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 1301 to 1325 of 3108 results

1301. Crowned With Victory

John 14:15-31

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

Easter is the greatest of all holidays. It is the greatest because it celebrates the most outstanding event which ever happened in this world. There has been nothing in all history which has been more significant, more meaningful to people than Christ’s victory over death. Today marks the birthday of our eternal hope. Today is the anniversary of the victory of the human soul over death. It was on that first Easter morning, when the angel calmly and briefly announced, "He is not here, he is risen," that ...

1302. Prepare The Way

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Brett Blair

His name was John. People knew him locally as the Baptist. Some would say of him that he was a religious eccentric. Others less kind would dismiss him as being simply a flake. He definitely did not seem to be the kind of “How to win friends and influence people” type of personality to usher in the news of the Messiah’s coming. He just somehow doesn’t seem to fit in with shepherds and wise men and the other characters that we traditionally associate with the Christmas story. Yet, this was God’s unlikely ...

1303. The Need for A Community of Healing

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

A friend of mine came home alive. For many long weeks there was real fear he would not come home at all. A week or so prior to Thanksgiving he entered the hospital with an emergency illness. After a few days, however, it became apparent something far more serious was wrong. Doctors were baffled. More specialists were called in who eventually diagnosed his malady -- a serious one indeed. Appropriate drugs and medications were administered, but his condition worsened. New specialists were summoned, new tests ...

1304. A Thimble Full Of Ocean

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Larry Powell

A prominent magazine recently featured a story about a Russian family whose dramatic escape from the Soviet Union attracted world-wide attention. It was not a pretty story. The family’s pentecostal beliefs first brought down hatefully-pronounced warnings from Communist party officials. Soon following, however, the family’s persistent prayer and Bible readings angered the authorities to the point that threats gave way to incidents of violence and persecution. Harassment, repeated interrogations, public ...

1305. Preconceived Ideas

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

Could you believe what the news reported this week? [Pause here] You ask, what news report are you talking about preacher: The one that said $87 billion dollars is an admission of the presidents failed policy in Iraq, or the one that said $87 billion shows the presidents serious resolve in finishing what he started in Iraq? Or the report that said the United Nations is now being asked to come in and clean up our mess, or the one that said the United Nations is being asked to participate because the world ...

1306. Old Favorite

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Most of us play favorites, whether we admit it or not. All parents try to love their children with equal devotion. That’s hard to do. My own parents had a favorite: it was my sister, I’m convinced. Yet from her incorrect perspective, I was the favorite. Favoritism seems to be a part of our biblical perspective. Abraham and Sarah favored Isaac over Ishmael. Then old Isaac favored Esau the country boy, but his wife Rebekah favored pompous little Jacob. There’s no doubt old Jacob himself later favored and ...

1307. The Fruit of Forgiveness

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

One of the outstanding personages of the modern era was Howard Hughes. Mr. Hughes was regularly featured in the news from the 1920s through the 1970s. He set world speed records in his day for air travel. He designed and produced new planes. He contributed much to the advancement of commercial air travel. He produced motion pictures in Hollywood and made considerable innovations in that industry. He managed and enhanced the oil drill tool industry he inherited from his father and became the second richest ...

1308. Beating Babel

Acts 2:1-13, Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Once upon a time, in the dim and distant past, a little Jewish child asked, "Mommy, Daddy, why do people from different countries talk funny?" And the response came from an even dimmer and more distant past - the story of the Tower of Babel that we find in the 11th chapter of Genesis. Human pride had decided it would make a name for itself and would build a city and a tower that would be a gateway to heaven; God would not allow such presumption so the speech of the workers was confused, they fell to ...

1309. The Grief Grinch

John 11:17-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

We are approaching an exciting time of the year - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. Times of celebration. Times for friends and family. Times of joy. And for some, times of incredible sadness. The holidays will be hard because someone with whom previous special days were shared is gone. To paraphrase Tennyson's In Memoriam, "Never Christmas wore to New Year's but some heart did break." If you have never experienced that, I would be tempted to offer congratulations, but I will not. They would probably ...

1310. Pay Back Time

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Some years ago Bill Cosby did one of his many great comedy routines about his growing up years in Philadelphia.(1) He recalled a snowy winter day, enough snow on the ground for a really good snowball fight. So he and his friends had one. Now, if you grew up in an area where snowball fights are a common winter occurrence, you will know that there are certain unwritten rules about what is allowed and what is not. For example, you did not put a rock in the center of your snowball, because that could kill ...

1311. The Ten Commandments #5: Honoring Parents

Exodus 20:12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The family. "The basic building block of society," they call it. We are born into families, cared for by family until we can begin to take care of ourselves. We share the same roof, the same table, even the same faith. Nothing unusual there. It is expected...despite the differences of individual personalities, interests and abilities that are gathered into the family unit, it is a unit. The basic building block of society. The joy I have in living with my wife and children I would not have were it not for ...

1312. The Ten Commandments #8: No Stealing

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Have you ever been robbed? Someone broke into your home or business or car or locker at school and took something? I have. A few years ago, someone broke into my car while it was parked on the street and took some things from the back seat. They were not expensive or irreplaceable, but it was a rotten feeling none the less...not so much that something I owned was stolen, but the feeling that part of ME had been violated. Has that ever happened to you? There is a tie between us and our property that has ...

1313. An Attitude of Gratitude

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

It was almost exactly five years ago. Just before Thanksgiving, a Friday morning, shortly after 5:00 AM - I was awakened by a shout from our kitchen, "OH, NO!" A moment later, the cry came again, "OH, NO!" Christie had gotten up, gone in to start the coffee, and discovered we were flooded. A hose leading to our washing machine had burst during the night and water was gushing out. For the next hour and a half we were bailing out our house, then later watched as a crew moved in, hoisted furniture, pulled up ...

