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 4376 to 4400 of 5000 results

4376. The Thrill of Victory Beats the Agony of Defeat

Judges 7:1-17

Sermon

James Merritt

... to Gideon, ‘By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.'" (vv. 4-7) God gives a test. He has all of these men who have been marching all day long and in the hot sun, come to a lake. One group gets on its knees, buries their face in the water, oblivious to everything else going on around them. They forgot that they were soldiers in training. They forgot that a war was going on. All they cared about was ...

4377. Joy to the World

Luke 2:8-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... leukemia. In such cases, the patient usually dies within five years unless he or she receives a bone marrow transplant. Abe and Mary Ayala, the parents, began a nationwide search for a donor whose marrow would be a close match for Anissa's. Though they searched long and hard, no suitable donor was found. But this mother and father did not passively accept their daughter's fate. They knew from their doctors that the best hope for Anissa lay in a marrow transplant from a sibling. But the marrow of her only ...

4378. What Impresses God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... big for his spiritual britches. C. S. Lewis once said, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you can't see something that's above you." This Pharisee had fooled himself about himself. He says, "God, I ... a feast he was having. When they all got there they saw his own chair richly decorated placed at one end of a long table. He told them to seat themselves according to how important they thought they were in his sight. He left the room. Well ...

4379. Why Were the Wise Men Wise?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... to go down one fraction of an inch. But if it rains, churches all over America have a fallout. b. A Deadly Jealousy After this long journey, of all people, they came face to face with Herod the Great. To put it mildly, he was the worst man in the world ... He rose without a sound While all the rest were left standing around. I fell to my knees, but it was too late; I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate. I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight; Oh, if only we had been ready tonight. In the words ...

4380. Don't Forget to Forgive

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... mental eczema, a scratching on the inside that in her mind was really on the skin." Dr. Peale said, "Do you know of any other problems that she might be having?" He said, "Well, I do know that she and her only sister have been on the outs for a long time, and it may be that is part of the problem." Dr. Peale called the woman in and asked her about her relationship with her sister. The story she told was not complex. But years before she and her sister had had a bitter disagreement over the disposition of ...

4381. Friends

Proverbs 27:6, 9, 17

Sermon

James Merritt

... , I need friends in foul weather. A fair-weather friend is truly no friend at all. A false friend is just like your shadow. As long as the sun is shining, he sticks right by you. But the minute you step into the shade, he disappears. I was thinking about what ... , not because of what you can do for them, but for what they can do for you. There are some people who are your friends as long as it is convenient. I heard about a little boy who walked into the dentist's office with a friend of his, and he said, "Doc ...

4382. Fiscal Fitness

Proverbs 3:9-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... save you a lot of sleepless nights and anxiety if you will just learn that not only should you not keep up with the Jones's, but if you ever do catch up with them, they will just refinance! There is nothing wrong with having things money can buy, as long as you don't lose the things that money can't buy. Never forget that money can buy anything that is for sale, but the greatest things in life are not for sale. Somebody observed that there are seven ages of man: First age: A child sees the earth. Second ...

4383. Seeing the End from the Beginning

Numbers 13:1-2, 17-33

Sermon

James Merritt

... his life, which is this: "The difference between greatness and mediocrity is vision." I believe the most beautiful song is yet to be sung, the best sermon is yet to be preached, the finest church is yet to be built, the greatest work is yet to be done, as long as people will get a God-given vision. You see, vision is the ability to see God's presence, to perceive God's power, and to focus on God's plan in spite of the obstacles. Charles Swindoll once said: Vision is essential for survival. It is fawned by ...

4384. Team Work is Dream Work

Psalm 133:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

... and believes the Bible, than I can with a liberal Southern Baptist who denies the deity of Jesus, or the inspiration of the Bible. As long as we will submit ourselves to the lordship of Christ, we will be a unified church. For the lordship of Jesus is not just the ... created to do; be fruitful for its Creator. What dew does for the land, unity does for the church. I was reading not long ago about Canadian geese. A naturalist began studying why geese who fly south or fly north always fly in a "V" formation. You ...

4385. Our God Is an Awesome God

Psalm 139:1-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... of the thirty trillion cells of a person's body. It is the most complex molecule that has ever been discovered. Though it is very tiny, it exists inside the nucleus of every cell. If you could stretch it out, it would be about six and one-half feet long. All of the DNA in just one human body linked together and stretched out, would reach to the moon and back. That is how incredibly complex the cell is. Dr. Crick set out to ascertain the probabilities of only one DNA molecule come into existence by the law ...

4386. What to Remember When You're Having a Bad Hair Day

Romans 8:28

Sermon

James Merritt

... truth in the Bible for God's children that we need to remember, and it is one of the most well known and most quoted verses in the Bible, which is the text for our message—Romans 8:28. In this verse, which is short on words but long on wisdom, God gives us three truths to remember when you are having a bad hair day. Now these three words are promise, providence, and purpose. I. Remember God's Promise to You Now there are three words that are extremely important in understanding and appreciating what this ...

4387. God's Will: Don't Leave Home Without It

Romans 12:1-2

Sermon

James Merritt

... That's easy for you to say, you're making a token commitment, you're asking me for a total sacrifice!" Well, that is exactly what the Lord demands from us. He wants a total sacrifice, a complete surrender of our life to Him. I was in a store not long ago that was having a going-out-of-business sale. As I walked into that building I saw a huge sign that said, "No refunds, no returns, all transactions final." That is exactly the kind of sacrifice we are to offer God; a living sacrifice total and complete of ...

