Dictionary: Rest
Synonyms: relax, take a rest, ease up/off, let up, slow down, pause, have/take a break, unbend, repose, laze, idle, loaf, do nothing, take time off, slack off, unwind, recharge one's batteries, be at leisure, take it easy, sit back, sit down, stand down, lounge, luxuriate, loll, slump, flop, put one's feet up, lie down, go to bed, have/take a nap, nap, catnap, doze, have/take a siesta, drowse, sleep, lie, be laid, recline, be, be placed, be positioned, support, prop (up), steady, balance, lean, lay, set, sit, stand, position, place, put, be based on, be grounded in, be founded on, depend on, be dependent on, rely on, hinge on, turn on, hang on, pivot on, be contingent on, revolve around, centre on, relaxation, leisure, ease, inactivity, respite, time off, time out, breathing space, break, interval, interlude, intermission, base, holder, stay, prop, brace, rack, hook, frame, shelf, bracket, trestle, tripod, plinth, pedestal, foundation, bed, foot, substructure, a standstill, a halt, a stop, remainder, residue, remaining part/number/quantity, part/number/quantity (that is) left over, others, those left, remains, remnant, remnants, rump, surplus, difference, extra, excess, superfluity, overflow, overspill, additional people/material/things, extra people/material/things, remain, continue to be, keep, persist in being, carry on being, go on being
Antonyms: work, motion, movement, struggle, rage, go mad, have a fit, see red, hit the roof, toil, be active, labor, effort, agony, activity, do, blow one's stack, blow a gasket, do one's nut, go ape, go wild, lose it, drive, action, move
Showing 2576 to 2600 of 4159 results
Sermon
Charley Reeb
Pre-marital counseling can be an adventure for pastors. You never know what two people filled with passion will say. I recall talking with a couple a few years ago about their upcoming nuptials. I was explaining to them the wedding ceremony. When I got to the reference of Jesus being at a wedding reception in Cana of Galilee and turning the water into wine, the soon to be groom interrupted me mid-sentence and asked, “You really don’t believe that happened, do you? I mean, that sounds like a trumped up ...
Understanding Series
Robert H. Mounce
11:1–6 Verse 1 of chapter 11 marks the transition to a new section in Matthew’s Gospel. Once again we find the same formula that was used at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (kai egeneto hote etelesen ho Iēsous; cf. 7:28). Up to this point the public ministry of Jesus has met with success. Now the atmosphere changes, and hostility begins to manifest itself. Having finished giving instructions to the Twelve, Jesus departs (apparently alone) to teach and preach in nearby towns. From this point on, healings ...
2578. The Real Thing
Matthew 23:1-12
Sermon
David G. Rogne
Mahatma Gandhi of India is alleged to have said, "If I had ever met someone who was a genuine Christian, I would have become one immediately." It is a stinging judgment of Christians. At the same time, it challenges every Christian to examine the genuineness of his or her walk and witness. We need to ask ourselves: "How authentic, how credible is my demonstration of the Christian life?" In our scripture lesson for today Jesus criticizes certain characteristics of the Pharisees, a sectarian group within ...
Understanding Series
Gerald H. Wilson
Silent Comfort: Job’s Three Friends: 2:11 The appearance of Job’s three friends after the apparently successful completion of the double test marks a new departure in the narrative. Having witnessed the second exoneration of Job’s righteousness, the reader anticipates some resolution to his suffering. The immediate question that arises is what role these friends will play in that resolution. There is an element of surprise for the reader as the answer to that question unfolds. The three friends support the ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
John the Baptist repeats his testimony to Jesus as Lamb of God in the presence of two of his disciples (v. 36). This is how he makes Jesus known to “Israel.” In effect, he delivers his own disciples over to Jesus. One of the two is said to be Andrew (v. 40), but the other is not identified. It is widely assumed that the second disciple is the Gospel writer himself, the “beloved disciple” mentioned five times in the latter half of the Gospel. But not all anonymous disciples have to be the same. More likely ...
2581. David's Prayer
1 Chronicles 17:16-27
Understanding Series
Louis C. Jonker
A House for Yahweh and for David: The Chronicler’s narrative now moves to the all-important oracle of Nathan in which divine promises to David are made and in which the issue of temple building is addressed. The Chronicler took his material from 2 Samuel 7, where this oracle is also presented (see Additional Note on 17:1–2). This section opens with a back reference to the interlude in 1 Chronicles 14, where it was indicated that David built “a palace” (literally “a house”) for himself with the assistance ...
