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 4826 to 4850 of 4962 results

4826. Apostolic Instruction

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

Saint Paul is "on a roll!" He keeps on coming with what he expects of the followers of Christ, as he has nurtured them. It is as though in a breathtaking fashion he wants to be sure his dear people are instructed properly. The words ring with excitement. Today's readers also feel the holy heat that is generated. The words are not theologically demanding as the same found in some of the passages from both Galatians and Romans. The elementary way we can experience the passage is very helpful. In short, it is ...

4827. Headed in the Right Direction

Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

John N. Brittain

If you don't know that Christmas is a couple of weeks away, you must be living underground. And you must have no contact with any children. And you cannot have been to a mall, Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, or any other chain store since three weeks before Halloween. Christmas, probably more than any other day in the contemporary American calendar, is one of those days where impact really stretches the envelope of time not just — like some great tragedy — after the fact, but also in anticipation. If we aren't good ...

4828. Out Into The Deep Water

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

How many of you like to fish? It's a great sport isn't it? It's a great way to relax and if you like to eat fish like I do, it's a great way to get really fresh fish. But sometimes fishing has some different kinds of results. I'll never forget the time a friend and I went fishing. He was the former pastor of the church I was serving. We were in seminary and car pooled to classes when possible. He didn't have a whole lot of opportunity to go fishing where he was serving, so I invited him out to go fishing ...

4829. Love Lifted Me

Psalm 40:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

In the television drama, “The Sopranos” there is a scene that takes place at a funeral. The guests receive prayer cards with a picture of Jesus on them along with a prayer. One of the guests at the funeral remarks that as a kid he always wondered about the value of these cards. He collected baseball cards, he said, and they increased in value. Why not the prayer cards? “I don’t get it,” says the guest. “Ten thousand dollars for Mickey Mantle and zip for Jesus . . .” (1) I suspect that says something about ...

4830. Don't Give Up Now!

2 Corinthians 4:16 - 5:2

Sermon

Have you noticed that some people can’t seem to win, no matter what they do? It’s like one lady I heard about. True story. In 1957 Richie Ashburn, center fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, swung and hit a foul ball that went into the stands and hit a spectator named Alice Roth. As she was being taken away on a stretcher, Ashburn slammed another foul ball . . . and hit her again. (1) Poor Alice. I guess it just wasn’t her day. I’ve had days like that, haven’t you? I would guess we all have. Pastor Alan ...

4831. Robbing God

Malachi 3:6-18

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

Return to Me (3:6-12): The fifth speech returns to the present with an appeal for repentance demonstrated in a concrete act of obedience, tithing. This obligation contributes to proper worship at the temple and to feeding even the poorest of the people. The Lord, who loves Israel, offers them reconciliation and promises blessing. 3:6–7a The opening statement of this address is a stunning non sequitur, “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” The Lord has remained the ...

4832. God's Mercy and Israel's Unfaithfulness

Isaiah 43:14-28

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

The Restoration of a Blind and Deaf Servant, I: After the parallel sequences of prophecies in 41:1–20 and 41:21–42:17 have come to their natural end in praise, a new pair of sequences begins. First Yahweh directly confronts Jacob-Israel about its capacity to fulfill the servant role (42:18–25). Then Jacob-Israel is reassured that nevertheless Yahweh, the one who brought the community into being, is still committed to it (43:1–7). Further, its calling to be Yahweh’s servant still stands, and beyond that, ...

4833. Pilate's Ruse

Matthew 27:1-26 · Luke 22:66--23:25 · John 18:28-40; 19:1-16 · Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

[Optional beginning: Search Mateo Cupcakes on Youtube. Three-year old Mateo has just tied an end around his “No Cupcakes” with his Gramma, and is making his case as to why he should have his cupcakes. Normally, he calls his mother “Momma.” But when he’s arguing, his mother is “Linda, honey.” Wonder where he got that from? This video got so many hits in such a short time that Ellen DeGeneres brought Linda and Mateo to her show and sat down with them. Am I the only one who sees him or herself in little Mateo ...

4834. Stop the PANIC!

Luke 15:1-32 · Exodux 15:1-27--16:36 · Psalm 23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Optional Prop: Shepherd’s crooked staff Stories about hikers lost in the woods have some common features. At some point, everything starts to look and feel the same. Instead of moving forward, the lost hikers circle around and around endlessly until, exhausted, they collapse in tears, resigned to never getting out, sure that the journey is impossible, complicated, and ultimately vexed? Thankfully, the helicopter or rescue vehicle snatches them from their lostness. And to their amazement they discover they ...

4835. "Cathedra"

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Ron Love

He sat quietly in the pew to the left of the altar at St. John’s Anglican Church in Richmond, Virginia. Having been elected to the House of Burgesses from Howard County just nine days earlier, he was hesitant to speak publicly. Especially when seated around him were such distinguished men as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. The delegates were in debate and divided on how to respond to the Stamp Act that had been imposed upon the colonies by England. The Stamp Act was a British law ...

4836. Desperation to Hope

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Roland Jaffe’s brilliant and beautiful film, “The Mission” (1986) tells the true story of the Spanish Jesuit missionaries who served the indigenous (Indian) populations of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay during the first half of the eighteenth century. The “Jesuit Reductions,” as history has dubbed them, were mission stations created by the Jesuits to bring Christianity to the natives through education and medical service. They were independent of the Spanish government — though protected by it. The plot ...

