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 826 to 850 of 1199 results

826. Navigating the Stages of Life

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

James W. Moore

... it just fine all by myself! I don’t need God or anybody!” How adolescent! But then (thank God) there are others who are spiritually mature and they pray: “Lord, use me. Make me your servant. Make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me bring pardon. Where there is doubt, let me cultivate faith. Where there is doubt, let me instill hope. Where there is darkness, let me light a candle.” Thank God for these spiritually mature adult people ...

827. Style: Some Distinctive Marks of a Methodist

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a new one recently — gamophobia, the fear of marriage. But back to xenophobia. It’s not a common word, and I can’t remember using it in conversion lately, but it the right word to use in our sermon today. Precisely speaking, xenophobia is “hatred or distrust of foreigners or strangers”. Practically speaking, it is a fear of that which is different from you, the fear and suspicion of differences. It has been the phobia of people from the beginning through the ages, and still is. Xenophobia has ...

828. The Ministry of Unbinding

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... set of grave clothes that bind people most is that of low self-esteem. Though a common psychological problem, this is a serious spiritual disease. Whatever terminology we use, it comes out as destructive feelings of worthlessness, self-depreciation, self-pity, and even self-hatred. For some perverted reason, persons simply cannot accept their worth. We need to keep reminding each other of the Gospel – that each one of us is loved as though we were the only person in the world to love – and that there is ...

829. Redemption: A Wide Angle Picture

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ? or drugs? or gambling? Is your energy drained because you live too close to the line of moral compromise - cheating in business? preoccupied with sexual lust? In your heart of hearts do you know that you are more than racially prejudiced; your feelings verge on hatred? Does your pride often put you in the position of thinking more highly of yours you ought to think, looking down your nose at others? We could go on and on. But you can do that personally — the point I am underscoring is that we need ...

830. Out of the Miry Bog (Dealing with Depression)

Psalm 22:1-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... reality which depression often distorts. Do you know what I’m talking about? When we’re depressed, we don’t see things clearly. We judge ourselves harshly, we blow our failures far out of perspective. In the extreme, we get paralyzed by self-hatred. We flounder in direction and everything becomes worse the more we withdraw. We need to stay close to our significant others, those who love and care for us. Sometimes this means immediate family – others who will provide us with “relaxed patient, and ...

831. In the Lions' Den (Dealing with Stress)

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in to her selfish control. After months of turmoil and anguish, John refused the invitation. I doubt if he has had a happy day since. He hates his mother-in-law; he resents his wife for not supporting him more; he is bored with his work; his hatred, resentment, and boredom make him an inadequate father at best. I believe John is a walking time-bomb, a candidate for a heart attack, and already becoming dependent on alcohol. It would be different if John had asserted his will and taken control of his life ...

832. The Shared Life of the People of God

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ’t ever need these again. Can you use them for something?” Inside the box were several Ku Klux Klan sheets. The sheets were cut down to strips and eventually used to bandage the wounds of black persons in Africa. It could hardly be more dramatic - from symbols of hatred to bandages of love because of the new creation. Nothing else matters, says Paul. IV. A BLESSING AND A PLEA. “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one ...

833. Casting Out Demons

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... in Jesus. But other forces pull us, preventing us from coming clean with Jesus. Preventing us from casting our crowns at his feet and making Him Lord of our lives. Look further at the man – his speech is wild. He literally shrieks, cries out in hatred — and at the same time, in despair. Instead of describing him as a man with an unclean spirit, some translations have it, “a man in an unclean spirit as if the human spirit was immersed in that filthy flood.” (Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture ...

834. My Name Is Legion

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... for help, but always in ways no one could understand. When we are alienated, we become desperate, and we act and do things we never would do in our right mind. You see it in the father in a divorce situation, who takes out his anger and hatred for his wife on his children, withholding financial support of them to spite the mother. And you see it in a mother with custody of children, denying the father a relationship with them as a manipulative ploy - actually hurting the children - robbing them of a father ...

835. War and the Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... what happens in your house. He was abused as a child. For the least little offense, actual or imagined, his father would beat him. He did not even call his own son by name. Instead, he whistled for him like a dog when he wanted him. Feelings of hatred, though never expressed, deepened into rage. As a young adult, the boy discovered that his father had Jewish ancestors. In his twisted mind he came to blame his father's behavior on his Jewish blood. You know his name. It was Adolf Hitler. I wonder, would the ...

836. When It's Time For Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... heart. There are hundreds of places we could go to illustrate it. I think of Nelson Mandela emerging from 26 years of imprisonment in South Africa. He could have released revenge upon the supporters of apartheid and turned loose hatred in that country. Instead, this Methodist Christian stepped forward with a message of forgiveness and reconciliation and because of his Christian witness, South Africa avoided a blood bath. People forgive. The forgiveness of people has international consequence. On December ...

837. Finding Answers to Family Feuds

Genesis 25: 21-34

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... she felt when her father divorced her mother. I remember deciding then that if my father did not want the child I was, neither did I. As an adult, I continued to accept the twelve-year old interpretation of divorce, as well as the scorn and hatred of myself for years and years. What parents think play a gigantic role in what children do and how they feel for a lifetime. Parents play a part. Of course, the siblings themselves wind up in a fight. My friend, Jim Harnish, writes about his abiding rivalry ...

