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 26 to 50 of 87 results
Sermon
Louis H. Valbracht
... out as a young instructor at Yale University, he was plagued by all kinds of religious perplexities. He was unable to resolve his doubts. He was unsettling the young men in his classes. But all the while, he was reading and studying religious issues incessantly, avidly. He would discuss them whenever and wherever and with whom ever he had the opportunity. But all the while, one great question was forming in his mind: "Why am I postponing the inevitable? Why am I trying to gain more knowledge, when I have ...
Sermon
Warren Thomas Smith
... Under his firm hand the power of Egypt did return, for a season. Rameses is very likely the pharaoh of the Hebrew Exodus. He was indeed a man of remarkable qualities; he is said to have fathered a hundred sons and fifty daughters. He was certainly an avid builder. Among his grandiose projects was the heroic temple at Abu Simbel, 170 miles south of the First Cataract of the Nile. Carved in living stone, in the very face of a cliff, it is a magnificent architectural wonder. The temple is so oriented that the ...
Sermon
Brett Blair
... free to serve in the Kingdom of God. This brings meaning to life. As we go through life it’s easy to miss what is significant. Leith Anderson, a pastor, shared an experience: As a boy, he grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his father took him to his first major league game. It was a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Dodgers never ...
29. Keeping Our Perspective and Priorities Straight
Luke 6:17-26
Illustration
Brett Blair
Leith Anderson, a pastor, shared an experience: As a boy, he grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his father took him to a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Dodgers never got on base, and his excitement was shattered. Years ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... that one of his patients, a slowly dying young girl, was an ardent reader of a newspaper serial in which the heroine suffered from the same disease as she did. The surgeon made a desperate attempt to locate the author of the serial. Locating him, he explained how avidly the girl read each chapter of the author's work and asked the author how the story was to end. The author stated that the heroine dies in the end. The surgeon pleaded with the author to change the ending. The young girl, he argued, more than ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... of Kings and Lord of Lords. And, amazingly, few who encountered him had any idea who he was. It reminds me of a delightful story of William Lawrence Bragg, at twentyfive the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Prize in physics. Bragg was an avid amateur gardener. When he moved to London to head the Royal Institution, he reluctantly left behind the beautiful Cambridge garden he had spent so many years perfecting. Life in a city apartment made him restless and unhappy until he found an ingenious solution to ...
32. Beyond Temptation
Matthew 4:1-11
Sermon
King Duncan
... tired of seeing him jump from the temple and would want him to jump from higher places. Jesus resisted the devil's second temptation because he knew that faith could not be built upon the sensational. Bruce Larson writes about a friend of his who is an avid eagle-watcher. Rick takes his family to remote places where they can watch this great bird. On his most recent trip, he witnessed a strange incident. He had his binoculars fixed on a large old eagle he had given the name "Boss" because he seemed to be ...
33. Partners In The Gospel
Philippians 1:1-11
Sermon
Brett Blair
... be apologetic for our evangelical imperative. Nevertheless, it would be the most grievous of blasphemies if as followers of this man whose very nature was love we should in any way cause those who do not share our faith to suffer. Some of us have long been avid followers of Marx ” Groucho Marx, that is. Groucho, a Jewish gentlemen, was married to a Gentile. He once asked a friend, "How do I go about joining that posh beach club in Santa Monica?" "Don't try to get into that club," said the friend, uneasily ...
Sermon
Lowell D. Streiker
... what makes life interesting. Still, sports are an important phenomenon in our culture. No one here will argue that. St. Paul was a sports fan. That's right. The Apostle Paul, whose letters or epistles constitute half the books in the New Testament, was an avid sports fan. He was fascinated with the Olympics ” and especially with the running events. Images drawn from foot racing turn up again and again in his writings. For example, in his first letter to the Corinthians, he asked: "Do you not know that in ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... , and in another thirty." This parable is known as the parable of the sower. It should be known as the parable of the soil. It says to us that PEOPLE RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL IN DIFFERENT WAYS. The Reverend Jerry Anderson, a retired pastor in Tennessee, was an avid duck hunter as a young man. Every fall when the first cold front moved in from the north, he would take out his duck decoys, clean them up and put new anchors on them. When duck season opened, he was ready. He and his dad usually hunted mallards ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... contemporary churches, maybe even in our own. He could easily pick out flaws in the way we do business. It's not rare in any human institution or in any human life for the lips to be one place and the heart somewhere else. Some of you may be avid listeners to Dr. Laura Schlessinger's radio program. Dr. Laura is a popular radio psychologist who is appalled by the culture of moral relativism that has pervaded our society. In her book, How Could You Do That?!, Dr. Laura tells of a call from a young woman who ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... I leave for your reindeer to eat? Do they like cookies, too? My mom won't let me bring hay into the living room. Your friend, Sandy Dear Santa, I need a new skateboard for Christmas. The one I got now crashes too much. Band-aids would be OK too. Avid Dear Santa, Would you rather I leave you cookies and milk or pizza? Dad says you'd probably like the pizza. Write back right away to let me know. Love, Lisa Dear Santa, I would like just one of everything. Thank you. Nancy (1) This is an exciting night, isn ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... frozen solid until a medical cure was found for the intestinal infection that had made him a chronic invalid. Steven was a remarkable young man. He was a poet, photographer, musician, a student on the Dean's list at New York University, and an avid reader of science fiction. When his infection stubbornly refused to respond to medical treatment, he checked out an intriguing ad placed in a science-fiction magazine by the Cryonics Society of New York, a movement whose motto is "Never say die!" This society was ...
