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 2415 results

926. Joined by Jesus

Hebrews 9:15

Children's Sermon

... : Two pieces of clothesline rope about 10" long and knots that have been tied and the ends cut off so that only the knots remain. There should be enough knots for all the children. Good morning, boys and girls. Do you know what Sunday this is? It’s Passion Sunday and to you it means that we are drawing closer and closer to what day? (Let them answer Easter). That’s right, but before we come to Easter we must first learn about some other days like Good Friday. Do you know what happened on Good Friday ...

927. Fasting: Foolish or Fruitful?

Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

... ?" No, there is a cross for you and for me! When Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me," he really meant that fasting was identified with cross-bearing. To follow Jesus is to share his passion. In these days of Lent, we go with Jesus - we go along, not Jesus alone - to Jerusalem where he will suffer and die. When we fast, in some small way we share in the sufferings of Christ. Granted that fasting is small and trivial compared to Jesus' fasting ...

928. Angry Hands

Psalm 26:1-12

Sermon

... not at those who fall prey to the wrong. Our anger is too often misdirected. We don't direct it at the wrong, but we direct it at ourselves and we direct it at the people who are around us, who are only victims of that wrong. In the passion account we see anger. The Scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin are angry at Jesus because he is attracting the people. However, they did not have the good sense to look into their lives and search for the source of that anger. They rather directed it at the thing ...

929. Serving Hands

Psalm 92:1-15

Sermon

... he said to us, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant." The entire message of salvation can be summed up by saying, "Jesus came to serve us in our needs." That is no more clearly seen than in these final days of his earthly ministry. The passion of Holy Week paints the picture of Jesus as a suffering servant. He came to serve and he continues to serve you and me in special ways. I Jesus comes as "the work of the Lord's hands" to serve our needs This is Maundy Thursday, the day on ...

930. Parable of the Bank and the Library

Proverbs 16:1-33

Illustration

... often forgotten by those out of school. The availability of books for people throughout our nation is a part of the great work of responsible citizenship; and the seeking of good literature to feed the minds of our people instead of pulp printing of perverted passion is a great responsibility of citizenship today. Along with Clean-Up Week in our communities to beautify our living conditions, needs to be a clean up of the patterns of sharing wisdom for our time. As the banks make their appeal for the proper ...

931. There’s Gotta Be a Day

Malachi 4:1-6

Sermon

... to this loss of a sense of place was lamentations. Exile meant no guarantee of return, ever. In this instance they had returned with rejoicing. But that had been some years before. They had also begun the rebuilding of the temple, one of their passionate desires. But that had begun years before. Two great moments, they seemed great moments no more. If the two community preoccupations are no longer preoccupations, what’s left? Not surprisingly, the focus now turns to the self. The long-range view isn’t ...

932. ... and Justice for All

Ezekiel 18:1-32

Sermon

... . Moments after the lynching, they discovered that they had lynched the wrong men. This group was innocent. Any evidence they had was coincidental and could be explained. The Ox-Bow Incident kind of justice is scary, when you realize how easily human passion can get in the way of logic, reasoning, facts and truth. Before we condemn these fictional cattle men completely, ask yourself: • How many times have I jumped to conclusions? • How many times have I scolded my children before knowing all the facts ...

933. Honest to Goodness Religion

Hosea 4:1-19

Sermon

... for a solution. It is said that the Lord and the Archangel Michael were conversing in the Communications Room of heaven. In a loud continuous torrent, all prayers of humankind were ascending from the earth. It was a babel of sound. Some prayers were passionate, others were registering complaints, some were urgent requests and others were questions. Somewhat overwhelmed, Michael said to the Lord, "I beg your pardon, Sir, but sometimes I think it might have been a mistake to let people learn to talk. It is ...

