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 483 results

426. The Gospel

Colossians 1:3-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

When I first began to think of preaching for you these days, my intention was to look through the entire letter of Paul to the Colossians and hit the high points of that letter. As I began to work more specifically in preparation for this event, I decided that was altogether too expansive. What I needed to do was to be more focused. So, during this time I am with you, I am going to focus on just the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Colossi. In the services this morning I am going to be ...

427. Crying Out of the Depths

Psalm 130:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown is sitting at Lucy's psychiatric desk getting absolutely no help from Lucy. With a forlorn look on his face Charlie laments, “Where do I go to give up?" One great value of the Psalms is that they put into words what we find difficult to express. Most scriptures speak to us. The Psalms speak for us. They enable us to articulate and bring before God our deepest feelings, our greatest fears, the lingering longings of our hearts, the troubled sorrows of our lives. So Jesus ...

428. The Insanity of Profanity

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

A few years ago Time magazine reported an incident that took place in the State of Maryland. A truck driver had been arrested for drunk driving and disorderly conduct. When the police officers arrived on the scene to arrest the man, he became abusive. He began to use filthy and profane language, and repeatedly took God’s name in vain. When the man was brought before the magistrate, he was still using profane language. The maximum penalty the magistrate could impose for drunk and disorderly conduct was $100 ...

429. When Evil Wins

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

You are familiar with David Heller's delightful little book, Dear God: Children's Letters to God.(1) There are some wonderfully witty observations. For example, • Dear God, What do you think about all those movies made about you around Easter time? I think they're kind of corny, myself. Your buddy, Charles (age 9) • Dear God, What do you do with families that don't have much faith? There's a family on the next block like that. I don't want to get them in trouble, so I can't say who. See you in church. ...

430. God Is Not Fair (Grumbling in the Vineyard)

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Years ago there was a golf tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee that had a fascinating ending. It was a hole-in-one tournament. The rules said that whoever came closest to getting a hole-in-one on the 90-yard hole was the winner. You didn't have to actually make a hole-in-one to win. Just come close. One man hit a terrible shot. It was so bad that it ricocheted off the scorer's tent, then miraculously bounced onto the fairway, where it hit another golfer's ball, and ricocheted again, finally coming to rest ...

431. Why You Should Come Clean With God

Psalm 139:23-24

Sermon

James Merritt

I want to begin by asking you a question. Who is sitting in your seat? Now I know you think I’ve lost my mind because you just said “I am.” Well, let me ask you a follow-up question: Which “you” is sitting in your seat? You say, “What do you mean?” Well, there are actually three people in your seat. There is the person that you think you are, there is the person others think you are, and there is the person God knows you are. When I was a boy one of my heroes was someone very familiar to all of you. I’m ...

432. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The sun is shining and the sky is clear. As landowner Joe consumes his breakfast he knows he must, likewise, seize the day. My daddy called it “Making hay while the sun shines." Joe might refer to it as “Making wine before the grapes rot." Whatever the phrase, the focus is the same. Harvest won't wait. Joes finishes breakfast, climbs into his pickup truck and drives down Nolensville Road where day laborers assemble looking for work. Well, the time and place may be different, but the story is the same. And ...

433. Paradise Lost

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

James Merritt

Vesna Vulovic made history on January 26, 1972 and in doing so made the Guinness World Book of Records. It is not an honor that she wanted, was looking for, or particularly enjoyed. She was a flight attendant on a DC-9 that was flying over what is now the Czech Republic when a bomb went off and blew the plane apart. She fell 33,330 feet and going 122 miles an hour landed on the side of a mountain and even though she suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, and two broken legs, and was in a coma ...

434. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

4:17–32 · Therefore walk in newness: Efforts to walk in unity succeed to the degree to which they reflect the indwelling influence of Christ. Confident that he communicates the very counsel of the Lord, Paul negatively urges his Gentile readers to conduct their lives no longer as their fellow unconverted Gentiles do (4:17). This does not imply that Paul recommends a “Jewish” lifestyle; by “Gentile” here he means “pagan,” “Christless.” That is, he warns against living life apart from Christ, according to ...

435. Absalom, Absalom

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

I was unprepared for the effect the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial would have on me. As we approached the low, polished black granite V-shaped wall, between the great memorials to Lincoln and Washington on the Mall. I felt the first wave of effect or shock and grief. I recognized a holy silence of all as we moved past the names, more than 58,000 of them, America's children whose lives were taken by the war in Vietnam. Our faces were reflected in the granite so as we begin to read the names Leroy Pierson, Jimmy ...

436. What Is God Like?

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Edward Chinn

When Harry Truman was President of the United States, his daughter Margaret gave a concert in Washington, D.C. The next day Paul Hume, music critic of the Washington Post, gave her performance a bad review. Characteristically, Harry Truman did not let that slight of his daughter’s singing pass without comment. He wrote a letter to Paul Hume. In that letter, Truman wrote: "I have read your lousy review of Margaret’s concert. I’ve come to the conclusion that you are an ‘eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay.’ ...

437. Meeting And Mastering Temptation

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A man went to his counselor about a personal problem. He said to the counselor, "I have a real struggle here. I feel like I'm violating my conscience. I'm not being completely honest with myself. I'm living a broken life." The counselor said to him, "Well, would you like to see me about strengthening your will power?" The man thought for a moment and replied, "No, what I would like to talk to you about is weakening my conscience." That reflects our age, doesn't it? We are not so much interested in ...

