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 4126 to 4150 of 5000 results

4126. Singing The Lord's Song In A Strange Land (ii)

Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... others. One of the other women of Brewster Place for whom Mattie kept singing the Lord's song was Eddie Mae Johnson. She was Mattie's long-time friend who had lived off her beauty and her men all her life. But she was too old for that kind of life now, and ... others. One of the other women of Brewster Place for whom Mattie kept singing the Lord's song was Eddie Mae Johnson. She was Mattie's long-time friend who had lived off her beauty and her men all her life. But she was too old for that kind of life now, and ...

4127. The Primacy Of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... me, and a joy filled me with such as I had never known before." (quoted by Robert C. Brubaker, "Stay in Control or Go With the Flow", December 7, 1986). We've known the same experience -- many of us -- perhaps most of us. I sat with a young woman not long ago to whom life had dealt a tragic blow. An uncaring husband had walked all over her – had trampled her feelings -- her very heart, in the mud. She had given herself to him and he had used her. It was a despicable kind of harshness on his part. It would ...

4128. If I Have Not Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a firm, ripe peach. Now the softness is more like worn out sheets or withered leaves.When did these slender, graceful hands become gnarled, shrunken claws?When, God?They lie here in my lap,naked reminders of this worn-out body that has served me too well! How long has it been since someone touched me Twenty years? Twenty years I've been a widow.Respected.Smiled at.But never touched.Never held so close that loneliness was blotted out. I remember how my mother used to hold me,God.When I was hurt in spirit or ...

4129. A Love For All Seasons (ii) (communion Meditation)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... express some reservations. Tough Love, as a philosophy, and as a practice, can sometimes contribute to the premature sanctioning of hardened responses, angry reactions, and inflexible postures. It may give people license to take what ought to be steps of last resort, long before they have reached the time of last resort. It may encourage actions which provoke more retaliation than dialogue. It may raise the stakes of the conflict and escalate the climate for violence. In short, it may (if misused) focus too ...

4130. The House Of Our Dreams

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... hosts are gone. Their songs filling the air are heard no more (do I hear someone say beneath his breath, you can't really get an angel when you really need one). Now, Mary and Joseph have a son to raise. Religious obligations to keep, and a long, dusty trip back to Nazareth, and what could be more ordinary and less inspiring than that?... "On their way back to Nazareth, silently walking along the road, I expected Mary and Joseph wondered to themselves, what does all this mean? Will this go the way of other ...

4131. East Of Eden And The City Of Beginning

Genesis 4:1-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... after the name of his son, Enoch." So the question, where did his wife come from? A man once asked his pastor that question saying, "Until you tell me where Cain got his wife, I'm not going to join the church." I like the preacher's reply, "As long as you are concerned about questions like that, you are not ready to join the church." The Bible and this story about Cain and Abel is about something deeper than that. Abel is about something deeper than the question of where Cain got his wife. This book is not ...

4132. Singing In The Rain

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... as you don't try to enjoy it." Then there's the story of a teenager who was overheard to say to a donkey out in the country, "Why, you must be a Christian. You have a long face like Grandpa." All of that is to introduce the fact that the Christian walk, which we are talking about in this series of sermons, is a joyful walk. Let's forever be done with the notion of a mule-faced, pinch-faced, dark-clouded, droop-shouldered Christianity, whose adherents ...

4133. It's All God's Doing

Ezekiel 17:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... way to go." That was exactly what the man needed to hear. And, that little word, that simple word, was the turning point for a life of greater faith and discipleship. He realized some changes had to be made, and he began the life-long challenge of making them. So must we. You see, when we realize that God is not finished with us, we realize that, likewise, God is not finished with those around us. So, as we want patience for ourselves, we give patience to the other, and when we are patient with ...

4134. A Fragrant Offering

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... seductive pose, but "Help me sit up." In the end, love is not a smoldering glance across the dance floor, the clink of crystal, a leisurely picnic spread upon a summer's clover. It is the squeeze of the hand. I'm here. I'll be here no matter how long the struggle. Water? You need water? Here, drink. Let me straighten your pillow." That's love and it shows in little things. IV. Now a final word. Through our love, Christ's love is perfected. That's what John said in our text. Remember? Verse 12: "If we love ...

4135. God Is Like A Mother

Isaiah 66:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... you shall be carried on her hip," Isaiah says. In my travels over the world, I've seen children carried by mothers in all sorts of ways. But the most common way is this one Isaiah knew -- the mother carrying her baby on her hip. I have felt for a long time that a baby was heavier to everyone else than to the mother. Why? Because no day has passed, very few hours have passed, without the mother carrying the child -- and that the child is getting heavier with each week is no issue to the mom. It's a picture ...

4136. The Day Is Not For Sleeping

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , So I must say "Good-bye, Dear." Here I stand beside the mailbox, With a face so very red, Instead of mailing you my letter -- I had opened it instead! Well, loss of memory -- being "a little mixed up" is not a bad price to pay for staying alive a long time. But we need to pray, "Deliver us, though, O God, from dying and then growing old." Our text speaks to that possibility. To die and then grow old -- to just go to sleep. So we are talking this morning about "The Day is Not For Sleeping". Listen to our ...

4137. At The Fork In The Road

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... crucial fork in the road and have to make a decision as to which direction we are going to go. Do you remember the story of the woman who was trying to get into a parking space in a heavily congested lot one Christmas. She tried to manipulate her beautiful, long, sleek Cadillac, but couldn't quite get the angle needed to squeeze into the space. Finally she backed a good distance back, and swung out as far as she possibly could. But then, just as she was ready to point the nose of her car toward the space, a ...