4837. Redeem the Time

Matthew 24:36-44 · Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

"For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them away, so will be the coming of the Son of man." A man I know, a professor at a nearby university, has decided not to do any reading, writing, or speaking, until we get a total freeze on nuclear weapons. The way he sees it, the Bomb is so awful, the dangers that it poses to life on earth are so awesome, that ...

4838. The Apostles' Creed: "Suffered, Dead, and Buried..."

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried..." They killed him. They taunted him...tortured him. They killed him. Why? What had he done? The answer of our faith over the centuries has been NOTHING. He was the only perfect one who ever lived. Sinless. Yet the record remains and our affirmation is repeated: "...suffered ...

4839. Children in the Arms of a Loving God

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Michael Milton

I came across some other wonderful prayers of children, which reveal their authentic way of coming to God. Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother. —Larry I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool. —Eugene Are you really invisible or is that just a trick? —Lucy Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? —Norma Instead of letting people die and having to make ...

4840. You Can Take It to the Bank

2 Peter 3:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

I read a story about an angel of the Lord who telephoned the editors of five major newspapers with this message: "God says the world will end tomorrow." The New York Times carried a front page headline which read: "The World Will End Tomorrow Reliable Source Says" A box read: "Analysis on page 11." The Wall Street Journal's front page headline read: "World Ends Tomorrow; Market Plunges" The headline in USA Today read: "We're Gone!" The Headline in the LA Times read: "World Ends Tomorrow; Bill Clinton says ...

4841. Wanna Fight?

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon

King Duncan

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us . . .” What a message this is for our society: “whoever is not against us is for us . . .” That’s not the current theme in our society, is it? It’s us against them . . . Democrats against Republicans . . . Illegal ...

4842. Redemption

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (John 12:23-26) Prop: Seeds wrapped in wedding pouch ...

4843. How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Country singer Gene Watson croons: Slip into something soft, And then come slip into my arms again. Strip away your conscience and Take off your wedding band. Cheating has become America's national pastime. Statistically, 65 percent of men have affairs by age forty. For women, it's 35 percent. Talking with a pastor who had demitted the ministry due to sexual misconduct, he confided, "I never thought it could happen to me. But it did. For fifteen minutes of rolling in the sheets I sacrificed everything ...

4844. Guilt And Grace

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Several years back I clipped out a newspaper article about a group of businessmen in Bellingham, Washington. They were trying to market a new product called "Guilt Away." Guilt Away was supposed to remove guilt. Part of their advertising ran like this: "Hounded by nagging guilt? Get rid of it the modern way, the same way you eliminate limp curls, bad breath or underarm wetness. Spray guilt away with new Guilt Away." What they were trying to do was sell an eight-ounce bottle of rose water that you could ...

4845. Easter Day

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18, Acts 10:23b-48, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Acts 10:34-43 Peter tells Cornelius and his friends that God raised Jesus from the dead. A very devout Roman centurion, Cornelius, sends for Peter to preach to him and his friends. In his sermon, Peter reviews the ministry of Jesus including the crucifixion and resurrection. It is to be noted that Peter says that God raised Jesus; he did not raise himself. Note also that Peter explains that the risen Christ did not appear to people in general but to a few chosen ones whom he commanded ...

4846. Easter 3

Revelation 5:1-14, Acts 9:1-19a, John 21:1-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 9:1-6 (7-20) The conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus. This is the first of three Lukan accounts of Paul's conversion from hostility to support of Christ and the church. It is a key incident in the life of the early church. The risen Christ stops Paul in his tracks and enlists him as an apostle. It was a dramatic and radical change in Paul's life, from a persecutor to a propagator of the church. Christ comes to him as light which blinds him. He does not see that opposition to ...

4847. Easter 6

Acts 8:9-25, 1 Peter 3:8-22, Acts 17:16-34, John 14:15-31

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Making God known. In the First Lesson, Acts 17:22-31, Paul witnesses to the cultured pagans on the Areopagus. Referring to a statue to an unknown god, he declares that unknown God is revealed in Christ. In the Second Lesson, 1 Peter 3:15-22, Peter encourages the beleaguered Christians to make Christ known through their words and actions. In the Gospel, Christ promises that he will make himself known to the disciples through the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 17:22-31 Peter alters his approach ...

4848. Epiphany 8

Mt 6:24-34 · 1 Cor 4:1-13 · Is 49:8-18 · Ps 131

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Isaiah 49:8-18 Through the prophet, God speaks words of consolation to his captive people in Babylon. The frightened and defeated people are beckoned from their hiding places. God promises that he will protect them, heal their wounds, feed them and lead them back to their homeland. The created world joins in the celebration for the redeemed but the downtrodden people find it difficult to receive the good news saying: "The Lord has forsaken me" (v. 14). Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4:1- ...

4849. In Search of a Leader

Sermon

Robert Noblett

Anyone who has served on a nominating committee knows how crucial talented leadership is to any group, including the body of Christ. God, our story reminds us, shares that concern. God is unhappy with Saul’s leadership and sends Samuel on a mission to secure a replacement. Look Who Is Doing the Calling Perhaps the most salient features of this story is the fact that it is God who is doing the calling, with Samuel as his agent. Leaders in the church vary in their understanding of the call to ministry, but ...

4850. Made New By Getting Lost

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

For those of you who have come here feeling lost, I have good news for you. For those of you who have come here willing to get lost, I have even better news. The good news is "fear not." The God we worship specializes in finding lost people. The God we worship gives life the moment we lose ours for the sake of heavenly causes. Our text has two words that become backdrops for the entire season of Advent. Those words are "wilderness" and "about face." John comes out of the wilderness, the necessary passage ...

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