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 1076 to 1100 of 4962 results

1076. The Future Shapes the Present

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Sometimes you and I read the Bible as if it were a blast from the past. In reality, it also sends us future messages about what it means for each of us to be a child of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Scripture is often out ahead of us, inviting us to live a richer and nobler life today. In essence, today’s epistle lesson is a fax from tomorrow concerning how Christians are to respond to the great promise of God’s return or reappearance before humankind. A necessary piece of equipment for many modern ...

1077. Dying To Live

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

Charley Reeb

In his book The Mustard Seed Conspiracy, Tom Sine shares the story of his parents’ friends and their love for gathering wild mushrooms. One weekend this couple came home with several baskets of mushrooms. Realizing the impossibility of being able to consume all the mushrooms by themselves, they decided to invite others over to their house for a mushroom party. The turn-out was terrific, and they had a wonderful time eating mushroom crepes, omelets, and soufflés. They ate until they could not eat another ...

1078. Have You Seen a Buck Flying Past?

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A young man named Andrew was working at his first job, and he had made a few mistakes. One day, his boss called him into the office and demanded an explanation for his poor work. Andrew began making excuses, claiming that his mistakes were the fault of his co-workers. His boss suddenly pointed out the window and exclaimed with alarm, “There it goes!” As Andrew turned to look, his boss announced, “It’s a buck flying past!” Have you ever seen a buck flying past? When we are called to account for our mistakes ...

1079. For Those Who Have Received Much (Father's Day)

Matthew 10:5-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Before we begin, I want to wish all the Dads in the room, “Happy Father’s Day.” Fathers don’t get much respect anymore. Bill Cosby observed once that boys grow up spending hours and hours throwing footballs and going to games with their Dads. And when they make it big on the college scene, before the big bowl game they get interviewed, and the first thing they say is, “Hi Mom!!” No, fathers don’t get much respect anymore. But the news on Father’s Day isn’t all bad. The National Center for Fathering ...

1080. Love One Another

1 John 3:11-24

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

3:11–17 · The party of Cain—the brother killers—includes the indifferent:Appealing again to the original teachings of Jesus, commanding his followers to love one another (John 13:34–35), the elder leverages the worst of fratricidal archetypes: Cain, the brother killer (3:12; Genesis 4). Would any in his audience relish the idea of being numbered among members of “the Cain Party”? Of course not! The threat of being labeled a brother killer becomes a negative incentive used to motivate the opposite: loving ...

1081. Have You Heard about Grace?

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Mark Trotter

On October 31, over 450 years ago, Martin Luther began what came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. If you are a United Methodist, then you stand in that Reformation tradition. Like anything that happened over 450 years ago, much of the Reformation is dated and is no longer interesting or helpful to us. It was concerned with questions raised in the 16th century, which are not our questions. But there is at least one permanent contribution that Luther has made for all of us, and that is to emphasize ...

1082. One Thing Is Needful

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Arthur E. Dean Windhorn

This is the age of the half-read page; The quick hash and the mad dash. This is the age of the bright night with the nerves tight; And the plane hop with a brief stop. This is the age of the lamp tan in a short span. The brain strain and the heart pain; The catnaps till the spring snaps and the fun is done. I know, that sounds kind of cynical. But there's lots of truth in that poem. An article in the magazine, PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, had this to say: "In the next 12 months, we will consume around 20,000 tons of ...

1083. What If the Disciples Had Email and One of the Disciples Was a Woman?

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

From: Priscilla@galilee.net To: Mom&Dad@jerusalem.org Dear Mom and Dad, I just wanted to write and let you know that I'm doing just fine. I know you don't approve of me traveling from place to place with this fellow, Jesus, and his companions, but I need you to know that things are going amazingly well. Before you get to worrying more than you already are, none of the "boys" as you called them, are giving me any trouble at all. Not a single one of them has hit on me, if that's what you're worried about. ...

