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 4451 to 4475 of 4962 results

4451. Now That's Rich

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Kids think that money just grows on trees, don’t they? That’s part of their overall innocence, and their trust in the abundance of life. When they’re hungry, someone feeds them. Clean clothes magically show up in their dresser drawers. Toilet paper and soap magically appear in the bathroom. And so it’s pretty normal for kids to assume that Mommy and Daddy or Grandma or some loving adult can also buy them whatever they want. Why can’t we order pizza every night? Why can’t we have a new car like the ...

4452. The Family

Genesis 37:1-36

Sermon

Will Willimon

Because we are all at the beginning, let us begin at the beginning with the Book of Genesis, a Bible book whose name means ''in the beginning." Let us begin with a family story, which seems appropriate, appropriate considering that many of you students have begun your college careers by separating from your families in order to come to Duke, a separation which pains some of you and delights others. We begin with a family story. It's a story not about just any family but the first family, since the head of ...

4453. The True Olympians

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

What image are you going to take away from the Beijing 2008 Olympics? Is it Michael Phelps with his history-breaking breastplate of gold medals draped across his chest? Is it the first-ever gold/silver finish in women’s gymnastics? Is it the pictures of athletes who, unlike me and you with our bellies and bulges and barnacles, represent the peak of human perfectibility? Is it being part of the largest electronic crowd ever watching a sporting event, the USA vs. China basketball game? Is it the snapshots of ...

4454. You Can Create A Godly Heritage!

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm said: "Future historians will see best the multiple factors that led to the decline of America. But I suggest one of the major factors will be the failure to replace ourselves with enough stable children born to families with the ability to raise successful children." What Governor Lamm is talking about is heritage and our failure to receive it, embrace it, enrich it, and transmit it. Thousands of years ago the prophet Jeremiah observed that his own people had loosened ...

4455. Joseph's Pit

Genesis 37:1-11

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

August 29, 1982 Comment: I have no better excuse for including this story sermon than that I like it. It uses a third person, by means of his journal, to tell the story of Joseph meeting his brothers in Egypt years after they had sold him into slavery. Since the narrative has similarities to the previous story of Jacob, a creative pastor might want to use the radio drama format. Churches with closed circuit television might want to experiment with further dramatization, costumes, and sets. One of the great ...

4456. Advent 4

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Both Old Testament and Gospel portray the theme of God building a house, a kingdom or a people. In the Old Testament text, King David desires to build a temple for God but finds out that God is going to be the One building a house (dynasty) of David's descendents. In the Gospel, Angel Gabriel informs the Virgin Mary that God is going to build up his Kingdom through the son she was to conceive through the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 David wants to build in Jerusalem a ...

4457. Save Us From the World-Savers

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Carl Jech

Now his elder son ... was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father. "Lo, these many years I have served you ..." (Luke 15:25a, 28-29a) Garrison Keillor likes to describe his fictional town of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, as having been founded by "Unitarian missionaries who came to convert the Indians through the use of interpretive dance." To appreciate the subtle humor of this remark we need to be aware that Unitarian Universalists generally don't believe ...

4458. A Mission and a Message

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

A rather well-known evangelist used to send a team of workers to visit the cities included on his tour to prepare for his arrival and the subsequent revival meeting in advance. These people were well trained; they knew exactly what to do. One of them was in charge of publicity, and as soon as he was on the scene he would call a press conference, arrange for interviews with the local radio and television stations, and contact leaders of churches that intended to sponsor the evangelistic crusade. Another ...

4459. Jesus and the Rascal

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Carveth Mitchell

Why in the world would Jesus tell this story? On casual reading it seems as though he is making a hero out of a villain. What does it mean? To help us answer that we put the spotlight on three verses; but first, a bit of background. In Palestine there were absentee landlords who employed overseers to manage the property in their absence. The tenants paid their rents "in kind" - that is, with a portion of their produce; in this case, a hundred measures of oil, a hundred measures of wheat. Any thought that ...

4460. Ready or Not

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Today is a day when many of us pastors wish we had arranged for a guest preacher. Or that we had scheduled a church picnic with a shortened service and only a brief homily on a "free" text. Jesus' words do not sit well. In Matthew they do not set up a barrier to discipleship as they do in Luke (14:25-27). But even here they feel like a slap across the face. Who really wants to talk to his or her congregation about the sword that Jesus brings into family dwellings? Who really wants to stress the willingness ...

4461. The Master Has Come - And Is Moved With Compassion

Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

There lived in India a well-known poet named Tagore. One morning his servant was late coming to work. Tagore became more angry by the minute as he waited for him to arrive. Finally, the servant came in and began his duties. Tagore had already decided to fire him. He said, "Stop what you are doing and get out. You are fired." The man kept sweeping and said, "My little girl died last night." This incident points up one of the great needs in the world today - the need for compassion. Compassion has been ...

4462. But Men Loved Darkness

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

If you should ask the question: "What is wrong with our world today?" you would probably get as many answers as there are persons who are interrogated. Indeed, it is often like the lady foreman of the all-woman jury who was asked by the judge whether the jury had reached a verdict. "Yes, your Honor," she replied, "we have reached twelve verdicts." I suppose I’m considered a male chauvinist pig for using that story, but it could apply in either men or women. Yet the writer, Glen Drake, has placed his finger ...

4463. How to Handle Criticism

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

It is impossible to go through life without being criticized. If you try to accomplish something, you will be criticized. If you are satisfied to loaf, you will be criticized for that. I heard about a department store that made a big fuss over its millionth customer. The store president made a speech in her honor. She was given gifts. Her picture was taken for the paper. After these ceremonies, the customer continued to her original destination – the complaint department. If anyone ever received lots of ...

