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 4226 to 4250 of 4962 results

4226. Reactions to Rejection

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

Jesus knew what rejection felt like. When he preached his first sermon in his hometown of Nazareth, things went well in the beginning. But after he was finished, the people ran him out of town. They even tried to run him off a cliff, but he managed to escape. That was the first time Jesus experienced rejection for what he was trying to do for God, but it was not to be the last. Many of us know how it feels, even though the circumstances may not be as dramatic. An excellent student minister was rejected by ...

4227. Spiderman: Saved To Serve

Colossians 3:1-4, 12-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

When I was a teenager two events happened, not too far apart either, which were catastrophic to everything I held near and dear. My allowance at the time was $3.00 a week. Not a whole lot, I know, but the median income in 1965 was only $6,800. Now, I supplemented my allowance by mowing two yards in the neighborhood for $5.00 each. I was saving as much of the money as possible to buy a 5 speed English racer that I had fallen in love with at the local bicycle shop. I had allotted $1.00 of my weekly allowance ...

4228. Magnificent Fools

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

During World War II a cartoon appeared in daily newspapers across the country which attracted much attention. It pictured a young soldier driving a jeep madly across the battlefield. Bullets whizzed past his head; shells burst in the air; bombs fell on every side. It seemed that he was going to become the object of one of them and meet death itself. Still he drove on madly, zig-zagging, trying to dodge death itself. To take one look at the picture you would think the young man was foolish for risking his ...

4229. Lessons from the Ordinances

Exodus 21:2-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I’m not going to read scripture today as we begin our sermon, because our scripture lesson spans almost three chapters - beginning with 21 and going through the 19th verse of chapter 23. This section of the book of Exodus is called “the book of the Covenant” This was a sacred document for the Jews, containing the conditions on which the peculiar relationship between Israel and Jehovah was based. I’m using that word peculiar in its precise meaning. That God would choose these “nothing” people, these nomads ...

4230. Worry Not

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Do you have a worrier in your family? Kais Rayes writes that he and his wife found their whole life turned upside down when their first child was born. Every night, the baby seemed to be fussy, and many nights, it seemed that their baby cried far more than he slept. Says Rayes, “My wife would wake me up, saying, ‘Get up, honey! Go see why the baby is crying!’” As a result, Rayes found himself suffering from severe sleep deprivation. While complaining to his coworkers about his problem one day, one of his ...

4231. Live the Lullaby

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Every baby will keep every parent up all night, at least once. It’s a rule. Whether because they are teething or colicky, anxious or tummy-troubled, or just plain fussy, it’s part of a baby’s mission in life to keep its parents awake weeping and wailing. We parents are “hard-wired” to respond to an infant’s cries. What has kept us grieving all week, a grief that can’t be spoken? What has kept our hearts hurting all week, a pain that won’t go away? When an infant or child is in trouble, or hurt, or killed, ...

4232. Suffered under (Saint) Pontius Pilate

John 18:28-40

Sermon

David O. Bales

Christians Sunday by Sunday announce our collective memory of Pontius Pilate: “Suffered under Pontius Pilate.” By repeating this creed regularly, we agree with church tradition and we don’t wonder further about Pilate. We certainly have no sympathy for him. Pilate’s Jewish contemporaries had nothing good to say about him. Christians, especially on Good Friday, don’t let anyone forget our opinion of him. However, some early church traditions decided that Pilate was a believer and two churches still, ...

4233. Of Peace and War

Deuteronomy 20:1-20

Sermon

James Merritt

I want to give you two dates. The dates are roughly sixty years apart. They were not chosen however randomly and they will strike a chord in every one of us for one reason or another. The first date is December 7, 1941. If you are from what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation” you know immediately what that date represents. It is when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The second date is September 11, 2001. If you are a baby boomer, a Gen Xer or even a millennial you will remember that date. That was the ...

