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 4961 results

2326. Pillars of the Church

Exodus 17:8-16, Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

A young woman named Linda was driving alone through the lonely area from Alberta, Canada to the Yukon. She spent one night in one of the rare hotels in the area. The next morning in the breakfast area she was seated near two truckers. They asked where she was going. She said "Whitehorse." "In that little Civic?" they asked. "It's dangerous this time of year in this kind of weather." Linda replied, "Well, I'm determined to try." "In that case," one of the truckers said, "We're just going to have to hug you ...

2327. Christ Signs The Letter Of The Church

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Donald English is one of the most outstanding Christian communicators I know today. He was in our church a couple of years ago, and many of you have heard him. He is providing dynamic leadership for the renewal of the church in Britain, and plays a dynamic role in the World Methodist Council. Donald tells a quaint English story that will speak to us this morning. "In Birmingham, England, there is a store called Lewis's. It's a great chain store in one of the main streets, and wanted to extend. Right in the ...

2328. Dad: The Head of a Godly Family

Joshua 24:15

Sermon

James Merritt

A father was getting on to his son because he was not measuring up to his expectations. After a few choice words, the father said, "Frankly, I'm just ashamed of you; you still don't have a job; when George Washington was your age he had a job as a surveyor in the wilderness." The boy quickly fired back, "That's true dad, and when he was your age he was President of the United States." I know it is true that sons do not always live up to their father's expectations, but we face a different problem in ...

2329. What Part of “You Shall Not” Don’t You Understand?

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Ethical relativists have moved into our lives like a horde of invading barbarians threatening to conquer the land. Increasingly, people seem to be succumbing to the enemy. Many today say, "Nothing is absolute, not God, not the Bible, not the Ten Commandments." The only absolute for many people today seems to be the statement, "There are no absolutes." Guess again. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) are biblical correctives for a society that too easily has been overcome by the ethical relativists who ...

2330. Minority Report

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

Sermon

James Merritt

Put on your thinking caps for a moment; become an amateur pastor or theologian, if you will, and see if you can give an answer to the following three questions: 1. If the gospel is the power of God—why doesn't everybody that hears the gospel become a Christian? 2. If the Bible is the Word of God—why doesn't the Bible have the same effect on everyone who reads it? 3. If Jesus is the Son of God—why doesn't everyone believe in Jesus? We can even narrow those questions. Why don't most people who hear the ...

2331. Happy Marriage...It's All About Choices

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James W. Moore

The power mower broke down and wouldn’t run… and the grass in the front yard was getting totally out of hand. The wife was embarrassed about the way the lawn looked… so she began hinting to her husband that it was time to get the power mower fixed. But, somehow her hints didn’t work. The message never sank in. Finally, she thought of a clever way to make her point: When her husband arrived home one day, he found her seated in the tall grass on the front lawn fussily snipping away (one blade of grass at a ...

2332. What to Do When You Are in a Fix

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Have you heard of the preacher who returned for an anniversary celebration at the church where he had been the pastor twenty years before? He was greeted by one woman and immediately asked her about her husband. “And how is Bill?” “Oh,” she said, misty-voiced, “Bill is in heaven.” “In heaven? I’m sorry!” but that didn’t sound right. “I mean —I’m surprised!” — but that was no better. “I mean — I’m happy!” Well, that preacher was in a fix, and that’s what I want to talk about today. But to talk about it at a ...

2333. By Whose Standards?

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Sermon

John N. Brittain

As the current century dawned, Time magazine placed Einstein on the front cover as the Person of the Century. By happenstance, Mohandas Gandhi was on the back cover as part of an advertisement for a computer company. I suppose that says something about our values. What is it that we really think is most important in life? In church we talk about the need for Christians to be "different," a chosen people, a royal priesthood. What does that mean? How do Christians need to be different? Over the years, I have ...

2334. Quitters

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a time-honored story about a football game featuring two mismatched teams. One team was much larger than the other. The larger team was dominating the game, severely intimidating the smaller team in the process. The hitting was fierce. The smaller team had one player, however, who might make a difference. His name was Calhoun and he was the fastest running back in the league. His coach felt that if Calhoun could get any blocking at all, he could easily break free and outrun the larger players. The ...

2335. Epiphany 7

Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE As the Epiphany season nears its conclusion, the homiletical framework of the season con-tinues to thin out and the role of the readings becomes more important for the establishment of the theme for the day. Under the older church year, this would be Sexagesima Sunday, the second of the "three-to-get-ready for Lent" Sundays. They were removed from the church year's "Pre-Lent" and added to Epiphany simply because they had become part of Lent, making Lent, in effect, nine and a half weeks ...

2336. Dare To DV8

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

In 17th century Italy, in the town of Cremona, there lived a young boy named Antonio. Cremona was was famous for its music. And of all the things in the world that Antonio wanted he wanted to be able to make music. Unfortunately, he couldn't sing or play an instrument. His voice was high and squeaky, so he wasn't welcome in the Boys' Choir. When he took violin lessons, the neighbors complained so much they persuaded his parents to make him stop. Still, Antonio wanted to make music. Because he couldn't sing ...

2337. Commanded By Example

John 13:31-38

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

In a book titled, Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton said the history of this world has been changed by events which took place in two small upper rooms. These rooms are separated not only by thousands of miles, but by nearly thousands of years. Yet the events which took place within those walls have changed the course of human history more than any other events mankind has ever known. The first "upper room" is a drab flat over a dingy laundry in a poor district in London. Through the dirty, curtainless ...

