Synonyms: replica, copy, representation, mock-up, dummy, imitation, double, duplicate, lookalike, reproduction, prototype, stereotype, archetype, type, version, style, ideal, paragon, perfect example, specimen, perfect specimen, fashion model, supermodel, mannequin, sitter, poser, subject, artist's model, photographic model, design, mark, configuration, variety, kind, sort, original, original design, exclusive, toy, miniature, facsimile, prototypical, prototypal, archetypal, illustrative, perfect, exemplary, classic, flawless, faultless, consummate, impeccable
Antonyms: deficient, imperfect
Showing 3001 to 3025 of 3099 results
3001. The Oath
Mark 6:14-29
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... his wife, his guests, and the life he had stolen from his brother, he had to betray his oath to God. Herod faced what he saw as an impossible dilemma. Such is the power of peer pressure, of saving face, of being the head of a pagan empire subject to Rome, of “looking good” instead of “doing good.” But in making this choice, Herod had doomed himself to eternal conflict. He had betrayed not only God, but himself, his own soul. This is a choice we all make in our lives. Which covenant will we honor ...
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
... used for God’s purposes. Rarely are our resources sufficient, in and of themselves, for the tasks that have been placed before us. Rarely does what we bring to the table fill the need all by itself. We need more. We need God’s help. We understand this when the subject is one of healing. We are all aware that the healing of even the smallest wound or cut is a miracle. I cut my finger, I pour some peroxide on it, slap on a Band-Aid®, and in a couple of days, when I take the Band-Aid off, the ...
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
... love of our fellow human beings? When, in other words, do we allow our sacred cows to become more important to us than our relationships with each other and the Lord, and what do we do about them when they do? Up to this point I have dealt with this subject in a nice, safe, general way that is sure to offend no one. After all, this passage couldn’t possibly be about my sacred cows, right? My sacred cows are never idolatrous. It’s other people’s sacred cows he was talking about. Up to now it’s just ...
3004. Living Bread
John 6:51-58
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
... and follow God’s advice. Well, at least he did ask for wisdom. At least at some point he decided that slash and burn and kill and threaten and intimidate was no way to rule a country and maybe he ought to ask what God had to say on the subject. So give him credit for that. He may have come late to the wisdom party but at least he came, he showed up. And so it is with those who are FOLLOWERS of Jesus as we have described them, here. They may not be perfect in their devotion, they may ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... ” lives. Among the things on the list are fine wine, sailing, cufflinks, pretending to empathize (I like that one), designer cupcakes, extravagant parties, air kisses, and being right (all the time). The website’s founder writes a short article explaining each subject and why it appeals to the rich. On extravagant parties, he writes: “. . . when rich people party, they spare no expense . . . An entire industry has been launched from the wallets and purses of the rich driven by their need to outdo the ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... to make an irreversible decision. To burn our bridges so that we can’t go back to our old life. Instead, we have to move forward in only one direction—into the will and the good works God is calling us to. I love what Bob Orr wrote on this subject. He said, “There is a prerequisite for knowing the will of God; and it’s this—being willing to do it . . . God does not say to you, ‘I’ll show you my will and then I’d like you to decide if you’d like to do it.’ He does ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... , his followers didn’t abandon him when his prediction didn’t come true. Instead, they lived in the woods and continued to study the stars. After Johannes Kelpius’ death, his followers disbanded and went on with their lives. By the way, Kelpius was the subject of the first known oil painting in the U.S. It was painted by one of Kelpius’ followers, Christopher Witt. (2) Of course, there are still groups around that espouse a belief that the end times are imminent. There is a white supremacist group ...
Sermon
Frank Ramirez
... questions arise: Why wouldn’t Jesus let people talk about what he was doing? Was Jesus hiding something? Why didn’t he want people to tell his story? Actually, this secrecy has a name. Some refer to it as the Messianic Secret. It has been the subject of many books and articles. I’m going to suggest that the reason Jesus did not want people to talk about him and his ministry was because that information was incomplete. That’s because as important as his work was as a teacher, healer, wonder worker ...
