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 5000 results

101. Silly Love Songs

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... There are hundreds of such ads placed each week in thousands of newspapers in cities all over America. Where has all the love gone? This is a question worth considering. Reading several personal ads prompted one woman to write to Ann Landers. Have you ... that old bridge was like being in a cradle, in the very arms of God. It was at that moment that he once again felt he was loved by God. It was then that he felt renewed and refreshed. When Carl returned home he was a different man; the time away as well as the ...

102. Surprised By Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... was overwhelmed by his stench. “Like the pull of a magnet,” Ron recalls, “my gaze went to the dirt and dried blood on his hands.” Before he realized what was happening, the man clasped Ron’s hand in both of his. “Brother,” said the scruffy man, “I love you. Thanks for being here.” “I’m glad you came,” Ron replied after swallowing hard. Ron tried to smile as the man shuffled over to one of the tables with his meal. The next man stepped up. As Ron handed him a bowl of chili, a little ...

103. What Kind Of Love?

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... , they're like two peas in a pod!" Almost all relationships are a combination of both: reinforcement in some areas and complimenting in others. In marriage more than in any other human relationship, our human needs to give and to receive, to love and to be loved, to be appreciated and to be grateful are present constantly. There are few things worse, the pop psychologists tell us, than for a marriage to become "one sided" with one partner always giving, the other always receiving, one's needs constantly met ...

104. The Dynamic Law Of Love

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... we came from, there can only be one answer. We are the people of the cross. We are the people who have seen the suffering love of God. There is an old story about the wife of one of Cyrus's generals who was charged with treachery against the king. She ... for me." On the cross of Calvary we have seen the man who was willing to die for us. And we realize that, in response to the love that was poured out on the hill of Golgotha, we can no longer live our lives in concern only for our own well-being. "Others," as ...

105. Radical Love is Risky (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... way? Will we learn to bless instead of curse? Which will it be — God bless you or God curse you? Which are you going to say? Love your enemies. And we say how, I don’t know how to do that. Jesus says, well, let me tell you how. Bless those who curse ... here in the Bible. H. Pray For Those Who Mistreat You People come to me from time to time and say, “You know, I just can’t love my enemy.” I say, “You are absolutely right, neither can I.” Now that we are in the same boat there is only one way we ...

106. A Higher Form of Love: The Good Neighbor

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... his time and his care. Jesus knew that you do not affirm anyone or anything by merely giving some money. No, the higher form of love is to give people and things your time and care. What remains tragic about the illustration of my mother and me handing out the Christmas ... , vanished. That was all. Today’s world is a world in need of good neighbors. As I reflect on the clarification of love that Christ rendered, I see more than ever the relevance of Christianity to the world in which we live. In the daily ...

107. All-Out Love

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... possible to break down the self into four components. And let me treat the components in reverse order, beginning with strength. The process will not violate the Shema by twisting its meaning or making it say what it does not intend to say. I. A. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your strength." The beauty about that command is that you don’t have to be able to bench-press your own weight to comply. Ben Turner (not his real name) stands about five feet, ten inches. His slender frame would hardly ...

108. A Tribute to a Woman's Love

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... heard of that sad study that was made years ago of ninety-seven babies, ages three months to three years, in a South American children’s home. These babies were well fed, clothed, and had good medical attention. But there was no one to love them or play with them. After several months these babies began to lose their appetites. Their health failed. Within two years, thirty-four were dead and twenty-one were beginning to have numerous physical and emotional problems. These lives were destroyed for only one ...

109. Taking Time To Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... record player," protested the father. "Yes, but the record player doesn't have a lap," said the daughter. In Jesus Christ, God gave us his Word complete with a lap. There he is holding a little child in his arms. There he is dining with Zaccheus, bringing love into a despised man's home. His arms are open in forgiveness. His hands are outstretched in healing. His lips speak words of hope to those in despair. And finally he hangs on a cross. "Surely this man is the Son of God," whispers the centurion. He ...

110. Does Love Really Make the World Go ’Round? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Children do not need more “stuff” from their parents. They are over indulged already. Your children need you. They need you to be emotionally present. They need you to set respectable boundaries. They need you to teach them the true values of life. Let our love be sincere. Did you hear about the ex-fiancé who wrote this letter to her ex-boyfriend? “Dear John, Words cannot express the deep regret I feel at having broken our engagement. Will you take me back? No one but you could fill the void. Please ...

111. Loving Deeply (Mother's Day)

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Sermon

King Duncan

... , except Joe Gordon. But, here is what is interesting: It is reported that from that day on, Larry Doby never went on the baseball field but that he did not reach down and pick up the glove of his teammate, Joe Gordon, and hand it to him. (3) We see love lived out in many areas of our secular world. A man tells a delightful story about an occasion when his cell phone quit working. This occurred just as he was trying to let his wife know that he was caught in a freeway gridlock and would be late for their ...

112. “May Your Unfailing Love Be with Us, Lord”

Psalm 33:1-22

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... taught his daughter that day! God is a God of grace who reaches out to us, already knowing the depth of our failure and sin (vv. 13–15). But here it is not so much through eyes of judgment that he sees us, but through eyes of love (v. 18). This love (hesed) peaks in God’s sacrificial gift of his Son, after which God always sees us through the lens of Calvary. Hope in hopeless times News Story: At almost any time in history there are reasons to fear the future. For example, consider the condition of the ...

113. Love, for the Day Is Near

Romans 13:8-14

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... so in Christianity. Agapē is not an abstract concept; it is a will in search of an object. Four times Paul identifies that object as one another (v. 8), fellowman (v. 8), and neighbor (twice in vv. 9–10). The other person represents God’s claim on our love. We normally think of our neighbor as a person who is like us, but in the parables of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) and Final Judgment (Matt. 25:31–46) the neighbor is very much unlike us. Others are our neighbors not because they are like ...

