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 679 results

426. Are You In the Know

Job 19:23-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... coming; to take His victorious stand on the earth. III. I Know Myself Will Be Resurrected "And after my skin is destroyed this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me?" (vv. 26-27) Now this is an unbelievable statement of faith. Disease had wracked his body, death had wrecked his home, and Job knew one day he would follow his sons and would also die. But he said, "In my flesh I shall see God." Job was not ...

427. He's Everything I Need

Psalm 23:1

Sermon

James Merritt

... am beginning a series of messages on the 23rd Psalm that I am entitling “Good Vibrations.” When the chips are down, times are tough, the going is rough, the news is bad, your world has collapsed and the sky is black, there is a natural yearning for and turning to this psalm because it gives “good vibrations.” Reading this psalm brings healing for the hurting, hope for the hopeless, help for the helpless, encouragement for the discouraged, and strength for the weak. As we begin this study, I want to ...

428. Romans 8:26-30

Romans 8:18-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... inwardly.” Suddenly, in verse 26 the focus shifts in a surprising direction. Now it is the Spirit itself who groans: the Spirit “intercedes for us with groans too deep for utterance.” The first two “groanings” issue from the failures and yearnings for a new reality of wholeness and fulfillment. The third “groaning,” the Spirit’s “groanings,” is of a different nature altogether. In fact, while the Spirit’s utterances may be inarticulate to each of us, they succeed in communicating to ...

429. Lowered Expectation

Matthew 14:13-21; John 6:1-21

Illustration

John Marks Templeton

... confinement. So it is with us, if we let it be. Our self-made limitations sometimes cause us to forget that we can fly. We respond like the disciples, "We only have five small loaves of bread and two fish. We often needlessly confine ourselves to glass jars. We may yearn to use our lives creatively, but our invisible prisons remind us: "You can't do that. It isn't practical. You're not smart enough. It will cost too much. People will laugh at you. You're too young. You're too old. Your health won't allow it ...

430. The Lost And Found Collection

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... of lost sheep in America. Some are probably here this morning. Millions of youth and adults are dissatisfied and searching for something more meaningful to live for than bigger houses, fatter paychecks, trimmer bodies, more erotic affairs, and extended leisure time. Millions are yearning for joy, peace, and fulfillment. That recipe for the good life comes from Jesus alone. He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14:27) In closing let me tell you the parable of Gris Gato. Gris ...

431. Why Is Life So Unfair?

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... angry with us. She told him that this was just an illness that could happen to anybody. We live in a sin-marred world. That leads to a second question: WHY DO WE FEEL THE PAIN OF THIS UNFAIRNESS SO SHARPLY? BECAUSE GOD PLANTED IN OUR HEARTS A YEARNING FOR JUSTICE AND EQUITY. There is a vision, however bright or dim, of what a perfect world would look like. Even hardened criminals, who make a living from stealing, get very angry if their partner in crime steals from them. God planted a vision in our heads ...

432. I Believe In Jesus Christ

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... heart that Jesus is Lord. To say “Jesus is Lord” requires a decision on our part. Now, when you ponder how God created the world, you may be puzzled but you don’t have to decide anything. When you ponder the problem of evil in the world, you may yearn for answers but you don’t have to decide anything. When you ponder why other people have such mixed reactions to Jesus Christ, you may be grieved for some of them, but you don’t have to decide anything. But face to face with Christ, you are forced to ...

433. The Lord's Song in a Foreign Land

Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... VE GOT IT ALL WRONG!" The ringing of "that bell" is the sound of liberty and freedom, not revenge. The Statue of Liberty is raising her lamp, not her fist, and the last I knew, her song still said: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shores; Send these the hopeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. That's the song which needs to be sung, the song which the world needs to hear. Out of the incomprehensible ...

434. A Circle for Dorothy

Ephesians 2:11-22, Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... and Found Department" (Luke 15), Jesus says God is like a shepherd who has 99 sheep but goes out after the one that is lost; like a woman who has ten coins, but if she loses one she searches the whole house until she finds it; like a father longing, yearning for the return of the lost sons—one a prodigal wandering in the far country and the other still at home but just as lost. God is like a frustrated bus captain and a bunch of tired tourists who comb the streets of an ancient city to find Dorothy. John ...

435. Thanksgiving and Thanksliving

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... witness is unfeigned and inspirationally natural. The best sermons are those when few — if any — words are spoken and the power of the living God descends upon the moment. Great laity at times have to show clergy how and why this happens. 4. The world yearns for those who practice what they preach. "Hypocrisy" is such a nasty word! In my long pastoral ministry of well over forty years I have come into contact with numerous people who spend virtually a lifetime dealing with it. They always seemed to look ...

436. Taking the Long View

2 Peter 3:8-15a

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... to see in a mirror dimly. What more can we ask? Our destiny is at stake and who better to trust than the God who created time and is master of it? As we struggle less and appreciate more, our death becomes powerfully positive. 3. Our God yearns for his children to catch a glimpse of his all-knowing powers. The Almighty allows you and me the freedom to explore his greatness. We seem often afraid of all of this and end up either in predestination or license! Nevertheless, the windows of opportunity come and ...

437. Precious and Privileged Children

Galatians 4:4-7

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... the health care configuration, it is coming and with question marks all up and down the line. Attempt, if you will, to relate this to our heavenly Father who is our parent. We will never have to be responsible for his care, or will we? The heart of God yearns for the children of the world — young, old, or otherwise — to come to him. So, his need for us to come to a shelter that protects from hell needs to be met. Just maybe we can minister to the Almighty and have never felt comfortable with that idea ...