Sermon
King Duncan
It seems strange that New Year’s Eve should fall on a Sunday. But that, of course, is what today is. Many of you are looking forward to New Year’s Eve parties. I’ve always appreciated writer Bill Vaughan’s words: “Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.” I won’t ask how late some of you will be up. Some of you will celebrate via your television. I also like what some comedian said about that. He said, “I love it when they drop the ball in Times ...
2583. Making Sense
John 17:6-19
Sermon
John Jamison
Have you ever come across a piece of scripture that you really just didn’t know what to do with? Everything you read before it makes sense, and everything after it, but that one passage just sits there staring at you, almost defying you to understand why it is there and what it means. We may have that problem with today’s passage from John’s gospel. John is describing the things that happened while Jesus and the disciples were around the table celebrating the Passover seder on the night before he was ...
Sermon
Susan R. Andrews
In a stunning biblical slap in the face, our gospel reading for this morning also served as the lectionary text ten days after 9/11 — ten days after Ground Zero became a devastating reality in our nation’s history. Love our enemies? Offer forgiveness? God, you have to be kidding! That first week after 9/11 — after the terror struck — after our world changed forever — I kept reading about other ministers who were preaching about forgiveness. “How can they do that?” I asked myself. You see, I simply was not ...
2585. Let Him Play
Illustration
Editor James S. Hewett
In a large stone cathedral in Europe there was a large, magnificent pipe organ. It was a Saturday afternoon, and the sexton was making one final check of the choir and organ loft high in the balcony at the back of the church. He was startled to hear footsteps echoing up the scone stairway, as he thought the doors were all locked and no one was around. He turned to see a man in slightly tattered traveling cloches coming coward him. "Excuse me, sir," the stranger said. "I have come from quite a distance to ...
2586. The Patience of the Scribes
Illustration
Editor James S. Hewett
Although we do not possess the original manuscripts of the New Testament, we do have over 99.9 percent of the original text, and this is because of the faithful work of manuscript copyists over the centuries. Yet the copying of the New Testament was a long and arduous process. Though it seems strange to us today, in antiquity, it was not customary to sit at a table or a desk while writing. Rather, it was customary for scribes to stand while making brief notes or to sit on a stool or bench (or even on the ...
2587. Dominie at the Bedside
Illustration
Editor James S. Hewett
Leslie Weatherhead tells the story of an old Scot who was quite ill, and the family called for their dominie, or minister. As he entered the sick room and sat down, he noticed another chair on the opposite side of the bed, a chair which had also been drawn close. The pastor said, "Well, Donald, I see I'm not your first visitor for the day." The old man looked up, was puzzled for a moment, then recognized from the nod of the head that the pastor had noticed the empty chair. "Well, Pastor, I'll tell you ...
2588. Listen to the Angels
Revelation 5:11-14
Sermon
King Duncan
A layperson wrote on the Internet that he attends a small village church in rural Pennsylvania. On any given Sunday, he says, they may have six or seven faithful children who come with their parents. The pastor has a white bag which is passed from child to child, making sure they get equal turns to put something in for him to talk about. Each Sunday, the pastor calls all the children up and he opens the bag to find a “surprise” on which he bases his children’s sermon. Easter week, the bag went home with a ...
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
“Be afraid. Be very afraid.” The year is 1986 and the movie is the remake of the classic horror film, “The Fly.” Jeff Goldbum plays the eccentric scientist, Seth Brundle, who is working on a machine that will teleport people and things by disassembling their molecules at one point and reassembling them at another. Geena Davis plays Veronica Quaife, a reporter who is writing Brundle’s story. Unfortunately, when Brundle tries to transport himself from one room to another, a housefly is inadvertently trapped ...
2590. Should We Wash One Another's Feet?
John 13:31-38, John 13:1-17
Sermon
King Duncan
A pastor named Kwanza Yu tells a beautiful story of the death of his father in Seoul, Korea. All six of Pastor Yu’s brothers and sisters were present for his father’s last hours. He says that all of them could feel the pain of his struggle as he tried to communicate with them. But their father had lost the ability to speak. Finally, says this pastor, their father motioned toward their oldest brother as if to say, “Get me a glass of water.” So the oldest son went over to the sink and filled a glass with ...
