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 876 to 900 of 5000 results

876. Worn Out? Tired? Weary?

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... terrible burden of guilt removed from his heart and soul. He feels himself cleansed and refreshed, able to go on without the burden, as the Pilgrim in "Pilgrim’s Progress" suddenly felt that agonizing burden that he had been carrying on his back through the long days of his pilgrimage roll from his back as he knelt at the foot of the cross. The Mayo Clinic announced a sure cure for getting rid of that tired feeling. Tests revealed that people are chronically tired because they live unbalanced lives. And ...

877. How to Fix the Past

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... power began to flow. Her past is now her past, defused of power, cleansed of poison. She is a new person in Christ. Each of us has a past; some of it is sordid and ungodly. Unless it is faced and resolved, it will haunt and hurt us as long as we live. And after we die, we will face the judgment of Almighty God. What kind of unsavory luggage do you carry? Perhaps a memory of a little unborn baby aborted? Perhaps you bushwacked a few people at work, making sure they went nowhere in the organization. Maybe ...

878. The State Of The Church

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

... at the desk was on the phone speaking Spanish to someone. The longer I waited, the more irritated I became. I was tired after the long drive, I wanted to get moved into the condo, and I didn’t like waiting on that woman to get off the phone. Then, she ... blocking God’s presence in your life by never turning to him. You can’t expect to feel God’s presence in your life as long as you never seek him." This young woman is not the only one who neglects an important part of the Christian life. I am afraid ...

879. Merry Kurtzman

Sermon

Erskine White

... like a king. I’m amazed you haven’t heard about him!" "Regis Kurtzman," she began, "was born on the 25th of December a long, long time ago in a rustic little inn. Mind you, he wasn’t born in a big, fancy five-star hotel downtown, but in a ... his birthday - December 25th - he would dress up in a bright red suit and deliver Kurtzman toys to children through the world. All year long, children would make out their Kurtzman lists and tell him what they wanted, and if they had been good, he would give it to ...

880. Is There Life After Christmas?

Luke 2:21-40, Isaiah 12:1-6

Sermon

Erskine White

... the replacement necklace and how they had suffered the last ten years. That is when the friend told her that the necklace Mathilde had borrowed that night was itself an imitation, made only of paste. It was barely worth 500 francs, not the 36,000 they had slaved so long to repay. Of course, there is a part of Mathilde in all of us. We spend years slaving away for things which are only made of paste, while failing to see the "pearls of great value" (Matthew 13:46) which are staring us in the face - pearls of ...

881. God’s Great Promise To Sarah!

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

... way it was supposed to be. After all what are mothers for? But it was a most unfair and unjust arrangement and I am ashamed at how long it took me to see and begin to appreciate just how unfair and unjust our society has treated women. Consequently, I have no problem with the ... had to enter the job market. The next big break for women was in 1920 when they got to vote." The time is long overdue in recognizing that the daughters of God are equal and as important as the sons of God. A concern for church and ...

882. Egypt: Unlikely Refuge

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... the highway, and the first person to stop and offer aid is a black man. A woman with delicate sensibilities is startled to find that the person in church who most nurtures her Christian life is another woman of a far different social class. A man who has long prided himself on his taste in literature is embarrassed to discover that the hymn which most deeply stirs his soul is a bit of gospel doggerel that ought to offend him. We had better not try to fence God in. How strange and wonderful that the story of ...

883. Nazareth: The Hidden Years

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... I tell myself that I want to go to Israel again some day, and that when I do, I will decide (not the travel agent) how long I will stay in each place. If that ever happens, I will spend more time in Nazareth. If you go to Nazareth today, you will find ... gladly wrapped yourself in your coat or a blanket and lay on the floor with the rest of your family. It didn’t take long to fall asleep. You knew that tomorrow, at sunrise, you would awaken to begin another such day. What happens in such a common world ...

