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 1126 to 1150 of 2173 results

1126. Comforters And Quilts

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Welcome the comforter in our midst. Take courage, God's people, for now we are never alone! Collect I rejoice in the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord! Amen. Prayer Of Confession Spirit of God, moving, revealing, we have looked everywhere for signs of your presence and missed the wonder of your dwelling in our hearts. We will not try to control you, co-opt you for our causes, nor claim to speak for you when it is our convenience and comfort we really desire. Stand behind us, ...

1127. Have Your Own Way Instead

1 Samuel 8:1-22

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship There is a mystery of free will which we cannot fully fathom, wherein we believe that our choices matter, yet somehow God's will shall be done. Let God's will be done in our choice to worship today. Collect You alone are king. You alone are Lord. Our allegiance to any other things, person, or organization must come not just a distant second, but light years back of our commitment to you and your kingdom. As we balance our time and our heart's desire we pray that you will intrude, reminding ...

1128. The Mighty Have Fallen. Are We Next?

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27, 2 Samuel 1:17-27, Psalm 117:1-2

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! All: For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! (Based on Psalm 117) Collect Lord, today we pray for all who might seem to be beyond your redeeming love. We know this is not so — you who are all powerful will go to any length to find us, heal us, save us. May we in our worship and in our service become prophets of your peace. May it be so, in your name. Amen ...

1129. Adoption Papers

Ephesians 1:3-14

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Come, God's people, found by one, who now are one in Christ. Collect Father, we take your name as our own, and joyfully claim our place in your family. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord, listen to your people praying. Your faithfulness is evident all around us, in the green of the hill, in the rushing of the rivers, and in the life that surrounds us. The birds who eat the seeds we leave out, and the birds who plunder the fruit we thought we would save for ourselves, are both yours. The bears ...

1130. Proper 12, Proper 13

2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Let me tell you a story, one that will tug at your heart, one that will rouse your sense of justice, one that will cause you to tower and rage in righteous zeal. Let me tell you about a precious lamb, loved and cherished as a child, stolen by a thoughtless, rich neighbor. Let me show you the culprit. Hold up this mirror. Then come before your Lord with humility, begging for grace. Collect There is no mystery, Omniscient God. We come before you as sinners. We pray for your forgiveness. We ...

1131. God Chooses The Poor

James 2:1-13, James 2:14-26, Psalm 146:1-10

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! All: I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. One: Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. All: When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. One: Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, All: who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith ...

1132. Stupid Questions, Real Life

Mark 10:2-16

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Go ahead. Make God's day. The Pharisees asked a question to justify their callous disregard for the rights of women, and Jesus slapped them with a law they couldn't live with. Would that they — and we — approach him as the children of his day — economic burdens, marginalized, useless — and loved by Jesus. Collect Jesus, we know you love us. We approach you not with traps, but our troubles. We are children who desire your reassurance. Descend to us, we pray. Amen. Prayer Of Confession God of ...

1133. Stand By Me

1 Timothy 2:1-15, Psalm 93:1-5

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the Lord! Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, ...

1134. Epiphany 5, Ordinary Time 5

Psalm 112:1-10, Isaiah 58:1-9a, Matthew 5:13-16, 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Order For Confession And Forgiveness Leader: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. All: Amen. Leader: God calls us from our rebellion, from our bondage of sin to seek him and to delight in his ways. He calls us to fast in humility, to serve our neighbor, to share our bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into our houses. He calls free the bonds of the oppressed. Let us, therefore, examine our hearts in the light of his commands. Silence for reflection and ...

1135. The Heart of the Matter Is the Heart!

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Traditionalism is the living religion of the dead or the dead religion of the living. Tradition imagines that nothing worthwhile will ever again be done for the first time because everything worth doing has already been done. Therefore, traditionalism repeats what it imagined always was and what it imagines always will be. The problem with tradition for tradition's sake is a terminal case of spiritual heart disease. In this scripture reading, a delegation of religious leaders makes their way from Jerusalem ...

1136. No Substitutes

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

King Duncan

A church organist sent the following note to his minister: “I am sorry to say that my wife died last night. Could you please find a substitute for me for the weekend?” Well, I’m certain he meant a substitute organist not a substitute wife. Speaking of substitutes, there was an award ceremony years ago for the legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio at the Lotos Club of NY. At that event, DiMaggio’s former teammate, Phil Rizzuto, told the audience that one time DiMaggio, who was wildly popular, was supposed ...

1137. Financial Planning

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman who lost her husband several years ago developed a friendship with a man who had also lost his spouse. They seemed a perfect match. All their children agreed they should get married. So a date was set and invitations were sent out. The invitations read like this: “Phil, Richard, Karen, Allison, John, Matt and Steve request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their mother and father. Because they are combining two households, they already have at least two of everything. So please, no ...

1138. A Faith to Move Mountains

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

A man named Adrian Plass authored what he calls his Sacred Diary. In it, he tells how he once bought a book on faith that told him that real Christians should be able to move mountains by faith. So he decided to try it. He practiced with a paper clip. He put it on his desk and willed it to move. Nothing happened. He tried commanding it in a loud voice. Still nothing happened. He tried it again the next day. The paper clip still wouldn’t budge. He even promised God he would change his life if the clip would ...

1139. An Invitation to a Wedding

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

An older couple was being married. Both had lost their spouses to death and had grown children. The combined children sent out this wedding invitation in their behalf: “Phil, Richard, Karen and Allison, and John, Matt and Steve request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their Mother and Father. Because they are combining two households, they already have at least two of everything. So please, no presents! Reception and garage sale immediately following the ceremony.” (1) There is no more hopeful ...

