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 76 to 100 of 679 results

76. Crossing The Desert Or Protecting Our Vehicle?

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... !" Lucy replies. The Apostle Paul begins with a compliment, not a condemnation. He didn’t tell them they were way out in left field. He began his message where they were. He acknowledged their many statues to gods. This indicated their yearning for God and he complimented them on that yearning. While walking, he told them, he had seen an altar with the inscription, "To an unknown god." The Greeks believed in many gods. They had a god for every occasion. Just to cover all the bases they built this altar to ...

77. Swords Into Plowshares

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... based on the writings of the prophet Isaiah. We will consider five of Isaiah's most meaningful messianic prophecies, and we will seek to apply them to the world in which you and I live.] In today's passage we see two of the basic yearnings of humanity. The first yearning is humanity's universal hunger for God. "In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many people shall come ...

78. Made For The Light

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... them apart for a reason. God had a plan to deliver them from their suffering and restore the kingdom of Israel, making it a model of justice and prosperity. For thousands of years, they had been waiting and searching for the coming divine King of Israel. They had been yearning to see his face. And now, through the words of the prophet Isaiah, God is offering to "move the cow." But the face we see in this passage is not the face we expect to see. In Isaiah 8, the prophet declares that a day is coming when ...

79. The Eureka Experience

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... . But you buy them and use them and find they are the same old stuff; only the package has been changed. Of course, businesses are not going to change their ways any time soon because they are on to something. They know that we as human beings have a yearning for novelty, for newness. And if we hear the word "new," off we trot to find out what it's about. One of my favorite comic strips is Calvin and Hobbes. If you know anything about the cartoon, you know that Calvin is the little mischief maker. He is ...

80. Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hell!

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... an hour with me today." And "Oh," she said, "it was like heaven." On another page he read, "I wonder if he will come this afternoon." And then on another, "It''s dark. I don''t guess he''s coming today." He could sense through those words the yearning loneliness of this wife who loved him so and whom he had neglected all those months, and perhaps all of their married life, consumed with his own concerns, his own desires. And all the sorrow he felt could not change what might have been. He lived with that ...

81. The Ultimate Thirst Quencher (Alternate Addition to the "I Am" series: Living water)

John 7:25-44

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... --even in an affluent land like ours--perhaps even more so. Jesus has a way of coming to us in our worldly endeavors, when we think we have made it to the top--and whispering in our ears, "Are you still thirsty? Is there something more that you yearn for that nothing on earth can supply?" It was Erik Erikson, the great psychologist who said every person is forced to deal with three crises in his or her life''s journey: Identity--"Who am I?" Influence--"Whose am I?" Integrity--"How am I?" I would add two ...

82. Whose Servant Are You? (Part II)

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... of this great man to do the work that God had called him to do. He went to Central America and lived and served among the poorest of the poor. He even wrote a book about this experience. Again, it was well received. However, there was still a yearning that he was not completely in the will of God doing the work that God had for him to do. The journey continued. He eventually went to France and worked in a community called, L''ARCHE, which is a home for people who are severely handicapped, both physically ...

83. Such A Babe In Such A Place

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... thing, so common and so earthy. A little baby born in a cold cave stable, but then people realized, and we seek to grasp the truth more fully, the coming of Christ is the work of God, to satisfy the eternity He has set in our hearts. The yearning, the deep yearning that is present in us all. God has implanted it there, though sometimes unrecognized and unnamed. We want to know God. We want to share in this life, and we want Him to share in ours. So He does. Instead of keeping his distance, God has come very ...

84. All This And Heaven Too

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... sermon title is, “All This and Heaven Too.” And I want to make three soundings as we probe the truths of scripture about death and life, and the ultimate promise of eternal life, which is ours in Jesus Christ. First, let’s get a perspective on the yearning for immortality that is ours. Most of us are like Woody Allen. Now I don’t quote Woody Allen as a great theologian, but most of us are like him, he said he didn’t want to achieve immortality through his work, he wanted to achieve immortality by ...

85. All This And Heaven Too

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

86. A Celebration of Love

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... Christmas, Just like the ones I used to know . . ." Berlin wrote the song in 1941, and in many ways it became the theme song for American soldiers separated from their families a long way from home. "White Christmas" captured powerfully their longing and yearning for home. Lutheran minister John Vannorsdall remembers as a young Navy seaman riding a long train through the night from Boston to Cleveland in a packed passenger car thick with cigarette haze and the grit of coal smoke. They were all, he said ...

87. People With Shining Faces

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... a divine voice called out to Hannah in a dream, “Why have you stopped praying to me?” Hannah retorted, “Well you never answered, so I stopped asking.” To which the Divine replied, “Don’t you realize, every call of yours IS itself my response? Your great yearning is my greatest gift.” With this, Hannah’s ceaseless prayer came back to her lips. Her burden was again lightened, her stove was ablaze. Her face shone once again. (3) Many of us treat prayer as a summons to God in order for God to do ...

88. Surprised by God

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

James L. Killen

... real and alive and always present, and the life that our religion talks about is a real possibility in our real world. Knowing that, we should make it our purpose to go there and to experience that reality. In his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of a deep yearning, a hunger, a hope that is there in the very life and body of the whole creation as it reaches out to come into relationship with God. "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now, and not only the creation but we ...

