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 5000 results

4826. When It's Time to Wait

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... telephone calls, eight months opening junk mail, and six months staring at traffic lights. In spite of all our modern technology, the first words we often see on the computer screen is “please wait". Anyone who makes a telephone call these days is likely to be put on hold long before they hear a human being on the other end of the phone. Some of you got to church today in a “holding" state of mind. You are waiting for a test result, a word about a job interview, for your kids to come, or maybe to go. To ...

4827. Facing Our Fears with Faith

Matthew 10: 27-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to turn off the lights and leave the room when the toddler looked up to her and said, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?" The comforting mother gave her little guy another hug and said, “I can't dear. You know Mommy has to sleep with Daddy." After a long silence, the child said in a shaky voice, “Yes, Daddy really is a sissy, isn't he?" We all have our fears. We can forgive our children for being afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is that we are afraid of the light, even more than the ...

4828. Doing What Disciples Do

John 15:12-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Bobby. “I just stay put until I hear a voice in my heart say, ‘Hi, Bobby, this is God!’ Then I know everything is going to be all right and I go on home.” The purpose of prayer is to be in the presence of God and to linger there long enough to know that we are loved. The longer I pray the less I ask and the more I listen. Charles Wesley prayed this way: Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high, Plenteous grace with ...

4829. The Difference Disciples Make

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a wife, and together they dug out a living through the years that seemed to be plentiful. He could borrow money on a handshake, cut a deal on his word, and come Sunday, he parked the tractors and went to church. He is as honest as the day is long, as straight as an arrow shot from a bow, as moral as any man who ever walked the face of the earth. If the world were full of people like my father, police would be bored, the banks could fire their regulators, businesses could lay off their collection agencies ...

4830. Unexpected Invasions

Isaiah 64:1-9

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... came to your house to spend a day or two - If he came for just a visit, I wonder what you'd do? It is that kind of longing that is happening to Isaiah right in the middle of his prayer. If God were to reveal himself and the works of God were to be known, it ... with a tear in his eye, said “Not yet." When he finished he held me in his hands and gave me a mirror and said, “Now take a long look at what the master can do with a mound of clay." You see, the best thing that you and I can do today is to pray: Have ...

4831. When It's Time For Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... not going to get there at all, folks.” Forgiveness is a matter of conscience. It is not a matter of calculating. If you are still asking, “When is enough, enough?” You are not ready to forgive yet. If you are still asking how much, and how far, and how long, and how many, and who, and where, and is it just, and is it right; you know all the questions, I’ve asked them a million times, you haven’t caught it yet. Forgiveness is a gift. Does the other person deserve it? That is not the question. Will ...

4832. Does Prayer Make Any Difference

Matthew 26:36-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , cannot do. God will not always please you. God will not always give you your first request. “O my Father, I pass on this.” God replies to his own son, “I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. We need to work further on this.” Most of you have lived long enough to discover this to be. Ann Landers printed this prayer in her advice column a few years ago. “Dear God, help me be a good sport in this game of life. I don’t ask for an easy place in the line up. Put me any where you need ...

4833. Household of Faith

II Timothy 1:3-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... day over the telephone, I discovered something that I didn't know and that she would never, ever be able to tell me. Somehow, when I thought I was deciding it all, to stay or to go, what I didn't know was that it had all been decided a long time ago. When I get to heaven, I'm going to ask her, “How could you have been so certain so long ago?" A household of faith. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Oh, I hope so. I really, really hope so. Amen.

4834. Why Join a Church?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... ; we needed to belong. We needed a faith to carry on. So we went to church and held hands with a stranger and said a prayer in the midst of danger. We discovered something a year or so ago that I think will be healthy for us in the long run. We discovered that Barbara Streisand was right 25 years ago when she sang, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” There is a phrase in the New Testament that has captured my imagination for a number of years. You can find it particularly in ...

4835. We Believe in Life Everlasting

John 11:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... you may be also." Everybody needs a place. Everybody needs a place to be. Henri Nouwen said, “Heaven will be like coming home from a long trip where people are waiting to meet you at the terminal anxious to see your travel slides." There is a land that is fairer ... away. For the Father waits over the way, to prepare me a dwelling place there. Bishop Earl Hunt once wrote: “In my long life I've had many exciting adventures. I have crossed the ocean numerous times, and have traveled around the world. But I ...

4836. Furnishing It with Love

1 John 4:7-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... But no degree I earned, no sermon I preached, no award I received, no church I served ever seemed to be enough. It took me a long time to discover that love was not something we earn. God is love. You don’t have to pester God to get His attention. You ... act of faithfulness, every gesture of love, every word of forgiveness, every bit of joy and peace, multiplied and multiplied as long as there are people to receive it. Imagine for a moment that our smiles and handshakes, embraces and affirmations are only ...

4837. The Power to Resist Temptation

I Corinthians 10:13-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... me a mountain, a mountain too steep to climb. Tempted and tried, I'm oft made to wonder, why it should be so all the day long? All my trials, Lord, gonna soon be over. Our songs state it clearly. To live is to face troubles, some too heavy to bear. To live ... thinking, “It is too late for a rescue effort for me. I am dead to my trespasses and sin. I've gone too far, waited too long. All that's left is a corpse." I have Good News for you! God, through Jesus Christ, came to give you new life. Betty Hutton was ...