934. Let God Be God

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... someone or something other than God at the center. When that happens, and it does each day, we must face the results. Some time ago the whole world was given a glimpse of what happens when people give soccer teams god-like importance. When a team so passionately supported lost a key match, some of its supporters went on a binge of rioting that left thirty-eight people dead. That news event tells us something about what happens in life when God is not God for people. The gods we bring in are so cruel. When ...

935. A Moment of Brightness

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... of Jesus may be a misplaced part of the Easter narrative, that it happened after and not before his Resurrection. There is no warrant for such speculation, however. We do well to leave it where it is in Matthew’s Gospel. It occurred before Christ’s passion. The Glory Given the Son What happened to him is more, certainly, than the evangelist can express and we can comprehend. It was a profound and glorious moment for our Lord. It is to be understood by us as another link in the chain of epiphanies ...

936. The Friday We Call Good

John 18:1-11

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... . It is the consequence of that great sacrifice that occupies us. Its fruits bring about our redemption. We are here in worship to behold the meaning of the cross from God’s perspective. The Witness of St. John The account of Jesus’ passion given us in St. John’s Gospel is particularly well suited for this purpose. Today we hear both the eighteenth and nineteenth chapter of John in this Tenebrae service. There is a distinctive strand of emphasis rtinning throughout these chapters, indeed throughout ...

937. Believing Is Seeing

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... into the swampland of drug abuse, is given us by St. Matthew in his seventeenth chapter. In the face of worn out people who had given in to the problem and who could see nothing more because they believed nothing more, Jesus cried out with a holy passion, "O faithless generation, how long must I be with you? O perverse people, how long must I bear with you?" Then he brought the healing that restored the tortured life to wholeness. His disciples asked Jesus why they could not do anything for the lad. Jesus ...

938. Proper 16

Lk 13:22-30 · Heb 12:5-7, 11-13, 18-29 · Jer 28:1-9 · Isa 66:18-23

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... a. You can't serve effectively if you have no stamina b. Stamina comes from endurance c. God supplies the testing times; we dare not waste them 2. Not too tough to take a. A loving parent never over-tests; neither does God b. Jesus' endurance course (his passion) sets the pace for us; we can take comfort and courage from his example 1. It was tougher than ours ever will be 2. It assures us good things come from tough times WORSHIP RESOURCES Prayer of the Day: "God of all creation, you reach out to call ...

939. The Nativity of Our Lord

Luke 2:1-20 · Isa 9:2-7 · Tit 2:11-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... ? How was it possible for an official of a Nazi concentration camp where thousands were killed to go home to be with his family on Christmas Eve and sing "Silent Night"? Outline: Consider the moral equivalent of Christmas. A. Negative: renounce irreligion, worldly passions - v. 12. B. Positive: live sober, upright, and godly lives - v. 12. WORSHIP RESOURCES Prayer of the Day: "Almighty God, you have made yourself known in your Son, Jesus, redeemer of the world. We pray that his birth as a human child will ...

940. Reflection Time

John 1:1-18

Sermon

... long, it will be Lent, when Jesus’ glory gets tarnished a bit. But Easter will come, then, perhaps, we may dare to remember the story of how he came into the world as a helpless child, how he grew to manhood, preached, taught, and healed for three years before his passion and death, because we remember, and can sing again, the angels’ song, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to people on earth with whom he is pleased." In his incarnation we find the grace and truth of God, and he has set us free.

941. Wait and Hope

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

... of Tarsus, Damascus housed the Christians, those followers of the Way, prompting so many of Paul’s friends to abandon the Law and the Temple as the bed-rock of their religious identity. Two men on fire. Two men on fire because of faith. Two men aflame with a passion for the living God. God has different ways of dealing with such people. God took Isaiah to the temple in a vision and purified his lips with a burning coal so that he could preach for God. God prompted him to say: "Here am I, Lord! Send me ...

942. Treasure's Tug

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

... if these people I love could think of the kingdom of heaven and of God's rule as an attractive treasure, perhaps then they would desire it with all their heart and soul and strength? Maybe if they begin to understand its value, then they'll want it with a passion far greater than anything else in their lives." What is such treasure about? It's about God's rule. "The kingdom of heaven" is God's kingdom. It is where God's will is done and where there is no yawning gap between what God desires and what we do ...

