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 4651 to 4675 of 5000 results

4651. Here Comes the Bridegroom

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

... borrow oil from the wise ones, but they could not. It is not because the wise bridesmaids were selfish or hard hearted. They knew that if they loaned them the oil, nobody would make it because there would not be enough oil to keep every torch lit long enough to get into the house. But there is even a greater principle here. There are some things you cannot borrow. You can borrow salt, you can borrow sugar and you can even borrow silver, but you cannot borrow salvation. Even though you are saved, you cannot ...

4652. Use It or Lose It

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... our best to use whatever gifts He has given to us for His glory. III. God's Glory Will Result In Your Gain "After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents ... when He invests gifts and abilities in you straight from His hand, and then you fail to use them for His glory? You see, as long as you live God wants you to be faithful with what you have, and faithful where you are. That's why Jesus Himself says, " ...

4653. The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... to use whatever gifts He has given to us for His glory. III. What We Render To God Will Be Rewarded By God "After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents ... when He invests gifts and abilities in you straight from His hand, and then you fail to use them for His glory? You see, as long as you live God wants you to be faithful with what you have, and faithful where you are. That's why Jesus Himself says, " ...

4654. Houston We Have a Problem

Nehemiah 1:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... but they agreed finally to fly in a prop plane. It was a double engine plane with about thirty passengers. They took off and not long into the flight they heard a noise and one of the ladies looked out the window of the other side of the plane and ... it wasn't poisoned. If the cupbearer drank some wine and dropped dead, the king would say, "I guess that was a bad year", but long live the king! In other words, Nehemiah was a man of unbelievable influence and power. He was the most trusted adviser to the king, ...

4655. One Step at a Time

Nehemiah 2:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... the king, ‘ " If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it.' Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), ‘ " How long will your journey be? And when will your return?' " So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Furthermore I said to the king, ‘ " If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that ...

4656. The Dream Work of Teamwork

Nehemiah 3:1-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... away the leadership of the church. Usually the reverse is true and that is why a lot of pastors and a lot of people are both frustrated. I read about a congregation that had to hire a new minister when their long time pastor retired. It didn't take the members of that church long to become annoyed with the new pastor because he started making changes in the order of worship and how different church affairs were handled, but the critics really exploded when he hired a man to take care of the church grounds ...

4657. Keep Your Eye On The Ball

Nehemiah 6:1-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... job Nehemiah tackled in trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Believe it or not, we have been studying Nehemiah almost as long as it took him to rebuild a wall around an entire city- two- and one-half miles in circumference. He finished his ... the ball is to choose the urgent over the important, to choose what is good over what is best, to choose the short term over the long term. I heard about two old golfing buddies who were playing a water hole when one hit his shot right into the pond. As they were ...

4658. People Skills

Proverbs 12:26

Sermon

James Merritt

... in you." Parents, you can teach your children just a few little tricks, early in their life that will really carry them a long way in building personal relationships and in developing good people skills. Let me just list them for you. Eye contact - when you talk ... a man right now that I thought was a dear friend of mine, in fact, he introduced me and my wife, Teresa, many years ago. Not too long ago, he called me and asked me to loan him an amount of money. He promised to pay me back in thirty days. To a lot ...

4659. Jealousy: Cancer of the Heart

Proverbs 27:4

Sermon

James Merritt

... dream and said, "I'll give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive your competitor will receive twice as much. Do you want to be rich? You can be rich, but he'll be twice as wealthy. Do you want to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be twice as long and twice as healthy. So what is your desire?" The man frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!" Well, as we have already seen with Mrs. Holloway, jealousy will cause you to burn down ...

4660. A Song for Tomorrow

Psalm 1:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... ." (Psalm 119:97, NLT) I love this one. "Your words are so choice, so tasty; I prefer them to the best home cooking." (Psalm 119: 103, MSG) Finally, he said, "I pant with open mouth because I long for Your commands." (Psalm 119:131 HCSB) Let's all be honest. Do we have that same delight? That same desire? That same dedication? That same devotion to the Word of God? I just want to make a statement and move on. I think sometimes we delight too much in ...

4661. The Spiritual Gateway

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... party only to become stuck in traffic. When you finally get to the airport, you have only minutes left to check in. Unfortunately, there's a long line at the airline desk and you know there is no hope of getting to the front of the line in time. Do you: A. give ... are haunted by it. Of course, just like conscience, not every yearning is from God. But we can be reasonably certain that longings for what is true, just, good, beautiful are a nudge from God, who uses such yearnings to draw us to him. Obviously, ...

4662. The Underlying Mercy

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... . In the poem, after acknowledging the great pain and injustice he sees in the world, Whittier says: Yet, in the maddening maze of things, And tossed by storm and flood, To one fixed trust my spirit clings; I know that God is good! I long for household voices gone, For vanished smiles I long, But God hath led my dear ones on, And He can do no wrong. I know not what the future hath Of marvel or surprise, Assured alone that life and death His mercy underlies. And so beside the Silent Sea I wait with muffled ...

4663. Putting God to Work in Your Life through Peas, Squash, Lettuce, Thyme

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... on the bench. To “get on with our life” means living the way WE want to live and not having to submit to God’s conditions of employment. Scott Couchenour puts it like this: “It's a matter of positioning. As long as Jesus is gathering dust from my Reeboks, He's ‘idle.’ As long as I'm gathering dust from HIS sandals, He's ‘at work.’ AND, in my following, I'm ‘at work’ as well.” In today’s gospel text Jesus for the first time lets his disciples get a peak at what genuine discipleship ...

