Synonyms: renounce, relinquish, dispense with, forswear, disclaim, disown, disavow, discard, wash one's hands of, give up, stop, cease, drop, forgo, desist from, have done with, abjure, abstain from, discontinue, break off, refrain from, set/lay aside, desert, leave, leave high and dry, turn one's back on, cast aside, break (up) with, vacate, quit, evacuate, withdraw from, surrender, cede, yield, indulge in, give way to, give oneself up to, yield to, lose oneself to/in, uninhibitedness, recklessness, lack of restraint, lack of inhibition, unruliness, wildness, impulsiveness, impetuosity, immoderation, wantonness
Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on
Showing 2901 to 2925 of 4943 results
Sermon
Clayton A. Lord
It always amazes me when I read about a sports figure who decides to hold out for more money. With salaries that are often in the millions, they feel underpaid unless they are at the next level. I heard one player say to a reporter on SportsCenter, "It's not about the money. It is about respect." A few moments later, the host of the show made the comment, "When they say it isn't about the money, it's always about the money." This attitude of grabbing all you can get is not limited to the world of sports. ...
2902. Living in The Spirit of Generosity
2 Corinthians 9:6-12, Galatians 5:22-25
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
Did you know that at one time generosity was illegal in Santa Cruz, California? That's right. It was illegal for someone to put money in other people's parking meters without their permission. The practice called "plugging coins" was considered an illegal act by Santa Cruz municipal code. The fine for a parking violation was $12.00. The penalty "plugging" thirteen dollar. Mr. Twister whose real name is Cory McDonald, is a professional clown and balloon twister, who has spared many car owners in Santa Cruz ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Why? Why? Why? Why? - Once more Americans are asking why? Why should thirty-two people lose their lives in a shooting rampage on Virginia Tech campus? Inquiring minds want to know why. You would think after the Oklahoma City bombings, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the high school shootings in Texas, Colorado, and Kentucky, we would eventually become too numb to notice. But something inside the human spirit will not let us off that easy. So people with ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Are you prepared for the end of the world? December 21, 2012 is supposed to be the magic date. That’s less than two years away! This date is supposedly based on a prophecy contained in an ancient Mayan calendar at least that is what the sci-fi thriller film 2012 tried to tell us this past winter. Why we should take this prophecy seriously, I don’t know. However, according to The Complete Idiots’ Guide to 2012 (yes, there is a book by that title), there are more than 600,000 websites devoted to this very ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
To be honest is a mark of maturity. Dishonesty has within it its own destructive seeds. Most of us know the huge amount of energy deceit requires. And many of us have discovered the awful devastation of living a lie. Our sermon today addresses an issue about which we need to be honest. I’m talking about coping with compassion fatigue - “When being Christian has Worn You Down”. A mild little boy, not known for being ugly or mean, was being chastised and about to be punished for pulling a little girl’s hair ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Here again chapter divisions do not adequately communicate content and continuity. Verses 24—26 of Chapter 5 could easily be a part of this chapter because Paul is talking about how the Spirit governs our lives in our social relationships. As indicated in our commentary on Gal. 5:13—15, Paul calls us to be servants. This requires more than service when, where and to whom we choose; it is a style of life. We willfully become servants. The constraining force of Christ love replaces the binding force of law ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
How do you define success? I would like to talk about that today. Robert Raines says, “Success is a moving target. Every time I make my mark, somebody paints the wall,” go the lyrics of a country song. Oliver Wendell Holmes at age 90 said, “The secret to my success is that at an early age, I discovered I was not God.” Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To leave the world a bit better, to know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived, that is to have succeeded.” We catch up with our Old Testament ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Happiness is…. Well, how would you define it? The playpen philosopher, Marvin, says, “Happiness is a diaper fresh from the dryer on a cold morning." Author Robert Fulghum says, “Happiness is a big box of crayons, the kind with the sharpener built in." Ziggy says, “I wish I knew the secret to happiness. I would tell everybody I know." Writer John Powell says, “Happiness is an inside job." The Westminster Confession says, “To be happy is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." The author of Psalm 100 says, “ ...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
Sooner or later it’s bound to happen. A child will climb into your lap and ask the question, a friend facing some struggle will want to know, or lifting up the floorboards of your own faith you will examine your basic assumptions. From age to age the question is the same, WHAT IS GOD LIKE? People in Jesus’ day needed an answer to the God question, too; so Jesus gave us the greatest story ever told. A certain man had two sons. We call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but really it’s a story about a ...
2910. Center Stage
Matthew 1:18-25
Sermon
Charles L. Aaron
Now that Matthew has finished his genealogy, he starts his narrative. We would not have much of a Bible without the narratives, but sometimes the biblical authors frustrate us. We always want more details. We want to know where the characters come from, what happens to them as they walk off stage. Just as we are starting to identify with a character, she will disappear, never to return. Matthew is no different. Right in his second sentence, he does the thing that frustrates us. He presents a scene that ...
Sermon
Charles L. Aaron
Can a child pass up a tasty marshmallow? A researcher who wanted to know set up an experiment. He left a succession of four-year-olds alone in a room, seated at a table. On the table was a single marshmallow. The researcher told the children that they could eat the marshmallow when he left the room, or they could wait until he returned. If they waited, they would receive a second marshmallow. The children had a choice: one marshmallow now or two marshmallows if they were patient. The researcher then left ...
