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 51 to 75 of 1164 results

51. The Spirit - For Me Too?

Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit." Did you know that about 400 years before Christ, God promised you the gift of the Holy Spirit? Did you receive it? St. Paul asked the Ephesian Christians, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit...?" They answered, "No, we have never ...

52. Who Will Vouch for Me?

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

William Barkley points out in his commentary on this passage that there was a common practice in the ancient world of sending letters of commendations with a person when he traveled into strange and foreign communities. To insure his reputation or even safety, these letters written by a trusted friend would testify to his character. It was sometimes difficult, however, to determine whether a recommendation was sincere or merely flattery or, worse, forgery. The same is true today, isn't it? If we don't know ...

53. Thanks Be to God

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Rick Brand

It is at this point that so many of us feel the temptation to tune out. "Now concerning the offering for the saints at Jerusalem" is another request for money. That is supposed to be one of the problems with the church. It is always asking for money. If it is not the saints in Jerusalem, it is the hungry in Africa, the earthquake victims in Turkey, or the refugees in Bosnia. Paul is writing asking for money. Jesus talked more about money in his stories than he did about the kingdom of God. The church is ...

54. Thanksgiving and Thanksliving

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

Don't you just love times of thanksgiving? Yes, and Saint Paul is a genius at reminding us of this component to victorious living. His "attitude of gratitude" finds its way throughout his letters, except possibly for Galatians. My first response to all of this is "what a wonderful way to live our lives." Of course, he is rooted and grounded in his Savior and Lord. It is a natural — most likely spontaneous response — to the depths he discovers in Jesus. Perhaps the most missing ingredient among those who ...

55. The Joy of Christmas

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Charley Reeb

One of my favorite Christmas stories is about the young boy who was given a very important role in the church Christmas play. He was to be the angel and announce the birth of Jesus. For weeks he rehearsed the line that had been given to him, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy!” The grandparents got in on it and any time the family was together and the boy was there they would dress him up in his costume and he would rehearse his part for them, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy.” They ...

56. Jesus Prays For Us

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

In Yakima, Washington, sometime back a dying man made a strange request. On his deathbed, Grant Flory said to his family: "Get me to the Mustangs' playoffs. No matter what." He was referring to his old high school team, The Prosser Mustangs. So in early December, when the Mustangs played in Seattle's Kingdome, Flory's cremated remains were in attendance. His son Dwight approached the stadium gate wearing a camera bag that contained his father's urn. He was stopped by a guard who asked what was in the bag ...

57. Living Upside Down

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

In any list of unusual animals, you are likely to find the sloth. The sloth lives in trees, much of the time hanging from a limb by its four strong feet. The encyclopedia says, "Sloths sleep, eat, and travel through the forest upside down." It's a strange thought ... the idea of living upside down. If we did it, we would certainly see things differently. In a world where flowers grow down and balls fall up, anything seems possible. And, if anything were possible, maybe we would even see the ways in which ...

58. Good for Nothing

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

The story is told of a man in Easter Liverpool, Ohio, whose oil well caught fire. It was one of those uncontrollable fires and the man offered a $3000 reward to whomever could put it out. Well, all the fire departments from the surrounding cities and villages came and tried, but the fire was so intense that no one could get near enough to begin to work on it. Then a volunteer fire department from the village of Calcutta arrived on the scene. They had one fire truck, one ladder, three buckets of sand, two ...

59. Placard Faith, Complex World

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Robert Noblett

As you have sat in your easy chair munching on snack food during any NFL game, you have seen this sight innumerable times. The camera zeroes in on one of the end zones and just beyond the uprights, you see a person carrying a huge placard sporting the name John, followed by the numbers, 3:16. This text is one of the most famous in the Bible and it is the darling of those Christians given to cutesy evangelism. I suspect that in their view it is not cutesy -- but gutsy -- evangelism they are about. Be all ...

60. Proper 25

Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90:1-17, Matthew 22:34-46, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter - Psalms 90:1-6, 13-17 First Lesson - With the death of Moses, Joshua succeeds to his the leadership of the people of Israel. Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Second Lesson - Paul expresses a motherly affection for the church at Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Gospel - Jesus asks questions, as well as answering them, in a debate with the Pharisees. Matthew 22:34-46 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Leader: Revere our Sovereign God ...

61. Divided They Fall

Hebrews 11:1-40

Illustration

John R. Steward

In Plato's Symposium there is an allegory that imagines the beginning of human beings. The gods created humans in a very unique way. Each human was a mixture of both male and female. In other words, each human had four hands, two noses, four feet, and two mouths. They also had both male and female genitals. Having been created in this way they were extremely powerful. They were so powerful that they became aggressive against the gods. Fearing that they would try to take over, the gods decided that they ...

62. The Righteous

Sermon

John A. Terry

I have never been to the Holy Land, but I have heard the land described. The "desert" in Palestine is not made up of sand dunes, but of parched, rock-filled crusty soil. It quickly turns to dust in the long dry seasons. This is an arid land where water was used only for the most essential needs. When the rain falls, the thirsty land is satisfied and in a few days the land rejoices with blossoms shooting up everywhere in beautiful array. Soon again the dry season returns, the harvest ends, and the problems ...