114. The Love Cloud

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of Jesus’ salvation and grace. As disciples, all of us were meant to be healers, lovers of God’s people, and holy physicians of God’s salvation promise. We comfort the ill. We feed the hungry. We befriend the lonely. We invite those different from ourselves. We love the unlovable. For when we do, Jesus’ transfiguring grace transfigures them too! Today, may the light of Jesus enlighten your life and your spirit, and may you too become a beacon of light in the world. Be brave. Be bold. Most of all, be ...

115. Love Without Limits

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... little bit like the way Jesus felt about his mission to the Jews. His mission was to his own people. Other people were a distraction. But Jesus . . . Jesus was perfect, wasn't he? At the very least -- or the very most -- he was perfect in love. After all, he was the Son of God and God loves everybody. Yes, he was the Son of God and he was also the Son of Man. In fact he was much more likely to call himself the Son of Man than the Son of God. Centuries ago, we Christians decided that we have to live ...

116. Love

John 15:9-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... in you, that you have been left out of any divine plan, you are wrong. Jesus is calling you. Why don't you come home? To be loved is to have a friend. How was it Joseph Scriven put it? “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!" ... become his very being. Joe is his bitterness. Do you want to live a life of hate? Then learn to forgive. To love is to become compassionate. Jesus said, “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate" (Luke 6:36). On the surface compassion seems easy ...

117. Loving Our Enemies, Christian or Crazy?

Matthew 5:43-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... I am not in charge of other people's forgiveness of me. When I have practiced Matthew 18 to the best of my ability (and I believe the Church ought to be practicing it in its relationship to one another) and no reconciliation is possible, I am then challenged to love my enemies by the grace of God. Some of us have seen the enemy. They are the people who have hurt us. We do not live in an innocent world. All that happens to us is not the will of God or our responsibility. There are people around us, often ...

118. Can We Really Love Our Enemies

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... radical," someone protests. Certainly it is! That's what makes it Christian. We are not certain we want religion to be that radical. We would rather it be more socially acceptable, comfortable and in line with the way we ordinarily do things. We want a nice, safe, domesticated religion, and loving one's enemies is not it. Nor is it the way of the world. Not by a long shot. When your enemy is down you stomp on him. If you are hit on one cheek you make sure you hit back twice as hard. If he has one gun you ...

119. For The Love of God Is Contagious

Mark 7:31-36 · Luke 5:12-15 · 2 Corinthians 5:16-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... be very unhappy and fretful. The little boy's exhausted mother tried to comfort him but they had just come in and were at the end of the line and were going to have to wait a very long time. The women said she suddenly felt a great deal of love for these strangers. She got this feeling that since Christmas is a time of joy, the situation was an opportunity for joy. So, spontaneously, she traded places with the woman with the boy, voluntarily going to the end of the line. She wrote: "The look on her face was ...

120. Holy Love and Herod's Love

Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:19-23

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... me as their promised messiah. This is the background you need to understand the story of Herod's brutal murder of the holy innocents, the baby boys of Bethlehem. Herod's story, at one level, is the story of a frustrated desire to be loved. Herod wanted the love of his people and he would tolerate no competition, stop at nothing to eliminate his rivals. Wise men from the East came seeking the newborn "King of the Jews." Their arrival, precipitated by a celestial sign of an auspicious birth, alerted Herod to ...

121. The Love God Wants

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

... , much less the whole of life. But when we act as though our team’s winning is the most important thing in life, then we have stepped across some invisible line between being a "fan" and being a "fanatic." The fact that Jesus was willing to identify love for God and neighbor as weightier than any other biblical teaching or precept serves to remind us all of what is truly important in living. Finer points of doctrine are important sometimes, but they are not the main thing. The main thing in living a life ...

122. Loving Unconditionally

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... serve God only if first they were shown what God is like. "Let your light so shine ..." he said. Now it is true to say that the way of Jesus is narrow; but it is the narrow path of unswerving, unstinting, unbounded compassion. It is the way of a love which, in Paul’s words, is "patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude, not insistent on its own way, not irritable or resentful." That is the way of Jesus, and if we in the Christian churches really believe that Jesus is the only way to ...

123. Like The Love Of A Mother

John 10:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... began to applaud! "Way to go, Mom. Way to go!" (1) This morning we are applauding our Moms. "Way to go, Moms, way to go!" Truly, today's Mom deserves all the support and applause she can get. Our text this morning suggests that God is like a loving Mom ” and a loving Dad as well. Jesus uses the analogy of the Good Shepherd, but he could be speaking of the good parent just as easily. He says, "My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never ...

124. Tasting the Gruel of Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... his Bible in his car, but he knew some of it by heart; so from memory he recited the twenty-third Psalm and a passage from the Gospel of John. And he said this: ‘Mrs. Oswald tells me that her son, Lee Harvey, was a good boy and that she loved him. And today, Lord, we commit his spirit to your divine care.’” Len Niehoff adds this commentary to this news story, “I think it is fair to say that on that date in this country there was no more hated person than Lee Harvey Oswald. No one had anything to ...

125. Jesus’ Love and the World’s Hatred

John 15:1-17

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... all life, yet this “remaining” is not a passive thing. It consists of more than simply allowing Jesus to rule in one’s heart by default. It begins to take shape in the second “I am” sequence (vv. 5–8), and it comes to concrete expression in the summons to love and mission that immediately follows (vv. 9–17). After the heading, I am the vine; you are the branches (v. 5a), the second sequence falls into a chiastic (a b b’ a’) pattern: a If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much ...

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