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 4151 to 4175 of 4959 results

4151. Jesus the Messiah from Joseph’s Family Line

Matthew 1:1-17

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Jeannine K. Brown

... what we might consider to be simply a tedious list. It would be a shame to miss these important theological themes in our preaching or teaching of Matthew. On the other hand, we might be tempted to miss the forest for the trees. Matthew’s desire is not that we choose our favorite Old Testament characters who show up in the genealogy and make multiple connections between that character and Jesus (a kind of allegorizing). Instead, we should keep the big picture in view, since Matthew guides us to focus on ...

4152. Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11

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Jeannine K. Brown

... , Matthew narrates Peter’s opposition to Jesus’ first prediction of his death and Jesus’ refusal to fall into temptation: “Get behind me, Satan!” (16:23). In 26:36–46 Jesus gains strength from prayer in the face of a fate that he does not desire. And at the climactic moment on the cross Jesus resists any temptation to call upon God to rescue him (27:43). Jesus remains faithful to God and God’s purposes from the beginning to the end of Matthew’s narrative. wilderness . . . forty days and ...

4153. Sermon on the Mount: Allegiance and Trust

Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 6:25-34

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Jeannine K. Brown

... serving money rather than God speak most directly to those in our audience who have the possibility of accumulation of wealth and who can insulate themselves from need and poverty. Alternately, Jesus’ call to trust God and Jesus’ promises about God’s ability and desire to meet needs of daily food and clothing are powerful words for those in our congregations who are poor and struggle to make ends meet. And we should not be afraid to preach both messages, even if we risk offending sensibilities on this ...

4154. Sabbath Controversies with the Pharisees

Matthew 12:1-14

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Jeannine K. Brown

... situation of David (and the Old Testament priests) and the current situation of Jesus and his disciples (and in the wider context of 11:11–12; 12:25–28), the most likely referent for the “something greater” is the kingdom. 12:7 I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Matthew draws upon Hosea 6:6 for the second time in his Gospel (see 9:13), reflecting Jesus’ prioritization of mercy and compassion in line with Hosea’s prophetic message. Applied to the Pharisees’ accusation against the disciples of ...

4155. The Disciples’ Insufficient Faith to Heal as Jesus Heals

Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 17:24-27

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Jeannine K. Brown

... to trust fully in Jesus and his authority for doing what he has called them to do. Popular Culture: We live in a “vending machine” culture built on a service economy. At most places we visit, there are people willing to meet our needs and desires for a dollar amount. If they do not, we can simply take our money elsewhere. It is easy to adopt this kind of consumer mentality in our understanding of discipleship. This often works itself out in people regularly wondering, “How is the church meeting my ...

4156. Eschatological Discourse: Prediction of the Temple’s Destruction

Matthew 24:1-35

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Jeannine K. Brown

... by Richard Hays is particularly apt in passages like this one: “We must let the individual voices [of the biblical authors] speak if we are to allow the New Testament to articulate a word that may contravene our own values and desires. Otherwise, we are likely to succumb to the temptation of flipping to some comforting cross-reference to neutralize the force of any particularly challenging [or confusing!] passage we may encounter.”6 A final hermeneutical caution that we might consider regarding this ...

4157. Jesus Is Anointed and Celebrates the Passover with His Disciples

Matthew 26:1-5, Matthew 26:6-13, Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 26:17-30

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Jeannine K. Brown

... reader is prepared for the act of betrayal here, although there is no specific reason provided for his betrayal other than his request for payment. 26:16 Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. Matthew has already indicated that the Jewish leaders desire to arrest Jesus in secret and, if at all possible, not during the Passover festival, so as to avoid rioting (26:3–5). This sets the context for Judas watching for an opportune time to betray Jesus to the authorities, presumably at night and ...

4158. Through His Faithful Death, Jesus as Messiah Redefined Brings Life

Matthew 27:27-31, Matthew 27:32-44, Matthew 27:45-56, Matthew 27:57-61, Matthew 27:62-66

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Jeannine K. Brown

... of world, divesting time to serving others who cannot return the favor is a countercultural act. Volunteering in your community is one such action. Divest dignity: Our culture places a high premium on appearances and accolades. How might you divest yourself of the desire or opportunities for honor or status? Are there places you might serve that will help you take a humble position (see 18:2–3)? Jesus’ death has cosmic implications for humanity, as death is overcome by life. Film: The Princess Bride. In ...

