Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: complain, moan, groan, whine, mutter, grouse, bleat, carp, cavil, protest, rumble, gurgle, murmur, growl, roar, complaint, muttering, grievance, objection, protestation, quibble, criticism, charge, accusation

Showing 1 to 25 of 121 results

1. Personal Politics

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... catch. There is an autonomic response that drives us to pain and frustration. Only if we can somehow reframe the other person's image in our senses as a "pagan or tax collector" — that is, someone who needs to experience the grace of God — can we still the inner growls and get the beast of our hatred to stop bristling. It is not easy. I have two names in particular that set me off every time I hear them. I wish it were otherwise, but it is not. These people have genuinely hurt me badly in the past, and ...

2. Jesus And The Lake Wobegon Effect

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... , and with hardly any effort at all, could have jumped the fence. The man knew he was in trouble and stood still for a moment to see how he could get away safely. Then, an amazing thing happened. The dog barked and barked, jumped up and down and growled, ran back and forth, but did not jump over the skimpy fence. In a flash of insight, the man realized that the dog had been conditioned to stay within the boundaries of the fence. Despite his capacity to run and jump for freedom, the dog stayed just where ...

3. At The Fork In The Road

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... looking for trouble? He thought he was really something. The king of the jungle. The greatest beast of the wild. And he wanted to make sure everyone else thought that as well. He grabbed a tiger who was passing by. And he put a strangle-hold on him. He growled ferociously and said, "Who's the king of the jungle?" And the tiger, trembling and shaking, said, "You are, o lion. You are the king of the jungle!" Then there was a bear that passed by. And again the lion grabbed him, and put a strangle hold on him ...

4. Something to Whistle About

Colossians 1:1-14

Sermon

John Jamison

... a few nights earlier Charlie had crossed the street and now sat on the curb on the dog's side of the street? He also noticed that as he made his turn around the corner, his buddy was straining at the leash to see him coming. The barking and growling was replaced with tail wagging. By the time his late-shift duties had ended, Charlie's walk home included a twenty-minute stop, as he sat in the yard rubbing the belly of a big, yellow dog, and telling him about the many adventures of riding the railroad and ...

5. Anger - Eleven Ways To Blow Up, Seven Ways To Cool Off

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

... . Everyone has a point, a threshold, whatever you call it. If the right buttons are hit, you will get angry and start to growl, and that's your AQ, your Anger Quota. Of course, you and the people sitting around you don't look like you could ... to 212 degrees Fahrenheit -- the boiling point. At any moment, someone could say just a word, do some little thing, and you would start growling or maybe even blow up like a volcano, spewing out venomous anger in all directions. So what is your AQ, your Anger Quota? Just ...

6. A Ewe Turn

2 Samuel 12:1-31

Sermon

... sunkissed fields of spring. The rich man was a covetous rogue. One day a wayfarer stopped by to visit him. The prince decided to rob the pauper. He pilfered the ewe lamb and turned the wooly creature into Iambchops for his guest. David’s heart growled with silent revulsion at the wickedness of the rich man of the parable. Nathan’s withered voice, cracked with age, was proving to be a power drill, driving deep into David’s tortured and guilt-blanketed psyche. David ordered the rich man to be executed ...

7. Two Women Of Faith

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... passage in which woman is definitely in the superior role. People are so funny. I heard about an old guy years ago who was convinced that all women were bad drivers. He would growl as a car cut into his lane, "Another woman driver!" If he happened to pull up beside the offending vehicle and observed that it was a man at the wheel, he would growl, "No doubt his mother taught him to drive." You just can't win with some people. It isn't my intention to get into the gender wars on this Sunday before Christmas ...

8. With Jesus No Mission Is Impossible

John 6:1-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... had followed Him and had settled in for the evening. The sun was setting; evening was coming, stomachs were growling, because it was suppertime! Twelve disciples were faced with the unenviable task, you might call it "mission impossible", of ... God the Father has set His seal on Him.'" (vv.25-27) They didn't understand that Jesus had not come primarily to keep their stomachs from growling, but to keep their souls from perishing. If you go back to v. 35 and read it all, here's what He said, "I am the bread ...

