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 1926 to 1950 of 2173 results

1926. Such A Babe In Such A Place

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Have you ever noticed, have you ever really contemplated our infinite capacity to complicate things? It’s like we have a built-in aversion to the simple. We take the simplest situation and we make it a complicated affair. We build molehills into mountains. Before we examine a question, we wrap it in confusion. Really though, when you get the heart of it, the great experiences of life, even the great insights, have a way of turning out to be very simple. At the heart of it, Christmas is a very simple thing ...

1927. Servants Of The Servant Who Was Lord

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

If I had to designate one big idea that has characterized the mood and the movement of people during the past ten or 15 years, I would say that this has been a time of aggressive self-expression. Perhaps the most graphic reflection of it is the advent of assertiveness training. This has been formalized in books, seminars, and workshops. For many people, winning is everything, even if you win by intimidation. In fact there is a book by that title, Winning by Intimidation. Success is measured by achievement ...

1928. The Family: A Place For Persons

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I doubt if there is anything more important for persons in shaping their lives than the families in which they are nurtured. So, on this Father’s Day, and the day following the marriage of our daughter, could I preach about anything else than family? I want to talk particularly about the family as a place for persons. The family is threatened in our day. The pressures of modern living bring explosion to the home. Consider these shocking statistics – over 40% of all marriages today end in divorce; 59% of ...

1929. The Game Is For A Team

Colossians 4:7-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Clarence Forsberg tells a story about what it means to be a part of a team. It is a story of Al McGuire and Butch Lee. McGuire was a great basketball coach, who retired from Marquette after winning the NCAA tournament in 1976. Butch Lee was a kind of prima donna player on that team. The story is about McGuire trying to teach Butch Lee about team basketball. This was the coach's word. "Now, Butch, the game is forty minutes long, and if you divide that between the two teams that means there is twenty minutes ...

1930. In A Mirror Dimly

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It was All Saints Day, and the Sunday School teacher was talking about saints. She asked, "What is a saint?" Quick as a flash one little boy said, "A dead Christian." Well -- maybe! There are living saints, though the supply may be limited. And, yes, there are dead saints -- those who have passed from the church militant to the church triumphant. This is All Saints Sunday -- and on this day we celebrate the memory of those of our membership who have passed into glory during this past year. Actually, All ...

1931. Don't Mess With Mr. In-between

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Harold and Maud is a fascinatingly different, but warmly convincing novel. It's by Colin Higgins, and is the story of two persons who not only affirm each other's existence, but also cherish the mutual meanings they share. A young man in his 20's and an enchanting woman in her 70's become real friends. Maud cares for Harold, not because he is useful or ornamental. He is neither. Not because of anything he does or has, but just because he is himself. Harold is thus better able, when he is with Maud, to ...

1932. Let Your Soul Catch Up

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A religious poll asked people this question: “Do you believe in the Second Coming of Christ?” If the respondent said yes, a subsequent question was put to them: “What would you do if you knew Jesus was coming back today?” One young man replied, “Look busy, Man! Look busy!” Isn’t that the mindset of our age? It seems as though most of us build our lives on the premise that personal worth and significance, as well as meaning in life, is dependent upon being busy. Too often we are identified by what we ...

1933. Pay Attention To The Inside

Luke 11:37-54

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A few years ago, a barber's supply association had a convention in Chicago. As a publicity stunt they went out to skid row and found a man living in the gutter, filthy dirty and filthy drunk. They brought him back to the convention center and cleaned him up. They shampooed and shaved him. They washed him with a new kind of soap they were trying to sell. They put cologne on him, bought him a new suit, shirt, tie and shoes - - and then they proclaimed to all the world: "This is what our barber supplies can ...

1934. If You Get Too Close to the Cross, You Will End Up Carrying It

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Listen: “If you get too close to the cross you will end up carrying it.” Let me say that again. “If you get too close to the cross you will end up carrying it.” This liturgical season of Lent is the occasion when we Christians rehearse the passion, suffering and death of our Lord Jesus. We who follow Jesus ought always to live in the shadow of the cross. Yet also there are specific times when we walk the Via Dolorosa as we deliberately choose a cross – or we have thrust upon us a cross not of our choosing ...

1935. Some Healing Is Up To You

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is a famous legend in Buddhist folklore in which the Buddha compared philosophical preoccupation with settling the matter of God’s existence to a man shot with a poisoned arrow. Before the man can allow the arrow to be withdrawn and the wound treated, he insisted upon knowing who shot him, what sort of poison was in the arrow, and what kind of medicine would be administered.. The man died before the questions were answered. Buddha concluded that in the same way, people need to be rescued from the ...

1936. What We Want for Our Children

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Some helpful person has made a list for men--a list of “What NOT to Buy Your Wife for Mother’s Day.” I realize this is a little late, but just in case any of you men were planning on running out to [Wal-Mart] this afternoon, this list might help: 1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian. 2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in 7,000 that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. “Do I ...

1937. A Time of Grief

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

King Duncan

You may know the story of a young minister who was asked by a funeral director to hold a graveside service for a homeless man who had died while traveling through the area. The service was to be held at a new cemetery way back in the country. This man would be the first person laid to rest there. As he was not familiar with the back woods area, the young minister soon became quite lost and finally arrived over an hour late. He saw the backhoe by the grave and noticed that the crew was eating lunch under a ...

1938. Lighten Up

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Mark Trotter

I have selected the hymn you have just sung to bring back memories of Sunday School. Imagine this image: a little girl in a white Sunday School dress, in a church pageant, holding a little candle, singing, "This Little Light of Mine." That is the image that most of us, I imagine, have in mind when we think of this hymn, "This Little Light of Mine." It is so sentimental, and cute, even. Which is the danger of using diminutives like "little,"...."This Little Light of Mine." It is like "dear" or "sweet." It ...

