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 401 to 425 of 1838 results

401. The Test for an Unfaithful Wife

Numbers 5:11-31

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

... your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. The woman accepts the oath with “Amen. So be it” and drinks the water. The priest offers the grain offering. 5:27–28 The two possible results of the ritual ordeal: If guilty, the woman will have bitter pain from the water, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away. If not guilty, the woman will be cleared and able to have children. 5:29–31 These verses contain a sort of postscript, the law for a husband’s jealousy, which summarizes the ...

402. David and Ziba

2 Samuel 16:1-4

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... they were natives of Gath who had been exiled, given a welcome by David, and become a loyal part of his army. Ittai’s reply to David suggests that he had become a convert to Yahwism. 15:23 That the whole countryside wept aloud may reflect a bitter mourning at the thought of the onset of civil war. However, the impression is that it reflected deep sorrow at what had happened to David. 15:24 Abiathar, who had been with David since his previous days in exile, probably led the Jerusalem priests until he was ...

403. Shimei Curses David

2 Samuel 16:5-14

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

404. Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

John 13:18-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... when I have dipped it in the dish: lit., “dip the morsel.” A morsel for dipping in broth or sauce was normally a piece of bread, but according to the Passover Haggadah, a small wad of bitter herbs was used for dipping in a sauce at the Passover meal. The question whether the morsel here is bread or bitter herbs is therefore tied in with the question of whether Jesus regarded this as a Passover meal (note, however, that NIV supplies the word bread even in Mark 14:20). Some have argued from v. 18 (lit ...

405. Listening and Doing

James 1:19-27, James 1:1-18

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... community of the everlasting Council (1 QS 5:4–5). People who did turn back were surely condemned: As for them, they dissemble, they plan devilish schemes. They seek Thee with a double heart and are not confirmed in Thy truth. A root bearing poisoned and bitter fruit is in their designs; they walk in stubbornness of heart and seek Thee among idols, and they set before them the stumbling-block of their sin. (1 QH 4:13–14) Paul has a similar concern, although expressed in less colorful language, in Romans ...

406. Family Ties and Good-byes

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... of your mother if you don't?" "What kind of son are you?" "Don't you care?" Conflict arose. When Jesus said, "good-bye," to his family and friends in Nazareth, at best there must have been a lot of confusion. At worst, a fuse called bitterness was lit in the hearts of family members and neighbors which gave rise to resentment, criticism, and eventually an explosive decision to "take charge of him (Jesus) because they said, 'He is out of his mind' " (Mark 3:21). Trouble was brewing. Conflict. At the moment ...

407. The Natural Look

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... nine plagues — flies and pus and boils, frogs and blood and locusts — only to lead a ragtag band of slaves through a temperamental sea into the desolation of a bitter desert. But what comes next makes the pus, the flies, and the burning heat seem delicious. There in the barren sand, all those people turn into beasts — whiny, bitter, stiff-necked children — who blame Moses for the misery and the despair of their unfinished lives. Moses, it turns out, is no prince himself. He mumbles when he should ...

408. A GPS for Your Life

Luke 6:27-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... you feel. It’s what you do.” Loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, praying for those who speak evil of us, forgiving those who mistreat us frees us from the downward spiral of hate. Ephesians 4: 31-32 reads, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” “Get rid of all . . .” Not just some. Get rid of it all! Don’t hold on to a ...

409. The Struggle Within

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

A young soldier was going off to fight in World War II against the Japanese. As his father put him on the train and waved good-bye, he turned with bitter tears and said, "If my son is killed, I hope every Jap in the world is killed!" Yet the fact that the father was a Christian made it difficult to feel ... to the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and designated it for missions to the Japanese. How could the father do that? Only by the miracle of Calvary. Only God can change bitterness and hate into love.

410. The Problem with "Fawneys"

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... the world. In the book he dismissed religion as an “opiate for the masses” which the world is better off without. The man’s name was Karl Marx and the system was, of course, Communism. (4) Who could blame him for his anger and intense bitterness? He watched his father give up his faith because it was good for business. Phony. Wouldn’t you agree that hypocrisy is particularly deadly when it is practiced by religious people? The most painful example of that kind of hypocrisy is the old, old story ...

411. Learning to Walk in the Dark

Matthew 26:14-16

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... -40; 25:31-40) 2. Love neighbor (Matthew 25:31-40) 3. Drop the sword, literally and figuratively. It’ll come back to bite you, and it squanders energy and drive that you need for loving your neighbor (Matthew 26:51-52) 4. Fail Jesus miserably, weep bitterly, and show up to try again (Matthew 26:75, 28:10-16) Reverend Stephanie Jaeger, reflecting on Matthew 26 and 27 wrote: The core revelation of Palm/Passion Sunday is this: God doesn’t save in the ways we might expect. God doesn’t rule the way humans ...

412. Jacob's Well

John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... t ask for any more volunteers….. You will probably never trust me again. Please forgive me. But I have up here on this table a number of glasses of water. This one has unsweetened lemon juice in it. This one is water from the nearby creek. This one has some bitter herbs in it. You can take my word for it. It tastes terrible. And then there’s this one…… I drew it from a fresh water spring down at __________. [Or the sparkling water.] THIS is as good as it gets! [Ask for a volunteer to taste it –no ...