438. Will The Real God Please Stand?

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

439. The Christ Connection

Colossians 1:9-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It has been there for my entire lifetime—a neon sign on a narrow country road piercing the darkness with these simple words—CHRIST IS THE ANSWER. As a child, I used to wonder what kind of magic pen God used to write it on the side of the barn. As a teenager, I drove so fast I did not have time to see it at all. But, as an adult, sometimes I take the long way home so I can make sure it is still there, shining on the foggiest of nights. So out of place in one way and yet, such a revelation in another. CHRIST ...

440. The Rejected Cornerstone

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Someone has said that the average man's idea of a good sermon is one that goes over his head and hits a neighbor. I don't believe Jesus' parable at which we look today was a good sermon in that sense. It didn't go over his listener's heads. Though the story may seem a bit strange to us, the people knew precisely what Jesus was talking about. It may hold a lot of questions for us, but not for these chief priests, scribes, and elders of Israel. Jesus took a well-known Old Testament metaphor -- that of the ...

441. Living By Faith In A Time of War

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Our nation is at war. We have been at war since we were attacked almost five years ago, on September 11, 2001. This war against terrorism is hotter than the Cold War and will probably last for a generation. Many Americans are not directly affected by the war. Many go about their business as usual, fussing about crime and gasoline prices, anticipating summer vacations and who will win the NBA Championship. However, if you have a loved one in Afghanistan or Iraq, you think about the war all the time. Almost ...

442. Adoration And Confession

Psalm 103:1-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

We thank you our heavenly father for the joy of being alive in you. We pray that you’ll come as the Holy Spirit, to cleanse our hearts and minds, to fill us with a power of discernment but also with the willingness to respond to that which you are calling us to. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. A little boy was asked by his pastor if he said his prayers every night. “No sir,” the fellow answered honestly. “Not every night. Some nights I don’t want anything.” That makes the point doesn’t it? Many of us do not ...

443. Etched in Stone

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A mother and her two small boys were having a serious discussion about stealing and why it was wrong. “Tell me,” she said, “Why do you think stealing is wrong?” Five-year-old Luke said that stealing was against God’s laws. He had learned about the Ten Commandments in Sunday school. Mother asked the boys if they knew any of the other Ten Commandments. Luke remembered two others: “You shall not murder,” and “Honor your father and mother.” But the boys couldn’t think of any other commandments, until little ...

444. Don’t Tempt Me—But If You Do I’m Ready

1 Corinthians 10:13

Sermon

James Merritt

Question: Do you ever feel as if the whole world is against you? Well, I've got news for you. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, it is! If you are a friend of God you are an enemy of the world. God expects you, from the moment you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night, to "go out and whip the world." For the next four weeks I want to share with you exactly how to do that in a practical personal way. I want to deal with a problem that we all face every day. It doesn't matter whether you're ...

445. God’s Weather Report

Matthew 5:38-48

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

In the 1985 movie, Witness, Harrison Ford plays a tough Philadelphia detective who uncovers corruption within his department. To protect himself and a young boy who has witnessed a murder, Ford's character, John Book, hides out among the Pennsylvania Amish, the community from which the little boy comes. In one scene of the movie, Book and several of the Amish go into town for a day of shopping. While they are in town, the buggies driven by the Amish are involved in a traffic jam with a car. The occupants ...

446. Poem: Adonais

Eulogy

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I. I weep for Adonais – he is dead! O, weep for Adonais! though our tears Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head! And thou, sad Hour, selected from all years To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers, And teach them thine own sorrow, say: “With me Died Adonais; till the Future dares Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be An echo and a light unto eternity!” II. Where wert thou, mighty Mother, when he lay, When thy Son lay, pierced by the shaft which flies In darkness? where was lorn Urania ...

447. Walking the Streets

Matthew 10:1-42, Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon

Richard L. Thulin

Most of us have been victims of some kind of stereotyping. Mine is usually attached to the fact that I am a professor. Every once in awhile someone will accost me with words like, "Well, you wouldn't know about that! You live in an ivory tower." The plain fact is that the speaker doesn't even know me, but then that is what gives birth to stereotypes in the first place. I'm usually able to avoid an immediate defensive reaction. "What do you mean?" I ask. "Oh," he says, "you live behind safety glass. You don ...

448. All You Need To Know About Heaven

John 14:5-14, John 14:1-4

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

I'm thinking of another Easter morning approximately ten years ago. Four neighborhood churches in Columbia, South Carolina were sponsoring a sunrise service. Some 300 folks gathered in the front yard of a Baptist church, with coats buttoned snugly against the early morning chill. Sometime in the midst of the service, I noticed Jimmy, sitting in his car as close to the crowd as possible, with the window rolled down. I thanked God for the P.A. system that enabled him to hear. His wife had driven him to the ...

449. Whose Child Is This?

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Here we are in December. The season of waiting has come. Children are waiting for Santa. Christians are waiting for Christ. Someone is waiting for a soldier to come home. All of us are waiting for something. Waiting is hard for me. I spent my days in the hospital reading the Pentateuch, the ceremonial laws of Leviticus, the census counts of Numbers, the speeches of Moses in Deuteronomy. Some of the most boring pages of the Bible you can find, but you do that when all you are doing is just waiting and ...

450. David's Turn From Wisdom

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

Above my desk at home is a single pine shelf that holds a row of books, books which through the years have meant a whole world to me. You may have such a collection of such treasures, too, volumes by favorite writers of poetry, prose, narrative, non-fiction. Some of my books are so old that the covers are frayed and the pages yellowing. There is a volume I read for the first time last summer that is crisp and clean. Some have markers to note a beloved section or a poem I'd like to find with dispatch. Some ...

Showing results