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 751 to 775 of 1199 results

751. The Author Who Wipes Away Sins

Acts 3:12-19

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... that Jesus, the author of life and healer, can and does work through doctors and nurses and unknown ways to restore a person to health and wholeness. Today, Jesus, the author of life and healer, can cast out the demons of drinking, drugs, resentment, and hatred. Today, we believe that even when death comes to a loved one, Jesus gives victory over death by promising the resurrection from the dead to those who believe. Jesus, the author of life, also wipes away sins from those who believe and repent. The ...

752. Chip It Away!

Matthew 22:34-46; Luke 10:25-37; John 13:31-35

Illustration

James W. Moore

... anything in your life right now that doesn't look like love, then, with the help of God, chip it away! If you have anything in your life that doesn't look like compassion or mercy or empathy, then, with the help of God, chip it away! If you have hatred or prejudice or vengeance or envy in your heart, for God's sake, and the for the other person's sake, and for your sake, get rid of it! Let God chip everything out of your life that doesn't look like tenderheartedness.

753. Speaking the S-word

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , a dark, flowing force, that goes right through our minds, right through our minds and bodies, that carries us toward evil" (Transcript of Facing Evil with Bill Moyers, 1988, 2). The Devil, Satan, demons are not objects, things, persons. They are conditions of hatred, spirits of unbelief, attitudes of jealousy, structures of destruction. We don't need little demons with pitchfork tails running around to explain evil. The power of the demonic is the power of us - the power of us to reject God, the power of ...

754. How to Play Fair in Foul Play

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.") Work harder than your enemies; instead of vengeance, forgiveness (Mt. 6:14; Lk. 17:3, 4;23:34); instead of hatred, love (Mt. 5:43-45; Lk.6:27-31); instead of greed, sharing and sacrifice (Lk. 12:33, 34; 18:22); instead of violence, willingness to suffer (Mt.5:38,39); instead of control and domination, cooperation and service (Lk. 22:24-27). In the midst of ...

755. Bethlehem's Two Roads

Hebrews 10:5-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as well? This is the Sunday all Christians take a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. Why Bethlehem? It is an unlikely choice: a grubby little village overrun with transients and filled with inhabitants who looked upon their neighbors with suspicion and upon strangers with hatred - not to mention innkeepers who charged exorbitant rates. But we still go to Bethlehem, a nowhere place where a nobody known as Mary gave birth to a noisy child with a nothing name like Jesus. Again, why Bethlehem? Because Bethlehem is the ...

756. Church Slugs

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... States, including on some college campuses. The notion of political correctness has ignited controversy across the land. And although the movement arises from the laudable desire to sweep away the debris of racism and sexism and hatred, it replaces old prejudice with new ones. It declares certain topics off-limits, certain expressions off-limits, even certain gestures off-limits. Political correctness can be applied to individuals, schools, small businesses, huge conglomerates, whole political platforms ...

757. Terminator 3

Acts 9:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , he expects nothing less than the worst - a nightmare, a horror, a holocaust. Yet both men are transformed from the inside-out. Saul, through his encounter with the living Christ on the road, spins 180 degrees in his life orientation. The bitter well of hatred from which he had been drawing his sustenance is sweetened by Christ's touch and changed into an eternal spring of love and dedication. Ananias' fear and loathing of his persecutor is also changed by Christ's words into openness and acceptance of a ...

758. FaithRace

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as a parking ticket. We are circumspect to a fault. We prefer to speak softly. We would rather write in the lower case. What is missing are the exclamation marks. In a world where there are constant spiritual showdowns between hope and despair, love and hatred, faith and fear, we are modest about exclaiming what we believe: that our hope and strength come from the Lord! One of the great moments in sports history came on Sunday afternoon when the New Orleans Saints and the Detroit Lions were playing. The ...

759. The Monster Under Megan's Bed

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... real purpose? Perhaps they did, for they knew of Jesus' healing powers. All the text tells is that those who had enough faith to "sit down" received all they could possibly want from Jesus' hands. Children don't yet see generations of hatred and animosity. They see common needs, common desires, common hungers. Remember Yitzhak Rabin's funeral? What do you remember? The tears and testimony of his young grand-daughter spoke the most eloquently and passionately for the dream of peace for which her grandfather ...

760. Close the Loopholes

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... any weapon of metal or wood, then there would be a lot of therapists out looking for other careers. Christians must close the loophole excuse "It's just talk." Once they escape from your lips, words take on a life of their own. Words of cruelty, hatred and prejudice implant themselves in the hearts of others, where with just a little encouragement, they take root and grow. A flapping mouth is one of the Devil's favorite loopholes. Tellingly, the term used in verse 27, diabolos is also used to define a "tale ...

761. A Concert of Prayer

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Drama

Leonard Sweet

... .) Our nation needs help. Let us as a congregation begin this Third Movement in our Concert of Prayer by confessing the sins of the nation. How would you fill in this blank?... "God, please forgive our," or "Lord, I pray for the of the nation (greed, hatred, sexual impurity, etc.). Pray for one thing for our country in a one-sentence prayer. (Note: Here you may want to call on someone to pray for the president and the leaders of our nation.) MUSIC TRANSITION: "Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Us ...

762. Onward Christian Hell-busters

Matthew 10:40-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... : Then why not? Why haven't you been to hell? We aren't called to live in hell. We are called to live in heaven. But as Dante found out, you can't get to heaven without going through hell first. The world is on fire...a world torn by hatred and strife, a world unredeemed, a world that is God's worst nightmare a world to which God can no longer speak these words: "And God saw that it was good." For the first time in a long time, Protestants and Catholics are talking rather than killing each other in ...