4138. On Level Ground

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... dark, and there give off my light. I know there is danger in the dark, but God's Word has told me that I'm all right so long as I don't lose sight of the light." (Leonard I. Sweet, "Bibelot", 1990, Vol. 5, No. 3-6). Amy Grant was making herself available to be the ... were beatific expressions that I never saw much of in the faces around me. "Young as I was, though, I had known for a long time a that the catalog lied. I knew that under those fancy clothes there had to be scars, there had to be blemishes and ...

4139. Who Needs A Doctor?

Luke 5:27-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... crusader against gay rights a few years ago. Then she went through a divorce, and acquired a drug habit, and was hospitalized for a long time. And today, she's not the same person she was back then. This is what Sydney Harris wrote: He said, "Now that her ... there give off my light. I know there is danger in the dark, but God's Word has told me that I'm all right so long as I don't lose sight of the light." (Leonard I. Sweet, "Bibelot", 1990, Vol. 5, No. 3 - 6). Amy Grant was making herself available ...

4140. More Tolerable For Sodom And Gomorrah

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... shifts from talking about individuals and households and he addresses cities. Let's read that again, verses 13 and 14: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes." But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. It is as clear as it could be. God's judgment is certain. Jesus instructs his disciples to say to those cities who refuse to be ...

4141. As Real As It Gets

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... are laid up somewhere beyond the blue." We usually accuse the writers of those gospel songs of being totally other-worldly--but they have something to say to us. If we are going to follow Jesus, we must become travelers, restlessly moving on, never willing to settle down as long as Jesus is walking ahead of us. You know how to test whether you are where you need to be in your Christian walk? Ask yourself this question: How far out front is Jesus? Most of us have a lot of catching up to do. Jesus makes it ...

4142. I Saw Satan Fall

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... had come prepared. Now the primary contradiction is that we cease trusting things and our own resources and we begin to radically trust Christ. A chaplain was visiting with a man in the hospital. He had had a close call. His recuperation was going to require a long time and much discipline. “It has been a saving experience,” he said. “I have learned that I am not invincible.” Then tears came to his eyes as he said, “I have confessed to God and I want you to hear my confession also. I have trusted ...

4143. The Gospel Of Another Chance (choir Dedication)

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... if he could only end his life he would find peace. He even said to Jerry that he had the pills and was ready to take them all and end it all. It was a heavy, heavy experience for Jerry, but the Lord was obviously with her. There was a long, long conversation and a lot more to the story that I don't have time to tell. It ended up that Jerry picked the young man up the next morning and brought him to church. Following worship that day, Jerry and I took him to lunch. After sharing more of his ...

4144. The Road Less Traveled

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... : “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able....” A long time before Peck, way back in 1930, the poet, Robert Frost, coined the metaphor, “The Road Less Traveled.” Listen to him: “Two roads diverged ... in a yellow wood. And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then, took the other, just as ...

4145. A Pattern For Giving And Living

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... back and waited to see whether it was the thief or Christ who came. We are involved in both these undertakings, the plundering and the fullness of life. Either we participate in Christ's mission, or we participate in the thief's plans for the world. As long as we remain merely victims or merely spectators in this struggle for justice, we are supporting the thief and his crimes. By joining in the struggle for a world of greater justice, on the other hand, we are taking part in the plan for creation of the ...

4146. Sweet Little Jesus Boy

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... around his head. A shepherd is distressed to learn the donkey's broken leg has not been mended. Mary is curious as to why she is the only woman. As "The Hand" reaches out to shove them hurriedly back into the box, they bid each other a "Happy Long Time." Then Mary whispers the closing line with deep wistfulness, "Perhaps next time we'll find out what Christmas is and why we are brought out of the box for such a 'short time.'" (The Upper Room Disciplines, 1991, p. 375). It is only a children's Sunday School ...

4147. Getting Ourselves Off Our Hands

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , he was overwhelmed by a feeling of self-pity. He said, "Oh God, I would have given ten years of my life to have made it there in time to hold that hand." For a long time, he failed to see any deeper meaning in that sad request. However, after a time, he confessed, "God help me move beyond my self-pity to the realization that as long as I live, if I have "eyes to see" and "ears to hear", there will people all around me holding up their hands asking me to hold them and to help the hurt." Bill ...

4148. Dealing With Guilt And Shame

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... home to his father -- and he went humbly, knowing his sin. He planned his speech: "I'm no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants". You know what happened. His father saw him coming down the path while he was a long way off. He ran to him, threw his arms around, hugged him, kissed him. The Greek verb that is used here is continuous, meaning he kept on kissing him and kissing him! There was no eating the servants food -- a feast was prepared. There was no being like a ...

4149. Getting Our Lives Out Of Hock

Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... I've bought a few things at pawn shops for instance, tools. In the pawn shop system, you hock something a ring or a watch for an amount of money. You pay interest on that money, but the pawn shop owner holds your item for three months, or as long as you pay interest on it, or pay what you borrowed and get your item out of hock. My contention today is that we put ourselves into hock, or events or circumstances may put us there in hock. The persons recovering from addiction know this with certainty; the rest ...

4150. Reflections On A Calling (ten-year Anniversary Sermon)

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... household being prepared when the master came home from a wedding feast. They were to have their loins girded and their lamps burning. The long flowing robes of the east were a hindrance to work. When men prepared for work they would gather and pull up the robes, ... ministry of doing it unto the least of these, because we've done it unto Him. I can't go on and on. This is going too long. But I could go on and on. These ten years have been rich and rewarding. I hope that I've grown. I want to continue to grow ...

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