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 1601 to 1625 of 1838 results

1601. The Cost of Discipleship

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

... body. When things stopped ﬂying apart, she was covered with debris and her legs were pinned under a steel beam so that both legs eventually had to be amputated. But her children were unharmed. It seemed the natural thing to do. When it was all over she felt grateful, not bitter. The kind of commitment that seems so natural to many of us is a part of the commitment to which Christ calls us. But as natural as it seems to some of us, it is not at all to be taken for granted. There are many people who just do ...

1602. The Wind

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... to the ground. He wondered what caused it. Someone told him it was the wind. The wall reminded Craddock of a man he once knew who was hardened by life. He hated the church. He didn’t need help from anyone or anything. Then one day all that bitterness crumbled to the ground. His heart was changed. Craddock wondered what caused the man to change and someone suggested to him it was the wind. I understand the mysterious power of the wind. My wife and I were staying with some friends. I woke up in the middle ...

1603. Less Is More

John 1:(1-9) 10-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... off his stethoscope and said, “Now, will you examine me? I’ve got to get something off my chest that is bothering me.” My colleague said, “Sure. What is on your mind?” He went on to talk about his only daughter who just went through a bitter divorce. He said that they had so much promise when they first got married, but he mentioned that the last two years they were married he never heard them compliment each other. He always heard them talk about one another’s faults. He said to my colleague ...

1604. Defeating Discouragement

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... . Isaiah saw the coming of the Babylonian army and watched as they destroyed Jerusalem. The prophet, along with the rest of God’s people, was held captive and he watched as his nation was ruined. His heart sank as he watched God’s people become discouraged and bitter. He was called to encourage the people of God. Yeah, I think Isaiah would be a good person to seek ad-vice from about discouragement. I believe the wisdom he gave to the beat-up nation of Israel is good enough for us today: Have you not ...

1605. Pop Verses: John 3:16

John 3:16

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... truth, and the truth will make you free.” –John 8:31-32 I don’t know what you need to be set free from today but I do know that Jesus can set you free from it. Maybe it is shame. Maybe it’s guilt. Maybe it’s resentment and bitterness. Maybe it’s a bad habit. Maybe it’s hatred. Maybe it’s anxiety. Maybe it’s some heavy burden that you have been carrying. Whatever it is, the truth of Jesus can set you free. Underneath all of our cravings and trivial pursuits and unrest is a longing for ...

1606. A Warning Against Hypocrisy

Matthew 23:1-39

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... of Deuteronomy 32:1–40, in which Moses sang of Israel’s ingratitude and idolatry and then of the goodness of God (p. 216). Critics have questioned what they understand to be a “sustained note of fierceness” (Beare, p. 447) or “the extreme bitterness of this chapter” (Green, p. 187). Instead of being seen as reflecting the mind of the historical Jesus, the material is often held to reveal the antagonism that is said to have existed between the Jewish-Christian churches in the latter part of ...

1607. Why Are Christians So Judgmental?

Matthew 6:2, 5, 16, Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... Missionary, many years ago. It was a prophetic statement because a large percentage of people in our world today feel just like Ghandi. United Methodist minister Martin Thielen writes about a good friend who stopped going to church. He was going through a bitter divorce and just stopped attending worship. He didn’t want to answer all the questions from others and was just going through a difficult time. This man worked with a judgmental Christian co-worker who observed what was going on in his life ...

1608. Wedding Guests

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... God's gracious invitation to change us and live accordingly. Here's a story of what the change might look like. Some of you will remember George Eliot's story of Silas Marner. Silas was an unlikable old miser. He was falsely accused of stealing. So he lived fifteen bitter years as a recluse. His only interest in life was to take out his pile of gold at night and let the shining pieces run through his fingers. One night that too was stolen from him by a burglar. His life was shattered. Then one New Year's ...

1609. A Love Triangle

Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... , "This man is not a brother of mine." Neither rewards nor threats could induce him to perform a service for a stranger. Jesus calls us to a far more inclusive view of who is our neighbor. Charles Wolfe tells of being called out of a warm bed on a bitterly cold and icy night in Albany, New York. His brother was stranded downtown because his car wouldn't start. Then his brother commented about how nice it was have a brother in town. He mentioned how he wouldn't dare ask anyone else out on a night like that ...

