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 2173 results
1301. Jesus' Advance Man
John 1:6-8; 19-28
Sermon
King Duncan
I wonder if you have ever given any thought to the extent of the preparations involved when the President of the United States makes a visit to a local community? A former agent with the FBI tells about some of those preparations. “A team of Secret Service personnel checks out every building along the route he will travel and near every place he will be appearing,” he says. “They go over each building with a fine toothcomb from roof to basement in their efforts to prepare for his safety. We often refer to ...
Sermon
King Duncan
What would you say are the best employee perks in your workplace? Some places offer “casual Fridays,” where the dress code is less formal. For most workplaces, that’s as cutting-edge as they get when it comes to employee perks. But other business owners go out of their way to offer unique benefits to attract and retain employees. Patagonia, the outdoor equipment company, encourages their employees to get outside on their lunch break and go surfing. They even offer a companywide weather report each day ...
1303. The Days Are Coming
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Sermon
King Duncan
Every actor deals with the fear that something will go horribly wrong when they step out onto the stage. Forgetting a line. Tripping over your own feet. A wardrobe malfunction. Fortunately, actors are taught to think on their feet and improvise if something were to go wrong in a scene. Actress Jennifer Laura Thompson recalls how her cast mates in a stage play of “The Wizard of Oz” tried to improvise when the set machinery didn’t work. Thompson was playing the role of Glinda, the Good Witch, who is supposed ...
Sermon
King Duncan
I don’t want to cause you any stress this morning, but we are just a couple of weeks away from Christmas. Are you ready? What does “being ready for Christmas” look like for you? I read about a class of six-year-olds who were putting on the annual Christmas concert for family and friends. The kids were singing “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” with gusto. They came to the line “Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” One child, the loudest singer in the group, belted out, “Peace on earth ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Have you ever noticed that people love to make jokes about certain professions? Lawyers—there are a million jokes about them. Doctors. Pastors—for some reason, the clergy are popular targets for jokes. Don’t ask me why. I think we’re nice people. And salespeople. I think the reason these professions inspire so many jokes is that a small minority of people in these jobs are lazy or unprofessional or even downright unethical. Any job that offers the potential for gaining a lot of authority or a lot of money ...
1306. Shiny Objects
Matthew 4:1-11
Sermon
King Duncan & Angela Akers
Have you ever heard of Shiny Object Syndrome? Many of us may suffer from this syndrome and we don’t even know what it is. Shiny Object Syndrome is the desire to constantly chase new trends, to try whatever new thing comes along in technology, or management techniques, or fashion or food. There’s nothing wrong with jumping on new trends. It’s good to be open to change. But you know you have Shiny Object Syndrome if you quickly lose interest in each new trend and chase after the next trend that comes along, ...
Sermon
King Duncan & Angela Akers
Have you ever been the bearer of bad news? It’s tough, isn’t it? Nobody wants that job. You may have heard of the saying, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” It means, “Don’t take out your anger on the person delivering the bad news. It’s not their fault.” Did you know there are variations of this saying in countries all over the world? And that some form of this saying was found in writings from 446 BC—almost 450 years before the birth of Jesus Christ? The great playwright William Shakespeare was the one to coin ...
1308. Equipped for Our Calling
Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)
Sermon
King Duncan & Angela Akers
This morning we’re going to start off with a little confession time. It’s good for the soul. Every once in a while, do you wish you could call in “sick” to work and have a day to relax? There’s an old term that is used for skipping out of some obligation, like not going to work or school when you’re supposed to. It’s called “playing hooky.” It comes from an old Dutch term for the game “hide-and-seek.” So a person who is playing hooky from work is hiding from their boss for the day. (1) It’s a good thing ...
Sermon
King Duncan & Angela Akers
Let me ask you what for some of us might be a painful question. How genuine is your commitment to Christ? Is it primarily a Sunday morning exercise or does it encompass your whole life? I’m not asking this to make you feel guilty. My goal is to help each of us discover the full joy of our commitment to Christ. Our lesson today from St. Paul’s letter to the church at Rome gets right at the heart of our Christian faith. Listen closely to his words: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt ...