1314. Giving Dangerously

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Next week is Consecration Sunday as you know. For several weeks you have been getting mail from First Presbyterian reminding you of the event. We have a special guest speaker coming - David Oyler, the Stated Clerk of our Lake Erie Presbytery - a celebration banquet following worship, all in all, a very exciting day. Our leaders are providing you the opportunity to estimate your giving for the coming year so they might wisely plan the mission and ministry of this growing church. Well, I am about to commit ...

1315. Some Things To Get Choked Up About

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

Everyone has his or her own perspective about the meaning of Christmas day. Some years ago, when Lou Holtz was the head coach of the Arkansas Razorback football team, he was taking his team to play in a bowl game in Tempe, Arizona. The game was to be played on Christmas Day. He was asked how he felt about having to play a football game on Christmas instead of being at home with his family. Lou Holtz answered candidly, "Frankly, I'd rather be in Tempe. After all, once you've been to church, had Christmas ...

1316. Walk With Confidence

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Some years ago TIME magazine reported on a nervous motorist in Lambertville, New Jersey. This man, on being stopped by the police, explained that he had been driving on two hundred and twentyfour consecutive learner's permits over the last twentyfive years. He had flunked his first driver's test and had been unsure of himself ever since! (1) Our theme for today is "Walk With Confidence." Our Scripture lesson is St. Paul's famous admonition, "...Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on ...

1317. A Woman's Place

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

King Duncan

I like a story that James Dobson tells in one of his books about a little boy and a girl who had just been introduced and were trying to decide what game to play. The little boy said, "I have an idea! Let's play baseball." The little girl said, "Oh no! I wouldn't want to do that. Baseball is a boy's game. It's not feminine to run around on a dusty vacant lot. No, I wouldn't want to play baseball. So the boy replied, "OK. Then let's play football." She answered, "Oh no! I wouldn't play football. That's even ...

1318. Marriage: Agony Or Ecstasy

Matthew 5:31-32

Sermon

King Duncan

In a newspaper cartoon recently a woman with folded arms and a superior expression on her face says to her husband, "A good husband needs to be strong, caring and sensitive. You have all but three of those qualities." Then there is that classic story of the woman who hired a medium to bring back the spirit of her dead husband. When he appeared in a ghostly form, she asked, "Honey, is it really better up there?" Without hesitation he answered, "Oh, yes, it is much better. But I'm not up there!" Some of us ...

1319. Teach Us To Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

"Is anybody listening? Is anybody listening? Please somebody help me! My husband has collapsed and I do not know how to fly a plane!" These are the words of a desperate North Carolina woman whose husband, an accomplished pilot, had just died suddenly of a heart attack at the controls of their tiny aircraft. She had not been very enthusiastic about flying in the first place, but it was the great joy of his life. She went along reluctantly, but she had never paid any attention to how he operated the plane. ...

1320. Giants Or Grasshoppers?

Numbers 13:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

Jim closed his check book with a sigh and sipped on his coffee. It's been a rough year. He thought back to the early days when he first started his business. Such high hopes. But competition's stiffer now. Costs are rising. Still, he's thankful. He's survived. He and his family are doing well. He thought back to when he and Ann first married. They were so young. What did they know about the responsibilities of married life? Oh, nobody could tell them, of course. She was so beautiful. Still is. It all seems ...

1321. Get Out Of That Boat!

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

Gerald Hill, a Baptist pastor in Powderly, Texas, tells about a friend of his who was serving in a mission church in Alaska. The water was so bad in this particular Alaskan community that a thick red scum would appear over the top of it. This little mission congregation was in the process of building a new church building. Since this was a Baptist church, the baptistry [a small pool in the sanctuary] was installed and being used even though the building was not complete. On this particular occasion, the ...

1322. Living With The Birth Pangs

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

King Duncan

We made it so far. Nineteen hundred and ninety-six is nearly over and the world is still here. Why shouldn't it be? Glad you asked. Once there was a bishop named Usher who sat down to figure out exactly when the world began. He did it by consulting Scripture. By tracing the begats and other chronological data in the Bible, he deduced that the world was created in 4004 B.C. Some of our older members may remember when it was common practice for King James versions of the Bible to carry a notation in the ...

1323. Peace, Blessed Peace

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

A man went to his doctor to find out why he had been having such severe headaches. The doctor ran some tests and after a few hours called the man into his office. "I have terrible news," he told the patient. "Your condition is terminal." "Oh no!" the man wailed. "How long do I have?" "Ten," began the doctor. "Ten what?" the patient interrupted. "Days? Months? Years?" "Nine," said the doctor, "eight, seven, six . . ." There is a man who was having a bad day. There is a man living in panic, not peace. True ...

1324. Playing The Comparison Game

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

A company chartered a ship for its top sales people. These sales people swarmed aboard and headed for their cabins. Minutes later one of them was on deck demanding to see the Captain. One of the officers asked if he could help. "My friend has a much better cabin!" the salesman said. "I did as good a job as he did and I want a cabin just like his." "Sir," the officer replied, "The cabins are identical." "Yeah," said the man, "but his cabin looks out on the ocean and my cabin looks out on this old dock." ...

1325. I Smell Bread

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Mebane Pridgen McMahon

(Communion) Notes: For effect, I had many bread machines throughout the sanctuary and as the worship concluded, the hot fresh bread was ready. It was true. I smelled bread. Rev. Mebane Pridgen McMahon How many of you remember the popular sitcom of the 1970s called MASH? If you do, then you recall that it was about a group of doctors and nurses trying to make sense of their assignment to the 4077 Mash unit during the Korean War. In one particular episode, Major Winchester, who often protects himself from ...

Showing results