4159. Jesus’s Authority to Forgive and Heal Sinners

Mark 2:1-12

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Grant R. Osborne

... . When Jesus ordered a body to be healed, it had to obey. And just as a soldier is to carry out the purpose given him or her by the commanding officer, so Jesus, in his healing ministry, was carrying out the purpose of his heavenly Father. The desire of Jesus to heal was a reflection of the compassionate heart of God. In John 14:11–14 and Matthew 28:18–20 we see evidence of Jesus giving his followers authority to continue his ministry in this world. The transforming power of forgiveness Human Experience ...

4160. Jesus as Lord and as Archcriminal

Mark 2:23-3:6, Mark 2:18-22

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Grant R. Osborne

... church ever since. The problem with a legalistic approach to God and worship is the tendency to feel that rule keeping is sufficient in our relationship to God. We too easily forget compassion and good works. We forget the basic principle of Hosea 6:6: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” There are only two requirements for the Sabbath: worship and rest. It is a day set apart for God and family. It is not to be just another secular day, but we are not to look down on each other regarding Sabbath observance ...

4161. Spiritual Blindness and the Way to Overcome It

Mark 8:22-26, Mark 8:14-21

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Grant R. Osborne

... folly of living for this world Applying the Text: Glorious Ruin, by Tullian Tchividjian. Tchividjian invites readers to assume that God has given them a very clear picture of their future.3They can have for free, despite all their rebellion, their heart’s deepest desire. This is heaven and eternal joy. Knowing with certainty that heaven and eternal joy were going to be your future, how might that reality impact the way you live each day in this world? Wouldn’t this change your values and your decisions ...

4162. The Exorcism of a Child Develops a Humble Model for Faith

Mark 9:14-32

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Grant R. Osborne

... statement sums up the whole episode and turns the pericope into virtually a pronouncement story. Prayer is the action side of faith (on which, see 5:34, 36; 9:23; 11:22–24). At one level, this is a valid question and shows the disciples’ desire to grow and overcome their weaknesses. Yet this also further confirms their self-centeredness; apparently they did not take the time to pray to God before trying to cast out the demon. They assumed that when Jesus gave them authority over the evil spirits (3 ...

4163. Prophetic Actions—The Temple Condemned and the Fig Tree Cursed

Mark 11:12-19

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Grant R. Osborne

... the brutal destruction and treatment of Jews, to what length would you have gone to intervene? There were Christians in World War II, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who believed that the assassination of Adolf Hitler was justified in order to stop the evil and to save lives. If God does desire justice and we are to protect the weak among us, to what extent is anger appropriate and godly?

4164. Jesus Claims God-Given Authority to Condemn the Leaders

Mark 12:1-12, Mark 11:27-33

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Grant R. Osborne

... heaven in 1:11; 9:7; note also Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his “beloved son” in Gen. 22:2). It reflects once more the redemptive mercy of God, sending his Son to be killed. 12:7 let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. The desire to take over the property on the death of the heir could recall Ahab gaining possession of Naboth’s vineyard after Jezebel had him killed (1 Kings 21). Some reason that the farmers thought that the owner had died and left it to the son (so killing him ...

4165. Jesus Defines Himself as Lord in Contrast to the Leaders of Israel

Mark 12:41-44, Mark 12:35-40

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Grant R. Osborne

... was not reached easily, coming only after two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The call of every Christian is a full and complete surrender to the will of God. Although people often don’t make this decision (yielding their will and desires to God) easily, this surrender does bring wonderful guarantees to those who are willing to do so. For example, the Lord promises his presence, his peace, his joy, his strength, his help, and a forever home with him. This is an unconditional surrender ...

4166. The Messianic Anointing of Jesus

Mark 14:1-11

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Grant R. Osborne

... praise and worship that all should give for what he has done for us. 2. Scripture emphasizes the importance of caring for the poor. The obligation to help the poor is one of the dominant themes in the Bible. Poverty is the result of sin, of the insatiable desire of people to take what belongs to others. God wanted it to be abolished, and every seven years debts were to be cancelled (Deut. 15:1), and the poor were given special rights to glean from the harvest (Exod. 23:11; Lev. 19:10). The courts were to ...

