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 1351 to 1375 of 2415 results

1351. Trinity Sunday

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Matthew 28:16-20, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... departure for a didactic sermon that will move beyond the text but show the anchoring of later Christian reflection in the biblical waters of this passage. Matthew 28:16-20 - "The Who, What, and How of Discipleship" Setting. Matthew tells the story of Jesus' Passion in a manner similar to the other Gospels, but there is a distinctive point of view on the events, and there is additional information found only in Matthew's story. The Resurrection account is similar to the stories found in Luke and John, but ...

1352. Take On Something for Lent

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of Lent is supposed to be a time of serious spiritual searching and renewal. It is a time for self-scrutiny and re-dedication to a life of service and, if need be, suffering in the cause of the kingdom. It is a time of preparation for the passion of Christ. How then has it become a time to give up chocolate, or hamburgers, or video games? What have we done? The temptation or “tests” that the devil flung at Jesus after his forty-day-fast in the wilderness weren’t just challenges to DO something he ...

1353. Commentary for Matthew 4: 1-11

Matthew 4:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... his reply. Before quoting his final scripture text, however, Jesus banishes the devil from his presence: “Away with you Satan” (“Enemy”). This is the same harsh dismissal he will direct towards Peter in Matthew 16:23 when the disciple doubts Jesus’ passion prediction in 16:21. Jesus goes on to cite Deuteronomy 6:13, but replaces “Fear” with “Worship,” thus specifically addressing the devil’s offer. The most central testimony of faith for the Jewish people is found at the beginning of the ...

1354. What Is Eternal Life?

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the “now” moments that make life worth living, that invite us to participate in God’s gift of “eternal life.” In this season of Lent we are counting down forty days and nights. It is both ironic and fitting that we carefully count the days to Jesus’ passion. We count the days to that final day when the cross made eternal life, a now life, possible. A day when there are no more count-downs. Our days are numbered. Your days are numbered. What number is today? This could be number 100. Or number 10 ...

1355. Matthew 21:1-11 - Roll Out the Green Carpet

Matthew 21:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... used for the celebration that welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem. In Matthew’s gospel this is Jesus’ first time in the holy city, the official center of Jewish life and faith. In fact this “new to Jerusalem” theme explains much of the Palm Sunday/Passion Week tensions as described by Matthew. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus’ Galilean identity, as exemplified by his disciples and by the geography of his teachings and miracles, is what sets the stage for many of the conflicts he will face in Jerusalem. It ...

1356. Roll out the Green Carpet

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... do on Palm Sunday. We roll out the green carpet. Hollywood rolls out the Red Carpet for its VIPs. We roll out the Green Carpet for our Very Important Persons, Plants and Pets, and bring the animals and plants in before plunging into the events of Passion week. For the last time in Jesus’ earthly ministry, he embraces his identity as The Messiah. For this he is cheered and welcomed. He is treated as a king, worshiped and adored. Those who have been with him from the beginning, and those who have just met ...

1357. Changed Lives - Mary Magdalene

John 20:10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... disciples, that she was a leader in the early church, but that she was shunted aside because she was a woman. Personally, I would prefer to stick to what we know. And most of what we know comes to us in the stories of Christ’s passion and his resurrection. As Jesus hangs in agony on the cross, his life ebbing from him, Mary Magdalene is there, beside his mother, Mary, keeping watch. Crucifixion is slow, brutal, bloody, but still she stays. Finally the hour comes. “It is finished,” Jesus says, and bows ...

1358. What Christmas Gives to Us

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

... even though he was far removed from the real spirit of Christmas, … one thing is sure… he knew what he wanted for Christmas. He knew with conviction what he wanted for Christmas. Let me ask you something…Do you? Do you know with the certainty and the passion and the determination of that little boy what you want for Christmas? I have thought about that a lot lately and if I may be personal with you this morning, I would like to share with you what pop singer Natalie Cole calls “My Grown-Up Christmas ...

