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 601 to 625 of 679 results

601. Treasure Hidden In a Clay Jar

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... the better off.” Rousseau’s argument hung on a radical thesis. Being truly wealthy, he suggested, does not require having many things; rather, it requires having what one longs for. Wealth is not an absolute. It is relative to desire. “Every time we yearn for something we cannot afford,” he wrote, “we grow poorer, whatever our resources. And every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess. There are two ways to make a person richer ...

602. The Year of the Woman

Genesis 2:18-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... they can be. Are we willing to offer our marriage to God? Are we willing to pray that God will help us to make any changes in our own life that may be preventing us from being the kind of husband or the kind of wife for which our partner yearns? “The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’ “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” God takes ...

603. Wilderness Work

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... . My friends, if we want God to come warmly, humanly, simply into our lives then we need to get ready. We need to prepare. We need to repent. We need to change. Yes, today John speaks uncomfortable words to us in a season where we yearn to be comfortable. There is great tension these days within the Christian world about many things. But nothing is more troubling than the theological tension between grace and law, between acceptance and judgment, between God as lover and God as judge. Recently within the ...

604. The Way Up Is Down!

Mark 9:30-37

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

There once was a palace servant who longed more than anything else in life to be a knight. He yearned to represent his king and vowed within himself that if he ever had a chance to be a knight he would serve his king as the noblest knight who ever lived. His dream came true. His great day came. At his knighthood ceremony, the former servant, now a knight, made ...

605. Sheepish Shalom

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... picture which Jesus paints for us is a vision. It is a future possibility not yet a present reality. We still have time to reexamine our lives. We still have time to recreate our values and priorities, not because we want to be “saved,” but because we yearn for the meaning, the purpose, the wholeness which only compassionate service in Christ’s name can bring. And Jesus said, “If you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.” It’s not rocket science, my friends. It ...

606. Trusting the Other Side

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... s organic body into the static structure of organization. As the established Protestant churches in America continue to diminish and decline, perhaps we can sympathize with Angelou’s despair about the vapid tedium of too many of our rituals. And like the poet, we yearn for a fresh visitation from Jesus and a re-acquaintance with his holy name. A few years ago, Leonard Sweet wrote a book called The Gospel According to Starbucks. Lifting up Starbucks as one of the capitalist wonders of the modern world, he ...

607. It's Not About Me

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... land on the Mediterranean coast. Thousands of years of hatred and religious strife and geographic rivalry have planted huge logs in the eyes of the Israelis and in the eyes of Hamas. And yet their feelings, needs, and fears are the same — as is their yearning for security in a land of their own, with freedom and prosperity and a future for their families. And yet the death toll just continues to grow. The vast majority of them are innocent civilians and a horrifying number of them children. The conflict ...

608. In the Light of His Glory

Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... it wasn’t fulfilling, custodial work helped pay the bills for Bessie and her husband, Ben. Bessie and Ben had married young, and had started a family by the time Bessie was eighteen. All those years that she had been a stay‑at‑home mom, Bessie had yearned to go to college and become a teacher, but the time and money required to get a degree were luxuries the Penders just couldn’t spare. So Bessie had gotten a job as a custodian. But after ten years of frustration, she couldn’t face the boredom ...

609. What Will It Take to Make You Happy?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... the subject of mental hygiene . . . you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of the Sermon on the Mount . . . For nearly two thousand years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearnings. Here . . . rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimism, mental health, and contentment.” This is why so many people today are unhappy. It is why suicides are growing among both young people and older people alike. We’ve bought into ...

610. Realistic Happiness

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

Who could speak more realistically about the illusion of a yuppie value system than Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who suffered deprivation of all that money can buy. In "The Prison Chronicle" he says, as few of us can, "Don’t be afraid of misfortune and do not yearn after happiness. It is, after all, all the same. The bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold and if hunger and thirst don't claw at your sides. If your back isn' ...

611. Next Man Up

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, ‘Let’s go do that together.’” (5) Isn’t that great? “Let’s go do that together.” God wants us to do His work with joy. He knows that we yearn for a greater purpose and calling than just taking care of our own needs. We’re not idiots. We were created for more noble and heroic work, work that has an eternal impact. And God is ready to equip us for that work. God leans over and says to us ...

612. A Hall of Fame Dad

John 16:12-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... like to talk about what it takes to be a Hall of Fame Dad, or for that matter Mom . . . or Aunt or Uncle or Grandparent. Now I know that our church calendar says that this is “Trinity Sunday.” And I know that many of you came to worship today yearning for a deep, theological treatise on the meaning of the Trinity. You were, weren’t you? But doesn’t the doctrine of the Trinity say to us among other things that the first Hall of Fame Dad was God? After all, the first two persons of the Trinity in ...

613. About Unclaimed Luggage

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... Look all about you at the miracle of creation. Look at the loving hand of God at work in every tiny leaf on every tree. Look within your own soul. Look at the way you have been wonderfully made. Ask yourself if a creature with your yearnings, your dreams, your aspirations could have simply happened. Does anyone care about your lostness? Yes, God cares. He really does care. You are the crowning work of His creation. You are His immortal masterpiece. What you make out of yourself and your world is of infinite ...

614. Deepest Desire

Illustration

Philip Yancey

The psychiatrist Gerald C. May observed, “After twenty years of listening to the yearnings of people’s hearts, I am convinced that human beings have an inborn desire for God. Whether we are consciously religious or not, this desire is our deepest longing and most precious treasure.”