Sermon
Derl G. Keefer
... Because he is Lord, and sovereign, he is to be worshiped (Luke 4:4-8). As such: The focal preaching of the apostles was the Lordship of Jesus. It should be the focal point of today’s church. We must focus on Jesus. The central subject of the church is the leadership of Jesus. The church’s actions are under the direct order of the Lord’s leadership to fulfill his directives to be compassionate, caring, socially concerned, but most of all, spiritually oriented leading people to a saving relationship ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... in church. But Johnny and Cameron continued to talk about enjoying church, and Michelle discovered that some of her new friends at work were also Christians. A strange yearning started growing in her. What was so exciting about church? She tried hard to avoid the subject. But she was starting to sense a hunger, an ache, a need that nothing else could fill. One Sunday morning, Michelle picked a random church out of the phone book, woke up Johnny and Cameron, and they all headed off for church. She was ...
Sermon
Frank Ramirez
... church they grew up in. They become pariahs, and in the end are driven away from the church. What did Jesus mean by these words? What do these words really mean? Perhaps a clue is to be found in the second part of today’s gospel passage where the subject shifts from the rights of wives, or the lack of them, to the place of children in the kingdom of God. Because, as we will see, Jesus is speaking about two very vulnerable groups, who at that time, and in most times, had very few legal protections. Let’s ...
Sermon
Frank Ramirez
... families, would pay for an expensive pew so all would know how important they were compared to others who attended church. Jesus seemed to be saying that in societies where there’s a gap in incomes the strong devour the weak. Devour and conquer. Jesus returned to the subject of widows on more than one occasion. He told a parable about an unjust judge who refused to hear a widow’s court case, but in the end she wore the judge down. Well, what are we to do? Is the warning of Jesus and the example of ...
Sermon
Frank Ramirez
... in the war Kline and some Dunkers and Mennonites were arrested and jailed in the local courthouse. In his diary Kline wrote: Sunday, April 6 (1862). Rain and snow all last night, and continues on so all day. Have preaching in our captive hall. My subject is “Righteousness, Temperance, and a Judgment to Come.” I aimed at comforting my brother captives and myself with the recollection that Paul was once a captive like ourselves, and that in this state of imprisonment he preached upon the text which I have ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... of God in their lives. Jesus is presenting himself as the living Torah, the voicepiece of God, and the Truth standing before them. To testify to the Truth then is to testify to the person and identity of Jesus. Jesus is a King, not because of status, castle, subjects, or power, but simply because of his intrinsic identity. He is the voice of God. He is the voice of Truth. Truth is not something but someone we seek to be in relationship with. He is the Torah. He is the Holy One of God. He is the King ...
3015. Welcome, Joe!
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Sermon
King Duncan
... to discuss the ten biggest decisions they had made in their life so far. If you were recruited for this study, what would you list as your ten biggest life decisions so far? It’s fascinating to think about. The professor and the study subjects then sorted and ranked the decisions according to how often certain decisions were mentioned, how significant the decisions were in the course of each person’s life, and the emotions connected to the decisions. I think this study is interesting because of what it ...
Sermon
Schuyler Rhodes
... , sisters and brothers, do we not even get up to go to the parade because we are weary or cynical, or convinced that nothing good can emerge in the midst of our present crises? My friends, I am not in the habit of giving advice. It usually is either the subject of humor, or it is ignored. So in trepidation I offer this. Don’t stay home from this parade. This parade is one you won’t regret attending. For this parade you need to lean into enthusiasm and optimism. In order to go to this parade you need to ...
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
... divorce morally acceptable, 69% find extra-marital sex morally acceptable, and 62% see nothing wrong with out-of-wedlock birth. How about idolatry? If free sex is not a false god, how about materialism, the latest goods? In the most recent study on the subject (in 2016) it was found that our shopping mania had led to household debt that exceeds disposable income by 105%! We will do anything, it seems, even jeopardize our futures or our children’s educations in order to serve the gods of materialism. “Oh ...