884. Resurrection: From Brokenness to Wholeness

Matthew 15:29-39

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... our story was a youth, and this day he walked behind the crowds that followed Jesus. His walking was slowed because of his left leg being bent, never going straight. It meant that he would step-slide, step-slide, step-slide where others would step-step. For as long as he could remember, and that went back most all his fourteen years, he was the last to arrive any place. Other children his age could run ahead and be the first. Jahmai was always the last. And here he was again, following the people out of the ...

885. They Also Serve Who Wait

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Thomas Long

... , for death. It is never easy to wait. It is hardest of all to wait for God. Not many can bear its harsh discipline. Not many can attain its delicate balance of action and hope. Not many can achieve its deep wisdom. Not many can endure its long and dark hours. Therefore, since the demands of waiting for God are so great, there is always the temptation to transform waiting for God into something else, something less. There are some who would change waiting for God into passivity. "It is God for whom we wait ...

886. Christmas Gift

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... care patiently, trust others always, and wait for them. The Israelites were likewise immediately clothed in a spirit of exultation. Proud and excited with emotions of delight and promise of miracles to come, they had been singled out. But they, too, engaged in a long search for the "real meaning" that lay behind the lifted spirit, the revelation of God’s special favor. Here again, the years uncovered the "sentence of life" that lay behind the uplifting experience of God’s Word. They were to put on robes ...

887. ATTENTION!

Zechariah 10:8

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... enthusiasm.) Do you think Jesus liked that? I know He did. But let me tell you why they played the cymbals in the temple. A long time ago the people went to a large church, called the temple, and it had four big rooms. The temple was more than just a ... . But God has to get our attention so that we will listen to Him. God doesn’t use cymbals or any other loud noise. Once, a long time ago, He used a special star to get the attention of people who were living then. That was a good signal and some people saw ...

888. The Nativity

Drama

Dory Younger

... in this small inn. (INNKEEPER slams door of inn. JOSEPH and MARY turn slowly away and walk to crib, where they kneel down facing audience. Choir sings first verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Meanwhile STAR CARRIER comes up center aisle with silver star mounted on long pole to hold above nativity scene.) NARRATOR: And so it was that Mary and Joseph had to spend the night in a little stable that was no more than a cave in the hill behind the inn. While they were there, Mary brought forth her first born ...

889. The Racial Gap

Psalm 53:1-6

Sermon

William McKee Aber

... is it? Perhaps some of the things that Paul wrote to the church at Rome speak to us, even in such a different Scene. For example, he wrote, "LET LOVE BE GENUINE." That means, I suppose, many things - but certainly one thing is, "Let love be honest." For a long time, even among the so-called liberals, our love was not honest. It was patronizing. As I look back at my old sermons on the subject, I am appalled at the number of times I suggested that "They didn’t want this or that." How presumptuous on my part ...

890. COMMAND TO SHARE

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Ewart E. Turner

... 11). A fearless preacher, surrounded by a pious world of legalism, ritual, and racial pride - a fearless preacher who defines the heart of religion as "bearing fruits that befit repentence" - such a preacher is more than just a prophet. He is a long hoped-for emergent in the long history of man’s search for God. He is the pioneer in understanding what kind of character God wants in his followers, what the true requirements of obedience are, and most of all, what are the ethical contents of faith. John the ...

891. OUR LORD SMITTEN

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

... the centurion, and he shouted to his men to hurry the procession along. He felt nothing else. Just the urgency to be done with it. At best, it was a tedious task and he would have to stay until the condemned were dead. Other times this had taken as long as two or three days, a dreary vigil to keep guarding the living dead who would not die. At last they mounted the top of the rock-strewn hill, where three holes had been dug, large upright beams laying one beside each. The prisoners were freed from the cross ...

892. Christmas: A Family Service

Drama

Ruthanne Cochran

... No Room for Him (Dialogue between father and son) Joseph: In the name of the heavens, Innkeeper, please find room for us! We have come such a long way and my poor wife can go no further. It is so late and I must find a place for her to rest. Innkeeper: Get out of ... are up to? No, I won’t open this door. Joseph: I pray you to be kind to us. We are so tired. We came such a long way. Please have pity. Our Lord will reward you. Innkeeper: Who are you to be so sure that tue Lord would reward me if I gave you ...