1610. Hallelujah! Come On, Get Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... if we don't get involved. But the reality is that we cannot have peace if others do not have justice. Justice works on the principle of fairness for all. Where the rights of others are ignored, abused, violated, or taken away, the seeds of bitterness and hostility are sown and there will not be peace for anyone. Peacemaking means getting involved in the struggle for justice and making that struggle our own, even if it temporarily unsettles our peace. As Harriet Beecher Stowe sat through long nights in her ...

1611. Paying What's Due

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... of God on his brow and arm. When he comes to America, he is all the more determined to keep his relationship with God, for when people tell him that religion is superstition, he responds that if all the persecutions of the ages and all the bitterness of exploitation could not prevent him from repeating the prayers of his fathers, he certainly can't be made to fall away from them in the world of freedom. Worship gave Tevya his perspective. In his book How to Believe (Garden City, New York: Doubleday ...

1612. Thanks-Giving Is Good for Everyone

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... to thank him for and then from the kitchen comes the most delicious morning smell that ever tickled my old nose. Coffee! 'Much obliged, Lord, for the coffee... much obliged for the smell of it!' " There came a time when Oursler went through a very trying and bitter period of discouragement and failure. He said the memory of Anna's spirit of thanksgiving gave him a handle to work with and it literally pulled him up and out and onward. Then he was called to the bedside of a dying Anna, old, crippled, feeble ...

1613. The Birth of Jesus

Luke 2:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... (or cave) and laid in a manger (i.e., a feeding trough, v. 7) reflects Luke’s concern for the poor and the humble, but it also paves the way for the shepherds’ visit. Additional Notes 2:1 Caesar Augustus: Caesar Augustus brought an end to the bitter Roman civil wars, and his long reign (27 B.C. to A.D. 14) brought peace and prosperity throughout the empire (see Fitzmyer, pp. 399–400). 2:1–2 census: Numerous difficulties attend Luke’s reference to the first census (v. 2) ordered by Caesar Augustus ...

1614. The Calling of the First Disciples

Luke 5:1-11

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... where Luke alone tells us that after the cock crowed, “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter” (22:61). Furthermore, whereas Mark tells us that after the cock crowed, Peter went outside and “wept” (14:72), Luke says that Peter “wept bitterly” (22:62). Luke’s editorial activity heightens the pathos of this scene, leaving the reader with a sense of empathy for the fallen Peter. Following Jesus’ resurrection, Mark only mentions the angel (or “young man”) at the tomb, who commands the ...

1615. The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Luke 15:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... vv. 31–32 imply that the older son has a place in his father’s heart. If Luke freely composed the second part of this parable (vv. 25–32), as Sanders claims, and did so as a polemic against the Pharisees of his day (who were bitterly opposed to Christianity), it seems strange that the evangelist did not take the opportunity to paint a much more unambiguously negative picture of the older son. The same point may be raised against Luise Schottroff’s view that Luke himself wrote the entire parable (vv ...

1616. God's Wrath Against Mankind

Romans 1:18-32

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... of a creature revolting against its creator and becomes, in the words of C.S. Lewis, himself more a “Lie than a Liar, a personified self-contradiction” (Preface, ch. 13). 1:22–23 The demotion of God and the exaltation of self give birth to bitter irony: although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. How often this script has been replayed in history! Wisdom is one of the few self-evident virtues, and yet its pathway is littered with irony and tragedy: irony because those who consider themselves ...

1617. Righteousness Through Faith

Romans 3:21-31

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... a righteousness apart from law, but a righteousness to which the Law and the Prophets testify. There is a delicate relationship between righteousness and law, a “sweet antithesis,” to quote Bengel (Gnomon, vol. 3, p. 47). Luther’s bitter controversy over indulgences with sixteenth-century Catholicism has stamped Protestantism in general with a skepticism towards law. The result has been to overstress righteousness apart from law and to undervalue righteousness to which the Law and the Prophets testify ...

