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 101 to 125 of 313 results

101. A Prophet in a Panic

1 Kings 19:9-18

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... contributes toward mental and spiritual fitness. In many years of counseling anxious and depressed persons, I have always urged them to exercise outdoors. The sights and sounds and smells improve the mind. In addition, outdoor exercise helps with the sleeping problem and tends to create appetite. HERE IS THE SECOND STEP: MEET GOD REGULARLY IN A QUIET PLACE. God met Elijah at the mouth of an isolated cave and spoke to him in a still, small voice. Do you have your own quiet place where you meet God every day ...

102. Stand Up Straight

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... it the work of Satan. In the Methodist tradition we refer to this as the legacy of original sin; it's the baggage we bring into this world. You may not have a bad back, but you've got some sign of brokenness. It could be a distorted appetite for alcohol or pornography; it could be a tendency to depression or an inability to get along with people. You could be Dale carnegie- challenged, so to speak. You could have a genetic predisposition to cancer. You could have a sick spirit. Perhaps you have a spirit of ...

103. A Large Fish Story

Jonah 1:1-17, Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... is there, ready to replace guilt with forgiveness and to bring hope into hopelessness. Each year in America, clinical depression strikes 17 million people. The common symptoms include a persistent, sad, anxious, empty mood, difficulty sleeping, changes in appetite and loss of pleasure in activities that were once enjoyable. Depressed people often have trouble concentrating; they may experience feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Here is the good news. Over 80 percent of depressed people can be cured ...

104. Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... , “We are all serving a life sentence in the dungeon of self.” Self-denial is an appeal from Jesus to break out of that dungeon. For example, over these next forty days you could to without food one day per week, to gain some mastery over physical appetites and to free up more time for Bible study and prayer. You could stop all gambling; for some that would be big-time denial. You could tear up all or most of your credit cards. You could destroy pornographic magazines that you keep in hidden places. You ...

105. The Scandal Of Redeeming Love

Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... catch an image of an unguarded moment. Fact blended with fiction becomes the means to enhance or discredit; to glorify or defame. The popularity of this material in tabloid papers, magazines and talk shows indicates that the public seems to have an insatiable appetite for it. Probably most of the subjects of the scandal and gossip, half-truth and innuendo would far rather be left alone than to see their names and pictures, and the supposed details of their lives, paraded before the public. The prophet Hosea ...

106. A Man Who Was a Lion-Tamer

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... land. He had no real choice in the matter. Why not do as everybody else did? Why not? Who would know? What difference would it make? He was far from home. And the food was desirable - the rich delicacies of a wealthy court, appealing to the appetite. Yet realizing all of this ... realizing that he would be subject to ridicule and mockery ... realizing that he was risking the anger of the king ... realizing that he was jeopardizing his whole future and possibly even his life ... still Daniel said, "I will be ...

107. Abide In Me

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... . "You can do anything you want if you just put your mind to it." The people loved to see what Mr. Will Power could eat. They would come up with the craziest concoctions of food. I won’t tell you what they were. I don’t want to ruin your appetite. You will just have to use your imagination. They brought their horrible assortments of edibles and dared him to eat them and eat them he did. They dared him and he did it. "Just a case of simple willpower," he would say. "You can do anything you want if you ...

108. Finding the Truth That Makes Us Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... fresh discoveries of truth, even as his days dwindled down to a precious few. The beautiful thing about it all is that God’s truth is an inexhaustible treasury of fresh discoveries. The truth never ceases to be exciting. Every new discovery whets our appetite for more. And it makes us free indeed. 1. Wilbert F. Howard, The Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1952), vol. 8, p. 600. 2. Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1968), p. 403. 3. "The ...

109. Focused Light

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

... reflection in Cornelius. Here in God’s gospel of light all the old dark recesses of hate and suspicion and fear are illuminated, then vanquished. Wet, bloody boundaries between humans dry up and disappear. Secret lusts, closeted passions, hidden and suppressed appetites all surface as the searching brightness of Christ’s love bears in upon human lives. Nothing can long withstand the sharp surgery of God’s grace. The gospel of peace makes a difference in our lives and this difference becomes visible ...

110. Clean Light

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

... Matheson lived in a slum cellar until she decided, "Ye canna hear George Matheson preach and live in a cellar." Saint Paul is sure that Corinthian converts cannot live with Jesus Christ and still burrow like animals in the underground darkness of passion and appetite. They have surfaced into the light. It is a light that cauterizes and cleans. Indeed, the apostle writes, there is glory in God’s light, and he can assure us that even our bodies, our feeble, fickle, faltering bodies, can glorify God. Frances ...

111. Academics, Fanatics, and Other Disciples

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... , but the Izaak Walton League would be sure to look the other way if I applied for membership. To be sure, growing up in Wisconsin I did try my luck at some of those beautiful trout streams. But you would have been unwise to wait with a hearty appetite while I tried to catch our dinner. And, yes, my friends and I did go fishing on the nearby Mississippi River. And, yes, we did throw in a line from time to time, but at that age -- our teenage years -- we were far more interested in racing our motorboats ...

112. The Call of the Trumpet

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

George Bass

... and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Isn’t "The Enduring Chill" a Lenten story for most of us? Asbury might have had a kind of vision and a chill after his strange conversation with Father Finn and, I suspect, it was enough to take away his appetite. A sense of sin and deep spiritual need will do that, especially in the light of Jesus’ impending passion and death at the end of Lent. Lent is a voluntary fast meant to remind us how fragile a hold we have on life. It is a kind of starvation ...