9. When the Pressure Is On

John 6:1-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." (vv. 25-27) You see, they didn't understand that Jesus did not come primarily to keep their stomachs from growling, but to keep their souls from perishing. You notice it says in v.12, "they were filled." They were satisfied. They didn't want anything else to eat; their stomachs were full. They didn't want anything else to drink; they were totally satisfied. But they would ...

10. Chocolate Cake, Flooded Waters, and Baptism

Genesis 9:8-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... 's wife were not at home. They had given him a key to get in. Why not? Rod was the former president of the congregation, a man to be trusted, a man of integrity. At eleven o'clock, as he worked on the cabinet, Rod noticed that his stomach was growling. He was hungry — no, really hungry. He stopped working for a moment and looked around. Then he saw it. A chocolate cake, with one piece cut, as if to say, "I'm yours; take me." Rod's great weakness was chocolate. A voice in his head said, "You can take ...

11. The Gift of Comfort

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . That's the story we tell. If we suddenly become rabid hounds, slavering and chasing the elusive rabbit of being right and being in charge, snarling at and threatening everyone who believes differently than we do, then no one will listen to the message. All they will hear is the growling and snarling. All they will see is the slavering and bared teeth. Is that why Jesus was born? Is that why Jesus died on the cross? Aren't His weapons Grace, Love, Mercy, Reconciliation and Forgiveness? Aren't slavering and ...

12. The Accent Of Heaven

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... dive in a narrow and dim alley. The place reeked with grunge. Tony was afraid to touch the menu for fear that it would stick to his fingers and that if he opened it something with too many legs to count might crawl out. The guy behind the counter growled at him. “What d’ya want?” Suddenly Tony wasn’t hungry, no matter how much his stomach protested. He saw a stack of donuts under a cracked plastic cover. “I’ll have a donut and a coffee,” he said. That ought to be safe. The guy poured a cup ...

13. A Call To Community

Acts 16:6-10

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... little girl in her stroller when she did her walking. On numerous occasions a neighborhood dog would race up to the stroller barking furiously, only to be backed down by Cocoa, who would position himself between the little girl and the other dog. He would growl menacingly. If that wasn't sufficient to send the appropriate message, Cocoa would nip at the other dog in a way that always showed he meant business. It got to the point that when they headed out for their walks the girl would say, "Cocoa protect ...

14. Knowing The Voice

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Thomas Long

... note that the part of the tightfisted Ebenezer Scrooge was being played by the chairman of the church board, a gentle man of quite un-Scrooge-like generosity. They were impressed, though, by the skill and energy he brought to his part. He growled his way through the opening scenes, ringing out every "Bah! Humbug!" with miserly ill will. He shivered with fright and dreadful self-recognition as he was encountered by the series of Christmas ghosts. The final scene called for a transformed and jubilant Scrooge ...

15. Gluttony - Living By Bread And The Word Of God

Mark 6:30-44, 1 Timothy 4:1-16

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

Every day at about 10:30 in the morning and then about 3:30 in the afternoon, I need a little snack to keep me going. A cookie or some pretzels, some quick and easy snack to get rid of a growling stomach; something to give me a boost so I can get my work done. If I go too long without some snack food, I get to feeling run down. I even become grumpy and irritable. Then I can't do my work because I'm thinking about food. Eating food ...

16. A Taste Of Life

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

William G. Carter

... workshop on worship. The better part of a Saturday morning had dealt with a variety of topics, such as the order of worship, the role of music, the place of preaching, and whether or not children should come to the Lord's table. A few stomachs were growling for lunch when I asked, "Does anybody have any questions?" Most people smiled and sat in that circle of metal folding chairs. One woman, however, thought for a minute and then shot up her hand. She said, "You know, there's something I've always wondered ...