1084. Have You Ever Screwed Up?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

John Jamison

Have you ever screwed up? I mean, really, really screwed up? It may have been fully well-intentioned or not, but the simple fact is that you knew you screwed up and so did everyone else. If you have, then you may have a slight idea of what the mood was in that little group of people who walked down the road that morning. Only a few of them had actually been there to see what had happened on Friday; the rest had already run away or gone into hiding. As many times as those few told the story of what they had ...

1085. Does God Have Fun?

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Children's Sermon

Marti Kramer Suddarth

Object: Card stock printed with scripture reference and verses Pictures of the following (look through encyclopedias, children’s science books, and the internet) 1. Puppy 2. aye-aye 3. Crocuses 4. rainbow We’re often very serious at church. Helping people learn about God is very important. But should we be serious all the time? What does God think about us doing things just for fun? Does God have fun? I think he does, and this morning, I’m going to show you some evidence. Exhibit A: puppies. (Show the ...

1086. Respect

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Roland and Elizabeth were unusual guests at the complimentary “high tea” being held late in the afternoon in the four-star, luxury inn on Hilton Head Island. For one thing, Roland and Elizabeth were not guests of the hotel. They lived about twenty minutes away from the inn. Their home was in the wealthiest neighborhood on that island of very wealthy residents. In fact, Michael Jordan, the basketball legend, had lived next door to them. But Michael had stopped visiting the home after his father died. Roland ...

1087. Do You Think That I Have Come To Bring Peace?

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Will Willimon

What did you do this summer? We did nothing special. Made a number of trips to the lake in a new family boat. Went here and there. But isn't that the way summers are supposed to be? Peaceful. So for us it was a restful summer, peaceful. On Sunday, May 7, the day of Panama's presidential elections, Nicholas Van Kleef, a priest working in the David Diocese of Panama, was shot. Van Kleef was stopped by a soldier as he was driving through his parish inviting people to mass. The soldier got into the back of Van ...

1088. Exposed!

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Today is the end of the season of Epiphany, which began the first Sunday in January. Throughout the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons we have been celebrating ways in which God’s glory has been manifested in the life of Jesus. If these ways were easy to understand by early Christians, Paul would not have had to write all those letters. This is Transfiguration Sunday and, once again, we are presented with another experience in the life of Jesus that appears to be outside our frame of reference. One of ...

1089. Have Your ID Ready

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Think of the last time you had to show some proof of your identity. Maybe you used your library card to check out books, or you used your student ID to get discounted tickets, or you showed your driver’s license to gain admission to a concert. Most adults have some form of proof that we are who we say we are. But if you don’t have any physical proof, how can you convince people of your identity? I read a story this week that made me think about this question. Johnny Weissmuller was a 5-time Olympic gold ...

1090. Do You Have A Forgiving Spirit?

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Eric Ritz

I want to ask you a very important and penetrating question this morning to set the stage for our sermon today. Please answer it in the quietness of your own heart but with utter honesty. Do you have a forgiving spirit? Do you have a forgiving spirit? You could probably answer this question with both a yes and no. When it comes to the difficult subject of forgiveness, there are always limitations, conditions, circumstances, and varying qualifications to the answer we give. However, as we gather this ...

1091. One More Year

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Have you ever been judged and found wanting? No? Well, I have. I remember about a thousand years ago when I first went off to college. It was a heady time. I had grown up in a fairly controlled environment and the sudden surge of freedom caused me to, well, go a little crazy. I will be honest with you. I did more partying than I did studying. The result of this was that I was soon on academic probation. Moreover, I got called into the academic dean’s office for what was called a “conversation.” I showed up ...

1092. Why Did Jesus Have To Die?

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

"So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place of a skull, which is called in Herbrew Gol'gatha. There they crucified him ... (John 19:17-18)." The story continues, and we know it well. He was crucified with two other criminals - one on each side. We know about the sign that Pilate hung on the cross - proclaiming Jesus (sarcastically) to be "King of the Jews (John 19:19-24)." We know about how the soldiers divided up his clothes (John 19:23-23). We ache when he thirsted, and they ...

