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 2451 to 2475 of 4959 results

2451. How to Fix the Past

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... a sign out there that says, “No Fishing Allowed!” Not only does God forgive, the scripture tells us that he will purify and cleanse us. His Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and minds and begins to reshape our values and desires. He changes our “want-to’s!” Gradually, I become uncomfortable around moral filth and gossip and greed. My heart almost sings when I hear or see something noble and loving, something courageous and caring. Calvary is the well-spring of forgiveness. Wherever its ...

2452. Judgment Day is Coming (Adapted)

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... would do such a thing. Let's allow the scripture to respond to that question as well. Hell was not prepared for people. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. So, for a person to go to hell is to go against God's plan. God does not desire that a single person be lost. Judgment and hell are the fate of persons who choose to live apart from God. Hell is the chosen place of the person who loves self more than God, who loves this world more than God's world. Final judgment is that moment at ...

2453. Concern

John 19:17-27

Sermon

Burton F. Blair

... . James, Jesus’ brother, became a leader in the church in Jerusalem. But at the time of the crucifixion, Jesus entrusted Mary to John, who was a devoted disciple, one who understood enough of Jesus’ mission to care for Mary in the manner Jesus desired. In the great film production, Jesus of Nazareth (directed by Franco Zeffirelli), we see Mary, Jesus’ mother, pushing her way nearer the cross. But a cordon of guards stops her. She pleads, "I am his mother. Please, let me through." The sergeant inquires ...

2454. Suffering

John 19:28-37

Sermon

Burton F. Blair

... awake" (Mark 14:34). Alone and separated from those with him in Gethsemane, Jesus pleaded with God: "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want" (v. 36). Jesus ends this prayer with words of surrender. Jesus desired more than anything to do the Father’s will. Jesus did not want his needs or fears to get in the way of God working out his plan. If drinking the cup was the only way, then he was willing to take the cup and drink it dry. But ...

2455. The Birthplace Of Humanity

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Susan Hedahl

... Who could have known when and where the birth was to happen? The inn was full. All the inns were full. Caught up in the crowds coming to pay taxes, Mary and Joseph were one family among so many, one more pair of weary travelers. Mary’s desire to be at home at that time can only be imagined! Bethlehem. So far away and yet actually in our very neighborhood. Those longing for the Savior had received prophetic hints that Bethlehem would be an important location. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little ...

2456. To Our Heart’s Content

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Susan Hedahl

... What resolutions have been forged in our hearts for the new year as we leave the child’s cradle? There are some here who will not see another Christmas. There are others yet to enjoy their first Christmas. And all of us bear in our hearts the desire for lives made meaningful by the Bethlehem Child. We leave with the gifts, accompanied by this Child, for adventures whose conclusions we know nothing of. What places will we journey to and through? Where will we choose to stay and what will we avoid? The holy ...

2457. Rediscovering Our Spiritual Dimension

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... were wholly unexplored, a distinguished English headmaster, Edwin A. Abbott, wrote a strange little book titled Flatlands. It portrayed a peculiar world of two dimensions: a world that had length and breadth, but no height; a world of surfaces in which neither from desire nor necessity did its citizens ever look up. Now, to us, the whole idea seems very odd, but on second thought the point becomes poignantly clear, especially when we ask ourselves this question: how many people today actually live in a two ...

2458. Returning to Genuine Religion

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... ). This means that each of us must be touched individually by God and be able as a result to witness from his or her own heart. Each is constrained to do right, not because some Law requires it, but as the expression of one’s inner conviction and desire. 2. This leads us to a second point: The spirit in which Israel’s religion was to be lived and exercised. Do you ever wonder why many Americans obey the law? Because they are so morally good? Because they might harm someone else? No! They observe the law ...

2459. Service Without Witness

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... work in the pulpit is when you put heart into people for the coming week." This is the other dimension necessary to our mission as true servants. Is our doing and being so closely identified, as Emil Brunner put it, that when a person turns to God desiring to serve him, God directs his attention to the world and its need? All this brings us to Isaiah’s notion of our qualifications for effective service. 1. First of all, what the servant says and does depends for its effect upon whom he or she is. Behind ...

2460. Easter Journeys Out and In

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... that are outdated or absurd. And some others pick up snatches of verses here and there with little connection before or after. But this Ethiopian was a reader of a different kind. He was an inquirer, and as such he was teachable. He was reading with a desire to know what was true. Philip asked him: "Do you understand what you are reading?" (v. 30). 2. And this leads us to the second step: the Ethiopian replied: "How can I, unless someone guides me?" (v. 33). Or, as the New English Bible puts it: "Unless ...

2461. Easter Turns ONLY into ALSO

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... the bonds of exclusiveness and fired their burning intention to win the world for him. 3. One further note must be made. Peter said he was praying when the vision came (10:9, 30). The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer as "an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will." "Agreeable to his will" means openness on our part. The biblical question or cry from the seeking individual is always: "Lord, what will you have me to do?" Paul Tillich directs us to accept the fact that ...

2462. Appointment in Jerusalem

Luke 19:28-44

Illustration

Larry Powell

Several years ago I saw a rather celebrated movie which had ambitiously undertaken to portray the life of Christ. Although the larger part of the film left a great deal to be desired, at least one scene was, for me, worth the price of admission. Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem, passing along the edge of the sea. The face of Jesus was stern, his jaw set, and his eyes fixed straight ahead. The same camera receded until it ...

2463. Song of a Prophet

Psalm 46:1-11

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... ruin he wreaks as he: makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire! (Psalm 46:9) The psalmist is well aware, of course, that God’s drastic actions here represent far more than the desire for an uneasy peace. The end of strife is not necessarily the end of striving, and open warfare may only give way to wars of the heart. As Samuel Butler was to put it centuries later, he recognizes that He that complies against his will Is of his own ...