1359. The Gift of Newness

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Sermon

James McCormick

... gospel is not just about what God has done for the world through Christ. It is also about what God wants to do for the world through us, His church. We are to be on mission in the name of Christ, and that must not be a hobby, but a passion! If we are in Christ we are a new creation. Everything will be new…including a new urgency about our mission. IV. Finally, and most important of all, everything I have talked about becomes possible only when it is grounded in a new, life-changing experience of Christ as ...

1360. Righteousness Exalts a Nation - The Fourth of July

Sermon

James McCormick

... Notice that it says that the nation is “under God”. Of course, every nation is under God’s providence and judgment whether we acknowledge that our not. But part of the greatness of our nation is that we do acknowledge it. With conviction and with passion we say that God, His truth, and His righteousness come first. God has our loyalty first. So, how we honor and serve our nation must be shaped by that commitment. God first. Righteousness first. We love our nation best when we insist that that’s the ...

1361. The Power of Testimony

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Mark R. Smith

... and in turn, more and more people come to worship. The spirit of Christ is contagious in much the same way as a wildfire. As one great hymn says, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.” Once a church is ignited for Christ, the passion is self perpetuating. An entire community can be transformed by one encounter with Christ. Are you that spark today? How have you experienced Christ lately? If you have, then what is standing between you and the story that God wants you to share with others? I’m ...

1362. The 3 Rs of a Holy Life

2 Corinthians 13:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... an appearance until the second creation story, the tale of the serpent and the forbidden fruit and the draw-down of desire. Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit so that they might become “like God,” knowing good from evil. Willful disobedience, a passion for power, seeking to de-throne God, this was the origin of the Devil. Our own irrationalities, hatreds, fears, and despairs bring the “devil” to life. These three evils—the world, the flesh, and the devil---look like an unbeatable team, dooming ...

1363. Because He Wouldn’t Know; He Wasn’t Known

Matthew 7:23

Illustration

Peter Hiett

... . He knows about everything with his head, but he uses that knowledge to hide from pain in his heart. He meets a counselor (played by Robin Williams) and guards his heart from the counselor by dissecting the counselor with his knowledge and crucifying the counselor's passions for art and his bride on his own knowledge. The counselor confronts him in a garden and says this: You've never been out of Boston. So if I asked you about art, you could give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo ...

1364. Cook Food. Serve Love.

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you keep it? Or an actual iPhone that some kid could show off. You might also mention that whereas parents used to have kids to “work the fields,” we now have children to “work the remotes”] You wonder why people are so passionate about Apple? Getting your message across in the simplest, most “user-friendly” manner is always good for business. When Jesus began his own Galilean mission, wandering the familiar countryside, speaking to both his disciples and to the crowds that would spontaneously ...

1365. Historic: Background to the Declaration of Independence

Galatians 5:1-15

Illustration

Staff

... law, " the colonists had not only the right but the duty to revolt. The assembled Continental Congress deleted a few passages of the draft, and amended others, but outright rejected only two sections: 1) a derogatory reference to the English people; 2) a passionate denunciation of the slave trade. The latter section was left out, as Jefferson reported, to accede to the wishes of South Carolina and Georgia, who wanted to continue the importation of slaves. The rest of the draft was accepted on July 4, and ...

1366. The Death That Ends All Death

1 Peter 3:18

Sermon

James Merritt

... vicarious comes from the word vicar, which has as its root meaning the word substitute. Vicarious means to take the place of another. That is exactly what Jesus Christ did. I am reminded of a little old lady who was theologically ignorant, educationally illiterate, but she had a passionate love for Jesus Christ and the Word of God. An infidel asked her one time, "Can you even tell me what it feels like to be saved?" She thought for a moment and said, "Well, it feels to me as if the Lord stood in my shoes ...

1367. The Scarlet Letter

Exodus 20:14

Sermon

James Merritt

... study of the 88 civilizations which have existed in the history of the world. Each culture has reflected a similar life cycle beginning with a strict code of sexual conduct and ending with the demand for complete "freedom" to express individual passion. Unwin reports that every society which extended sexual permissiveness to its people soon perished. His conclusion? "After a study of 88 civilizations, I have come to the conclusion that a human society is free to choose either to display great energy ...

