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 4476 to 4500 of 5000 results

4476. Beware the Crest of the Wave

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... is going right. John baptizes Jesus, carrying out his appointed role in the drama of salvation. The experience is so moving and powerful that the Holy Spirit seems to envelope Jesus' whole being with a sense of love and acceptance. Jesus hears what we all long to hear in our own lives. He is loved; his actions have pleased; he is received without any hesitations or holdbacks. But what happens to Jesus following this "mountaintop" experience? In verse 12 we are told that he is immediately driven out into the ...

4477. The Christian's Walking-Stick

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... had yet agreed on what kinds of measurements (tests, programs, numbers) they should use to begin investigating what was wrong with the system. That's not getting stuck in the starting blocks, that's getting stuck in the driveway before even leaving for the competition. "Long-range planning" is in vogue today as it has never been before. More companies and schools and agencies and churches know what they are going to be doing five years from now better than they know what they are doing next week. Part of ...

4478. The Urge to Purge

2 Samuel 12:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... perform repellent tasks and to focus the remainder of their lives on deeds and words of penance. The point was to make reinstatement so difficult that there could never be any thought of a second fall from grace. Sometimes the role of penitent became life-long, with forgiveness coming only at the point of death, thus ensuring that no new sins of the soul could endanger the person's re-assured status among the saved. By the fifth century Pope Leo the Great changed the rules and officially sanctioned deathbed ...

4479. No Green Without Red

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as it suits their needs and purposes (The Taste of Joy [Downers Grove, III.: Intervarsity Press, 1983]). The church needs disciples, not Christaholics. And disciples are cross-bearers and servants. They seek and follow Christ wherever he leads. A study was done not too long ago of a major songbook used in many churches across America today. It found that only one percent of the hymns contain references to the cross. The church is losing sight of the centrality of the cross. "If anyone wants to be a follower ...

4480. Are You a Crazy Dog?

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus came out of Nazareth ("Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"), and, while born out of the line of David, he actually arrived as the first-born in the family of a poor construction worker from a small town in a long conquered land. Throughout his unpredictable life Jesus performed Crazy Dog stunts - eating with tax collectors and publicans, associating with prostitutes, lepers, the poor, the sick and the uneducated. Jesus became fairly popular but then risked everything by traveling to Jerusalem and ...

4481. Uh-Huh!

John 18:33-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... accommodating fanciful standards of moral behavior and character. Today, for example, many perceive personal and communal "integrity" as a luxury they simply can no longer afford. For these the "Golden Rule" (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), long observed mainly in the breech, has pitched down a steeply declining grade of mineral - defined by cheapened values and identified by cheaper ores. There is the "Silver Rule" - "Do unto others as they have already done unto you. " Then the "Bronze ...

4482. Interior Decorations

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... simply to worship and to serve. In service they offered themselves and their gifts as both interior and exterior decorations at that dingy little cave which was Jesus' first nursery and Christianity's first church. As servants of the Lord, these strangers traveled long distances both to and from the site of Jesus' birth without demanding anything in return. (They not only followed the star to Bethlehem but they followed the advice of the angel to depart and return by a different path.) The Magi served God ...

4483. The Crime of Christmas

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... are surprised by fear. Sometimes, like the Magi, we are surprised by wisdom from the ordinary. Other times, like Mary, we are surprised by angels unaware. Many times, like the shepherds, we are surprised by joy. But always, like planet earth on that silent night long, but not that long ago, we are surprised by a God who is full of surprises. Are we open to receiving God's surprises, which are around the corner of every hour of every day? Are we open to being surprised by faith in the midst of dialogue with ...

4484. Back to School

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... - they go away to learn at school and return (possibly) to the church for worship. But to be really accurate, Student Recognition Sunday should be on Pentecost. For on the day it was born, the church committed itself to being a life long learning partnership in faith. Sometime before next Sunday, with Christmas break over, nearly all of the public school and college students will return to their classrooms. But lifetime learning takes no holidays - can the church continue to be "in session" throughout the ...

4485. Aged to Perfection - The Third Age

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 's built-in biological barrier. Our lives are now shortened or compromised in quality by preventable, environmental/lifestyle diseases - cancer (dioxins), cholesterol, refusing to wear seat-belts, alcohol, tobacco, etc. Who was it who first said, "If I had known I was going to live so long, I would have taken better care of myself? No one is ever "too old" to do anything. One may be "too sick," or "too tired," but age is never an excuse for hanging out the "No Longer in Service" sign. Those who suffer from ...

4486. Healing Aerobics

2 Kings 5:1-15ab

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... school-age child or shake hands with someone in order to suddenly be the new home base for some exotically named virus that has dismally familiar symptoms. Summertime colds are similarly transmitted, but are much sneakier - they prefer to wait until you are on your long-anticipated fun'n'sun vacation to remind you that sinusitis flourishes in tropical as well as in temperate zones. In fact, getting sick IS so easy that most of us tend to forget how hard getting well can be. When some noxious germ fells us ...

4487. Christ the Apple Tree

Isaiah 11:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... seen, Laden with fruit and always green; The trees of nature fruitless be Compared with Christ the Apple Tree. His beauty doth all things excel; By faith I know, but ne'er can tell The glory which I now can see In Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. For happiness I long have sought, And pleasure dearly I have bought; I missed of all, but now I see 'Tis found in Christ the Apple Tree. I'm weary with my former toil, Here I will sit and rest awhile; Under the shadow I will be, Of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. The ...

4488. A Star-Cross Christmas

James 5:7-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . My feet never hurt, and my soul felt better. No big gift-wrapped package under the Christmas tree with a card from grandfather. It was a hard thing to do. I felt like the Grinch who stole Christmas, even though I know I am not. Christmas was stolen a long time ago. I hope my grandchildren someday will understand I am trying to give Christmas back to them. Not take it away.(1) Smith's gifts, though he doesn't define them as such, have what Ernie Campbell calls manger power. They point to the reality of a ...

