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 1838 results

1301. My Name Is Legion

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . Paul screamed out in his dividedness, “For the good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do - O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?” That’s a cry of sheer agony. Tears of frustration and bitter heartache baptize that cry. Finally, the man was desperate. The self-hate that came from his guilt, the distraction that led to uncontrollable restlessness, the civil war raging within manifested itself in hurting those he loved. He began to say and do the things he didn’t ...

1302. Two for the Price of One

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... they called tuberculosis then. What did he do? He returned home, went into his study, looked death squarely in the face, and then sat down to write those brave and beautiful words: I fear no foe…at hand to bless, Ills have no weight tears no bitterness; Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still if Thou abide with me. There’s one line in that hymn, that says it all for the Christian: “When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me.” The ...

1303. Simon

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... make for laughter and the things that make for tears. Paul, meeting all of life’s experiences within the will of God, made them to minister to his growth in grace and to his larger useful ness, whether they were pleasant or unpleasant, sweet or bitter.” (Clovis Chapel, “ About the Cross” Abingdon—Cokesbury Press, MCMXLI, pp. 80—81). So, coincidence or providence may send us in a direction we never intended to go, or put upon us a burden that we never would have chosen. We need to remember that ...

1304. Living on Full Alert

Matthew 24: 36-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . Everyone prayed that he would be fine. The doctors thought he was getting better, but suddenly the baby died. But, Theresa is in the choir today singing about Jesus being a rock in a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm. She could have gotten bitter. Instead, she got better. Theresa is in the choir today, singing about her faith which sustains her day after day. So, never a day passes, but that someone is taken and another left. Whether swept away or left behind, let us find the kind of faith that ...

1305. You Are Invited

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to the Lord; my shame to the Lord. I need to confess my sins so that God who is faithful and just can forgive my sins as God so deeply wants to do. I need to bring my hate and my revenge. I need to bring my anger and my bitterness. I need to bring the broken places of my life so that the great Healer can begin to touch them and put them together again. Bring your garbage to this place so you can find rest for your souls. Find peace here. Deitrich Bonhoeffer, a leader of the Confessing Church ...

1306. Turning Evil Into Good

Genesis 45:1-8a, 50:19-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... calls home to his wife on his cell phone and says, “We are all going to die, but there are three of us who are going to do something about it." And they did. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “If only to save myself from bitterness, I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive." To look into the face of hell and find something there to be redeemed, is at the center of the Christian faith. Nowhere is this principle of redemptive suffering illustrated more ...

1307. When It's Time For Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... other people think or say.”—Wrong! Just stop fooling yourself. Come out of denial. You see, we hurt; we hate; and we heal. If we don’t move through that process, we get stuck in it somewhere. If you get stuck in that process, you are going to die bitter. The way to get the healing is to own the hurt at the start and understand the feelings that come with it, so eventually you can move to health and wholeness. Just admit the pain. Seek the truth. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth ...

1308. Wrestling Alone at Night

Genesis 32:22-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... certain people I still hadn’t forgiven. There were deep confessions I had hesitated to make. I realized I had been living in denial of my own mortality.” Suddenly in the night, someone seizes Jacob from behind, and slams him to the ground in a bitter struggle for life. Harold Kushner says this stranger in the night is none other than the conscience of Jacob calling him to accountability. A life of deceit, denial, and duplicity is finally doing him in. Here, alone on the muddy banks of the Jabbok River ...

1309. Why Do People Suffer?

John 9:1-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... preacher after cancer than before." And I said to God, “I hope so, I hope so." Never let a trouble go to waste. You see, as one of life's crossroads, suffering will change you by doing one of two things to you. It will either make you bitter or it will make you better. Put it to work. Let it transform you into a better person. Some of the most compassionate, compelling, creative, and complete people I know are people who have walked through the dark valleys of pain and suffering and found God to be ...

1310. Does Prayer Make Any Difference

Matthew 26:36-46

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... relationship with God. O my Father. “O” says it is urgent. “My” says it is personal. “Father” says it is family. And Jesus says, in this brief agonizing moment of his life, “Dad, we’ve got a serious family matter to discuss here. The cup is bitter and I’d rather pass. We need to talk.” My friend, Steve Harper, says the real purpose of prayer is not acquisition from God but intimacy with God. Deep prayer will bring that to you. Maybe more than any other religious ritual prayer creates an ...

1311. How To Triumph Over Terrorism

Ephesians 6:10-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... lovers. I understand that quick forgivers are not usually quality forgivers. I understand that it takes time and space, but I need to say to you today, a year later, my friends, sooner or later in the troubles of life, you and I are going to decide. Will we get bitter or will we get better? Will we get even, or will we get on? Will we live by hate, or will we fill our lives with love? Day by day, person by person, individual by individual, we decide what we will do with what is. Loving people are healthier ...

1312. My Real Problem Is That I Don’t Like Myself

Luke 8:26-39

Illustration

James W. Moore

... ... my wife has left me. I can't get along with my children. I'm cut off from my parents and my in-laws. I'm having conflicts with my co-workers. I've been drinking heavily. Everybody has left me... and I don't blame them. I've been bitter and hostile. I've done so many mean and cruel things... and now I have so many problems (and then he literally said this).... "My troubles are Legion!" He paused and took a deep breath. Then, he leaned forward and said: "To tell you the truth, I think all those ...

