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 951 to 975 of 1164 results

951. When We Are Tempted

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor John Jewell tells about a 20/20 episode sometime back in which some children of about four years of age were forced to deal with the ancient scourge of temptation. They were left alone in a room. Sitting in front of them was two or three M&Ms. They were told they could have a whole package of M&Ms if they would wait five minutes for a bell to ring before devouring the two or three M&Ms in front of them. The struggle of temptation was recorded through a two way mirror. The result was hilarious, says ...

952. Flashing Lights

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

Robert Beringer

Flashing Lights There is a hunger in human hearts for an experience of God that transforms human life. Years ago, the shrill ring of the telephone awoke me in the night. It was a local doctor asking me to join him in the emergency room where a boy had been taken after a bad drug trip on LSD. The parents were frantic as the boy mumbled incoherently, describing bright flashing lights, beautiful colors, and a "presence" he felt must be God. As I stood there that night, I knew everyone in that room could feel ...

953. Transfiguration

2 Peter 1:12-21, Daniel 7:1-14, Exodus 24:1-18, Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: The transfiguration of Christ was an experience of divine transcendence. The Spirit gifts his children with glimpses of the transcendent Christ and the life to come. COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 24:12-18 God instructs Moses to ascend Mount Sinai to receive the law of the Lord. The glory of God appeared to the people on top of the mountain as a consuming fire. Moses enters the mysterious cloud and approaches the fire to receive the divine revelation. Old Testament: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 In the ...

954. Controlling Our Cravings

Luke 12:13-21, Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

When I was 12 or 13 years old, I worked one summer as a general flunky at a service station. Often I assisted a young country boy who worked in the grease pit. As he worked he sang a song, probably a popular country music hit of that time. Don't worry. I'm not going to sing the song, but here are some of the words: "How many times have you heard someone say, If I had his money, I could do things my way. But little they know that it's so hard to find One rich man in ten with a satisfied mind. Money can't ...

955. Lesson From A Blind Man

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Eugene was a wimpy prince; stunted in growth, ugly, sickly, pale and hunched back. Everyone in Louis XIV's castle had written him off and ignored him. The young prince wandered around in the shadows of the French monarch's castle going unnoticed among the nobles and royalty who attended the balls, ballets, and parties. Eugene's friends were the slaves. No one else would have anything to do with him. Eugene wanted to be a soldier so he went to Louis XIV and asked for a commission in his army. Louis wouldn't ...

956. East Of Eden And The City Of Beginning

Genesis 4:1-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Persons are always asking impossible questions of the Bible. Questions like "Where did God come from?" "Did God create the Devil?" "Where did Cain get his wife?" Well you know how the question derives. Adam and Eve were the first persons in the world. They had two sons, Cain and Abel. And when you get to the 17th verse of Chapter 4 of the Genesis story, you have this word:"Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, ...

957. Hope from a Stump

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

In a radio interview, Nazi concentration camp survivor Gerta Weissman recalled an episode one spring when she and her fellow concentration camp inmates stood for roll call for hours on end, nearly collapsing with hunger and fatigue. She said, “We noticed in the corner of this bleak, horrid, gray place that the concrete had broken in a corner and a flower had poked its head through it. And you would see thousands of feet shuffle every morning to avoid stepping on that flower . . .” No wonder they were ...

958. Risen And Recognized

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Robert Beringer

We have examined a number of "Turning Points" in the Gospel narrative, but perhaps none is as vivid as what happened to two despairing disciples who met the Living Christ on that first Easter day. Let us imagine that it is evening on that first Easter. Walking northward along the narrow road to the village of Emmaus are two of Jesus' followers. Their shoulders are slumped, their heads are bowed, and even a casual observer can read the dejection and the disillusionment on their faces. Utterly disheartened ...

959. The Miracle Comes at the Breaking

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Various Authors

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (v. 35) After his resurrection, Jesus promised that he would be with us everywhere. We can be assured and conscious of his presence in the private place of prayer, but also the rush of daily routines, including a classroom or a crowded restaurant; or even in the midst of a rabid crowd at a sports event. But without a doubt there are circumstances and settings where we are more likely to meet our Lord, ...

960. An Understated Masterpiece

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Thomas Long

Some people are masters of understatement. They are able to communicate the size, power, or importance of something, not by flapping their arms wildly and loudly piling one hyperbolic adjective on top of another, but by the slight arch of a single eyebrow and the deft choice of a muted phrase. Masters of understatement. There are, for example, relatives of mine in the South who still describe the American Civil War, a war of immense destructiveness and tragic proportions, by pursing their lips and speaking ...

961. Ode to Wisdom

Job 26:1--31:40

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

This is an Ode to Wisdom - wisdom that is not discovered in computer banks, nor taught in schools and colleges, nor learned from parents, nor symbolized in Wall Street winnings. "Where, then, shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?" (v. 12). In this age of new enlightenment, in our high tech society, this Ode to Wisdom simply doesn’t fly. When God came down from heaven to survey the Babel tower that the people back in Genesis 11 had designed, he was both amazed and amused. This ...

962. God's Witness Security Program

1 John 3:1-3

Sermon

King Duncan

If you could create a whole new identity for yourself, who would you be? What would be your new name or occupation? Where would you live? Would you change your name to Rosco and run away with the circus? Would you become a dance instructor in Florida or a pastry chef in Seattle? For those people who enter the Federal Witness Security Program, these questions are not just idle musings. The Federal Witness Security Program was set up in 1970 to provide new identities for witnesses who risk their lives to ...