438. Deep Calling to Deep

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... that the ever-popular power of positive thinking types can be stumped and fail to come to grips with something far more significant than a tool for getting our way. To be afraid and trembling means our very personhood is in some way threatened. To become uneasy and yearn for better days under the banner of a nominal faith is no answer. Of course, we should not treat our salvation as a possession, but as a gift that spiritually forms us. To be called to become more like Christ is to probe so deeply we not ...

439. Looking to the Unseen

2 Corinthians 4:18

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... than temporal, physical life. Most of humanity has for centuries believed in some sort of immortality, some sort of life after death. There has been the deep feeling that there is something more, that temporal physical existence does not explain the deep yearnings within the human heart and mind. In our own time numerous people have written books about out-of-body experiences and the experiences of those who have died clinically and have been brought back to life. George Gallup, the pollster, published a ...

440. The Unshakable Foundation

Hebrews 7:23-28

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... younger woman and destined for another marriage. The house on the beach is the property of yet another couple searching for their dream. John's story plays like a modern tragic romance — two people seeking to find their dream in each other and in the things they yearn to acquire, and losing it all in the contest with fate. Flannery O'Connell could hardly write it better. But John's story is true-life — perhaps not unfamiliar to you or someone you know. The house and the man are real, and they stand as a ...

441. Denial Ain’t a River in Egypt

Isaiah 64:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways" (Isaiah 64:5). He reminds the people that they have "become like one who is unclean, and all their [our] righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth." (Isaiah 64:6). One senses, in these words, a profound yearning for a God whose presence is not felt. It is, in no small way, a chicken and egg sort of question. Which came first? The people's turning away in denial of God, or God's apparent abandonment of the people? It brings to mind a pastor who ...

442. A Level Playing Field for God

Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... that isolates or separates us from other people? I think there are. Moreover, I think we know what they are as well. So let's make a plan. Let's get up off the couch and stop being observers and consumers of faith. Let us fulfill the partnership that God yearns to enter into with us. Let's respond to the call of the prophet with what John Wesley called the "energy of love." And if we stop to think about it, we know what to do, don't we? What kinds of mountains do the poor people in our community ...

443. Day One: a New Beginning

Genesis 1:1-5

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... and guardians struggle in poverty, to schools without books or paper; from devastated communities where youngsters turn in desperation to gangs and crime, to young adults who cannot read or write; from the very heart of our young people's lives God's Spirit beckons to us, yearning for our creative and powerful energies to be unleashed in a torrent of new life. Keep in mind, sisters and brothers, that is day one. We don't have to do it all today. Even God took another six days to get the thing finished. It's ...

444. It’s Good to Know Who Is Calling

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... make a reasoned, intentional effort to slow down enough so that we can actually hear God's voice. My not so secret desire is that we will step out of this world's hyper achievement mode long enough to tell a joke, or listen to a child's story. My yearning is for not just quality, but quantity. Time for us to love, to play, and to listen. Then when we hear the voice, we'll have someone to go to, as Samuel did, to test that voice. And then we will know who it is that's calling. It is ...

445. Ashes for Remembering

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... God through repentance must be "with all our hearts" (Joel 2:12). We mere mortals are lost children of God, but we can return to God with heart-felt repentance, symbolized in Joel 2:12-13 by fasting, weeping, and mourning. God's grace inspires and fulfills our yearning for home. As C. S. Lewis says, "When we return, we are surprised by joy." Joel says, "Who knows whether he [God] will not turn and relent [from justly punishing us], and leave a blessing behind him?" (Joel 2:14). The point is that God's grace ...

446. Being Good ... for Nothing

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... of broken pottery. People are appalled at the sight of him, and spit at him because of the way he looks. They despise him, leaving him very much alone in his suffering. Covered with sores, Job resolves not to be silent. He curses the day he was born, and yearns for death. Job has been caught up in a web of confusion and deceit spun by Satan. In Job's day, there was a simple philosophy of life. Like all of his peers, Job believed that if you were righteous, you prospered. If you were wicked, you suffered ...

447. Twas the Beginning of Advent

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

... found? Can we block out commercials, the hype and the malls? Can we find solitude in our holy halls? Can we keep alert, keep hope, stay awake? Can we receive the child for ours and God's sake? From on high with the caroling host as he sees us, He yearns to read on our lips the prayer: Come Lord Jesus! As Advent begins all these questions make plea. The only true answer: We will see, we will see.

448. John the Stall Cleaner

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources Our Father’s full giving is only begun. Chorus 3. Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision, Our God ever yearns His resources to share; Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing; The Father both thee and thy load will upbear. Chorus

449. The Golden Calf and the Golden Table

James 1:17-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with the enticement of worshipping at the feet of many gods. What does the way of faith centered on belief in the omniscient power of one God have to offer to counter these gold-plated seductions of the spirit? Today this former yearning after wisdom has been replaced by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. But there is a tragic difference between the ancient quest for wisdom and our current addiction to knowledge. Knowledge, the stockpiling of information, is often indiscriminant in its tastes and ...

450. Down the Up Staircase

Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Liberal [London: SPCK, 1988], 28-29) Jesus' patient explanation to the confused Philip revealed for all of us the gift of divine presence which we may all enjoy. The God who strolled with us throughout the garden of Eden in the days of our innocence still yearned to join us here on earth. The incarnation of Jesus Christ and the continuous indwelling of the Holy Spirit made this possible, but at the high cost of the crucifixion. Now God joins us where we are, not where we ought to be, for we have ...

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