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 1551 to 1575 of 2415 results
Sermon
King Duncan
... years ago called The Homecoming. Set during the Great Depression, this film inspired a weekly television series about the Walton family that many of you will remember. “Throughout the story, young John‑Boy Walton finds himself unable to contain his passion for writing. Periodically retrieving a hidden paper tablet, John‑Boy feverishly writes down the ideas and thoughts trapped inside his head that scream to be expressed on the page. Though too embarrassed by his compulsion to tell anyone, he can ...
1552. Hooked for Life
Luke 5:1-11
Illustration
Bill Bouknight
If fishing is one of your passions, you will love our scripture lesson for today. Though I prefer hunting to fishing, I have a soft spot in my heart for fishing because of a childhood experience. I was about 10 or 11 years old. One Wednesday afternoon Papa took me with him to a nearby pond to ...
1553. Lewis on the Importance of Salvation
Luke 13:1-9
Illustration
John Piper
... in the world." (Christian Reflections, p. 10) This tips us off to what C. S. Lewis' life was really devoted to. In 1952 and American liberal theologian criticized Lewis for using simple analogies to try to shed some light on the Trinity. Lewis' response was passionate and shows where his heart really was in all his work: "Most of my books are evangelistic, addressed to [those outside]. I was writing to the people not to the clergy. Dr. Pittinger would be a more helpful critic if he advised a cure as ...
1554. Where Are We At the Parable’s End?
Luke 15:11-32
Illustration
Frank G. Honeycutt
... , as you know, can turn venomous rather quickly. So where are we at parable's end? Are we inside the party celebrating? Or are we standing outside with our arms folded, refusing to come in? Jesus will not tell us how this story will end. The father passionately invites the older son inside, "pleads with him" to join in the welcome. Curiously, however, we are never told what the older brother decides to do. The story ends but it doesn't end. You can almost hear the voice of Walter Cronkite saying, "You are ...
1555. Luke 24:1-12
Luke 24:1-12
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... scene. Although the angelic messengers remind the women of Jesus’ words, Luke’s text offers some new and important details. Instead of “elders, chief priests and scribes,” those complicit in Jesus’ death are now described more broadly as “sinners.” While Jesus’ passion prediction in 9:22 only revealed that the Son of Man would be “killed,” now the truly horrific nature of his death is spelled out: The Son of Man had to be “crucified.” The Lucan faith community comes into existence ...
1556. In You and Through You
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
... I truly discovered the power of missions and how much one woman could do. Her name was Violet. She was five feet tall in high heels and four foot eight without. She had taught Kindergarten Sunday School for about a million years. But her passion was Missions. Every year our Annual Conference had a Conference Wide Missions Drive. And Violet made it her responsibility to see that Midway Locust Grove UMC brought in the most health kits, bandages, school kits and blankets. This little church that averaged about ...
1557. Who's Working In You?
Philippians 2:1-13
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
... steeds dressed like the Lone Ranger or the White Knight. Instead, they're the ordinary people who will humble themselves, reach out their arms and descend to serve others. Servants are heroes who ride Shetland ponies. There was an old man in Chicago who got a burden and a passion in his heart for the inner city kids in Chicago. He didn't have a big developed plan, but what he decided to do was just to adopt an inner city high school. And what he did was every time there was a sports practice that ended he ...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
... that? Waiting ten years to hear your child say something, anything, to you? When he was ten years old, Rick was finally able to communicate with his family with the help of a new computer device. They soon discovered that Rick was an intelligent kid with a passion for sports. One day, Rick learned that his town was sponsoring a 5K race to raise money for children who are paralyzed in accidents. Rick wanted to find some way to run in that race, so he convinced his father, Dick Hoyt, to run the race while ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
... . We sing a song, say a prayer, raise a hand, bend a knee, give a gift. We go to church, share a witness, turn a good deed. I listened to our youngest choir give their concert last Wednesday night. Whatever they may have lacked in precision, they made up in passion. As they sang again and again, “Our God is an awesome God,” I found my mind affirming that truth in my soul. God is an awesome God. He flung the stars into space and blesses our lives with amazing grace. He is big enough to rule this mighty ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
... two or three witnesses.” Reason requires it. We need mediators because in most every disagreement there is “Your truth,” “My truth,” and “The real truth.” It is very difficult for any of us to be objective when we are emotionally and personally involved. Passion can cloud perspective. The more assertive we are by nature the harder it becomes to admit we are wrong. So many of us hold on to trivial truth long after the point has been made. Mediation is hard work. Mediators need the patience of ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
... . You see, Paul has found new life in Christ. In the waters of baptism he has been born again and what the law could not do, Christ did for him. Paul got his life back, indeed he did. Love replaced hate, freedom replaced rigidity, guilt was traded for grace, passion took the place of power. What God did for Paul he wants to do for you. Christ can give you new life. He can give you meaningful life. He can give you everlasting life. In Christ there is life. II. In Christ, There Is Liberty John 8 says it ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
... . Restoration is Possible I have a brother-in-law who dropped out of college after one year, and spent most of his life climbing poles and stringing cable for the telephone company. He made a decent living for his family, but his passion was never with the telephone company. He eventually had a heart attack which forced him into early retirement. In that vulnerable, weakened, threatened state of existence, Bob discovered his real joy. He started restoring things. He took old furniture from our grandparents ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
