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 2415 results

1076. Report of a Secret Meeting

John 3:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

... that light means that, following Luther’s advice, we will "thank, praise, serve, and obey him" - our God - with our lips and with our lives. Once more we are called to prayer and devotion during Lent as we move closer to the Week of Jesus’ Passion and death, the week that spells out the climax of his life and ministry on earth, and new life for those of us who believe in him and trust him. Six months ago, a small-town newspaper in northeastern Pennsylvania carried a personal, quarter-page advertisement ...

1077. When the Guest Becomes the Host

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

George Bass

... night before Jesus was crucified and, in our own ways, were able to remember the story and recreate the climax of it, at least, in our imaginations. The story and the Supper are what we are interested in tonight, not the room or the owner-host. On Passion Sunday, Jesus, according to Mark, had sent two of his disciples into a village - either Bethphage or Bethany - and directed them to borrow a colt. "If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back ...

1078. The Shepherd Who Loved His Sheep

John 10:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

... laying claim to the earth and everyone upon it. The combination catches and sums up the theme of this gospel for Good Shepherd Sunday, and does it quite well. But this section of John’s "Good Shepherd chapter" seems bent on taking us behind Easter to the Passion and death of our Lord. Jesus not only calls himself the Good Shepherd, but he declares, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." In that action, Christ becomes one of the sheep, and a sacrificial lamb at that. But even in death he was ...

1079. Love - A Christian Imperative

John 15:1-17

Sermon

George Bass

... how to love is probably the most important lesson anyone learns in life, if he is fortunate enough to learn it."50 Jesus would certainly concur with Dr. Menninger about the cardinal importance of love in our lives, wouldn’t he? And he demonstrated - in his passion and death - how love overcomes hate and all the evil powers of this world. What is more, Jesus knew the answer to the perplexing question, "How do we learn to love others, as well as God?" He knew that love is a gift given to us, especially ...

1080. The Technicolor Sign

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Larry Powell

Lent is the traditional period of spiritual introspection and abstinence observed by Christians in remembrance of the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, it includes the forty days, excluding Sundays, preceding Easter and is also symbolic of the forty days Christ fasted in the wilderness. Consequently, we have come today not to the first Sunday "of" Lent, but the first Sunday "in" Lent. The ...

1081. Man Of Sorrows

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Larry Powell

... (Mark 11:9). Is it not somehow significant that not a single name from the multitude has come down to us? No new recruits, no additions to the messianic band? It is even more significant that of the multitude, not a solitary member of the Passion Sunday celebrants is recorded to have uttered a "mumbling word?" There was, however, one outside chance that an advocate might emerge from the company of the Pharisees. Early in Jesus’ ministry, "there came a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the ...

1082. Abraham, Man of Faith

Romans 4:1-25

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... wonderful mission You gave each one of us as we became a part of Your church. Too often our days have returned to the mundane and we have lost sight of our commission to take Your light into the darkness wherever we find it. Forgive us, Lord, and restore our passion to serve and live for You. In Christ we pray. Amen. Hymns "I Would Be True" "God Will Take Care Of You" "My Faith Looks Up To Thee"

1083. Overcoming Loneliness

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... of our loneliness, that "the highest sign of friendship is that of giving another the privilege of sharing our inner thoughts." This is the healing power of the small sharing group. Dr. Tournier comforts us with his own confession: "There is in me the doctor who believes passionately in his medicine, and eagerly runs to help his fellowmen; there is in me the egoist and skeptic who would like to run away and hide in a solitary cabin." But, thank God, he didn’t! He goes on to warn us against too much self ...

1084. A King - A Kingdom

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that the sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed. A nd on the pedestal these words appear - ‘My name is Ozyrnandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!’ Nothing beside ...

1085. Man, Where Are You?

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... it. That’s what the fall is all about. The concept of temptation has been loaded with the baggage of misunderstanding. We think of Satan’s tempting lures as opportunities for peccadilloes that make life interesting and exciting. We associate temptation with the passionate desire to get involved with the forbidden, pluck the fruit, kick over traces and go out to do what we were not supposed to do. It certainly involves all that - the sins of greed and lust and hatred, with their promises of better ...

1086. The Heart of The Gospel

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... case, he won the world. And God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That changes our perspectives, doesn’t it? The intensity with which we try to win our case, our ego trips and quest for greatness, our aversion to criticism and our passion for applause, using Jesus as a pad against the shocks of life, or a ladder for successful living, or as a way of satisfying our own personal need - all these are perspectives that are out of focus. Remember James and John? (Sixth voice) "Lord, we want ...

1087. On A Picnic

Mark 7:1-23

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... means of a love poem that I have created which was inspired by God. MANDI: Toddy, my sweet pea, could we stop in this lovely glen and partake of the food which we have been carrying for a mile or more? TODD: Yes, of course, if you so wish, my passion flower. It is in this place that I will recite my love poem inspired by the Creator of this paradise. MANDI: I do so wish to stop here, my precious jewel, the sapphire of my desire. (RELEASING HER LOAD) Whew! TODD: Then we will disencumber ourselves of this ...

1088. Clear and Clean and Good

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... of a tortured conscience. Thanks be to the Savior who purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Thirdly, the coming of Christ means that life can be good. The grace of salvation, says the apostle, "trains us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in the world." It produces people "who are zealous for good deeds." The apostle is careful to point out that it is not these good deeds of ours that save us. "He saved us, not because of deeds ...

