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 4959 results

1976. What Christmas Is About

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... satisfied with the way my life is. I'm just going to stay over here in my corner and be happy." There was another bulb named "Maybe." This bulb said, "I'm not too sure. I think there is more to life than what I have experienced. I feel a desire to know more and find more, and it's all up to me to find what else there is." So this bulb squeezed and finally in frustration, shriveled away into a corner. A third bulb was named "Yes." This bulb said, "I hear there is more to life than we ...

1977. Mission Possible

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... the love of Christ in action. Justice deals with the hurt and wrong against individuals and groups, not simply in the past, but here and now. I believe that God is calling the church in our time to recover this all important prophetic aspect to our ministry. God desires sons and daughters who will become co-workers with Christ in the bringing forth of justice. For a long time in this country, we have seen a mood of inwardness and self concern. Some of this is healthy, but a lot of it is neurotic. We can so ...

1978. The Call To Excellence

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

Sims Robert

... God, one man whose faith is master of his mind,and I will right all wrongs and bless the name of all mankind.Give me a man of God, one man whose tongue is touched with heaven’s fireand I will flame the darkest hearts with high resolve and clear desire. Give me a man of God, one man, one mighty prophet of the Lord,and I will give you peace on earth bought with a prayer and not a sword. Give me a man of God, one man true to the vision that he sees,and I will build your ...

1979. Life Isn’t Fair

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

Sims Robert

The story is told of the old Irishman who was critically ill. The family called the priest. The priest, in preparation for the last rites, asked the obvious and expected question, “O’Riley,” he said, “do you desire to renounce the devil and all his works?” O’Riley, who was fully conscious, thought for a moment and said, “Frankly, Father, considering the condition I’m in, I’d rather not antagonize anyone right now.” The children of Israel were having a tough time and given the conditions ...

1980. At The Name Of Jesus

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... of Holy Week and the challenge of every devout Christian life since that day. The charges brought to Pilate are of alleged treasonable acts and teachings, misleading the people and claiming to be a king. Patronizing the Romans to manipulate their desired judgment against the Christ, they affirm their "loyalty" to Caesar. "We have no king but Caesar!" the chief priest shouted. Pilate, who cared little about the religious squabbles of the Jews, understood full well the political implications of the charges ...

1981. What Will He Find ... When He Comes?

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... !"[1] Hope is like that. We speak of it more often than we believe in it. Hope is not a strong word for us. It has more to do with "wishing" than "expecting." It has the sound of resignation, an inability to bring about, influence, or even believe that a desired event or goal might ever come to be. "Well, I hope so" has in its whimsical sound the same negation of the words that we hear in the sarcastic "Sure it will!" or "Well, I guess!" Hope, as we understand it, is not a word of excitement and expectation ...

1982. The Signs Of Salvation

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... had learned that "however far you go, it is not much use if it is not in the right direction." Wealth means little when one is alone and without self-esteem. It has been wisely said that "we can never attain the self-containedness we so impiously desire. We can live in forgetfulness of him, but not with peace of mind. We can live without his blessing, but not without his judgment."2 Zacchaeus had alienated himself from God. Just as the tax collector in Jesus' parable, he is trapped by his profession and by ...

1983. Captive To The Word Of God

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... God, by which the church was established and for which it was called, was not at that moment the center of the church's concern. There was no readiness to hear a parish priest and university theologian who "spoke out of love and zeal for the truth and the desire to bring it to light."3 Continuing in the word of truth was not always the clear priority in the first century. Nor was it so in the 16th century. Even God's faithful can become enslaved by something other than the Word. Jesus said: "If you continue ...

1984. The Message Of The Morning Light

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Erskine White

... , yet do I live! Though you crucified your only Hope, yet have I returned to you. Is this not how I said it would be?" "Today, I have offered you more than you can ever imagine. Give up all you think you need, and receive more than you could ever desire. Be ready to die to all that is in you for the love of the world, and live for evermore in the love of your God." "When you are burdened with the sorrow and the pity and the anxieties of this life, trust in Me; for I have shown you ...

