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 451 to 475 of 3108 results

451. The Cross In My Pocket

Isaiah 52:13--53:12, Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Emergencies sometimes come in the middle of the night but this one came at noon. A frantic call came to the church from a young wife and mother. She and her attorney-husband were leaders in our church. Their little daughter was about four years old. Two days earlier he had been on the golf course, feeling fine. But now he was in the hospital ICU fighting for his life. A mysterious infection was sweeping through his body. He seemed to have no defenses against this particular virus. Within 24 hours he was ...

452. THE JOURNEY

Drama

Jerome W. Nilssen

Shortly after midnight; a grimy train station in a midwestern city. CAIN wearing a conductor’s hat, opens a thermos and pours a cup of coffee, adds to it from a flask he carries in his jacket. GRACE enters; opens a large handbag, her only luggage, takes out an apple, or some other fruit, and eats. As CAIN drinks, he turns to look at the woman. Finally she notices him, and she smiles. GRACE It’s a long night. CAIN Like usual. GRACE Are we waiting for the same train? CAIN I don’t know. Are we? GRACE I’m ...

453. Saturday Night And Sunday Morning

Drama

Pamela Urfer

(Maria, Salome, Magdalena and Joanna are sitting together, talking. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is sitting quietly in a corner, praying.) Maria: (Jumping up and beginning to pace up and down.) Where is Peter? I don’t understand it. Shouldn’t he have been here by now? Magdalena: Don’t fuss so! You’re making me nervous. Joanna: Maria’s right. I’m worried too. Do you think they might have caught him? Maria: They could have, Joanna. They’re all over Jerusalem looking for any followers of Jesus who are still in ...

454. Whom Do You Sit East Of?

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me." Finally the evil of the Ninevites had provoked the Lord God to action. Yahweh had had enough. A prophet was needed who would proclaim the word of judgment to the enemy. Jonah, son of Amittai, was chosen for this mission - to cry out against the wicked of Nineveh. But as we all know, this "prophet" rose to flee from the presence of the ...

455. The Apostles' Creed: "God...Almighty"

Mark 15:33-41, Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"I believe in God the Father, Almighty..." Do you now? Is this the same God that the folks down in Colombia believe in, the folks who have just lost homes, health, and loved ones in that devastating earthquake Monday? The same God to whom prayers are directed from those trying to survive the ethnic slaughter in Kosovo? The same God to whom the family of Tiffany Long [a local 10-year-old found raped and murdered] prayed for her safe return from school? "God, the Father, ALMIGHTY...?" Right! In Russell Baker ...

456. My Younger Brother Gets Away With Everything

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

King Duncan

Let me ask you a question, and I want you to stand if this applies to you. How many of you are the oldest child in your family? How many first-borns do we have? Would you stand? O.K., thank you. Please be seated. Now, how many of you were the baby in your family? Would you stand, please? Thank you. Now, for those in the first group ” the oldest children. How many of you felt like the baby of the family got away with things you never could have gotten away with? Would you stand, please? Have you ever ...

457. Ready Or Not

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Remember as a child when you played hide and seek? Remember how you would cover your eyes and count? Then you would speak those immortal words: "Ready or not, here I come." Do you get the feeling this time of year that you can hear the voice of Christmas like Marley's ghost saying to us, "Ready or not, here I come." The next few weeks will be filled with so much activity, all the parties, the shopping, the visits to Santa. I like the story about the grandmother who took little Anne along on a shopping trip ...

458. Face To Face With The Tempter

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

This morning we want to deal with a theme that applies to all of us. Temptation. None of us is too old or too young, too sophisticated or too naive, to escape the tempter. Temptation can lead us into all kinds of problems. For example, the newspapers recently carried a story about an Alabama man who planned to profit from a simple burglary. He entered a house and began clearing out the valuables. He came across a .44 Magnum and accidentally shot himself in the calf with it. However, despite the fact that a ...

459. Positive Faith

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

The teacher of a junior high class was trying to illustrate the word miracle. "Young people," he said, "Suppose I stood on the roof of a 10-story building, lost my balance and fell off. Then all of a sudden, in midair, a whirlwind swept me up and brought me safely to the ground. Now what word would you use to describe this?" After a long silence a boy raised his hand and asked, "Luck?" "True, true," replied the teacher. "It could be luck. But that's not the word I wanted. I'll repeat the story. There I am ...

460. How Many Times?

Matthew 18:21-35

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: a handful of Play-doh or other modeling clay Good morning, boys and girls. This morning I want to talk to you about forgiveness. Do you know what "forgiveness" is? (Wait for 1 or 2 answers) Those are good answers. When someone is mean to you, and instead of getting angry or being mean back to them, you choose to let go of your anger and love that person anyway, that's forgiveness. Have you ever done something you knew you shouldn't have done? Maybe you lied to your parents or hit your little sister ...

461. Maturity in Stewardship

2 Corinthians 9:6-15, 2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

Truit Gannon, pastor of a church in Georgia, tells of an incident in his boyhood. A man named Hugh, who worked for his father, owned a beautiful Harley Davidson motorcycle. It was a wine-colored machine with the hydro-glide fork on the front wheel. As I understand it, that hydro-glide fork was an engineering miracle in motorcycling in its day. Anyway, Truit says it was his greatest thrill as a teenager to ride that motorcycle. One day he asked, "Hugh, can I ride your motorcycle again today?" Hugh’s words ...

462. What Happens When I Die?

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

My children and grandchildren introduced me to that delightful little comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. In one strip, Calvin is lying on a hillside, next to his stuffed tiger Hobbes, pondering the meaning of life. He asks: I wonder where we go when we die. They lie there for a few moments, and then Hobbes replies, Pittsburgh? In the last panel, Calvin asks, You mean if were good or if were bad? A day or two before he died, William Saroyan said to his friends, “Everybody has got to die; but I ...