838. What Would Jesus Say About Me?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... instead of evil. Even the best of sinners are not very good at it because deep within each of us marred by sin, there remains the image of God. Jesus came to restore us to our true identity. Christ is light shining in our darkness. He is love softening our hatred. He came as a guide showing us the way to live. He was full of grace and truth which helps us find our way home. In Jesus we can rediscover the lost “image of God" within. Who am I? Jesus would say, 'You are endowed and designed as a child ...

839. Using the Best Materials

Galatians 5:16-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... accumulation of days in which good deeds are done. Paul says character is a matter of putting off and putting on. In one of his famous lists, he put it like this: Put off sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, self-ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. Put on the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there ...

840. The Power of a Vision

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , it urges us on, it pushes us forward, it is the driving motivation of our lives. In verse 16 he says, So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. On September 11, 2001, a small group of terrorists on a mission of intense hatred, devastated New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The attack on our country has thrown us all into a life of fear, a search for security, and lingering anxiety of not “if” but “when” it will happen again, not to mention billions of dollars in ...

841. What Can Christians Learn from Muslims?

Genesis 21:1-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... sent me an email a few days ago. In part he wrote, “As a Muslim, I am ingrained to believe that to love God is to love mankind so all God's creation can be revered and respected. Thanks for trying to remove misinformation that taints people's hearts with hatred." Let us pray: O God, revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, we come to worship you today. We confess to you that we cannot love as you love, and so we pray for a fresh anointing of your Holy Spirit. Teach us how to love one another ...

842. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to go in. So, his father went out to fetch him, but to no avail. All the father heard was one long outburst of anger about how the son had slaved all these years and never even had a goat for a feast with his friends. Jealousy — envy — hatred — resentment. It runs in the family. It runs in the Christian family. Grace is a wonderful idea until you try to put it into practice. Some of us have been Christians all our lives. We've hung in there through trials and temptations that were strong. We thought ...

843. Lighting up Your Neighborhood

Acts 13:44-49

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , their color or creed, their age or stage of life. While we might appropriately debate the true nature of God, and the right behavior for believers, let us never sink into the moral quagmire of demonizing those different from us nor wallow in the consuming quicksand of hatred. Love has a better way! Philippians 2:4 says, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." Did you hear the story about a woman who called a venetian blind repairman to pick up a ...

844. Loving Our Enemies, Christian or Crazy?

Matthew 5:43-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . Our adversaries seek to root out the Christian Church because they cannot live side by side with us. So what shall we do? We will pray. It will be a prayer of earnest love for those who stand around and gaze at us with eyes aflame with hatred, and who have perhaps already raised their hands to kill us." C. Go for perfection. “Be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect." I can think of no word we moderns despise more than the word perfection. We think of perfectionism as a psychological illness ...

845. Neighborly Prayer

Luke 10:25-37

Illustration

King Duncan

... his motor skills and his ability to speak. The boy could only communicate through typing on his computer. In addition to his physical disabilities, the boy suffered emotional problems after some of his care givers callously abused him. Overwhelmed with self-hatred, the boy often hit himself. Using his computer, he wrote to his mother that he wished he could die. There was one thing that seemed to bring the boy comfort: watching "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." The kindly, mild-mannered Mr. Rogers emphasized ...

846. Heart Religion

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... is a sense in which that’s what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees in our scripture lesson. You bug me! You pretend to be so good. You keep the religious law. You honor tradition. Every thing outside looks good, but inside you are filled with hatred and pride and jealousy. Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees was stimulated by their self-righteousness. They saw that the disciples of Jesus did not observe the niceties of tradition and the code of oral law in regard to the washing of hands before and during ...

847. What Happens When You Are Not Number One?

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and Thy billows are gone over me.” So the expression, as Jesus used it here, had nothing to do with technical baptism. What He is saying is, “Can you bear to go through the terrible experience which I have to go through? Can you face being submerged in hatred and pain and death, as I have to be?” Jesus was telling these two disciples that without a cross there can never be a crown. The standard of greatness in the Kingdom is the standard of the Cross.” (William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, The Daily ...

848. Hard Words to Hear at Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... for the world. The church assigned this passage for this morning. If we hang in there with this passage it still might help us understand Christmas. Do we not share some of John's apparent anger at the corruption of the world? Do we not grieve over war, crime, hatred, abuse, and a host of other ills? Isn't it true that we read every year at Christmas time of someone who steals from a charity that is trying to help needy children? One of the questions John's sermon raises is why the evil of the world is ...

849. Light and Hope for the New Year

John 1:10-18

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... by human weakness and spread by the callous indifference to human life. The darkness becomes nearly pitch black when we talk about terrorism and the genocides of Rwanda and Darfur. How can people, created by God, loved by God, become so full of hatred and violence? As if the problems in nature and human interaction were not enough, too often the two manifestations of evil work together. AIDS, caused by a virus but spread with the help of human irresponsibility on multiple levels, threatens to wreak havoc ...

850. Who's Who

John 1:29-42

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... . Jesus has come to take the sin and the darkness from God's creation. Jesus does more than just forgive sin; Jesus conquers sin. We live in a world full of sin and darkness. Sin surrounds us all the time, but sometimes it seems to erupt in overflows of hatred and violence. When we see pictures on our television screens of babies burned by bombs, we need to hear that Jesus takes away the sin of the world. John makes sure we know who Jesus is and what he does. The next group of characters to appear on the ...

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