4388. Whatever It Takes

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... will pay any price, I will endure any costs; I will make any sacrifice to win anyone at any time that I can to Jesus Christ, as long as it doesn't compromise biblical principles or the gospel of Jesus Christ." Six times in this passage Paul talks about winning others. V.19 "…that I ... ritual and ceremonial traditions. When he was with the Gentiles he followed Gentile accustoms and Gentile customs as long as it did not violate a biblical principle. But when Paul was in Jerusalem he followed Jewish religious ...

4389. Face the Music

Hebrews 9:27-28

Sermon

James Merritt

... or boots off, you're going to die. All of us have an appointment with death that we won't miss; that we cannot postpone, and we cannot cancel. There is an old legend of a merchant in Baghdad, who one day sent his servant to the market. Before very long the servant came running back to his master with a white face, shaking, and said, "Down in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned around I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me with a very threatening expression ...

4390. A Call to Arms

Exodus 17:8-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in a dark lamentable catalogue of human crime." That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I say in one word: "Victory—victory at all cost, victory in spite of all terror, victory, how ever long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."2 That should be the battle cry of every Christian, as we face a world that hates us, the devil who despises us, and the flesh that wants to destroy us. We should say victory ...

4391. The Pride Is Right

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... Him. Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.' Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father'?" ( ... strongest safe guards against government's arbitrary authority, remains a rare privilege in much of the rest of the world. But long before the Magna Charta where did it gain its first rough expression? That's right—from the Bible. To be precise, ...

4392. Are You In the Know

Job 19:23-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... , that they were inscribed in a book!" (v.23b) He wanted what he was about to say to be circulated as widely as possible, and as long as possible. Finally, he wanted his words to be perpetuated. "That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever!" (V.24 ... Job said, "I know that He shall stand at last on the earth." Job is standing on the mountaintop of faith, and long before either coming occurred, he could see both comings of Christ. He understood He was coming first to redeem, but then He ...

4393. Star Witness

John 1:35-51

Sermon

James Merritt

... . Many of you have probably seen on programs such as "Real TV" the actual video of this plane crash landing just a few hundred yards from the beach of a resort. A Boeing 767 of Ethiopian Airlines took off from Addis Ababa headed to the Ivory Coast. Not long after the plane took off, three men burst into the cockpit armed with an ax, a fire extinguisher, and what appeared to be a bomb. They said they had escaped prison and they demanded to be taken to Australia. The pilot tried to tell them that the plane ...

4394. The Prosecutor Perry Mason Can't Beat

John 16:7-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... you were hoping for? Did you ever have those times when there was that one smart student, that Mr. or Miss "know-it-all" that would mess up the curve? Therefore you had to fail. The problem with Jesus is, He ruins the curve. You think you are righteous as long as you compare yourself to somebody else. But when you compare yourself to the Lord Jesus, you realize that everybody fails. That is why John goes on to say in v.10, "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more." Jesus had come ...

4395. Turn Right with the Right Turn

Luke 13:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... in the offering plate and help pay the church's bills, and go on to the mission field. But if that $100 bill stays in circulation long enough, eventually it is going to get into the hands of a bank teller, whose expert eyes and sensitive fingers will know it is a ... all, you say to a Holy God, "I am a sinner." Now there are a lot of people who say that. You talk to most people long enough they'll finally admit they are sinners. But then there's a second stage where you say, "I'm not only a sinner, I ...

4396. God's Way or the Highway

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... gives us the word stenography, which is what we call today "shorthand." The Lord here paints a picture of a tiny gate that is easily overlooked. You have to search for it to find it. The road is also very narrow. It never broadens no matter how far or how long you travel on it. You can't bring any baggage through this gate; you've got to leave everything behind to get in. Because the gate is so narrow, you can only get through it empty-handed. You've got to leave your pride, your prestige, and your position ...

4397. It's Time to Go to Work

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... right now at buried talents of singing, buried talents of teaching, buried talents of serving all over this building. There are a lot of pews here that are occupied by graves where talents that have been given by God, and intended to be used for the Master, have long ago been buried. Everybody has got their excuse for doing nothing for God. "I'm too busy;" "Well, I do give my money;" "Well, I do faithfully attend." But I want you to see that there is no excuse for not serving God." "But his lord answered ...

4398. Slaying the Green-Eyed Monster

Proverbs 27:4

Sermon

James Merritt

... dream and said, "I'll give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive your competitor will receive twice as much. Do you want to be rich? You can be rich, but he'll be twice as wealthy. Do you want to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be twice as long and twice as healthy. So what is your desire?" The man frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!" Well, as we have already seen with Mrs. Holloway, jealousy will cause you to burn down ...

4399. His Way is the Right Way

Psalm 23:3

Sermon

James Merritt

... on is a path of no darkness, a path of no danger, a path of no disappointment. Prov. 12:28 says, “In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.” Even though sheep have poor eyesight, they don’t really have to see as long as they are following the shepherd and are staying in his path. You know in one sense everyone of us has bad eyesight; not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. Because even with the best eyesight in the world, there is one thing you and I can ...

4400. No Fear

Psalm 23:4

Sermon

James Merritt

... sapling where the trunk join the roots, was shaped into a smooth rounded head of hardwood. That sapling about two to three feet long would be shaped to fit the shepherd’s hand perfectly. That rod became an extension of the shepherd’s right arm. It was ... for reaching around the chest of a lamb or around the neck of a larger sheep. The shepherd’s staff was about four feet long and the shepherd was an expert at handling that staff. That staff was used to guide sheep, as those sheep would walk along a dangerous ...

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