763. Hello!?

Romans 8:26-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... their god become too small. They have allowed their salvation to be microchip miniaturized. We are eager to pray that the check we just wrote won't bounce but we are hesitant to ask God to deliver Bosnians, Croats and Serbs from the simmering pot of hatred that keeps them locked together as bloody adversaries. "Hello!?" This is the God who calls Christ the firstborn of all creation and then chooses to shape the rest of us into the image of this Christ. It is the transformative power of God, embodied by the ...

764. Do You Look Good On Wood?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... "boomer" spirituality possess the spiritual resources necessary to inspire even one little sacrifice for God? What made it possible for first-century Christians to choose a martyr's death? What has kept generations of Christians from losing faith and falling apart when confronted by the violence and hatred of this world? How can we realize even the day-to-day sacrifices of our faith that demand we do things we don't want to do; go where we don't want to go; love people we don't want to love? When we become ...

765. Heads Down, Thumbs Up

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... us kneel in the face of the violence in our streets and in our homes and pray to God.... - Let us kneel in the face of the poor and the hungry who are still found everywhere among us and pray to God.... - Let us kneel in the face of the hatred and prejudice that tears nations and neighborhoods apart and pray to God.... - Let us kneel in the face of the diseases we still cannot control or cure and pray to God.... - Let us kneel in the face of the ravages we have committed against our earth's waters, lands ...

766. Freedom in Bondedness

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... even borrowed the short-form Torah that Paul cites in today's epistle lesson and claims that Jesus' reminder to "love your neighbor as yourself" was essentially a mandate to focus on loving yourself. It is true that there is no place in Christian theology for self-hatred or self-persecution or self-disrespect. But loving ourselves was not the goal Jesus had in mind for us when he freely gave his life for our salvation. We can't hold out a hand to our neighbor when our arms are wrapped around ourselves. The ...

767. Dream Reality

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... pollution. The plague of hit-and-run radio with its panorama of toxic turbo tongues has spread the nightmares of a few over the airwaves of the whole country. This acid rain of high decibel name-calling succeeds in watering the seeds of despair and anger and hatred that lie just barely dormant in all of us. Above this din of hate speech and death discussions, we need to sound anew, stronger, insistent notes of hope. We must free our good dreams, not keep them to ourselves. We must let good dreams become as ...

768. New Beginnings

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... potential for joy, a potential for hope, a potential for love, a potential for forgiveness that is greater than we can possibly imagine. Try to grasp the significance of that truth. We no longer have to live lives filled with inner conflict, anger, resentment, fear, hatred, guilt or rejection. By the power of God’s Holy Spirit we can become new people, God’s people. Sometimes this happens to people in a dramatic way. Some of you may be familiar with an African-American preacher by the name of Tony Evans ...

769. Acts 9:1-20

Acts 9:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the stoning, Saul holds the coats of those that do. Immediately after Stephen's murder, a period of widespread persecution against the church begins; Saulÿ (8:3) is portrayed as a zealous participant in that activity. When Luke then reintroduces Saul and his hatred for the church in 9:1, we know Saul only by his evil reputation as chief terminator of Jesus' disciples. We know very little about the man himself - Saul's background or education or status. Luke's description of Saul encapsulated the fierceness ...

770. Acts 9:1-20

Acts 9:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

771. Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... his wholehearted love of the Torah-Law he sought to both follow and protect. In fact, it is Saul's precise knowledge of both Jewish and Roman law that makes him such an effective persecutor of the first Christians. Although he is consumed with hatred and rage against the preachers and practitioners of "the Way" (v.2), Saul's legal training cautions and contains his actions, enabling him to carefully calculate how he may best destroy these followers of Jesus. Instead of looking for easy targets upon which to ...

772. John 16:12-15

John 16:12-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . Today's text highlights this simultaneously cosmic and communal paradox of John's gospel. Beginning in 15:18, Jesus outlines both the dreadful and the desirous developments that await his disciples. First, Jesus offers words of warning: He predicts the world's hatred of his disciples because of their closeness to him and chosenness. But this closeness and chosenness also make possible a special gift Jesus' disciples will enjoy the coming of the "Advocate" (v.26). It is with the Holy Spirit's power that ...

773. Luke 14:25-33

Luke 14:25-33

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple" (v. 27). Jesus' point is decisive: "Com[ing] to me" (v. 26), as the multitudes were, is clearly not the same thing as discipleship. It seems incredible that Jesus could counsel one to participate in hatred of any kind. Yet the word passes his lips on other occasions (cf. John 12:25). Jesus' meaning here, however, is interpreted and ameliorated by the Matthean version in 10:37. There the account reads, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not ...

774. Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week's text presents the story of one of Jeremiah's greatest symbolic acts. Besieged, imprisoned, branded as a traitor, despised by king and court, Jeremiah's response to hatred and rejection is to invest in the future a future nation, a future faith, and a future fulfillment. Although the story is presented in chapter 32, to fully understand Jeremiah's situation we must look ahead at chapter 37. The final redactor of Jeremiah had other organizational criteria than strict ...

775. Romans 12:9-21

Romans 12:9-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... challenges all members of a koinonia community every moment of every day. Indeed among Paul's long litany, this first line remains the most difficult to consistently recreate. Where genuine love thrives, Paul suggests, these other attitudes will spring up and prosper - a hatred of all evil, a commitment to the good (that is, God's will) and the kind of caring concern usually reserved for one's own family, directed towards the welfare and well-being of the entire koinonia community. With individuals so tuned ...

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