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 5000 results

676. You are Anointed

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... for Temple rituals (see Exodus 30), to the anointings with scented oils of priests, prophets, and kings, the smells were as important as the ritual itself. While the ritual would last a few moments, the scent would stay with the receiver for a very long time, as a reminder of his or her “sacred” covenant, holy calling, or consecrated status. The idea behind mixing these unique scents by skilled perfumers was to create a powerful and lasting fragrance that would trigger memory, so that whenever the scent ...

677. Dance of Love

John 14:5-14, John 14:1-4

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... longer can we go out to the movies, sit in a café, play and attend sports, gather for parties. Home is our new hangout. Although we may have loved time online before and lamented the amount of time our children spent doing it, now we are finding, they long to be outside, to see people, even if only at the grocery store. We talk to those who pass by just to engage with another person. And our families have suddenly been thrust into a pattern that our grandparents must have been familiar with but we have not ...

678. Not Such a Difficult Question

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... try to limit God’s nature and priorities and activities to some level that we can understand. Invariably, we make God in our own image. Of course, what made this particular encounter doubly absurd was that most religious art back in the 70s showed Jesus with long hair. Can’t you imagine John 3:16 rewritten: “God so loved the world that He rejected His own Son because of the length of his hair?” If we love God wholeheartedly, our lives will align with God’s character and will. Seven hundred years ...

679. Measured Salvation

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... our vacations, in our community politics, yes even in our churches and our faith. Think about it. How many of you have been loyal, long-term church members for over 30 or 40 years? I know some of you have. Not perhaps all in this church. But you’ve ... the Owner of the Vineyard should pay the new employee who worked one hour, and mind you pay him first, the same wage as the loyal, long-term employee who worked 12 that day? How can this be ok? How can we possibly feel ok with this scenario? The answer is one ...

680. Homecoming

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Will Willimon

... is demolished. "Where is that concrete SAE lion? Where are the SAE's?" Homecoming, for all the fun of returning to Alma mater, is also sad proof that Thomas Wolf was right. The old place just ain't what it used to be. We don't like this. We long to be located. I know I do. In Plato's differentiation of the various stages of life, he spoke of my age as "The Householder Stage," When youthful wanderlust had dissipated and the nesting instinct dominated. When I'm on the road, I first unpack my toothbrush, etc ...

681. Good-Bye

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Will Willimon

... and ask always the same questions: Where are you going? Can we come too? Who's going to stay with us? Jesus is about to go. What's to become of us? "I won't leave you orphans," he had promised (14:18). Still, can we be sure? Though this long farewell speech of Jesus occurs, in John's gospel, before his death, it is right that we occupy ourselves with it now, in the time after Easter, when we are apt to feel the tension between presence and absence, between having and not having Jesus more keenly than at any ...

682. Ordering Up A Set Of False Gods On Amazon

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Sermon

Mary Austin

... for one another and for all…and may God so strengthen your hearts in holiness.” This is the gift that we are promised — all we have to do is claim and keep the promise. In the name of the one who comes, Amen. Prayer: O God of promise, we long for your coming, with a desperate desire deeper than anything else in our lives. Turn our hearts from shiny things and our eyes from things that don’t satisfy, and bring us closer to you in this Advent season. We know that you are coming to us again, and we ...

683. Devour And Conquer

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... relative. Why did she give? Was it out of a sense of obligation or because she wanted to give, and wanted to be part of something larger than herself? The average life span at that time was 25-35 years, but that did not signify how long a person lived. Many died much younger. Disease took many at a very young age. Women could be especially vulnerable — childbirth could be fatal. However, women who survived their child-bearing years might well, like today, live to an advanced age. They would outlive their ...

