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 1376 to 1400 of 1838 results

1376. Broken Love

2 Cor 5:18-19

Illustration

Brett Blair

... that his conversations go a lot like this: "Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?" His father responds, 'Keith, someday you're going to look back and say, 'I could have done more.'" Imagine the hurt and anger that must build up. The bitterness and loneliness. Not in Keith but in his dad. That's what you learn as you grow older, at least you hope that children, as they grow, can learn that. That this kind of broken love is not personal, though it feels that way for much of our ...

1377. Rings of Different Outcomes

Illustration

Staff

... led the team to two Super Bowl appearances winning in 1983 before losing the following year. When a leg injury forced him out of football, he was entrenched in the record books as Washington's all-time leading passer. Still, the tail end of Theismann's career taught him a bitter lesson: I got stagnant. I thought the team revolved around me. I should have known it was time to go when I didn't care whether a pass hit Art Monk in the 8 or the 1 on his uniform. When we went back to the Super Bowl, my approach ...

1378. Take Up and Read

Illustration

Augustine

Here is St. Augustine's description of his moment of conversion: "I was weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when I heard the voice of children from a neighboring house chanting, "take up and read; take up and read." I could not remember ever having heard the like, so checking the torrent of my tears, I arose, interpreting it to be no other than a ...

1379. Lean Upon the Lord

Psalm 115:3

Illustration

Charles R. Swindoll

The bitter news of Dawson Trotman's drowning swept like cold wind across Schroon Lake to the shoreline. Eyewitnesses tell of the profound anxiety, the tears, the helpless disbelief in the faces of those who now looked out across the deep blue water. Everyone's face except one--Lila Trotman, Dawson's ...

1380. A Deal With Death

Illustration

Staff

... Death. He told the Grim Reaper that he would willingly accompany him when it came time to die, but only on one condition that Death would send a messenger well in advance to warn him. Weeks winged away into months, and months into years. Then one bitter winter evening, as the man sat thinking about all his possessions, Death suddenly entered the room and tapped him on the shoulder. Startled, the man cried out, "You're here so soon and without warning! I thought we had an agreement." Death replied, "I've ...

1381. Face to Face With Jesus

Illustration

Source Unknown

The hymn writer Fanny Crosby gave us more than 6,000 gospel songs. Although blinded by an illness at the age of 6 weeks, she never became bitter. One time a preacher sympathetically remarked, "I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you." She replied quickly, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would ...

1382. The Cat's Coffee

Illustration

Staff

To have unquestioned reliance upon a pastor or other spiritual leader can lead to embarrassment and even bitter disillusionment. I was reminded of this recently when I came across an interesting item about President Coolidge. Once he invited some friends from Vermont to dine at the White House. They were worried about their table manners, so they decided to do everything their host did. All went well until ...

1383. One Step Closer to Success

Illustration

Charles Kettering

... of success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try." Here are three suggestions for turning failure into success: Honestly face defeat; never fake success. Exploit the failure; don't waste it. Learn all you can from it; every bitter experience can teach us something. Never use failure as an excuse for not trying again. You may not be able to reclaim the loss, undo the damage, or reverse the consequences, but you can make a new start wiser, more sensitive, renewed by the Holy spirit ...

1384. A Poisonous Root

Illustration

Michael Williams

In his book. Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive ...

1385. Phantom Pain

I John 3:19-20

Illustration

Dr. Paul Brand

... of the body screaming for attention does not exist. One such patient was a medical school administrator, Mr. Barwick, who had a serious and painful circulation problem in his leg but refused to allow the recommended amputation. As the pain grew worse, Barwick grew bitter. "I hate it!" he would mutter about the leg. At last he relented and told the doctor, "I can't stand it anymore. I'm through with that leg. Take it off." Surgery was scheduled immediately. Before the operation, however, Barwick, asked the ...

1386. Twice the Wish

Illustration

Thomas Lindberg

Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other's business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival. One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream ...

1387. Method to the Madness

Illustration

... of Hoover's. He often put off making decisions. He didn't respect lines of authority. He would deliberately give different aides similar assignments. He incessantly played members of his official family against one another. Internal battles were constant and bitter. FDR was devious. He was never confrontational, using indirect methods to get this way. You rarely learned where you stood by having a face-to-face meeting; the President was usually congenial and unspecific. Many thought FDR's methods were ...

1388. With Privilege Comes Responsibility

Illustration

... on Sunday. He listened to ministers use the Bible to justify slavery. Although he saw genuine love for the Lord Jesus in some people, including his mother and his wife, he was so disturbed by the bad teaching and poor example of church leaders that he became bitter toward the things of God. Indeed, it is a privilege to be an elder, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, or a Bible club leader. But it is also an awesome responsibility. Let's make sure we attract people to the Savior rather than turn them away ...

1389. The Closing Years

Illustration

The closing years of life can be peaceful, happy, and productive. A man or woman of God doesn't need to escape them by dwelling on past glories; nor does he need to make them miserable by developing a bitter, complaining spirit. God gives the whole of life to live, and the psalmist suggests that even our later years can be fruitful and flourishing. But we must begin by being happy now! The well-known Christian psychiatrist Paul Tournier gives insight on this subject in his book The Seasons of ...

1390. Golden Years

Illustration

... book The Best Is Yet To Be he wrote, "I feel so sorry for folks who don't like to grow old...I revel in my years. They enrich me...I would not exchange...the abiding rest of soul, the measure of wisdom I have gained from the sweet and bitter and perplexing experiences of life; nor the confirmed faith I now have in the...love of God, for all the bright and uncertain hopes and tumultuous joys of youth. Indeed, I would not! These are the best years of my life...The way grows brighter; the birds sing sweeter ...

