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 1245 results
451. Illustrations for Lent Easter Old Testament Texts
Isaiah 42:10-17, Isaiah 42:18-25
Illustration
Jon L. Joyce
1. God destroys as well as preserves [Isaiah 42:14] Luther says that God is to be both loved and feared. The same God of compassion who is eager to show love to those who turn to him is equally determined to root out and destroy evil. Isaiah is warning us not to be lulled to sleep by thinking only of the kindness of God. He who shows patience toward our waywardness will eventually cease to overlook unatoned sin ...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... . Then when the young lady was around fourteen or fifteen and the young man around twenty, they could endorse or reject the match their parents had made much earlier. Probably by this time, Mary and Joseph had fallen in love. Therefore, they were eager to take the next step toward marriage, which was called "betrothal." This was a one-year legal relationship that preceded marriage. Mary and Joseph are betrothed when we meet them in scripture. In that strict Jewish society, betrothed couples would never be ...
453. The Perfect Gift
Galatians 3:26--4:7
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... planned to wear were scuffed up and badly needed a shine. She said to her eight-year-old son, who was bubbling with excited energy, "Would you take an old newspaper out on the back porch and try to shine my shoes without making a mess?" Every child is eager to please on Christmas Eve, so off he went. In a little while he brought the shoes back nicely shined. The mother was so impressed that she reached into her pocketbook and gave him a quarter along with a hug and a thank-you. Later that evening when she ...
454. Reverence For Life
Exodus 20:1-21, Matthew 5:21-26
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... . We must help young women see that there is a better option than abortion for unacceptable pregnancies. Let me offer a word to those women or couples who have had abortions. God still loves you. If you are burdened by guilt about an abortion, God is so very eager to lift your burden. All you have to do is to say sincerely, "I'm sorry; please forgive me." Not only will God forgive; he will teach you to forgive yourself. Then he will commission you as a kind helper of all other women who feel trapped by ...
Sermon
Brett Blair
... play to sing such words; nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read the first chapter I should find... Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius (his friend) was sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: ‘Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness ...
Sermon
James Bjorge
... himself by blowing soap bubbles and then in a mood of great glee watching them burst. Paul has captured this idea in a profound way. He sees the creation in captivity since the fall and it is waiting for release ... for completion. "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain ...
Sermon
James Bjorge
... 3:16). And Paul says, "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15). God is a giver of gifts. Any man who has gotten to know God is very aware of this truth. We could even go so far as to say that God is more eager to give than we are to receive. Then when we struggle with the image of God concept something dawns on us. If it is God’s nature to give and if we were created in his image ... then man is going to be more god-like, fulfilled and satisfied if ...
Drama
Sarah Walton Miller
... you think he can learn all he needs to know about a bike in a month? DAVE: I’m sure he can! PHIL: [doubtfully] He’ll have to be able to take it apart and put it together, make his own repairs. You know all that can go wrong. DAVE: [eagerly] He’ll LEARN! I’ll teach him. Every day. PHIL: Then there’s the riding day after day. The long hours - to say nothing of the road conditions. It will be enough to wear anyone down. Remember you and I have been training for six months. DAVE: He’ll train ...
Sermon
Louis H. Valbracht
... satisfy your central desire to BE SOMEBODY. There is much evidence to support this thesis of Adler’s. When, for instance, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was only in his teens, he expressed the central desire in man. "The fact is," he said, "that I most eagerly aspire after future eminence. My whole soul burns most ardently for it, and every earthly thought centers around being someone of importance." Anatole France wrote: "At a tender age, I had a longing for renown. I said: ‘I am going to make the whole ...
460. Chapter V
Exodus 20:1-21
Sermon
Frank H. Seilhamer
... off these qualities that is rare enough to make the newspapers. Just watch and see how quickly a baby takes the central place in the lives of most couples. Even before it is born it becomes the focal point for much of our existence. At first it is the eager waiting for the first signs of life. What parents-to-be, both husbands and wives, have not felt and watched for that first kick that their baby gave? Even out of sight that developing person becomes a member of the family. And when it is born the world ...
Sermon
Thomas Long
... the woman began to repeat the words silently with her lips. "This is my body, for you," the woman was now quietly speaking the words along with the minister, the Spirit whispering the lyrics in her ear. When the bread and the wine were offered, the woman eagerly, hungrily, took them in her hands -- the gifts of God for this daughter of God. In his book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, Oliver Sacks tells the story of Jimmie, a former sailor, now a patient in a nursing home, whose severe neurological ...
462. GARDENER
John 20:15
Illustration
Stephen Stewart
... Oriental country such as the ancient Hebrews knew, if we had to collect water in cisterns and reservoirs and then carry it to our plots, if we had to contend with rocky, hard soil without the benefit of modern equipment, I wonder if we would be so eager! But then, perhaps we would be, because there is plenty of evidence that the Hebrews were willing to work hard for the beauty and peace of the garden. Now when we speak of gardeners, we have to remember that, as with most of the workers who hired themselves ...
