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 1876 to 1900 of 2173 results

1876. God’s Wounded Healers

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

ROBERT A. RAINES is a prolific author, currently Director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in Bangor, Pennsylvania, following twenty years in parish work. His sermon, God’s Wounded Healers, was preached on a return visit to First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he had been co-minister from 1961-1970. In it he lifts up the principle that our preaching has its greatest strength and integrity sometimes when we are speaking from the experiential knowledge of our own wounds such ...

1877. The Courage to Be Me

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." There is a certain courage to be who we are built into the dynamics of Christian faith and grace. DONALD C. HOUTS (see biographical note preceding Smart, Wise, and Foolish) relates this courage to three common debilitating fears in his sermon The Courage to Be Me: The fears of doubt, self-disclosure, and failure. There is a sense in which vitality in human life is a product of the tension between fear and faith. If all were certain, then our concept ...

1878. A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

MORTON T. KELSEY is an Episcopalian priest, now a professor emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. He is nationally recognized and sought after as a theologian, psychologist, educator, priest, and man of prayer. The last designation in particular reflects the intense interest Kelsey has sparked by reintroducing and reintegrating the spiritual-meditative-mystical tradition of the church into modern life in general and professional pastoral practice in particular. Isaiah 11 contains the classic passage of ...

1879. Someone Greater Than a Prophet

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

As our world gets smaller and smaller we become more and more aware of other cultures and religions, and we increasingly wonder about our own religion. If once we thought of them in rather exclusive terms, can we do so in a world which seems to have relative exclusive truth claims? If once we thought of Christianity as the final word in religion, can we do so in face of a vital and resurgent Islam in the world? In his recent, brilliant discussion of Islam, Dr. Charles Ryerson of Princeton reminded us that ...

1880. Refueling

Titus 2:1-15

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call To Worship Leader: Now is the time the faithful fortify themselves for coming days. God has come in human form to strengthen and to save us. People: Let us sing in the strength of our Savior’s birth. Let us sing now of Christmas. Collect Through your kindness, O God, we also can reveal tenderness. Through your grace, we also can show compassion. Through your generosity, we also can give. Because of the birth of Christ. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Holy Creator, who sends your son to us at the right time ...

1881. A Vision of Freedom

Isaiah 65:17-25

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Freedom is such a lovely word, a compelling image. What is freedom? How would you define it? What does it mean to you? Webster’s New World Dictionary defines freedom as being exempt from control or from arbitrary restrictions. Freedom is said to be the ability to choose or determine one’s own actions. That was the sort of freedom, escape from foreign intrusion, which the Hebrews sought when our First Lesson was written. There is a lot of debate among Old Testament scholars about the circumstances of its ...

1882. Light for Beauty

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

David Donald’s biography of Abraham Lincoln is a special effort to help us feel along with Mr. Lincoln the thoughts of his heart and mind as he aspired to the presidency. Mr. Lincoln had an earnest desire to be of special service to the nation he knew was in deep trouble. One senses the compassion he had for all the people. He also recognized that the people could survive only as one nation. No one knew better than he that not everyone would agree with his purpose and will in leading the people. He also ...

1883. Christian Liberty

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Brett Blair

Jesus died penniless. Roman soldiers cast lots to divide among themselves Jesus' only possessions--the clothes on his back. And he looked at his disciples and said, blessed are you who are poor. Jesus died hungry. There is no record that Jesus had anything to eat the day of his death. What we call The Last Supper on Thursday evening may very well have been Jesus' last meal. He died on the cross Friday at sunset with an empty stomach. Looking at his disciples he said, blessed are you who hunger now. Jesus ...

1884. His Trial

Luke 22:66--23:25

Sermon

Brett Blair

On Friday of Holy Week the streets were filled with people. It was not an ordinary market day crowd. It was religious tradition that brought these people together. It was the festival of the Passover and Jews from far and near had migrated to the holy city of Jerusalem. It was this same religious fervor that created a certain tense atmosphere in the city. Jesus, the Nazarene carpenter, the one whom some called Messiah, had been placed under arrest by the Roman authorities due to pressure from the Jewish ...

1885. Hypocrites

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Brett Blair

It is difficult to find anyone who has a kind word to say about hypocrites. Nobody likes a hypocrite; no one wants to be around one; the last thing one would want to be called is a hypocrite. Hypocrites are, by definition, deceptive, two-faced and treacherous. If discovered, hypocritical politicians are defeated at the polls, hypocritical friends get dropped and hypocritical preachers lose the trusting ears of their congregations. It may well be that our age is particularly tough on hypocrisy. In some ways ...

1886. John the Baptist

Matthew 3:1-12, Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A time to put your imagination to work this morning. The scene is a large, ornate room in the palace of Herod the king. In it, you and others who comprise the best and the brightest in all of Judea - religious leaders, politicians, courtiers. There is an air of expectation in the hall, for you are about to meet a man whose reputation has spread across the land. The king's men have arrested him after reports that he has denounced Herod's marriage to Herodias, until recently the wife of Herod's brother ...

1887. Real Religion

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Micah 6:8..."He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Familiar words. Perhaps you memorized them in Sunday School in years past, or perhaps you saw them on the wall of the Library of Congress. (They are inscribed there.) They are an ancient answer to the modern acronym that Christian youngsters wear on tee-shirts, bracelets, and necklaces: WWJD - What would Jesus do? These few words spell it ...

1888. The Lord's Prayer: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

An old, old story has a minister going from Sunday School class to Sunday School class one morning to meet with the students to see how their studies were going. He came into one first-grade group and began to question them as to what they had been learning. They had been studying about God and eagerly, the youngsters shared their knowledge. One little boy said God created the whole world and everything in it. A little girl said that God loves us very much. Another little girl said that God had a son named ...

