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 726 to 750 of 1838 results

726. What Will He Find… When He Comes? - Shorter Version

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... on hope. In difficult times we must have hope. But hardship is relentless and can come in many ways. I am reminded of Lucy's encouragement to Charlie Brown in one of the Peanuts cartoons. "Look at it this way, Charlie Brown," she consoles. "These are your bitter days. These are the days of your hardship and struggle ..." The next frame goes on: "... but if you just hold your head up high and keep on fighting, you'll triumph!" "Gee, do you really think so, Lucy?" Charlie asks. As she walks away Lucy says ...

727. Easter 2

John 20:19-23

Sermon Aid

... , who spoke at "Assembly '87," sponsored by the Presbyterian Men of the Presbyterian Church (USA): "I want to explain how the world is in so much trouble and how you caused it." Follow it with this directed prayer: 1. Pray for all who are bitter in spirit, inflicting pain on others because they are hurt and bewildered; for those who are seeking reconciliation by outrageous conduct and sarcastic speech; for all who seek revenge on society by refusing to cooperate. (silence) 2. Pray for the enemies we have ...

728. A Glory Revealed in the Cross

John 8:12-30

Sermon

... II. They are not the words of a man who had merely speculated about God safe and sound in an ivory tower. They were written by one whose life with millions of others in Europe had been driven to the brink of extinction by bombs, bullets and bitter hatred. No longer would speculations and empty theories on the nature of God suffice. No longer would a piety based only on feelings or moralism sustain people who found themselves trapped in the confusion and terror of total war. Only a God who had entered into ...

729. A Glory Revealed as Eternal Life

John 5:16-30

Sermon

... God expressed his love for us through his son in a very strange way. This Jesus, the most vital of all men, was destined to experience not only the fullness of life, but also the fullness of Death. In Hebrews we read that Jesus "tasted Death"2 and all its bitterness. Jesus could have lived forever, if it weren’t for our great need. He had no need to suffer and die for his own sake. He was sinless and therefore did not have to die, for death only has power where there is sin. Nonetheless, Jesus did die. He ...

730. A Glory Revealed in the King

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Charles M. Mountain

... is, the hour of his shame - is the hour of his glory; the cross is his crown.... At last, the real meaning of Christ’s glory ... is made clear; it is not what [people] mean by glory - power, worldly success, fame; but the exact opposite - self-giving to the bitter end of the cross.3 And really, the crowds should have caught on to this paradox because of the way Jesus entered Jerusalem. We read that "Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it; as it is written, ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion [i.e., city of ...

731. The Most Beautiful Sacrifice

Mark 14:1-11

Drama

... since I, the daughter of Simon the leper, was already considered "unclean" by many, being in the homes of Gentiles and sinners didn’t matter to me anymore. But I made plenty of money and saved nearly two or three denarii each week. But I confess I became bitter and angry at God. "Why did you forget us, God?" I cried. "Why my father? Papa always remembered the Sabbath and the Torah. He always remembered the stories of the prophets and recalled them to his children. Why did you forget us, God, and make me a ...

732. My God, My God, ... Why?

Mark 15:33-41

Drama

... the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day." Such judgment is not what I was hoping for. You know I really cannot count myself as one of his disciples. But I sincerely wish it could have been different for Jesus and different for the people of Israel. (Shakes his head) A very sad day. (Stares ...

733. All The More Reason To Give Thanks

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

Brett Blair

... of Thanksgiving. It is more often born of adversity and difficult times. So many of the greatest expressions of thanksgiving have occurred under circumstances so debilitating one wonders why people give thanks. It would seem a more reasonable response would be bitterness and ingratitude. It is a paradox. In times of plenty we become indifferent. The smallest gifts are overlooked and unappreciated. We might even regard the basic pleasures of life with contempt. But, let hard times come and the threat that ...

734. All the More Reason

Psalm 100:1-5

Illustration

Brett Blair

... Thanksgiving. It is more often born of adversity and difficult times. So many of the greatest expressions of thanksgiving have occurred under circumstances so debilitating one wonders why people give thanks. It would seem the more reasonable response would be bitterness and ingratitude. Paul writing from a prison cell and probably knowing that he would soon die by the guillotine writes to the Philippians, "I give thanks to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor imprisoned in ...

735. Paul in Chains

Acts 21:27-36

Sermon Aid

CSS

... Luke notes that they threw dust into the air and waved their garments. This threatening action compelled the tribune to stop Paul’s speech. He ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks and interrogated, to find out why the crowd had reacted so bitterly against him. To the Romans, interrogation meant scourging and beating until the hapless victim confessed to whatever crime they charged him with. When Paul was lashed to the stocks and the soldiers prepared to beat him, he said to the centurion in charge ...

736. Shipwrecked on Malta

Acts 27:1-12, Acts 27:13-26, Acts 27:27-44

Sermon Aid

CSS

... , and the ship remained at the mercy of the wind and waves to the fourteenth night - just two weeks after they had left Fair Havens. Most of this fortnight had been spent without food, certainly without any cooked or prepared meals, without much sleep and under bitter weather conditions. In the middle of the night the sailors sensed a change. Something in the sound of the wind or the waves alerted them to the fact that they were nearing land. They measured the depth of the water and found twenty fathoms - a ...

737. The Deeper Magic

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Brett Blair

... hands. They allow an innocent man to die. Some shouted “Crucify him,” some kept silent, while still others denied him. The tricky thing about Christian theology is its proposition that even the best of us are sinners. We are worthless no good scoundrels. We are deceitfully bitter people. Ruin and misery is the mark we make upon this world. That is how the Apostle Paul describes all of us in Romans chapter three. The good and bad, he says, are all ugly! So how do we, the good and the bad, find salvation ...

