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 4326 to 4350 of 5000 results

4326. Facing Up to a Power Problem

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... not always come as an explosion, as a burst of light - in "the earthquake, wind, and fire." Sometimes he comes quietly, gently, but still life changing. A shaft of light, A waft of wind, A whisper in the soul, A simple thought. A new direction, An impulse to love, A new involvment in mankind; A warmth, a fire, A joy, a peace - Thus, speaks the Holy Spirit Within my restless soul. Albert Edward Day wrote a little book, Existence Under God.1 The thesis of this book was that to be filled with the Spirit of God ...

4327. Binding Up the Fractured World

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... as normal. It aggressively seeks "wholeness," which is the underlying meaning of the words for peace and salvation in the Hebrew. It is not content to see continued division, but moves toward its resolution. That is what Christian life is about - the active bringing of love to a world so that healing can take place and wholeness can be restored. The community known by the name of Christ shows the way in this kind of life together. Should the church itself multiply the division, it would show itself as the ...

4328. Journey to the Cross I: Jesus And The Demon-Possessed Man

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt… and he was just about to burst into tears. But then, he looked into his father’s eyes. Instead of anger or hostility, he saw there his father’s sympathy and concern; he saw there his father’s love and compassion. Then, instead of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter. What he saw in his father’s eyes... made all the difference! This is one of the reasons Jesus is so important to us. He lets us look into the Father’s eyes ...

4329. Journey To The Cross IV: Jesus and Judas

Mark 14:43-52

Sermon

James W. Moore

... did Judas betray? Did he do it for money? Some have suggested that, saying Judas was undone by his greed and his love for money. But that really doesn’t carry much weight because Judas could have struck a better bargain than that… if his ... it on a cross! So if we don’t want to be a traitor to Christ, then we dare not, we must not… miss His message of love. Judas heard Jesus when He spoke of the Kingdom and the power and the glory. He evidently was not listening as carefully when Jesus said the road ...

4330. Journey To The Cross V: Jesus and Simon Peter

Mark 14:66-72

Sermon

James W. Moore

... in Jerusalem… because the One who conquered death there was the One who showed us that… we should reach out to everybody with love and respect and graciousness and compassion. He was the one who taught us that it’s not enough to just love those who look like us and dress like us and think like us. We are called to love and respect all people. to do less is to deny our love. There is an actor who played Benjamin Franklin for school children. He would dress up like Benjamin Franklin and tell his story ...

4331. Journey To The Cross VI: Jesus And Pontius Pilate

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

James W. Moore

... him into his private office, closed the door and said... “Jim, I have everything I have ever dreamed of having and more. I have wealth, power, authority. I have a fine home, three luxury cars... money to do anything I want to do. I have a lovely wife... wonderful children... a respected profession... I’m in good health. Despite all that I am miserable. I feel empty inside, unfulfilled... I am bored to tears! People call me a success, but I feel like a failure.” Now, what that man was saying was that ...

4332. The Experience of Christ's Glory

2 Peter 1:12-21

Bulletin Aid

... stories mean even more to us because we see ourselves in many of those stories. Pastor: Our greatest understanding of Jesus comes from our personal experiences with him. Scripture and experience produce a living faith. People: With our own hearts, we have experienced our Savior's love and praise him for saving us! Collect Almighty God, who has revealed the glory of your Son to Christians of every generation: Open our hearts to the blessed experience of his glory and our lips to the saving message of his ...

4333. AMAZING GRACE

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... causes us problems, big problems, for none of us qualifies. If I were to ask you whether you were sure of your salvation, I wonder if every one of you could honestly say, "When I die, I feel certain that I would be with God in heaven." Anyone who loves the Lord and cannot state that conviction does not understand how amazing God’s grace really is. The reason that many of us are uncertain about eternal life is because we are so aware of our faults, and we believe that we must somehow do better before we ...

4334. The Miracle of Christ

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... surprise me! There seems to be no end to this growth. There are, yet, new levels. In the miracle, the continuing miracle, Christ is as close as our thoughts. We can turn problems and fears over to him, really. He speaks to us in whispered thoughts, and we know his love and his care. We are assured there is nothing he cannot handle. I trust him, because I have found that I can trust him. He doesn’t let me down. It is unbelievable, but it is my very life. For me to live is Christ! I am strengthened in the ...

4335. One Thing

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... want you to say on that day that I did try to visit those in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity." Surely, those were noble sentiments; but are they the only legacies of Martin Luther King to the Christian faith and the twentieth ... now is the only time we have to do what Christ wants us to do in sharing the good news of God’s reconciling love, of reaching out to the lonely and the alienated, of visiting the sick and the imprisoned, of clothing the naked, and of feeding the ...

4336. Manasseh

2 Kings 21:1-18

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... are now preaching all over the world. My boys!" The cross is symbol of man’s inhumanity to man: symbol of all unmerited suffering - the great why of life. No, Christians are not spared. One witnesses too many funerals to say that God protects, shields those he loves; but we also witness what God does - he gives strength, power, and faith which overcomes. Ours is a God who takes the symbol of death and makes it the symbol of life. There are no simple answers to the world’s unmerited pain. Rather, we see ...

4337. God Is No Gentleman

Luke 1:67-80

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... death." The cross once and for all proved that God is no gentleman, remote from the needs of his children. He is every place where there is a need. And there is no need, in any place, too small for his concern or no sin too great for his healing love. "The dayspring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." If there is any burden weighing on your soul, any grief gnawing at your heart, any sin gripping you in a relentless grasp ... if there is fear ...