39. Worthy Is The Lamb
Revelation 5:1-14
Sermon
King Duncan
... re right, you're wrong." Bruce Melver in his book, Just as Long as I'm Riding up Front, tells a delightful story about a little girl named Emily. Emily's parents are graduates of Baylor University. Like most Baylor grads they are avid, sometimes fanatical, supporters of the "Baylor Bears." Emily has attended Baylor University football games ever since she was a toddler. Happily, says Melver, she's been so absorbed in the theatrics--marching bands, cheerleaders, and live bears--that she's never understood or ...
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
... off,” as it were, but instead a “commissioning” of Christians as they go forth into the world where they are to live out their faith day by day. As an oft-quoted clich puts it, “The Worship is over; now the Service begins.” I am sure that even the most avid sports fan would become bored watching a football game in which ninety per cent of the time was spent in the huddle. And so it is not hard to see why the world doesn’t pay very much attention to what the Church does; for we seem to spend most ...
41. Good News!
Isaiah 61:1-11
Sermon
Curtis Lewis
For a period of time there was an emphasis on good news/bad news stories. In good news/bad news stories, details keep turning from triumph to tragedy and back again. One such story which was related quite frequently was about two friends who were avid baseball fans. These two friends made a pact that whoever died first would come back and let the other know if there was baseball in heaven. The first one died and came back and contacted his friend and said, "Hey, man, I have great news for you! The good ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... arrival from Africa, Augustine was in "a dangerous state of depression." What he was depressed about was his own search for meaning. Augustine was born in 354 in a Roman province of North Africa. His father was a Roman pagan; his mother, a devout Christian. An avid reader and a lifelong student, Augustine pored over the various philosophical teachings of his day in a vain attempt to understand good and evil, sin and virtue, heaven and hell. And he tried it all. In his own words, as a youth, he "ran wild in ...
43. Choices
Mark 9:42-50
Sermon
King Duncan
It was one of the most gripping news stories of 2003. In the beautiful but desolate mountains of southeastern Utah, a twenty-seven year-old mountain climber named Aron Ralston, made a desperate decision. An avid outdoors man, Aron was rock climbing one day when his right arm became trapped under a boulder, a boulder estimated to weigh at least eight hundred pounds. He saw immediately that he was in deep trouble. Unable to budge the rock at all, Aron took out his pocketknife and chipped ...
Sermon
J. Ellsworth Kalas
... 's graciousness was being revealed was simply too commonplace. A murmur began to slip through the synagogue gathering: "Is not this Joseph's son?" You and I understand that. Most of us appreciate the wisdom of our parents better after they are dead. We quote them avidly then, because they've gained the authority which comes from distance. But it's hard to appreciate their wisdom when we dwell in their house; and sometimes also when we are a bit older and they come to visit in ours. Very few prophets get a ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... discontented. In 1725 he made a lifelong dedication to God, which was never repudiated or outgrown. But it was not life-giving. In 1727, he had another definite religious experience, which led to a kind of asceticism within the world. He became avidly devoted to the development of his interior life and rigorously disciplined in religious practice. That, too, left him lifeless, empty, uncertain, and joyless. Then came his most famous experience on May 24,1728. He recorded that experience in his journal: “I ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... open nothing of North Dakota? Or the overpriced everything and devastation of New York City? The fact is the only thing that can make something the best is our own mind, our own heart, our own determination. What do you do if you are an avid skier/snowboarder happily living in Denver and suddenly your job or family make a move to the flatlands of Kansas an absolute necessity? You could mope and moan and miss the mountains. Or, you could take up cross-country skiing and start traversing those snowy frozen ...
47. Proper 26
Joshua 3:1-4:24, Matthew 23:1-39, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Psalm 107:1-43
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
... preparation can best be done: in pastoral isolation or in sharing of doubts and affirmations by the congregation with the preacher. The preaching is not finished when the sermon is done. Those who have participated in the earlier discussion may be the most avid listeners, and from their listening there may be a response that will add to the dialogue as the preacher moves on to the next sermon. The worship committee may wish to work with the pastor in establishing such sermon preparation and response groups ...
48. I Love My Church
1 Chronicles 29:3
Sermon
James Merritt
... . I got a church mail-out one time and on the front of the mail-out it had this big headline: THE PASTOR QUITS SPORTS!!!! Underneath it was this paragraph: Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball in the spring and summer – Your pastor has been an avid sports fan all of his life, but I've had it. I have quit this sports business once and for all. I'm never going to see a football, basketball, or baseball game ever again. Then he said, "Do you want to know why?" Here are the reasons he ...
49. Matthew 22:15-22
Matthew 22:15-22
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... the ACLU joining forces against a third party. The Pharisees were, of course, the most Torah-tight, ritually correct, scripturally-bound scholars in first century Judaism. The "Herodians" are not a well-defined group, but their name implies that they were avid supporters of the Herodian dynasty, represented in Galilee by Herod Antipas. Herodian political power had long been propped up by Roman muscle. The presence of "Herodians" in Jerusalem is odd in and of itself, since Judea was no longer under Herodian ...
Sermon
James Merritt
... sent out an email to his church and it had a big headline on the top of the page and it said, "The Pastor Quits Sports!" Underneath it was this paragraph. Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball in the spring and summer, your pastor has been an avid sports fan all of his life, but I've had it. I am quitting going to sports events once and for all. I am never going again. Would you like to know why? Here are the reasons that he listed. Every time I went they asked me for money. The ...
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