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 4426 to 4450 of 5000 results

4426. The Manger Is Empty

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... pour out its contents. Then with equal care so that none of the fragile memories are broken or destroyed, we read, scan, open, study, peruse, and sift through all those old memories and old feelings so that we can open up both old and new vistas of God's love and grace. We open and rummage through all those old feelings and memories so that we can recall and be called back to our faith and our relationship with Christ. And we have to rummage through, we have to dig out those trunks and sacks and boxes and ...

4427. Light For Our Lives

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?" and Charlie responds with his typical note of inadequacy: "Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsy, but I changed my mind." (2) The Charlie Brown in all of us needs to know that we are loved. "The light shines in the darkness . . . " He helps us find peace with ourselves. Such peace is an integral part of the Christmas story. How can we hope to find peace on earth if we cannot find peace within ourselves? He gives us peace for our hearts. HE ALSO GIVES ...

4428. Making It Last

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... to Christmas Day for two weeks. Children count down the days, waiting as patiently as they can for Christmas Day. But what do we do the day after Christmas? Are there ways to make Christmas last longer than one day? Once there was a little girl who loved Christmas so much that she wanted it to be Christmas every day of the year. This little girl began writing to the Christmas fairy hoping that her wish would be granted. Wouldn't it be great to celebrate Christmas every day of the year? Christmas Day arrived ...

4429. Are You Going Down?

Luke 2:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Rosenberg said loudly, "Because a jerk like you in the hotel wouldn't give a Jewish lady a room for the night!" Mrs. Rosenberg was right. It is inconceivable that we should ever shut anybody out in the name of Jesus. Everything about his birth affirms God's love for the least and the lowly. Even that little town in which he was born. Not in Jerusalem or Rome but in Bethlehem. There is a poignant verse in the Old Testament story of Jacob. The verse tells us that Jacob's beloved Rachel "died giving birth to ...

4430. A House Divided

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... wish my father would come back." "I wish my mother didn't have a boyfriend." "I wish I could get straight A's so my father would love me." "I wish I had one mom and one dad so the kids wouldn't make fun of me. I have three moms and three dads and ... go on too long. Somebody always says "I'm sorry." And Archie always says, "It's okay, Edith." (2) I don't care how much you love your family, God did not create you to be a doormat. Augsburg suggests two other possible steps. One of these is, "I'll meet your ...

4431. He Has Done All Things Well

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... get better. I'm supposed to be something of a musician but I want you to know that was the most beautiful music I've ever heard." (2) Schweitzer sought for excellence as a musician but he also sought for excellence in loving human beings. That would be a lofty goal, wouldn't itto be the most loving human being in our community? To be the most trustworthy? To be the most generous? The call to follow Christ is the call to set lofty goals. THIS IS TO SAY, IN THE SECOND PLACE, THAT THE CALL TO FOLLOW CHRIST IS ...

4432. Rushing And Realizing

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... wants all people on this earth to live in peace and harmony and dignity together. God wants every child born into a world of love and caring. God wants people with pure hearts and pure motives. God wants a new human creation. An anonymous Mexican prayer expresses the change ... is how it happens--when we take the Father's Son, we get it all. When we walk in the light of Christ's love we carry his coming kingdom in our hearts. Even amid the rush of Christmas preparations, we realize the fruition of God's plan. " ...

4433. Leadership Styles For A New Millennium

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... that reflect who God is. Anything that made them think of God was fair game for a photo. One nineyearold took a picture of his social worker's office. She was nice to him, and that made him think of God. Other children took pictures of people they love, or things that make them happy. But some of the children's pictures reflected the kids' disillusionment with a God who didn't seem to hear their prayers or feel their pain. One nineyearold, identified as Chris G., used up all his film taking pictures of the ...

4434. How Have We Made It This Far?

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... to more than the fact that we are all passengers, though. It refers to a quality of interaction, of caring, of looking out for one another. In the earliest days of the church, a Roman named Aristides described Christians to the Emperor Hadrian like this: “They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something, they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home, and are happy, as though he were ...

4435. You Are A Winner!

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... live in, how fashionable your clothes are, or whether you wear a Timex or a Rolex. You are a winner. The very Son of God has come into the world and said, "I believe in you. I believe in what you can become. I see you through the eyes of love and let me tell you, you are terrific. The very Son of God has come into this world and to back up his claims about our worth laid down his own life. We are winners. We need to tell ourselves thatevery dayevery hourevery waking moment. We are winnersnot because of ...

4436. Salvation By Faith Alone

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... me just stretch for a few more strands of grass, and I think I'll make it." And we miss the joy of the Gospel. The Gospel is not about our desperately reaching out to prove our virtue to God. Rather it is about a God who reaches down in love and mercy and forgiveness to us. It is He who pulls us out of the quicksands of sin and selfdestruction. It is not an accomplishment which we somehow pull off. Douglas V. Steere tells about a long visit he had about fifty years ago with theologian Karl Barth in his ...

4437. Lesson From Five Maidens

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... isolation of his living room he selected some stationary and, for the first time in two decades, he remembered a high school English teacher. He had not even thought of her in years, but she had taken an interest in him. She had helped him to discover a love for poetry he didn't know he had. She imagined that he might be worth something after all. He wrote her a simple letter. Three days later, by return mail, a letter came from her. In the tremulous handwriting of a long retired teacher she wrote, "My eyes ...

4438. He Can Change Water To Wine

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... problem. "Why are there 10,000,000 alcoholics, with 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 children and youth included, mostly from the upper middle class, most of them with college degrees? Why?" His answer: "They do not know who they are! For they have never been loved truly so as to believe in their own cosmic significance and therefore their worth!"3 Many of you know the name Dean Jones. Dean Jones has starred in many of the most popular Walt Disney movies. This is the testimony Dean Jones gives: "I was performing in ...

