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 301 to 325 of 4915 results
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
As most of you know, I have been away for awhile. I hope you know that. It started out to be a two-month renewal leave. It ended up being six weeks – two of those were work, but four wonderful weeks spent in renewal. I didn’t know how desperately I needed it. I had no agenda, other than to walk the beach, relax, read, reflect, and pray. I began that time of renewal with a three-day fast (Jerry and I together). I wanted to disconnect from an arduous work schedule and to connect with unscheduled days, and ...
302. Step Eleven - Spirituality
Mt 26:36-46 · 1 Thess 5:12-22 · Ps 25:1-15
Sermon
John A. Terry
This past week I had a new adventure. I did some plumbing work I had never done before. But I got out my handy homeowner's guide, and followed along step by step. It took longer than I thought it would. But at last it was almost complete. Close to the very end came the time when I put on the nuts and bolts that held it all together. As we reach toward the end of this series, we are approaching the step that tightens down and holds in place all the other work. The 11th step is: "Sought through prayer and ...
Sermon
King Duncan
As we move toward baseball season, I want to tell you about a minor league manager named Josh O’Riley. Years ago O’Riley was manager of the San Antonio Missions. That year the Missions were having a successful season. All nine of the starters were batting over .300 and it became the consensus of sportswriters and fans that this time they were destined for a league championship. Then disaster struck. Suddenly, the entire team fell into a slump and their bats turned cold. The once inspired San Antonio team ...
Sermon
King Duncan
As we move toward baseball season, I want to tell you about a minor league manager named Josh O’Riley. Years ago O’Riley was manager of the San Antonio Missions. That year the Missions were having a successful season. All nine of the starters were batting over .300 and it became the consensus of sportswriters and fans that this time they were destined for a league championship. Then disaster struck. Suddenly, the entire team fell into a slump and their bats turned cold. The once inspired San Antonio team ...
Sermon
Thomas D. Peterson
As a young soldier I was on my way to the Pacific Theater. The trip was at the height of World War II, with troop ships easy targets. To avoid the enemy our ship wove an irregular pattern across the ocean. The trip to Manila took 36 days. I was not a good sailor. Between sea sickness and infections, I was on sick call more than half the days. At one period I knew I had naso-pharyngitis, a condition for which I had often been diagnosed. On sick call, the doctor said, "Well, what’s wrong with you," not in a ...
Sermon
Alan Bacon Bond
Scripture: Psalm 85:8-13 Zechariah 9:9-12Luke 19:29-44 Text: "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace." I have held in my hand the only known existing acheological evidence in the world, that crucifixion was actually practiced, as the Bible and other literature asserts. At the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, Joe Zias, a nephew to one of our group and custodian of the Dead Sea Scrolls, handed to us a hand-wrought iron spike about six inches long and with the tip bent over at right ...
307. In You and Through You
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
In the book, How To Find Out Who You Are, Nelson Price reports that 15 prominent college professors took this challenge: "If all the books on the art of moving human beings into action were condensed into one brief statement, what would that statement be?" The result of their deliberations were four statements: What the mind attends to, it considers; What the mind does not attend it to, it dismisses. What the mind attends to continually, it believes. What the mind believes, it eventually does. If you ...
Sermon
Robert Noblett
In the wake of David’s affair with Bathsheba, God was not content to let matters lie, and it fell to the prophet Nathan to be God’s living word to David. A Horrendous Task How about it? Would you want to have been Nathan? When he realized what it was that God wanted him to do, it must have inaugurated more than a few anxiety attacks. I know it would have for me. Not that kings should be given that kind of power, or in fact have that kind of power, or even on the inside, feel they have that kind of power. ...
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
The Days of Our Loves, Herod Style If you like those soap opera type stories of dysfunctional families or maybe royal palace intrigue, you need look no further than the New Testament, the histories of Josephus, and the lives of the Herod Family. Herod the Great was the patriarch of this particular and peculiar family and, as you may recall, he ruled Palestine from about 36 BCE to 4 BCE. History records that he was, quite literally, an evil genius. He was a great builder who was responsible for rebuilding ...
Sermon
John A. Stroman
Most sermons on this text deal with one of two things: either a detailed account about the four men who carried their paralytic friend to Jesus and, because of the crowd, were forced to open up the roof and lower him into the healing presence of Jesus, or the relationship between forgiveness and healing. But I want to focus our attention on that Capernaum crowd. It was a warm autumn morning in September and I was driving from Atlanta to Warm Springs, Georgia. I was traveling south on state road 18. The ...
311. Power
Mark 10:35-45
Drama
Robert F. Crowley
Theme: The power that is eternal is available to Christians in any and all situations. It is the power of serving. Summary: Tim has just been promoted and is enthusiastic about the new opportunity. His superior, Carl, is trying to help him become a better leader by teaching him to be a servant, but Tim has some reservations. Playing Time: 5 minutes Setting: Tim and Carl's business office Props: None Costumes: Business Time: The present Cast: Tim -- a businessman Carl -- his superior CARL: (ENTERS ALONG ...
312. The Power of Prayer
Humor Illustration
A bar called Drummond's in Mt Vernon, Texas began construction on an expansion of their building, hoping to "grow" their business. In response, the local Southern Baptist Church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding - petitions, prayers, etc. About a week before the bar's grand re-opening, a bolt of lightning struck the bar and burned it to the ground! Afterward, the church folks were rather smug - bragging about "the power of prayer". The angry bar owner eventually sued the church on grounds ...