4234. God’s Covenant with Abram

Genesis 15:1-18

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

God’s Covenant with Abram: In this account God appears twice to Abram, each time giving him special promises. The text gives no indication of the length of time between these appearances, although it must have been at least a day. In the first appearance God gives Abram an object lesson at night (v. 5), and in the next there is mention of the sun setting (v. 12). On both occasions Abram receives God’s word like a prophet. In the first he has a vision in which he receives two words, both introduced by a ...

4235. “When We Were Overwhelmed by Our Sins, You Forgave Our Transgressions”

Psalm 65:1-13

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Nature’s wonders and God’s forgiveness come together as dual witnesses of grace. Understanding the Text Psalm 65 is a community psalm of thanksgiving,1 grammatically indicated by the plural pronouns (“we” and “our”) in verses 1–5. (See the sidebar “Psalms of Thanksgiving” in the unit on Pss. 9–10.) The psalm of thanksgiving includes two essential elements: a report of the crisis that generated the thanksgiving (“we were overwhelmed by sins,” 65:3a) and the acknowledgment of deliverance (“you ...

4236. I Once Was Blind…and Maybe I Still Am

John 9:1-41

Sermon

King Duncan

An English missionary named Roland Allen once told about an older missionary who came up and introduced himself to him one day after he had delivered a sermon. The older man said that he had been a medical missionary for many years in India. He served in a region where there was an environmental condition that was causing progressive blindness in many of the people of that region. People were born with healthy vision, but there was something that caused people to lose their sight as they grew older. As ...

4237. The Song of Moses

Deuteronomy 31:30--32:47

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

A Song for the Future: At the beginning of Chapter 31, we move finally to the “outer frame” of the book, composed of chapters 1–3 and 31–34. The links between the two sections are very clear, and they could be read together continuously. The common theme, especially at the “join” (cf. 3:21–28), is the commissioning of Joshua to lead the Israelites into the land, in view of the fact that Moses would not do so but would die outside it. However, whereas chapters 1–3 focus primarily on the past, chapters 31–34 ...

4238. The Power to Forgive

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor John Ortberg tells a humorous story about an umpire in a softball league in Colorado. One day, during the off season, this unfortunate umpire got stopped by a police officer for speeding. He pleaded for mercy. He explained to the policeman that he was a good driver and told why this particular day he had to be in a hurry. The officer didn’t buy his argument. “Tell it to the judge,” he said. When softball season rolled around, the umpire was umpiring his first game. Guess who was the first batter to ...

4239. No Turning Back

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

At the dawn of the Space Age it looked like the United States was losing the Space Race — and soundly. The Soviet Union had launched the first artificial satellite in 1957. In response the Vanguard rocket blew up on the pad. Both nations then began to work on putting a human into space. The American Project Mercury was projected to put a man in orbit by late 1960, but delay after delay — sometimes out of caution and sometimes out of concerns for safety because the rockets continued to blow up, allowed the ...

4240. If There Isn’t Enough To Go Around

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

William G. Carter

Nobody could blame the disciples for their concern. It had been a long and exhausting day. People from all over the countryside had followed Jesus with their aches and pains. Rather than retreat or rest, the gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus sat there and saved all of them, one at a time. Meanwhile his twelve followers were overwhelmed by the need. It was getting late, and all they could see was a long line of needy people who would not go away. “Lord,” they said, “there isn’t enough food to go around ...

4241. Daniel Interprets the Dream of a Tree

Daniel 4:19-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The King Becomes a Beast-Man and Then Recovers: In terms of form, chapter 4 starts out as a letter from King Nebuchadnezzar addressed to all people everywhere. It begins in the first person with praise to God (4:1–3). Next, the king relates in his own voice the story of his dream (4:4–18). Then the account shifts to the third person for Daniel’s interpretation (4:19–27) and for the narrative of how the dream was fulfilled (4:28–33). Finally, the text reverts back to the first person as Nebuchadnezzar ...

4242. The Role of an Angel

John 20:10-18

Sermon

George Bass

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you ...

