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 1976 to 2000 of 3108 results

1976. Are You Trying to Prove Something?

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Theodore Parker Ferris had a great impact on my life, at a time when that impact made a difference. I was a seminary student in Boston. Ferris was the rector of the famous Trinity Church in Boston, in Copley Square, one of the great churches in America. Ferris was one of the great preachers in his day. He had a marvelous ability to present profound, sometimes difficult, ideas in very simple language that everybody could understand. And he was disarmingly honest. That was another characteristic of his style ...

1977. The Paraclete Is Not a Bird

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The reason the title of this sermon is, "The Paraclete Is Not a Bird," is because I never met a pun I didn't use. But it needs explanation. A parakeet, you know. It's a cute, little bird. But the word "paraclete" is probably a word you are not familiar with. It is a rather esoteric word. It is a technical term found mostly in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John. We read only a portion of that chapter this morning, but the word "paraclete" appears there several times. It is a Greek word. The New ...

1978. Proper 6

Genesis 18:1-15, Romans 5:1-8, Matthew 9:35 – 10:8 (9-23), Matthew 9:35-38, 10:1-42, Romans 5:1-11

Bulletin Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 18:1-15 In their old age Abraham and Sarah are promised a son. Abraham and Sarah were childless. Yet Yahweh promised Abraham he would have progeny as numerous as the stars. Unexpectedly three men (angels?) came to Abraham's tent and were fed and refreshed generously. Before they went on their way, Sarah was promised a child by the next year. Old Testament: Exodus 19:2-8a On Sinai God tells Moses that if the people will keep the covenant, they shall be his people. Epistle: ...

1979. Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired?

Matthew 9:35-10:8

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

"Heal the sick," Jesus commanded (Matthew 10:8). His orders leave our knees knocking and us feeling inadequate. In Edward Albee's play, The Death of Bessie Smith, a character rages, "I'm sick! Sick of everything in this fly-ridden world! I am sick of waking up, I am tired of the truth, I am tired of lying about the truth, tired of my skin! I want out, I want off this world!" Now, that, my friend, is desperate sickness! And perhaps today, as you read this, you find yourself ill. My question is, "Would you ...

1980. The Seven Deadly Fears

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Probably all of us know someone who has a phobia of some kind or another. Someone who is afraid of small, enclosed areas - they're claustrophobic. Someone who is afraid of wide open, sweeping spaces - they're agoraphobic. There are phobias named for fearing heights, depths, snakes, spiders, clowns, dirt, cats, dogs. (You might want to make this a karaoke moment and get your people talking about their own fears.) In fact, almost everything, real or imagined, has rated a phobia listing. FDR even gave fear ...

1981. WaterFire Disciples

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Does your church have a mission statement? There are very few now that don't. Remind your congregation what it is. Can they recite it by heart? Does your church have an image statement? There are very few now that do. But in an image culture, it's more important to have an image statement than a mission statement. The city of Chicago came up with an image statement for itself in 1999 and it brought into the city hundreds of millions of dollars. The image that best captured their history and heritage was ...

1982. Y'all, What's in Your All?

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Any of your homes the result of a mixed marriage? Ours is. You know. Southern boy/Western girl. It is a cultural divide that is sometimes as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon itself--an appropriate metaphor since that particular geological formation is located in the south, but is also in the west. Yet while many distinctions of southern life have been unaccountably rejected by the western influence--cheese grits, sweet tea, even southern gospel music! Everyone in our household can agree on the benefit of ...

1983. Are You Living the Three Advents?

Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Theme: The Christian tradition invites us to celebrate 3 advents the 4 weeks of advent. It would help your sermon if you wore some kind of “garment” that signified your ordination or calling. The Word-Made-Flesh . . . Exegesis of Romans 13:11-14 It seems strange that as the church’s calendar enters into its most hopeful, anticipatory season, the first of our four Advent readings turns once again towards that final Day of Judgment and end-time scenarios. Yet the eschatological words from Paul to the Roman ...