963. My Country, Is It of Thee?

Psalm 9:9-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

We called her Miss Anna. She was my first grade teacher in a tiny, four-room Kentucky school. Miss Anna taught us to stand at attention, to speak with reverence, and placing our hands over our hearts to pledge our allegiance to “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Life seemed much simpler back then. I guess it was. I didn't know anybody who didn't believe in God. Unlike Michael Newdow out in California who last year tried to get the “God-word" out of the pledge, parents ...

964. The Banquet

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

The people argued, "How can this man give us flesh to eat?" To eat and drink the Lord's portion of an offered sacrifice was considered (later on in the Jewish tradition) a desecration or offensive because it was believed that the sacrifice belonged to God. To consume the life force, to consume God, was believed to be a sacrilege. But despite the religious calcification of the covenant tradition, the heart and spirit of the covenant tradition did break through at various times. One such time was when David ...

965. The Banquet

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

966. Grumblers Among God's People

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

At a certain popular resort there are hot springs and cold springs side by side. Local people washed clothes in the hot spring and then rinsed them in the cold. A tourist, watching the procedure, said to one of the natives, "How bountiful of nature to supply these springs." "Not so bountiful," said the native. "You'll notice there's no soap." A new pastor was full of enthusiasm on his first Sunday. He mentioned the thrill of accepting the call of the congregation, particularly since it had been a unanimous ...

967. Facing Our Fears with Faith

Matthew 10: 27-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“Americans will never taste security and safety unless we feel security and safety in our land," said Osama bin Laden a few weeks ago in a video shown around the world. It is the purpose of terrorists to terrorize and it appears these criminals have succeeded in making Americans more fearful than ever before. Never again will we board a plane, open a letter, or enter a stadium with the kind of innocence we assumed before September 11th. How will we learn to live with this kind of fear? To fear or not to ...

968. Speaking from the Heart

Luke 6:43-45

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s confession time. “Uh-oh,” you’re thinking. “What am I suppose to confess?” By a show of hands, how many of you have a junk drawer at home--a place that has become a repository for things you can’t find somewhere else to keep? What’s in your junk drawer? When you open it up, are you surprised by what ends up in there? The average American home has too much stuff in it, and we don’t know what to do with all of it. We cram things in closets. Under beds. In our junk drawer. We may even rent a warehouse to ...

969. Simeon Recalls

Luke 2:21-40

Drama

Edward G. Hunter

A Dramatic Monologue My name is Simeon. I am advanced in years, but the Lord revealed to me that before I die I would see God's Anointed One, the Messiah. I know we have waited centuries for him to come, but I tell you - he has come! I saw him, I held him - as an infant - in my arms. When his parents came to the temple the other day with this precious child the Lord revealed to me that he was indeed the Messiah, the Promised One of God! I have prayed all my adult life that I would be able to see him, ...

970. Moses: A Traveling God in a Pop-Up Camper

Exodus 13:17-22, 33:7-11

Sermon

John E. Harnish

So Joseph died in Egypt. Having saved the family from famine, this great-grandson of Abraham dies in hope of the day when they will return to the Promised Land, the land of Abraham's sojourn and God's covenant. And as he requested, the people pack his bones in a coffin, promising to carry them along when the time comes. Decades pass; the people of Israel grow in influence and power. Like many immigrant groups which establish themselves in a new land, they become a threat to the powers that be. (There are ...

971. Remember, O Lord, What Has Happened to Us

Lamentations 5:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

A Final Lament and Appeal: Lamentation ends with a prayer asking God to remember the suffering of God’s city, Jerusalem, and his people. The prayer is one of the community as indicated by the consistent use of the first person plural pronoun. After the invocation in verse 1, the prayer continues with a long description of the suffering of a once proud and glorious place (vv. 2–18). It ends with a series of “why” questions (vv. 19–22), similar to the laments of the psalms (see Pss. 10:1, 13; 22: 1; 42:5, ...

972. Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line

Amos 7:1-9

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

The Prophet’s Visions and Encounter with Amaziah: While this section contains two different types of visions and a biographical insert, it should be regarded as a unit that has been given its present form by the disciples of the prophet. The first two visions, in 7:1–3 and 7:4–6, are “event visions,” portraying what is about to happen, and they are identical in their form. The third and fourth visions, in 7:7–9 and 8:1–3, are “wordplay visions,” in which the meaning of what is seen depends on Yahweh’s ...

973. Rise Up

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

November 2019, the virus we know as the “Coronavirus” or “COVID-19” appeared in Wuhan, China. Today, nearly five months later, that same virus is affecting people around the world. At nearly 400,000 cases worldwide, COVID-19 is on a trajectory that will continue to infect people in 150 countries for months to come –their health, their finances, and their weary spirits. This event, next to Sept 11, 2001, may be the most devastating world event of the 21st century and is already being compared to two ...

974. A Farewell Gift

John 14:15-31

Sermon

John M. Braaten

I have never liked saying "goodbye," it always elicits feelings of finality. So I say other things like, "See you!" or "Hope to see you sometime." Most of the time I like quick goodbyes. However, when a loved one leaves there are no formalities. We embrace, sometimes through tears. It is not uncommon to cast out cliches, often with a bit of humor, to lighten the atmosphere. But in the end the word "goodbye" is bound to be spoken. It's a comforting thought really, because it is a shortened form of "God be ...

975. Holy Believing

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Donald Macleod

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last ...

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