1368. God Knows Exactly How You Feel

John 19:28

Sermon

James Merritt

... . The friends and the family who had grown up with this war hero marched to the cemetery carrying a banner which read: "He was one of us." These two words remind us that Jesus was one of us. II. His Submissive Humility Not only is this a passionate statement, a powerful statement, and a pitiful statement, it is also a puzzling statement. The one who had scooped out the oceans, carved out the lakes, lined out the rivers, and traced out the streams, said, "I thirst!" Here is the water of life, and yet there ...

1369. Let Me Tell You about the Birds and the Bees

Proverbs 5:15-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... , IL.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1995), p. 95. 7 Allen Ginsberg, Sandra L. Hanson, and David E. Myers,: "Responsibility and Knowledge: Their Role in Reducing Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing," Washington, D. C.: Department of Education. 8 Elizabeth Elliott, Passion and Purity (Old Tappan, N. J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1983), p. 147. 9 Eugene H. Peterson, The Message, "Proverbs" (Colorado Springs, CO., NavPress, 1995). 10 Abstinence: "The Radical Choice for Sex-Ed," Christianity Today, February, 1993, p ...

1370. Preach the World and Reach the World

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Sermon

James Merritt

... , "My dear brother, if your text had had the smallpox, your sermon would never have caught it." b. Preach Compellingly Paul says, "Be ready." (v.2) That word was used of a soldier ready to go into battle at a moment's notice. It refers to urgency, passion, and zeal. The prophet Jeremiah was right. Preaching ought to be like a fire in your bones. I know some preachers who either ought to put some fire in their sermons, or put their sermons in the fire. Your people will never be more excited about your sermon ...

1371. Doing Right When You Have Been Done Wrong

Ephesians 4:31-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... the seed of bitterness, but so difficult to weed it out. We are expressly warned in v.15 that if a root of bitterness does spring up, it "causes trouble." A bitter root always brings forth bitter fruit, and this root is no different. There is no passion of the human heart that promises so much and pays so little as bitterness. Bitterness is so powerful it affects the mind, the spirit, and the body. First of all, it saturates the mind. As the root of bitterness grows, you will find that it takes up more ...

1372. It Is Right To Fight When You Fight For Right

Jude 1:3-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... to write a gospel tract. In fact, he said, "I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation." The Greek word for diligent, spoude, gives us our English word "speed." In other words, Jude could hardly wait to talk about salvation. That was the passion of his heart, that was the fire in his bones, that was the obsession of his life. You think about all that Jude could have written about. He could have written some best sellers. Can you just see some of these titles: "My brother, the Savior ...

1373. Courage Under Fire

Jude 1:22-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... of these "nones" would be open to the gospel if it were shared with them. Now the strategy here is care. Jude says "on these have compassion." The word compassion is a compound word coming from the prefix, com, meaning "with" and the word passion, meaning "to suffer or feel" and it literally means "to feel with." Compassion is inward sympathy that results in outward service. We have three great problems in our church today concerning lost people. The first problem is the vast majority of Christians today ...

1374. The One Habit of Highly Effective Christians

John 4:19-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... nourishment of the mind by the truth of God, the purifying of the imagination by the beauty of God, the opening of the heart to the love of God, and the submission of the will to the purpose of God.3 III. Worship Must Be Actualized With A Passion "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (v.24) Now this may be the single most important and exhaustive statement on true worship found from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation. The Lord Jesus Himself ...

1375. The Love of the Harvest

John 4:34-38

Sermon

James Merritt

... by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Mt. 4:4) Now his main course was the will of God. He said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me." (v.34) From the cradle to the grave, the burning passion of His life was to do the will of His Father. As he began his ministry, He made one thing very plain. He said in Jn. 5:30, "I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me." He said again in Jn. 6 ...

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