... ’s huddled masses yearning to be free? Our founder, John Wesley, had a unique way of weaving personal holiness and social concern into religious conviction. He not only helped people find the Lord, he helped people find food, jobs and health care. He carried a deep passion for the whole person. And he said to the people called Methodists, “Give none that asks relief either an ill word or ill look. Do not hurt them if you cannot help them. And expect no thanks from anyone.” I. We Need New Eyes Through ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
... That is my paraphrase of the Great Commission and therein lies the mission statement for every church and the marching orders of every Christian. I. Go My missions professor in seminary spent most of his life as a missionary in India. I will never forget the passionate pleas of J.T. Seamonds for everyone to engage in Christian outreach. He liked to put it this way, “Some must go, some must let go, some must help go, but everybody needs to get going.” One of my all time favorite stories is about Larry ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... in the Red zone. He knew where his enemies stood and how they would move against him. And Jesus used Condition Yellow not as a means of personal protection, but as a way maximally to be in the moment, and to be engaged with the pains and passions of all those he encountered. In 1961-62, Martin Luther King Jr. taught his only course. It was a course on Social Philosophy he offered at Morehouse College, his alma mater. There were eight students who took the course, six men, two women. These eight people can ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... be and do, and knowing clearly the way to do and do – but no power to follow through. Most of our natural drives and instincts become perverted along the way. We need the converting presence of the indwelling Christ to bring these drives and passions and impulses together for our wholeness. That happens as we allow Christ to be Lord of all these. Finally, THE INDWELLING CHRIST IS AN EMPOWERING PRESENCE. Paul said to the Ephesians, “The very power which raised Jesus from the dead is ours”. Think about ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... talked about it, he said: “This was the quilt of your sister Sodom; she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” I say all of this to make a point that in our passion to scrub America clean of its most obvious vices, homosexuality, abortion, pornography, and so on – we often narrow the scope of Christian concern. And by our silence, we implicitly embrace those things not on our hit list, aligning ourselves with the subtle sins of power ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... , but a ruthless massacre the priests and worshipers of Baal, not for religious but for political reasons, for they would probably have resisted the murderer of their patrons, Ahab and Jezebel. On the road he met the stern fanatic, Jahonadab, who, in his passionate revolt against the prevailing worship and luxury of the times, had led his Kenites into the solitude of the wilderness, and bound them with a vow always to live in tents away from a corrupt civilization, and to abstain altogether from wine and ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... , pages 127-128). Love is extravagant. When I was preparing this sermon, I was also studying the pattern of giving in our church, as we project our ministry and budget for the year. I’m sure my shock was intensified by seeing those cold figures in contrast to this passionate, extravagant abandonment of love on the part of Mary. Now I ask you what does that say about our love for Jesus and his ministry in the world. When we earn $25,000 and give only $500 or earn $35,000 and give only $1,000 or earn $50 ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... today. Here is the foolishness of God shaming the wisdom of men; the weakness of God over-powering all of evil. This is also the first Sunday of Lent, the season of a special journey a journey of reflection and renewal — when we meditate on the passion and death of Jesus, and seek to find that not only our salvation, but our blueprint for life. What is that blueprint? Moses learned it. Let me call upon Vernard Eller, one of my favorite writers, to give us some suggested models for that blueprint. He ...
1571. Three Wise Men
Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... is an impenetrable mystery for the secular mind — but the cardinal truth of the Christian faith. “And I can say, as did Solzhenitsyn, bless you, prison, for having been in my life. For there I caught a glimpse of God’s view of His world and His passion for justice and righteousness. In prison I realized how preoccupation with self had blinded me; when the scales fell from my eyes, I saw how inverted my own values had been. “When I was in the White House I viewed justice as a majority vote, fifty ...
1572. Exit and Entrance
Galatians 4:21-31
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... first the freedom of release. We will never understand the full impact of this meaning of Christian freedom unless we understand the encompassing nature of sin and evil. Paul knew that sin had not alone affected human nature, reducing us to slaves of our passions, but it also affected the whole universe. The whole “creation groaneth in travail”, he said the Romans (8:22). God had to do something of cosmic significance. What He did — the gift of Himself in His Son on the cross - revealed the suffering ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... series will note our lesson today is the same we used a few weeks ago when we considered the theme, “The Gospel through the Person.” I return to this lesson today in order to focus on verse 19 alone. With sharpness and clarity, Paul states the passion of his life and his vision for a new humanity. Phillips’ translation of this verse has an even more poignant feeling about it: “oh, my dear children, I feel, the pangs of childbirth all over again till Christ be formed with you.” Paul’s great ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... as a threat. You didn’t agree with Saul? You were worthy of destruction, without any hesitation. We would call Saul today a first-century terrorist, ready to exterminate any and all who impugned or insulted his “whistle” which he had purchased with all his passion and power - his understanding of a life of faith lived according to the Law. Then, abruptly, in a revelatory flash of light, Paul threw his whistle away. The voice of God revealed to Paul that the Truth was not the Law. The Truth was Love ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... for our lives. Maxie Dunnam tells about a pamphlet he once ran across with the intriguing title, ‘‘Annie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” It was the story of a woman who found new life in Christ. Annie had lived many years in sin, with no restraint on her passions and her deeds. She had played the field of sin. Then, by a miracle of God’s grace, someone wit­nessed to her of the redeeming love of God and led her to accept Christ as her personal Savior and commit her life to him. In the pamphlet, she ...
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