615. I've Seen the Lord

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

You and I come here for a variety of different reasons this Easter morning. For some, you come because of a deep abiding expectation that yearns to be reminded that our Lord died, but then out of death, God granted life. And in turn you know, therefore, that nothing is impossible with our Lord. For some you come because it is the thing you do... this Easter morning thing. Perhaps it is the response to an ...

616. As I Am A Witness

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... 14:14) I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25-27) Let us return to YHWH…he will raise us up on the third day. (Hosea 6:1-2) The post-resurrection scriptures are filled with metaphors that are both familiar and strange. One of the primary metaphors is “witness.” The word “witness” comes up ...

617. Secret Savior

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , God must come first, before anything else in your life. And praying this prayer means, you submit this pledge to God. We talked a few weeks ago about the “yetzer hara” –the evil eye. The eye can either lust after materiality and idolatry or can yearn only for God. “You cannot serve two masters,” said Jesus. God must be sanctified in your eyes, and therefore in your heart. “And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and ...

618. Apples, Onions, and Cheese

Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in here!) can look bad to us, because we are judging them on their “onion skin,” that rough and tough shell they’ve had to use to go through life with all of its bumps and bruises. But often, these people have tender hearts that are yearning for God, needing Jesus. And needing friends like you to help them reveal their true, inner beauty. If a congregation does not have some oniony people, it’s not a true body of Christ. If we do not have recovering addicts, the abused, the accused, then something ...

619. The Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.” (Deuteronomy 11:29) “Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:20) Whereas last week, we looked at Jesus’ view of “defilement” in terms of foreigners, this week, Jesus talks with Jewish law keepers about what it means to be a “neighbor ...

620. The Birth of the Bridegroom

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of Jesus would prevail. Simeon and Anna were celebrating, because the Bridegroom is in the House. God would call His people home. Today, we celebrate a brand new year. It’s a time when we look for signs of change, hope for a better year than the last, yearn for love and peace, pray that our lives might become somehow better than even before. The new year’s time is a time of hope. For Christians, New Year is simply another new chance to recognize the Name of Jesus upon our lives and our hearts. It’s ...

621. Peter the Petulant

Mark 14:1-11, Mark 14:12-26, Mark 14:27-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to be the rock of the church, but only by donning Jesus' mantle of responsibility can he truly be ordained to a mission of service. From fisher of fish to fisher of people, Peter is perhaps more like we are than any other disciple. Honestly yearning, frequently fumbling. But for that linen cloth! That bloodsoaked linen cloth! We are all “people of the cloth.” Bound in service, soaked in humility, cleansed in the blood of Jesus. And as we come forward for communion today, I invite you all to take a ...

622. Raison d’Etre

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... drew to a close in a long, slow twilight. There were no signs of a fire to be made, and, besides, never in the dog’s experience had it known a man to sit like that in the snow and make no fire. As the twilight drew on, its eager yearning for the fire mastered it, and with a great lifting and shifting of forefeet, it whined softly, then flattened its ears down in anticipation of being chided by the man. But the man remained silent. Later, the dog whined loudly. And still later it crept close to the man and ...

623. Rise Up

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God’s comfort and gladness, the rock-solid stability that faith can provide in a time of trepidation and an unsure future. Never have we had a more timely Lenten season, and never have we been able to look to Easter with more understanding, yearning for God’s resurrection power and grace. Christians know the force of that grace, the immensity of God’s power to change lives and bring joy out of sorrow. Christians, your time has come. Stand up. Your discipleship in “real-time” begins today. This ...

624. Breath of God · COVID-19 and the Resurrection

John 20:10-18, John 20:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... .” Hosea's words. (6) Just as God’s Spirit hovered over the waters (Genesis 1:2) and on the third day brought forth land out of water (1:9) and on the next third day (the sixth) brought humans (adama) up from the dust (2:7), Isaiah says, “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.” (Isaiah 26:9). “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give ...

Education in our times must try to find whatever there is in students that might yearn for completion, and to reconstruct the learning that would enable them autonomously to seek that completion.

Allan Bloom

Showing results

Antonyms: aversion, distaste, apathy, dislike, hatred, antipathy, disgust, disregard, abhorrence, acrimony, wet, animosity, animus, antagonism, bad feeling, bitterness, be averse to, detestation

Showing 601 to 625 of 679 results

601. Treasure Hidden In a Clay Jar

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

King Duncan

602. The Year of the Woman

Genesis 2:18-24

Sermon

King Duncan

603. Wilderness Work

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

604. The Way Up Is Down!

Mark 9:30-37

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

605. Sheepish Shalom

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

606. Trusting the Other Side

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

607. It's Not About Me

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

608. In the Light of His Glory

Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

609. What Will It Take to Make You Happy?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

610. Realistic Happiness

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

611. Next Man Up

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

612. A Hall of Fame Dad

John 16:12-15

Sermon

King Duncan

613. About Unclaimed Luggage

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

King Duncan

614. Deepest Desire

Illustration

Philip Yancey

615. I've Seen the Lord

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

616. As I Am A Witness

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Lori Wagner

617. Secret Savior

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

618. Apples, Onions, and Cheese

Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

619. The Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

620. The Birth of the Bridegroom

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

621. Peter the Petulant

Mark 14:1-11, Mark 14:12-26, Mark 14:27-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

622. Raison d’Etre

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

623. Rise Up

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

624. Breath of God · COVID-19 and the Resurrection

John 20:10-18, John 20:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Education in our times must try to find whatever there is in students that might yearn for completion, and to reconstruct the learning that would enable them autonomously to seek that completion.

Allan Bloom

Showing results