4167. The Supernatural Witness to the Significance of Jesus’s Death

Mark 15:42-47

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Grant R. Osborne

... Free Church in Fullerton, California, vulnerably shares a story about his personal battle with depression and anxiety. In this article Erre writes, “The American Dream is to live in our strength; God’s dream is that we live in our weakness. . . . But if we really desire to see God move in mighty ways, to fully embrace the life that Jesus has for us, then we must be brought to the end of our strength.” Erre also quotes scholar Dallas Willard, who said, “The Christian life is what you do when you ...

4168. The Boy Jesus in the Temple

Luke 2:41-52

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R.T. France

... an omnipotent, omniscient child growing up in a village home. The teacher might then introduce them to the legends about the child Jesus collected in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas,1an imaginative writing from the second century that testifies to the irresistible desire to fill in the gap in Jesus’s biography left by the silence of the canonical accounts. See the sidebar for some of its contents. Those who have read John Wyndham’s science-fiction novel The Midwich Cuckoos will recognize the genre. The ...

4169. John the Baptist

Luke 3:1-20

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R.T. France

... no community recognizes its great men till they are gone. The strongest influences are from their very nature of the most hidden working. They are deep out of sight.” “Where is the use then of being great?” suggested Miss Graeme. “That depends on what the use of greatness is. The desire to be known of men is destructive to all true greatness; nor is there any honor worth calling honor but what comes from an unseen source.”2

4170. Two Memorable Healings

Luke 5:17-26, Luke 5:12-16

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R.T. France

... ignored the taboo, or whether the healing touch itself nullified the defilement. 5:14 Don’t tell anyone. For Jesus’s demand for silence after miracles, see on 4:41. In this case there is no demonic dimension, and the most obvious reason is Jesus’s desire to avoid being mobbed by other potential patients. If so, 5:15 tells us that it was unsuccessful. In any case, it would be hard to conceal the restoration of a man who had “leprosy,” given the ostracism shown to those with that condition. show ...

4171. “Love Your Enemies”

Luke 6:27-38

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R.T. France

... of other people’s failures rather than offering understanding and compassion. This does not mean that we are never called to take a stand against wrong, or to warn others of ethical and spiritual danger; it is the attitude that is at issue, a desire for the good of others instead of simply pointing out their flaws and failures. and you will not be judged . . . condemned . . . and you will be forgiven. The passive verbs allow some ambiguity. This might simply mean that other people will treat you in the ...

4172. Power over Illness and Death

Luke 7:11-17, Luke 7:1-10

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R.T. France

... , or Gentile. In your message you might focus on the social and religious dynamics of this encounter between a junior officer of the occupying forces (a pagan) and a respected Jewish rabbi. Why did the centurion think it necessary (or at least diplomatically desirable) to send his Jewish friends rather than meet Jesus himself? Notice the description of the centurion in 7:4–5 and the respect for him in the Jewish community. What implications does this have for those Gentiles who are most responsive to the ...

4173. “Who Is This?”

Luke 9:10-17, Luke 9:1-9

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R.T. France

... which will be repeated in 9:19, place Jesus in the category of a prophet and therefore a true messenger of God. 9:8 Elijah had appeared. For the expectation of Elijah’s return, see on 1:17. 9:9 he tried to see him. Antipas’s desire to see Jesus will be fulfilled in 23:8. 9:10 they withdrew by themselves. Mark 6:31–34 makes it clear that this was a deliberate attempt to find respite from the crowds, but that popular insistence thwarted the planned retreat. Bethsaida, which was outside Galilee ...

4174. “Unless You Repent . . .”

Luke 13:10-17, Luke 13:1-9

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R.T. France

... has been at the heart of the message of both John (3:3, 8) and Jesus (5:32), and Jesus has rebuked his contemporaries for their failure to repent in response to his preaching (10:13–15; 11:32). In chapter 15 he will illustrate God’s deep desire for sinners to repent. Here the theme is developed, but with a warning that judgment is also a reality, and the opportunity for repentance may not last forever. The message is reinforced with a short parable. Second, we have seen in 6:1–5, 6–11 how Jesus ...

4175. Ready for the Kingdom of God?

Luke 13:31-35, Luke 13:22-30, Luke 13:18-21

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R.T. France

... believers (along with Jewish patriarchs and prophets) in the reconstituted Israel of the kingdom of God means that the whole concept of the “chosen people” must be reexamined. Jesus’s lament over Jerusalem maintains a balance between a deep desire for its salvation and a realistic appraisal of its liability to judgment. This has significant implications for the debate about how God’s grace and sovereignty relate to human responsibility and choice. Teaching the Text The “kingdom of God” is ...

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