1391. Stormy Surroundings

Illustration

Berit Kjos

... the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace? A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky precipice; the crowd could almost feel its cold, penetrating spray. Stormy-gray clouds threatened to explode with lightning, wind and rain. In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls. One of its branches reached out in front of the torrential waters as if foolishly seeking to experience its full power. A little bird had built a nest in the ...

1392. Fast Legs with a Slow Start

Illustration

Isaiah Mustafa

... made the team. When a college track coach saw her during a game, he talked her into letting him train her as a runner. By age 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the U.S. In 1956 Wilma made the U.S. Olympic team, but showed poorly. That bitter disappointment motivated her to work harder for the 1960 Olympics in Rome and there Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals, the most a woman had ever won.

1393. Top Temptations

Illustration

Staff

A survey of Discipleship Journal readers ranked areas of greatest spiritual challenge: Materialism. Pride. Self-centeredness. Laziness. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness. (Tie) Sexual lust. Envy. Gluttony. Lying. Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God (81 percent) and when they were physically tired (57 percent). Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer (84 percent), avoiding compromising situations (76 percent), Bible study (66 percent), and being ...

1394. Bigger Not Always Better

Illustration

J.I. Packer

... and clergy were constantly being creamed off, or creaming themselves off, from the churches to run parachurch ministries, in which quicker results could be expected and where accountability was less stringent. And fourth, many ministers of not-so-bouncy temperament were returning to secular employment in disillusionment and bitterness, having concluded that the pastoral life is a game not worth playing. . . Faithfulness, godliness, and loving service are the divine measure of real success in ministry.

1395. All Brains and No Belief

Illustration

Hugh Ross

... a beginning" and eventually, to "the presence of a superior reasoning power," but never did he accept the doctrine of a personal God. Two specific obstacles blocked his way. According to his journal writings, Einstein wrestled with a deeply felt bitterness toward the clergy, toward priests in particular, and with his inability to resolve the paradox of God's omnipotence and man's responsibility for his choices. "If this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human ...

1396. Back To Zero

Humor Illustration

... her. Then he smiled over at her with a beatific smile and said, "There, it's happened. My car just reached the 100,000 mile mark. 100,000 miles in this old beauty. Now the speedometer is starting over again. Everything is back to zero." The young woman, filled with bitter disappointment, could only think to herself, "Yes, you're right. Everything's back to zero."

1397. Where's My Luggage?

Humor Illustration

The key to success in today's world is customer service: In the late 1940s, the Eastern Airlines baggage mishandling rate had risen to an unsatisfactory level. Passengers were complaining bitterly. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern's Chairman, was furious. When his usual exhortations to his officers failed to have an impact, he decided to take the situation into his own hands by calling a special meeting of management personnel in Miami. It was summer in Miami, and the weather was hot ...

1398. Pretty Gooses

Humor Illustration

... son and her husband and left them out in the wilderness and returned to life in a more civilized setting. The father and the son continued to live out in the far wilderness. They never went into town. Because of his wife's betrayal, the man became increasingly bitter toward women. He never told his boy about the opposite sex and the boy never saw any girls. Finally at age twenty the necessity came for them to travel some distance to a city to buy some goods. As they were coming into the city the boy began ...

1399. Building Bridges

Illustration

Staff

... rift in 40 years in farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch. Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence. One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work," he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here ...

1400. What Does It Taste Like?

Humor Illustration

... CRUNCH, MUNCH . . . Now, I ain't never read them books you read . . . CRUNCH, MUNCH . . . and I can't recite the Scriptures in the original Greek . . . CRUNCH, MUNCH . . ." He finished the apple. "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate was it bitter or sweet?" The theologian paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven't tasted your apple." The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked ...

Showing results

Antonyms: aversion, distaste, apathy, dislike, hatred, antipathy, disgust, disregard, abhorrence, acrimony, wet, animosity, animus, antagonism, bad feeling, bitterness, be averse to, detestation

Showing 1376 to 1400 of 1838 results

1376. Broken Love

2 Cor 5:18-19

Illustration

Brett Blair

1377. Rings of Different Outcomes

Illustration

Staff

1378. Take Up and Read

Illustration

Augustine

1379. Lean Upon the Lord

Psalm 115:3

Illustration

Charles R. Swindoll

1380. A Deal With Death

Illustration

Staff

1381. Face to Face With Jesus

Illustration

Source Unknown

1382. The Cat's Coffee

Illustration

Staff

1383. One Step Closer to Success

Illustration

Charles Kettering

1384. A Poisonous Root

Illustration

Michael Williams

1385. Phantom Pain

I John 3:19-20

Illustration

Dr. Paul Brand

1386. Twice the Wish

Illustration

Thomas Lindberg

1387. Method to the Madness

Illustration

1388. With Privilege Comes Responsibility

Illustration

1389. The Closing Years

Illustration

1390. Golden Years

Illustration

1391. Stormy Surroundings

Illustration

Berit Kjos

1392. Fast Legs with a Slow Start

Illustration

Isaiah Mustafa

1393. Top Temptations

Illustration

Staff

1394. Bigger Not Always Better

Illustration

J.I. Packer

1395. All Brains and No Belief

Illustration

Hugh Ross

1396. Back To Zero

Humor Illustration

1397. Where's My Luggage?

Humor Illustration

1398. Pretty Gooses

Humor Illustration

1399. Building Bridges

Illustration

Staff

1400. What Does It Taste Like?

Humor Illustration

Showing results