looks over at receptionist’s desk) Therapist: “Wow! That was one long hour.” Receptionist: “Does she talk about her fear of aliens every week?” Therapist: “Every week.” Receptionist: “Wow!” Therapist: “She’s got a heart of gold, but I’d have to say she is a little. . . flaky.” Receptionist: “Who’s your easiest ...

4084. The Healing Touch

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... , when a woman came in and sat next to him. They entered into conversation, and the woman told him that he looked like somebody who really needed a hug. She said everybody needed at least ten hugs a day. He acknowledged that he hadn't had a hug for a long time, whereupon she slipped from her seat and opened her arms wide. He accepted the embrace, and was so energized by it that he went about from that point on offering hugs to everybody. Andy Rooney points out that there are a lot of hugs that really don't ...

4085. A Landmark Event!

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... . I explained how we are his bride. And even now Christ is preparing a place for us in heaven. And soon, oh so very soon, the shout will go up. "The Bridegroom cometh!" And we'll each go to live forever in a loving relationship like we've been longing for. "In this hope we were saved," the Bible says. Such hope makes the Lord's Supper an appetizer. It is but a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb mentioned in Revelation 19. Robert Frost's poem, "Death of a Hired Man," has a Vermont farmer who ...

4086. No Salt in the City?

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... you're clean and sober!" De-icer Not only can salt add flavor, it also owns the property of melting ice. When a snowstorm barrels across our city, road crews busily spread salt on our bridges to melt the ice. In our day human hearts have grown frosty; long icicles of indifference are suspended like daggers from our lives. We have our cliques, our racial walls, our cold-blooded murders. "I don't care about God. I don't even care about you. All I care about is me!" And it takes salt, Christian salt, to thaw ...

4087. The Impossible Option

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

... his fear of losing it! Often we seem to think that we can follow Jesus with baggage, riches, priorities, self-image, identity, and control neatly packed and easily toted. We sometimes act as if following Jesus is more like an occasional weekend ramble, not a life-long journey with its own logic and demands -- and certainly not as a life-altering Adventure. And we compound the problem. At times, we're so eager to draw new people into the life of the Church that we make it sound like discipleship really is a ...

4088. When Nothing Is Everything

Mark 12:35-40

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

... lives to the service of God and his people? Yet Jesus says of them, "They like to walk around in long robes, and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They ... devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation" (vv. 38-40). That's scary. However much we (or God!) may disapprove of wealthy people ...

4089. Birthing the Kingdom

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

... . Persecution still happens, even in the supposedly civilized twenty-first century. Like a woman gasping in anguish hour after hour, struggling to deliver a breech baby into the world, creation and humanity also cry out in fear and anguish. God's new creation certainly is long a-borning! And yet, it is coming to birth. We are coming to birth! Because of Jesus, firstborn of the new creation, we are assured that this will not be a stillbirth. Because Jesus has joined us to himself, we can cry out and know ...

4090. The Making of a Saint

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

... their grave-clothes and shrouds are replaced by festal robes and mantles of joy. Why not visualize glorified saints instead of resuscitated corpses? It's not that we wouldn't like to have our loved ones restored to us, here on earth, in robust good health. We'd long and pray for just that restoration. Wouldn't you ache to embrace a beloved spouse who suddenly died of a heart attack or who wasted away from cancer? What parent wouldn't gladly give a king's ransom to cuddle a SIDS baby or happily endure hours ...

4091. Anxious Thanks

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung & staff

... are others that were hard to voice: Does God still love us? Does he care? Can we trust that he is blessing us even now and will continue to?" There are supply chain concerns, empty grocery shelves in many places, and rising food prices. So long as a family, an individual, or a nation hinges gratitude upon "stuff" -- even good, necessary-for-life "stuff," even "stuff" that we may rightly call blessings given by almighty God, there's always that underlying fear that maybe tomorrow it won't be there. "Stuff ...

4092. The True Story of the Magi

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

John Jamison

... You remember that when Herod tried to kill the baby, later he murdered every child under the age of two years. Apparently, he wasn't sure how long it had been either. One thing we do know about the time is that it was explosive. Every nation in that part of the world was on edge ... Paycheck Greogory Peck Sam Phillips Barry White Warren Zevon Warren Zevon died September 7 at the age of 56, living long enough to make "The Wind" and to see the birth of twin grandchildren. Last October Zevon appeared on television as ...

4093. Everybody Loves a Parade!

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Fredrick R. Harm

... him that he was willing to go to hell for us, rather than to go to heaven without us." So he traveled, without hesitation, toward a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem. Because of this we are all his debtors! A final thought comes to mind. Not long ago many of us made New Year resolutions. May I suggest just one more? Here it is: resolve to become involved -- genuinely involved -- in the things that really matter! Someone came to Horace Traubel and asked, "What can I do, just me?" Traubel answered, "What can ...

4094. Too Good to Miss

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... is enjoying himself and then trying to stop it!" Those who see God as that kind of a deity would then most likely see Lent as one long God-filled forty days, when we are to make room in our hearts and our homes for this fun-bashing divine guest, who checks out every nook ... Jesus' death and resurrection, it was very brief, including only a forty-hour period of fasting, then later a week long. But the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. assumed a forty-day Lenten observance including Sundays. Sometime in the ...

4095. The Holiness of the Sacred

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... knew the law. Listen to the "holy" law about how to deal with lepers: The leper who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry, "Unclean, unclean." He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp. -- Leviticus 13:45-46 (RSV) It was the religious establishment that set up those rules. And many in the church today still want to follow some of those old laws ...

4096. So Great a Love

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... out all of a person's nerve endings and brain parts! But however you may come down on that question, one thing I know: experiencing the birth of a child by your child is not a feeling you can fully anticipate. The long months of hoping and wondering about health, is it a boy or a girl, the long hours of waiting to hear what is happening in that hospital thousands of miles away across the ocean after you have heard that the process of birth had taken a more imminent turn; and then the ring of the phone, the ...

4097. The Amazing Holy Week Equation

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... his face to go to Jerusalem" (9:51). It was Palm Sunday. The time had arrived. Palm Sunday was the day when a long-percolating vision of obedience began to take its final form. Palm Sunday was the day when a string of events began that would change ... the least. Jesus was unique in his relationship with God and with his sacrifice for all of humanity. However, Jesus also was part of a long line of splendor of those who have been obedient to the call of God on their lives. Abraham heard the call of God (Genesis ...

4098. Training the Heart

1 John 1:1-4

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... to metaphorically as the seat of one's intellect, will, and conscience. In the scripture for this morning, the author of First John speaks a very important word about the place that the heart has in a person's relationship with God and others. But long before this writer took quill pen to parchment, the Psalmist had been writing about the heart. Given our rat story and the recognition of the importance of early training to program us for good or evil, for emotional well-being or fragility, Psalm 139 stands ...

4099. Height Advantage

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:19-20). What was accomplished by God's "great might" enables the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which was available in the flesh so long ago, to be available to you and me today. What a privilege! I was surprised back in April of 1994, at the strong reaction I received to something I said in a sermon that day. I spoke of the beautiful song which came out early in '91, "From A ...

4100. Grace in the Midst of Weakness

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

... the Last Supper, got into a heated argument as to whether he merited the best seat in heaven. His name was John. The Bible calls him "the disciple whom Jesus loved." Can we walk with God in the company of stained glass saints? We most certainly can -- as long as we follow the path they blazed for us. We must acknowledge our essential brokenness, even as we reach out to receive God's grace in the midst of our prevailing weakness. Paul frames our condition in verse 7 of our text: "But we have this treasure in ...

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