1985. Checking The Vital Signs

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... is lighted. When the family is not present, the pew remains dark. Obviously, the amount of light in the chapel is determined by the number of families present that evening.” Whether or not we come to worship is more than a decision about our busyness at home or desire to do other things. We are a part of the pulse of the Body of Christ and one of the vital signs that communicates to the rest of the people around us whether Christ is really out of the grave and alive again. Jesus gave us another test. He ...

1986. The Vine And The Branches

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... be useless branches. We can refuse to listen to Jesus Christ at all. We can listen to him, and then render him lip service unsupported by offerings or deeds. We can also accept him as Master and, then in face of the difficulties of the way or moved by the desire to do as we like and not as he likes, we can abandon him.”1 This lesson can help us clarify some of the tension between grace and works. A branch is a branch not because of the fruit it bears, but because it belongs to the vine. If it ...

1987. Don’t Be Alarmed

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... that! Jesus was far more eager to comfort the penitential sinner than to punish the sin. Think what that means to us as his family. We need not be alarmed about our past. Rather, Jesus as an alive presence assures us of his complete forgiveness and his desire that we start again with him today. Go -- tell the disciples, including Peter -- and including us. James Russell Lowell said: “I take great comfort in God. I think he is considerably amused at us many times, but he loves us, and he would not let us ...

1988. Death of a Twenty-nine-year-old Athlete

Ephesians 6:1-4

Eulogy

Palmer L. Gedde

... your memories will be steeped in the love you felt bothfor and from him. In the hospital, shortly after his death, you (his mother) said that you had always hoped you would die before any of your children did. Sometimes, however, our best desires are interrupted with the unexpected. Death is no respecter of persons. Too often it comes as a ruthless intruder, stealing hopes and dreams, leaving only memories. But how thankful we can be for memories. The fact remains, regardless of how difficult this moment ...

1989. Death of the Unchurched For a Recovering Alcoholic

Eulogy

Alan Bacon Bond

... , love expressed with a certain sense of humor. Some of his love was tough love, and sometimes tough love is stubborn. It says a strong and unequivocal "No!" to unacceptable or self-destructive behavior. If that caring sometimes cathe out with a slightly perverse desire to blast the more thoughtless Massachusetts drivers off the highway, then those of us who knew and loved him might forgive him that. But even more would we thank him for the tough love he developed for those among us who needed and sought ...

1990. Called in From Off-stage

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... They were the people who had no place on the stage of life, but it was to these people that God sent his Son! It was among off-stage people that one was born, whom the prophet Isaiah predicted would have no beauty that any should look at him or desire him. In fact, people would hide their faces from him (Isaiah 53:2, 3). It is this Jesus whom God jerked on to the center stage of life, when people were looking for someone different. It is this Jesus who changed the entire course of human history. It is Jesus ...

1991. Jerusalem: City for All Time

2 Samuel 5:1-5

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... the promise of heaven. Jerusalem is a type of the City of God yet to come. For this reason it is especially a city for all time. The letter to the Hebrews speaks of people who walked the paths of this life by faith. About them, it says, "They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he had prepared for them a city." (Hebrews 11:16) The Book of Revelation presents a picture of the future city. "I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down ...

1992. Charlie Used To Do That

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... are so dirty?" There always seems to be at least one person who remembers and says, "Well, Charlie used to do that." Nobody ever really knew because Charlie always made sure that nobody was around when he did his little deeds. Accolades Charlie did not want. He only desired to work with Jesus in being the bread of life for others. And even today someone will come forward and say, "Well, Charlie used to do that." 1. Adapted from the story "Could He Ever Be the Same Again?" in Courage in Both Hands by Allen A ...