1089. The Fulfilled Promise

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... . It is leading them to sincere and full surrender to the Christ who demands everything or nothing. As Karl Heim expresses it, "Jesus the Lord confronts us with an either-or; we must either commit the whole of our life to him or repudiate him passionately and completely." Bonhoeffer was right: "Once you have boarded the wrong train, it doesn’t matter how fast you run along the corridor in the opposite direction." You must start with the right decision. This applies both to the individual and to the church ...

1090. Jerusalem, Emmaus and the Meaning of Life

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... , 1976). This captures so well a sense of journey. "Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and to enter into his glory." The Christ of Revelation understood today is not just his message but his "entire being, his life, his passion, his death, and his resurrection or the transformation of his personal history, so too the effect of this revelation is seen in the transformation of our personal histories." (Baum) This is the reality; life is continual movement of pain and joy - the invitation ...

1091. The Three Poison Pills of Position, Prestige, and Power

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Brett Blair

... mount of Transfiguration. Still yet he might mean the positions beside him in heaven. It is not clear. The one thing that is clear is that James and John have misunderstood what lies ahead of them. Prestige is not coming to the disciples. It is the Passion. It is not glory to which they are headed but the gallows. First and second positions are out of the question. Least of all is the only option or nothing at all. III James and John wanted position. They wanted prestige. And third they wanted power. Notice ...

1092. Lord, I Want To See

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Brett Blair

... : But these sayings were hid from them. On the third occasion Luke records: But they did not grasp what ha had said. Thus the disciples suffered from a kind of blindness. They were blind as to the nature and person of Jesus. They loved him passionately, but they did not understand him. They were spiritually blind. They had sight, yet they failed to see. They were blind as to the meaning of the events that were happening around them. This blindness effected their behavior. Look what they did. They tried to ...

1093. Someone Greater Than a Prophet

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... are, nonetheless, signs of vitality. As Shea puts it, "Jesus lives out of a transcendence which first reduces humankind to wondering silence and then to a riot of metaphors ... The many Jesuses are personal and collective searches for a cause to be committed to, a passion to be consumed by, a life which has worth and purpose" (p. 25). And yet, Jesus is more than a prophet, because through the pages of the New Testament he brings a purifying fire which purges our self-serving, self-constructed Jesus to see ...

1094. A Voice to be Heard

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... moved in our hearts to remind us we are yours, no matter how tenuous and fragile our lives might be. Forgive us when we ignore you, O Lord, when we turn our attention to competing lesser voices, or when we turn off our spiritual hearing aids to indulge the passions of the moment. Grant us courage and humility to listen with openness to your voice which is the truth, the way, and the life. Give us each, we pray, the word we need to hear. If we are discouraged, the word of hope; if we are confused, the word ...

1095. The Inner Galaxy

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... remain hopeless. They remain hopeless, says anthropologist Loren Eiseley, because they see man as the "brawling ape and bestial fighter" struggling for existence. All these births bring more of the same, say the pessimists -- a human being controlled by dark passions and bloody instincts, a human being who is at heart a savage beast. But all that's out of date, says anthropologist Eiseley. No materialistic reductionism can explain humanity. The direction for seeing our true nature is not so much backward ...

1096. Praying for a Whole New World

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

William G. Carter

... way. As theologian Walter Brueggemann notes, “What we ready ourselves for in Advent is the sneaking suspicion, the growing awareness, the building restlessness that this weary world is not the one God has in mind. God will work another world ... according to the person and passion of Jesus.”2 The day is coming when the love and justice of Jesus Christ will fill the universe. According to Jesus, it can only happen after the world as we know it is unplugged and dismantled. Do we want that? Sometimes it is ...

1097. The Next Step

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... of taboos. The old ways are dead. He talks constantly about the need for a “make-over.” And if you are going to get a new image you’ve certainly got to strip away the old stuff you’ve gotten wrapped up in: “fornication, impurity, passion, evil, desire, greed, slander, anger, malice, and filthy language.” We can all understand that stripping away of our old ways. But what’s the next step? What are the distinctive marks of the new face? Once before, in antiquity, the Jews had faced the issue ...

1098. A Note to Fearful Hearts

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... involvement with humankind. You can’t remain distant from the things that are contaminated in this world and those people who are sinful, like the Jewish holiness code did. You can’t be apathetic like the Greek philosophers, avoiding the extremes of passion because reaching out to others always leads to disappointment. You have to understand that if the resurrection of Christ is the first fruits for a resurrection for all, then the great affirmation demands our all. We can’t hedge all bets and cover ...

1099. Your Sins Are Remembered No More! You Are Free!

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... by wedding us to his Son, the One who perfectly fulfilled the Law. Jesus’ characteristics, his righteousness, his love and his ability to fulfill the Law, are rubbing off on you and me. How long have you been a Christian? How long have you known Jesus? Over the years his passion for the Law has gotten to you. Just as he fulfills the Law without anybody having to teach him how to do it, so you and I have the Law in our guts. The real you and me who want to please Jesus, our divine spouse, also love keeping ...

1100. Plumb Line Prophecy

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... redeem it for himself. Perhaps God leaves them among us to remind us how even the mighty are susceptible to falling when they fail to measure themselves daily against God’s plumb line. And we have all known people like Amos, dedicated servants of God called with a holy passion and an urgency to do his work and speak the truth for God, who has a plumb line for us. For them, Paul’s words hold true: “If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe ...

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