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 1201 to 1225 of 3108 results

1201. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Denied!"

John 13:36-38; 18:12-27

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A wealthy old farmer was asked by the newspaper reporter to reveal the secret of his success. The farmer shared a story about one of his old roosters. "This rooster was the best at everything he did. He was better at fighting, flying, pecking, jumping and crowing than any of the other roosters on the farm. Unfortunately, he still lost fights to much weaker birds. The trouble was that just as he was winning a fight, he would stop to crow." (1) Maybe that's what happened to Peter. Peter struggled, not with ...

1202. I Doubt It

John 20:19-31, Act 4:32-37

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

The Apostle Thomas could have been related to Eliza Doolittle from the musical My Fair Lady. She expresses the same idea as Thomas when she cries out, "Don't tell me you love me, show me! Show me!" Thomas could have been related to Saint Francis of Assisi, as well. Because St. Francis said something very similar when he said, "Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." Thomas had to be from Missouri. He had to be from the "Show Me" state. He was a visual and kinetic learner. He had to see it ...

1203. Rolling Thunder or Voice of God?

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

John 12:20-33 [20] Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. [21] They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." [22] Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. [23] Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit ...

1204. Step into Your 'Adjacent Possibility'

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Ever get overwhelmed? When my Gramma would get overwhelmed with work, anger, excitement, whatever she would exclaim: “I am just beside myself!” What she meant was that there was just too much of what she was feeling to be contained by one person. To be “beside yourself” was not a good thing. But what if where you are starting from is not the best place to be? What if where your life stands right now is not a good place? Maybe if you could get outside yourself if you could get out of the space your heart ...

1205. Christmas In the Crossfire

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

David E. Leininger

One Monday, a couple of years ago, my wife and I crossed the driveway from the manse to the church to give blood — the regular bi-monthly Red Cross drive. It was the first time either of us had been permitted to donate in over a year because of the restrictions on donations from anyone who had been in Mexico within the preceding twelve months, and we had been there on a mission trip. There was the danger of Malaria. We went through all the preliminaries — sign in, read the instructions, blood pressure, ...

1206. Reconciliation Day

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you may be fans of “Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers,” the mechanics on NPR’s Car Talk. Click and Clack are the radio names for the hosts of Car Talk, Tom and Ray Magliozzi. Someone wrote Tom and Ray a letter sometime back. Dear Tom and Ray: Today I was involved in an accident. I was happily cruising along at the speed limit . . . in the right lane, when someone came up behind me. He was clearly very upset that I was doing just the speed limit, and he could not stand being unable to get around ...

1207. Be Prudent or Productive?

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In the Pacific Northwest there are three common prickly plants that populate the hedgerows and fence-lines — blackberries, salmon berries, and brambles. All three flourish without care and create impressive thickets for hiding all sorts of small critters. All three sport impressive thorns. But only one of them is valued and hunted down every fall. Brambles bear no edible fruit at all — lots of snagging, snarly vines, but nothing to eat. Salmon berries produce pretty salmon colored gems that are beautiful ...

1208. The Handiwork of God

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

In David Redding’s book, Before You Call, I Will Answer, we get a vivid description of the power and destruction of war. We follow the Confederate and Union armies as they lock horns during the Battle of Fredericksburg. The Confederate army gained a stronghold atop a hill called Marye’s Heights and slaughtered the Union army below with relative ease. However, one young Confederate soldier, Sergeant Richard Kirkland wrestled with his conscience. He simply could not bear the carnage before him. Finally, he ...

1209. The Assurance of Things Hoped For

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

In the movie, Cast Away, Tom Hanks' character, Chuck, is stranded on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean. To keep himself company, he finds a volleyball that has washed up from the wreckage of the plane he had been flying in before becoming stranded. Chuck paints a face on the volleyball with his own blood and names him "Wilson." Wilson becomes Chuck's only companion while he remains on the island. He talks to and sometimes even for Wilson to keep himself company during the lonely months. After four years ...

1210. Jailhouse Rock

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

King Duncan

I’m not certain that I have ever titled a sermon after a song by Elvis Presley before. That may be surprising to you considering the timeless quality of some of his early hits like “Hound Dog,” “All Shook Up,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” and “Hard-Headed Woman.” I guess I could have derived a sermon from some of those, but somehow it seemed a stretch. Today’s lesson from the Book of Acts, however, is a different story. The story really does at least fit the title of Presley’s 1957 hit record “Jailhouse Rock.” ...

1211. Mary AND Martha, Heart AND Home

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

On 10 July 2013 someone posted a YouTube video. Three days later it had 5 million hits. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD6wdrVFc0g The one minute clip shows an amazing life-or-death race. It was shot by some Krueger Park tourists on safari in South Africa. Routinely and sternly, visitors to the park are told to stay in their vehicles at all times. But tourists being tourists, you know the rest of the story. The video shows cars parked along the access road with all their windows and doors ...

1212. For Those Who Are Auditing the Class

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Tony Evans says his wife has for years audited classes at Dallas Seminary. Some of you know what that means. When you audit a class, you go and sit in the classroom, but there are no outside requirements. You don’t have to study. You don’t have to take any tests. You get the information but you don’t have the burden of actually passing the class. Tony Evans goes on to say, “Many Christians come to church on Sunday mornings and audit the sermon. They go to class, have textbook in hand, sit in their ...

