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 2326 to 2350 of 4959 results

2326. Christian The King

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... drug user reports, "The cocaine high is the way you would feel if you did something with your life. You think, for the first time in a long time, I’ve really got myself together." In other words, behind the present-day popular use of mind-boggling drugs is the desire to be a king or queen in control of their lives and world. This euphoria of being a king lasts only a short time, and the drug-taker is down in the pit of discouragement and despair. So he or she goes back time after time for more drugs until ...

2327. Your Money and Your Life

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... lives. God has made us for himself, that we might glorify him by deeds of service. That is our function, and if we would be happy, then the form of our lives must correspond to it. Isaiah said: "If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday." This is what Jesus had in mind when he spoke of laying up treasures in heaven. There is nothing ethereal or vague about his admonition. In the context of his ...

2328. Jesus' Consecration

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Brett Blair

... by being baptized. He joined in the popular movement of his day. It was a grass roots movement started by a desert monk named John the Baptist. John was calling for the repentance of Israel. Jesus choose to be baptized because he wanted to participate with the people in their desires to be close to God.

2329. Peter’s Net

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... a third such dilemma in human life where we find ourselves wishing vainly for a gift or a happening that is not a natural part of our experience. We find that our faith is too small, or even nonexistent. It seems incredible, but it is true, that the desire for faith is not enough to produce it. Wishful thinking and faith have little in common. But let’s be honest. Let’s not even pretend that all of us here want faith. Many of us prefer the security of some other type of Christianity, though there really ...

2330. Abraham’s Promise Perpetuated

Romans 4:1-25

Drama

Richard F. Bansemer

... cause, except that of his own Spirit. Having been duly elected by this family to reveal the contents of his will, and having been directed by our benefactor to withhold nothing, it is my duty and delight to serve you in this manner. Lest we be accused of desiring the gift more than the giver, and lest we be tempted by greed and impatient curiosity, before the will is read, we will take a few moments to recall his work among us. For this purpose I have selected persons at random who represent all of us. To ...

2331. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... of his family. He met the Master, and as a result of that meeting, set himself on a course which would lead to ordination as a minister of Jesus Christ. Study, first at the University of Tubingen and then in Rome, confirmed him in his desire to be a minister. He returned from Rome an early but confirmed ecumenist. It was his conclusion that who preaches the Word, that is, Roman Catholics, or Lutherans, or Calvinists or whatever, was truly irrelevant. What was important, Bonhoeffer felt, was that the Word ...

2332. A Person Approved by Christ

John 1:43-51

Sermon

George Bass

... , appealed to him very much. As Zukav comments: "The child in us is always naive, innocent in the simplistic sense," and this means that "the beginner is open to many possibilities." At that point in the story, even if Bartholomew has the highly desirable quality of guilelessness, his mind actually seems closed to "many possibilities" in Jesus Christ: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Sounds like the man is steeped in Scripture, doesn’t it? Or perhaps he has been programmed by the rabbis who have ...

2333. Call Him a Story Teller

Luke 1:1-4

Sermon

George Bass

... he writes to Theophilus, the lover of God, has been set down out of deep concern for a human being who has heard about Jesus but doesn’t have knowledge of the whole story. Luke was a person who cared about the welfare of people; he desired that Theophilus - and others, as well - should enjoy spiritual as well as physical health through knowledge of the Word. And he was equally concerned about the truth of what happened in the life and brief ministry of our Lord. Accordingly, he set out to publish Jesus ...

2334. How’s Your Appetite?

Matthew 5:6 · Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... distance out in the water, Buddha suddenly grabbed the man and held his head under water. Finally, in a last gasp the man broke himself loose and his head came out of the water. Quietly Buddha asked him, "When you thought you were drowning, what did you desire most?" The man gasped, "Air!" Back came Buddha’s reply: "When you want salvation as much as you wanted air, then you will get it." Jesus said, "When you want righteousness enough to pursue it as a starving man would food, as a dying man gasps for ...

2335. Do I Dare Be Different?

Matthew 5:10; 10:1-42

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... time the man wrote, "Next time, Lord, you better send the money through Cardinal Spellman because last time Bishop Sheen held back twenty-five dollars on me." "If you stand amazed that people accept you as you are, and don’t broadcast your needs and desires and wishes, then you’ll never get anywhere or be anybody." But blessed are you for your meekness, for there is strength, the God-controlled strength to which the earth belongs. The world says, "Happy are the blase, for they never worry about their ...

2336. He Bore Our Sins

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... making his way to Calvary. So popular is the part, that it is booked solid for the next forty years by applicants from as far away as Madagascar. The list includes gamblers, adulterers, exconvicts ... all seeking peace of mind. The message of Lent is that we who desire to be right with God and at peace with him throughout eternity do not have to endure this anguish. Jesus has borne it for us. The entire reason for Jesus’ coming into the world was "to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:48 ...

2337. Christ My Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... honest with themselves, can prove in their own experience that the breaking of God’s law, the rejection of his word, the abuse of his holy name in blasphemy and profanity, the plans and programs of hate and retaliation, selfishness and strife, carnal desires and impurity, jealousy and slander, have brought many their darkest moments. And it is precisely for such darkness that he who is "the Light of the World" came. Jesus of Nazareth was born into the world to shine into this very darkness "with healing ...

2338. Overcoming Self

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... have a great blessing in store for you." Indeed, from that very time the hand of God was on George Washington in a marked way, because early in his life he had learned how to become great at dying, how to set aside his own interests, his own desires, his own self-centeredness. Out of that death to self, God could bring something of resurrection, something of new life. The Bible says, "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." Such a response is in total contrast to the Pharisee in Luke 18, the ...

