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 1826 to 1850 of 3108 results

1826. Easter 3

Acts 9:1-19a, Revelation 5:1-14, John 21:1-14

Sermon Aid

COMMENTARY Acts 9:1-20 (C, L) The conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus. This is the first of three Lukan accounts of Paul's conversion from hostility to support of Christ and the church. It is a key incident in the life of the early church. The risen Christ stops Paul in his tracks and enlists him as an apostle. It was a dramatic and radical change in Paul's life, from a persecutor to a propagator of the church. Christ comes to him as light which blinds him. He does not see that opposition to the ...

1827. Proper 6

Lk 7:36--8:3 · Gal 2:11-21 · 1 Ki 19:1-8

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: 1 Kings 19:1-8 Threatened by Jezebel, Elijah flees for his life and is fed by an angel on his way to Mount Horeb. To understand this pericope, we need to get the background in chapter 18. On Mount Carmel, Elijah calls down fire from heaven to prove that Yahweh is the only true God. This is followed by his slaughter of the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal supported by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel who sends a messenger to Elijah to tell him that within twenty-four hours she will ...

1828. Advent 3

Lk 3:7-18 · Php 4:4-13 · Zeph 3:14-20

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Zephaniah 3:14-20 Rejoice, for Yahweh will restore his people to their homeland. This is the only use of Zephaniah in the three-year Lectionary. Zephaniah lived during the reign of Josiah in the 7th century, prior to the Babylonian captivity. Our pericope is considered an addition by an unknown author of the Deutero-Isaiah period. The passage gives good news of salvation to those in exile: a return to Jerusalem, victory over enemies, Yahweh in their midst, and renown among the nations. This is ...

1829. Sunday of the Passion

Lk 22:14--23:56 · Isa 50:4-7 · Php 2:6-11

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Isaiah 50:4-7 Yahweh's servant faces suffering confident of his help. This pericope constitutes the third of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah. Yahweh's servant hears his voice and is therefore fortified with determination to suffer mental agony in terms of ridicule, false accusations, humiliation, and shame. He suffers confidently because he believes Yahweh will vindicate, help, and pronounce him innocent. Philippians 2:6-11 Jesus' humiliation and God's exaltation of him. Paul is pleading for ...

1830. A Protecting Grace

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Glenn L. Borreson

Does there exist anywhere on earth a group of people where one has not hurt another at some time? Maybe that's too large a question. So I would ask: are you a part of any group in which people never, absolutely never, do injury to another person, even by accident? You would surprise me if you could answer "Yes" to that question. All our organizations, our families, even our closest friendship groups are capable of wounding us in ways we never imagined possible. People are people wherever we find them, and ...

1831. God is the Only One

Mark 2:7

Children's Sermon

Object: A Social Security card. Good morning, boys and girls. Did you know that only God can forgive sins? (Let them answer.) That's right, only God can forgive sins. No one else in the whole world can forgive a sin but God. The word "only" is a pretty big word if it means that there is one person who can do something. I brought along with me this morning a card that belongs only to me. It is called my Social Security card. Your parents and many other people have a Social Security card, but this one is the ...

1832. An Appointment With God

Romans 13:11

Children's Sermon

Object: A clock - one on which you can move the hands. Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to talk a little bit about time and how we use it. How many of you know what time it is right now? (Let them answer.) That's pretty close. Time is very important. We must know time so that we can be at church at 10:30 in the morning, or at school at 8:00 in the morning, or to a game at 2:30 in the afternoon, or to watch our favorite television show at 7:00 in the evening. We like to get up at a certain ...

1833. Where Are the Lilies Now?

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

Two years ago our family was on vacation. We drove up into the countryside near Bedford, Indiana to a small white church named the Mundel Christian Church. This is the place where I was baptized as a youth. At this pilgrimage spot of mine are fond memories of pitch-in dinners and all-day meetings as my father once held the pulpit there. But what remains with me more than anything is the fact that so many of my family members are buried there behind the church. The graveyard is big because the church has ...

1834. Monday in Holy Week

John 12:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Theme: Impending tragedy, ultimate triumph Exegetical note The Fourth Evangelist's version of the anointing of Jesus at Bethany differs from those of his predecessors by identifying the woman as Mary as well as by mentioning Lazarus, whose emergence from the grave John has just recounted (11:38-44). Mary's act of anointing (as told here, at least) is, of course, a symbolic preparation of Jesus for burial, while the reference to Lazarus prefigures both Jesus' death and his ultimate resurrection. Call to ...

1835. A Zealot’s Greatest Battle

Drama

Cast (in order of appearance) MATTHEW BARABBAS SIMON ANNA JAMES THE LESS PHILIP JUDAS, NOT ISCARIOT ANDREW Introduction If one is to get a true picture of the great conflict that went on in the mind of Simon the Zealot, one needs to consider his background. Perhaps a paragraph could be included in the program that would establish Simon’s ties with the Zealottes and his hatred of Rome. Care should be taken that the paragraph not be too long, or the interest of the readers will be lost. Scene: Three crosses ...

1836. Do You Believe In Easter?

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

What a thrill it is to be a preacher on Easter morning! It’s better than being Irish on St. Patrick’s Day or a child on Christmas morning or Tiger Woods at the Master’s or a Duke basketball fan on April 2nd of this year. (You knew I would mention that sooner or later, didn’t you?!) The great New Testament scholar C.H. Dodd said, "The resurrection is the epicenter of belief. It is not a belief that grew up within the church. It is the belief around which the church itself grew up." (1) Billy Graham has ...