Sermon
King Duncan & Angela Akers
I don’t mean to shock you with this revelation first thing in the morning, but there is no such thing as the perfect pastor. Much as I hate to admit it, we all have room for improvement. That is why every pastor needs leaders who will hold them accountable. Most pastors are grateful for honest, constructive criticism. But, like any leader, sometimes pastors get less-than-helpful feedback from their people. Thom Rainer is a church consultant and former pastor, so he has been on both sides of the pulpit. He ...
Sermon
King Duncan & Angela Akers
Let me ask you an odd question: If you died tomorrow, how hard would it be for your loved ones to sort through your belongings? I stole that question from Ashley Hamer, a science writer and podcaster, in an article she wrote about the practice of Swedish death cleaning. Have you heard about this? It sounds morbid, but it’s actually a good idea. Swedish death cleaning is the practice of going through your possessions every few years and getting rid of the things you no longer need or no longer feel ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“I am sending you out among wolves.” Matthew 10:16 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Matthew 7:15 We all know and fear wolves. But some can be clever. How do you recognize a “wolf” when you see one? I think we can all probably answer that question. We need to pay attention to their behavior and not their facade. We don’t need a manual on wolf behavior to recognize when wolves are in our presence. Wolves have a certain identifiable ...
1313. Weather Signs
Luke 12:49-53
Sermon Aid
William E. Keeney
The government spends millions of dollars to launch weather satellites. They observe the patterns of weather systems around the world. Meteorologists use the data to try to predict what the weather will be so as to plan for what may be coming. The predictions are fairly reliable in the short term. They prove to be less reliable for the long term. Even in the short term the weather produces surprises. Tornadoes show up unexpectedly. A few years ago flash floods killed people and destroyed property with ...
1314. "I appeal to Caesar!"
Acts 24:1-27, Acts 25:1-12
Sermon Aid
CSS
Two years at Caesarea! Today people might regard that as an ideal vacation - warm Mediterranean breezes, a rocky shoreline with some sandy beaches, daily pageantry with the drills of the Roman legions, plenty of sunshine and swimming. Today, only a few miles to the south, the shore is lined with the high-rise resort hotels of Tel-Aviv. Caesarea itself has become a tourist mecca, carefully excavated and restored to indicate some of the amenities of Roman civilization - paved streets, aqueducts to bring ...
Sermon
King Duncan
A teenager came to his pastor for advice: "I left home," said the boy, "and did something that will make my dad furious when he finds out. What should I do?" The minister thought for a moment and replied, "Go home and confess your sin to your father, and he'll probably forgive you and treat you like the prodigal son." Sometime later the boy reported to the minister, "Well, I told Dad what I did." "And did he kill the fatted calf for you?" asked the minister. "No," said the boy, "but he nearly killed the ...
1316. The Bold And Beautiful
1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5
Sermon
King Duncan
The Reverend John Brokhoff tells a great story about a major league baseball game that was stopped by a dog. It happened at a Kansas City Chiefs' game. A dog walked onto the playing field and wandered around. The game was stopped so that the dog could be removed. The umpires tried to shoo him off. The players yelled and hollered at him, "Get out, go home, you idiot dog." The dog by this time was thoroughly confused, ran here and there, and finally lay down on third base, refusing to move. A sports reporter ...
