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 1 to 25 of 67 results

1. For Someone Remembered by Many

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 · Matthew 16:13-20 · Mark 14:7-9, 10-12

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... a terrific grandfather and great-grandfather he happened to be. He would make his grandchildren laugh every chance he got, even if it meant putting his false teeth in and out when the grown- ups in the room weren’t watching. And Ken wouldn’t be averse to scaring them, of striking fear in their hearts with his running tale of an alligator lying in his backyard just beyond the drainage grid. And when it came to candy, grandpa had a bottomless stash, as the candy dishes in his home were never empty. But ...

2. CENSUS TAKER

Exodus 30:12; Numbers 1:1

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... put in by census takers and other employees of the Bureau of Statistics, and, cynics that most of us are, perhaps we said, with a shrug, "Well, that’s tough. So they’re collecting overtime, aren’t they!" But, still, not being averse to doing the same thing ourselves whenever possible, we were tolerant about the whole thing. Certainly, the public response to the census was gratifying. Very few actively objected, and the great majority submitted their questionnaires on time. Would you be surprised, then ...

3. Knitted Together from the Womb

Exodus 2:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Il a l’air si paisible, endormi dans son couffin.” (He looks so peaceful sleeping in his bassinet.) We all start life grieving death. Or better put…We all go through life grieving the inevitability of death. And fearing when it will arrive. Maybe this is what leaves us so averse to risk. And yet, the people who are most risk-averse are what we might call the emotionally and spiritually “walking dead.” For risk is the fodder of relationships, of beginnings, of growth, and of life. Think about it. We take ...

4. The Upside Down Life

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

I confuse “inversion therapy” with “aversion therapy.” The latter (“aversion therapy”) is where you train your dog not to leave your yard, or not dig, or not bark, with a collar that shocks the dog when it does run off, dig, or bark. “Inversion therapy” helps alleviate back and neck pain by taking the usual gravitational press we live with and literally “standing it on its head.” One method is to strap your feet into boots and hang upside down like a big bat. Rosie O’Donnell once did this on the Ellen ...

5. Why Can’t I Have It All?

Genesis 3:1-24, Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Today, we enter into the season of Lent. Lent is traditionally a time when people ask themselves how far they are willing to go in order to challenge their own desires. It’s a time to contemplate what it means to be in love and in relationship with God and others. The usual question is, “What will you give up for Lent?” While the usual replies have much to do with food like chocolate or carbs or sugar or other manners of gluttony, the real root of that challenge might simply be “entitlement.” Can we give ...

6. Untamed

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The word “tame” in our culture usually connotes or refers to an animal that has been domesticated. But if you look up the definition of the word, you will also find that to “tame” means to subdue, to cultivate, to bring under control, to inhibit, rein in, tone down, to deprive of spirit. The Greek domnanai (to tame) means “to conquer.” The antithesis of this word from which we get the word “adamant,” means to “not conquer” or to be “invincible.” One who is “tamed” is trained to obey other people. One who ...

7. Praying With Bloody Knuckles

Isaiah 62:1-12, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

My wife was conducting a prayer workshop recently and a member of the group told her this true story. She had grown up in London and her pastor walked from his home to the church every day. Along the way he had to pass through some rough sections of town, and as he passed one particular bar there was always the same man loitering outside, very drunk and very loudmouthed. The pastor was really angry at the wasted life and annoyed by the obnoxious taunts of the man. He started praying for the man every time ...

8. Followership

Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Mark Radecke

In today's Gospel text, Jesus calls for repentance, expects Peter and Andrew to drop their nets and follow him, and calls James and John to leave their Father Zebedee in the boat without so much as a "So long, see you later." My task today is to issue that same call to repentance, that same call to radical obedience and decisive discipleship. For that call is urgent and cries out to be issued in all of its majesty and might. But as preacher of the gospel -- the good news of God in Jesus Christ -- I cannot ...

9. The Pure In Heart

Sermon

John A. Terry

Psalm 42Matthew 5:1-12 Purity of heart is a common thead throughout scripture. The first of the Ten Commandments says: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Deuteronomy 5:7). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For ...

10. The Pure In Heart

Psalm 42:1-11

Sermon

John A. Terry

Purity of heart is a common thead throughout scripture. The first of the Ten Commandments says: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Deuteronomy 5:7). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and ...

11. Proper 7

1 Kings 19:9-18, Psalm 63:1-11, Zechariah 12:1-9, Luke 8:26-39, Galatians 3:23-29

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The preacher, who hopes to make the most of the lectionary and the church year during the long season of Pentecost, has to be cognizant of the kerygmatic accent marks that are built into the church year. Sunday is always the "little Easter," a celebration - if muted, at that - of the death and resurrection of our Lord; it is also the Ogdoad, the eighth day, or the day of new creation. Thus, the church is reminded that it and the people of God have been made new by Jesus Christ, and that a ...

12. Life on the Roller Coaster

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Johnny Dean

The news media this past week focused a lot of attention on amusement park rides - especially roller coasters. According to their reports, several parks across the country have closed down their roller coasters pending further investigation of serious, sometimes even fatal, injuries sustained by people who were "enjoying" a ride on the roller coaster. Early reports seem to indicate that in some instances mechanical error did indeed account for the accident. But in at least one of these incidents – the one ...