1140. Moving On Up

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

A quick way to start a fight among sports fans is to ask who is the greatest. For example, since this is football season, who is the greater football quarterback, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? Among golfers you might ask, how would Jack Nicolaus have done against Tiger Woods? To go back a few years, how about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird? I was reading recently about a Larry Bird fan named Eric Torpy. Let me tell you just how much Torpy admires Larry Bird. In 2005 when Torpy was sentenced to 30 years in ...

1141. When Is Enough...Enough?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Comedienne Joan Rivers who died last year once said something with which many people would agree. “People say that money isn’t the key to happiness,” said Joan Rivers, “but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.” “I always figured if you have enough money . . .” says Joan Rivers. How much is enough money? That is a good question. A Hollywood film editor once said, “I had this date the other night with a woman who wanted to walk along the beach. I’m wearing a twelve?hundred ...

1142. An Unforgettable Baptism

Luke 3:21-22

Sermon

King Duncan

I’ve said it before, but our Baptist friends have all the good stories about baptism. For example Pastor Jeff Walling tells about a lady who was baptized by immersion in a baptismal pool in her church. Her pastor laid her back under the water. Suddenly her body stiffened and her eyes popped open. The look on her face was a mixture of excitement and surprise. Her pastor wasn’t sure what had happened, but something definitely had. As he pulled her up from the water, she put her hand on the back of her head; ...

1143. Hezekiah's Prayer

Isaiah 37:14-20

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Hezekiah Responds to His Great Political Crisis: It will be a while before Yahweh will carry out the threat in verse 7. In the meantime, verses 8–35 go over similar ground to that just covered, and especially 36:18–37:7. Once again, Sennacherib sends a message to Jerusalem rather than coming himself. Once again he expresses contempt for Yahweh. Once again Hezekiah goes to the temple. Once again Isaiah sends him a message bringing Yahweh’s word of judgment and reassurance. As the story unfolds, the dramatic ...

1144. The Flood

Genesis 6:1-8:22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

6:1–22 · Few episodes in Scripture defy dogmatic interpretation as does Genesis 6:1–4. The sons of God marry the daughters of men; and Nephilim are said to be on the earth. Until this point Genesis has dealt only with the sins of individuals—Cain, Lamech, Eve, Adam. Now the emphasis is on the sin of a group, the sons of God. Who are these sons of God? The term “sons of God” elsewhere in the Old Testament designates angels (see Job 1:6; 38:7; Ps. 29:1; 89:7). The New Testament, however, teaches that angels ...

1145. Hebrew Servants

Exodus 21:2-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

21:1–23:19 Context · Covenant Stipulations: These specific stipulations interweave civil torah, social rules, moral injunctions, and prescriptions for worship, and none is privileged above the others. The initial civil-social instructions are presented as case law, specific for their ancient Near Eastern culture; about halfway through, the tone changes to imperatives addressing issues of justice, mercy, and proper worship. The bulk of the material establishes procedures to administer justice in this newly ...

1146. Job's Third Reply to Eliphaz

Job 23:1--24:25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

23:1–24:25 · Job’s previous speech (Job 21), where he challenged conventional wisdom, was a pause from the crescendo of his desire to stand before God. In these chapters, Job returns to the elusive courtroom.Job has earlier expressed his confidence in a vindicator (16:18–21) or kinsman-redeemer (19:23–29) to prosecute his case after his death. But Job wants none of that now (23:2–7). Perceiving no activity on God’s end, Job realizes that he must be the one to track down God. But whether Job goes east, west ...

1147. Today Can Be the First Day of Your New Life!

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

King Duncan

It’s said that in Rome, on New Year’s Eve, there is a tradition of literally throwing old things right out the window, to start the New Year free from the past. I guess the moral of that is, if you are fortunate enough to be in Rome, Italy some New Year’s Eve, you best keep an eye skyward. Somebody might be throwing out a heavy piece of furniture just as you are passing by. That’s their tradition. A pastor named Patricia Farris tells about being in Mexico one year with her husband on New Year’s Eve. They ...

1148. Dr. Jekyll Meet Jesus

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote an unforgettable story about a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde. Most of you know the story well. Dr. Henry Jekyll was respected in his community--a gentleman in every respect. But Dr. Jekyll had some secret vices which he kept carefully hidden from public view. Thus Dr. Jekyll had a dilemma faced by some people today--he wanted to maintain his reputation in the community, but be free to practice the vices that he knew would be repulsive to his neighbors. So Dr. Jekyll hatched a ...

1149. When All Is Said and Done

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Life has a way of presenting us with defining moments. I re- member facing a defining moment in my ministry. I went to see a man in the hospital who was dying. He was not active in the church I pastored, but I knew who he was. When I entered his hospital room, his whole family was standing in a semi-circle around his bed. They greeted me, and then the man told his family that he wanted a moment alone with me. So they left us alone. As soon as his family had left, he began to cry. I sat by his bed and began ...

1150. Fake News? No! Fake Religion

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Best-selling author and popular Bible Study leader Liz Curtis Higgs tells about a lady from Texas named Mae who confessed to doing something that was quite embarrassing. She says that a few years ago she and her husband invited a couple to their home for dinner. The couple brought a pot of tulips as a gift. She says the tulips weren’t particularly pretty. They were in a clay pot with the bulbs partially sticking up out of the soil and they were an ugly color, but these were friends whom they saw often, ...

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