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 126 to 150 of 215 results

126. Repentance: The No That Is A Yes

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... says the same thing of Jesus after his temptation experience in the wilderness. Jesus came from that experience, preaching, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4: 17). That's a lightening call of the Gospel which shatters our silence, our moral apathy, our spiritual dullness, our dark sinfulness. Its purpose is not to kill, but to give life. I started to call this sermon, "The Good News of Repentance." It is that. Good news. It is good news because it is the doorway to the Kingdom. The ...

127. A Pattern For Giving And Living

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... life "in all its fullness" but the absolute impoverishment which is a crime in a technologically developed world is destroying people physically, spiritually, mentally and also religiously because it poisons hope and makes a mockery of faith by turning it into helpless apathy. What comes between Christ and the world's impoverished peoples is exploitation, the sin of the rich who are seeking to destroy Christ's promise. Speaking of "fullness of life" Christ says in John's Gospel: "I am the door; anyone who ...

128. To Live Is To Grow

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... affirmation. Fulfillment and growth are dependent upon our capacity to affirm ourselves. This self-affirmation comes from an awareness and an acceptance of the many sidedness of our being. We are able to recognize and affirm our weakness and strength, our concern and apathy, our hopes and fears, our potentials for creativity and destructiveness. We are aware that we are all these things, and yet we're a unique unrepeatable miracle of God. Woodrow Wilson was a man of great personal gifts. He was not, however ...

129. What Do You Call Success?

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... a good use of our time to go door to door. Maybe we ought to try something else.” I suspect Jesus’ reaction to this kind of report would have been quite different. Christ still calls us to make disciples. Let’s not confuse apathy about spreading the Gospel with being faithful. If the disciples had gone about their task half-heartedly, Jesus would not have praised them. But success should not be confused with being faithful either. Sometimes God’s greatest saints have suffered dreadfully. I want to ...

130. Deep Knee Bends

Psalm 118:1-29, Philippians 2:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... love endures forever. (Based on Psalm 118:19-29) Collect Lord, we praise you. Enter into the gates of our church. We recognize you as Lord. At your name, Jesus, every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess you. Do not allow us, Lord, to slip into apathy after we praise you. Strengthen us in our worship and challenge us to go forth into the world, confessing you, and telling your story. Blessed are all you who come in the name of the Lord. Count us among your people. You are our God. We give thanks ...

131. When to Hold On

II Timothy 3:14-4:5

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... what the world needed. Augustine saved the Church from the collapse of the Roman Empire by turning to the tradition. Luther lifted the Church out of the collapse of the Middle Ages by turning to the tradition. Wesley revived the Church in England from apathy by returning to the passion of the tradition. In our century the European church survived the madness of wars and oppression by holding on to the tradition. "Hold on to what you have received." Then it says this. "Remember from whom you have received ...

132. Advent 2

Isaiah 11:1-16, Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 14:1--15:13

Bulletin Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... the covenant. It is like calling upon church members to be re-baptized. Through baptism they are to repent and receive spiritual cleansing. Is the church today not also needing a call to repentance? Consider the sins of church people: pride, gossip, apathy, selfishness, materialism, moral laxity, and strife. This sermon is needed to afflict the comfortable in our churches. Outline: Why church people need to repent. a. The come as spectators of repentance - v. 7. b. They trust in church membership - v. 9. c ...

133. Advent 3

Romans 14:1--15:13, Matthew 11:1-19, James 5:7-12, Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

134. Proper 6

Genesis 18:1-15, Romans 5:1-8, Matthew 9:35 – 10:8 (9-23), Matthew 9:35-38, 10:1-42, Romans 5:1-11

Bulletin Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... as "lost sheep." John the Baptist called upon the Israelites to be baptized as though they were Gentiles in need of conversion. In the parable, the father calls his prodigal son "lost." The lostness in the church may be the cause of the church's weakness, apathy, and ineffectiveness. In this text Jesus may be saying to us that we had better evangelize the church before we attempt to convert the world. Outline: Are you a lost Christian? a. What is the condition of your faith? b. How is your relationship with ...

135. Road Rage

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... the shadows of that remnant, he is speaking to a people who have no holy spirit, no holy hope, no holy guts. But, as a mirage from the past, he simply electrifies the crowd. His urgency, his energy, his truth - yes, even his anger - tantalizes their apathy. And, the text tells us, lots of people come to hear him. They intentionally come and subject themselves to a kind of verbal road rage. They open their lives to be judged and scared and harassed - to be driven right off the comfortable, boring highways of ...

136. Disappointed in Jesus

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... criticizing takes a laser-sharp look at the world and lifts up all the blatant sin and selfishness of the world. Prophetic criticizing proclaims God's dream and desire for creation and then attacks each one of us in the heart of our apathy and our greed. Prophetic criticizing drops bombs of honest judgment and leaves us writhing in the ashes of guilt and failure, with radical repentance the only hope for survival. Prophetic criticizing has its prominent place in scripture, as John the Baptist can attest ...

137. Living Outside the Box

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... here to show and play with. Or if you Floridians can find a baby crocodile, so much the better!) A box of callousness; a box of envy; a box of hatred; a box of bigotry; a box of ignorance; a box of preconceptions; a box of fear; a box of apathy; a box of despair; a box of pride; a box of self-righteousness. Most of the time these boxes are self-made. We build them about ourselves thinking we're protecting some precious idea or conviction. The truth is we're simply too frightened, or lazy, or angry to deal ...

138. Learning the Three Step Faith Walk

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest I will not equivocate I will not excuse I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and to hasten the resurrection of the dead." Jesus doesn't call disciples to wade in the waters. Jesus calls disciples to launch into the deep with this promise: I can do all things through Christ ...

