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 926 to 950 of 1164 results

926. Dust in the Wind

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Timothy Cargal

Sometimes a song gets so deep inside your head that it can never be uprooted. Maybe it is the melody or the mood evoked by its musical qualities. Maybe it is the themes and ideas that find expression in its lyrics. If it happens to be both the music and the lyrics perfectly matched to each other, then the effect is particularly strong. Such songs have the ability to become a recurring soundtrack to our lives. One such song for me is Kerry Livgren’s “Dust In The Wind.” Since I first heard this song more ...

927. The Door Is Open

John 10:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

I remember it like it happened yesterday and it was almost 37 years ago. I put my hand on a door handle that would lead into a worship center. In that worship center, a crowd had gathered to see me tie the knot with a young lady, named Teresa, which I had only known for 6 months. I knew if I walked through that door I was walking into a life-long commitment of who I was going to spend the rest of my life with - for better or for worse, in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer. Not long after that I ...

928. The Sounds at the Summit

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

Shortly before dawn one morning a couple years ago, a gasoline pipeline erupted and a terrible fire flared up right down the middle of a suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, street. A woman delivering newspapers was caught in the flames; her car ignited and she was severely burned, but survived. People were awakened to discover flames shooting higher than telegraph poles. "The whole neighborhood is on fire," was one person’s description. In one home, a father woke up his wife, told her to get her daughter while ...

929. Thanksgiving - The Biblical Version

1 Chronicles 16:7-43

Sermon

Eric Ritz

For most of us, Thanksgiving Day will be a short-lived experience. It will almost be an interruption in the fast paced preparation being made for the Great Christmas Rush of 1992. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day for trains, planes, and our nation''s roadways. Housewives will be busy preparing for a great feast. Football games will fill the airwaves and generate much excitement in local communities such as ours. In the midst of this busyness, preparation, travel, action, will ...

930. Conviction with Compassion

John 8:1-11

Sermon

James McCormick

You and I are living today in the midst of a massive moral muddle. There is pervasive confusion or indifference concerning what is right and wrong. And, some people are wondering whether or not such terms should even be used. After all, we are being told again and again that all values are relative, that standards of behavior change from generation to generation. We have seen it happen that an action which is declared unacceptable in one decade is approved in the next. So, people throughout our land are ...

931. Unstoppable Determination

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Years ago the Florida State University football team recruited a place kicker named Scott Brantley. Brantley lived in Colorado and was considered the premier high school place kicker in the country at the time. According to a report in Sports Illustrated one of the Florida State coaches asked Brantley how he would react if, in the biggest game of the year on the opening kickoff against Miami the only player they sent out on the field was himself, leaving the other ten players on the sidelines. Brantley ...

932. Where’s the Power?

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

The purveyors of "positive thinking" like to tell us that if we want something badly enough we can get it, no matter what it is. All we need is the desire, the hunger, the commitment, and if we have these three things, we can accomplish whatever we want. If we fail to achieve our goal, it is only because we didn’t want it badly enough. Positive thinking has much to recommend it, but it has its limitations. One such limitation is this: we cannot always have what we want "just because we want it." All the ...

933. The Cathedral Within

II Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Mark Trotter

It has sneaked up on us so that perhaps you didn't notice. But we live in one of the most prosperous times in this generation, perhaps in this century. Unemployment is at a record low. Inflation is minuscule. The stock market seems to defy everybody's prediction, and keeps on going up and up. We used to talk about the richest people being millionaires. Now we talk about them being billionaires. I read this week that three of Microsoft's original founders have more wealth combined than something like two ...

934. How the Gold Has Lost Its Luster

Lamentations 4:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

The Luster Has Faded for the People of God: The fourth poem of the book is also an acrostic, but of a different structure than the previous three chapters. Each verse starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in this way is similar to chapters 1 and 2. But a simple comparison of the verses in English or Hebrew shows that the verse-stanzas thus formed are much shorter (comprising two rather than three bicola per verse). Thus, this chapter is about a third shorter than chapters 1 and 2 and ...