4464. Knowing the Secret

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Thomas Long

One of the decisions every good storyteller has to make is when to tell the story’s secret to people. Every story has a secret, and the spinner of tales has to decide whether to let them know about the secret early in the story or to surprise them with it at the end. Mystery writers often hold back the secret until the last chapter, keeping us eagerly turning the pages to discover who really poisoned the heiress or pushed Colonel Whitington down the elevator shaft. The same is true of soap operas. "Will ...

4465. The Bush Is Still Burning

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

There is an old story of a very long evening. The search committee for a new pastor had been going over resumé after resumé in hopes of finding the perfect minister. None so far. Tired of the whole process, they were about ready to call it a night when they came upon this letter of introduction from a candidate: To the Pulpit Nominating Committee: It is my understanding that you are in the process of searching for a new pastor, and I would like to apply for the position. I wish I could say that I am a ...

4466. Paul's Prayer For Us

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometimes bizarre stories make the newspapers. Like the one in New York involving Daisy Fernandez. It seems Daisy won $2.8 million in 1981. Subsequently she was sued by her son's teenage friend. Why did he sue her? It was because she had asked him to pray for her. The friend, Christopher Pando, prayed to his favorite saint. When his prayer was answered, Christopher claimed half of Fernandez's jackpot. The case went before a panel of five State Supreme Court judges, who ruled against the boy, declaring ...

4467. Would You Like To Hold The Baby?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

A four-year-old boy was watching his mother change the baby. When she overlooked sprinkling the baby's backside with baby powder and hurriedly put him into his diaper, the four-year-old hollered, "Hey, Mom, you forgot to salt him!" Have you ever noticed how babies can turn ordinarily intelligent men and women into complete morons as they make all those googley noises and funny faces? I've often wondered what the babies think of it all. This is Christmas eve, the season of the baby, the Christ child. Babies ...

4468. Lesson From Five Maidens

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Ten young ladies were on their way to a wedding. Five of the girls were wise and had prepared for the trip, making certain that they had enough oil to fuel their lamps. Five maidens were foolish. Their minds were preoccupied with other things. It was still light when they left home, but now darkness was coming. The bridegroom was delayed. Their lamps were running out of oil and they had none in reserve. They asked the five wiser maidens if they could borrow some oil from them, but they were refused. "Go ...

4469. Read My Heart As Well As My Lips

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

A young coed being interviewed on television about her religious beliefs said, "Oh yes, I believe in God, but I'm not nuts about Him." According to the Gallup Poll that is a good description of how most Americans feel about God. Ninety-four percent of us believe in God. When it comes to translating that belief into action, however, most of us are clearly not nuts about Him. We have something in common with the Pharisees. Jesus once summed up the Pharisees chief problem like this: "These people honor me ...

4470. Does Jesus Care?

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, speaking at the annual sales meeting of the Western Insurance Companies, said, "I've been on the top and I've been on the bottom. At Arkansas my first year, we won the Orange Bowl. Then everybody loved me. "They put me into the Arkansas Hall of Fame and issued a commemorative stamp in my honor. The next year we lost to Texas, and they had to take away the stamp. People kept spitting on the wrong side. "One year I tried to sell cemetery plots for a living. My wife told ...

4471. Setting An Example

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

Arthur Ashe was a world-class tennis player and a world-class father. He believed in leading by example. “My wife and I talk about this with our six-year-old daughter," Ashe said in an interview just before his death. “Children are much more impressed by what they see you do than by what you say," he said. “Children at that age certainly keep you honest. If you have been preaching one thing all along and all of a sudden you don't do it, they're going to bring it right up in your face. “I tell her it's not ...

4472. Memorial Day

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Angela Akers

Greater love has no man than this . . . The Civil War ended in 1865. But it wasn't until 1997 that the last shot of that war was fired. In 1997, two young boys were playing around with their new Christmas present, a metal detector. Using their new toy, they came across a live shell that dates back to the Civil War. The boys, Michael and Andrew Zimmerman of Winchester, Virginia, didn't know what the shell was at first. Neither did their uncle, Michael Robinson. He reports poking and banging on it as he ...

4473. A Tireless and Timeless Image

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Robert Noblett

Images are highly influential. They become emblazoned on the wall of our minds and they evoke a wide range of responses. Millions of people will remember the fireman carrying the baby out of the ruins of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. World War II veterans, particularly the ones who served in the South Pacific, will always remember Mount Surabachi and the Marines who raised an American flag at its summit, as well as the image of General MacArthur returning to the Philippines. Neil Armstrong ...

4474. The Proof Is In the Pudding

Luke 7:18-35

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Some of you will know the name Norman Cousins. For many years he was the eminent editor of The Saturday Review. During his last years he served as a faculty member at the UCLA Medical School. He had developed what was considered an incurable disease—and he discovered that laughter was a way that helped. In fact, he convinced some medical folks to include laughter as a part of their treatment programs. As a part of this, there was a particular room in a hospital in Houston, Texas, called the “Living Room.” ...

4475. Surprised by God

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

James L. Killen

We live in a culture that is increasingly secular. At its best, secularism is simply what we Americans call the separation of church and state. It is a practical way to keep people from having to live lives regimented by someone else's religious convictions and that keeps countries from being torn by conflicts between religious groups that all want to write the rules. There is a lot of history in our world that argues for the practicality of that kind of arrangement. As it has taken shape among us, however ...

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