4838. Engaging the Master Designer

Psalm 139: 1-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... all hymns, Amazing Grace, says it? The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures, He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures. God’s plans include hope and a future. God wants you to live, not merely survive. He wants you to invest, not merely ... last stanza goes like this: He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright. Indeed, God leads His dear children along. We are Christians ...

4839. What Would Jesus Say About Me?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... on. With saddle-chaffed legs, sun-burned skin, and dust-caked eyes, they came seeking a Jewish Messiah. No, they didn't know the Torah. They couldn't recite the Ten Commandments; they knew nothing about Jewish prophecy. They are just tired, old, sinners hungry for their dinners and longing somehow in the depths of their heart to find the meaning of life. What do you want? Not what do you wish for, fantasize about, or add to your shopping list; that's not the real question. The real question is what do you ...

4840. What Would Jesus Say About the Marginalized?

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... we know it today, there was a law in Leviticus which said, “when you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien." Glad to live long enough to see the old law “gleaning" alive again. Thanks to the society of St. Andrew, 39,415 volunteers distributed 32 million pounds of produce to relief agencies and soup kitchens across America in 2002. We played a small part here with potato drops. Here is the ...

4841. My Country, Is It of Thee?

Psalm 9:9-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... religion, not freedom from religion." As the founders of this country struggled to frame a constitution and found themselves bogged down in bitter dispute, it was old Ben Franklin, not a particularly religious man, who rose to his feet and said, “I have lived, sirs, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid ...

4842. The Bread We Daily Need

Luke 11:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... tonight leaves us anxious for more tomorrow. Jesus says to the hungry crowd, after feeding the five thousand, ‘Get a life. A Long John Silver’s on every corner with free fish every Friday may fill your stomach, but it will never satisfy your soul ... take care of the next thirty years. I want to know how it’s going to be when I’m ninety, if I get to live that long. But that’s not the prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. O what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because ...

4843. The Door of Celebration

Luke 19:36-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the New Testament where it says Jesus wept. One was at His friend Lazarus' death and the other is here as He gazes over the city of Jerusalem. Jesus weeps for what might have been. Matthew pushes this lament further having Jesus say, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing" (Matthew 23:37). There are no sadder words of tongue or pen, Than those which say I might have been. So near and yet so far. So close ...

4844. Are You Able?

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... 't how you are made, it's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long time, you become real." Rabbit asks, “Does it hurt?" Skin Horse answers “Sometimes, but when you are real, you don't mind being hurt." Rabbit asks, “Does it happen ... all at once?" “No," says Skin Horse. “It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. By ...

4845. Singing With the Saints of Glory

Revelation 5:11-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... private concert, I began to wonder—why is it birds sing? Even in the rain, birds sing. Birds don’t have an easy life. We sometimes long to be free as a bird, but do we really want to rebuild our house every year, be exposed to the weather, and live from hand ... and thought and being last, or immortality endures.” Fanny Crosby, having found blessed assurance, is “praising her Savior all the day long.” Joseph Scriven has “found a friend in Jesus, all his sins and griefs to bear.” If some of us seem ...

4846. When You Are Up And Out

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... for something different and he is anxious to meet somebody who can make a difference in his life, so he runs ahead of the crowd and he climbs a tree. Fred Craddock tells about an imaginary conversation with an old greyhound—those long-legged dogs who chase a mechanical rabbit around the track while people bet on them. When they retire they are adopted or destroyed. Fred says, “I was visiting in a home where a greyhound had been adopted and he and I were left in the living room together while the ...

4847. Finding Our Reason For Being

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... song leader stepped to the platform and said, “Let us sing #654— Till the Whole World Knows.” A little kid who was already tired leaned over to her dad and said, “I think we are going to be here for a very long time.” Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, and wherever it takes us, let us be a Christian fellowship biblically focused on making disciples through worshiping, discipling, serving, healing, and inviting till the whole world knows they are loved by God. That is why we are here. Amen ...

4848. What Is the Future of United Methodism?

John 2:12-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... I believe United Methodists have an approach to the gospel that 21st century people are eager to hear. People want to know that grace is free for all, not just the elected few. People want to know that discipleship is a life-long developmental process. There’s more to religion than being saved, sanctified, and petrified. Faith is dynamic, alive, moving, making a difference. People are hungry for meaning and significance. They want to live beyond self-interest. As our youth discovered last week at Mission ...

4849. The Family As Church

2 Timothy 1:3-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... been in your home? How important do you want it to be? Does it hold its own with soccer and success? Faith is a life long developmental process. It takes a lifetime to develop a life of faith. A. Faith Comes by Experience. Faith is felt before it is formulated. Joseph and ... is it that some people have a great frame of mind and no picture? Why is it that you pay for a short cut in the long run? Why is it that a chip on the shoulder can get to be a heavy load? Why is it that jumping to conclusions is not half ...

4850. Welcoming God Into Our Homes

Revelation 21:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . “God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them.” Telling people to love one another without giving them the power to do it is like asking people to write a check when there are no funds in the bank. It bounces every time. Do you long to be more loving? Then take your place as a loved child of God. He loves you with an everlasting love. Do you want to learn to forgive? Consider God’s forgiveness of you. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Are you finding it hard to put ...

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