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 2176 to 2200 of 3108 results

2176. The Flock Paradox

2 Samuel 5:1-5, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Christmas is a time of joy and enjoy, but also a time of unprecedented envy. The great gifts one person receives are inevitably desired by any number of that person’s friends. The gifts one child receives are immediately coveted by their sister or brother. Shopping for a gift for others, we often find things we desire for ourselves as well! We like to have what others have. We like to do what others do. Some call it “keeping up with the Joneses.” Scientists call it the “flock syndrome.” It’s the crowd ...

2177. Good for What Ails Us

Matthew 9:35-38

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

Before modern medical science really took off in the last fifty years of the past millennium, there were a lot of home and folk remedies being prescribed by well-meaning individuals, but also by con artists and charlatans. The remedy was often administered accompanied by the phrase that the supposed cure was “good for what ails you.” The classic, all-purpose remedy for nearly every condition was a table-spoonful of castor oil. Perhaps some of you suffered through that treatment or gave it to someone else. ...

A humorist is a person who feels bad, but who feels good about it.

Don Herold

About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

Ernest Hemingway

What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

Ernest Hemingway

I feel bad that I don't feel worse.

Michael Frayn

What is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

Ernest Hemingway

2183. A Cure for Complainers

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

King Duncan

A man goes to a diner every day and he orders lunch. Afterward the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The old man replies, “It was good, but you could give me a little more bread.” So, the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man two slices of bread this time. Afterward he asks, “How was your meal today?” “It was good,” the man replies, “but you could give me a little more bread.” So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man four slices of bread. “How was your meal ...

2184. Freedom

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Will Willimon

"One thing which I like about living in New York," he said, “as opposed to where you live, is the freedom. Here there is freedom to live the lifestyle I choose -- to eat where I want and to dress as I like. Freedom." Then he closed his door behind us. He locked the latch, turned the deadbolt, inserted the chain, and switched on the electronic alarm, telling me, "Don't dare open that door without switching off the alarm or all hell will break loose and the cops may shoot you dead." If there is one virtue on ...

2185. Overwhelmed

Revelation 1:4b-8

Sermon

Will Willimon

Not long ago I was involved in a meeting concerning racial problems in our city. The meeting was long, and rather depressing. It was difficult to find a common theme, other than that we had racial problems and no one knew exactly what to do about them. On the way out of the meeting, a man said to me, a man who has been a life-long activist in the Civil Rights Movement, "It makes you long for the Sixties, doesn't it?" I asked him what he meant. He continued, "Back in the Sixties, when it came to racism, we ...

2186. Together In One Place

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Today, Pentecost Sunday, is the day upon which we traditionally celebrate the birth of the Christian church. But before we light the candles and sing, “Happy Birthday,” perhaps we should take a few moments to talk about what the church is and what it isn’t. What, exactly, is a church? How shall we define it and how shall we define its purpose? The Internal Revenue Code uses the word “church” but it doesn’t actually define what it means by that word. Certain attributes of a church have been developed by the ...

2187. Impetuous Faith

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Remember in school that one kid, the “kiss up,” the “butter up,” the “brown nose,” the suck up”? The kid who always raised his or her hand for every question, who always volunteered to help the teacher, who loved to be the class leader, who wanted every time to be chosen first for good behavior? Yup, that’s the one. Every class had one. Every job often has one. Throughout life, you’ll always encounter those who crave special attention, who obsess over being first at everything, who seem to need extra pets ...

2188. Shared Promises

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Faith is a journey you don’t do alone. This is one of the most important distinctions about the Christian faith. If you are Buddhist, you can and must pursue your personal enlightenment alone. If you are a Hindu, you can make your personal sacrifices, carry out your personal rituals, and attempt to attain “nirvana” alone. If you are of one of the other Abrahamic religions, you try to live morally by the laws and teachings set before you. It’s a personal journey. But if you are a Christian, you cannot live ...

2189. The Hiddenness Of Life’s Truths: Christian Life As Surprise

2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

The ashes of Ash Wednesday are icons proclaiming the hiddenness of God’s ways. And God’s ways are hidden. Paul tells us that in our lesson: We are treated as imposters, and yet are true; as unknown, yet are well known; as dying, and see — we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything (6:8b-6:10). It does not make sense, does it? How can we be imposters and yet the real thing, sorrowful but ...

2190. Hanging Around Jesus Changes You

Philippians 3:17 — 4:1

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Writing to Christians in a Macedonian city of Philippi, Paul writes: “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ...” (v.18). People don’t like this message, don’t want anything to do with the cross of Christ. No surprise. Who of us wants to mess with death and suffering? Why, it’s just common sense. Cross-bearing goes against the grain of what pop culture in America tells us about life. It goes against the grain of our desire for instant gratification. After all, we’ve been taught to follow our dreams ...