1993. Changing The Rules

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... ; that his new law of love written on the heart always preempts ancestral words written on stone. Jesus is not saying that ritual cleanliness is bad or wrong in and of itself. We certainly practice, in our culture, similar sanitary measures. The point Jesus desires to make here is: what is unfriendly to God is when ritual cleanliness preempts God's love and mercy and compassion. Jesus would have to put forbearance before forebears. He would have us participate in his father's love induced restraint ahead of ...

1994. Abounding Love

Philippians 1:9

Children's Sermon

Tim Carpenter

Exegetical Aim: To demonstrate that God's desire is for our love to abound more and more. Props: A pitcher of water, a large glass, and a pan. Lesson: Good morning. Look at what I have today. Hold up the pitcher of water. I thought that today I might get thirsty, so I brought some water just in ...

1995. Seek Good, Not Evil (That You May Live)

Amos 5:1-17

Sermon

Paul W. F. Harms

... . At the same time he authorized the deaths of millions of his fellow Soviet citizens. Seek peace! Establish justice! Speak the truth! Reprove truth! Seek good, not evil that you may live! The speaking for good is to be a passion. We are to be burned up with the desire and will that good will reign. We are to be consumed by the same kind of passion that consumed our Lord. The purpose of the text and of this sermon is not the development of a new program in niceness. It is a seeking after life itself, as God ...

1996. Bold Talk Of Faith

Job 23:1--24:25

Sermon

John P. Rossing

... ," she went on, "and know that they love you, you don't have to be afraid to let them know when you're unhappy." Job's faith is evident in ironic ways throughout this chapter. Far from being signs of lack of faith, his anger with God and his desire to confront God and argue his case before God actually show how firmly he believed God had entered into a relationship with his people that allowed them access to God. The second idea about God that Job rejected in this passage was that God is arbitrary or unfair ...

1997. L. T.: The Lonely Terrestrial

Drama

Edward Long

... set by the narrator, so that the audience (or congregation) may simply set the stage in their own imagination. If the presentation is made in a worship area, this may be necessary. If you have access to a staging area, more elaborate sets may be desired. NARRATOR: Snowflakes, large and fluffy, are driven by a west wind out of an indigo sky through the streets and around the buildings of Spring Hill, a suburban town in the Midwest. Since it is the day before Christmas Eve pedestrians and drivers alike are ...

1998. Christmas Eve at the Candy Cane Inn

Drama

Edward Long

... the narrator, so that the audience (or congregation) may simply set the stage in their own imagination. If the presentation is made in a worship area, this may be necessary. If you have access to a staging area, more elaborate sets may be desired. NARRATOR: A sudden Christmas Eve snowstorm has swirled into the forest and lake region of Wisconsin, catching even the winter-seasoned folk who live in this area by surprise. Minute by minute the large flakes cover homesteads, fields, and roads with fresh frosting ...

1999. Step Eleven - Spirituality

Mt 26:36-46 · 1 Thess 5:12-22 · Ps 25:1-15

Sermon

John A. Terry

... the troubles and to receive the knowledge of what to do, because even if we are like Peter, turning our back on our best friend, perhaps having too much to drink and escaping into sleep when we should be on our knees praying passionately, God's greatest desire is to give us the strength we need. There is a medieval legend which says that sometime during the 12th century, Henry II of England laid siege to the French city of Le Mans, but he failed to take it, and so he retired, baffled and enraged. According ...

2000. Step Two - Hope

Mk 10:46-52 · 2 Cor 12:7-10 · Is 12:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

... become of our own power, the less inclined we are to remember and give thanks to God. Consider the contrast between Narcissus, the Greek and Roman mythical character, and Isaiah, the prophet of God. Narcissus saw himself in a pond. He was so infatuated with his reflection that he desired to grasp it and hold on to it. The only way for him to do this was to open his arms and reach for the reflection in the water. In doing so, he fell into the pond and was drowned. So wrapped up with himself, he lost himself ...

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