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
... that 60% of Americans are optimistic. A 2016 LifeWay poll found that 65% of us think we are good. This is probably related to the fact that the majority of Americans do not accept a necessary role for grace in saving us. The most recent poll on the subject (in 2005 by the Barna Research Group) found that more than half of Americans (54%) think that people who are good earn salvation. Do you know what Paul says to all this and to us regarding these and all our accomplishments? All we have been and done in ...
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
... Jesus is risen! Happy Easter. The resurrection makes sense. So what? What difference does it make? Paul gives us an answer in our lesson. Death has been destroyed, he claims (v.26). Later in the chapter from which our lesson is taken, he claims that all things have been subjected to the Son so that God may be all in all (v.28). What a treasure Easter is. We need no longer fear death or anything else. Martin Luther nicely pointed out in one of his 1,532 sermons that the world has nothing to offer compared to ...
Sermon
Will Willimon
... government program can deflect the rage of a child who feels abandoned, bereft of the most reliable, trustworthy love any of us can hope to have--the love of two parents. [Elshtain, p. 710]. The silence of the intellectual establishment on this subject is deafening. In our liberal stress upon do-your-own-thing individualism and liberation from responsibility to anyone other than myself, are these parts of the problem rather than its solution? Glamorous TV portrayals of life without father have little to do ...
3021. Deep Water
Luke 5:1-11
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... knowledge of God. Truth. You can’t hover on the surface of things and expect to be rewarded with either encounter or insight. Think of the way you did a research paper when you were in school. If you don’t go “deep” into inquiry on your subject, you’ll end up with 20 pages of “introduction.” If you don’t allow yourself to go “deep” in your relationships, you may have many acquaintances, but you’ll have few true friends, and doubtful a true partner. If you don’t allow yourself to go ...
3022. True Worship
Ephesians 3:14-21
Sermon
Will Willimon
... to him in class, criticisms of his sermons, which cut him very deeply, so deeply that he had considered leaving the ministry. He had gone home from my class tormented and enraged on many an occasion. He hated me. Yet he said that God had spoken to him on the subject of his hate for me. He wrote that he had prayed to God for the strength to forgive me, to love me and that God had given him that gift. He wrote to ask my forgiveness, even though I had not known, until that letter, that I had anything to ...
3023. Temptation
Luke 4:1-13
Sermon
Will Willimon
... immortality, even a false promise..., we will gladly pay the price of bankruptcy." Behind our government's delicate diplomatic negotiations with death, says Lapham, is a basic question, ''Why do I have to die?'' The question was once the subject of bloated clergyrnen in cathedrals like this one; now the debate has shifted to research universities and the ER. Our American hospital-going public hopes to have, through government funding, that which medieval Christendom once sought from its priests--remission ...
3024. Unspectacular Faithfulness
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Sermon
Will Willimon
... Registrar's Office or the Department of Motor Vehicles -- but he was a bad bureaucrat, if you will accept the tautology. Haman plotted to kill all the Jews in all the king's lands, seeing these foreigners as troublesome aliens who would never be loyal subjects. Haman set a date for the mass executions. Then, in good little toady, bureaucratic kiss up fashion, Haman slithers up to the king and says, ''Dear King, it has come to our attention that there is a certain ethnic group in your kingdom who consider ...
3025. Unspectacular Faithfulness
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Sermon
Will Willimon
... Registrar's Office or the Department of Motor Vehicles -- but he was a bad bureaucrat, if you will accept the tautology. Haman plotted to kill all the Jews in all the king's lands, seeing these foreigners as troublesome aliens who would never be loyal subjects. Haman set a date for the mass executions. Then, in good little toady, bureaucratic kiss up fashion, Haman slithers up to the king and says, ''Dear King, it has come to our attention that there is a certain ethnic group in your kingdom who consider ...
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