2191. Jesus Meets Our Needs

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Weddings symbolize the hope of the future for people who are in love. They symbolize to commitment, undying love and the best in each other’s company. It is at such an occasion that the first miracle of Jesus happened. The wedding took place in Cana of Galilee not far from Nazareth. It is the small village where Nathanael lived and he is the one who had said, “Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46). Cana and Nazareth obviously were rival communities. Yet, it is here that Jesus, his disciples and ...

2192. Valued Families

1 John 3:1-3

Sermon

Will Willimon

When a frustrated Mayor of Minneapolis was asked why he was not running for another term as Mayor, he didn't talk about rising crime in Minneapolis, budget problems, police problems, ethnic stress. He replied, ''The root of all our problems as American cities today is the breakdown of the family; what's happening between parents and their kids is killing this country.'' It's All Saints in the Chapel and Parents' Weekend in the University. All Saints is when we acknowledge our debt to those saints who have ...

2193. Rejecting The Message — Rejecting The Person

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Jesus wanted people to know and experience his loving Father — the true God. Anything else was false love….false gods. Christ’s message came directly from the heart of God. He and the Father were so intimately connected in heart, soul, and spirit. His whirlwind preaching and teaching tour in the synagogues in the communities of the region of Galilee landed him in his own hometown of Nazareth. His celebrity status brought in the crowds on that powerful Saturday. The liberal minded people of Galilee were ...

2194. Moving Heaven and Earth

Acts 16:16-34

Sermon

King Duncan

The story’s told about a Chinese gentleman who was visiting the United States. His hosts took him to play golf. This was a new experience for him. When he returned to China, a friend asked what he had done in the United States. He replied, “I played most interesting game. I hit a little white ball with a long stick in a large cow pasture. “What’s this game called?” asked his friend. The Chinese gentleman thought for a minute and replied, “I think it’s called, ‘Oh, no!’” Some of us may have played the game ...

2195. The First Sign of Civilization

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

King Duncan

I have an important question for you this morning: what is something that is essential for human life, is highly contagious, yet most of us take it for granted? Any ideas? It’s kindness. You might think I’m exaggerating when I say it’s essential for human life and highly contagious, but I believe I can back that up. A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a society. What separates an uncivilized collection of people from a true ...

2196. Fear and Blessing

Psalm 128:1-6

Sermon

Will Willimon

It is Parents' Weekend in the University. But it is the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost here in the chapel. In the interest of continuity, we ask our preachers to follow the ecumenical lectionary which assigns certain scripture for each Sunday. I immediately expected a conflict. To my surprise, the assigned Psal1n for today is Psalm 128: Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your ...

2197. What We Learn from Love

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

Do you ever have trouble falling asleep? Drew Ackerman is the host of the podcast Sleep With Me, and his goal is to tell stories that help people fall asleep. He refers to his show as “the podcast the sheep listen to when they get tired of counting themselves.” According to Ackerman, the key to the perfect bedtime story is to make it slow and boring. Ackerman, who is from New York, slows his speaking tempo and speaks in a really low voice. His plots are hard to follow, and he goes on long tangents where he ...

2198. Paradise Promise

Luke 23:33-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Outside of a well-known town, an old, Victorian house stood on the corner of a busy intersection. It hadn’t always been a busy intersection. When the home was built, it was one of only a few in the area, marked by farmland. A small, dirt road ran nearby but with plenty of space in the yard out front. However, as we all know, times change. As the years went by and macadam streets were built, traffic increased, and the town grew, the road inched closer and closer to the front door of the home, which had long ...

2199. A Pep Talk for a New Year

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

I’d like to start this morning by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. I can’t think of a better way to start this New Year than gathering with other believers and worshiping God. Most of us try to go into the New Year with a positive attitude. Sometimes it helps if we get a little encouragement, maybe a “pep talk” to get us in the right mindset. If so, we’re in luck. There is a kindergarten class in Healdsburg, California, that runs their own free hotline which they call “Peptoc,” P-E-P-T-O-C. The ...

2200. Places That Have a Memory

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Do you believe places have a memory? I know that seems like a strange question this morning. Don’t worry, I drank my coffee. I’m firing on all cylinders. But are there places in your life that evoke such strong memories that when you go back to them, you can almost see and feel and smell past experiences there? Or have you ever stood in a place and felt the stories emanating from its walls? I feel that way inside this church building sometimes. I think back to all the people who prayed here, who wept here ...

Showing results