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

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51. The Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man

Mark 7:31-37

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

7:31–37 This incident, unique to Mark, seems not only to give another example of Jesus’ healing acts but also to disclose the larger significance of Jesus’ ministry by allusion to OT prophetic hope. A couple of features of the passage indicate this. First, the description of the man’s condition (7:32) involves a rare word (see note) that means “to speak with great difficulty, or with a speech impediment.” The expression occurs in the Greek translation of the OT in Isaiah 35:5–6, suggesting that Mark ...

52. Almond Joy!

Numbers 17:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its root.” (Isaiah 11:1) “Jeremiah, what do you see? I see an almond branch. You have seen well, for I am watching to fulfill my word.” (Jeremiah 1:11-12) Props: menorah, shepherd’s rod, almond tree, almonds “You are the apple of God’s eye.” So says the psalmist in psalm 17:8. God is watching over you. God is protecting you. God is watchful of what happens to you in your life. And at certain key moments, God will leave God ...

Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable, and have every word received with a religious respect.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Only by pursuing the extremes in one's nature, with all its contradictions, appetites, aversions, rages, can one hope to understand a little . . . oh, I admit only a very little . . . of what life is about.

Francoise Sagan

Men are always averse to enterprises in which they foresee difficulties.

Niccolo Machiavelli

56. Avoiding A Proper Diet

Humor

On one occasion when a precocious six-year-old displayed her aversion to a proper diet, her father exasperatedly asked, "Child, you don't care for meat, vegetables, salad, or milk what do you like?" Turning her wide brown eyes on him, she demurely answered, "Why, I like you, Daddy!"

57. Your Faith is Your Fuel

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Ever have one of those days when things are hectic, you haven’t had time to think ahead to what’s needed for the day, and simply had to go forward with what you had? Maybe you forgot to finish your homework and just had to go with the minimum of what you’d done, which you knew wasn’t going to be sufficient. Maybe you forgot to do a needed report for work that was due that morning and were rushing to get to work only to forget your lunch and the gym clothes you needed afterward. Maybe you procrastinated on ...

58. Faith Power

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

If it weren’t for faith and trust, we would have no exploration, discovery, feats of wonder, inventions, advances in medicine, or relationships. Every step we take toward something new, unknown, or unexplored leads us into a territory of faith. Like the leap across the gaping cavern or the step into utter darkness believing in a floor beneath us, faith and trust allow us to step out of our current known and into the unknown, believing it is knowable. Faith is trust in things we do not know in our sensory ...

59. Valued Families

1 John 3:1-3

Sermon

Will Willimon

When a frustrated Mayor of Minneapolis was asked why he was not running for another term as Mayor, he didn't talk about rising crime in Minneapolis, budget problems, police problems, ethnic stress. He replied, ''The root of all our problems as American cities today is the breakdown of the family; what's happening between parents and their kids is killing this country.'' It's All Saints in the Chapel and Parents' Weekend in the University. All Saints is when we acknowledge our debt to those saints who have ...

60. Amazing Grace

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

''My son is a good kid. He's quite a remarkable, wonderful young man," the mother said to me on your first day here. ''I'll be the judge of that," I thought to myself. Yet she is probably right. After all, he got in Duke. And our Office of Admissions makes certain that no slouch gets in Southgate. 1300 on your SAT, 198 of you were number one in your high school class. God I thank thee that I don't have to teach at a school where the students are only average! And of course, one reason why your above ...

61. The Sweet Scent of Death

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

What does death smell like? I’m guessing that many of you might say flowers. But not just any flowers. Heavily fragrant flowers. Dozens and dozens of them. Huge floral arrangements freshly plucked and designed to impress ooze that honeysuckle smell that masks the decomposition of the body. These aren’t light, wisps of perfume but a pungent, aromatic, overwhelmingly oppressive scent that chokes our senses, even as it chokes us up emotionally. Why? Because for us, this is the scent of funerals and memorial ...

62. What He Said!

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

In today's gospel we are not told if our Lord actually said it, or whether he simply thought it: "They are like sheep without a shepherd." Modern medicine has an amazing diagnostic tool called Magnetic Resonance Imaging -- MRI. The machine provides the magnetic magic and computers translate it all into pictures sharper than X-ray. Whether Jesus thought it or said it, what we have here is the Messiah's Reaction Imagery: "They are like sheep without a shepherd." The disciples had returned from their teaching ...

63. Risky Business

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Danger, danger!” “Danger Will Robinson, danger!” Who remembers that line from the 1960s series, “Lost in Space”? I know some of you do! For those too young to remember the show, “Lost in Space” was a pre-Star Trek show that told the stories of the Robinson family and their outer space-time adventures. Robot, a large metal contraption with harmonica-like arms, is programmed to protect son Will Robinson by warning him and others of impending dangers in the unknown environments they find themselves in. The ...

64. Faces at a Funeral

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

During the nineteenth century, all Oxford graduates were required to translate a portion of the Greek New Testament aloud. Oscar Wilde was assigned this passage from the passion story of Jesus. His translation was fluent and accurate. Satisfied with his skill, the examiners told him he could stop. But he ignored them and continued to translate. Several times more they tried to call a halt to his reading. Finally he looked up and said, “Oh, do let me go on! I want to see how it ends!” We need to read this ...

65. Never Satisfied

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Phillip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Phillip, and still you don’t know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14: 8-9) How is Philip like the Rolling Stones? Right! They can’t get no satisfaction. Remember those lyrics from the mid ‘60s? No matter how much they tried, they ‘can’t get no satisfaction’”. He and the other disciples had been following Jesus around for about three years, watching him heal ...

66. For Someone Who Led A Magnificent Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 · 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 · 2 Corinthians 4:6-11 · Luke 24:13-35

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

A Wonderful Life [Review the places, the organizations, the committees, the individuals who would be bereft and impoverished had he or she not graced the stage of life.] This very day draws to a close the Christmas season and so I’m given the liberty of referencing a yuletide illustration, in particular, the Frank Capra’s movie classic: It’s a Wonderful Life. We all know the story. George Bailey, played by James Stewart, lives in the fictional town of Bedford Falls N.Y. where he marries a beautiful girl, ...

67. A Sermon About Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

A responsible pastor must have a theology of prayer that goes beyond churchy axioms, pious clichés, pop theology, and Bible verses proof texted from the King James Bible. An authentic theology of prayer must offer hope in the promise that God answers prayer, but it must also be prepared to respond to the questions of those whose prayers “availeth not.” We must be, at once, ready to celebrate with those whose cancer went into remission and to weep with those whose cancer didn’t, when both persons’ prayers ...

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