2339. Amazing Grace

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... I was free, I was unburdened, I was forgiven, I was accepted by God - I was at peace. Fourth, there was given the grace of changed nature I was amazed I knew that now I was determined to do right; but I was surprised to note that now I really desired to do right. Whereas, before, I had liked evil and was bored by goodness; now, I hated evil and was yearning after goodness - I was a new being! Grace never forces us; we can reject grace. Listen to Oscar Wilde as he described his own fall from grace. God had ...

2340. The Spiritual Fitness Demands of the New Age

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... we yield to God, God reveals himself as a friend whom we have violated, but who is now ready and anxious to restore us in life. When we as we are accept God as he is, he accepts us as we are; and by his love and discipline (now desired by us) he brings us into an ordered life, "a meaningful arrangement," acceptable to him and effective in and through our lives. This can be illustrated by a unique story told by Reuel Howe. A little girl had disobeyed her mother. She felt guilty and, therefore, hostile toward ...

2341. The Importance of Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... glory of God and the welfare of the body of Christ. That is, of course, far easier said than done. What was true in Corinth is true in this congregation today. We have a wide variety of gifts, of interests, of emphases, of opinions, of desires among us. How to maintain all these in one congregation with unity while defending the integrity at the same time of anybody’s opinion, like, dislike, gift, interest, is most difficult. That is why we need again to listen carefully to the core question Paul places ...

2342. Binding Up the Fractured World

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... with a passion. It is to see the fractures of the creation and to "stand on tiptoe" longing for the sight of the coming of the Lord when all things will be restored. It is to pray "Thy kingdom come" with great fervency. It is to live with an urgent desire to bind up the fractures of the world where we see them and where our hand can be the healing agent of Christ. In this way our whole life is to be an Epiphany: a showing forth of the glory of the Lord!

2343. GOD MADE ME, AND GOD DOESN’T MAKE ANY JUNK

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... to attain unattainable goals and then labor under feelings of failure, when we get our priorities all mixed up, and when we walk life’s way apart from God. Let’s not live one more day of our precious lives in a manner less than God desires. We confess our sins before the Almighty. We welcome Jesus’ entrance into our lives with all the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray, "Lord, lead me onto beautiful paths of meaningful life." And we boldly proclaim to ourselves and before the world, "God made me, and ...

2344. HOW TO COPE WITH FEAR AND ANXIETY

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... the body more than clothing." Now God has never promised to remove all the troubles and problems from our lives. The truly committed Christian is often in conflict with the society around him. To say to a boss that you can’t work on Sunday because you desire to worship often creates problems. To say no to a date that wants to do what God says belongs in the confines of marriage goes against the prevailing trend of our society. But God has promised even in the midst of trouble and conflict a genuine peace ...

2345. WE HAVE GREAT POTENTIAL

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... potentiality available in us. We continue to doubt whether we can do this or that or be what we want to be. Yet, God wants us to reach the heights of our created potential. God wants us to develop a faith that can handle both problems and opportunities. He desires that we capture his vision of our worth and our latent abilities. Some time ago I saw the play Man of La Mancha. I believe it illustrates what I am saying. The man of La Mancha comes to a wayside inn. Here the camel drivers stop. He sees Aldonza ...

2346. I AM THE CHURCH

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... This is another way of my telling you not to forget your central purpose for being the church. I am the Church and my central, most important function is to share with my members and the world that God is in love with all people and desires their salvation. This can only happen when people recognize their sinfulness, repent, and receive Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of their personal lives. When this happens, God looks at them and no longer sees their sin but rather sees his Son, their Savior. I challenge ...

2347. WHEN WINNING MEANS LOSING

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... in word and deed and find strength through him to overcome whatever conflicts our faith might encounter. Leaning on him we seek his Spirit’s power to help us deny ourselves, to bear his cross, and to even suffer for the Gospel’s sake. With Christ we desire that everyone might become his children through faith and join him and us at the Father’s house in eternity. When we arrive, God will look us over - not for medals, or awards, or degrees, but for scars. Finding them, he will declare, "Ah, a wise ...

2348. JOYS OF DISCIPLESHIP

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... , no, we welcome all girls," was the reply. "But I’ve noticed that all your girls are beautiful." "Well," said the missionary, "we teach them to love our Savior Jesus Christ, and he gives them a look of beauty." "I am a Buddhist, and I do not desire my daughter to become a Christian, yet I should like her to attend your school to get that look on her face." Recently a distinguished Britisher said that he visited an American home that seemed to have everything - two cars in the garage, a beautiful living ...

2349. DIPS IN DISCIPLESHIP

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... does not abandon us. As C. S. Lewis wrote, "The gates of hell only can be locked from the inside." God is always as close to us as a whispered prayer. When he told the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus left no doubt that it is the Father’s desire to forgive us and re-enter into a loving relationship even after we have had a dip in discipleship. When all of our best efforts have failed and we realize that we can’t go it alone, through prayer we can invite the Holy Spirit to conquer the evil within ...

2350. DOING CHRISTIANITY

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... is important enough in life to keep us awake at night thinking about it? If we call Jesus Christ our Lord and really mean it, he must be number one in our life. God’s revealed truth in Christ must be the one thing that owns us. We must constantly desire to get really close to Jesus. And in our quest, our Bible must wind up with fingerprints all over it. Our presence in church must be weekly, and our contribution to God’s work must be felt and known because it’s so evident. Let us begin each day with ...

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