1984. The Four Marks of Failure

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When you're a kid there is nothing better than being on the winning team. Of course, when you're a kid there is nothing worse than being on the losing team. Notice that all those great, feel-good Disney-esque movies don't ever end with the hometown team losing the big championship game. No, the whole point of these happily-ever-after stories is that the under-dog, schlubby, gave-it-their-all losers are transformed into top-of-the-heap winners. For adults, except for those few who make their living playing ...

1985. Out of Order

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Anyone here have redeye problems? If you have allergies, or if you like "weepies" (movies that make you cry), or if you cry easily, you have redeye problems. If you like a shot of espresso in your morning coffee, you order a redeye If you like two shots of espresso in your morning coffee (like I do), you order a black-eye. Anything more than two shots is a zombie, which is when you REALLY have a redeye problem. If you need to get from the West Coast to the East Coast in a hurry, you have the bleary-eyed ...

1986. All God's Children Can Dance

Psalm 30:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of you out there today have "Baptist feet?" I'm not asking how many of you were or are Baptists (though I confess: the Methodists raised me, but the Baptists saved me). I'm asking this: When you find yourself in a social situation which involves music and moving people, do you suddenly freeze to your chair? Wish yourself invisible? Get a sudden urge to go out for fresh air? Remember you are nursing an old football/tennis/gardening injury? If so, then you (like me) have "Baptist feet," a handy ...

1987. A New Beginning

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

When it comes to the subject of baptism, our Baptist friends seem to have all the fun. That is, the very nature of baptism of adults by immersion lends itself to loads of good humor. For example, there is a story of a seven-year-old son of a Baptist minister who decided to baptize his two cats. He chose the bathtub for this rite. One of the cats was a tiny kitten. It was dunked before it realized what had happened. But the older tom cat wanted no part of this strange ceremony. As the boy brought the cat ...

1988. Under New Leadership

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Writer Robert Fulghum in his humorous book, Uh-Oh, tells about a neighbor of his who drives a brand-new Range Rover, a vehicle that Fulghum says “can outrun a lion and take a rhino charge head-on.” One Tuesday morning Fulghum left his house about the same time as his neighbor. The neighbor was carrying a golf bag, a gym bag, a raincoat, an umbrella, a coffee cup, a sack of garbage for the dumpster, and his briefcase. He was in a hurry. Two little pieces of toilet paper stuck to his chin from a hasty ...

1989. Changed Lives: Lazarus

John 11:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Over the years, Reader’s Digest has printed many quirky items from the daily lives of ordinary people. Many of these items are quite amusing. For example, Jennifer Pace wrote in a few years ago to tell about a billboard she passed while driving through Texas. The billboard read: “Stand Up and Be Counted for the 2000 Census.” The sign was sponsored by the Rosewood Cemetery. (1) Another woman wrote in with a funny excuse she heard from a co-worker. The man explained his absence from work by saying, “I’m ...

1990. Putting Out Fires

Romans 12:17a

Children's Sermon

Tim Carpenter

Exegetical Aim: Do not repay evil for evil. Props: A glass bowl, a match or lighter, several pieces of paper, a new and empty gas container, water, a container of ice cubes. Lesson: How many of you have ever been in an argument? (response) I think we probably all have at one time or another. How many of you have ever been in a fight? (response) Yes. I see some of you have even been in a fight. Tell me, what are some things that people argue or fight about? (response) We often fight or argue because we are ...

1991. The Lost and Found Celebration

Luke 15:15-24

Sermon

James W. Moore

There is a fascinating story that comes out of World War II. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Great Britain’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and Soviet Union Premier, Joseph Stalin, met together in The Teheran Conference to shape a common policy to work together to win the war. The discussion went well and the three great nations for the most part reached cordial agreement on their strategy to end the war and to create a lasting peace. However, there was one point that Roosevelt and Churchill could ...