935. When I Am Weak, I Am Strong

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Sermon

King Duncan

I read something interesting recently about one of the world’s most revered religious leaders. He is the Tibetan Buddhist leader known as the Dalai Lama. It seems that, though the Dalai Lama may be what the Buddhists call an “enlightened being,” he has his weaknesses. According to a report in The Week magazine, it’s said he sneaks chocolate chip cookies when he’s supposed to be fasting. And he uses an air gun to scare away irritating birds. Anybody identify with that? Here’s a good one: While the Dalai ...

936. The Christian Journey II: The Mountain

Sermon

John N. Brittain

Psalm 30; Exodus 24:15-18; Mark 9:2-9 Virtually every religion has regarded mountains as sacred places. Mircea Eliade, the great religious scholar, called mountains an axis mundi, a symbolic link between heaven and earth, between the divine and the human. For those of us from the flat lands of the midwest it may not be as obvious as it should be why this is so. There is something about a mountain that lifts one's mind beyond the mundane no matter how you look at it. A mountain on the horizon cannot help ...

937. The Righteousness Of God

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Mark J. Molldrem

"Hardships ... beatings ... imprisonment ... sleepless nights ... hunger ... in dishonor ... in ill repute ... unknown ... sorrowful ... poor." It sounds like a street person being described. Wrong! These are word snapshots of the life of the apostle Paul that picture what a follower of Christ must be ready to bear. Paul was a "street person" of sorts, pounding the pavement in the first century from Jerusalem to Damascus to Rome. His task was not survival, but salvation. Paul preached the salvation from ...

938. Entering Into The Agony

Galatians 6:11-18

Sermon

King Duncan

The Los Angeles TIMES recently carried a touching story about an 80 year old man who entered into an agreement with three young couples who were renting apartments in his building. He agreed to allow them to buy their apartments at a very low rate. Please do not misunderstand. This was not your typical condominium conversion. He was selling them their apartments at a much lower rate than they could obtain them on the open market. This was his gift to these six young people who had been there when he needed ...

939. A Four Word Memoir

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Human beings are a terrific source of creativity. Even at the time of death. For example, consider this epitaph on a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket, Massachusetts: Under the sod and under the trees . . . Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there’s only the pod . . . Pease shelled out and went to God. Or this one from a more recent burial: Here lies my wife . . . Here let her lie. Now she’s at rest . . . And so am I. Or this one from the grave of a dentist named John Brown: Stranger! ...

940. Which King Do We Worship?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Think about the last trip you took to a new place. Maybe you went on vacation or maybe you just went across town. Did you notice that it seemed to take more time to reach your destination than it did to return home? This sensation of seeming to take longer to make a trip than it is to return home is universal and even has an official scientific name. It is referred to as the “return trip effect” by those who research it. There are plenty of theories behind what causes the “return trip effect.” Researchers ...

941. Heroes

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Not long ago, a company in California opened Tinseltown Studios, a theme park devoted to celebrities and the power of stardom. Tinseltown had an interesting twist: for a measly $45 entrance fee, the guests would get to feel what it's like to be famous. Park employees were paid to fawn over visitors, cheer for them, line up along the streets and gawk at them, pester them for autographs. Paparazzi lurked around every corner, snapping photos of the park visitors. Reporters rushed up and asked for interviews. ...

942. Christmas and the New Family

John 1:1-18

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

When Wilbur and Orville Wright completed their historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, they sent home a succinct telegram. In minimum words it reported that their venture had succeeded, and concluded, "Home for Christmas." Whether they knew it or not, their achievement had ushered in a new age. Along with that, their "coming home" announcement might seem very mundane. But any of us who have longed to go home for Christmas will understand that the two subjects of the telegram ...