943. A Taste of God's Tomorrow

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Glenn L. Borreson

... . "Love one another. Feed my sheep. Forgive seventy times seven." We, as church, are called to the same acts of life-giving mercy as our Lord himself. These acts affect body and soul, not just one or the other. We, as church, will seek to respond with passionate concern and concrete action to the cries of the world's hungry. We, as church, will listen to the word that America increasingly becomes a two tiered society of rich and poor. And getting up from the dining table of Jesus, we will be moved to act ...

944. The Family Reunion

Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon

Glenn L. Borreson

... It was actually today's gospel, which got me to thinking about family reunions (just to assure you I'm not merely "shootin' the breeze" on the subject). Jesus is busy doing his ministry among the crowds, his teaching and preaching and healing. He is overcome with passion for them because, to use an old picture, they are "like sheep without a shepherd." They are not cared about, but rather, taken advantage of by their leaders. Amidst all their cries for help, Jesus calls a cadre of helpers to join him in his ...

945. "He Who Commands Is He Who Fulfills"

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

... God only by loving one’s neighbor".1 By the same token, "only through a sense of love for one’s neighbor, experienced in concrete actions and embracing all of life, is the Law fulfilled."2 The Law’s concern for justice; the prophets’ passionate pleas for loyalty to God and righteous behavior: all of this is summed up in the bifocal command: love God, love your neighbor. This is the righteousness which "exceeds that of the Pharisees and scribes" (5:20). One of the problems with the Religious Right ...

946. And Then The End

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

... malevolently and say, "That was interesting; let’s do it again sometime"? It is not so! "The end will come." Not as threat. Not as damnation. But as promise and as consummation. Over and against the sad and simple "love grown cold" stands the passionate love of the Crucified God. That profound love has triumphed over the powers of death and nihilism, has transcended optimism, has banished cynicism. And at the last, the story of human history will be the story of Jesus’ love triumphant over every power ...

947. What the End Will Be Like

Zephaniah 1:4-13

Sermon

... in the face of a wide winter sky in which there sweeps, never to be tamed, a flight of trumpeting geese. And he adds, How shallow is the stage on which this vast drama of human hates and joys and friendships is played! Whence do men draw this passion for eternity, flung by chance as they are upon a scarcely cooled bed of lava, threatened from the beginning by the deserts that are to be, and under constant menace of the snows? Their civilizations are but fragile guildings: a volcano can blot them out, a new ...

948. Seeing the Heights

Illustration

... is asked by one person of another. "No," replies the other, "But I saw them once, and they are there all right." When we know the heights are there, we are no longer prisoners of the lowlands; we aspire, we dream, we try - our souls are possessed by a passion to climb. In this time of worship, if you can catch a better view of the heights, then the purpose of this hour shall have been in large measure achieved. For this is a time of looking up - from wherever we are - through the valley fog, above the low ...

949. The Necessity Of Forgiveness

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... Jesus called the phenomenon "saluting only your brethren." And he told it straight - "what reward is there in that?" It creates an attitude of smallness which is destructive to career, family and self. During the ministry in the villages of Galilee, Jesus preached passionately about forgiveness. It was a strange doctrine to most of the disciples. Peter wanted to be legal and statistical about it. But Jesus stated there is no limit to forgiveness. It's a matter of forgiveness becoming a part of the habit of ...

950. The World's Best Kept Secret

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... only way for me to go to college was on a football scholarship. And that's exactly what I set about to accomplish. During my days at Furman, I had a roommate who was extremely studious. I wanted to keep up with him, so I threw myself, with a passion, into every curricular and university service pursuit that he did. One day in my junior year, I went to the office of my history professor to discuss a paper. At the end of the conference he said, "Warlick, I was talking with the dean yesterday, and your grades ...

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