2338. Look Up and Live

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Snakes. Do you like snakes? Not many do. I can think of no other creature on the face of the planet that so universally brings forth a sense of revulsion and disgust. True or not, we think of snakes as icky, slimy, nasty, and as our Old Testament lesson reminds, DANGEROUS. It seems that the children of Israel, in the midst of their wilderness wandering after the escape from slavery in Egypt, had stumbled on to a location south of the Dead Sea that is infamous for its lethal snakes. "Big deal," they no ...

2339. To Who Can We Go?

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Back in August of 1969 a Conference on Liturgy and Worship was held in the city of Milwaukee. Several hundred delegates from churches all across the country were in attendance. At a set time in the program the participants were given an unusual assignment. They were asked to go out singly into the streets of the host city, look for signs of hope, and then report back. As far as I know, they are still out! (I imagine that they came back, but the news report I read about the conference failed to say so.) At ...

2340. On Doing Beautiful Things

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

That was a beautiful thing which was done in 1989 by the Boy Scouts from Troop 4, sponsored by First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, and from Troop 61, sponsored by Domino’s Pizza. They gave money to help the owner of the taxicab which was damaged by rioters celebrating Michigan’s NCAA Basketball championship. (Ann Arbor News, April 19, 1989, p. 1) That was a beautiful thing to do...and I hope that somebody else sees fit to reimburse the poor fellow for the rest of the repair bill for the incident, ...

2341. Honor Graduate

Exodus 20:12

Sermon

James Merritt

To be an honor graduate is considered quite an accomplishment. These honors, as you know, are in Latin and they are used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree is earned. There are typically three types of Latin honors in order of increasing level of honor. They are: Cum Laude (with honor), Magna Cum Laude (with great honor) and Summa Cum Laude (with highest honor). One of my goals when I went to college was to be an honor graduate. I didn't want to get an ordinary ...

2342. Is Your Conscience Clear?

1 Timothy 1:18-19

Sermon

James Merritt

It may surprise you to know that every year the Federal Government receives hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus items ranging from wrenches to silverware, from citizens with a guilty conscience who have cheated on their income taxes. In 1811, the U. S. Treasury established what is known as a Conscience Fund when an anonymous individual mailed the government $5. Since that time, over $4 million has been received from guilt-ridden citizens with a guilty conscience, with donations ranging from a single ...

2343. Being Single-minded

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

The Second Coming of Christ was much in the thoughts of the ancient church. Saint Paul was no exception, as his letters often indicate. Time was growing short and soon the present form of this world would be passing away. The expectation must have been both thrilling and somewhat ominous for Christ's people. There is a particularity about the events coming soon after our Lord's Ascension and the Day of Pentecost. A single-mindedness is virtually demanded. It all has to do with a single God/man they knew ...

2344. Member Means Minister

Ephesians 4:11-12

Sermon

James Merritt

I asked my wife, Teresa, one time "How many great preachers in the world do you think there are?" She said, "One less than you think there is!" I want to ask you a question. What is the secret to greatness? If you went to Wall Street and asked the question, "What is the secret to greatness?" Wall Street would say, "Money and lots of it." If you were to go to Washington and ask, "What is the secret to greatness?" Washington would say, "Political clout and a lot of it." If you were to go to Hollywood and ask ...

2345. Perhaps Next Summer...

Acts 24:1-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

The poet said it: "The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year." And suddenly, it came to us this past week that summer was over. Unbelievably, it was the first day of autumn. Actually, we don’t regret the passing of any other season, but, somehow, it is different with the summer. We all look sadly at each other and ask: "Where did it go to?" We all have the frightening feeling that something precious has slipped through our fingers. Somehow, the days went by and we didn’t savor them like we ...

2346. Prayer And Compassion Fatigue

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

They were tired and they needed a day off. The crowds kept getting larger. More and more sick people were being brought to Jesus and his disciples were getting burned out dealing with all that human misery. So Jesus declared a holiday. "Let's go camping," he said. At least that is what I think he said. Matthew makes it sound like he said, "Let's go off alone to a deserted place." My guess is he got no arguments from his disciples. They took off their beepers, unplugged the phones and put up the "Closed for ...

2347. Philip the First

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I wonder about folks who proclaim their theology through the medium of bumper stickers. I have wondered ever since I read about the fellow who honked when he saw the bumper sticker, “Honk if you love Jesus,” only to be greeted by an obscene gesture from the driver of the other car. I suppose “Have a nice day” is harmless enough, but I recently came across one which said: “Don’t tell me what kind of a day to have!” A few years ago there was a campaign which plastered bumper stickers on cars with the caption ...

2348. The Art Of Borrowing And Lending A Donkey

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Imagine it. You've just bought a brand new BMW. You have had it a week. It only has 200 miles on it. You are coming to church on Sunday morning and you stop by the bank to get a little bit of cash from the automatic teller. While you are there, two men walk up and tell you that their leader has told them to borrow your car because their master is going to ride in it down Poplar Avenue to the center of the city to demonstrate who he is. They tell you that they will have the car back to you in about three ...

2349. No Doubt about It

John 20:24-29

Sermon

James Merritt

It was without a doubt, the single, most miserable time I've ever experienced in my life as a follower of Jesus Christ. I was a freshman in college. I had a professor of philosophy, who was an atheist (what he was doing teaching at a Baptist college I still haven't figured out). After finding out, the first day of class, he was an atheist, I took it upon myself to be his personal Billy Graham and show him the light and bring him to God. I walked in, quite frankly, full of pride, thinking that the ...

2350. Yes, It Becomes Unclean

Haggai 2:11-17

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling: If one carries consecrated meat in the fold of one's garment, and with the fold touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests answered, "No." Then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?" The priests answered, "Yes, it becomes unclean." Haggai then said, So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the LORD; and ...

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