943. Risky Business

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Many of you have seen the delightful animated feature, Shrek. You may remember Eddie Murphy as a mouthy, arrogant, tactless donkey who can’t shut up to save his life. In one scene, Shrek, the big green ogre, travels to rescue Princess Fiona, while Donkey tags along with him. While Princess Fiona is trapped in a castle surrounded by boiling lava, Shrek and Donkey cross a wobbly, unstable bridge, and Donkey, out of fear, wants to turn around. In great trepidation, Donkey yells, “I’m not going!” Shrek replies ...

944. Victorious, Victims

Luke 6:20-36

Sermon

Will Willimon

"Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh." Imagine a sermon which begins, "Blessed are you poor. Blessed are you that hunger. Oh how lucky are you who weep. How fortunate are those of you whom people hate, exclude, revile. Leap for joy those of you who have cancer. How lucky are you unemployed. How blessed are those going through marital crises." The congregation does a double-take. What? Blessed? Lucky? Those who are hungry? Unemployed? Sick? What is this? Thus begins Jesus' Sermon on the Mount ...

945. Paring Down Our Pantheons

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

"Tell me a story," said the little boy to his dad at bedtime, "tell me a story and put me in it." There are no stories to which children pay better attention than those in which they play a part. Even as the years go by, and the eager child becomes one of those cool, disinterested teenagers, watch how she perks up when you say, "I remember the time that you...." Adults will follow the same pattern. At an annual congregational meeting, suppose we show a series of slides of the Holy Land; some of you surely ...

946. The Man Who Couldn't Hear

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Brett Blair

In ancient Greece it was customary for peddlers who walked the streets with their wares to cry out, "What do you lack?" The idea was to let people know they were in the vicinity, and also rouse the curiosity of the people. Coming out of their houses they would want to know what the peddler was selling. It might be something they lacked and needed, or simply something they desired. What do you lack? We may have sight and hearing, but what do we lack? Take an honest inventory of yourself. Have you found ...

947. Surprised Sheep And Graceless Goats

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Stan Meade

Before we begin this morning, I believe we need a little background on sheep and goats. Sheep are the most profitable animals man has ever domesticated. Catgut comes from sheep, not cats. I'm sure all you cat lovers will find that a blessing. Sheep are good for meat, fur and milk. They outnumber humans in most countries. Then there are goats. More people world-wide drink goat's milk than cow's milk. Moroccan leather, Angola and cashmere sweaters come from goats. And ladies, do you remember those old mohair ...

948. All Saints' Sunday

Revelation 21:1-27, Isaiah 25:1-12, John 11:38-44, John 11:17-37

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Isaiah 25:6-9 We have here the eschatological feast of God. It is to be held on Mount Zion. The banquet is for all people. Not only will God provide a banquet but he will destroy humanity's worst enemy, death. Tears will be wiped away and God will remove disgrace from the peoples of the earth. All of this is God's work of salvation. Epistle: Revelation 21:1-6a John is given a vision of the new earth and heaven. The present earth and heaven will pass away. The new earth and heaven ...

949. LOST? Finding Forgiveness

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Some of you have met my good friend John Heinz and most of you have heard me talk about his love for God and his love for inviting people to church. The other day John and I were talking and John talked about keeping his grandson for the weekend and how much fun that is, normally. I don't know what the boy did but what ever it was, since it was close to bed time, Grandma sent him to bed as his punishment. Off he went, crying like all get out. John went in to make sure he was in bed. When he walked in to ...

950. Making the Most of Small Beginnings

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

How does one explain the unexplainable, describe the indescribable, or comprehend the incomprehensible? Such was the challenge facing Jesus as he attempted to paint a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven to us mere mortals. So Jesus resorted to telling parables, earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Instead of trying to tell it like it is, Jesus told it like it might be: the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, a little bit of leaven, a treasure hidden in the field, a pearl of great price, a dragnet of ...

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