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 1851 to 1875 of 5000 results

1851. Are You Dressed For The Banquet?

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the central part of Louisiana, and when he first campaigned for governor, he was given some advice about the voters in the New Orleans area. "South Louisiana is different from the northern part of the state," he was told. "We have a lot of Catholic voters down here." Long nodded knowingly and went out to make his speech. It began, "When I was a boy, I'd get up at six every Sunday morning, hitch our old horse up to the buggy, and take my Catholic grandparents to mass. I'd bring them home and then take my ...

1852. Surprised By Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... the police took no interest in her, and she could work undetected spreading the good news of Jesus to a people who were starving for good news. “Not only does she translate these books,” her husband told Corrie, “but she prays while she types. Sometimes it takes a long time for her finger to hit the key, or for her to get the paper in the machine, but all the time she is praying for those whose books she is working on.” (3) That’s loving God. People make the same mistake with loving God that they ...

1853. Treasured Relics

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... claims that everyone he has ever tested has scored high on at least one of these seven forms of intelligence. All of us are gifted in our own way. Many of us are smarter than we think we are. Don't you wish that someone had told you that a long time ago? Do tell your children, please. Many of them will go through life thinking they are dumb because their form of intelligence is not valued in school. All of us are gifted. All of us have what we need to succeed. God has created us differently so that ...

1854. Finding The Real Thing

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... had been a brisk New England winter with plenty of cold weather and snow. One night as she was leaving the warm retreat house an old monk burst in. "Does anyone want to see a newborn lamb down at the barn," he asked. Some begged off, saying they had a long drive to make. Only Wendy and one or two others accepted his invitation. He led them out through the snowy woods to a low wooden lean-to that served as a barn for the community's livestock. Wendy noticed how dark it was far from the nighttime glow of the ...

1855. A Cross In A Cradle

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... kept.... Well said. Christmas is about a God who keeps His promises. But here is the second thing to be said: GOD DOESN'T PROMISE US A ROSE GARDEN. As Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms the Spirit revealed to him that this baby was the long-awaited Messiah. This was indeed a special moment for this old man. He had waited all his life for this moment. He was holding the Messiah in his unsteady arms. Simeon blessed Mary and Joseph. This would have been one of those warm Christmas memories that Joseph and ...

1856. Profits And Losses

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... a friend or to be honest?" Oh, she knew what most of her friends thought. There had been a poll just a few weeks ago printed in their school paper. Almost 25% of high school students say it's okay to do whatever you have to do to succeed as long as you don't hurt anyone. Nearly two thirds say they've cheated on an exam during the past year. One third say they stole something within the past 12 months. Most of them rank honesty pretty low on the totem pole. Maybe Belinda's right. Maybe friendship is more ...

1857. Aren't You Glad?

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Anne-Rose Reeves

... free hand, pastor Jones carefully set aside the candles and the missal on the altar. He pulled out an old rug from beneath his apron, laid it on the table and put the lamb on it. And then, reaching under his apron one more time, he pulled out a big long butcher knife, lifted it up high above his head to strike the lamb and... There was a collective gasp in the church. Pastor Jones looked up, knife poised in the air and shouted, "Aren't you glad we don't have to do this anymore? Two thousand years ago people ...

1858. Unlocking The Doors

John 20:19-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... He does not want his followers out in the world witnessing to something that they have not really experienced for themselves, so He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit as an internal witness. We do not have to simply depend on a story that we heard long ago. God is forever fresh in our hearts. Christ takes away our fears; He gives us a foundation; and one thing more: III. He Accepts Us as We Are. As the disciples were having this extraordinary experience with the risen Christ, one of them, Thomas, was off ...

1859. Once In A Lifetime

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... was uncertainty about the future. There were even threats of war. The way of life that they had enjoyed for so long was coming to an end. We can identify with Isaiah and his contemporaries, can't we? These last years of the ... us who hunger for that kind of experience, too. We are troubled. We have come to the temple. And we are painfully aware of our own inadequacies. We long to hear the voice of God saying, "It's all right." May I offer this word of hope to you today? I have been authorized by God to ...

1860. Standing On Your Head For God

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... his room one night, knelt beside his bed, and made a commitment to the Lord: "When I go back to the Philippines I will make my church the fastest growing church in East Metro Manila district, so help me God." That was his vision. It wasn't long before he had second thoughts, however. Was he really capable of pulling off a feat like that? Hadn't he been a bit rash to commit himself without thinking of the consequences? He decided to hedge his bets. He worked quietly and prayed consistently, pleading with God ...

1861. Working For Love

Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... that lost sense of security that led John to his first drink years later while he was in the Navy. He found that it made him feel secure again, for the first time in many years. He continued to drink in order to maintain his sense of security, and before long he was an alcoholic. One night some years later, while John was drinking himself into a stupor, he began to think of what had become of his life. He looked at himself and decided he didn't like what he saw, with the drinks controlling his sense of well ...

1862. Sons And Daughters Of Thunder

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... willing to step out from the crowd and make a difference. Jesus asked James and John, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" To which the brothers James and John replied. "We are able." Before too long, of course, word of James' and John's request filtered back to the other ten disciples. As you might imagine the others were upset with the brothers. They were angry with them for sneaking off and cornering Jesus that way. For you see, they also ...

1863. Preparing For An Unknowable Future

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... in life are basically unpredictable. For example, the weather. Our ecosystem is so interrelated that a butterfly flapping its wings in Beijing may ultimately affect weather over New York City. There are simply too many variables to ever give a completely accurate long range weather prediction. And yet according to computer models there are patterns even to these supposedly chaotic events. The patterns are so huge and so complex that they only seem chaotic to us. The biblical testimony is that there is a ...

