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 1901 to 1925 of 2415 results

1901. “Come and See What God Has Done”

Psalm 66:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... created us to be as we live in obedience to his design and purpose. God’s care of the world and of each person at the same time Quote: Augustine. It is difficult for us to understand how God can care for the world he made and care as passionately for each individual who makes up that world. While Augustine provides no explanation for this phenomenon, he recognizes the truth when he prays: “O omnipotent Good, you who care for each one of us as though he was your only care and who cares for all of us as ...

1902. “Endow the King with Your Justice, O God”

Psalm 72:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... not to state but to the Lord. We are Christians first, people of the Bible first and foremost. When our nation turns its back on justice and God’s way, then we need all the more to speak loudly and boldly for kingdom principles. We are to have passion not just for “our people” but for the people of the world. A commitment to the poor Statistics: At any given time in history, there will be people in need. There will always be victims of injustice, orphans, and the poor among us. And in every generation ...

1903. Nebuchadnezzar’s Judgment and Repentance

Daniel 4:28-37

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... of sin. When exercising a prophetic voice today, we must remember that the Old Testament prophets not only announce judgment but also promise blessing, if repentance is forthcoming. Similarly, Daniel juxtaposes God’s righteous judgment of Judah with a passionate plea for restoration (9:4–19). God’s work with Nebuchadnezzar affirms that God is gracious and compassionate to restore the repentant sinner. Exhort your listeners to practice restoration of those who raise their eyes toward heaven, of those ...

1904. Gabriel Brings an Answer to Daniel’s Prayer

Daniel 9:20-27

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... a nonchristological—although much more unified—reading of these verses, primarily in their literary and historical contexts. Teaching the Text 1. A prompt yet bittersweet answer. Since God answers prayer, we may come to him humbly confessing our sin and passionately pleading for mercy—yet being content with his answer. Daniel’s lengthy prayer and Gabriel’s response should not be presented as a formal model for how we should pray or how God always responds. Nevertheless, the interaction reflected ...

1905. Daniel’s Final Revelation

Daniel 10:1--11:1

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... against God and his people (cf. 8:25; 9:26), and evil spiritual beings oppose the angels sent to protect God’s people. Therefore, we should recognize the spiritual dimension of our seemingly “earthly” struggles and address them with sincere, passionate prayer—sometimes accompanied by fasting and/or mourning. This does not mean that every human problem we face involves spiritual warfare. But we should be constantly aware of the ongoing redemptive work of God to establish his kingdom, in which ...

1906. How to Deal with Demons

Matthew 12:38-50

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... us. We will not tolerate intolerance, but we entertain the selfish spirit almost without knowing it. We thing we’ve successfully buried some deep-set resentment or hated, only to have it come back in some form of mental or physical ailment. We subdue our passions but find them coming to the fore again in our suspicions, jealousies, and ill-temper. We outgrow the sensuality of our youth and discover the materialism of old age.”[4] The presence and persistence of evil, of the demonic in our life, is very ...

1907. In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Isaiah 55:1-3, Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... evenings have I fumbled to explain to these anxious boys the mysteries of no mother at home? How many anguished hours have I tried to cool and caress to peace the fevered brow of children who needed the mother’s touch? How many midnights have I contorted in passion, my loins aching for the satisfaction of a woman? What are you saying, God? Go again, love this woman who has played the harlot? You can’t mean it! You do? And why? Even as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods ...

1908. The People Rebel

Numbers 14:1-45

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... as they are, the Israelites do not see through the contradictions but accept the faithless majority report. The next day, they are considering replacing Moses and Aaron with a leader who will take them back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb make a final, passionate appeal, but the people respond by saying they should be stoned (14:1–10). Thus the people condemn themselves and seal their fate. The Lord wants to exterminate the Israelites and make Moses a great nation instead. Moses intercedes, as he has earlier ...