113. Not Far From the Kingdom

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... the voice of a child: "tolle lege" - "take it and read" - which prompted him to pick up his Bible, at Romans 13:13-14: "Not in reveling and drunkenness, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ; spend no more thought on nature and nature’s appetites." It was accomplished. Augustine was a new creature in Christ. The remainder of the story is the evolution of one of Christendom’s giants of theology, faith, and the life of the church. His Confessions continue to radiate as a star in the intellectual and ...

114. Your Undivided Attention, Please

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... , are caught in them. And worst of all, that first and basic sin when we enthrone ourselves as center of the empire and surround ourselves like little kings with all the alms we have solicited from God to serve our comforts and our needs and our insatiable appetite for things - that propensity is also ours. "My business, sir, is to solicit alms. I do not run errands." Hear, O Israel: Your attention, please: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Stick it in your ear and paste it on your forehead, but the change ...

115. The Choice Is Always Ours

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... goodness as undeveloped areas are for food. After all, there are things and people in the world that we have to get along with - and no amount of railing or resistance will accomplish anything but daydreams and nightsweats. The revision of our appetites and attitudes in the direction of service and fellowship rather than competition and conquest could well create an atmosphere of tenderness and realism which would lift all of life. Freedom from the frenzy for outdistancing others might free up other acts to ...

116. The Children of Promise

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... seen the worst of the terrors of war. They returned to see their fellow citizens living in protest of the war they had fought. They returned to an economy that did not treat them well and in many cases left them jobless. They returned with an appetite for the drugs that had eased their struggle with an awful war. All of them returned shocked by the kind of inhumanity that war introduced to history. Like the scars of war, Jeremiah knew his people would bring deep wounds from their exile. Jeremiah knew that ...

117. The Ten Commandments #8: No Stealing

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... eggs. "Son," said Judy, "it's wrong to steal this stuff." "Hell," Michael replied, "we got nothin' to eat." Would you excuse something like that? If you would, you are not alone. The Bible says, "Thieves are not despised who steal only to satisfy their appetite when they are hungry."(9) But note that stealing to feed yourself or your family is not glossed over. The penalty for someone who is caught is seven-fold restitution. Still, everyone of us can relate to what Michael did. We know there is a terrible ...

118. No More Pain!

John 8:31-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... one in five men who beat their wives is so in control that their heart rate actually drops while they are battering. They are not out of control at all. They are very much under control ” the control of sin. Maybe you are a slave to your own physical appetites. Whether it is sex or food or simply a slovenly lifestyle, it hurts to be a slave. Maybe you're a slave to your fear of failure. Slavery takes a million different forms but they are all symptoms of slavery to sin. Notice in Jesus' words his contrast ...

119. A Time For Miracles

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... to this report, FBI agents conducted a raid of a psychiatric hospital in San Diego that was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing thousands of medical records, the dozens of agents had worked up quite an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues. The following telephone conversation took place and was recorded by the FBI because they were taping all conversations ...

120. Freedom!

Romans 6:3-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... brother knew Raynald's weakness, though. Each day he had sent to Raynald's room a variety of delicious foods. Instead of growing thinner, Raynald grew fatter. He was a prisoner not of locks or bars or iron gates. He was a prisoner of his own appetite. (1) What a parable of the dilemma faced by many people every day. There are forces within the human personality that can attain an almost demonic grip on our behavior. We must admire the person who wins a permanent victory over nicotine or alcohol or cocaine ...

121. What Are You Afraid Of?

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... received a frantic call from a woman one morning. She said: "Doctor, you've got to come right over immediately. It's my husband. When he got up this morning he took his vitamin pill, his ulcer pill, his tranquilizer pill, his antihistamine pill, his appetite depressant pill and added just a little dash of Benzedrine and he lit a cigarette and there was this terrible explosion." Some people live in constant fear that somewhere "out there" is something tragic that is going to happen to them or someone they ...

122. What About the Weeds?

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... woman in one of our public schools was asked to write an essay on Evolution. She wrote, “According to this theory man descended from the apes and has been descending ever since.” There is some truth in that little piece of humor. In our appetite for evil, human beings are still descending. Apes are not capable of the extraordinary evil to which humans will resort. What about the weeds? Our concern today is not about the final judgment that Jesus describes--when the wheat and the weeds will be separated ...

123. Wayward Children - Father's Day

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... ! Can you imagine? David Leroy had knocked the door off their brand new 1928 Buick! His mother was not happy! David Leroy's dad arrived home just in time for supper. David Leroy chose not to eat that night. Somehow, he just didn't have any appetite! Rather, he stood sheepishly out of sight, just outside the door of the kitchen, and listened as his mother told his dad what had happened. David Leroy was braced and ready, expecting the worst; but to his amazement, he was surprised by his father's response ...

124. Pretenders

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

... more. 1. Ann Tyler, Morgan's Passing (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), quoted in Working the Angles, Eugene H. Peterson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), pp. 5-6. 2. "Pumped Up" by Heather Baldwin, Selling Power, May 2000, p. 136. 3. "An Image of Appetite Appeased" by Tom Thompson What's Going on Here? (New York: Delta, 1991), pp. 56-57. 4. Sifakis, Carl. American Eccentrics (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984), pp. 119-120. 5. Gough, Russell W. Character Is Destiny (Rocklin, CA: Forum, 1998), pp. 25 ...

125. On "supersizing" Our Vision

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

... -expanding English lexicon. Why buy a regular combo meal when, for a few cents more, you can have it SUPERSIZED? More french fries to clog your veins. So much Coke that the colossal cup won't jam into the car's console holder. Perhaps nowhere is the American SUPERSIZED appetite for soda pop better evidenced than at 7-11. Thirsty on your way to work? Stop in and buy a 64-ounce Big Gulp! Refills are free. Now, can you imagine Americans in the 50's drinking a 64-ounce Coke on the way to work? Remember those ...

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