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 2251 to 2275 of 4961 results

2251. The Legitimacy and Superiority of Christ’s Priesthood

Hebrews 7:11-28, Hebrews 7:1-10

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Enigma of Melchizedek and His Priestly Order In order to make the argument about Christ’s high priesthood as convincing as it can be, the author begins by establishing the great importance of Melchizedek, who resembles the Son of God in many respects and hence serves as a type of Christ. His superiority to Abraham and Levi is then made plain. This in turn leads to a discussion of the significance of his priestly order, which in recent history had found a new and definitive representative in fulfillment ...

2252. Woe to Nineveh

Nahum 3:1-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Yahweh Confronts the Bloody City: Chapters 1 and 2 only hinted at the reasons for Yahweh’s anger, but the opening and close of chapter 3 are more concrete. Here Yahweh speaks all through the chapter. Yahweh confronts the city because it is responsible for the deaths of so many people as a result of its desire to accumulate wealth, which has led it into empire-building and war-making. Its apparent strength will not save it. 3:1–4 Woe is an over-translation; the Hebrew hoy resembles English “Oh,” which we ...

2253. “May the Net They Hid Entangle Them”

Psalm 35:1-28

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Rather than taking vengeance for injustice into our own hands, we can pray that its perpetrators will become victims of their own contrivances. Understanding the Text Psalm 35, the first of the imprecatory psalms, deals with the issue of divine justice in a bare-bones way. In one sense, it is an individual lament (Craigie), but in its total effect, it is more a prayer for deliverance (Wilson). The form critics, seeking the cultural context for such prayers, are inclined to view the psalm as a ...

2254. The Way Up Is Down!

Mark 9:30-37

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

There once was a palace servant who longed more than anything else in life to be a knight. He yearned to represent his king and vowed within himself that if he ever had a chance to be a knight he would serve his king as the noblest knight who ever lived. His dream came true. His great day came. At his knighthood ceremony, the former servant, now a knight, made a special oath within himself. He vowed that from that day forward he would bow his knees and lift his arms in homage to no one but his king. As a ...

2255. Proper 19

Matthew 18:21-35, Romans 14:1--15:13, Exodus 13:17--14:31, Psalm 114:1-8

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Unlimited Forgiveness The parable uses the analogy of a reverse comparison. On the one hand a huge, almost inconceivable debt is forgiven. The amount of the debt of the first character in the parable is staggering. To the person hearing the parable it would be scarcely possible to imagine a debt so monumental, perhaps as hard as to try to imagine today the size of the national debt in the United States. The second character has a relatively trivial debt. It is more the size one might run up on a credit ...

2256. The Babel Disaster -- You Are There

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

July 25, 1982 Comment: Up to this time, I had tried to handle thestory sermons myself. With the encouragement shown for mydramatic efforts of the earlier weeks that summer, I decidedto try to involve the congregation in a more direct way. That year, a large hotel in a major U. S. city hadcollapsed, killing scores and injuring hundreds. I saw thestory in a periodical which, unfortunately, I did not keep.The first interview in the script, the woman's experience,comes from that. With a few bits remembered ...

2257. Angels

Psalm 91:1-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Familiar stories. Two of the approximately 300 direct or indirect references in scripture to angels. That is a lot of talk about angels. Lots MORE talk in the world. Best seller lists regularly have popular titles about angels; book stores have whole sections devoted to angels. On TV Patty Duke hosted an NBC special called "Angels: The Mysterious Messengers." Michael Landon starred for five years as an angel sent to earth to assist mortals in "Highway to Heaven," and CBS currently has one in the same vein ...

2258. In the Wrong Place At the Right Time

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Back in early December, Jerry and I were in Jerusalem for a meeting of the presidents of the World Methodist Council. We deliberately chose to meet in Jerusalem because we wanted to identify the world Wesleyan family with that small, often- persecuted and almost always forgotten Christian community in that land our Lord made holy. It disturbs me greatly that of all the millions of Christians who visit that land, very few seek out the Christians there and hear their story. A Christian should not go to ...