1909. The Genealogy of David

Ruth 4:13-22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... once empty, Naomi has now received fullness from the Lord’s sovereign and merciful hand in her old age. Thus the “naturalization” process that Ruth undergoes enables her to marry Boaz. Ruth finds a new home in Israel, the answer to Naomi’s passionate concern. Ruth also finds a spiritual home by trusting in Israel’s God. Her functional change in ethnic identity, whereby she transfers membership to Israel, also explains how a Moabite can be included in David’s line, the enthusiastic witness of the ...

1910. Hezekiah King of Judah

2 Kings 18:1-37

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the cannibal mothers). The “war of the words” reaches a crescendo with a verbal assault on the person of the king, followed by lavish promises about peace and security, promises that must be more appealing than drinking urine. The speaker sounds like a passionate prophet talking about a land of milk and honey—and he intones that Assyria is like a juggernaut crushing every land and god! In light of this onslaught, the self-control of the people indicates the kind of respect they have for their leader ...

1911. The Book of Law Found

2 Kings 22:1-30

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... days of Hezekiah, and the story is marching inexorably toward exile. Josiah’s untimely death at Megiddo takes place, literally and figuratively, between two superpowers as he tries somehow to thwart the Egyptians who are coming to aid Assyria. His death resembles his reform movement in Judah; although brave and passionate, he is unable to stem the rising tide of Babylon.

1912. The Defeat and Death of Saul

1 Chronicles 10:1-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... against which one may see the brilliance of David. The account of David comprises two main sections divided by the story in chapter 21, which reveals how the temple site was chosen. Driving the first main section (chaps. 10–20) is David’s passion for the centralization of worship in Jerusalem, while driving the second main section (chaps. 22–29) is David’s provision of personnel, support, and materials for the temple to be constructed by his son Solomon. Both sections give some attention to military ...

1913. Job's Third Reply to Bildad

Job 26:1--31:40

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... on the desperation of the human condition, that humans die and reside in Sheol without help (Job 14). In his first speech of the second cycle, Job graphically details his mistreatment by God (Job 16–17) and yet again looks to a courtroom, becoming increasingly passionate about it. Job speaks of having a witness in heaven, ready to testify on high (16:19). Indeed, this vindicator, this kinsman-redeemer (19:25), will take his place should Job fall to the grave (16:18, 22; 19:26). Job, however, would much ...

1914. Job Replies to the Lord

Job 42:1-6

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... his days of orderliness compared to his present chaos (Job 29–31), voices the human drive for order, control, and safety, particularly for those close to us—the motive behind Job’s sacrifices on behalf of his family. His, and ours, is a passion to thwart or deny the tragic. The expectation, now seen as the arrogance, that everything should be orderly and go well underlies the crushing devastation one feels at the catastrophic, the appalling, the dreadful, and the awful. The image of Leviathan—the ...

1915. All Night Long

Song of Songs 3:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... that the entire section (2:3–3:5) is to be understood as the recounting of the maiden’s fantasy as she pines for her absent lover. The dream or fantasy concludes dramatically with her frantic search of the city for the shepherd and the passionate reunion of the lovers in the deserted streets of Jerusalem. The plural “nights” implies that the fantasy or dream is a recurring one (NEB “night after night”) or that it lasts all night long (NIV). The refrain in verses 1–2 continues the pattern of ...

1916. How Beautiful are You

Song of Songs 4:1-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... all serving to heighten the erotic and the sensual. 4:16–5:1 · The two-character interpretation understands this section as the climax of the love poem. According to this view, the maiden has succumbed to the king’s passionate wooing, willingly offering him the “fruit of her garden,” and the king happily “possesses” the garden, consummating their marital relationship. This approach assumes that the imperative “awake” (4:16) in the lovers’ dialogue is conjunctive, not disjunctive. Yet in ...

1917. If Only You Were To Me A Brother

Song of Songs 8:1-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... love are unquenchable in the face of life’s surging flood tides. The worth, the value, of this kind of love is beyond calculation. The wealth of a household, indeed the wealth of an empire (even Solomon’s), cannot purchase the loyalty, devotion, true passion, and faithfulness of genuine human love. The maiden’s brothers recall her growth and development from their “little sister” into a mature woman ready for a life of her own (8:8–9). The earlier anger of the brothers (1:6) was likely their ...