4338. Humility Gate

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... are, in the light of his birth, life, and death. And what we see makes us wonder what there is in our nature for God to love us so. The one thing we all have in common is that we have too often failed to fulfill the will of God and have fallen ... world by humility gate. Let us meet him at Christmas as we, too, enter Humility Gate and give thanks and praise to almighty God for his love to us as revealed in Christ our Lord. In Communion we meet face to face. The broken bread and the poured-out cup are symbols of ...

4339. What Gives You Away?

Judges 12:1-7

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... you had time to think it through, you would have said or done things differently? One man said to another, as they contemplated some evil they wanted to do to a third man. "There is no use bothering him, every time you cut him all he does is bleed love." Don’t you want to ask God to let your knowledge of him so permeate all of you, that even your unconscious reactions will be Christian? What do they say now of you - "Shibboleth" or "Sibboleth?" HOW DO YOU SAY IT? Well, what gives you away? Does your whole ...

4340. Double Citizenship

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... take our responsibilities seriously. In an invocation prayer at the United States Senate, Peter Marshall said, "Lord Jesus, Thou who art the way, the truth, and the life, hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make men free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Make us to see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right." It ...

4341. Embalmed Leaders

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... Let’s be honest. Aren’t they right? The only impression we’ve ever made in the world is the pitiful pittance, by comparison, that the churches of the United States have given to the peoples of the world, because this, they know, was given in love, this, they know, was given in a real spirit of service and leadership in the world. We look today for leadership. Our government has talent scouts looking everywhere for leadership. What kind of leadership must it be? The Good Shepherd, he must be the spirit ...

4342. Embalmed Alive

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... it in live and sparkling health, how you delight it, how you pleasure it, how you secure it, how you comfort it - your life can’t be in there, friend. You’ll never find it! In the marvelous economy of our Creator when he says, through his Son, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and thy neighbor as thyself," he isn’t giving us some arbitrary rule that we have to follow to be good, godlike children. He is giving us the essence of human life, that life has to be lived ...

4343. Paul: The Man and His Message

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... of Israel depended on the sheer grace of God, not on the nation’s own merit. "Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people." "It is because he loves you" (Deuteronomy 9:6; 7:8). This is what the prophets proclaim. The guilt of sin must be removed, declares Isaiah, before a true relation to God is possible. The message of Hosea is that sin brings about unworthiness and breaks the covenant relationship, but ...

4344. Salvation as Hope

Romans 13:8-14, 1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... " (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). This is a description of the judgment of believers, for each man has built on Christ as the foundation. The believer who has built of gold, silver, or precious stones has shown the true mind of Christ and performed works of love. But when a Christian has sought his own glory, hod vain pretensions, and - lacked the mind of Christ, he has built of wood, hay, and stubble, which the fire of judgment will destroy. While his guilt is thus made manifest, the forgiveness of sins in Christ ...

4345. Preaching Unpopular Truth - 1943

John 18:38

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... divine command has never been rescinded, and is as imperative today as in that ancient yesteryear. Besides, there is a war on right now and "we’ve got a job to do." Is there anything more important than winning the victory for freedom? To talk about loving your enemies, returning good for evil, and doing unto others as you would have them do to you sounds pious enough, but when so much is at stake, isn’t it almost subversive to express such sentiments? Won’t it weaken morale, slow up production, and ...

4346. Significance in Life

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Jon L. Joyce

... it into one word, I would have to say that the Greeks have a word for it, ‘agape.’ " Agape means, broadly, "to have concern for." To use Michener’s phrase: "There is no real coming home to oneself until our goals and our motives are rooted in unselfish love in agape. This is our reason for being. This is our reason for doing. This is our reason for living." The newspaper carried the story of a man who had bought himself a new Cadillac. He noticed as he was driving the Cadillac that every time he would ...

4347. The Open Door

John 10:1-21

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... seek to serve God daily! People: For each of us like sheep have gone astray, each in our own way. Leader: But the Lord is our shepherd, who seeks us out when we are lost. People: And the Love of the Lord knows no bounds and calls to us always. Leader: Then let us lift our voices in praise and song for God's Love. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, You knew us even before we were born, and You knew we would each wander off into trouble like sheep. Thank You for opening the door ...

4348. The Perfect Gift

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... world's most needed assets! No wonder Phillips Brooks wrote in his Christmas carol, "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." Why did God do it? The answer is clear is that most beloved verse in our Bible: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life." Several years ago a mother in Anderson, South Carolina, was very busy on Christmas Eve, wrapping packages and preparing to take her family to a Christmas ...

4349. Like Buoys In The River

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... this people of faith. In today's scripture we find two truths about the Ten Commandments. First, God's Commandments Are Motivated By Love. The One who gives these commandments is no tyrant; He is that gracious Father-God who has "borne you on eagles' wings." ... because we are afraid not to or because we will go to hell if we don't; we take them seriously because the One who issues them loves us and always seeks what is best for us. When I was a youngster of seven or eight years of age, we had a short, wide ...

4350. Much Obliged

Hebrews 12:14-29, Psalm 116:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... special person, "and forsaking all other cling only unto her (or him) as long as you both shall live." Some of us have not been faithful to that vow. Many of us have stood at this altar for the baptism of our children. We promised to rear them in the love and admonition of the Lord. Yet some of us have not set a good example for them, either in word or deed. Some of us have vowed not to be abusive, either verbally or physically, toward those persons who are nearest and dearest to us. Yet on certain days ...

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