4489. Welcome Home, Joseph

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in this whole drama. The story of the journey to Bethlehem and the birth itself, when viewed through lenses ground to focus on only Western European cultural traditions, finds this ordeal strange and cruel. We see Joseph foolishly dragging a very pregnant Mary out on a long, hard trip. Instead we should see a man who had so welcomed the Holy Spirit into his life that he took the pregnant Mary for his wife without any reservations or revenge. She was so thoroughly his wife that he did not dream of leaving ...

4490. Waiting - Sermon Starter

John 1:1-18

Illustration

Brett Blair

... one of his characteristics. And this waiting God tells his people that often, they too must wait. And that is where the story of Christmas really begins. It begins thousands of years before the birth of Christ. They longed for that one who would bring light out of darkness, and make the blind to see. They Longed for that one who would turn their sorrow into joy, and vanquish their enemies. But, God said, you must wait. Let us look at how God's people have waited throughout the ages… 1. Waiting in the Old ...

4491. The Truly Human Christ

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

... is interesting to note that in the familiar "Apostles' Creed" the phrase "born of the Virgin Mary" was inserted in the first place not to emphasize the word "virgin," but rather to emphasize the word "born." Lest you think that this theological debate is long, long ago and far away, may I hasten to suggest that there are still a lot of happy Gnostics and Docetists among us. The theology of Mary Baker Eddy which forms the basis of Christian Science certainly leans in the direction of Gnosticism. Most popular ...

4492. Close the Loopholes

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... storms so soak the soil that it loses its cohesion. An examination of the land after such a storm reveals long cracks running across the top of the soil evidence that down below, the process of virtually unstoppable erosion has begun. Now ... park bench next to a gentleman reading the paper. As is usually the case, Frank and Ernest are obviously inebriated. Frank says to the stranger: "Long ago, I decided my life would be a success if I could make just one person happy. I picked me." This is not the "kindness ...

4493. Quenching St. Anthony's Fire

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a copy store copy it and include it in your bulletin.) One art historian has called it a "work of such tremendous and dismal grandeur of expression that nothing on earth seems to equal it." This awesome altarpiece, measuring 10 feet long when closed, 21 feet long when opened, and eight feet high, is now housed in a museum in Colmar, France. The Order of St. Anthony commissioned the altarpiece for their monastery at Isenheim. They asked Mathias Grunewald he and Albrecht Durer were considered the greatest ...

4494. The Family Ideal, Not Idol

Genesis 12:1-4a

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the structures that organized clan life: a known code of legal and moral behavior, an established place in the hierarchical pecking order and the personal cults, gods and idols that were worshiped by the family. Abram was not just being asked to go on a long trip. He was commanded to relinquish his old identity, all that he had based his life upon, in order to covenant with God. The family and the "family as idol-source" had to be completely dethroned before Abram could become a new individual, Abraham, the ...

4495. A Bill of Rights

Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... what is right and wrong, there will immediately be gathered a large crowd of those who take extreme offense at our presumption. As Jesus revealed in the text for today, taking a stand ensures the presence of opposition even enemies. But for too long, the church has avoided discussing the notion that categories like "right" and "wrong" are valid. In fact, they are God-designed ways of organizing our lives and developing our character. By trying to play amidst the ever-shifting sands of cultural rules and ...

4496. Celebrate Your Critical Mass

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... became an unstoppable force. Against many cautious voices in the medical community, the Salk vaccine went into production and became the long-awaited first line of defense against the polio enemy. The concept of a "critical mass" was first used by physicists to ... a consensus. We don't need a quorum in attendance. We don't need a standing committee established. We don't need a long-range plan developed. We don't need an Executive Board action. We don't need a regional evaluation or investigation. We don't ...

4497. Tremendous Trifles

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a poor section of town and shooting six-inch spear-darts into the backs of people walking down the street. Their preferred targets? Elderly African-Americans. They carried a large stockpile of their chosen ammunition so the "fun" could continue for a long time. After their arrest, the boys' stunned parents wept on camera, heroically apologizing for their sons' behavior but insisting they were "good kids." The oldest boy also voiced his concern about how this incident would affect his chances of getting into ...

4498. Rules for the Road

Joshua 3:7-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... due 96 years of interest. That doesn't sound so bad. But here's another scenario: The phone call you start New Year's Eve '99 and complete the first few seconds of '00 might get you a computerized phone bill for a 99-year-long phone call. Already the computers that determine insurance rates and pension payments are confused. Big deal? Big deal! To retool all the computers whose programming counts years by two digits into four-digit counters will take something in the neighborhood of six billion dollars. Who ...

4499. Is There Room for One More?

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... weekend the biggest shopping weekend, with the biggest sales, in your community? Those who "have" even more to splurge celebrate this long Thanksgiving weekend as time for the first skiing vacation of the winter, and with enough time and enough money, we ... not" Thanks- giving is there are no leftovers no left-over goodies to nibble on, no leftover family members to spend the long weekend with, no leftover feelings of security that a "have" Thanksgiving leaves in its wake. Sadly, one of the greatest growth ...

4500. Fifty-Fourth and Lexington

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... serious listening to the music, return to the front of the church and announce to your people that this is the Advent journey. Each one of us has a broken song, a quivery voice, a frail pitch. But the Christmas message is that one homeless night long ago, in a place called Bethlehem, God wrapped humanity's broken songs and shattered chords with the music of the spheres. In the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, God gave each of our feeble attempts at singing a cosmic orchestra of surround-sound spirituality. That ...

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