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 1679 results
301. Two Kinds of Wisdom
James 3:13-18, James 3:1-12
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
Wisdom for the Tongue Like the Pauline churches, James’ church was a church of the Spirit. Though there were formal offices, such as elder (5:14), there was no ordination process or schooling needed to teach and preach. As a result it was relatively easy for people with some ability, but worldly motivation, to put themselves forward as teachers. (Our modern seminary-ordination process makes this take longer, but it is not successful in preventing it; rather, it makes such a person a more permanent fixture ...
Sermon
Kent Moorehead
We have talked so much about winning an "all-out" victory during the years of World War II that our attention has been focused and our interest centered upon mass behavior. We speak of the world as having gone mad. But madness is a malady of the human mind. The world outside cannot go mad; only the world inside is capable of sanity and insanity. We talk of the Government’s having full responsibility for making all the decisions. But the Government is not an abstraction. It is composed of individuals. And ...
303. The Golden Calf
Exodus 32:1-33:6
Understanding Series
James K. Bruckner
32:1–34:35 · Crisis at Sinai: The Golden Calf - Exodus 32–34 forms an important watershed for understanding God’s relationship to the world. The Creator had sought to redeem, form, and live among the people. To this end God delivered them out of Egypt, brought them to Mt. Sinai by going with them in the fiery cloud, and provided for them in the wilderness. At Sinai God set about forming them into the sort of community originally intended: in trust and fidelity with the Lord, with each other, and with the ...
Sermon
John N. Brittain
The familiar story of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well is loaded with meaning. It is a pattern for considering our meetings with Jesus at various times in our lives. The story begins with Jesus asking this woman to perform a simple task, well within her ability: to get him a drink from the well. She did, after all, have the equipment. But she didn't want to do it and was able to provide some good reasons why she shouldn't. Every day of our lives, Jesus Christ asks us to do specific ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is a ridiculous story about a group of animals in the jungle who decided to have a football game. The problem was that no one could tackle the rhinoceros. Once he got a head of steam, he was unstoppable. When he received the opening kickoff, he rambled for a touchdown. The score was seven to nothing immediately. Somehow, they managed to keep the ball away from him the remainder of the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter, the other team tied the score 7 to 7. The lion tried to warn ...
306. Trials and Temptations
James 1:1-18, James 1:19-27
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
Wisdom for Life’s Tests 1:1 The letter from James opens with a simple and direct greeting. The writer identifies himself simply as James, a servant of God. There was only one James so well known in the early church that he would need no other form of identification, and that was James the Just, brother of Jesus, leader of the church in Jerusalem. The readers are expected to recognize the name. Yet for all his prominence and important position in the church (so important that the letter from Jude begins, “ ...
307. Listening and Doing
James 1:19-27, James 1:1-18
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
Wisdom for Life’s Tests 1:1 The letter from James opens with a simple and direct greeting. The writer identifies himself simply as James, a servant of God. There was only one James so well known in the early church that he would need no other form of identification, and that was James the Just, brother of Jesus, leader of the church in Jerusalem. The readers are expected to recognize the name. Yet for all his prominence and important position in the church (so important that the letter from Jude begins, “ ...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
There is a story about a woman who rode the same bus to work every morning. One day an old man got on the bus. He was shabbily dressed, obviously down and out. She thought about what she could do to express Christian love to this poor man. How could she reach out and help him? She got up, took a dollar out of her purse, went over to the man, pressed the dollar into the palm of his hand, and said, "Never despair. Just remember, never despair." The next day the woman was on the bus again. The man got on at ...
Sermon
Ron Lavin
It appears that somebody got into the front window of life and changed the price tags. The expensive things now have cheap labels. The cheap things have expensive labels. What has happened is that today we have what might be called a transvaluation of values. Everything is turned upside down. Important values have become unimportant for many people. Unimportant values have been turned into seemingly valuable categories. Just look at the ads on television, the movies, or the magazines being produced today. ...
Sermon
James Merritt
I read in the paper last week a fascinating article by a woman named Naomi Wolfe. She is an unabashed, avowed, feminist. The title of the article was: "A call for truth." The byline of the article was: "Pro-choice advocates should defend abortion honestly, says a prominent feminist author." I want to share with you just a part of this article: At its best feminism defends its moral high ground by being simply faithful to the truth to women's real-life experiences. But to its own ethical and political ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
The world is divided into two kinds of people. Those who like cruises and those who don’t. Or to be more precise: those who think a cruise is a foretaste of heaven, and those who think a cruise is the aftertaste of hell. The world is divided into two kinds of people. Those that suck the life out of every day, and those that let every day suck the life out of them. The world is divided into two kinds of people. Those who walk into a room and say, "There you are!" and those who say, "Here I am!" (Thanks! ...
Sermon
Thomas Peterson
The world is filled with winners and losers. Jesus knew all about being a winner. So much so that he shows us how to win, no matter what. I say “no matter what” because in life we cannot, try as hard as we will, avoid loses, failures, accidents, mistreatments, and aging. So, to be a sure winner means that we must find a way of living life so that no matter what inevitable obstacles confront us, we manage to come out feeling right about ourselves and able to keep on with good spirit. To be able to do this ...
313. Praying for Endurance and Healing
James 4:13-17, James 5:1-6, James 5:7-12, James 5:13-20
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
Throughout the book James has been dealing with the root causes of disharmony within the community. In the previous section, he has dealt with their complaining, their criticizing, and their roots in worldliness (3:1–4:12). Now he turns to another theme, the test of wealth. The poor person is totally dependent and knows it. Although such a person may well be consumed with envy and ambition, Christians are more likely to turn to prayer and humble dependence upon God. The wealthier person, however, may be ...
