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 176 to 200 of 1164 results

176. Seeing Just Enough of God

Exodus 33:12-23

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Life never stands still. It can crawl along too slowly, zip past us before we know it, torture us with opportunities we can never get again, or bewilder us with which path to take. But it never stands still. A woman who learned about life's twists and turns shared her story with a pastor friend of mine. Shortly after her marriage, in full flush of love, she went out for a jog. Bursting with a feeling of how delicious her life was, she offered up a prayer of gratitude to God for her marriage, her health, ...

177. Blessed

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

We hear it all the time. We hear it in church, in interviews with sports and movie stars, and we hear it a whole lot around the Fourth of July. “I’ve been blessed.” “We’ve been so blessed.” But what does it mean? What does it mean to be blessed? Usually we associate it with plentitude. It means that we have a lot of something: money, property, talent. Certainly, in that sense things haven’t changed much over the past 2,000 years. Ask any first-century Jew who the blessed people were in their community and ...

178. Hunger, Health, and Happiness

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him. Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place ...

179. The Waiting Place

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

William L. Self

While we were keeping our eighteen-month-old grandson for the weekend so his parents could catch up on their sleep, my wife Carolyn and I were talking about this sermon. I had the idea, but it lacked something. Carolyn had taken Benjamin upstairs for his nap. About fifteen minutes later, she came bursting into my study and said, "I've got it! Read this," and she thrust into my hand Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss. As she was reading this book to Benjamin, she came upon these words: The Waiting Place ...

180. A Gospel that Fills the Glove

Sermon

James Bjorge

I was sitting in my office staring blankly into space. Then my leather gloves which had been thrown on my desk caught my glance. They were limp and lifeless. I reached over and picked one of them up and slipped my right hand into it. The gloved filled out. I flexed my hand - the glove moved. It was filled with life. My mind began to dance with the thought of God coming to earth to slip into the gloves of human lives. He came to fill them out so they would pulsate with life ... so they could be and do ...

181. The Loaves

John 6:1-21

Sermon

David Coffin

One of the hardest lessons in life I had to learn was never to get a job at the restaurant I enjoyed eating in since childhood. There was a particular fast food restaurant that had plenty of vegetables and condiments on their sandwiches that I had always looked forward to eating since I was twelve years old. When I got out of college in the 1970s, the job market in my area had a glut of four-year college degree graduates. I applied for a manager trainee position at the restaurant I have cherished since ...

182. The Lord, The Holy Spirit

Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:1-13

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: The baptism of the Holy Spirit for service. Summary: A choral reading. Several renowned Christian leaders speak about their empowering by the Spirit for service. Playing Time: 7 minutes Place: A neutral reading area Props: Black folders with scripts Costumes: Black Time: The present Cast: First Reader Second Reader Third Reader Fourth Reader D.L. Moody Charles Finney R.A. Torrey Catherine Marshall FIRST: (ENTERS ALONG WITH SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH READER) We are living in the age of the Spirit. ...

183. Dead Hearts and New Beginnings

John 3:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you will remember when the first heart transplant took place. It was an amazing feat. The first transplant was performed in 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa by Dr. Christiaan Barnard. The recipient was Louis Washkansky, a fifty three year old grocer with a debilitating heart condition. Unfortunately Mr. Washkansky survived only 18 days after the operation. The first successful transplant was performed on Dr. Barnard’s third patient, a Jewish dentist named Dr. Philip Blaiberg. He survived for nearly ...

184. Waiting

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

As a child I remember that the most difficult part of Christmas was simply waiting for it to come. From Thanksgiving to December 25 seemed more like an eternity than a month. Days seemed like weeks. Weeks felt like seasons. Time seemed to stand still. Waiting is foreign to our society. It seems unnatural. We hunger for immediate gratification. The idea of delayed satisfaction is a stranger to our thinking. The symbols of our unwillingness to wait are all around us. Fast food chains boom because we don’t ...

185. Waiting

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Brett Blair

186. Metaphors Be with You

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

His name was John Davis, he was my neighbor, and he was a peculiar person. Don’t get me wrong. I liked him but even his wife said John was an “acquired taste.” I sometimes think that, had he been born thirty or forty years later, he would have been correctly diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome or some other condition associated with the higher functioning end of the Autism spectrum. He was a gifted man, to be sure, a tool designer and metallurgist who worked for a big corporation, very smart and very ...

187. Miscellaneous Laws

Deut 23:15–25:19

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

Community Laws: Defining and Protecting the Community · These last chapters (23-25) of the central law code have a “flavor” of concern for a compassionate and caring community that takes seriously the claims of kinship and the needs of the weak and vulnerable. That community itself, however, needs clear definition and measures to protect its religious distinctiveness and purity. This need explains the presence, alongside laws that immediately appeal to us by their charitable nature, of other laws that ...

188. Bread of the Eucharist (Bread of Life IV)

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

I enjoy watching comedians we all can name our favorites doing monologues. I’m sure you’ve seen this happen. In the middle of a monologue when the mood is mounting, what is supposed to be the punch line falls flat. The comedian does a back-up motion, possibly a turn-around on the floor, and says, “Oh! I thought that one would go over big!” At that point he may try to explain it. When the audience gives no more applause, he re-adjusts and goes on. You know what it is like telling a story or joke and have it ...