1939. Letting Go

Acts 7:55-60

Sermon

Bill Mosley

Michael Crichton was a doctor. But he also had other talents and the itch to write. So he determined to let go of his ambition of a life of medicine and pursue a career as a writer. He says in his 1988 autobiography, Travels, he relates that he was following his passion. That's admirable. There are enough people trapped in jobs and occupations they don't like. Find what you like, what you want to do, and find some way to make that your life's work. Crichton says at that time society gave doctors a lot of ...

1940. Forgiveness and Reconciliation at Last!

Genesis 45:1-15

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

It happened to a rural Lake County, South Dakota, Lutheran church in August of 2000. Vandals attacked the fieldstone St. Peter Lutheran Church building with vengeance -- breaking windows, smashing light fixtures, flipping over the baptismal font, slashing a large "Jesus the Good Shepherd" painting, scribbling, and carving obscenities into the sanctuary walls and fixtures. The golden altar cross had been swung like a bat to gouge pews and walls. In the basement, kitchen dishes were broken and objects flung ...

1941. Ancient Ruins Rebuilt

Isaiah 58:1-14

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. All: The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58:10-11) Collect With the swiftness of the dawn, Lord, you hear our prayers and move in our midst. In our worship we desire ...

1942. The Reward

1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Sermon

James L. Killen

The Rock opera, Jesus Christ, Superstar, pictures Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking God if it is really necessary for him to die on the cross. In deep anguish he prays, among other things, "I'd have to know, I'd have to know, my Lord, if I die, what will be my reward?" We don't think or talk much about the reward of the Christian life. I suppose we feel reluctant to ask because we think that, if we are being Christian just for what we get out of it, we are probably doing it for the wrong reason. ...

1943. Body Parts and Pride

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

It sometimes happens that small parts of the Bible seem to become dated, especially when they echo particular periods of time. When these small portions are brought up later, they seem out of touch with the modern world. The lesson today might serve as an example of this phenomenon. When we read the lesson it sounds almost as if it should be a part of the '60s. Early on, there is a comment about not conforming, then something about transforming by renewing your minds, and finally, the ending about ...

1944. The Power of God

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Rick Brand

The professional observers and media pundits suggest that now Bill Clinton has only his place in history to work toward. He will now be judged against the giants of the past, Lincoln, Truman, Wilson. That is one of the ways that history works. We judge the current events by the standards set in the past. Current NBA stars are now being set against the stars from the last fifty years. Madonna versus Marilyn Monroe. John Updike compared to Nathaniel Hawthorne. And when you compare the preaching and praying ...

1945. The Lonesome Valley

Matthew 21:1-11; 26:36-46, 69-27:1,15-26

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Some of you will remember the name of Joseph Campbell. Campbell taught in relative obscurity for many years until Bill Moyers discovered him, did a series on public television about Campbell's ideas about mythology and comparative religions, and thus elevated him into celebrity. Most of it posthumously since Campbell died shortly after that television series. The book that caught Moyers's attention was a book entitled, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Incidentally, it also caught George Lucas's attention ...

1946. The Sin of Being Less

Colossians 3:1-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

There is a story about a woman who rode the same bus to work every morning. One day an old man got on the bus. He was shabbily dressed, obviously down and out. She thought about what she could do to express Christian love to this poor man. How could she reach out and help him? She got up, took a dollar out of her purse, went over to the man, pressed the dollar into the palm of his hand, and said, "Never despair. Just remember, never despair." The next day the woman was on the bus again. The man got on at ...

1947. Lent 4

John 9:35-41, John 9:13-34, John 9:1-12, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Samuel anoints David to succeed Saul as king. Here is a story of a shepherd boy who is made a king. Because God was sorry he ever chose Saul to be the first king of Israel, he instructed Samuel to secretly anoint a successor to Saul. He is sent to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint a replacement for Saul. Which one of the eight sons of Jesse did God want as king? All seven sons were interviewed but none satisfied God's choice. The youngest, David, was in the ...

1948. Jesus Transforms the Darkness into Light

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Pastor David Johnson was all ready, he thought, for his Easter sermon. Having only graduated from the seminary three months prior to taking his present position at the Maple Street Community Church, he possessed all the latest and most interesting theology. He made the final touches to his sermon on Holy Saturday morning and outlined its content to his wife. He told her that his sermon was based on theology of Paul Tillich and spoke of the resurrection as a symbol that the estrangement from our authentic ...

1949. Worship Wars!

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

We pastors call it The Worship Wars. One can see the frowning battlements in the faces seated in pews, hear the rumble of its artillery in negative comments, and feel the white heat of its lethal shrapnel in board meetings. "It's boring!" "Why, those songs are so old, every time I sing them I get a backache!" "Worship is becoming a nightclub act! What will we do next?" "Choruses are 7-11 worship. Seven words repeated eleven times!" Any pastor, any active church member alive today is in the trenches of this ...

1950. The Insight of Eyesight

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In the northeast February is still winter. Regardless whether that scruffy little groundhog gets a glimpse of his shadow or not on February 2nd, the rest of the month is distinctly dark and dreary. It's too early for any but the most foolhardy of crocuses, and yet really too late for any long lasting deep snowfalls. What snow there is comes and goes, and so always appears in that grimy, mud-spattered, grey incarnation, not the bright glistening pristine white of January. But this February in New York City ...

Showing results