1618. Submission to the Authorities

Romans 13:1-7

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... honor (v. 7). For Jews, census enrollments and taxation were two of the most onerous effects of foreign rule. In Roman-occupied Palestine, where tax collectors unscrupulously overcharged Jews, the populace was tempted to underpay (or withhold) taxes without compunction. Bitterness over taxes was not confined to Palestine, however. The Roman historian Tacitus reports mounting unrest over taxes in Rome in A.D. 58—only a year after Paul wrote (Ann. 13.50; OCD, “Publicani,” pp. 898–99). But Paul does ...

1619. The Lord's Supper

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... chaff. Nevertheless, Conzelmann also recognizes that “in favor of the ‘sharp’ view [the apocalyptic understanding] is the similarity with the eschatological logion [‘there will be dissensions and squabbles’].” Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, p. 194. Perhaps there is sarcasm or bitter irony in Paul’s observation. It is doubtful, given his comments in 1 Cor. 1:10–17, that Paul thinks either that factionalism is good or that God would author such divisions as an end in themselves. Nevertheless, Paul ...

1620. Hannah’s Prayer

1 Samuel 2:1-11

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... one prevails, at least not by human strength, and opposition to God will lead to shattering disaster. But the one who is appointed by God—God’s king—will receive God’s strength. God’s ultimate control had transformed Hannah’s position, turned her bitter tears into strong rejoicing, and resulted in her horn being lifted high. Similarly, God’s ultimate control would also lead to the horn of his anointed being exalted. 2:11 That being so, we return to the narrative: Elkanah and Hannah return home ...

1621. Amnon and Tamar

2 Samuel 13:1-22

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... disciplinary action against members of his family impossible. But the effect was that David too treated Tamar’s desolation, which Absalom was forced to observe every day, as unimportant. David’s lack of action increased Absalom’s desire for revenge. The bitterness in Absalom was just as strong after two years. He shared his father’s ability to create loyalty in his followers but not the nature that could leave the past behind and be passionately involved only in the present. Absalom’s revenge ...

1622. Absalom Returns to Jerusalem

2 Samuel 14:1-33

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... , life under the new conditions must have been intensely irritating and frustrating. It is likely that he resented his father for what he saw as unjust treatment, particularly because Amnon had not been punished. For two years, parallel to the two years when his bitterness against Amnon festered (13:22–23), Absalom endured this life, never seeing the king’s face, but he felt that two years was long enough. 14:29–33 Once Absalom was back in Israel, Joab kept out of the way, perhaps surprised at how ...

1623. David Counts the Fighting Men

2 Samuel 24:1-17

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... well as the “again” from verse 1 indicates a deliberate link between 21:1–14 and 24:1–25. The reader is intended to think about the links between Saul’s action with its consequences and David’s action with its consequences. Saul’s tortured bitterness had prevented God from working out his purposes through him, but David’s repentant trust provided a context in which God could answer prayer. The final mention of David in this book is his fair treatment of Araunah and his desire to pay whatever ...

1624. Eliphaz's Second Speech to Job

Job 15:1-35

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... critique of Job is made in terms of “windy [ruakh] words.” On one other occasion Job himself links his words with ruakh. In 7:11, he declares “I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit [betsar rukhi], I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” In this view it is the wicked who “turns aside in the wind/rage of his own mouth.” 15:31 Clines, Job 1–20, p. 344, rejects the “commercial metaphor” (in return, along with paid in full in v. 32) as out of place in the ...

1625. Elihu

Job 32:1--37:24

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... Elihu. Job, on the other hand, questions whether God despises him in 10:3. The Hebrew verb in all of these instances is mʾs, “reject, despise.” He does not keep the wicked alive. In response to the second accusation—perhaps derived from Job’s bitter reflection on the prosperous and extended lives of the wicked in 21:7–16—Elihu denies that God allows the wicked to continue to live unpunished. However, he offers no evidence to back up this claim. On a more positive note Elihu counters that God ...

Showing results