189. Proper 11

Amos 8:1-14, Luke 10:38-42, Colossians 1:21-28

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Amos 8:1-12 Yahweh shows Amos a basket of summer fruit. Because of Israel's wickedness, judgment will come upon the people. The basket contains summer fruit to indicate the end is near. Among the catastrophies that will happen to Israel is not a famine of physical food but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord. Lesson 2: Colossians 1:21-28 Through the cross Christ reconciled those once estranged that they might be blameless before God, and Paul explains the purpose of his sufferings ...

190. Get Rid of the Junk

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

Nome, Alaska, on the edge of the Bering Sea, is like many villages of the Arctic. The ground on which the community sits is frozen tundra. Burying the dead is a real challenge. Sanitation landfills are unheard of. Garbage trucks do not haul off the kind of refuse we leave curbside in the “lower 48.” Instead, a typical front yard displays broken washing machines, junked cars, old toilets, scrap wood, and piles of non-degradable refuse. Tourists who visit Nome in the summer are amazed at the debris and shake ...

191. Greed or the Gospel?

Acts 8:9-13, 18-24

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

How do you spell success? Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Success is to laugh often and much, to win the respect of people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, and to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is success." Simon the Magician thought success was to get people’s attention, win their admiration, and ...

192. Tranquil: The Blessed Village on a Hillside

John 6:25-59

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

I am going to tell you a story. Keep in mind that it is just a story. In fact, because it has elements of magical impossibility, it can even be called a fairy tale. As such, it begins with that familiar line common to all good stories and fairy tales. Once upon a time, there was a village named Tranquil. It was an enormously blessed place. Tranquil had no serious problems. There was no homelessness, no food kitchens for the hungry, no street crime, and no white-collar crime. The roads were without potholes ...

193. Bread for the Party (Bread of Life I)

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

Our text is St. John’s version of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. This pericope reminds me of the child who was asked to name his favorite Bible story. The child replied, “The one with the boy in it who loafs and fishes.” I am convinced that Jesus was not loafing. He and the Twelve had tried to sneak to the mountain beside the lake for a mini “R & R,” after much work, but when the people mushroomed around him, he gave up on “resting” and returned to ministering. Jesus was then, and is now, “fishing” for ...

194. The Christ Connection

Colossians 1:9-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It has been there for my entire lifetime—a neon sign on a narrow country road piercing the darkness with these simple words—CHRIST IS THE ANSWER. As a child, I used to wonder what kind of magic pen God used to write it on the side of the barn. As a teenager, I drove so fast I did not have time to see it at all. But, as an adult, sometimes I take the long way home so I can make sure it is still there, shining on the foggiest of nights. So out of place in one way and yet, such a revelation in another. CHRIST ...

195. Go to Heaven?

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Judgment day was the preacher's theme, and he thundered about God's wrath, sin and the day of judgment. A seven-year-old boy listened closely, tugged at his father's sleeve, and asked, "Will they call school off?" He was asking, "What's in it for me?" Judgment day is on Christ's mind here in Matthew 25:31 and following verses. He is describing that fateful day soon "when the Son of Man comes in his glory" (v. 31). All the angels will be with him. Jesus will sit on a throne (v. 31). And before him will be ...

196. The Time of Our Visitation

Sermon

Leonard Mann

You know how it was that Jesus of Nazareth began his career as a teacher and public figure in Galilee. You know how John came out of the wilderness and preached to the people who gathered around him on the banks of the Jordan. You know how for many long centuries the Jewish people had looked for the coming of their Messiah. When John appeared, their scholars speculated that perhaps this impassioned wilderness man might, actually be the Expected One. They sent their representatives to inquire of him ...

197. To Be a Pilgrim (Thanksgiving)

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Alex Gondola

What do you think of when you hear the word "Pilgrim"? Most of us — especially around Thanksgiving — hear the word "Pilgrim" and think of the English Separatists who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, landed on Cape Cod, and settled in Plymouth. We hear "Pilgrim" and think "Thanksgiving." But, when you think of that kind of Pilgrim, what do you think? Some consider the Pilgrims stained-glass saints. A church in Utica, New York, was designed as a shrine to the Pilgrims. Three tall stained-glass windows ...

198. Recollections of Abdul, Camel Boy for An Eastern Potentate

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Drama

Robert A. Morgan

Dramatic Monologue I'm glad I'm home. That's the first thing for me to say. I'm really glad I'm home. What with one thing and another, there were many moments - even hours and days - when I was not sure I would ever see home again! And considering what home is for me now, and what home life is like now, it's a wonder I'm so glad to be back. But I am glad. For more reasons than I can count, I'm glad to be home again. The other thing for me to say right at the outset is that I'm glad I went. I am so very ...

199. Bart and Homer, Father and Sons

1 Samuel 20:24-42

Sermon

John E. Harnish

The statistics abound and the statistics are not good: One of the chief predictors of youth crime is the role of the father in the home. Seventy percent of adolescents charged with murder and seventy percent of long-term prison inmates are from fatherless homes. Children who live absent their biological father are at least two to three times more likely to be poor, use drugs, be victims of child abuse and to engage in criminal behavior. Twenty-four million children live absent their biological fathers and ...

200. A LITURGICAL DRAMA FOR LENT

Drama

Tom Eberle

Lent In its historical development, Lent was an outgrowth of the fasting prior to the annual observance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. In addition, those who were to be baptized into the Christian faith on Easter Sunday underwent a period of disciplined training before their baptism. With the ascendancy of the Christian Church in major areas of the Roman Empire during the fourth century, a new problem was encountered. Discipline was no longer imposed upon the church from the outside in the ...

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