2259. How to Handle the Mess of Stress

Exodus 18:23-27

Sermon

James Merritt

One of the most famous psalms in all of the Bible, and one of the most well known passages, is the 23rd Psalm. It is a psalm that has given rest, refreshment, and even revival to untold numbers of people. But someone has written another version of this psalm that I believe is a great reflection of the day and age in which we live. The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest. It makes me lie down only when exhausted. It leads me to deep depression. It hounds my soul. It leads me in circles of frenzy for ...

2260. You Can Know What to Do With Your Life

Proverbs 3:5-6

Sermon

James Merritt

Two hundred years ago, banks invented checks so they could transfer money between company accounts and between banks themselves without actually having to risk moving large sums of cash. Eventually, someone came up with the idea of allowing individuals to use checks so they, too, could forego carrying large amounts of cash on their person that they could either lose or someone could rob. People began to learn that you could take a check from one person to a bank and then the bank would redeem the check and ...

2261. Doing Our Best

Romans 12: 1-13

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Once to every man and nation Comes a moment to decide In the strife of truth with falsehood For the good or evil side. In the wake of worldwide terror, I have wondered aloud and pondered deeply what the leadership role of the church should be in a time such as this. Should we push forward or pull back? Should we unveil a new vision for this congregation or wait for a better day? I have asked many of you to give us some guidance. You have said to me without exception, “Howard, the Church is needed now more ...

2262. God Has No Grandchildren

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

On a children’s TV program, the announcer asked a little boy what he wanted to do when he grew up. “I want to be an animal trainer,” said the child, loudly and clearly into the mike. “And I’ll have lots of wild lions and tigers and leopards,” he continued boldly. “And then I’ll walk into the cage…” Here he hesitated for a second, and then added softly, “but, of course, I’ll have my granddaddy with me.” Granddaddies and Grandmothers are special. Ask any boy or girl. Grandsons and granddaughters are special ...

2263. Job's Reply to Eliphaz

Job 6:1–7:21

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

Impatience Justified: The first chapter of Job’s response to Eliphaz divides into three parts. Initially (vv. 1–13), he defends the sense of growing impatience with his circumstance that Eliphaz has attacked (4:1–6). Job then turns to a counterattack on the fickleness of some friendship (vv. 14–23). He concludes chapter 6 with a pointed demand to know where sin resides within him that is commensurate with the punishment he bears (vv. 24–30). 6:1–4 Job’s impetuous words are the consequence of unbearable ...

2264. Not Gullible; But Skeptical

John 20:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

We’re just ten days past April Fools’ Day, and I wanted to run a little poll this morning. Raise your hand if you fall into one of these camps: How many of you love to pull pranks on April Fools’ Day? How many of you have ever fallen for an April Fools’ prank? It’s hard to admit it, but some of us are just a little more trusting than others. And that can get us into trouble sometimes. There’s an old story of a man who walked into a local pub and introduced himself to the guy at the next table. The man said ...

2265. Doing Our Homework

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

Whenever the “new” bumps up against the “old” there is bound to be friction. It happens within the community where we live. Someone -- an elected leader or would-be community change agent -- comes along with a new idea, seeing new possibilities for the future, and there is a vocal hesitation. “Why should we change?” the long-time residents complain. “Things are just fine the way they always have been!” The inevitable conflict grows between those who advocate change for a different way of living in the ...

2266. Chapter IV

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

"Remember the sabbath day, to set it apart for holy purposes. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh (day) is a sabbath to the Lord your God. In it you will not do any work, you or your son, your daghter, your male servant or your female servant, or your beast of burden, or the resident alien who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh (day). Therefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath ...

2267. The Blood of The Lamb and The Voice of The Shepherd

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Who is Jesus? How are we to understand him? In the novel, The Brothers K, David James Duncan tells the story of the Chance family, a family of four boys, two girls, an agnostic father, and a mother of passionate fundamentalist faith. They all have very different ideas about who Jesus is. One of the boys, Kincaid, describes how each family member tries to make sense of Jesus and religion: It's strange the way everybody has their own pet notion about Jesus, and nobody's pet notion seems to agree with anybody ...