463. Grace Is Not a Blue-eyed Blond

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I often wonder what goes through people’s minds when they hear certain words which we use in church. Words like “incarnation,” “redemption,” and “grace.” I have a hunch that a lot of people confuse incarnation with reincarnation, which is something totally different; and redemption is something one used to do with “green stamps.” As for “grace,” well, that is, indeed, a strange word. Some years ago a minister by the name of R. Lofton Hudson wrote of an experience he had during a conversation with a friend ...

464. Afraid of Sanity

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In J. D. Salinger’s famous novel, The Catcher in the Rye, 15-year old Holden Caulfield says: “I can’t always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist.” (That would put a damper on prayer, wouldn’t it?) He goes on: “I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance....They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they ...

465. Seeing the Good News

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

John P. Jewell

"All flesh shall see the salvation of God." What amazing words. The deepest sense of these words is that peace, harmony, health and healing will break out all over the world! "All flesh shall see.." means that every single human being on earth will see this come to pass. Sounds impossible doesn't it? This promise from the prophet Isaiah, brought to us in the gospel of Luke courtesy of John the Baptist brings to mind the words of Jesus to his disciples, "For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things ...

466. Going Hard against the Grain

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Perhaps you have heard the story of the star-thrower, first published by Loren Eiseley in his 1969 book The Unexpected Universe. He tells of walking along a beach "littered with the debris of life.... Along the strip of wet sand that marks the ebbing and flowing of the tide, death walks hugely and in many forms. In the end the sea rejects its offspring. They cannot fight their way home through the surf which casts them repeatedly back upon the shore. The tiny breathing spores of starfish are stuffed with ...

467. Getting Your Politics Right

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

I grew up with the myth, universally absorbed but rarely argued for except by extremists with bad manners, that whites were superior. Exceptions were acknowledged, but only as exceptions that did not change the rule. Racism was one of the unspoken beliefs of my childhood culture before the Civil Rights movement rose up to challenge the great lie with the potent rhetoric of our founding documents, as in The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal ...

468. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Once upon a time, there lived a humble man who accepted everything that happened in life as an act of God. If something good happened, God did it. If something bad happened, that also was an act of God. Unfortunately, he was about the unluckiest man alive. Makes you wonder about his theology, doesn’t it? But never once did he complain. He got married and his wife ran away with his best friend. His daughter fell in with the wrong crowd and became addicted to drugs. His son was in a bad accident. He lost a ...

469. Healing the Pain from the Past

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

A pastor friend and his wife once adopted a young cat that bounced up to his parsonage looking hungry and friendless. From the beginning of the relationship, the cat readily came to them and blissfully stroked her whiskers against their outstretched hands. She was comfortable with people. My friends were quite willing to provide for the cat's few needs: food, fresh water, a potent flea collar, and some affection. For the most part, the cat stayed outside, springing up to greet them when they returned from ...

470. Proper 28

Judges 4:1-24, Matthew 25:14-30, Zephaniah 1:4-13, Zephaniah 1:14--2:3

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Judges 4:1-7 Deborah, a prophetess of Israel, promised victory to Barak. When the Israelites settled in Canaan, they were oppressed from time to time by indigenous nations. When the people cried to God for help, he sent a leader, known as a judge. In this instance the judge was Deborah who enlisted the help of Barak to defeat Sisera. Old Testament: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 A woman's godly example. Old Testament: Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 Sin will cause destruction and death. Old ...

471. A Talent for Life

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Scientists who study the tropical rainforests have succeeded in drawing attention to an entirely new ecosystem. It's an ecological niche quite separate from that of the high mountains, meadows and valleys, the plains or deserts, the estuaries or open waters. In fact, this ecosystem exists within the rainforest. Yet, because human beings walk on two legs, because we're ground-dwelling creatures, we miss it entirely. All one has to do to experience this unique ecosystem is to look up. In the dense, inter- ...

472. Conviction with Compassion

John 8:1-11

Sermon

James McCormick

You and I are living today in the midst of a massive moral muddle. There is pervasive confusion or indifference concerning what is right and wrong. And, some people are wondering whether or not such terms should even be used. After all, we are being told again and again that all values are relative, that standards of behavior change from generation to generation. We have seen it happen that an action which is declared unacceptable in one decade is approved in the next. So, people throughout our land are ...

473. Fiscal Fitness

Proverbs 3:9-10

Sermon

James Merritt

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Jane Wagner, "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe"[1] You would expect that the richest man who ever lived would have something to say about money, and, in Solomon's case, you would be right. He has plenty to say. There is a wealth of wisdom about wealth in Proverbs. With money, there is not only much to earn, but there is much to learn. In fact, the entire Bible has much to say about money. Howard Dayton, the ...

474. Tricked Into Forgiveness

2 Samuel 14:1-33

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

It was at least twenty years ago when I visited the Hermitage for the first time. Of course, I’m referring to the beautiful home of Andrew Jackson near Nashville. I became fascinated with Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, who was such a pivotal figure in the early years of our state. His name is all over Tennessee. As you know, Jackson was a brilliant, fearless, charismatic leader with a volatile temper. He formed deep friendships but also made bitter enemies. Jackson was not a very ...

475. And Again I Say...Amen!

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

What are the marks of an Amen discipleship? How would a Yes spirit manifest itself? The second of a two-part sermon. When your car starts making bad noises _ banging, or whining, or knocking _ you take it in to get its carburetor, or timing, or fan belt adjusted. When some people feel achy or out-of-sorts, they get a chiropractic "adjustment." There are many Christians out there this morning who are also making whiny noises or creaking and cracking and causing pain to others around them. When Jesus urged ...

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