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 676 to 700 of 1245 results

676. Do Politics and Religion Mix?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Do Politics And Religion Mix? It was a trap. The Pharisees set it. Jealous that Jesus was gaining a following, they were eager to destroy him, and they'd do it by using his own words against him. So they brought Christ a coin, asking him, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?" If he said yes, he'd anger the Jews because they were an occupied nation suffering the indignities of ...

677. Influence!

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... problem busted him out of Navy pilots' school. The Air Force took him, and soon he was in the astronaut's corp. He trained two years for the next to last Apollo mission. When launch day arrived in April of 1972, he was a 36-year-old who eagerly jumped into the three-man capsule for the ride of his life. Two and a half minutes to blastoff, a crane removed the white room from the rocket. Countdown began in earnest. Over one million pounds of rocket fuel would be burned, boosting them into space. Pulses ...

678. What If the End Is Near?

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... we need to prepare. The text says that the ten women each held a lamp and each had oil in them, some even had the forethought to bring an extra flask of oil. There was even time to take up their positions along the wedding route and to watch eagerly for the coming groom. Just notice how much alike these ten ladies were. All responded to the summons and agreed to serve. They all showed up. All had lamps. All were dressed alike. All had oil. Even as the groom was delayed, they all grew weary from their work ...

679. God, The Venture Capitalist?

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... great ship loaded with a rich cargo to be delivered to people in many places. And Christ is the owner, but I am the captain. In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul is clear about his charge from God. He uses three "I am" statements. "I am under obligation." "I am eager to preach." "I am not ashamed" (Romans 1:14-16). It is as if God had given Paul a great wealth that he was in turn to pass along to others. I read in the New York Times of a college graduate who moved to the big city bent on ...

680. Faith's Curious Dynamic

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... he gets that job and afraid that he will, because you won't see him as often. * Or you are pleased to see your daughter becoming a responsible young woman but are sad because you won't have the little girl around the house any longer. * Or maybe you are eager to get married and start a family, but concerned that once you do, you won't be able to pursue every whim or opportunity that comes along. * Imagine what it is like to be one of those people waiting for a heart transplant. On the one hand, you are ...

681. Praying Through

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... way. The Good Lord has something he wants done. He prepares all the resources that will be needed. Then he begins to prompt us mentally so we will ask him to allow us to do the job. Thus our prayers become a simple asking for what God already is eager to do. As you live the Christian life you will undoubtedly find God prompting you to ask him for things. It may be talent, wisdom, health, money, help, or a hundred other things. But whatever, do not be afraid to ask God for that which you feel prompted. You ...

682. A Life Well Lived

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... sin, but God can take even our sins and use them to God’s glory. Paul is an excellent example. Paul had been the picture of intolerance, filled with self-righteousness and hatred toward others. Maybe that is why, in his new life in Christ, he was so eager to ensure that his newly adopted faith was as free from intolerance as possible. That’s the way it works sometimes. The person who has been a slave to drugs and alcohol, for example, is the best person to reach out to others who are similarly enslaved ...

683. Predictable Surprises

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . When Mt. St. Helen's exploded back in 1980, not one vulcanologist expected the monstrous, nuclear-type blast that flattened the mountainside, the landscape, and the entire ecosystem inside the blast-zone. The scientists were waiting for, even eagerly anticipating, an eruption. They anticipated something powerful and dangerous, but expected a plottable trajectory, a comprehensible movement and growth. When instead the mountain exploded with unimagined force of fire and rush of wind, no one was prepared for ...

684. Trapped in Paradise

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... around. In this week's gospel text ten bridesmaids are all onboard with a great plan. They will wait for the announcement of the approaching arrival of the bridegroom and his entourage. Then they will process out to greet them, and escort the eagerly awaited couple back into the bridegroom's home. Once safely delivered into his own household, the bridegroom would declare that the magnificent wedding celebration could get under way. It was a great plan. But as with most weddings, something went wrong. It was ...

685. The Difference between Happiness and Joy

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One of our favorite family board games (aka "bored games" - played eagerly when electronic screens go flat, dull or dead), is called Careers. The goal of the Careers game is to fulfill your Success Formulae, a formula each player creates out of three categories: money, ($), fame, and happiness. Traveling around the board each player earns points for landing on squares like "Find ...

686. A Brand New Church Out of an Old Brand

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... associated the word "Christian" with terms like hypocritical, boring, and judgmental surely got a hold of some off-brand, some mock label, some counterfeit trademark. Didn't they? Alternative Ending: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered form the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (1 Timothy 6:6-10). Body piercings come in a variety of shapes and forms. "See, I have branded you on the palm of my hands," the Bible says (Isaiah 49:16 ...

687. Eleven Plus One

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... all might have driven buses to "bring in the sheep." 1. Simon Peter ("Bubba, the Rock"): Chevy truck, most likely an S-10 Extended Cab, 4x4 with lots of extras. Simon Peter was arguably the most interesting of the apostles: impulsive, passionate, eager, courageous, outspoken, a man of the earth. At the same time, he was "blundering, clumsy, inappropriate, irrelevant, lacking the finer spiritual instincts" and capable of extreme fright. Quick to ask for forgiveness and quick to sin. He had the capacity to be ...

688. Follow That Star (New Year's Day)

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... them with the scriptural details they needed to finally fix for themselves a general destination. Even then all they had was the name of a town, and a moving star. No more specific details were available. Yet oft they went encouraged and eager after engaging Herod and his experts in a mutually insightful dialog. What different paths emerged from the conversation. The wise men were able to take the scriptural pronouncements of Micah and Samuel and find directions to a holy destination. They faithfully ...