13. WHAT IS MAN?

Sermon

Larry Powell

Fascinations often come upon me from the strangest sources. For instance, two recent obituaries strike me as being peculiarly fascinating. The first is that of Vitaly Rubin, aged fifty-eight, a Soviet scholar. Rubin, a native of Moscow, was the former leader of the Soviet Jewish emigration movement. The intrigue here is that in 1976, Rubin, a Russian, was allowed to emigrate to Israel where he taught Chinese philosophy, of all things, at Hebrew University. The other obituary was David Wadell Guion's, aged ...

14. Death of a Blacksnake

Luke 17:11-19, Genesis 1:1-2:3

Illustration

Staff

I was driving along a rural road recently when the car in front of me swerved off the shoulder and came to a sudden stop. The driver jumped out of the car and ran up a small bank, grabbing a large stick with which he immediately began to flail wildly at the ground. I stopped and rushed up to the man, certain that he had encountered some vicious threat to human life. But I was wrong. "Why did you kill it?" I asked. "It was only a blacksnake." "Blacksnake or rattlesnake, it makes no difference to me," the ...

15. Sunrise Surprise

Drama

Cast (in order of appearance) NARRATOR MARY MAGDALENE JOHN PETER JESUS Production Note At the beginning, and then at the close, of "Sunrise Surprise," it is suggested that the scene be changed by "revolving the stage." This option is possible in a stage or theatre setting where such mechanics can be attended to. For those planning to present the drama in a chancel setting, the stage setting could be changed by manually moving the props; by the use of lighting; or by suggestion on the part of the actors. ...

16. Advance into Europe

Acts 15:36-41

Sermon Aid

CSS

Paul’s second missionary journey got off to a bad start. After several months at Antioch, Paul suggested to Barnabas that they retrace their steps over the route they had followed on the first journey. This would enable them to present to each congregation the message from the council at Jerusalem and also to revive and strengthen the faith of their earliest converts. Barnabas wanted to take with them John Mark, the young mam who had begun the first journey with them but had withdrawn from it in Pamphylia ...

17. Bitter-Sweet Recollections

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away. I gave my back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set my face ...

18. The Un-Parade

Matthew 16:21-28, Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Robert Noblett

In the section of the country where we live, February and March are always cold and slushy months. So come April, nothing dampens my ardor for the coming of spring. I’m ready for it! Part of the reason I am ready for it is the fact that warm weather means the return of parades, and as the song says it, "I love a parade!" A community in which we lived some years back boasted the first Bicentennial parade in the nation, and well do I remember a family’s invitation to share that event with them from the bluff ...

19. A Perspective on the Ascension

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Donald Macleod

Today our focus is upon an unusual event which closed the earthly ministry of Jesus. Perhaps even more so than his Resurrection has the Ascension created unceasing controversy among believers and scholars alike. All four Gospels report Jesus’ Resurrection in considerable detail, but it is only Mark and Luke who include the Ascension, albeit briefly. Luke, however, in this first chapter of The Acts of the Apostles, provides us with the fullest account in the New Testament. Now, what about the Ascension? ...

20. Proper 23

Genesis 3:1-24, Mark 10:17-31, Hebrews 4:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: Genesis 3:8-19 Theme: Changing images of God Exegetical note: God is portrayed here as anthropomorphic, finite in knowledge (those are not rhetorical questions!), excessively punitive (penalizing unborn generations), jealous of divine prerogatives (knowledge and life), and perhaps even deceptive, in that the predicted consequences of the eating the tree - sudden death - did not result: as the serpent had rightly predicted, the man and woman did not die in that day, but instead got the ...

21. The Heart of The Gospel

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

[While the following sermon may be adapted to the usual solo style of the parish parson, it could also be used in the more dramatic form. The copy indicates a role for seven resonant voices, strategically placed at various locations in the church, not visible to the congregation. The lines should be carefully rehearsed so that they are spoken with effective accent, and in a manner that flows with the body of the sermon.] If Jesus Christ had won his case, he would have lost the world. He lost his case and ...

22. The View from Jesus' Pew

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

David E. Leininger

There is an old story of a father going to church with his three daughters and giving them each two quarters to put in the offering. When the offering came around the oldest put in her two quarters, the next did the same, but the last held onto hers. When she was going out of church, she pulled the pastor down to her level. "Sir, my daddy gave each of us kids two quarters to put in the offering. Sally put hers in the offering plate, and Julie put hers in, but I wanted to give mine to you." When the pastor ...

23. Who Says A Good Man Is Hard To Find?

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

It's not easy being a parent. Someone has said, "You don't really know a person until you have observed his behavior with a child, a flat tire, when the boss is away, and when he thinks no one will ever know." A home without problems of one kind or another is a fantasy. Someone has said that undoubtedly, the first man who ever tore a telephone book in two had a teenage daughter. (1) It's not easy. That's why we set aside one day a year to honor those men who live out in their families the love which they ...

24. The Problem with Being Idle

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Sermon

King Duncan

It is difficult to pick any text from the Scriptures that fits everybody. Consider today's lesson from the Epistle. It deals with the problem of idleness. "If anyone will not work, let him not eat," Paul roars. That's great. To tell the truth, though, I don't know many idle people in this congregation. I know such people do exist. I read a story this week about a fellow who was employed by a duke and duchess in Europe. "James," said the duchess to this employee, "how long have you been with us?" "About ...

25. Finding The Right People

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Someone has compiled a list of "intentionally ambiguous job recommendations." See if you recognize any of these. First the recommendation and then the translation: Recommendation: While he worked with us, he was given numerous citations. Translation: He was arrested several times. Recommendation: You simply won't believe this woman's credentials. Translation: She faked most of her resume. Recommendation: You will never catch him asleep on the job. Translation: He's too crafty to get caught. Recommendation ...

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