684. The Journey

Mark 8:27-36

Sermon

Will Willimon

... becomes less exciting. The church that we enjoyed going to during··the first few months, becomes dull and routine. However, it is important to keep at it, it is important to keep walking. You need some disciplines for the journey. I have found, when I am going on any long trip, it is very important on a journey to be sure to eat right, to get enough sleep, and to structure your life so that you have the energy you need to keep going. It is the same way with the journey of discipleship. What are some of ...

685. Preachers, All!

Acts 2:1-13, Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Will Willimon

... in the pit of my stomach on Sunday morning. That's rather amazing, when you consider how many sermons I've preached and how long I have been at this business of speaking. I am therefore not too surprised to find out that, when people are asked what ... parents screamed at him, said that he had broken their hearts, and told him that he should not set foot at their house again as long as he had these feelings. And you reached out, put your arm around him and said, ''I am sorry that happened to you. Your parents ...

686. Unconditional Commitment

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... also spoke the truth! And yet, ask a firefighter in any town, and you’ll find a community loving volunteer who is proud to serve and who loves the camaraderie and satisfaction of saving homes and lives. Think of the health care workers, exhausted, who worked long hours in terrible conditions in the midst of a dangerous Covid shut down. Think of the teachers who went back into the schools, or the ones who administered the first tests. We commit to what means a great deal to us. When we are serious about ...

687. Giving Away the Kingdom

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... expect him” (Luke 12:40). The tie-in becomes obvious when we think about our lives and our possessions in terms of time. We don’t know when our lives will be required of us. We don’t know when Jesus will return for us. Neither do we know how long we will have our possessions and wealth. Anything can happen. We’ve seen these things occur in the lives of others, and we could be next. The question for us then becomes one of service. Are we in service to the master now, or are we waiting for some other ...

688.

Psalm 143:1-12

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... have done, is left open-ended. It could denote Yahweh’s saving acts, perhaps just celebrated in a corporate festival, or his works in creation. In 44:1 and 77:5, 11, the phrase, “the days of long ago,” has particular reference to the period of Moses and Joshua (cf. 74:2). “Of long ago” (Hb. qedem) can describe “the skies” (68:33) and Yahweh’s original establishing of the sun, moon, and earth (74:12–17). Thus, Psalm 143 directs worshipers to engage their memory as a means for cultivating ...

689. The Seventy “Sevens”

Daniel 9:20-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... the rejoinder is that the shortness of the chapter might be what prompted an editor to supply a prayer. Also, the next section of the book, Daniel 10:1–12:4, is really one unit, even though it is now divided into three chapters and is unusually long. So, there does not have to be uniformity of length between the various chapters in the book. Finally, there is a theological contrast between the prayer and the rest of Daniel. The rest of the book fixes blame for the suffering of the Jews on evil oppressors ...

690. Return To God

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... 's sermon or some other special part in the service, he would see the tears begin to roll down her cheeks. He would think to himself, "Has the church's record been so poor that we can't even count on compassion anymore?" She died alone, not too long ago. She suffered in silent anonymity, one more painful reminder of just how far we still have to go if we truly desire a return to God. Joel wrote, "gather the people, sanctify the congregation." If we have been changed by our relationship to God, we must allow ...

691. Waltzing With Coyotes

Luke 6:27-36

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... heard her, she's awantin' me. BART: She was atalkin' ta me. WILLIE: Why d'ya havta butt into everthin'? BART: Ah'm atellin' ya, she was atalkin' ta me. BUTTERCUP: (TALKING IN INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE) BART: She's amakin' signs. WILLIE: She's adoin' that all tha live long day. It most near drives me loco. BART: Yar plumb loco anyways. WILLIE: I gist wisht I could wring yar scrawny nick. BART: It'ud take a bigger man than you. WILLIE: We'll jist see bouten that. (GRABS HIS NECK AND BEGINS TO WRING IT) BART: What ...