4439. No Price Too High

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... heart of the Bible is the Gospel. At the heart of the Gospel is the cross. At the heart of the cross is the very love of God. The CHRISTIAN CENTURY carried a story several years ago about a young man named Lou Marshall who at one time was a student ... to have the same feelings about Christ's death in our behalf. We are not worth it! How could we ever deserve it? Such love is beyond our comprehension. There is an old story about a woman who was vacationing in Florida where she discovered a very valuable piece ...

4440. Lost In America

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... tracing the steps of his famous son? Imagine, if you can, God’s emotions as He stares down at the cross of Golgotha that held his Son? I wonder if He asked Himself, "Are all these sinful humans worth the life of my Son?" Evidently they were. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...." Lost people are God’s greatest concern. This brings us to the final thing to be said. Lost people will be found by people who care as God cares. Here is the ultimate test of our Christian commitment. It ...

4441. A Remedy For Anger

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... destroy me. It wouldn't hurt them. I did not wish them dead. I did not wish them in jail. If I had to, I could take their four little children and I could raise those children as if they were my own and I could have loved them." Mamie remembers her son when she sees children playing in the neighborhood and listens to her friends talk about their grandchildren ” something she realizes she will never experience. Mamie says this about her faith: "I was brought up in the Church of God in Christ. It preached ...

4442. Sorry, The Doctor's Been Delayed

John 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... . His prayer was answered the next summer. "I felt myself lifted on eagles’ wings," he wrote. "I seemed to soar beyond the fog and clouds into the clear blue sky." He felt himself healed. He was now free to rejoin his family. "At home," Mark says, "I love being a normal husband and daddy." Shirley told him, "I know how Lazarus’ family must have felt when he walked out of the tomb." Mark Miller is alive again after four long hard years. He gives all the credit for his newfound health to God. (1) Jesus ...

4443. A Life Above All Others

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... people hooked on hard drugs. I want them to know there's hope!" Linda now works with teenagers who are addicted and need Christ's love and hope. (2) In some churches Linda might not even have been welcome. How sad it is when people build fences around the Gospel. ... fall to the earth was himself, but it is also each of us. Only as we lose our lives do we find them. "Those who love their life lose it," said Jesus, "and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." A New England school ...

4444. How Do You Know?

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... the error of their ways. His clients began to back away. His income dwindled. Finally Harry went to his pastor to learn what he was doing wrong. "I know you mean well," the pastor said, "but people sense judgment in you. The Bible is very clear that we are to love others and leave the judging to God." And Harry Langdon changed again. It took time, but now, he says that he sees people in a new light. He sees them as the people that God made them to be. And that's the picture he focuses on. (3) Unfortunately ...

4445. Who Is He?

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... convent for years, one day noticed a picture depicting the Lord being scourged. She had seen this same picture 100s of times before, but in that particular moment of revelation she saw it as she had never seen it before. She saw God suffering ” suffering for love of her. She fell to her knees, sobbing in pain and wonder, and when she arose, she arose a new soul. This was the great divide in her life, the experience that changed everything. She said that she arose with a "sense of unpayable debt." (3) That ...

4446. Searching For A Lost God

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon

King Duncan

... for the one we can't find." And so the first witness placed his hand on Ed's head, swore the oath, and the trial began. (2) "Lord, I want to be a Christian," says the old spiritual. That ought to be our prayer. "Lord, I want to be more loving...Lord, I want to be more holy...Lord, I want to be like Jesus...in my heart." Is that your prayer? You may know the story of Malcolm Muggeridge's conversion. At age 79, this British atheist found the Lord. Asked to explain his conversion, Muggeridge said he could ...

4447. An Empty Stage Or An Empty Tomb?

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... bird delivered from its cage. We can walk in dignity and joy, with purpose and power. Christ is stronger than sin and the grave. A young boy came home after Sunday school and was asked by his grandmother what he learned that day. He said, "`God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall have everlaughing life.'" And that's the good news for the day ” we can have both everlasting and everlaughing life. We are free! They had a contest on public radio, recently ...

4448. Who Will Wipe Away Their Tears?

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Thank you. I was imprisoned and you prayed for my release. Thank you. I was naked and you discussed my appearance. Thank you. I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health. Thank you. I was homeless and you preached to me of the shelter of the love of God. Thank you. I was lonely and you prayed for me. Thank you. You seem so holy, so close to God, but I'm still very hungry, and lonely, and naked and homeless and imprisoned and cold and without Christ in my heart." Those words hurt, don't they ...

4449. Traveling Light

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Caroly R. Gibson

... I had my life to live over. I'd spend more time at fun places. I'd try to be more in touch with God and those I love. I'd pray aloud more and not care what people think or expect of me. I'd give more to me, and take more of you. I'd ... why don't you have your representative give us a contact later in the fall...maybe something will have opened up, sir, sir? Jesus calls us, loves us, but then sends us out, gives us authority to be his missionaries. "No purse, no bag, no sandals," to shed our excess wool, and to ...

4450. Hope For The End Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... people become generous. I have seen people care for their elderly parents, for brain damaged children, for wives in wheelchairs, for years, even decades, and I have asked myself, where do people get the strength to keep doing that for so long? Where do they get the resources of love and loyalty to keep going? The only answer I come up with is when we are weary and out of strength, we turn to God and God renews our strength, so we can run and not grow weary, so that we can walk and not feel faint." (3) In ...

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