1992. Don't Look Back, Remember Lot's Wife

Genesis 19:24-26

Sermon

James W. Moore

When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I was a sprinter on the Memphis Tech High School track team. Back then, tenth grade was the first year of high school, so I was a real rookie on the track team. I had been running: - The one hundred yard dash. - I was also running on the sprint relay teams. - In addition, I was doing the long jump and the high jump. One day in a practice track meet, the coach suddenly decided to try me in the two hundred and twenty yard dash. I had never run this event before, ...

1993. It's Thanksgiving Time!

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

James W. Moore

One of the great comedians of all time was Jack Benny. He was great because he made us laugh at ourselves… at our weaknesses, our foibles, our selfishness, our greed. You remember, of course, how attached Jack Benny was to his money. I love that routine where the hold-up man runs up to Jack Benny and shouts: "Your money or your life!" There is a long pause as Jack goes into that familiar pose with his hand on his cheek. Impatiently, the robber demands again: "I said your money or your life!" Jack Benny ...

1994. When Mountains Are Not Moved

Mark 11:20-25 (26)

Sermon

James McCormick

I read the story in the newspaper. Over a period of two years, a young man wrote over 700 love letters to his sweetheart, each one proposing marriage. His persistence finally brought results. She married the mailman who delivered all the letters! Life is often like that, isn’t it? We want something so badly we can taste it. We dream about it, we pray for it, we work to get it, but it doesn’t come. We all know the disappointment of that, don’t we? The disappointment of dreams unfulfilled…of prayers ...

1995. Getting a Grip on Fear

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line. From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews. Amazingly, Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff. Instead, Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims. His sinister presence ...

1996. A Morning Greeting

Matthew 10:40-42

Illustration

Andrew R. Wolfe

James Snelling, of Richmond, Virginia is 72 years old. Every single morning, unless the weather is very bad, James stands at the corner of Maple Avenue and Bremo Road there in Richmond, and what he does is he simply waves to the passing motorists, waves ‘good morning' to them. He has become a kind of self-appointed ambassador of goodwill on that corner, and every day at 7:15 he's there and he stays until 9:00 A.M. Because he's not as spry as he used to be, he has to often use his cane as he stands there. ...

1997. Getting Rid of Grudges

Luke 23:34

Sermon

James Merritt

On the day that Karl Marx died in 1883, his housekeeper came to him and said: "Tell me your last words and I'll write them down." Marx replied: "Go on and get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!" Well, that is another thing that I disagree with Marx on. Last words are very important and can be very revealing. Here are just a few famous last words: Max Baer, the one time heavyweight champion of the world, said, as he was having a heart attack: "Oh God, here I go!" P. T. Barnham said: "How ...

1998. Let Me Tell You about the Birds and the Bees

Proverbs 5:15-23

Sermon

James Merritt

A little third grade boy named Johnny came in from school one day, walked up to his daddy and said, "Daddy, there's something I need to ask you." "What is it son?" "Daddy, where did I come from?" Well, the father very nervously reached over and picked up some diagrams and pictures, because he had been planning for just this moment. He spent the next forty-five minutes explaining the process of birth. With a smug look on his face, inwardly congratulating himself on his great job, he said, "Son, does that ...

1999. Doing Right When You Have Been Done Wrong

Ephesians 4:31-32

Sermon

James Merritt

I have been ordered by Dr. Freddie Gage to speak on the topic of bitterness and forgiveness. Now like most preachers, I don't like to be told what to preach, but in Freddie's case I gladly acquiesce because I knew if I didn't, Freddie would get bitter and never forgive me. Now some people might think it strange to speak on a topic of bitterness to a bunch of Baptists. But bitterness is certainly no stranger to Baptist churches. I heard about a Baptist businessman that was taking a business trip on an ...

2000. Who's In Charge Here

Judges 21:24-25

Sermon

James Merritt

I want to juxtapose two quotes to you: one you will not be familiar with; one you will be very familiar with. Here is the first quote, given by historian Christopher Dawson, over thirty years ago: We have entered a new phase of culture we may call it the Age of the Cinema in which the most amazing perfection of scientific technique is being devoted to purely ephemeral objects, without any consideration of their ultimate justification. It seems as though a new society [is] arising, which will acknowledge no ...

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