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 501 to 525 of 5000 results

501. The Call of the Trumpet

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

George Bass

... is concerned primarily, or only, with one’s own spiritual welfare and life. Being rich, in contrast to the state of most people on earth, is a blessing if we share our wealth with others. A few years ago, and shortly before his death, I met the long-time missionary-theologian, Thomas Coates, during an extended stay in Hong Kong. He had given his life to work among the Chinese and had come to be known as "the Lutheran theologian of the Orient." A kindly man at all times, I discovered that he could gently ...

502. A Prayer for the Faithful

John 17:6-19

Sermon

George Bass

... give the piece of bread that I shall dip in the dish." And they would have remembered how he gave the bread to Judas and said, "What you are going to do, do quickly." And they would have understood, not only about Jesus’ betrayal but the rest of his long speech to them and, especially, the parting prayer. How well they would have recalled that prayer: "Holy Father, keep them in my name, which thou hast given me ... I have kept them in thy name ... I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son ...

503. Advent: Lament, Repent

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... honest, as honest as God’s prophet insists we be, we are sinners. By what we have done, and especially by what we have not done, the anger of the Lord is justly provoked. Our sin has power over us and controls us. "... In our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?" One other dimension to our guilt is confessed by Isaiah. He adds that no one calls upon the Lord’s name. Or, if we do, we should add, it is only on behalf of ourselves. There is a self-centeredness today that infects us ...

504. Enduring

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... ." "Yes, and you are beginning to look it: dowdy, mousy, down at the heels." "Life was so much easier back then." "And how long did it take you to go from New York to San Francisco?" "Antiques are valuable." "Certainly, but can you eat them if push ... a revival, but why not aim at the twenty-first century?" "I enjoy class reunions." "Don’t we all? But a little reminiscing goes a long way." "I do not like change." "Then you do not like life." "Let’s go back and live where we grew up as children." "Would ...

505. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Brett Blair

... . He burns up about 6,500 calories every day for three weeks while in the race. One of the stages of the race is 120 miles long-that day he will burn 10,000 calories. You and I burn 3,500 and that’s on a good day. His lungs can take in ... at times we are confronted with small resources but God can turn a small fact into a big miracle. He does this because he is the long awaited messiah. All his miracles, all his teachings, his entire life stands as a witness that he is God’s anointed One. He is the ...

506. A Voice to be Heard

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... of solitude, of prayer and fasting, he sensed he was not alone, that the New Age of God's Messiah was at hand. History's long-awaited day was coming. The Christ was approaching. The time of God's anointed was near. The wilderness silence could contain John no longer. He ... heard the truth about himself -- a truth all his palace yes-men would never speak. And ever since those days of long ago, we have been gathering again and again to hear the Baptist's cry. Speaking over nineteen centuries ago, his voice ...

507. When the Sermon Turns Sour

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , and is, a scandalous thing to say. The only thing more disturbing is to remember how that is the sort of thing that is written down in our Bibles. 1. As reported in Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24, and John 4:44. 2. Thomas G. Long, The Senses of Preaching (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988), p. 31. 3. I am grateful to Dr. Fred B. Craddock for these insights. 4. The story is reported by Dallas Lee, The Cotton Patch Evidence: The Story of Clarence Jordan and the Koinoia Farm Experiment (New York: Harper and ...

508. Getting It Together

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

William G. Carter

... image to score his point. All of us have no problem turning to another person and seeing faults. All of us have a lot of problems owning up to our own shortcomings and faults. It’s difficult to get a proper perspective. In his commentary on Matthew, Tom Long notes there are two transformations that must occur if we are ever going to be useful to God or anybody else. First, you have to find the wrong in yourself before turning the spotlight on anybody else. You have to face what you spend your whole life ...

509. Experience the Mountaintop But Don't Forget the Valley Below

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Brett Blair

... did. We call these "mountaintop experiences," and oh how we hate to come down off that mountain! We want to hang on to that moment for as long as we can. "Let’s just stay right here and let the rest of the world go by for a while," we say. But to freeze ... led the disciples back down off that mountaintop – in spite of Peter’s desire to pitch a tent and camp there for a long while. Jesus led them back into the daily routine of teaching and preaching and caring for the broken and hurting people of the ...

510. All I Want for Christmas is a Savior

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

... me remind you of another Rudolph... Wilma Rudolph. In the summer of 1960 I was glued to my TV set along with millions of other Americans to watch one of the greatest female athletes of all time perform in the Olympic games. She was a tall long-legged girl from Clarksville, Tennessee, representing the United States. When the 1960 Olympic Games were over, Wilma Rudolph had become the first American woman ever to win three gold medals in track and along the way she set a number of female running world records ...

511. Sometimes You've Got to Shout!

John 12:12-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the months we had been waiting for this new arrival, I had heard more people tell me, "If my second child had been my first child, there would not have BEEN a second child." Uh-oh! I asked the nurse about it. "Is she supposed to cry this much...this long, this loud?" But the nurse did not think there was anything unusual. I said, "Maybe she's hungry." But the nurse said, "Don't worry, when a baby is born, they have enough food in their system to take care of them for three days." "Big deal," I thought. "I ...

512. The Ten Commandments #6: No Murder

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... die. After that, he would be free to go anywhere. He would have suffered a loss of liberty for a time, perhaps even a long time, but he was at least allowed to live. But what about causing the death of an unborn child? In Exodus 21, it says, "If ... for your care, for the knowledge that we are loved. We are grateful for the sacrifice made on our behalf on that bleak Friday afternoon so long ago. Help us to share the message of that love with a murderous world. For we pray in Jesus name. Amen! 1. Genesis 9:3 2 ...