1093. A Secret Is Finally Revealed

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Picture an attractive mother, a handsome husband, and three lucky children. The little children are fortunate because they have been adopted by the mother and father. The mother can not naturally bear children. She had a bodily imperfection when she was born which resulted in her having had a colostomy, the process where you wear a bag with a tube to empty your wastes from your body. It was a most difficult and, obviously, painful condition with which to live. Consequently over the years the parents ...

1094. One More Angel

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

One of the most familiar stories in all the Bible, isn't it? Even the most irreligious among us have memories of shepherds in bathrobes with towels on their heads. Animals...sometimes cardboard, sometimes live and uncontrollable to the delight of everyone in attendance. There was a Preschool Christmas program at 1st Presbyterian Church, in Winchester, VA a couple of years ago.(1) After the obligatory waves and "Hi Mommy"s, the production began. The angel's sang when they were supposed to. The donkeys ...

1095. One Giant Leap

John 1:1-18, Isaiah 51:17--52:12

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

Do you remember where you were on July 21, 1969? I know that many of you weren't even born! Weren't even a twinkle in your parent's eyes! But for those of you who were around, do you remember where you were in July 21, 1969? Let me give you a hint--maybe the title of the message this morning will trigger a memory. How did the songwriter put it? Young girl in Calcutta Barely 8 years old; The flies that swarm the marketplace Will see she don't grow old. But don't you know she heard it On that July afternoon ...

1096. Making One's Calling and Election Sure

2 Peter 1:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

Greeting 1:1 The opening of 2 Peter is along the conventional lines of a NT letter, giving sender, addressees, greeting (see commentary on Jude 1 and Additional Notes on Jude 1–2). The sender identifies himself as Simon Peter. Most Greek MSS of 2 Peter transliterate the sender’s first name as Symeōn, the Hebrew form applied to Simon Peter elsewhere in the NT only in Acts 15:14, in the appropriate Jewish-Christian setting of the Council of Jerusalem. The author further calls himself a servant and apostle of ...

1097. “You Are My Son; Today I Have Become Your Father”

Psalm 2:1-12

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God’s sovereign control of the universe establishes a touchstone for understanding God’s relationship to us and ours to him. Understanding the Text The content and form of Psalm 2 is generally identified as a royal psalm, composed for and used on the occasion of some Israelite king’s elevation to the throne. We do not know which king, but given the David collection that it prefaces, it could have been composed as a literary introduction to Book 1 (Pss. 3–41). Hilber has made a case for a ...

1098. The Chosen One

John 1:43-51

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: The call to follow Jesus is not without difficulty. Summary: Jesus calls Nathanael to be a disciple but Nathanael is also listening to two other voices -- one encouraging him to respond and the other discouraging him. Playing Time: 3 minutes Setting: A neutral playing area Props: None Costumes: Contemporary, casual; Jesus in robe Time: The present Cast: Jesus Disturbing Angel Ministering Angel Nathanael JESUS: (ENTERS AND CROSSES TO NATHANAEL) Nathanael, follow me. DISTURBING ANGEL: (ENTERS AND ...

1099. Welcome To The Banquet

Isaiah 25:1-12

Eulogy

Barbara G. Schmitz

On the night before Jesus died, he gathered with his friends in an upper room. In that sacred space, three things happened that Christians have remembered and celebrated ever since. Jesus Washes Our Feet First, Jesus got up from the table. He took off his outer garment, and put on a towel. He put on the clothing of a servant. Scripture tells us that he could do this because "he knew that he had come from God and he was going to God." In other words, he knew who he was, and what he was about. Then Jesus ...

1100. Such a Good Time

Matthew 17:4

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A bag of popcorn or peanuts. Lesson: So Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is a good thing that we are here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Good morning, boys and girls. Tell me about some place you have been where you had really good time. (Let them answer.) What place did you visit where you wished that you did not have to leave and come home very soon? (Let them answer.) I just love to go to the movies and watch a very good ...

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