413. Lady of the House / The Practice of Joy

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... related to myrrh, the herb of mourning. What a wonderful double meaning in her name for this story. Not only is she the strong, capable, able “lady of the house,” the mistress of the feast,” but her demeanor is also a bit grieved, stressed, bitter, as she in this story, is not going about her preparations with her mind on the joy of God’s (Jesus’) dwelling, but on the particularities of preparing adequately to accommodate everyone, to make the people happy. Jesus says, this is about YOUR joy too ...

414. Even in Our Hiding

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

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... room where I had just spoken, moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear. It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. “It was the truth they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I liked to think that that’s where forgiven sins were thrown. ‘When we confess our sins,’ I said, ‘God casts them into the deepest ...

415. The Sound of Joy

Genesis 17:1-27, Genesis 18:1-15, Genesis 18:16-33, Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... as Christians are born of a hope and knowledge that God can and will create joy from sorrow, will bring something good out of every tragedy. Another key metaphor is the tree. The great trees of Mamre. Mamre comes from the Hebrew root meaning bitterness. From out of bitterness, God creates life. From the ordinary, God creates the extraordinary. From nothing, God creates life. And Jesus is the ultimate Life. The story of Abraham and Sarah is a rich one, and one we need to comprehend in order to understand the ...

416. The Writing on the Wall

2 Samuel 11:1-27, 2 Samuel 12:1-31, John 7:25-44, John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a Woman Accused of Adultery (John 7:37--8:12) Minor Text The Potter’s Hand (Genesis 2) God’s Hand/Finger Strikes Egypt (Exodus 6-8) The Sotah Jealousy Ritual Given to the Israelites by God (Bitter Waters) (Exodus 32) The Ritual of the Sotah and the Law of Jealousy (The Test of Bitter Waters) (Numbers 5) The Finger of God Writes Upon the Tablets of Stone (Deuteronomy 9 and 10) The Manner in Which Accusations Must Be Judged (Deuteronomy 17) Guidelines for Judging Virginity (Deuteronomy 22) Psalm 8: The ...

417. Run Away Bride

Exodus 24:1-18, Matthew 22:1-14, Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in your life. Whom do you love? Who loves you back? Solomon once said, “A sated man loathes honey, but to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet” (Prov 27:7). When you are in love with God, when you know God loves you more than anything in the world ... of the living. Love what is living. Commit to the love that flourishes, grows, and nurtures, and satisfies. Don’t settle only for bitterness, when God offers you the hope of milk and honey. Love God with all of your heart. Love each other. And above all ...

418. The Alabaster Jar

Mark 14:27-31, Mark 14:12-26, Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a “soul pedicure” as she commits to a life not just of being but of doing, of discipleship in action. Jesus notes that she prepares him also for burial. But just as in the breaking of the glass in the marriage ceremony, the moment is bitter sweet. For she knows who He is. And she trusts in his resurrection promise. The act of breaking the seal and pouring out is her faith confirmed, faith that is not merely traditional, or pharisaic, or legal, or ritualistic. But Mary confirms the kind of covenantal ...

419. Serpentine Soul

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... they didn’t like? Of course not! This was “spin” at its best! It was manipulative, and frankly, it was mean to throw this kind of vitriol at Moses, who was doing his best to lead them into God’s promised paradise by walking their bitter, ugly disposition out of them. Spin is what issues from a twisted around, tangled, circular and boldfaced untruth. “Spin” uses words in an exaggerated way to entangle the issues. We describe it as cunning, sneaky, lying. That kind of sin comes from what I call ...

Every experience, however bitter, has its lesson, and to focus one's attention on the lesson helps one overcome the bitterness.

Edward Howard Griggs

Hurt leads to bitterness, bitterness to anger, travel too far that road and the way is lost.

Terry Brooks

422. The Complex Human

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the desire to do good inside yet also the sin that is at war against it within his body. Jesus recognizes that every human has the propensity to do both good and evil, to be both “wheat” (nourishment and seed of God) for the world and “weed” (bitterness and death) in the world. The tricky part is, they both not only can exist and grow together at the root of our personality but sometimes the two can be unrecognizable. Sometimes its hard to see which one is which, especially in a complex world and in ...

423. The Gospel We Preach

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Albert G. Butzer III

... do know. The words of the hymn attributed to him lift before us a gracious view of God that should guide and govern our beliefs, especially when we are tempted to forget them: Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness, No harshness hast thou and no bitterness: O grant to us the grace we find in thee, That we may dwell in perfect unity. (“I Greet Thee, My Sure Redeemer Art,” in The Presbyterian Hymnal [Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990], Hymn 457) This is the kind of God we should believe in ...

424. It’s Sunday…But Friday’s Comin’

Mark 11:1-11 · John 12:12-16

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

... was. He revealed he was the Messiah, the Christ. He cast out the seed that the Messiah had come. He did miracles to prove it. But some people were like the hard ground in the pathway of a garden. These people were so hard, so calloused, and so bitter to the truth that it would bounce off of them. The seed would lay on the surface waiting for Satan to sweep in and do everything he could to steal it away before it germinated, took root and grew. In the crowd that formed around Jesus’ triumphant entry there ...

425. Celebrating the Virtue of Humanity

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... but cozy cottage, the horsemen’s curiosity caused him to inquire, “Sir, I noticed that you let several other riders pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Then I came and you immediately asked me for a ride. I’m curious why, on such a bitter winter night, you would wait and ask the last rider. What if I had refused and left you there?” The older man lowered himself slowly down from the horse, looked the rider straight in the eyes and said, “I’ve been around these parts for some time ...

Showing results