738. Do It For the Joy of It!

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

... a tithe into the offering plate each time he came, and who had done much for the church in volunteer work and service on boards and committees, was stricken with cancer. As he lay in the hospital in a weakened condition, the pastor came to call. The man was bitter, railing out at God, the pastor, and the church. "I was a good Christian. I don’t deserve this!" was his angry outburst. He had done his duty. He had taken God’s command to love and had obeyed it almost with a vengeance. Now God owed him one ...

739. Let’s Face It

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... . St. Francis said it in his famous hymn: And you, most kind and gentle death waiting to hush our final breath, Oh praise him! Alleluia! ... Death is like the sudden coming of the bridegroom in the parable. Some were unprepared. For them the coming was a cruel, bitter time. For the others, who were ready to accept and deal with the coming, it was a welcome sight. In spite of the harshness and cruelty which death brings with it - for it truly is a destroyer, and we must not pretend less of it - death can ...

740. Mary's Revolutionary Song (Sermon Series No. 3)

Luke 1:39-56

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” A Christian society is one in which no person dares to have too much while others have too little. One day a poor girl came to the door of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. It was a bitterly cold day but she was wearing just a thin linen gown. She was shivering and her teeth were chattering. Wesley gave her what little money he had. Later he looked around his room and saw his extra clothes and fashionable wig. He cried out, “O Lord, have these been ...

741. Mary, Let's Go To The Barn

Luke 2:1-20; Matt 1:18-25

Illustration

Brett Blair

... of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead. He was really bitter about this. So during all the rehearsals he kept plotting in his mind what he might do the night of performance to get even with his rival who was Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the ...

742. Suffering for Christ

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... reputation of Christians for bravery in battle, the Captain ordered the Christians to be given the privilege of recanting at any time. A heated Roman bathhouse stood along the lake shore. It was ready for any man who was prepared to renounce his faith. As a bitter wind whipped over the lake’s surface, the Christian soldiers were driven out shivering in the dusk. A sentry was posted on the shore to keep the Christians out of the heated cottage. He kept warm by a bonfire on the edge of the lake. The ...

743. Does God Give A Damn?

Exodus 5:22--6:12

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment, and I will take you for my people, and I will be your God.’ " When someone does not care, bitterly we say in the vernacular, "He does not give a damn about us!" Another way of saying it is, "He could not care less." This is a common experience of our lives. We live in a non-caring world so that businesses, taking advantage of this fact, advertise ...

744. Heart To Heart

Ezekiel 18:1-32

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... ’s rhythm when one gets a heart attack. If you do not have physical heart trouble, do you have spiritual heart trouble? Most of us will have to answer affirmatively. The heart of most of us is dirty and diseased with sin. Often the heart is filled with hatred and bitterness. As Ezekiel says in our text, we have a heart of stone. Obviously, we need a change of heart, from one heart to another, from a bad to a good heart, from a dirty to a clean heart. Through Ezekiel, God calls us to go from heart to heart ...

745. As Good As God

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... . To love our fellowmen is to forgive them. This is the final proof of love. When we are sinned against, our tendency is to hate. This hatred seeks revenge. In When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold Kushner tells of two shopkeepers who were bitter rivals. Their stores were across the street from each other. When a customer came in, the one smiled triumphantly at the other. One night an angel came and said that he could have anything he wanted, but his competitor would get twice as much of whatever ...

746. Begging Bartimaeus

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... pride impossible. Begging. What do we think about begging? Crippled men on sidewalks. Hats with pencils. A tin cup. A guitar and an outstretched hand. Beggars. Rags. Lice. Dirt. Loneliness. That must be the worst. Loneliness. The dark was horrible, but the loneliness was bitter. "Take heart; rise, he is calling you." Well of course he ran. So would you. So would I. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" It probably wasn’t really a request for information. The blindness was evident ...

747. Eternal Echo Of Easter - Part 1

Matthew 28:1-10

Drama

Esther R. Russ

... would hear me or think me mad. I wondered at my sorrow - did not the bright angel in the tomb say that Jesus had risen and had gone to Galilee? I returned to the tomb where his body had lain; I touched the remains of the burial linens. I wept bitterly. I had wanted to show him one last time that I loved him, and now - now I could not even anoint his body. Suddenly, two angels appeared there by me. Together in a sweet-sounding voice they asked me why I was crying. "Because they have taken away my Lord ...

748. Lift High the Christ!

John 12:20-36

Sermon

George Bass

... death for unbelievers; it condemns them whom Christ would save. Ray Bradbury wrote a story called "The Coffin." It is about a seventy-year-old man, Charles Braling, who is building his coffin in the belief that he would soon die. His brother, Richard, looked on, "bitter-eyed, for a long moment. There was a hatred between them," says Bradbury. "It had gone on for some years and now was neither any better nor any worse for the fact that Charlie was dying. Richard was delighted to know of the impending death ...

749. Who Has Everything?

Matthew 5:5

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... at the prophet JEREMIAH. He was called by God to speak the truth to his people. He didn’t want to because it made him unpopular; the other prophets were saying smooth and easy things. So he was isolated as "non-cooperative." He felt his isolation bitterly, but he suffered through it, and kept delivering his message in spite of the unkind things being said about him. He never retaliated. He was an example of meekness. Come over to the New Testament and we see this same quality in PAUL. He, like Jeremiah ...

750. Do I Dare Be Different?

Matthew 5:10; 10:1-42

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

William Inge was one of England’s most outstanding preachers. At the beginning of this century, because of his insight and forthrightness, he was either greatly admired or bitterly disliked. After the First World War he was speaking at a public gathering, and in his speech, he urged that realism instead of revenge be his country’s guide in its treatment of a defeated Germany. Three days later, Dr. Inge received a letter which rebuked him for what he ...

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