313. Free Indeed!
John 8:31-36
Sermon
April Yamasaki
"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." In George Orwell's novel, 1984, these slogans are used to control the thoughts of the people. While their country was at war, the people were deceived into thinking it was peace. While they were kept subservient, they thought they were free. While they remained ignorant of what was really going on in the world around them, they thought they were strong. Does this sound odd, or perhaps oddly familiar? Today's scripture seems to bear witness to a ...
314. One Feisty Woman
Matthew 15:21-28
Sermon
Roy Howard
We could begin by noting that this is one feisty woman. Or, at the risk of irreverence, we could begin by noting that Jesus is one rude man. Rather than focus on one or the other, I suggest we explore the relationship enfolded in this remarkable gospel story and then ask about the implications for us. That the encounter between Jesus, the Jew, and this woman, a Gentile, even occurred was remarkable enough, but the fact that Matthew chose to tell it, and not erase it from history, makes it astounding. After ...
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
In his book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, rabbi and psychologist, Edwin Friedman, defines the effective leader as the person who is able to maintain a “non-anxious presence” in an anxious system. He goes on to say that all systems (organizations) are, by nature, anxious. Families are anxious. Corporations are anxious. Baseball teams are anxious. Boards of directors are anxious. Armies, committees, card clubs, charities, and churches are all anxious. Especially, churches. ...
316. How Much Should We Pack?
Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)
Sermon
William G. Carter
As much as I like to travel, I am never sure how much to pack. When my wife and I take off for a week long vacation, we do our best to keep a week’s worth of possessions down to one suitcase. That is the goal. There is never a guarantee it will happen. Packing is determined by two contradictory principles: how do we move quickly? How can we be prepared for every contingency? How many pairs of pants can I take, or in my wife’s case, how many pairs of shoes? Should we pack a sweatshirt? Does it rain in New ...
317. Advocating For Whom?
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Sermon
David Coffin
In March of 2019, a New Hampshire lunch cafeteria worker was fired for giving a high school student an $8.00 meal because there was no money left in his account. She saw the student’s lunch account was empty as he went through the line and allowed him to keep his food. She also asked him to have his mother add money to the account. The next day, the mother paid his lunch bill. However, the cafeteria manager who witnessed her act of leniency fired her. This quiet hero might be an advocate for students, as ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is something exciting about someone finding a previously undiscovered treasure. Last week we told about a U.S. Air Force veteran who bought a Rolex watch that turned out to be an astounding investment. Works of art can do the same thing. In September of last year, a French woman took an old painting to an auction house to determine its worth. Previously, the woman had the painting hanging in her kitchen over a hotplate. However, an art evaluator visiting her home recognized the old painting and urged ...
319. Step Four - Courage
Mt 26:69-75 · Acts 9:1-9 · Ps 139:1-6
Sermon
John A. Terry
Step four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. The psalmist talks of the God before whom such a searching and fearless moral inventory is both possible and necessary. Ours is a God who, in traditional language, is omniscience and omnipresent, a God who knows all and is everywhere. This Psalm is sometimes called the Psalm of the unavoidable God. We believe that before our God there are no secret thoughts or actions. All is known by our God. I remember hearing a lecture one time where ...
Sermon
Dennis Kastens
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive ...
Sermon
Thomas D. Peterson
It was in the sixties that a dynamic music teacher came to the local Junior High School. You will remember that was the decade in which youth began dressing in the sloppiest possible way. Hundreds of young people were attracted to the charm of this man and joined his many projects. We were present at the program featuring the chorus. I was so impressed with the number of youth who filed onto the risers that I counted them - roughly two hundred. Some spark in this teacher ignited a latent sense of beauty ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Day-laborers. You know where they are. You probably don’t know who they are, but you know where you can find them. Every community has them. They gather on a street corner or parking lot before dawn. There they wait, watch, and hope that you will drive by and give them a day’s work. Can you imagine what it must be life to live like this? Not knowing where you next paycheck is coming from, or if it’s coming at all. These are the earliest risers in any community. By the time the sun is up, so is the chance ...
Sermon
April Yamasaki
Over the years, many people have speculated about the end of the world and the end of time. Will there be a great war? A great earthquake? Will there be a sudden rapture where the faithful suddenly vanish as Hal Lindsay once predicted in The Late Great Planet Earth? Will it be as Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye describe in their best-selling Left Behind series? Would the end come in 2011 as American broadcaster Harold Camping predicted? We know now that he was wrong. Would the end come in 2012 as some ...
324. Living Bread
John 6:51-58
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
In my thirty years of ordained ministry and 50 years of church membership, I have discovered that there are five kinds of Christian: Free Riders, Fans, Friends, Followers and Fanatics. FREE RIDERS are Christians in name only. If you ask them, they will tell you that they believe in God and Jesus. They know how to answer the questions correctly. God is the creator of the universe. Jesus is the son of God, blah, blah, blah. They aren’t sure what any of that means. They don’t really think about it. Most of ...
Sermon
Richard Hasler
On the day Abraham Lincoln was born his older cousin Dennis Hanks went over to see the newborn baby. Later he commented: “Folks often ask me if Abe was a good-looking baby. Well, he looked just like any other baby — like a red cherry pulp squeezed dry, and he didn’t improve none as he growed older.”[1] That may be a typical cousin’s reaction, but admittedly, Lincoln never was photogenic and he probably would not have made it in this age of television with all its glitz and style. Nonetheless, it is the ...
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