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 426 to 450 of 1838 results

426. It's No Fun to Move

Ruth 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... in-law even when there was nothing for her to gain and everything to lose. When they reached Bethlehem, Naomi’s home town, Naomi’s relatives greeted her fondly. But she told them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” which means bitter, “for my life has been a bitter one.” Let’s respect Naomi for her honesty. We are more comfortable with people who grieve privately, who put on a brave face and never talk about what’s tearing them up inside. But that’s not healthy. Author Lynn Caine wrote ...

427. Grace Under Pressure

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... need to focus on . . . And if I make friends with (pain), then it is just something there to guide me on and to teach me.” (4) There is something special that happens in the lives of those who trust their pain to God and refuse to become bitter. One day, when they look back over their lives, they will see that God used their pain to plant seeds of hope and strength in others’ lives. You will become a “wilderness guide” for others in need. Someone will thank God for the lessons you taught them with ...

428. Get the Grinch

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... ] Isn’t that a great story? Tonight, I want us to lock up the Grinch inside all of us so he doesn’t steal our joy this Christmas. The truth is, there is a Grinch in all of us. Too often, our bitterness and cynicism get in the way of enjoying Christmas. We don’t start off bitter and cynical. As children, Christmas was filled with wonder and delight. But something happens when we become adults. Life wears us out! It becomes exhausting. When I was a kid playing with my dad, I used to always wonder why he ...

429. God's Little Acre

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

... whether one is looking at weeds or wheat. What's to be done about it? Jesus tells this parable: God's kingdom is like…it's like this farmer who plants a field of wheat. While he was sleeping, his enemy c e and sowed weeds among the wheat…dandelions, bitter weed, wild onions…and then slipped away. When the plants grew and bore fruit, the weeds were there, flourishing right along with the wheat. The man's servants came to him saying, "What do you want us to do? You want us to go out there and try to ...

430. Avoiding the “F” Word

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of those messages comes from deep inside of us and tells us when we are feeling angry and resentful that we must at all costs avoid this “F” word: “forgiveness.” For many of us, forgiveness feels like the last thing we want to do. We feel bitter. We don’t want to let someone off the hook for causing us terrible pain, loss, grief, or harm. In fact, the very idea of bestowing forgiveness often can make us feel even more angry. How dare someone even suggest that we forgive this terrible person! How ...

431. 2 Boys at Doc's

Luke 15:25-32

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... I’m fine Doctor. If there’s a problem in the blood test - it’s got to be a mix up. DOC: No, I’m afraid not. Here’s what I found. You are suffering from resentment rash, a bitterness burn, anger allergy and worst of all envy eczema. BROTHER ONE: No way, Doc. Resentment rash? Bitterness burn? Anger allergy? Envy Eczema? Don’t believe it. You made this up. Prove it. DOC: Oh yes, son, my diagnosis is accurate. Here’s my prescription: Follow this protocol. Like your brother – a definite change in ...

432. Return To God

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... change our relationships with others. The summons to repent is itself an act of mercy. It calls us to change our ways before that day of judgment occurs. Our greatest need for change is in the realm of relationships. We jump at every chance to express bitterness and resentment while so many good opportunities to reach out in love and warmth are ignored. Our return to God will never be complete until we turn to one another. Hear these words of Joel one more time: " 'Yet even now,' says the Lord, 'return to ...

433. Whom Shall We Obey?

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... 's spirit and they sought connection with it. When you and I can genuinely pray for our enemies, they are no longer true enemies. God is able to change us. Through such a prayer, we receive God's confirmation. We cannot offer prayer for someone else with bitterness in our hearts. Robert Law has written: "Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man's will done in heaven but for getting God's will done on earth." We pray not because prayer changes God but because it changes us. Through such prayers we ...

434. A Faith That Overcomes

Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... cry out. We implore God not to allow this travesty to befall us. So often the response we receive is deafening silence. We are left frustrated, wondering aloud, "Where is God?" It is a difficult lesson to learn that life is not fair. Such an experience is always a bitter pill to swallow, but our faith enables us to go through such a dark night of the soul and to come out on the other side with a deeper faith. Through a maturing faith we are able to see that the adverse experiences of life do not reflect on ...

435. An Extremely Odd Couple

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... eventually she will give up. But not this widow. Did she become discouraged? I am sure she did. Did she ever wonder whether she had a ghost of a chance to break through this judge's hard and callous shell? Perhaps. Was she ever on the verge of becoming bitter because of the treatment she was receiving from this powerful man? If so, one could hardly blame her. Did she ever consider giving up? Not this widow! How long she keeps coming to the judge we are not told. But one day he looks up from his bench, and ...

436. A Shroud Unto Life

Luke 24:1-12

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... vision of the sacks as life-giving agents. That day she saw several hundred dead Ethiopians being carried to their graves in a funeral shroud. To her dismay the empty food sacks had now been filled with dead bodies. Sacks of life had become shrouds of death. The bitter irony of it all was almost too much for Ms. O'Meara. Sacks of life had become shrouds of death. She pondered deeply on this awful turn of events. "What the world needs," she mused to herself, "is for someone wrapped in the shrouds of death to ...

437. A Great Prophet Has Arisen Among Us

1 Kings 17:8-24; 2 Kings 4:1-37

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... the time comes round, you shall embrace a son" (2 Kings 4:16). And it came to pass just as Elisha had promised. One day years later, the son of the woman of Shunem went out among the reapers to be with his father. Suddenly he began to complain bitterly. "Oh, my head, my head!" he shrieked. "Carry the lad to his mother," the father ordered. The reapers did so. The boy lay on his mother's lap until noon, and then he died. The Shunammite woman carried her son straightway to Elisha's guest room and laid him ...