89. The Perfect Sacrifice

1 Peter 2:19-25

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... us, leaving us an example, call us to follow in his steps. Jesus committed no sin, and bore our sins in his body on the cross. Call us together that we might live for righteousness, healed by his wounds. For we were going astray like sheep, but now we yearn to return to the shepherd and guardian of our souls. Hear our prayers, spoken and unspoken, grant our requests, and fill us with resolve to work with each other and for your kingdom. These things we pray in your mighty name. Amen. (Based on 1 Peter 2:19 ...

90. Rejoicing in Reality

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... oughts - calling us to a kind of life we are not able or willing to live. After all, who willingly wants to be poor, meek, mournful, persecuted? As much as we need to be comforted and filled, as much as we want blessing and mercy, as much as we yearn to be the precious children of God, we're not sure it is worth the cost. Or is it? Some commentators call this passage the "ordination address to the twelve." Matthew makes it clear that when Jesus saw the crowds, he made a beeline for the mountain, moving away ...

91. How Much Is Enough?

Matthew 14:13-21

Illustration

Dan Matthews

... is that in the midst of all this abundance of stuff, we have a mentality of scarcity. We think we need a little more. We are yearning to buy, if the price is right. In short, we can't get enough of what we don't need. Imagine our present day culture in ... And our basic way of seeing the world is by virtue of scarcity. And if we are honest, almost no one of us is free of that yearning to have a little bit more. Oh, we don't want to be accused of being greedy. We simply don't quite have enough. "Maybe other ...

92. I Believe In God The Father Almighty

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... with gentleness and love. (8) That is what God is like, always searching for us until we are safe and secure in his house. This is the God we are talking about when we declare, “I believe in God the Father Almighty.” Perhaps there are persons here today who yearn to be on personal terms with the heavenly Father. Maybe you have been off is some far country living as if God did not exist. He has been longing for your return. Today would be a marvelous time to allow him to welcome you home. I’m going to ...

93. Training for a Purpose

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... many devils in hell running. Yes, there is a wholesomeness that is essential for anything significant to happen. Praises be to God, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, simple kindness with sensitivity to the Holy Spirit can carry the day! The world yearns — sometimes in agony — for just these simple but very powerful good works. Christ keeps on asking us, just as Peter, if we love him. If our answer is in the affirmative, we are to feed and tend his sheep and lambs. Through this endeavor we ...

94. More Time

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... ourselves. Granted, the wrong mindset can grab for doing evil and implementing bad things. However, why even introduce them to such negativity? As they become older, they will rather quickly see the downside to opportunities. Magnetically, we know there is a solution in our yearning. Justice is always and forever in God's hands. Our limitations will not allow us to see all of this to its end. Only God will be presiding now and forevermore. But there is a certain magnetism, isn't there? The Holy Spirit draws ...

95. Call to Oneness

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... must always be never, never to give up. The world has been watching a long, long time and it continues to watch. Some of us yearn in nearly perpetual pain for the great day of days. We know it is to be but we do not know the final configuration. We ... abide, as we are open to configurations the Holy Spirit makes available. The leap from who and what we are to Christ's yearning victory remains in our midst but even that not so blissful predicament is accentuated by love! We must never dare to ask the ...

96. Am I My Brother’s Keeper? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... these the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” As I read those words, once more, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, I wondered if we Americans believe that any more. Do we really want the world’s huddled masses yearning to be free? Our founder, John Wesley, had a unique way of weaving personal holiness and social concern into religious conviction. He not only helped people find the Lord, he helped people find food, jobs and health care. He carried a deep passion for the ...

97. My Country, Is It of Thee?

Psalm 9:9-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... compassion and righteousness. Lady Liberty says it best. You remember those words. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these the homeless, the tempest tossed to me. I lift ... 't decided what I am going to do about that, but I do know I don't ever want to become deaf to the huddled masses yearning to be free. God save me from becoming deaf to the cries of the needy. It is hope for the afflicted. “The hope of the afflicted ...

98. Being Open to the Impossible

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... we had to make it. We didn’t make it. It took us 45 minutes and the service was underway when she directed me into the Chancel. During that 45 minutes, a miracle happened that happens over and over again with me. Strangers share the deepest problems and yearnings of their life. I think it’s because they feel they know me, especially if they’ve read my books, because I share myself with the reader. By the time I walked, almost out of breath, into that service, I knew my hostess driver at a rather deep ...

99. The Living Advent Wreath (Love: Pink Candle of the Stars)

Luke 1:26-38

Drama

Frank Ramirez

... of a morning. Shall Hope be lost in the dark? Not while the Moon shines to call the forlorn. Sing! Shine in the darkness, till hark, Day has returned, hear the lark. Faith: (sings) Faith is the hub at the heart of the flower While in the autumn she yearns Sweetly for spring and her nurturing shower. Faith I am. Snow abounds. Burn. Sunshine will always return. Pilgrim: So you give me no star to place in my bag? Guide: No. Like love itself, a star is too hot to contain or control. God’s love burns fiercely ...

100. The Living Advent Wreath (The Manger: White Candle of Peace)

Luke 2:1-7

Drama

Frank Ramirez

... . It lives. I can see the tree has grown even as we have met! Even when it is sleeping, there is hope for the spring! As long as we have faith. Faith: (sings) Faith is the hub at the heart of the flower While in the autumn she yearns Sweetly for spring and her nurturing shower. Faith I am. Snow abounds. Burn. Sunshine will always return. Pilgrim: The world is not dark. Even when the sun is gone, there is the light of the moon, constantly inconstant, yet bringing hope in dark places. Hope: (sings) Dusk is ...

Showing results