1889. Tragedy and Triumph

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I am sure you have been hearing the reports coming from western India these past few days. Horrible earthquake, the worst in that nation in 50 years - 7.9 on the Richter scale, strong enough to be felt 1,200 miles away in Calcutta and Bangladesh, both well acquainted with tragedy themselves. Funeral pyres lit the night sky Saturday and officials said the rapidly rising death toll could reach 15,000.(1) Who knows how many more injured. It is terrible. In the midst of those reports you may have also heard a ...

1890. The View from the Mountaintop

Mark 9:14-32, Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Some important birthdays this week. Our Sunday School Superintendent, Jane Bonavita has a big one today (Lordy, Lordy, Jane is...). Our Director of Music, Debbie Hunter has an even bigger one Thursday (Isn't it nifty, Deb's turning ...). Am I in trouble? Here is one that is safe: on Tuesday, it is Abraham Lincoln's. Had he lived, Mr. Lincoln would be 193 (and, no, I don't have a jingle for that one). Lincoln has always fascinated me. In my view, he was our greatest President. Others feel the same. In fact ...

1891. Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Temptation. Oscar Wilde is quoted a saying, "I can resist everything -- except temptation!" Humorist Robert Orben has observed, "Most people want to be delivered from temptation but would like to keep in touch." Another wag has asked, "Why is it that opportunity knocks only once, yet temptation bangs on the door constantly?"(1) Once there was a small boy who wanted a pair of skates. His parents, hoping to teach him the value of money, informed him that he would have to save the required amount from his ...

1892. Building a World

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Geoff Burch is a sales trainer in England. He tells about a man named Fred he met in the course of his research into sales methods. Back in the 1950s Fred had been a traveling salesman hawking washing machines. This job was on commission only, but included a valuable and unusual perk: the then almost unheard of luxury of a vehicle. At the beginning of each week Fred was sent off in his van with five washing machines; so long as all five were sold each week, Fred could keep the van. This he succeeded in ...

1893. Role Models

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

When the play Peter Pan first premiered in London in 1904, the author, Sir James Barrie began to hear from parents upset with the play. They asked him to make a change. In the original version, Peter Pan told the Darling children that if they believed strongly enough that they could fly, they would fly. Apparently, children who had seen the play had taken Peter's word literally and hurt themselves attempting to fly. Without hesitation, Barrie altered the script to include a cautionary statement that the ...

1894. Let's Play, Stump The Theologian!

John 16:5-16

Sermon

King Duncan

An aging Jew was crossing the street in front of a Roman Catholic church. He was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver. As he lay there, half conscious, a priest hurried out, and prepared to administer the last rites. "Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost?" the priest asked. "I'm dying," cried the old man, "and he's asking me riddles!" Peppermint Patty steps up to the store counter in a PEANUTS cartoon. She says, "Yes, sir . . . I need some school supplies . . . some pencils ...

1895. Cut Your Losses!

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

Shridhar Chillal of India hasn't cut the nails of his left hand since 1952. That's almost fifty years ago! No surprise that Shridhar holds the Guinness world record for long fingernails. But Shridhar reportedly doesn't care about fame or even fingernails. He has only one goal: to make money out of his dubious accomplishment. "I haven't had a good night's sleep for 30 years," he complains. He had a vision of how his nails would look one day in a glass case attached to a plaster replica of his 56-year-old ...

1896. The Greatness Of John The Baptist

John 1:19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Probably you or I would not have been drawn to the preaching of John the Baptist. A man clothed in camel's hair and wild animal's skins and subsisting on a diet of locusts and wild honey out in the wilderness would not seem to have much to say about the way we live our lives. His appearance was eccentric. His preaching was dreadfully morbid "all about sin and repentance" calling people snakes and warning them of the wrath that was to come. We like our sins treated more gently. Preferably we would like them ...

1897. The Things In Mary's Heart

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

When Catherine of Siena was only a girl, she had difficulty relating to her family. She resented her household chores and longed to cloister herself within a convent. A wise teacher, however, counseled her to remember that she could always keep a little cell within her own heart to which she could inwardly retire. St. Teresa of Avila called it an "interior castle of the soul" that no cares or fears could storm. Mary, the mother of Jesus, must have had a little interior castle of her own. Luke, in his ...

1898. The Deal Of A Lifetime

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Many of you pride yourself on being good business people. Suppose someone reputable made you the following offer: You go into business with me. It will be expensive, but I guarantee it will be worth it. You dig up whatever cash you can find. Take out an equity loan on your house, cash in the value of your life insurance policy, pay the penalty, and take the money out of your IRA accounthowever you can come up with cash, do it. Then, if you work hard, and follow the company manual, sacrifice and give your ...

1899. The Secret Of His Success

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

King Duncan

We Americans are suckers for the underdog. We ought to appreciate the story of Samuel Logan Brengle. Brengle gave up an opportunity to pastor one of the largest churches in Mid-America in order to join the ranks of the Salvation Army when that organization was just getting established in the United States. One of his early assignments was in Danbury, Connecticut, where Brengle’s entire congregation often numbered less than a dozen people. Determined to reach Danbury with the Gospel, each evening Brengle ...

1900. May Christ Be Born In You

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Many years ago a pastor was invited to preach at a nearby country church he had never been to before. As he set out he was uncertain which road to take since most rural roads are not clearly marked and the directions he had been given left something to be desired. He stopped to ask directions along the way. The person he asked tried, but mistakenly steered him down the wrong road. The morning was pleasant and although the road seemed a little longer than the pastor had expected, he cheerfully continued on ...

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