1213. No Excuse

Luke 14:15-24

Sermon

James Merritt

Imagine this: U2 has just made an announcement they are splitting up. They have been at it a long time, made all the money they could ever spend, and they are tired of traveling. To celebrate their long careers one of the most successful bands in the history of music are going to do one last farewell concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. For one night only, last chance to hear them doing all their best songs, they are advertising it as the greatest show they will ever put on. It is destined to ...

1214. The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh

Nahum 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Yahweh’s Commitment to Exact Redress: After the introduction in verse 1, Nahum begins by expounding the theological truths that undergird his message. Verses 2–8 are rather like a psalm of praise, though in form and content there is a significant difference between verses 2–3a and 3b–8. The significant principle asserted in verses 2–8 is that Yahweh is active in the world punishing nations that behave as his foes . . . his enemies (v. 2). After the opening description of Yahweh, Nahum goes on to describe ...

1215. A Room with Locked Doors

John 20:19-23

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever been afraid? Of course, you have. Is anyone in the room afraid to fly? A woman on a flight was suffering from the jitters. This was not her first flight, but still she had never been able to relax while flying on a plane. It didn’t help that her current flight was delayed twice before getting off the ground because of mechanical problems. Then, after they were aloft, the lights began flickering. “Oh, no,” she thought, “something else is wrong with this plane. I knew I shouldn’t have taken ...

1216. Pop Verses: Isaiah 40:28-31

Isaiah 40:28-31

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Today I continue our series “Pop Verses.” We are taking a closer look at some of the most popular Bible verses. We are finding out why they are so popular and how they apply to our lives. Quite often our favorite verses are just that – they’re verses. They’re not read in context. This can lead to a misunderstanding about the meaning of the verse. I believe this series is giving us a lot of food for thought about these popular verses. Today our pop verses come from the prophet Isaiah. It is a beautiful ...

1217. Pop Verses!: Philippians 4:13

Philippians 4:13

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Good morning! It is great to see everyone. I am excited because I begin a new message series today! It’s called “Pop Verses!” meaning “popular’ verses of scripture. It was tough for me to whittle down this list to seven. There are several popular Bible verses. However, I think I picked the ones that most people are very familiar with. And some of these may be your most favorite of all. In this series we are going to take a closer look at these pop verses and the context in which they appear. We are going ...

1218. Where It Ends

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

John Jamison

All of the plans and preparation had been completed and they were all gathering together in the room. As they entered, they each paused to look at the long, horseshoe-shaped table with the cushions spread out around the outside, and could not help but show a brief smile. Even with everything that had happened and with the risks they faced out in the streets, the sight of that table and cushions took all of that away for a few seconds. Before they were disciples, they had all been part of good Jewish ...

1219. You are Anointed

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“To God we are the aroma of the Messiah.” (Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthian Church 2:14-16) Props: Provide/burn fragrant incense or scented candles or some other type of enduring scent (be cognizant of possible allergies, and find something that your congregation can find pleasurable). For the end of your sermon, be prepared to hand out fragrant bookmarks. You can make your own by buying fragrance testing papers ($9.99 on amazon for 100), or you can purchase scented bookmarks. What are your ...

A pessimist is one who feels bad when he feels good for fear he'll feel worse when he feels better.

Anonymous

1221. What Do You Expect?

John 6:24-35

Sermon

King Duncan

We are heading into the second half of 2021, and I think it’s a good time to check in with our expectations for this year and see if anything needs to be re-adjusted. Some of us have had a better year than we expected; some of us have had it worse. All of us have certain plans and expectations for how the rest of the year will go. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the next five months? Pastor Daniel D. Chambers learned an expression from a college professor: “Expectation is the mother of regret.” ...

1222. Giving It All Up For Jesus And What’s Ahead

Philippians 3:4b-14

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Take a moment to consider all you have done with your life. Whatever you came up with, Paul says in our lesson that it’s just the past. We ought to look at the past like twentieth-century American poet Paul Eldridge once wrote: “Praises for our past triumphs are as feathers to a dead bird.” Get over your successes. No matter how good you have been, how spiritual you are, no matter how much you have accomplished, it does not matter. We Americans do not want to hear this. Think of Marvin and Harriet Thompson ...

1223. What If You Could Change the Ending?

Luke 23:33-43

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever gotten really upset with the ending to a book or movie? If the ending is too unexpected, or too weak, or if they kill off your favorite character, it can ruin the whole story for you. In other cases, the ending might be offensive to some people, but that’s a risk you take when you go to the movies. Here’s something you may not know. Movie censors in China are allowed to change the ending to movies to protect Chinese citizens from “scenes that might disturb social order or impart criminal ...

1224. Fear of Flying

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Jerry Angstrom had a fierce fear of flying. It’s not as though he had flown in a plane before. He hadn’t. Nothing bad had happened to him in the air or on the ground to make him fear the 747 that could take him on his vacation trip to Key West. He simply couldn’t bring himself to do it. Every time he thought about stepping onto the plane, his mind would race with thoughts of doom and gloom. “What if the plane crashed?” “What if the engine failed?” “What if it ran out of gas.” “What if I die?” The very ...

1225. A Sermon About Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

A responsible pastor must have a theology of prayer that goes beyond churchy axioms, pious clichés, pop theology, and Bible verses proof texted from the King James Bible. An authentic theology of prayer must offer hope in the promise that God answers prayer, but it must also be prepared to respond to the questions of those whose prayers “availeth not.” We must be, at once, ready to celebrate with those whose cancer went into remission and to weep with those whose cancer didn’t, when both persons’ prayers ...

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