513. The Preacher Was A Bigot

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... divine wrath. But God did not...and God will not...not because of that, at least; not because we would dare break down the barriers that separate one group of God's children from another. We have made a beginning, but as should be obvious to all, we have a long way to go. We have to learn the lesson that Peter learned when he was called to the home of Cornelius, a Gentile, somebody who was not Peter's "kind." Peter finally realized that God loves the WHOLE world and not just one race or people. He said, "I ...

514. Going Fishing

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... strangest thing of all was the fact that it was a waterproof lantern and the light was still lit. For a long time the first man said nothing. Then he took one long deep breath. "I'll tell you what I'll do," he said slowly. "I'll take 200 pounds off my fish, ... encountered this fascinating preacher before. "No doubt they had stood in the crowd and listened; no doubt they had stayed to talk long after the rest of the crowd had drifted away. No doubt they already had felt the magic of his presence."(5) Perhaps ...

515. Would a Loving God Really Let Anyone Go to Hell?

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Jesus' emphasis here is NOT on the fate of people after death, but the absolute imperative of caring for the needy while we are still alive. If folks took THAT as seriously as they do the picture we get of the punishments of Hell, poverty would have long ago been wiped out. But poverty is not the focus of our attention this morning, even though that really IS the primary focus of the parable - more about that another time. Rather, it is this picture we have of divine punishment. This one story has done more ...

516. How To Stay Young Forever

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... Youth. Had he read such words as these, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst," his longing soul could have been satisfied. Or these words from Revelation 22:17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let ... shoots his father and says, "Now Dr. Jones, the only way to save your father is through the miraculous power of the grail." To make a long story short, Jones does get the grail and it does save his father, but it is not the cup that saves him. It is his faith ...

517. Would You Like To Hold The Baby?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... Anna, a prophetess who had worshiped and prayed in the temple for over 50 years. Through the Holy Spirit they both knew this was the Christ child as soon as they saw him. And I think Mary must have known they knew. I imagine that she saw the look of longing in their eyes and asked, "Would you like to hold him? Would you like to hold the baby?" Of course they wanted to, they'd waited their whole lives for this moment. They held him, and their lives were never the same. The world would never be the same. How ...

518. The Secret Of Winning

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

King Duncan

... simple. FIRST OF ALL, WINNERS PAY A PRICE NO ONE ELSE WILL PAY. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome was painted by Michelangelo. This required his lying flat on his back. But that posed a problem, for Michelangelo had a "bad back," and if he lay on it long he suffered excruciating pain. Moreover, he had some kind of nasal obstruction which cut off much of his air supply when he lay on his back. So what? He lay on his back all day, every day, for twenty months. He often slept with his clothes on, so he ...

519. Persistence In Prayer

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... up, says Jesus. Keep asking. Now that doesn’t mean repeating vain, repetitious prayers. There is a story about a little boy who was praying, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” Then there was a long pause. He couldn’t remember what came next. His mother prompted him from the doorway. “If,” she said quietly. The little boy prayed, “If . . . if . . .” Then he brightened up and said triumphantly, “If he hollars let him go, Eeny, meeny, miny, mo!” Persistent prayer ...

520. Victory on a Broken Knee

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” The secret of life is not where you begin but where you finish. Sometimes that means that you “keep on keeping on” even when it would be so much easier to simply throw up your hands in futility and despair and walk away. That means that ...

521. You Can Dress Them Up...

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... a life. Early one morning she went to church to pray. She had grown up with a strong faith, she says, but it had been a long time since she'd talked or listened to God. That morning she prayed, "God, what am I doing so far from home? I want to ... Mary Jo was back in Phoenix working at a rival television station. Things did not work out. The ratings went from bad to worse. Before too long Mary Jo was out of work. She found it difficult to find another job. She sat alone in her big house, lost. All her feelings ...

522. One Came Back

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... she was somewhat hesitant about going to church that first Sunday. "I was afraid they would embarrass me with their love and enthusiasm," she said. Gert did not find the church people as loving and enthusiastic as she thought. What she discovered was, "Bowed heads, long faces, and funereal whispers." She expected people to shower her with love and affection for making the right choice and wanting to be part of the church. No one welcomed her. No one even spoke to her the first Sunday she went to church. "As ...

523. Setting The Record Straight

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... Where would you find a beaver that big?" grumbled Humbug. "I'm sure I don't know," he replied, "but if you did you'd certainly know what to do with him." "That's absurd," objected Milo. "That may be true," he acknowledged, "but it's completely accurate, and as long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong? If you want sense you'll have to make it yourself." (1) The Sadducees' question was that kind of question. It was a test. It was a trap. Jesus, though, saw this as an opportunity to set ...

524. Bridges Over The River Kwai

John 20:19-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... you and I have the responsibility to forgive sins, as representatives of the church of Jesus Christ we have the power to announce to people that their sins have been forgiven. Think about this for a moment. Your neighbor is pouring her heart out about a situation from long ago that still troubles her. She needs to get on with her life. She needs to let go of the past. As a follower of Jesus Christ you have the right, the obligation, the power, the authority to say to her, "Through Jesus Christ your sins are ...

525. He Touched Me

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... live. One day, Liz was feeling particularly low and decided to go for a walk. She came across a group of people who were giving out free hugs. Liz was hesitant at first, but then decided to approach them. She was embraced by a stranger who held her for a long time. The hug was so comforting that Liz broke down in tears. The stranger turned out to be Juan Mann, the founder of the Free Hugs Campaign. You can see a video about him on YouTube that has over 78 million views. Juan had started the campaign in 2004 ...

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