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 2001 to 2025 of 4959 results

2001. Step Nine - Discipline

Mt 5:21-26 · Eph 4:25-32 · Num 5:5-10

Sermon

John A. Terry

... principally in the overt act. Jesus showed that God's law consists principally in the intention of the heart. Murder begins with hostility or hatred. Such hostility makes us guilty before God, even though we are restrained from the actual act of violence. The evil desire within us is the root of the sin to which it can lead. It is the attitude of the heart Jesus came to change, not just the outward action. Stop calling or thinking of your adversary as a blockhead. Stop saying things that hurt another ...

2002. How Much Does It Cost?

Luke 14:28-30

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

... -dollar bills. Obviously, you can change the original price tag with a sticker to suit this Children's Sermon. The toy could be a football or a Barbie. It does not matter. The prop could also be a candy bar for ten cents and nine pennies. The more desirable the item, the more effective the illustration. Lesson: [With the toy hidden:] Good morning! (response) We're going to go to the toy store [(or candy store depending on your prop)] this morning and buy a toy. I know exactly what I want; I want this! Pull ...

2003. Oh, Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble

Luke 18:9-14

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

... bunch of brats, they are mean and nasty, and they lie all the time. God, I thank you I'm better than those other boys and girls; I am so good because I give my money to the church. Amen." Well? Pause and look around at the children, expressing a desire for a response about how you did in your prayer. If no response is given, ask them for one: How did I do? (response) What was wrong with that? (no) Why? (response) You mean I shouldn't say that other boys and girls are mean and nasty and call them ...

2004. Altered Expectations

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

... questioning. It meant putting his own plans for the life he had envisioned for himself and Mary on hold, attending instead to the life of the baby who was destined to be something Joseph could not begin to imagine. It meant setting aside his own human desires, living with Mary in celibacy until the birth of the child. It meant accepting, caring for, providing for, and loving a child whose origins he wasn’t sure he understood. "Piece of cake?" I don’t think so! And all because an angel had appeared to ...

2005. See the Light, Be the Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... one who proclaims from the pulpit, "I decided to know nothing, nothing, nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified," has most likely tried all the gloss and glitter and cute little gimmicks and found that none of these things satisfy the burning desire to speak God’s truth in love. Paul had learned (probably the hard way) that God really does use earthen vessels, cracked pots, whose knees knock, whose stomachs churn, who despair of ever finding the right words to say to hurting and hopeful ...

2006. Sowing Seed Is Never A Waste of Time

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... was a little praise chorus we had taught them, "Lord, You Are." Do you know it? It’s a quiet, beautiful hymn of praise. "Lord, you are more precious than silver; Lord, you are more costly than gold. Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds. Nothing I desire compares to you." Now, you can call me a dreamer, or call me a cockeyed optimist. You can say I was grabbing at straws, trying desperately to see something positive coming from that difficult week. But I think I saw a few sprouts that day. Will they ...

2007. Reality Check

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... and affirmation of his ministry. For Peter, James, and John it was a brief glimpse of the transcendent, a peek at the reality that lies just beyond everyday life. But notice that Jesus quickly led the disciples back down off that mountaintop – in spite of Peter’s desire to pitch a tent and camp there for a long while. Jesus led them back into the daily routine of teaching and preaching and caring for the broken and hurting people of the world they lived in, back to the reality of life in the valley. And ...

2008. Gentiles 'R Us

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... . It’s probably one of the hardest things we are called upon to do. It’s hard to forgive others, and sometimes it’s even harder to forgive ourselves. Finding the inner resources to let go of the anger, the guilt, the embarrassment, the damaged pride, and the desire to get even takes a special kind of strength. And we don’t come by that special strength easily, do we? But it’s not enough to say that forgiveness is hard and that it’s often very painful. I think we have to say one more thing ...

2009. Epiphanies and Training Wheels

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... Our "god" is the one who always blesses and affirms, because we don’t believe we’re really capable of doing much evil, just little glitches every now and then, like Columbine High School. Our "god" is the one who gives us everything our little hearts desire. We may have to look around a little to find our "god", but we know we will eventually find him, because in a consumer culture, it’s only natural that God becomes just another "personal preference," just one more technique for getting what we want ...

2010. Been Fishin' Lately?

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... was right. So when I tell this story, which I believe to be a painfully accurate description of the church’s approach to following Jesus - and I’m referring here to the universal church, not just to Snow Creek Christian Church - I do so out of my desire to be faithful to God and faithful to the people for whom I care. This is my adaptation of the story called, “A Plea for Fishing,” by Darrell Robinson: Once there was a group of people who called themselves fishermen. And there were many fish in the ...

2011. Home for Christmas

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... living in a tent. It’s just temporary. We’re all just passing through on the way to our true home. But even more than all that, Christmas is not just about Mary and Joseph coming home to Bethlehem and finding no room. It’s not even about our own desire for homecoming. It’s about God coming home. We couldn’t go to God, so God came to us. When we hear, "I’ll be home for Christmas," we hear Bing Crosby or whatever contemporary artist has done the song so well that it stands out in our memory. When ...

2012. Lent

Sermon

Betty Lynn Schwab

... Word of God into his/her own life and personally strive to live up to the Revelation. For centuries it has been a custom for Jewish people to stay up the whole night before Shavuot. During the night they study the Torah to show their commitment to God and their desire to receive God's commandments. Reader 1: As Christians, the words easily slip across our lips that Jesus is the Word of God and that the Bible is a holy record of God's revelation to us. In this season of Lent, let us pause to reflect on those ...