2591. The Call of the Wild Within
Genesis 12:10-20, Genesis 12:1-8, Luke 2:41-52
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Coming into movie theatres this week is a remake of Jack London’s famous novel, “The Call of the Wild.”The story begins with the kidnapping of Buck, a pet St. Bernard dog, owned by a wealthy family in the Santa Clara Valley, CA. Abruptly, Buck is removed from his comfortable, genteel life and thrust into the wild Canadian frontier in the midst of the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush. Made to serve as a sled dog, Buck must leave behind his civilized nature and rely instead on his natural instincts to survive. For a ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 22:12 I know you are familiar with prayer shawls. Our prayer shawls of today are often gifts we give to someone whom we know needs comfort, a loving word, our prayers and love. The shawl is a symbol of healing and hope. Prayer shawls have a long history that goes all the way back to the early Hebrews. Both Numbers and Deuteronomy show God ...
2593. Apples, Onions, and Cheese
Mark 7:1-23, Mark 7:24-30
Sermon
Lori Wagner
The word of the Lord Almighty came to me. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ And many peoples and ...
Sermon
Albert G. Butzer III
When the Son of Man comes in his glory…he will sit on the throne of his glory…and separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. — Matthew 25:31-32 In a recent essay, Princeton Seminary president Craig Barnes wrote about two black Labrador retrievers that attended worship in the seminary chapel. It’s not that these dogs were especially religious. Rather, they were guide dogs trained to help visually impaired students make their way across campus. Barnes noted that when ...
2595. The Power to Witness
Luke 24:44-53 · Acts 1:1-11
Sermon
Lori Wagner
To witness to the truth! This is a fairly commonplace statement and one that sounds to us to be a quite right and accurate way to determine whether or not something is “true,” or worthy of our believing it. Think about it. We may disagree on a lot of things as people, but we trust each other as human beings enough to ask each other if we can say we have witnessed something, meaning that we have determined something to be true or exist in truth by means of someone’s sensory perception. If we have seen it, ...
Sermon
King Duncan
I’ve got a pop quiz for you today: how many steps does it take to walk around the world? Since we aren’t Jesus and can’t walk on water, we are excluding oceans and major bodies of water. Well, there is a website that measures such achievements as walking around the world. According to their calculation, it takes the average person around 20 million steps to make that walk. Can your Fitbit register 20 million steps? Or would it melt down after about 10 million? Among the handful of people who have proof ...
2597. Are Ye Able?
Mark 10:35-45
Sermon
Frank Ramirez
Although Christianity was an illegal religion during much of the first three centuries of the faith, there were both times when authorities turned a blind eye to their existence, and other times when persecution was intensified. During the reign of the Emperor Trajan (98-117AD) persecution intensified. In 108 AD, one of those arrested and condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts for the entertainment of the cheering crowds was Ignatius, the overseer of the church at Antioch. Antioch had been a center of ...
2598. The Journey
Mark 8:27-36
Sermon
Will Willimon
A few years ago, we had a representative from ''Teach America'' visit our campus. Teach America tries to recruit this nation's most talented college graduates to go into some of the nation's worst public schools. This is Teach America's means of transforming our schools into something better. This woman stood up in front of a large group of Duke students, a larger group than I would suppose would come out to this sort of thing, and said to them, ''I can tell by looking at you that I have probably come to ...
Sermon
Schuyler Rhodes
Today I am thinking about what it means to be partners. For me, the first person that comes to mind when I think about this is my spouse. I am beyond blessed to have someone who is, in every way, a partner in life. We share the joys and the sorrows, the struggles and the laughter, and we take responsibility for our own behavior while making sure we “have each other’s back.” This is a partnership where it’s possible to sit for hours in a room together, each with a book to read. No words are shared. No ...
Sermon
King Duncan
If you’ve ever hosted an event at your house—a Super Bowl party, a holiday meal, a book club meeting—you know that there are a hundred little details that need to be taken care of before the guests arrive. And one or two details could make the difference between a great event and a hosting nightmare. So it takes a certain spiritual gift and an inner fortitude to be a good host. Not everyone is cut out for this job. A woman wrote to a humor website to share the story of visiting her son at his first-ever ...
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