4243. Luther of Wittenberg

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

"All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death ..." Philippians 3:8-11 Participants enter and take their places in the chancel. As they come forward, the congregation sings the hymn, "In the Hour of Trial." When the hymn is completed, the drama begins. LECTOR: I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown ...

4244. The Season Of The Nativity

Matthew 25:31-46

Bulletin Aid

Wayne H. Keller

CELEBRATING THE PRESENCE OF GOD Pastoral Invitation For the second time, in the name of the newborn one, welcome to the ____ day of Christmas, when my true love gave to me __________. Now that we are well past the culture's celebration of Christmas day, we can celebrate the biblical version of the event. Someone (author unknown) has said, "In despair we cry, 'Look at what the world has come to!' In joy we shout, 'Look at what has come to the world!' " Ask the people to stand and reverently shout, "Look at ...

4245. Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany

Sermon

Russell F. Anderson

Revised Common:Deuteronomy 30:15-20 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Matthew 5:21-37 Roman Catholic:Sirach 15:15-20 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 Matthew 2:17-37 Episcopal:Sirach 15:11-20 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Matthew 5:21-24, 27- 30, 33-37 Lutheran:Deuteronomy 30:15-20 1 Corinthians 2:6-13 Matthew 5:20-37 Seasonal Theme: The Holy Spirit is prominently featured in the Epiphany Season pericopes. The Spirit does not act in isolation but works to create and sustain the spiritual community. Each week we will examine a different ...

4246. Proper 28

Judges 4:1-24, Proverbs 31:10-31, Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18, Malachi 2:1-9, Matthew 25:14-30, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Being ready for Christ's kingdom. To be prepared, a person need only walk in the light of God's love and invest her/his talents. COMMENTARY Old Testament: Judges 4:1-7 The Israelites were oppressed by the Canaanites. The Hebrews cried out to God, who sent Deborah as prophetess and judge. Deborah sent Barak and a horde of Hebrews against the Canaanite king, Jabin, and his general, Siera. The Hebrews triumphed over the technologically superior enemy army. Old Testament: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 ...

4247. On Not Being First

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

We Americans have long had a love affair with winners. Successful undertakings of nearly every sort quickly receive the admiration of those around us. As a group, we take great delight in banquets and other ceremonies at which honors are distributed. People who come in second are rarely remembered in our culture. The runner-up usually receives a brief word of recognition and then is quickly forgotten. If you happen to be a sports enthusiast, you'll remember the poor old Buffalo Bills of the NFL. Never mind ...

4248. The Dreamer Within You

Joel 2:18-27, Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

Richard Hasler

The setting for the movie Dead Poet’s Society is a proper New England prep school steeped in tradition and discipline. Into this rather stiff environment comes a new English instructor played by Robin Williams. He has an unorthodox method of teaching. He stands on his desk at times to make a point. He electrifies his students. He has them reading poetry as they practice soccer so that they will see the connection between the two. He prods them to think for themselves, to get in touch with their feelings, ...

4249. There's Blindness, and There's Blindness

John 9:13-34, John 9:1-12

Sermon

Johnny Dean

John Killinger tells the story of a man who visited one day in a classroom for visually impaired children. Troubled by what he saw, the man remarked, insensitively, "It must be terrible to go through life without eyes." One little girl quickly responded, "It’s not half as bad as having two good eyes but still not being able to see." Her point was well made. There is physical blindness, and there is another, even more tragic form of blindness that affects the spirit. Both forms of blindness are present in ...

4250. Mary Of Nazareth

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ephesians 1:15-23

Drama

Lynda Pujad

A Monologue For Easter Part One I had always lived in the village of Nazareth. I am Mary. (bows slightly) It was a common place. Certainly, there has never been anything special about Nazareth but it was my home and I loved it. My parents lived there and also my fiancé, Joseph, who was a reputable carpenter. He was a righteous man and came from the lineage of the family of King David. I knew he was a good man and one that would be a fine husband. Our families had arranged the marriage and soon I would be ...

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