692. It Is Blessed To Receive

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , "Thou that hast given so much to me, Give one thing more: a grateful heart."8 1. The idea for this story comes from Fred B. Craddock, in "Preaching About Giving Thanks: Giving God Thanks and Praise," Preaching In and Out of Season, Thomas G. Long and Neely Dixon McCarter, editors (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990), p. 120. 2. See Leviticus 13 and 14 for a description of the process by which lepers were restored to community life. 3. David Owen, "No Thanks," The New Yorker 18 December 1995: p ...

693. A Light In The Darkness

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... , have to go into the darkness to see the light. There is a saying which goes: "My barn having been blown away, now I can see the stars." Our society makes it difficult to appreciate the coming of the son of righteousness because it denies our darkness and deep longings by the glitter of artificial lights and the narcotics of business and commerce. But now that the shopping is done and the work is over, we gather here in the quiet. We gather in the dark cold of the winter of our world and the winter of our ...

694. Echoes

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... nonviolence, take care of changes in America. Dr. King told them why he could not wait and why we must not wait. I read that letter long ago, but did not hear it until I was in the midst of people of many colors torn by the reality of racism's looming menace ... years of age and was interested in cocoons and butterflies. He was given a cocoon and told to watch it unfold over the long haul. One day he watched the emerging butterfly struggle to emerge, and the struggle was too difficult. And so, to be helpful, he ...

695. Who's In Charge Here, Anyway?

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Tony Everett

... an even more obnoxious adult. But God was in charge here. Someone had to take the first step to affirm that. After his tears subsided, Joseph called his brothers close to him and told them who he was. Through Joseph, God brought an end to a long and bitter conflict. Joseph said to his brothers, "Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life" (v. 5). Evil exists. Conflicts happen, even in the best of families, even in the most faithful ...

696. A Tale Of Two Cities

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... authority could Amaziah prevent Amos from preaching God's word? Amaziah had compromised his spiritual and moral authority to a corrupt political establishment and was part of the problem of Israel's demise and not part of the solution to its long-term health and vitality. Second was the conflict between maintaining order and transforming order. Amaziah did not want Amos to rock the boat. The prophet was an embarrassment to his administration. The people were listening and hearing the words of the prophet ...

697. Why Be Good?

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... ? In order to be a Christian! In order to earn God's approval! In order to go to heaven! That notion of the pious life is so self-evident nobody would dare argue, not today and not in Jesus' day. Nobody except Jesus that is. After the long Lukan Sermon on the Plain -- Jesus' plain talk -- he concludes the discourse by turning on its head this traditional understanding of good conduct. The image he uses, as were many of his images, is drawn from nature. He talks about trees and fruit. Good trees bear good ...

698. When Did Jesus Pray?

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

John G. Lynn

... times when he had momentous decisions to make, withdrew to the hills to pray. In the sixth chapter of Luke's gospel, when he had healed that man's withered hand in the synagogue on the sabbath, he threw the gauntlet at the rules and regulations that for so long had choked out the kingdom of God. To the scribes and the Pharisees he offered this challenging question: "I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?" Luke tells us these scribes and Pharisees were ...

699. Ashamed To Beg

Luke 16:1-15

Illustration

John G. Lynn

... , a young man sat at his desk for eight years, struggling to manage his office work force. Outside he was a friendly, generous person. In the office he was the same way and his workers flattened him out, like steamrollers over an asphalt road. He worked long, long hours; he holed himself up behind his desk to keep all the records accurate; he just about wore himself out. Finally his friends told him, "Steve, you'd better get out of that job. You're not yourself anymore. Those people are eating you alive and ...

700. Godly Sexual Passion For An X-Rated World

Song of Songs 2:1-17

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... scene! Next comes a quarrel and the struggle to make up. And finally there is the commitment to see the marriage through till death do us part. Conclusion I believe the Song of Solomon is a book for this generation. I believe it has been overlooked long enough. I believe the voice of God can speak to us in our misery, in our dysfunction, in our alienation, through the eight chapters of this ancient song. Many ask me how someone like Solomon, married over 1,000 times, can have anything to say morally about ...

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