2013. That All-Pervasive Snake

Genesis 2:4-25, Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Joann Hary

... quite cutely, "Yes, I believe in original sin, in fact I have always thought that if I was going to sin, I might as well be original about it." Then, of course, there are the many stories, such as the one about the church billboard that said, "If you desire to be done with sin, come on in." As the people read more closely, they discovered that someone had written in lipstick, "But if you are not quite sure, call 555-5271." What is original sin? Who is the tempter? Or temptress? Is it really a snake? Does ...

2014. What's So Good About Feeling Bad?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Joann Hary

... studies show that people who are depressed about something are more able to assess life than those who are cheerful, and that feeling bad is also useful because guilt or fear often keeps us from doing wrong things. And finally, feeling bad about not receiving a desired promotion, for example, might be exactly the impetus we need to reassess our life goals and to move on to something which is better for us. And then as I left there and was traveling up to the hospital and listening to the Christian radio ...

2015. The Benefit of the Doubt

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... the early years. In our conviction that we at least know some of the answers, we sometimes act as if we have ALL the answers. Do you know what the three least-used words in the vocabulary of the church are? I DON’T KNOW! And in our desire to convince others that OUR church has all the right answers, we rob faith of its humanity. Could we not respond more positively to questions and doubts by using them as teaching and learning opportunities? Can we not learn from doubts and questions that even though we ...

2016. We Don't Know How To Pray

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... instances in this life, the words just won’t come. We crack under the strain of the moment, and anything we say sounds hollow and pointless. So often we don’t know what to SAY, much less what to pray. And if we can’t tell our deepest fears and desires, confess our greatest sin to one another, how in heaven’s name could we tell God about it? We don’t know how to pray. But there is good news today. Paul reminds us that in our weakness, in our speechlessness, the Holy Spirit of God speaks for us ...

2017. When the Tie That Binds is a Slipknot

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... when he found the church that didn’t play political games, please call me and tell me where it is. That’s where I want to be. But you see, if "playing political games" means avoiding conflict, it may be too much to ask of the church. It’s the desire of our hearts that in the community of faith we will be as the early Christians were, "of one heart and soul, holding everything in common" (Acts 4:32). And yet we have all heard of or been a part of churches that had conflicts and problems. A pastor doesn ...

2018. The Invisible God?

Colossians 1:15-23, Colossians 1:1-14

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... kingship over our lives. No, the real question is who or what exercises dominion over us. Who or what rules your life? How do you answer that question for yourself? Who or what has dominion over your life? Is it your job? Your family? Your bank account? Fear? Desire? Or is Christ the King the ruler of your life? The promise of the Gospel is that, when we accept and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, all the other priorities in our life fall into their proper place. Not without a struggle, of course ...

2019. The Flame, The Wind, And The Walk

Acts 2:1-13

Drama

Marion Fairman

... to get through this - this - Leader: (Picking up) This vale of tears - Woman: Yes -? Man: As this body we call the church, we reach out to those who suffer - (To leader) Help me out here - Leader: (Thinking it through) We strive for justice. We desire some measure of earthly happiness. Man: (Adding) For ourselves and others. Leader: (Nodding) And, as a church, we want all persons to earn their bread in honor. Woman: Okay. (Impatiently) So? Man: (Bursting out) We're never going to build the kingdom of heaven ...

2020. Is He Really Coming?

Sermon

Rolf E. Aaseng

... attention to Christ.+It gives us courage to face difficulties.+It inspires us to confident Christian living. It turns our attention to Christ - away from ourselves. All of us tend to think mostly about ourselves; we concentrate on our own problems, our needs, our desires. The more we center our thoughts on ourselves, the more important our needs become to us, and the more worried and frustrated we become as we try, with little success, to meet them. In addition, the more we think about ourselves, the less ...

2021. Get Ready

Sermon

Rolf E. Aaseng

... are unprepared for what is to take place later. People who have a terminal illness or are told they don't have long to live often say that they now understand what is really important in life. It is not what the world holds up as most desirable. Money, power, entertainment have no lasting value. What counts are relationships and spiritual values. These will go with us into a new existence. So Paul advised, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:2). Like the ...

2022. He Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear

Luke 8:1-15

Sermon

Larry Powell

... God's volition in our behalf at Calvary and the Resurrection affected humankind for all time. Looking back at it now, we know that. We understand the principles but are left weak-kneed at attempting to explain the "how." God has provided us with an inherent desire to know him, with a soul to experience him, a heart to love him, a mind to understand him, and hands and feet to serve him - yet another example of how each inhabitant of the universe is provided with its own unique tools and equipment. Everything ...

2023. WHAT IS MAN?

Sermon

Larry Powell

... Toffler, the author of Future Shock, entitled The Third Wave. In one section, Toffler discusses some of the larger ramifications of living in a world in which persons can be "cloned" into limitless carbon copies or fashioned to bear any desired physical appearance the "cloner" may predetermine. Scientists who now possess the awesome ability to manipulate genetic compositions have introduced us to a multitude of moral, ethical, and practical questions that humankind has not had to contend with before. For ...

2024. In Quest of a Treasure

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Larry Powell

... Coronado's wealth be unearthed. In contrast to Coronado and Ponce de Leon, consider the quest of Francis di Bernardone, more popularly known as St. Francis of Assisi. As the only child of well-to-do parents, his every whim and desire were more than adequately satisfied. He was spoiled, brash, reckless, abrasive, and worldly. However, quite unexpectedly, a series of rather mystical religious experiences began to overwhelm him and direct him toward the pursuit of the spiritual life. He came to understand ...

2025. The Household Leader

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

... . Just because God has assigned Dad to be the head of the household does not mean that he intended Dad to act as King of the Castle. That does not give us the right to constantly order the wife and kids around - making them bow to our every whim and desire. It doesn't mean that we must always insist upon getting our way. It doesn't mean that we're always right and never wrong. Let me further point out that we must do our part in running the household and raising the children in a spirit of love and ...

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