4664. Bashful Love

Mark 9:32

Illustration

Stephen M. Crotts

... get me to switch post office boxes with him. That way he could be close to Sally. You see, John was painfully shy. Though he longed to know Sally, he couldn't muster the nerve to ask her out. So, he secretly loved her at a distance. Once he rode a ... finally summoned up the courage to ask Sally out for a date. She agreed. And over supper John confided in Sally, telling her of his year long love. And you know what? Sally said she'd loved John the whole year too! Think of all the joy they missed! Think of the ...

4665. Five Differences between a Franchise Faith and an Authentic Faith

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... proclaimed the plurality of “Whoever is not against us is for us” (v.40) at the same time he proclaimed the particularity of “Whoever is not for me is against me.” Discipleship can have many faces. But it is authentic and real as long as “the name of Christ” stands at its heart. Instead of seeking self-importance Jesus challenged his disciples to a life of selflessness. Instead of defining discipleship by the ability to do miraculous acts of healing, Jesus pointed to gestures as simple as giving ...

4666. Bethlehem: Where Extremes Meet

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... figures of the babe and the manger and the shepherds and all the rest. After 2,000 years of exhaustive repetition, why do you suppose the events of Bethlehem still lay hold of our depths and continue to intrigue us? Is this simply the momentum of a long-established tradition, or is there another secret to this incredible vitality? In my judgment, there is more at work here than "the twitching of the dead hand of the past." Now, to be sure, the power of tradition is present here, but alongside this, I sense ...

4667. Building a Victorious Life

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... habit. Normally, he would be expected to live another fifteen to twenty years, but the odds are now that he won't make it through the next one. We live in the houses we build. You know the old saying: "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." All of us, to some extent, can share that sentiment, because it is true — we live in the houses we build. The frightening thing is not that we are going to die — that is a foregone conclusion. We all accept that. The ...

4668. No Intimidation

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... and a powerful love becomes there for all to view. It was a time of poking serious fun at Herod Antipas. A pastor taught me long ago nothing succeeds quite like well-placed and intense humor. There is a real art to this strategy of ministry. One who is not skilled ... had better watch what we say to a colleague; he/she may turn out to be our boss. Some of us who have been around a long time have seen exactly that happen. What does all of this do for Christ and the church? We can't help but admire the way ...

4669. More Time

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... politely go through the motions of Lent and its disciplines! Can worldly and secular powers offer us anything approximating this? Absolutely not. Count your blessings and name them one by one. Well, that is simple and yet profound at the same time. While it would take a long time to count all of them, the gospel communicates one blessing we must not forget. God does not leave us like beggars with no spiritual food or drink. It is there for the taking and to top it off we are drawn to it. Regardless of what ...

4670. Fish and Sheep

John 21:15-25, John 21:1-14

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... to try more than one side of the boat. Anyone with solid business skills knows one does not continue to spend time for very long in an area which is not profitable. But just maybe we should not be too hard on Christ's chosen leader. How often do ... it is what he does for us that enables us to live the Christian life. To have fellowship with the Master early in the day has long been a staple for those who are serious about living the Christian faith. To begin the day aright with him is to set in motion forces ...

4671. What Outsiders Can Teach Us

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

... The service had just begun in this beautiful, historic New England meeting house. The minister got up and extended the welcome to those who were visiting. It was a greeting he's never forgotten. "We are glad that you are here. We have been here in this place for a long time. If you are of like mind and temperament, you may find yourself welcome. We know our faults. But in spite of them, we still try to be an outpost of the kingdom of God." Maybe the pastor was just having a bad day, or had gotten up on the ...

4672. Abba, Your Kingdom Come

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... The apostles wanted to know more about prayer. So do we. "Lord, teach us to pray," they said (Luke 11:1). We have the same plea today. There is a vague sense that we don't pray enough, nor with as much focus as we should have. There is a longing among Christians today to be more effective at prayer. In Luke 11:1-13 Jesus teaches the content of prayer (vv. 1-4), the necessity to be persistent in prayer (vv. 5-10), and the encouragement to believe that God is faithful in answering prayer (vv. 11-13). We will ...

4673. Family Ties and Good-byes

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... you turn your life over to God and get to an AA group, you will get help," she said. He turned a deaf ear to his mother. When Junior began to live on the streets, and occasionally showed up at Carol's house, she always let him stay as long as he didn't drink. As soon as he began to drink again, she and Stan told Junior he'd have to go. "We won't tolerate intolerable behavior," Stan said, "because to tolerate intolerable behavior is to encourage intolerable behavior." "You sound like a preacher," Junior said ...

4674. Only the Lonely

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... later, a child was born to Sarah and Abraham. They named him "Laughter," the English translation of the Hebrew name, Isaac. After long-suffering and frustration as a childless couple who had been told they would be the father and mother of a great ... understand the depths of loneliness others feel. They are the only ones who are willing to listen and hear the depths of others' longings. Only those who are lonely and acknowledge that no one in this world can satisfy their hunger, stop playing the world's games ...

4675. Faithquakes

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... cockpit, the voice of the pilot came over the loud speaker. "The flight attendant has not been able to manually determine if the landing gear is down. The electronic landing gear check isn't working. It's frozen. Don't worry, we think everything is okay." After a long pause, the pilot announced, "We will land in a few minutes." The young businessman turned to the pastor and said in a trembling voice, "I'm scared. Do you think we're going to make it?" "I don't know," said the pastor. "Is there anything I can ...

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