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 2173 results

401. Surpassing All Knowledge

Psalm 145:1-21, Ephesians 3:14-21

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. All: The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. Women: You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing. Men: The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. Younger: The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Older: He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them. (Psalm 145:14-19) ...

402. Lent 2

Genesis 12:1-4a, Psalm 121:1-8, John 3:1-17, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Confession And Absolution Leader: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. All: Amen. Leader: Gracious God, you call into existence the things that do not exist. You give life to the dead and new life to the living. All: Break open our hearts, that what is in us might be poured out before you. You have come into the world, O Lord, not to condemn us, but that we might be saved through you. Silence to recall our struggles with sin and the power of evil Leader: God is calling you ...

403. The Things Close to Your Heart

Mark 13:1-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

If you’ve ever had your wallet or purse stolen you know that the worst “loss” is not the cash (who has it!) or the credit cards (you just cancel them). The worst loss is all those personal, “heart” things you keep close to you. *Your ancient Social Security card that you got at age 15. *Photos of parents, kids, and siblings that are faded and creased from being carted about for years. *Those little “oddments” that remind you of who you are and where you come from — a broken piece of jewelry, a note giving ...

404. Are You in Labor?

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman goes to her doctor. The doctor verifies that she is pregnant. This is her first pregnancy. The doctor asks her if she has any questions. She replies, “Well, I’m a little worried about the pain. How much will childbirth hurt?” The doctor thinks for a moment then says, “Well, that varies from woman to woman and pregnancy to pregnancy and besides, it’s difficult to describe pain.” “I know, but can’t you give me some idea?” she asks. “Well, he said, “Grab your upper lip and pull it out a little . . .” ...

405. Wanna Fight?

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon

King Duncan

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us . . .” What a message this is for our society: “whoever is not against us is for us . . .” That’s not the current theme in our society, is it? It’s us against them . . . Democrats against Republicans . . . Illegal ...

406. A Jiffy for Eternity

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Character Sometimes Who's Who doesn't know for sure just what's what! Consider the character of this man who comes to Jesus at night. Nicodemus clearly was a well-connected man yet it is clear he lacks some very vital information. He is remembered here as a "Pharisee," the highest sect among the Jews. We often think of the Pharisees as harsh, hypocritical, and uppity (and certainly there were moments when Jesus heaped scorn on them). Here, however, is a Pharisee, Nicodemus, who does not fit that mold. He ...

407. Live Spelled Backward

Matthew 26:14-27:66

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

In a CBS News 60 Minutes interview, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was asked why she had resigned as an Assistant District Attorney for the Bronx. She replied, "Because for the first time in my life I saw evil first hand and I felt that if I stayed that close to it, it just might rub off on me."[1] Come think with me about an age-old human affliction that has impacted the life of every person ever born and the two people who were not born but created in the Garden of Eden, a thing called evil. ...

408. Thank God We're Free at Last

Romans 6:12-23

Sermon

King Duncan

In January 1985, a large suitcase was discovered at the customs office of the Los Angeles International Airport. Inside the suitcase was the dead body of an unidentified young woman. U.S. Customs agents who discovered the body immediately launched an investigation. What they uncovered was a tale of a horrible tragedy that resulted from the desperate desire of two young people for freedom. The dead woman was the wife of a young Iranian living in the U.S. Her desire was to join her husband. However she was ...

409. The Light Still Shines

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

Is there any night more beautiful than Christmas Eve? Our boys and girls are waiting expectantly on a visit from St. Nick. Each of us as adults love the joy we see in their eyes. We have our own kind of joy. Those who are parents love giving their children nice things. That is when we truly learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive. And most of us remember the joy we felt as children at Christmas. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Even more important is the knowledge that as the ...

410. Holy Quail!

Exodus 16:1-36, Numbers 11:4-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Anyone here have cravings? What are your cravings? Coffee? Chocolate? Ice Cream? Truffles? Did you ever have that feeling when you just have to have something decadent? Your mouth wants to be naughty! Your eye catches that chocolate cake across the room! You watch it, you try not to, but you do. You can’t help yourself. And then, after all the restraint you can muster, you go for it. You eat the biggest piece you can. Later, you clutch your stomach all night long in pain. Too much chocolate!!! As a people ...

411. Nobody’s Too Good To Repent

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Historically, dating back to ancient times, the third Sunday in Lent was the time when candidates for baptism on Easter (the day when the ancient church performed all baptisms) were given careful scrutiny regarding how prepared they were to become followers of Jesus. In Latin it was called Occuli [Eyes] Sunday, because it was the Sunday that the church had its eye on those who were to be baptized.[1] If we want to keep in touch with this heritage, this is a Sunday, then, for us to reflect how we have been ...

412. God's Sovereign Choice

Romans 9:1-29

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

The Election of Israel What remains of God’s promises to the Jews now that the Messiah has come and the Jews from whom and for whom he came have, for the most part, failed to recognize him? That is the theme of Romans 9–11. Finding the exact term to describe Paul’s discussion of the theme is somewhat difficult. On the one hand, Romans 9–11 is more or less an excursus complete in itself. The beginning declaration (9:1) and the concluding doxology (11:33–36) delimit it clearly from the remainder of the ...