2464. Song of an Evangelist

Psalm 103:1-22

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... since there is newness of life in the Eternal’s mercy (Psalm 103:8-13). Nor is the poet concerned here with the atonement procedures the priesthood has ascribed. So far as the Almighty’s wishes are involved, he declares, whosoever will may come whenever they desire; for the Lord’s blessing awaits only the individual’s willingness to receive it. Amazing, indeed, observes the author, is the range of God’s grace. Not even the most astute can appraise it. Let the eye scan the heavens as high as it can ...

2465. The Reality Of Sin

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Robert Allen

... of the Bible. It was written at least 500 years before the birth of Jesus and it is a story which attempts to explain how sin and evil came into the world. According to the story, everything was good in the beginning. Adam and Eve had everything they desired because God controlled everything and no one had any problems. One day they decided to eat the forbidden fruit of a certain tree. There is no word in the Bible about it being an apple tree - just a tree whose fruit they were forbidden to eat. The lure ...

2466. Rules For Living

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Robert Allen

... of winning, even if we have to lie and cheat and steal in order to win. We live in a world that is caught in a whirlpool of change - and concern for the have-nots and helpless people of our society has been replaced with our own selfish desires "to make it" no matter what it costs. Into this world of upheaval and change, the Ten Commandments still ring true. Close to 3,000 years have come and gone since Moses came down from Mount Sinai. He carried with him Ten Commandments for living, not Ten Suggestions ...

2467. I Believe In Heaven

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Robert Allen

... longer unhappy or uncomfortable. He had grown accustomed to his environment and came to think of his chains as friends. One day a bird perched on the crevice of the ledge above and began to sing. It was the sweetest music he had ever heard. Suddenly, the desire to see the outside world overwhelmed him. He grabbed the walls of his cell, and began climbing and struggling up the wall so that he could look out of the little window. In that moment, he saw a world that he had forgotten. There was a crystal blue ...

2468. Facing Life’s Central Tests

Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

Robert Allen

... pulpit, he leaned over it and said, "Here we are again to talk about what is really going on in your soul and mine." Well, we are talking about what is going on in your soul and mine. We all face tests in life, and we all have a deep desire to be spared. But, we can’t be spared the tests of life and we know it. Our challenge is to learn to face the central tests which come our way in life. Next, using the outline of the Gospel, I want to suggest a couple of ways we can ...

2469. The Richest Hill On Earth

John 19:17-27

Sermon

Robert Allen

... often get lost in childish concepts and argue about whether or not it means that God is going to do something miraculous or magical. Sometimes we think the power of God means that anything that happens to us is the direct result of his will or desire. But, of course, there are thousands of things which happen to us every day that are the direct result of our free choices ... our ignorance ... or our stupidity. Perhaps a more mature understanding of the power of God is revealed in the Cross of Calvary. The ...

2470. What To Give The God Who Has Everything

Psalm 50:1-23

Sermon

Erskine White

... giving those things to Him while failing to give Him what He really wants. What can we give the God who has everything? Unlike my dear grandparents, who never gave me a clue what they wanted, God spells out very clearly the two gifts He desires from His people: "Make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God," He says, and "Call on Me in the day of trouble, [and] I will deliver you...." The two gifts God wants most from us are our thanksgiving and our prayers. "Give thanks in all circumstances," (1 Thessalonians ...

2471. The Ultimate Christmas Gift

Psalm 85:1-13, Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Erskine White

... Peace cannot be imposed from the "top down," as myriad emperors, kings, dictators and presidents have amply demonstrated throughout the annals of recorded history. Nor can peace be imposed from the "bottom up," because revolutions and rebellions, even when motivated by the desire to create justice, inevitably replace one form of violence with another. No, peace cannot come from the "top down" or the "bottom up" - it can only come from the "inside out." It must begin in the human heart and find expression in ...

2472. Blessed among Women

Luke 1:39-45, 1 Samuel 2:1-11

Sermon

Erskine White

... set inspire our own virtues, helping us to rise above the world’s worship of self to follow Mary’s higher path of humility, obedience and self-giving service. Most of all, dear God, we ask that You put within our hearts a clear understanding of the service You desire from each one of us. While we are aware of our weaknesses, do not let that awareness excuse us from allowing Your divine strength to work through us. Make us more eager to say yes to Your will, that like Mary, we may gladly bear the cost of ...

2473. The Flight From Light

Isaiah 60:1-22, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Erskine White

... " was frightened as well. Every citizen, great and small! Each one of us today! In one way or another, we all turn and flee from the light of the very things we think we want the most. What do we want the most, you and I? What do we most desire, not in the sense of a thing to be bought but a quality which would make us whole? Think about what you really want, and then think about what you do when faced with the prospect of actually getting it. One thing we want is companionship, an end to our ...

2474. Agony

Illustration

Louis H. Evans, Jr.

The Greek word translated race is agon, from which we get our word agony. It signifies a wrestling match or race where endurance and determination must overcome the aching desire to quit. In a race, such as the quarter mile, there are moments toward the end when the body cries out to let up. Pain starts in the calf and works up through the hamstrings to the gluteus maximus. At times it is so intense it feels like a burning ...

2475. Comfort

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... or grandparents had come. Through all those years the idea of returning was kept alive. Jerusalem was still "home," though Babylonia probably seemed like home to those who had never known anything else, and who had found a place for themselves in that land. The desire to return to Jerusalem was by no means shared by all the exiles, but it remained an ardent and burning hope for many. We all remember that time when hostages were being held somewhere in Lebanon. Some of them had been there for several years ...

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