Understanding Series
James R. Edwards
In sublime contrast to the questions which have beset the argument since chapter 6 (6:1, 15; 7:1, 7, 13ff.), chapter 8 begins with a thunderous proclamation, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Especially in 7:7–25, Paul’s blow-by-blow account of indwelling sin reminded one of a ringside announcer reporting a losing struggle. But the long and doleful report is now interrupted with ecstatic news. The contest has been decisively reversed. Sin and law may have been the ...
315. Praying for Endurance and Healing
James 5:1-6, James 4:13-17, James 5:7-12, James 5:13-20
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
Throughout the book James has been dealing with the root causes of disharmony within the community. In the previous section, he has dealt with their complaining, their criticizing, and their roots in worldliness (3:1–4:12). Now he turns to another theme, the test of wealth. The poor person is totally dependent and knows it. Although such a person may well be consumed with envy and ambition, Christians are more likely to turn to prayer and humble dependence upon God. The wealthier person, however, may be ...
316. Praying for Endurance and Healing
James 5:7-12, James 4:13-17, James 5:1-6, James 5:13-20
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
Throughout the book James has been dealing with the root causes of disharmony within the community. In the previous section, he has dealt with their complaining, their criticizing, and their roots in worldliness (3:1–4:12). Now he turns to another theme, the test of wealth. The poor person is totally dependent and knows it. Although such a person may well be consumed with envy and ambition, Christians are more likely to turn to prayer and humble dependence upon God. The wealthier person, however, may be ...
317. Praying for Endurance and Healing
James 5:13-20, James 4:13-17, James 5:1-6, James 5:7-12
Understanding Series
Peter H. Davids
Throughout the book James has been dealing with the root causes of disharmony within the community. In the previous section, he has dealt with their complaining, their criticizing, and their roots in worldliness (3:1–4:12). Now he turns to another theme, the test of wealth. The poor person is totally dependent and knows it. Although such a person may well be consumed with envy and ambition, Christians are more likely to turn to prayer and humble dependence upon God. The wealthier person, however, may be ...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Garasenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. — Luke 8:37 In polite society we have not wanted to talk much of demons and the demonic. In our liberal, educated culture, we believe that sin was due mostly to ignorance and that evil could be eradicated by education. In our psychologically enlightened times we have avoided the more ancient religious and mythological language of devils ...
319. Enter God
Mark 9:33-37
Sermon
Thomas Peterson
When Jesus put the child on his knee, he acted out a parable. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” At first this incident appears simple, easy to understand. Don’t we all know how to receive a little child? Assuming we know all about it, we slide over “in my name” and “receives me.” We assume we know how to be gentle, caring, attentive and careful. Our voices even change, “Well, and how are we today?” Such treatment comes without thought and is filled with good will. Expansive and ...
320. Elihu
Job 32:1--37:24
Understanding Series
Gerald H. Wilson
The Friends Conclude and Elihu Begins Excurses: Had the third cycle of dialogue between Job and his three friends been complete, we would expect to find Zophar’s concluding speech in response to Job at this point. However, at least in the canonical form of the book, Bildad’s truncated final speech (25:1–6), Job’s expanded concluding speech (chs. 26–31), the complete absence of any final speech by Zophar, and the opening comments in the following Elihu section, press the reader to understand this collapse ...
Understanding Series
Gerald H. Wilson
The Inexplicable Prosperity of the Wicked In chapter 21, Job responds to Zophar’s accusations by thoroughly deconstructing the foundation on which they rest. Zophar has claimed that the wicked perish both in an ultimate sense and in their relentless quest for that which does not satisfy—the gnawing greed that consumes the wicked from the inside out. Job assesses Zophar’s claims as so much “nonsense” and “falsehood” (v. 34) when held up to the mirror of real life as Job both knows and describes it. Far from ...
Sermon
Larry Powell
Fascinations often come upon me from the strangest sources. For instance, two recent obituaries strike me as being peculiarly fascinating. The first is that of Vitaly Rubin, aged fifty-eight, a Soviet scholar. Rubin, a native of Moscow, was the former leader of the Soviet Jewish emigration movement. The intrigue here is that in 1976, Rubin, a Russian, was allowed to emigrate to Israel where he taught Chinese philosophy, of all things, at Hebrew University. The other obituary was David Wadell Guion's, aged ...
323. Saying Yes To Forgiveness
2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Joe E. Trull tells of a primitive tribe located deep in the South American jungles. Anthropologists learned the most important role within the tribe was the "keeper" of the flame. Since fire is so precious -- and takes such effort to recreate -- one member is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the flame alive. During the night the flame keeper adds wood to the fire. He keeps the fire alive whenever the tribe moves to another location -- carrying it in some vessel in order that the very difficult ...
Sermon
Gregory J. Johanson
Ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), SUE WEBB CARDWELL served three terms as a missionary in Zaire (formerly the Belgian Congo) along with her husband, Walter D. Cardwell, Sr. She is currently Director of the Pastoral Counseling Service of Christian Theological Seminary and Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling. She is both a Diplomate of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. Her sermon published here was delivered at a chapel ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
7:7–12 · Paul next describes the rule of sin. The assertion in verse 5 (and the statements in 3:19–21; 5:20) may suggest to some readers that the law itself is sin (7:7). Paul energetically rejects such a conclusion. He explains his “By no means!” (RSV, ESV; NIV “Certainly not!”) in verses 7–12: since the law condemns sinners and consigns them to death as the consequence of their sin, the law belongs on God’s side and is thus opposed to sin. The problem is sin, not the law. Paul recounts the history of the ...
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