438. You Are My Witnesses

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... of South Africa goes down in the annals of history as a most memorable moment. Imagine historians a hundred years from now trying to recreate the excitement and the significance of what took place in Pretoria and Capetown in 1994. Three centuries of bitter and harsh white rule were brought to a close as Mandela was elected the first black president by its first all-race parliament. What dramatized that election was the fact that Mr. Mandela had patiently endured 27 years of imprisonment because he protested ...

439. It Came To Pass

Job 42:1-6

Sermon

Zan W. Holmes

... with God but repented and ended up cooperating with God's plan to start Job's life over. After all the suffering and grief he experienced, Job could have been gun-shy about doing it all again. He could have resigned and retired. He could have become resentful and bitter. But instead he had the love and trust to cooperate with God and start it all over again. It is not easy for any of us to cooperate with God and do it all over again when we have experienced the pain of trouble; when we have experienced the ...

440. The Taught Can

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... and selfishness and deliberate misdeeds. It is bad enough to realize how self-centered we are; it is even worse to comprehend the greater stupidity it is on our part to think we can dethrone God from life's real center. People sometimes apologize for evil or for bitter words: "I shouldn't have said that." But the tongue is only the messenger. The whole head is sick. The heart is apart from God. That is the truth, the first part of God's truth. The second part of the truth was right there with the disciples ...

441. Sabotaging The Sabath

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Richard Patt

... had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law ..." (Galatians 4:4-5). Christ bore the law for us. God's love saw our human need, and love led the way --all the way to his bitter death on the cross. This story ends on a positive note: "... all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him" (v. 17). Christ did a glorious deed here when he responded to human need by healing this woman, no matter what day of the week ...

442. Nobody Owes You Anything

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Richard Patt

... everything. Suddenly his long years of faithfulness appear ugly; his loyalty seems to have grown flat. He turns out to be the ungrateful son, in contrast to his younger brother who learned the lesson of gratefulness the hard way. Whether we learn it from outward shame or inner bitterness, all of us need to be open to this shining godly humility. Today, as you stand bowed before the cross of the Savior, you will have at your disposal the power to claim the greatest gift any of us need: a grateful heart! "

443. A New Kingdom Coming

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... . Perched at the pinnacle of American career success with a large compensation in salary and bonuses, Coale said the happiest day of his life was when he left G.M. When asked if he would do it again, he answered no. Why this bitterness from one who had reached the rarefied atmosphere of the pyramid-top Camelot? "It's no fun anymore," said Coale. "Governmental regulations are immense and burdensome. There's an awful lot of enterprise in America," said Coale. "But because of governmental intervention, very ...

444. A Tale Of Two Cities

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... at Jerusalem, he saw it as an outsider. He saw it as a city corrupt through and through. He knew that small towns like his were being ruined by excessive taxation in order to maintain the royal economy of Jerusalem and its temple. He spoke bitterly of the wealthy who speculated in land and drove out the poor, while they contributed nothing to the society. Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power. They covet ...

445. Called To Pull Down; Called To Rebuild

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... not tolerate such falsehood today anymore than in Jeremiah's day. The word of God still plucks up and breaks down, destroys and overthrows. Like Israel, we see a nation in disarray. We see a growing gap between rich and poor, an increasingly bitter division between races and genders, and an ongoing assault against the ecosystems which sustain us. In our nationalism we confuse God and country; in our moralism we confuse class and economic status with righteousness; in our faith we confuse feel-good religion ...

446. Love Your Enemies--It Will Drive Them Crazy

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... didn't know how to ask more of him. Frederick Buechner said: When somebody you have wronged forgives you, you are spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience. When you forgive someone who has wronged you, you are spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride for both parties. Forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside your own skin and to be glad in each other's presence. It hurts and heals all in the same moment. We have known that, haven't we? The word of ...

447. Reach For The Light

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Tony Everett

... easy journey. They faced all the hazards of a long journey across the wilderness. They faced the evil of treacherous King Herod. Yet they persisted, in faith, proceeding onward, following wherever the light might lead them. Following a long and bitter congregational conflict, a pastor was asked what kept her going until reconciliation and renewal finally resulted. She replied, "The Five P's of ministry: Prayer, Persistence, Prayer, Play, and Prayer." Notice that prayer was at the beginning, middle, and end ...

448. Anything But Trivial

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Tony Everett

... tragedy, he acknowledges that he became even closer to his family and neighbors and even more dependent upon God for strength. His faith grew. In a television interview he stated, "This is humbling. It's like I've worked all my life for nothing. I could be bitter, but I'm not. God is present and has given us the strength to go on." At one level, Tiemeyer's identity was shattered. At the level of faith, his relationship with God was strengthened. The closer a problem is to our sense of identity, the more ...

449. What Money Can't Buy

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... unsolicited. The servant girl was captured in battle. She was a vanquished spoil of conquest. She didn't have to share her knowledge about Elisha's healing powers. She could have easily kept such knowledge to herself. As property of the conqueror, her bitterness could have prompted her to bask in Naaman's misery. As retribution for being taken captive and being powerless to redress her condition, she could have watched him suffer day by day, delighting in his affliction and viewing it as a kind of ...

450. A Christian With A Conflict Of Interest

Isaiah 5:1-7

Sermon

James McLemore

... could receive the fruit of my labor when you served me in my temple. But when it came time to taste the sweetness of your attitude, the kindness of your words, the joy of your spirit, it turned out that you were not very sweet after all. Your attitude was bitter, not sweet, and your words were harsh and not kind. Your spirit was mean and not joyful. You looked like God's people, you even said the words that God's people should say, you sounded like God's people. But when it came time for godly acts, you ...

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