893. Academics, Fanatics, and Other Disciples

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... son might turn into a religious fanatic! I asked him if he thought being a sports fan was okay for his son. Of course, he replied. But when I pointed out that "fan" is the shortened form of "fanatic," he was taken aback. His long-neglected wife, a football widow of the first rank, wondered aloud why it was perfectly acceptable to be a football fanatic and not a religious fanatic. "Because," replied her husband without thinking, "unlike a religious fanatic, a football fanatic can be perfectly harmless." "Yes ...

894. The Technicolor Sign

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Larry Powell

... pretty to shoot. "I won’t do it again, I promise," I assured her. "I know you won’t, honey," she consoled, "I know you won’t." And I haven’t, for until this day whenever I see a red bird, it is a living sign of a covenant made long ago with penance as the signature. The sign itself is a grace, a graceful reminder of early strugglings to forge a perspective by which to measure the human experience. When is the last time you have prayed the sinner’s prayer? It is told that two brothers were once ...

895. An Old Plan For New People

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Larry Powell

... only the opportunity had come to us in our youth. If only we could rearrange things already in our possession rather than undertake a radically new challenge. Why now, and why in this way? It is a matter of timing and method, a matter addressed by the long-ago Preacher in Ecclesiastes: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" (3:1). The upshoot of Genesis 17:1-19 is that God had business to transact with Abraham, a covenant to establish. Let us now expand upon the obvious ...

896. Bonhoeffer of Berlin

Acts 5:17-42

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

... Kurt - How time flies! Suddenly I get a letter from you telling me you’ve gotten married to dear Elsa, your high school sweetheart. And to think this fellow (I’m talking about you, Kurt) is the same young man I taught in confirmation class not too long ago. Yes, I guess I’d have second thoughts about getting married when I wasn’t even out of high school yet. And certainly, these days in Germany, getting married at all is a dangerous step, considering you could get drafted into the army. I think you ...

897. Religion in Focus

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

Richard Patt

... focus. The same is true when we look at Jesus Christ, or when we consider what our religion is all about. We need to know who Christ is. We need to know what’s at the heart and center of our religion. But an amazing number of people - including long-time Christians - don’t seem to have Christ or his church in focus. "Tell me, who do people say I am?" Jesus asks. The typical person on the street often spurts and sputters, failing to answer that question with any degree of focus. In a recent survey by the ...

898. The Healing Community

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... that these were the laws by which her society operated. She was judged by many people in her day as having sinned in some awful way. She was burdened almost to the breaking point by her isolation and sense of shame. She was an outcast for twelve long years. "Who touched me?" Jesus asked. The woman began to shake all over. "What could she say?" Her first thought was that she had transferred her uncleanliness to Jesus. That is how many people in her primitive society thought. She thought, "I have infected him ...

899. Twenty-First Century Reformation

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... physical education teacher who blurts out, "Maybe I am low woman on the totem pole, but I am a human. Don’t think you can move me around like a piece of furniture." It is the young housewife who, while fixing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, suddenly stops long enough to lean against the refrigerator and sob, "I have a brain and a soul, and I can do more than wash dishes and make beds. I wrote poetry, once." And her mother read Feminine Mystique. It is the custodian who says, "When it comes to pecking ...

900. The Word To The Wise

Proverbs 2:1-22

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... , or whether this collection was ascribed to him as a way of honoring that great king in Judah’s history. But with the emphasis on wisdom and the counsel to seek wisdom from the Lord, we are certainly reminded of the prayer of Solomon for wisdom in his own long reign as king of Israel. Solomon’s Prayer At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said, "Ask what I shall give you." As Solomon recalled the great and steadfast love that God had shown to David, and now made him to reign in David’s ...

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