139. Tiny Pencils

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Our ability to "love one another" is still limited by the same small-mindedness, the same hard-heartedness, the same self-absorbed spirituality, that drove our ancestors to commit atrocities in the name of Christ. But our greatest lack of love is revealed by our apathy, our ability to tune out the cries of the world that reach our ears, but not our hearts. Clayton W. Johnston teaches a course on ethics at Brentwood College in Canada. He asks his students to answer the following questions: 1. If a girl or ...

140. Catch the Fever

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

James Caldwell III

... hear the double-ring of postmodern ministry both to the ordinary and the outer limits. Mark is telling us that Jesus says, "If you follow me, you'll have to catch the fever." The same fever that spreads revival, preaches repentance, and kills the bacteria of sin, apathy, tedium, and egotism. Jesus calls us to be, as Leonard Sweet puts it "dangerously Christian." To not be afraid to catch the fever. To catch the fire of Pentecost. To catch the wind of Pentecost. To let it blow and lead it! To catch the wave ...

141. I Love My Church

1 Chronicles 29:3

Sermon

James Merritt

... , or try to reach another lost soul; it just simply makes no difference to them. I was talking to a pastor in Illinois just the other day. I said to him, "What is the greatest single challenge you face as a pastor?" You know what he said to me? "The apathy of my people." Our church is just like every other church, it's full of willing people, some willing to work, and the rest willing to let them. I'm sure there are people who come into a church like ours and say, "I can't believe how much is ...

142. Are You Going to Fish or Cut Bait?

Mark 1:16-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... go fishing with Him. You see, our problem is not that we have the wrong lake. The water is full of fish. The problem is not that we have the wrong bait. We have the gospel which can hook any fish. Our problem, I believe, is one of ignorance and apathy. There are many Christians who believe they do not know how to share the Lord Jesus, and then there are many who just don't want to go. Either way, I believe Dr. R. G. Lee was right who said, "The greatest sit-down strike in the world is in ...

143. The Acceptable Time

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... mood of Paul and the prophets. Now is the time. Today is the day of salvation. If today the Spirit of God is speaking to us, let us open up and hear his voice. If today we feel the winds of God in our beings, let them cleanse us of apathy and refresh us with their power and energy. We have today. Tomorrow may not be ours. This is the acceptable time. II This is the acceptable time, because if we wait for the perfect time, the perfect minister, and the perfect church, we will wait forever. Paul had a lot ...

144. John the Stall Cleaner

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Christ Child? What cluttered, “stalled out” place in your life could be swept out, swept clean, readied and remedied to prepare and purpose you for God’s new presence and God’s good pleasure? 1) Some of us need to clean out a nest of apathy. Have you created a comfy, secure place where you can safely nestle in and do nothing, where you can observe instead of participate in the world? Is your life a happy den of inertness and ineptness? Sweep it out. Embrace the spirit of possibility that redecorates ...

145. Heresies of the Heart

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... by these weeds in faith's field no longer wrap themselves in a protective casing of intellectualized doctrinal debates. The heresies that most threaten the church and her mission today are heresies of the heart. Attitudes like spiritual apathy, denominational arrogance, cultural anonymity, and social animosity are among the prevalent heresies causing heart failure in the church today. Heresies of the heart take many forms, some insidious, some blatant, some circular, but all dangerous. Heretical doctrines ...

146. Three Wise Gifts

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus practiced in the temple when he drove out the money-changers. Guerilla love inspired hundreds of men and women to break the law and shelter and aid runaway slaves on their journeys to freedom. Today guerilla love asks us to shake off our carefully nurtured apathy and to risk being wrong for the sake of being right. Can you risk your love and volunteer time to go and cuddle newborns with AIDS? Can you risk your money and commit funds to a struggling outreach program for drug abusers? Can you risk your ...

147. Armageddon Anxiety

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and enthusiasms. The challenge of a clean slate encourages the human spirit to fill it up once again. So what is it? Disaster and the end of everything? Or opportunity and a fresh start? Do Christians buy into the doomsday mentality and its accompanying spirit of apathy and inevitability? Or do we see all our problems solved by some new wisdom or insight that will greet us on the other side of the year 2000? A New Yorker cartoon portrays a scene from hell. "We see several pudgy, furry devils, with their ...

148. Who Are You?

Hebrews 12:18-29

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... throughout their lives. They shuffle from one job to another, one fad to the next. They don't know whether to become vegetarians or Young Republicans, save the rain forests or start their own businesses. Unsure of their directions or convictions, they sink into apathy and end up doing nothing. At age 45, they are still wondering what they will be when they grow up. Others have just the opposite anxiety. These are the people who join every committee ever formed and volunteer to be the chairperson. They cram ...

149. Whatever It Takes

Mark 1:29-39

Illustration

Gary Nicolosi

A motivational speaker once said there are two kinds of people in this world: those who say "whatever" and those who say, "whatever it takes." "Whatever" is the response of the shrug. It's a "who cares?" attitude, one of indifference and apathy. "Whatever it takes" is the response of the committed. It's a "can do" attitude that refuses to give up or give in. Think about those two responses when it comes to the Church's mission. Jesus said to love your neighbor. Whatever. Jesus said to go and make disciples ...

150. Proper 7

2 Corinthians 6:3-13, 1 Samuel 17:1-58, Mark 4:35-41

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... into church. Paul in this pericope gives evidence that proves he is no obstacle because of his hardships endured for the gospel's sake. Outline: Are you an obstacle to faith? a. You fail to witness for Christ? b. Your life turns people away? c. Your indifference and apathy discourage people? WORSHIP RESOURCES Psalm Of The Day: Psalm 9:9-20 "The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed." (v. 9); Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32; Psalm 107:1-32 Prayer Of The Day: "O God, our defender, storms rage about us and cause us to ...

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