463. MAGICIAN, SORCERER
Micah 5:12; Acts 8:9
Illustration
Stephen Stewart
... evil spirits and to raise up the spirits of the dead. They experimented with astrology and gazed into crystal balls to divine what was in store for their noble patrons. And today, astrologers, palmists, crystalgazers and clairvoyants continue to reveal the future to eager customers. This type of magic is called natural because no supernatural claims to power are ever made in connection with it. In fact, the magicians who perform it are, as a rule, the most outspoken skeptics on the subject of genuine magic ...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... . FIRST, PARENTS, BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELVES Simon Peter was chosen as shepherd of the church despite his awful failure of nerve on the night of Jesus' arrest. This means that our mistakes need not be terminal. If we are genuinely sorry for our failings, our Lord is eager to forgive and help us make a new start. Parents, be gentle with yourselves. If you were perfect, you would be impossible to live with. Let's be honest. There have been times when you didn't get the children to church because you were too ...
465. Broken and Beautiful
Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 51:1-19
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... a tear of awesome gratitude for the cross? The great English preacher Leslie D. Weatherhead reminds us in one of his books that Jesus labored in a carpenter's shop for twenty years. In his breast a fire was burning which grew brighter and hotter each day. How eager he must have been to get on with his divine mission! But first he had to be broken. So he melted glue, swept up shavings, and searched for nails. He was meek and lowly in heart. He put himself under discipline. And when he was broken enough, he ...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... who knows so much about stocks informs you today of a really hot tip that is virtually guaranteed to double your investment, wouldn't you scramble around and come up with some money? I suspect you would. When will we ever become that eager to invest in kingdom currency? What percentage of your financial portfolio is in kingdom currency? Are you or your company investing anything in Habitat for Humanity or Lambuth University or St. Jude? Are you or your company investing anything in the "Love Thy Neighbor ...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... where there is plenty of food and living space for everybody, and nobody grumbles about the food or decor. Picture a world in which former Chinese and former Americans can't remember which was which. Laughter and praise are heard constantly. You get up each morning eager to be busy doing right. Every day is spent helping others, and it's great fun. The glory of God is so pervasive that you can hardly restrain a song, and even I will have a glorious baritone voice. Banished from this paradise are worry and ...
Drama
Jerry Nordstrom
... struck. At this point, if props or symbolic items of costuming have been used, they can be set side. Soft, ethereal music may be introduced and used as background to the following lines, each of which is to be said - in contrast to the former - as an eager expression of good news.) TRADITIONALIST: Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people. PATIENT: The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. CHILD ...
Sermon
Donald Macleod
... on it when he wrote: "I know that man’s ways are not of his own choosing; nor is it for a man to determine his course in life" (Jeremiah 10:23 NEB). This is what we’ve been doing. Like the kings and priests of Israel, we have been eager to hold for our own selves the whole scheme of things, while we have neglected the moral and spiritual order by which we should be held. If you and I break the laws of nature, eventually and surely we break ourselves against them. Our world is "out of joint" today ...
Sermon
Donald Macleod
... and leaping and praising God" (vv. 7-8). What an astounding sight this must have been for those standing by. Indeed, they were dumbfounded to say the least - and rightly so! Wouldn’t you and I have been so, too? And would we not, like them, be eager to know what was behind this tremendous event? Peter, however, knowing these people and their belief in magic and superstition, hastened to forestall any such notion, saying: "Why do you wonder at this and why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or ...
Sermon
Gordon Pratt Baker
... -3) It is the old story. Politically hungry countries are always poised for the chance to overrun their bounds and prove themselves; and while Israel’s incoming sovereign is in the process of assuming his reign, the nations of the Gentile world are eager to take advantage of the fluid situation marking the changeover. Threatening as these conspiracies against Israel may be, however, they are fatally flawed. For in plotting the nation’s overthrow at her coronation of the Lord’s vice-regent her foes are ...
Sermon
Gordon Pratt Baker
... ethical demands of faith. For the psalm deals entirely with duties to humanity. Thus, the song is an expression of concern that the spiritual experience the pilgrims are seeking may not pass with the conclusion of the day’s worship. Instead, the psalmist is eager for it to continue in their lives through meaningful relationships with both God and their neighbors everywhere - in the marketplace as well as in the Temple, before the hearth as well as before the altar. A Psalmist’s Ten Commandments It is no ...
Sermon
Erskine White
... the 5 p.m. train from London out to the western suburbs was supposed to take just half an hour, but it ran late every evening, taking up to an hour, even an hour and a half sometimes. The trip was even slower on Fridays, when everyone was especially eager to get home and start their weekend. One Friday evening, the train made it out to the last suburban stop in just 20 minutes. Better than being on time, it was actually early! The passengers stepped off the train and surged toward the conductor to thank him ...
474. Blessed among Women
Luke 1:39-45, 1 Samuel 2:1-11
Sermon
Erskine White
... all, dear God, we ask that You put within our hearts a clear understanding of the service You desire from each one of us. While we are aware of our weaknesses, do not let that awareness excuse us from allowing Your divine strength to work through us. Make us more eager to say yes to Your will, that like Mary, we may gladly bear the cost of Your service until our souls are magnifying our Lord with power, purpose and praise forever. We ask this all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sermon
Erskine White
... lived happily ever after. Amen. Pastoral Prayer O Good and Faithful God, who has led us here on this most wondrous night of the year, we thank You for all that makes this season so special. We thank You for the expectant eyes of little children who eagerly anticipate the coming dawn. We thank You for the warmth of family and friends who gather to share their love at this time of year. We give You thanks for the spirit which is in this church tonight, reflected in faces which shine by flickering candlelight ...
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