2268. Envision: The Great Commandment

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

James Merritt

... What is unique is this is the first time anyone had joined these two together. Jesus, in effect, said if you have the vertical love for God that you ought to have then you cannot help but have the horizontal love for others that you ought to have. One of the greatest ways that the church brings people together so they can love each other is through groups that meet together. These are groups where life and love come together. Churches do groups in many ways. There’s Sunday School, home groups, life groups ...

2269. Distress and Help

Isaiah 33:1-24

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Oh You Destroyer Who Has Not Been Destroyed: We noted in the Introduction that the major copy of Isaiah from Cave 1 at Qumran leaves a space after chapter 33, and this chapter indeed closes off the first half of the book. It does this quantitatively, because we are fairly precisely half way through the book. It also does it thematically and verbally. At one level chapter 33 is jerky and puzzling. The addressees keep changing, we are not clear who is being talked about, and no train of argument develops ...

2270. Understanding The Holy Trinity

John 16:5-16

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

Christians of all denominations love to sing Reginald Heber's "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ... God in three persons, blessed Trinity." All may like to sing it, but how many understand what they are singing about -- the blessed Trinity? We need to understand it because it is the central doctrine of the Christian faith, for all Christian teachings find their center in the Trinity. This one unique doctrine identifies Christianity from all other religions. Jews and Moslems see the Trinity as a ...

2271. Achieving An All-In Victory - 1952

1 John 5:1-12

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

We have talked so much about winning an "all-out" victory during the years of World War II that our attention has been focused and our interest centered upon mass behavior. We speak of the world as having gone mad. But madness is a malady of the human mind. The world outside cannot go mad; only the world inside is capable of sanity and insanity. We talk of the Government’s having full responsibility for making all the decisions. But the Government is not an abstraction. It is composed of individuals. And ...

2272. Gospel Partners

Philippians 1:3-5

Sermon

James Merritt

There was a church secretary who took a most unusual phone call. The caller asked if he could speak to "the Head Hog." Well, she quickly defended the dignity of her pastor, and with an irate tone said, "I want you to know that our pastor is held in the very highest esteem around here, and we address him as Rev. H. C. Herald. Currently Rev. Herald is not available to speak with you." The man then responded, "Well, I am sorry. I just learned about your new building program and my CPA recommended that I ...

2273. Like a Good Neighbor – Jesus Is There

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

If you have ever watched the President of the United States deliver the State of the Union Address in recent years, you know that at some point in his speech he will point to the balcony and introduce an ordinary citizen as a real hero in this country. You may not know but that custom began when President Ronald Reagan introduced a man named Lenny Skutnik. To this day reporters will ask presidential aides the question: "Who are the ‘Skutniks' this year?'" Lenny Skutnik was a federal worker walking down the ...

2274. Whose Wife Will She Be?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

A little girl walked into a pet shop. She went up to the shopkeeper and asked in a sweet little lisp, “Excuthe me, mithter, do you have any wittle wabbits?” The shopkeeper bent way down and put his hands on his knees so he would be on her level, and asked, “Do you want a wittle white wabbit or a wittle bwack wabbit? Or maybe that cute wittle bwown wabbit over there?” The little girl thought for a moment, put her hands on her knees, leaned forward and said in a quiet little voice, “Mr., I don’t fink my ...

2275. “I Am from Him and He Sent Me”

John 7:25-44

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The temple discourse begins anew with a notice that Jesus cried out. This second announcement (vv. 28–29), like the first (vv. 16–19), initiates an encounter with the crowd, yet itself comes as a response to something already expressed. As verses 16–19 addressed the question that perplexed the religious authorities in verse 15, so verses 28–29 address the debate among the people of Jerusalem in verses 25–27. Specifically, they address the objection that Jesus cannot be the Messiah because everyone knows ...

Showing results