413. Struggling with Sin

Romans 7:7-25

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

We noted in section 14 that chapters 6–7 are something of a theological entrenchment on Paul’s part designed to defend his gospel against three objections. In 6:1–14 he contended against a misunderstanding of 5:20 (“where sin increased, grace increased all the more”), which would argue that if grace increases with sin, why not sin all the more? In 6:15–7:6 he answered a second objection that freedom from the law leads to moral anarchy. Now in the present section (7:7–25) we hear his final defense, in which ...

414. The Blind Guiding The Blind

Psalm 92:1-15, Luke 6:46-49, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Isaiah 55:1-13, Luke 6:37-42

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

The passage for today has what is described as a parable. It is a one-sentence parable, more like a saying than a typical parable. It is only one or two sentences long. The passage actually contains four such parables or sayings. While the passage is part of a longer discourse of Jesus addressed to "a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people" (Luke 6:17), this section seems more directly addressed to the disciples. The first of the parables or sayings deals with an analogy to a blind ...

415. Wake Up!

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Someone has said, “You know it’s going to be a bad day when your horoscope starts with . . . ‘Are you sitting down?’” You know it’s going to be a bad day when you turn on the news and they are displaying emergency routes out of the city. You know it’s going to be a bad day when you wake up in a hospital in traction and your insurance agent tells you that your accident policy covers falling off the roof, but not hitting the ground. We might add one more: You know it’s going to be a bad day when your pastor ...

416. Imitation and Role Modeling

1 Corinthians 10:23--11:1, 1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

Big Idea: Christ followers must aim to become imitators of Christ in all they do. Their testimony to their relationship to Christ trumps their Christian “rights” and leads to a rejection of contexts that hamper this testimony. Understanding the Text After a rather direct warning to the “strong” Christians in Corinth against self-assuredness and the pursuit of personal rights at the expense of the “weak,” Paul now returns to his earlier differentiating argument about the relationship between idol meat and ...

417. Beyond a Friendly, Cuddly Christmas

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

King Duncan

This is the season for returns is it not? . . . Especially for returning unwanted or impractical Christmas gifts. I was reading something interesting recently about Costco, the giant members-only warehouse store. Costco is the second largest retailer in the world after Walmart. What you may not know is that Costco has one of the most generous return policies in the retail world. They will allow customers to return just about anything they buy there . . . for a full refund. As you might guess, that kind of ...

418. Serpentine Soul

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: rubber snake (preferably a horned viper –warning, do not use a live viper) “I desire mercy, not sacrifice….I have come to call sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13) I have here a snake. I can see the wrinkled-up noses, yes! That’s the reaction we usually have, most of us, to snakes! There’ something about a snake that just strikes discomfort or terror in the best of us. They are unusual looking, have sharp teeth. They are fast-moving and most of all unpredictable. In the holy land, especially in the desert ...

419. Hungry for Anything?

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

One time I was having lunch with a man in a Chicago Loop restaurant. The waitress came to our table, offered him the menu and asked: "Well, what would you like for lunch;" "I don’t quite know," replied my companion, "but whatever it is, I’m sure that you won’t have it." We never quite get over that kind of childishness, do we? How many people know what they want in life? Try asking them some time, and you will hear a hodgepodge of half-formed, ill-defined ambiguities. The simple truth is that most people ...

420. Prayers for Memorial Day, Election, Thanksgiving

Bulletin Aid

Rolland R. Reece

Memorial Day Today, Creator God, we remember. We remember the courage of our forefathers who decided they could no longer bow to England's crown, so they went to war to gain our country's independence. We remember the agony and blood-letting of that war that pitted American against American, the north against the south. Even to this day the wounds of that fighting are yet to be healed. We remember that many years ago we sent our troops to "fight the Kaiser" in a war that was to end all wars. Then less than ...

421. Tevye's Question

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Many of you are familiar with the Broadway musical, Fiddler On The Roof. It is a touching story about a deeply devout middle-aged Jewish man named Tevye and his wife Golde (pronounced Golda). They live in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Their lives are hard, but filled with devotion. A complicating factor in their lives is that they have all daughters. Finding proper matches for their daughters is a major theme in the musical. This is in a community in which marriages are arranged by the ...

422. Pulling Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Last week we talked about planting seeds. This week we’re talking about pulling weeds. The two go together. Every gardener knows that planting seeds is the easy part of having a successful garden. It is much more time consuming to weed that same garden. And it’s hard work. As someone has said: “When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.” There is a corollary to that truth: “To ...

423. Big Men in Little Planes

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

There is an interesting story that comes out of the Second World War. England and Germany both had state-of-the-art fighter planes. Germany had the Messerschmitt, which was considered to be the world’s fastest fighter plane. The British had the Supermarine Spitfire. The Spitfire was slower than the Messerschmitt. Nevertheless, German pilots were envious of their British counterparts. You see, the Messerschmitt had been designed to hold the perfect German. Who was the perfect German? Who else but Der Fuhrer ...

424. Go Hard or Go Home!

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Randy L. Hyde tells about a wealthy family from Massachusetts who used to take a month’s vacation every summer to the coast of Maine, taking their maid with them. The maid had an annual ritual at the beach. She wore an old-fashioned bathing suit, complete with a little white hat, and carried enough paraphernalia to stock Wal-Mart. She would settle herself on the beach, cover every inch of her exposed flesh and journey down to the water’s edge. There she would hesitate while taking deep breaths. Slowly ...

425. I'm Listening

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Name: I'm Listening New Name: The Power of Listening Legend has it that President Franklin D. Roosevelt got tired of smiling that big smile and saying the usual things at all those White House ...

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