1864. Jesus And The Lake Wobegon Effect

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... are poorer than we think. AND MAYBE WE ARE NOT AS FREE AS WE THINK. Bob Bartlett, an arctic explorer, tells about a summer expedition where he and his party gathered a selection of native birds. These birds were kept caged but well cared for during the long voyage across the ocean. One day a particularly restless bird escaped from its cage and took off in flight over the ocean. "Well, that bird is lost," thought the crew. But before the end of the day, much to their surprise, they saw that same bird flying ...

1865. Three Deadly Words

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... within each of us? One thing we can do is to rid our vocabularies of three deadly words. They were the words spoken by a young man long ago by the name of Jeremiah. God came to Jeremiah and said to him, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were ... with a slide informing the public that the series was about two women who had escaped from a lunatic asylum. We've got a long way to go, but progress is being made. You may have heard about a man and a woman who were chatting. "Yes," she said ...

1866. Flies On The Ceiling Of The Sistine Chapel

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... Mom one day and said, "I wish I could write a letter to Luke." The mother could see the tears her son was trying not to shed. Nine months before, Landon's friend Luke had died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage. Landon's grief was deep, unreachable. His mother longed to ease his pain, though she could do nothing except hold him as he wept. Maybe, she thought, writing a letter was a good idea. She handed Landon paper and colored pencils. "Tell Luke how much you miss him and how much you love him. Tell him you ...

1867. I Am Doing A New Thing

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... who started fires. The original firemen worked in coal mines, and it was their hazardous job to be the first to enter a mine each morning. They would wrap themselves in wet rags to make themselves as `fireproof' as possible and then, grabbing a long, flaming stick, they would go in and ignite any explosive methane gas that had seeped into the mine overnight. Burning off the dangerous gas thus made the workplace safe for others. (3) Perhaps if the writer of Hebrews had known about this tradition, he would ...

1868. The Cry Of Freedom

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... going to do, but I never let it come into consciousness. I just reached over and laid the hawk on the grass. "He lay there a long minute without hope, unmoving, his eyes still fixed on that blue vault above him. It must have been that he was already so far away ... the release from my hand. He never even stood. He just lay with his breast against the grass. "In the next second after that long minute he was gone. Like a flicker of light, he had vanished with my eyes full on him, but without actually seeing even ...

1869. Lessons From The Locker Room

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

Lowell D. Streiker

... . We do not defile a temple. The life of faith, like that of an athlete, is a life of discipline. A SECOND LESSON WE CAN LEARN FROM THE LOCKER ROOM IS THE IMPORTANCE OF A CLEAR-CUT SENSE OF DIRECTION AND PURPOSE. It is important to spend those long, grueling hours sharpening your competitive skills. It is just as important to run a straight and intentional course. If you get confused and turned around while fielding the kickoff, you just might return it the wrong way. If you hit a home run but trot first to ...

1870. More Than Meets The Eye

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." A LITTLE BIT OF FAITH GOES A LONG WAY. Jesus told the disciples that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed they could do wondrous things. The mustard seed is ... make a decision he has already decided. His indecision has not interfered with the flow of the river, and if he debates long enough concerning his stop at Buffalo he will awake and discover he is already past the stop, thereby rendering his decision ...

1871. The Gift Of Inadequacy

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... to grace. Pastor Dennis Keen tells of a woman from a small town in Pennsylvania's depressed coal region who would cry uncontrollably every time she took communion. He asked other parishioners about this woman, and they said she had cried at communion for as long as they could remember. After one service Pastor Keen asked her, "Why do you cry while kneeling at the altar every time you receive Holy Communion?" Her response surprised her pastor. "Every time I receive the bread and cup I can't help but think ...

1872. Responding To The Roadblocks Of Life

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... direction? Will it be energy and enthusiasm or will it be discouragement and disillusionment? Eugene Patterson, in his book A LONG OBEDIENCE IN THE SAME DIRECTION, shares a penetrating insight when he writes: "Our attention spans have been conditioned by thirty ... at work in our world. Dreams of freedom and religious liberties propel countless persons to move across oceans and unknown lands. As long as the dream was alive, so were the people who pursued them. Never underestimate the power of an idea. I don't ...

1873. A Journey To A New Life

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... read about Lizbet and her family, I wondered how many people in this world are ready to make a new beginning in their lives. Not long ago, a very curious incident was reported in the New York City papers. A bus driver in the Bronx simply drove away in his ... 's family is on a diet. We make these sometimes futile resolutions, but don't many of us really hope for more? Don't we long for a more radical change? A change that will turn our inner darkness into light? A change that will heal our pain and give us ...

1874. Power Praying

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... a class together. It was taught by one of the most boring professors in the school. Like all of the classes in their school, this one always opened and closed with a word of prayer. RLD's friend Joe had a habit of dozing off during the hour-long lecture. This gave RLD an idea. Right in the middle of the lecture, after Joe had been asleep for about five minutes, RLD leaned over and nudged him. "Joe," he whispered, "class is over! The professor called on you to close in prayer!" Immediately Joe leaped to his ...

1875. Living With The Birth Pangs

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

King Duncan

... to step inside this cave and see my experimental apparatus." Licking her chops, the wolf followed the rabbit into the cave. About half an hour passed before the rabbit came out of the cave with his pad of paper, munching on what looked like the end of a long gray tail. Then along came a big brown bear. "What's this I hear about your thesis topic?" he demanded. "I can't imagine why you all keep pestering me about my topic," said the rabbit irritably. "As if the topic made any difference at all." The bear ...

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