1317. Third Sunday in Lent
1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Isaiah 55:1-13, Psalm 63:1-11, Luke 13:1-9
Bulletin Aid
B. David Hostetter
READINGS Psalter—Psalm 63:1-8 First Lesson—The prophet makes an eloquent appeal, offering a spiritual banquet of food and drink as the outcome of repentance. Isaiah 55:1-9 Second Lesson—Paul warns the Corinthians that sexual immorality can be a deadly sin. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Gospel—The relatively innocent may suffer with the guilty, but the day of judgment will come for everyone in due course, warns Jesus. Luke 13:1-9 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
In my last sermon, I talked about Parent Burnout. I told some of you that you would get equal time. Today, I’m talking about “growing old”. Next to dying, the recognition that we are aging is the most profound shock of our lifetime. The truth is that the sermon is not just for one segment of the congregation; it’s for all of us. We’re all growing old. And as someone has said, “growing old is not so bad when you consider the alternative.” A 90-year-old was asked what he felt like when he woke up in the ...
Sermon
Ken Lentz
A group of American tourists once listened to a story told by their Jewish guide. The guide, Moshe, claimed that his story would explain why the commandments were published on two tablets of stone. Moses came down from the mountain with a tablet of stone listing some of the commandments. He first met a group of Kenites. "Do you want the commandments of God?" he asked. "What do they say?" asked the Kenites. "Thou shalt not kill," replied Moses. "Thanks, we think we'll pass," responded the Kenites. Next, ...
Sermon
King Duncan
In Ogden Nash’s poem, “The Outcome of Mr. MacLeod’s Grat­itude,” he tells of a wife who was always complaining . . . and a husband who conversely managed to be grateful for everything. What a combination--one always complaining and the other always grateful. The last stanza of the poem goes like this: So she tired of her husband’s cheery note And she stuffed a tea-tray down his throat. He remarked from the floor, where they found him reclining, “I’m just a MacLeod with a silver lining!” I hope you have ...
Understanding Series
Donald A. Hagner
The Ineffectiveness of the Law The argument of the preceding two chapters is restated in this section (10:1–18), bringing the central argument of the epistle, namely, the imperfection of the old order and the perfection of the new, to a conclusion. The only new material in this section is found in verses 5–10, where the author’s thesis finds further support in his exegesis of Psalm 40:6–8. All the other material is a restatement of earlier points. The entire central section is then effectively rounded out ...
1322. Food Sacrificed to Idols
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Understanding Series
Marion L. Soards
Contrasting Knowledge and Love At this point in the letter to Corinth Paul enters into the discussion of an issue that will engage him, in one way or another, through 11:1. While the concrete concern that calls for his attention is the issue of “food sacrificed to idols,” at a theological level his focus is Christian rights and responsibilities, especially regarding “knowledge” and “freedom” in lifestyle practices. Interpreters trace the course of Paul’s reflections in slightly different ways, for at one ...
Sermon
King Duncan
In 1948, a World War II veteran named Earl Shaffer was the first person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. This 2,160-mile hiking trail connects Springer Mountain, Georgia, with Mount Katahdin, Maine. It is billed as the longest hiking-only footpath in the world. Shaffer was restless after the war and he was grieving the death of his best friend. He needed to find some peace, so he set out alone on this challenging adventure. It took him through forests and streams and over mountains. He reached Maine ...
1324. Freedom
Acts 16:16-40
Sermon
Will Willimon
"One thing which I like about living in New York," he said, “as opposed to where you live, is the freedom. Here there is freedom to live the lifestyle I choose -- to eat where I want and to dress as I like. Freedom." Then he closed his door behind us. He locked the latch, turned the deadbolt, inserted the chain, and switched on the electronic alarm, telling me, "Don't dare open that door without switching off the alarm or all hell will break loose and the cops may shoot you dead." If there is one virtue on ...
1325. Be Near, Ye Faithful
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Sermon
Ronald Love
The origin of this well-known Christmas carol O Come, All Ye Faithful remains a mystery. For several hundred years it was maintained that it was written by a cleric in the Middle Ages. The earliest known manuscript of the hymn was discovered 1740. The discovery of the manuscript is attributed to John Francis Wade. In England he was a copyist and writer of church music. At this time there was a Holy War between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Ward, in 1745, left England and took up ...
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