1918. A Marriage about to Break Up

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... good variety. The soda and soap (mineral and vegetable alkalis) metaphor stresses the deeply ingrained nature of Israel’s evil. The young camel, wobbly on its feet, illustrates how directionless Israel is as she crisscrosses her ways. The donkey at mating time illustrates the passion with which Israel pursues the Baals even in the valley, which, if the Hinnom Valley, would be the place for child sacrifice. In sarcasm, God warns Israel in all this pursuing of other gods not to stub her toe (to use a modern ...

1919. Hope: Return and know God

Hosea 6:1--7:16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... 2 Kings 15). At one point they will appear to be a friend, and in the next moment they are ready to get involved with plots to assassinate the king (7:3–7). They are politically unfaithful (thus adulterers) and liars; like an oven, they get hot with passion and drunk with wine. So at a time when the king is supposed to be honored and people are supposed to be enjoying a festival, they join evil companions in talk about how to overthrow the reigning king. While all this is happening, no one ever bothers to ...

1920. Betrayal and Desertion

Matthew 26:1-5, Matthew 26:6-13, Matthew 26:14-16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the familiar formula, “When Jesus had finished [saying these things],” this time referencing “all these things” to signal the final of the five blocks of Jesus’s teaching (26:1; see “Structure” in the introduction). Immediately afterward, Matthew narrates another passion prediction by Jesus (cf. 16:21; 17:22–23; 20:17–19) and the intensifying plot by the Jewish leadership against Jesus (26:3–5; cf. 21:46). Jesus’s prediction connects his crucifixion—a Roman form of execution—to ...

1921. Jesus’s Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Matthew 27:27-31, Matthew 27:32-44, Matthew 27:45-56, Matthew 27:57-61, Matthew 27:62-66

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... Galilean women who remain with Jesus, even as his twelve disciples have deserted him (27:55–56; cf. 26:56, 75). Some women continue attending Jesus after his death, holding vigil at the tomb (27:61; 28:1). The reader of Matthew’s passion narrative has seen other women providing a faithful contrast to their male counterparts: the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus for burial (26:6–13) and Pilate’s wife, who testifies to Jesus’s innocence (27:19). Joining these faithful women is Joseph of Arimathea ...

1922. Jesus Again Predicts His Death

Mark 10:32-34

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The final passion prediction, in 10:32–34, is the most explicit of the three, with many predictions fulfilled in chapters 14–15. Jewish leaders are responsible for Jesus’s death in the first prediction (8:31); Gentiles in the second (9:31); but “the chief priests and the teachers of the law” ...

1923. The Triumphal Entry

Mark 11:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

11:1–13:37 Review · Stories of conflict in the temple in Jerusalem: Mark 11–16 is commonly called the “passion narrative,” the account of Jesus’s suffering and death in Jerusalem. In devoting fully one-third of his narrative to the final week of Jesus’s life, Mark indicates its importance for understanding Jesus and the gospel. All the material in Mark 11–13—and most of 14–15—is ...

1924. Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

Mark 14:27-31

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... to God, the shepherd to Jesus, and the sheep to the disciples. This quotation repeats the paradox of 14:21: evil is used by God to fulfill his greater purpose. The Zechariah quotation (like Isa. 53:10) also implies that Jesus understands his impending passion in Jerusalem not as an accident but as divinely ordained. Jesus announces that he will be reunited with the disciples after his resurrection, not in Jerusalem or the temple, but in Galilee, where their call to discipleship began (1:16). Until now, when ...

1925. Jesus Arrested

Mark 14:43-52

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... ” (14:43). As a disciple, Judas knew Jesus’s daytime movements and nighttime lodgings, and he gives a prearranged sign to the authorities, lest in the darkness of an olive grove at night they fall upon the wrong person. The sign is a kiss—a tender or passionate kiss, according to the Greek of 14:45. Why Judas chose this sign is unclear—although it had been similarly used at least twice in the Old Testament (Gen. 27:26; 2 Sam. 20:9–10). Betrayal by an intimate act of affection, and by an epithet ...

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