1837. Jailbreak at Midnight

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon Aid

CSS

Twice Paul’s ministry brought him into direct confrontation with commercial interests. The first such incident took place at Philippi, the second at Ephesus. Both of these were Graeco-Roman cities with a materialistic western culture, different from that of the Orient. In the East there was a slower pace of life and a greater accommodation between religion and commerce. Jesus had often lashed out at the selfish rich and even physically drove the money changers from the temple without arousing the kind of ...

1838. For Christ’s Sake, What’s Going On?

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

"There’s no fight like a church fight," someone once told me. Unhappily, that’s proven true time and again. Of all communities, you would think (or hope, at least) that congregations organized around the cross of Christ would be exemplars to the world. We have the promises, the hope, and the forgiveness God gives to his own select community. For heaven’s sake, it ought to make a difference in the way we live, at least within our own redeemed community. But someone else once pointed out to me that Satan isn ...

1839. Let’s Face It

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

With the familiar parable which forms the text for this day, we draw very near to the close of the church year. Since the Middle Ages, Christians have used the closing days of the old church year to focus on "last things": the end of the world, the end of life, the promise of things to come, the thought of the return of Christ (one of the themes celebrated during Advent, the next season on the church’s calendar). The parable of the wise and foolish virgins fits well into the pattern. The bridegroom is ...

1840. For He Shall Save His People

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Staff

I have a Christmas dilemma. When I was a kid there was no Christmas dilemma. You filled out your wish list and you waited for Santa to fulfill it on the 25th. That was pretty awesome. The rest of the year didn’t work like that so it made Christmas a strange and wonderful time. But you know what happens… Slowly the tables get turned on you until one day you’re being handed the wish list. Such is life! This is when the dilemma enters in too. Not for everyone. There are still some sad sacks out there who are ...

1841. What’s God Going to Do With You?

Hosea 5:1-15, Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

What shall I do with you, o Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. "What in the world am I going to do with you?" Have you ever heard that before or said it? A mother shakes her head at a child who is always getting dirty and asks, "What am I going to do with you?" A husband, like Hosea, has a faithless wife, and each time he takes her back, he despairingly asks, "What am I going to do with you?" A criminal appears before a judge ...

1842. Solomon’s Search

2 Chronicles 1:1-17

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

The sermon is based on the question asked of Solomon by God in the seventh verse of the first chapter of 2 Chronicles: "In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, ‘Ask what I shall give you.’ " Imagine yourself alone at night in your own home. Your wife or the husband is gone for the evening, visiting with family in another city. All the kids are elsewhere. It’s been a strange kind of night for you. You watched a little television but found it silly to watch by yourself. You started into a ...

1843. Father Damien

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

Leprosy is no longer the scourge of humanity it once was. This is mainly a tribute to the drug penicillin, which has practically eliminated leprosy from this earth. Before that miracle, however, men and women stricken with the disease were subjected not only to the reality of great suffering, slowly leading to death, but also to the tragedy of exile from their communities and separation from those whom they loved. Lepers were the living dead. Ancient Egyptians called leprosy "death before death." In the ...

1844. Whatever Became of Sin?

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Death pervaded the whole human race, inasmuch as all men have sinned. But, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12, 15 NEB). Paul puts it more succinctly in 1 Corinthians 15:21: "As by man came death, by man comes also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." William Barclay explains: "Sin had man in its power. There was no hope. Into this situation there came ...

1845. "I Don’t Want to Be Perfect - Or Do I?"

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

"I don’t want to be perfect" - but I do want to be better than am. I do want to be as good as I can be. I will never be mathematically perfect, everything just right, fixed. But as long as I live, I am going to be yearning after something that I have not yet achieved, and I am going to be responding to a pull that ever tugs me to a higher level of life. I don’t want to be a semi-Christian. I don’t want to be a "born again" Christian whose "conversion turns him around ninety degrees instead of one hundred ...

1846. The Agony and Ecstasy of Sight

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

The miracle story of Jesus healing the man born blind is placed against the background of a puzzle that has plagued humankind ever since the first person stubbed his toe on a stone and cried out in pain. It is the question of why there is suffering in the world. Despite the many attempted solutions and suggested answers, people are still not satisfied - only more confused. The stubbed toe still hurts. Is the stone we stumble over placed there by chance or circumstance? Are we somehow engaged in a dangerous ...

1847. Must We Have All the Answers?

Gn 2:9 · Deut 30:19-20 · Job 52:5

Sermon

Robert Noblett

The young man and his father were headed into New York City for a Saturday outing. It had been some time since they had spent much time together, and the father reasoned that a day such as this was just what was needed. As they crossed The Tapanzee Bridge into Fun City, the son asked, "Dad, what is the name of this bridge?" The father answered, "Son, I don’t know." Later they were driving along Fifth Avenue and the son asked his father, "Dad, is that the Empire State Building?" Replied the father, "Son, I ...

1848. It Takes Two to Preach!

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Pentecost VIII That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil but when the sun rose ...

1849. Embalmed Alive

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

The words are probably the most plain, the most authoritarian, the most all-inclusive of the great "I am" statements made by Jesus Christ. In Chapter 14 of the Gospel According to St. John, verse 6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." In unmistakable, explicit words, our Lord is saying that the human being cannot have life without him. I suppose that our culture can be divided into two types of persons - those who say in whatever comfortable and luxurious situations they find themselves in: "This is ...

1850. Paul: The Man and His Message

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

Hans Lietzmann, noted New Testament scholar, once remarked that no one has correctly understood Jesus except Paul and no one has correctly understood Paul. The attempts to understand Paul are legion. The literature on him is immense and the interpretations of his thought are varied. To Bultmann he is "the founder of Christian theology," while to Morton Enslin he is not a theologian at all but simply a "practical and forthright man" who taught new life in Christ but had little regard for logical consistency ...

Showing results