63. The Righteous

Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon

John A. Terry

64. A Cat In a Tree

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

One night a woman named Anna Ruth was cat-sitting her daughter’s feline. Somehow the cat managed to escape outside. When it failed to return the following morning, she found the cat clinging to a branch about 30 feet up in a spindly tree. Unable to lure it down, she called the fire department and asked for help getting the cat out of the tree. “We don’t do that anymore,” the dispatcher said. When Anna Ruth persisted, the dispatcher was polite but firm. “The cat will come down when it gets hungry enough,” ...

65. Blessed Hunger And Thirst

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Matthew 5:6; John 6:35 Maybe you've seen this commercial. It aired frequently during the holidays. As I remember it, the commercial went something like this. A thirty-something-year-old woman with stylish short red hair is seated in an expensive restaurant. The woman is well dressed, well to do, well kept and attractive. The camera focuses on her face close up as she talks to an unseen friend sitting across the table. "Jack got another promotion. He's really doing well," she says flatly. There's a pause. ...

66. Satisfied Customer

John 6:25-59

Sermon

James Merritt

Well just who is this man known all over the world as “Jesus?” It is a fascinating question and when I was up in Canada recently I was able to ask a lady named Ingrid that very question. We had a chance to get into a spiritual conversation and she said she had rarely gone to church growing up except at Christmas and Easter and it had been many years since she had been in any kind of church at all. I asked her if she would mind us talking about spiritual things and she admitted that she hadn’t had a ...

67. I Am The Bread Of Life

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Brett Blair

There is a bit of Jewish humor that goes like this: An old man goes to a diner every day for lunch. He always orders the soup du jour. One day the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The old man replies, "It was good, but you could give a little more bread. Two slices of bread is not enough." So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him four slices of bread. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asks. "It was good, but you could give a little more bread," comes the reply. So the next day ...

68. Filling the Emptiness Within

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

A few years ago a news article came across the wires of the Associated Press. It concerned the plight of a Swedish woman who had a rare eating disorder. Because of her disease, she was forced to eat thirty pounds of food a day just to stay alive. The old amounts of food she used to eat couldn’t sustain her physically any more. She would die if she simply ate three normal meals. She always needed more. That’s sad. Some of us probably fantasize about eating a significant amount of food without gaining weight ...

69. Those Who Most Need a Blessing

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Can a child pass up a tasty marshmallow? A researcher who wanted to know set up an experiment. He left a succession of four-year-olds alone in a room, seated at a table. On the table was a single marshmallow. The researcher told the children that they could eat the marshmallow when he left the room, or they could wait until he returned. If they waited, they would receive a second marshmallow. The children had a choice: one marshmallow now or two marshmallows if they were patient. The researcher then left ...

70. Hunger and Politics

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

Yogi Berra, the great baseball player of an earlier age, was known for his unusual and creative use of the English language. In giving directions to his home, for example, he often told people, "When you come to the fork in the road, take it." His formula for success, as some heard it, was this: "Ninety percent perspiration, and the rest mostly just plain hard work." Then there was the time he went to a restaurant by himself and ordered a large pizza. The waitress asked if he would like it cut into four or ...

71. FaithRace

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

There is no excuse for not running the race of life. Christians need no longer fear that their lives are going nowhere - like some kind of hamster-wheel marathon. Christians are called to join the faithrace, where the "finish" line is just the beginning of our life in Christ. Paul chose his words carefully when he proclaimed to his long-time companion Timothy that he had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. But today, one is reluctant to reinforce the athletic imagery. In medieval ...

72. A Taste of God's Tomorrow

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Glenn L. Borreson

Fast food is a way of life for Americans. McDonald's hamburgers and Swanson's dinners have not yet replaced "mother and apple pie," but they are vying for position. When my family gets into our aging Pontiac to travel for the major part of a day or more, we want to get to our destination quickly. The time we have always seems too short. So we pause to eat along the way at our favorite fast food restaurants, expecting almost instant service, usually receiving it, and then being on our way again. For a brief ...

73. Tempted By Good

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Don M. Aycock

Have you ever noticed that almost every mountaintop experience in life is followed by a valley experience? You graduate from school with the great expectation of making your mark in the world, but you find out that the world doesn't exactly welcome you with open arms. You get married with the full expectation that your new spouse will relieve your loneliness and solve your problems, but you find out you are still you. Life's high moments are often followed by low times -- depression and bewilderment. If we ...

74. Jesus the Bread of Life

John 6:25-59

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The discourse begins as a dialogue between Jesus and the crowd, and becomes more and more of a monologue as it continues. The crowd had begun following him because of the miracles he had done (cf. 6:2), but since the multiplication of the loaves, they have been pursuing him as one who can satisfy their physical hunger and (they hope) their political ambitions as well (cf. 6:15). They think they have found him, but they have not. They have been fed, yet they have not begun to receive what Jesus has to give ...

75. Feasting and Fasting for Lent (Part IV)

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Eric Ritz

For those in our church family who have not been able to be with us these past three Sundays, we are in the midst of a Lenten sermon series using the imagery of Fasting and Feasting to draw closer to the will of God and to draw closer to Christ by having a closer walk with Him. By using the Word of God and appropriate stories of faith and illustrations, I have urged us and guided us to fast those attitudes, values, words, and lifestyles that are an insult to the Holiness of God, and because there is now a ...

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