2912. All About Me?
Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-31
Sermon
John N. Brittain
Since we all know that one of life's cardinal rules in the twenty-first century is that "it's all about me," I am sort of reluctant to admit this: The Bible is not all about me. Not that I am not there in plenty of places. I am there with Adam pointing the finger at Eve, trying to pass off the blame for my sin to someone else. I am there with Cain, feeling resentment toward someone who is obviously doing better than I and ignoring God's warnings about sin trying to ensnare me, and there I am right ...
2913. People of the Book
2 Timothy 3:10--4:8
Sermon
King Duncan
A group of boys and girls was asked to sum up what they had learned from the New Testament. Here is a summation of what they had learned: “Jesus is the star of the New Testament. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him. “Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
We’ve all seen the big, hairy Viking oaf who is the spokesman for the CapitalOne Visa card: ”What’s in your wallet?” He demands to know, because if it’s not the credit card he is hawking, you are missing out on all the rewards you could be getting. Every credit card company out there is trying to convince us that running up even more debt is a “rewarding” thing to do. We will be the recipients of all these wonderful “rewards” if we just use their card for all our purchases. Discounted merchandise, frequent ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
“Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…in a most delightful way” How many of you can hear Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) singing that? How many of you have no idea who Mary Poppins is? There’s the generational divide right in front of us…although Broadway has just introduced a new “Mary Poppins” musical to catch those of you who only know the more postmodern Nannie McPhee version of the story. [Here’s the link if you want to play it . . . to remind some and acquaint others http://www.youtube. ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
One of my parishioners once wrote me asking for some help in understanding the confusing imagery in the book of Daniel. He wrote, "Prophecies and the interpretation of prophecies. Could they be just a little more vague? Still, they are fascinating...." Indeed, they are, and for some, they have become immensely profitable as well. A cottage industry has grown up on Christian television presenting prophecy "experts" who are ready to interpret ambiguous passages both on the air, sustained by the financial ...
2917. Bothered and Bewildered
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Sermon
Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe
Whatever one wants to say about the apostle Paul, we must at least say this: He took Christianity out of the rural roads and countryside and spread it into the urban experiences in places like Rome, Ephesus, Antioch, and Corinth. We have two of his letters to the church at Corinth, and it was a church that bothered and bewildered him. The city of Corinth had a rough reputation. Prior to its fall to Rome 140 years before the birth of Jesus, its nature as an urban seaport had given rise to a temple to ...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
Students of American history have always been fascinated by the life and career of the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe, as his Kentucky and Illinois peers knew him, is the subject of history lessons from primary school through graduate school education. Lincoln was the stereotypical backwoodsman who felt the call to public service on local, state, and national levels. He became well known for his anti-slavery political and moral stance and saw his goal as president to ...
2919. Wise Leadership
1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
Sermon
Donna Schaper
Solomon asks for the right thing: He asks for wisdom. He asks for it from a very humble place, the place of knowing that he is but a child and still he has been put in charge of large things. Leadership is a treacherous thing. How can we possibly know so when we are but children? That is what Solomon knew. He knew, even as a child, just how much help he was going to need to be a leader. He already had some of the wisdom he seeks. Ironically, he was wise beyond his years. God rewards him with wisdom for ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Jack Coe was a popular evangelist in the first half of the twentieth century. Like many popular evangelists of the time, Coe held his services in a tent. Coe’s tent was a massive structure which would hold ten thousand people. One day Coe had a dream in which he saw a flood. The dream troubled him so much that he told his wife about it. Later, when he was conducting a crusade in Kansas City, he dreamed once again about a flood. Together these two dreams seemed so real that he felt that perhaps God was ...
Sermon
Scott Bryte
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their dis­tance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a ...
Sermon
Scott Bryte
He also told this parable to some who trusted in them­selves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax col­lector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was ...
2923. Saint Who?
Luke 6:27-36, Luke 19:1-10
Sermon
Scott Bryte
He gets shorter every time we tell the story. Sunday school children sing about the "wee little man." Illustrated Bibles and everything from stained-glass windows to coloring books depict a tiny elf of a man, perched bird-like in a tree. "Poor little Zacchaeus." Or maybe "rich little Zacchaeus." Either way we've got a short story about a short man who had to climb a tree to get a good view of the parade. So, how short was he? Was he fantastically tiny? Spectacularly diminutive? Would his picture have made ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Somewhere I read about a meeting of a group of software designers. They were using typical technical jargon to discuss a data exchange interface with a vendor. One engineer said the programming that had been ordered was delayed because the vendor was suffering from a “severe nonlinear waterfowl issue.” Curious, the team leader raised his eyebrows and asked, “What exactly is a severe nonlinear waterfowl issue?” The engineer replied, “They don’t have all their ducks in a row.” On this second Sunday of Advent ...
2925. Mugwumpers
1 Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39
Sermon
Stephen P. McCutchan
In certain streams of Christianity, it is common to speak of people being "born again." The phrase comes from an exchange between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus in the third chap­ter of John. In that exchange, Jesus contrasts being born of the flesh with being born of the Spirit. To be born of the flesh is to be shaped by the genes of your parents and their background. You come into this world with a heritage as a given. Because you live according to the demands of the flesh, you also possess the ...
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