17. Water Won't Quench The Fire

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

William G. Carter

... in fear. The Lion asks her, "Are you not thirsty?" "I'm dying of thirst," said Jill. "Then drink," said the Lion. "May I -- could I -- would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill. The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. "Will you promise not to do anything to me, if ...

18. Choosing Your Spirituality

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... get you!” As he moved down the long hallway toward what he believed was the library and where he would likely find the safe, he found himself looking into the face of a foaming, open bear-tooth mouth of a huge Doberman pinscher, growling. Just then he heard the parrot again, this time saying, “Sick ‘im Jesus!”2 That style of spirituality is widespread. It portrays God as a negative, threatening, frightening, manipulative, intimidating force. The Jesus I perceive is not somebody out to get us. It ...

19. Reformation Sunday

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

George Paul Mocko

... Can Do Anything. One of the best comedy routines I've ever seen on TV took place in the waiting room of a veterinarian. Among those gathered was a man with a huge box which shuddered and lurched about from the struggles of the creature inside. Strange growls, fur, feathers, and dust all came belching out. At one point the top flew open. The owner grabbed an umbrella, jabbed, poked and slashed to keep the beast inside. When he got the umbrella back, it was nothing but rags and splinters. "What in the world ...

20. A Visit With An Old Friend

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... act. She would reach out to him in friendship, and he would respond, "Go away! Leave me alone!" And the young student nurse would smile, and try to coax him into eating just one more bite of Jell-O. At night she would tuck him into bed, and he would growl at her, "I don’t need nobody to help me get into bed! Leave me alone!" Soon the old man grew too weak to resist the young woman’s kindness. Late at night, when she had finished her duties for the day, she would come back to the old man ...

21. Encounters With Christ I: Jesus & the Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Sermon

James W. Moore

... God is good, Let us thank him for the food, and God I would thank you even more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!” Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, the woman at the very next table growled loudly: “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. The very idea… asking God for ice cream! Why I never.” Hearing this, the little six-year-old boy burst into tears and he asked his mother: “Did I do it ...

22. How to Stay on Top of It

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

... and in his purpose also makes us masters of the situation now and people full of hope, so full that it spills over in a faithful witness. We do not play with cards that have been dealt to us, as people say with gritting teeth, clenched fist, and growling stomach. We are working with the love of God that has been given us and that enables us, even when the mountains threaten to fall over on us. We have his promise, the promise sealed because the tomb’s seal was broken. In the impatience I did not inherit ...

23. Proper 6

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

... Esau may have thought he was bartering for some kind of magical stew and later learned the prize dish was nothing but lentil soup. One doesn't have to get caught up in that kind of thinking, however. Young Esau was hungry and, when his stomach was growling, he was not concerned about the future. That caldron of savory pottage which Jacob was brewing was made up of red lentils which, even to the present day, form a dish highly relished in Syria and Egypt. The appetizing odor filled the air and was a great ...

24. Christ's Passion Portraits

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Paul Hegele

... days in the wilderness. In debate, he cleverly threw parables and trick questions at the Pharisees, who had tried to trip him up with their own clever questions. And Jesus threw anger at them, too. He called them snakes and broods of vipers and growled, "You are like tombs covered with white-wash - nice looking on the outside but inside full of dead bones and filth." Remember how the Bible often said Jesus sighed? That's a mistranslation of the word sigh. The original Greek word does not indicate grief ...

25. Away with the Stable

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

... not to forget the birth of the One whom we remember on this day." He would pray that simple prayer right in the midst of it all: the aroma of the almost-done turkey, the eager grandchildren, the large room littered with wrapping paper, and the growling stomachs and tender taste buds. Granddaddy had never heard of the kataluma, but he prayed as though Christ had not been pushed into the guest room of his life. Frederick Buechner, a well-known writer and preacher, was invited to teach a course in preaching at ...

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