689. Set Life Free

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... his good friend, a raccoon, at his home near the river. The opossum marveled at his friend's lush garden and asked if he could grow one like it. The raccoon assured the opossum he could do so, although he cautioned him, "It is hard work." The opossum eagerly vowed to do the hard work necessary, then asked for and received some seeds. He rushed home with his treasure, buried them amid much laughter and song, went inside to clean up, ate, and went to bed. The next morning he leapt from bed to see his new ...

690. The Jesus RX and the Biology of Belief

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a display set up.] How many of you sucked on and sucked down zinc lozenges a few winters ago when some anonymous "studies" suggested that zinc could actually ward off that nasty winter cold? A few small towns volunteered to go on oatmeal diets, eagerly scooping up spoonful after spoonful of the glutinous liquid. Some even sprinkled dry oatmeal flakes on everything from yogurt to fried chicken. Remember how it was going to dramatically lower our cholesterol? Forget that you needed to take almost a tub of it ...

691. The Monsters We Are All Afraid Of

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... memos, spreadsheets, charts, copies, faxes, forms, etc. Second, there's the Peacock Egoboo. When feathers get ruffled, the peacock plumage comes out – bragging, showing off, strutting one's stuff in rituals of dominance and domination. Third, there's the Beaver Egoboo. Eager beavers love to tear down the tallest trees and get out the hatchet whenever they feel threatened or insecure. A North American beaver (weighing only 40 pounds) can fell a tree five inches in diameter in three minutes using his big ...

692. Can You Smell the Perfume?

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... looked around...barely seeing in the distance, watching from afar, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome; Then Jesus smelled the perfume... And then he remembered the many children brought to him by their mothers, children who sat on his lap and eagerly listened to his stories; And when with his body already in shock, hanging from the wrists, only to be able to breathe in, unable to breathe out; And when he struggle for breath, unable to gasp even small hiccups of air without straightening ...

693. By Heart

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8, Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Torah was also to become part of these by heart lessons passed on from one generation to another, not only because the vast majority of the people didn't read or write, but because, as today's text insists, the heart is where the Torah must live. The eager, impressionable memory of a young child makes memorization of Scripture a relatively easy task. But learning to take and keep God's word in our heart takes a lifetime. Torah that isn't taken to heart can never be kept, never be truly observed. That's why ...

694. A Case for Living Together

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... American" to "Ugly America." After World War II, the US took a combination of capitalism, a new military/industrial complex, and old-fashioned American can-do spirit, and rebuilt a bloodied bombed-out Europe. Shell-shocked and starving, European countries eagerly accepted American know-how, goods, and good will. But while America as a nation was viewed as a great friend and partner during the late forties and fifties, individual Americans received less than rave reviews. At worst, unsophisticated American ...

695. Will You Still Listen?

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... him and transforming him. How many of us regularly listen for the voice of God in our lives? Today not unlike in Jeremiah's day admitting you hear God speak to you isn't necessarily viewed as a good thing. Pharmaceutical medicine has a whole host of chemicals they eagerly offer people who claim to hear God's voice. And we've all seen the carnage left by those who declared that God had their ear and their mouth. Jonestown and Waco, Hamas and Al-Quaeda can only be mourned as the works of madmen. An yet this ...

696. The Four Marks of Failure

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... at cross-purposes and whose goal lies in the opposite direction. In fact, the Bible warns, "Beware when all speak well of you." 3. When you're not lonely. Those who say only what everyone wants to hear will never lack for company. Like over-eager lap dogs, people will always crowd around someone who can be counted on to pat them on the head and tell them that whatever they are doing is all right. But with leadership come loneliness. Practicing courage, compassion, and conscience will insure lots of lonely ...

697. A Sign or a Son?

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the door of such a cheesy, self-promoting, litter-the-landscape-with-tacky-signs tourist trap. Anything that needs to advertise itself so deliberately, so indiscriminately, must not be worth a second thought. The glut of signs fills some of us with suspicion, not eager anticipation. Apparently the crowd of people who followed Jesus from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other would have been great fans of Wall Drug. They had just been the recipients of one of Jesus' most astonishing miracles all five ...

698. Out of Order

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , with their inability to see the big picture, their confusion over Jesus' identity, their fixation on their preconceived messianic images and expectations, were easy prey for depressive thoughts and feelings. Reunited with their master, plunged into the midst of a crowd eager for Jesus' message and touch, the disciples gloomily fret over where their next meal will come from. In 6:52, the text immediately preceding Mark's conclusion in verses 53-56, the disciples refuse to open their hearts and souls to ...

699. Luke 2:1-14

Luke 2:1-7

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of peace upon those whom God alone determines to be favored. The message delivered by this heavenly host was so well received by these shepherds that they not only immediately went in search of this sign, this baby in the manger, but they eagerly advertised their experience and witness to many others. The shepherds themselves are so convinced and convicted by this message and the sight they see in Bethlehem that they pick up the angel's evangelistic baton: they begin "glorifying and praising God for all ...

700. Easter 3

Psalm 116:1-19, Acts 2:14-41, 1 Peter 1:13-2:3, Luke 24:13-35

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said . . . 'What should we do?' " Neither the crowd at Pentecost nor we are shown our guilt merely to depress us; rather, we are called to acknowledge our failures so that we will eagerly turn toward God. Guilt, shame, and remorse are not cures in themselves; at best they are the beginning of an essential transformation of our selves in relation to God. In short, conviction (to be theologically valid) must lead to conversion! The crisis of the crowd ...

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