1313. Difficulty in Showing Gratitude

Luke 8:36-37

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

... rewarded or appreciated doesn't mean you aren't appreciated or won't get rewarded in some fashion. You may never know about it. I know some people would rather die than show their appreciation or say thanks. There is a Peanuts cartoon strip in which Lucy is crying bitter tears over a decision her mother has made. She wails, "You promised me a birthday party, and now you say I can't have one. It's not fair!" Enter Lucy's brother, Linus, who calls her aside to offer some advice: "You're not using the right ...

1314. The Power to Resist Temptation

I Corinthians 10:13-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to weep with those who weep than to rejoice with those who rejoice. Greed—the need to get, to have, to hold. Money, power, prestige, perks. Gluttony—addictions to eating and drinking. Appetites that go unrestrained. Anger—rage, resentment, bitterness. Getting even instead of getting over. Sloth—apathy, despondency, “I don't care" attitude about all of life. Lust—love distorted by turning people into things and using them for selfish gain. Pride—superiority. Considering ourselves better than ...

1315. What Would Jesus Say About Marriage?

Matthew 19:3-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... by saying, “No man deserves to be as happy as I can make him!” To be forced by cultural standards to pretend is a prescription for disaster. Some are single by circumstance. As a student pastor I was called to a member’s home on a cold and bitter winter night. I visited the elderly couple often and they had been married for nearly sixty years. That frigid night the wife died. We took her to the funeral home and immediately took him to the hospital. On the following Saturday I had her funeral and the ...

1316. What Would Jesus Say About Medical Care?

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... and who do not qualify for government medical aid. They also have ten million children. It is a well established medical fact that uninsured people die at twice the rate of insured persons. As I speak, our own state is engaged in a bitter battle over the extent of government assisted TennCare, as well as the question of insurance reforms giving Tennesseans with pre-existing conditions the ability to obtain affordable health insurance. Let me say quickly that I am not smart enough to know the solution ...

1317. My Country, Is It of Thee?

Psalm 9:9-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , alter your course ten degrees to the south." Maybe we need to remember today that we are a country rooted in “freedom of religion, not freedom from religion." As the founders of this country struggled to frame a constitution and found themselves bogged down in bitter dispute, it was old Ben Franklin, not a particularly religious man, who rose to his feet and said, “I have lived, sirs, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs ...

1318. The Door of Celebration

Luke 19:36-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , when the man seated next to me leaned over and said, ‘Are you a veteran?' Our common age suggested World War II where I served three years in the Navy. It was all the man needed. He had been a Merchant Marine. He told me about ships sunk, about bitter cold, about buddies and reunions. Even though he never shared his name I knew his identity was gratitude. He was alive and not afraid of today or tomorrow, or me. He had been poor and was now secure. He had lived with death and was alive. He was grateful ...

1319. The Down Side of Christmas

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... force among us, there are reversals at work. We can't even get away from it in our children's stories. We have to warn our children when they are yet young that evil is all around us. Even the Grinch comes to steal Christmas. Hate is strong. Bitterness is real. Greed is rampant. Terror plays havoc with our ordered ways. When the hosts of evil strike us, those who suffer the most seem to be the children. Just to put it in perspective, Herod's slaughter of the innocents in Matthew's gospel probably involved ...

1320. The Power of a Helping Hand

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... took out two denari, gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend. Maybe you know from Sunday school or being in church a long time that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The bitter strife had been around for centuries. So for Jesus to make a Samaritan the hero of this story is like a knock out punch in the third round of a title fight. His hearers had to be stunned, shocked, stumped. But the message is powerfully clear. Need has no ...

1321. Esther: The Problem of Opportunity

Esther 4:11-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... the lap of luxury. Now every good story has a villain. The villain in this story is a man by the name of Haman. He couldn't stand the fact that Mordecai refuses to give him due respect by bowing whenever the honorable Haman passes by. So hate and bitterness in the heart of one with power and money, winds up with a edict from the king to exterminate the Jews. This is where Esther comes in. She alone has the power and influence to sabotage the plan and Mordecai, her uncle, sends Esther this message, which I ...

1322. The Road of Joy

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a Roman prison while waiting execution. This old soldier of the Cross who had been ridiculed, stoned, shipwrecked, flogged and abandoned, refused to let the circumstances of life destroy the joy he found in serving his Lord. Joy is a choice we make. Life can make us bitter or it can make us better. It can leave us grumbling or make us grateful. We decide what we will do with what is. Joy is a hope we embrace. Every problem has a life span. No trouble enjoys everlasting life. Things may not get better, they ...

1323. Get Up and Go

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time . . . Beyond a wholesome discipline ...

1324. Daniel: The Problem of Power

Daniel 6:10-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... and do. When time came for me to go, Cal looked deep into my eyes and said, ‘It's all right, Lew, it's all right. Everything is going to be all right.' As I embraced his wife in the hallway, and bid his four children good-bye and wept bitterly in my car, I knew there was nothing all right about it. It was all wrong and yet, my friend had found something precisely all right in a place where everything was all wrong. How could this be?" I. IT'S ALL RIGHT BECAUSE GOD IS ABLE. The story of ...

1325. Develop Leaders—Humbly

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . Sometimes I lose ground in the process of forgiveness. Often I just stand still for a while. Who am I to judge those who have lost so much? Of this I am certain, life is too short to be consumed by resentments. Life is too good to be controlled by bitterness. If we decide to harbor our hurts we will be the losers in the long run. So we must forgive one another, not because it's easy, not because the wrong is trivial, not because the pain is diminished, not because we can forget about it, but by the grace ...

Showing results