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 3551 to 3575 of 3852 results
3551. Syrophoenician Lives Matter!
Mark 7:24-30, Matthew 15:21-28
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... he did. Surely the disciples were already uncomfortable. Clearly they felt they were better than everyone there in that region. Why Tyre and Sidon? Jesus had a very good reason for going there specifically. Tyre has a history! Tyre was the city of origin of one of the most notorious woman gentiles in Israel’s history –Jezebel, Queen of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who mislead many of the lost sheep of Israel away from Yahweh. Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Sidon. A Phoenician princess ...
3552. Stargazers
Luke 2:21-40
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... . They were a walking Farmer’s Almanac. They had studied all of the early sciences, including alchemy, astronomy, and astrology. They studied history, cultures. And, yes …..they studied religion too, especially that of Judaism. In fact, many believe, these tribal Mediens were originally led and taught by the prophet Daniel himself, as he had been placed in charge of them in Babylon a long time ago. “Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished upon him many gifts. He made him ruler over ...
3553. Bittersweet
Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... ” was coined by Jerry Seinfeld in an episode of the comedy show Seinfeld in 1995 called “The Label Maker.” Elaine is horrified to discover that Jerry has received a gift (a label maker) from someone. But it’s the same “label maker” that she originally gave to the guy who gifted Jerry. They uncovered a “re-gifter!” Anyone remember Seinfeld? [Pause to see how many do.] For those of you who are too young to remember Seinfeld, someone tell us about it! [All time for someone to share something ...
3554. Lost
Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... us clearly that a wrong decision is just as much “lost” as a wrong turn. And if this is all they did to “sin,” then repentance is merely coming back willing again to take God’s direction. For God is the original GPS (God’s Positioning System). In fact…you might call Jesus’ idea of “sin”….a “wrong turn.” Instead of turning toward God…..you turn toward another direction instead…..either by mistake…or circumstance…..or misconception…..or arrogance….or youth. There are ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... sea. Fish has long been a symbol of “resurrection” life, even among ancient religions. It is a sign of truth and a sign of life. It is also a sign of the womb and the sea. Fish are born of the sea and reveal our most primal origins. Jesus had invited his disciples to “fish for people.” Their livelihood had been fishing. And so it would be fish that they will understand as the staple of life. Additionally, honeycomb was not only a “first fruit” but a symbol of the scriptures, the sweetness of the ...
3556. A Piggy Pudding
Matthew 8:28-34
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... Name of Jesus to Cast Out Demons Without Faith in Ephesus (Acts 19) Image Exegesis: A Piggy Pudding The wild pig or boar was brought to the area of Israel by the Philistines several thousand years before the time of Jesus as a cultivated animal. The original wild boar, of which many roamed the areas of Bashan and Galilee still in Jesus’ time was a ferrel animal, quite vicious. The Canaanites in fact worshiped the boar and used it in their idol sacrifices, long before the Romans did. Unlike the cute little ...
3557. The Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... . Neither of them are! [pause to let the story sink in] Now open your eyes. [You could even have them pause here, stand up, stretch, take a moment to think.] It’s easy for all of us when we hear this story –whether this version or Jesus’ original story of the man attacked by robbers on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho and left to die— to think that “of course” we would be that “good Samaritan” who stops to help, or in this case “that kind rabbi.” But would we really? Would you? Or ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... also of covenant relationship, and a symbol for oath. The Shepherds staff is made from oak. The oak is a hidden metaphor as well, as the oak is a symbol of Abraham (ie the Oaks of Mamre, the Oak at Hebron). It is a metaphor symbolizing one’s origins, one’s land, one’s place, one’s role as “servant” of God. In the scriptures, the iron of oppression is the opposite of the oak of the shepherd’s staff. A yoke is simply a “staff” upon the shoulders with two oxen –one in the lead, the other ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
‘The Lord is like a song to which you sing along!’ In a way, that’s what being a disciple is really about. Singing along to the Lord’s Song, and being an original version of that song.* When a young child hears music for the first time, the response is to sing and dance. It’s automatic. No one has to teach them. They simply hear the music, and then they bob, they sway, they bounce, they sing along, “la,la,la,la, ...
3560. Surely, Surely
Luke 1:1-4, Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... , serving as a kind of “investigative reporter” of the first century (written approx. 70 CE, about 37 years after Jesus’ death), tells us that he has read and reviewed the accounts of others who have written about the events handed down by original eyewitnesses to Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection. He has then taken it upon himself to test and investigate those accounts to verify the authenticity of them before presenting them to you here. And he has found them sound and true. Extraordinary ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.” (2 Kings 17:6) “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2) The idea of the messiah, a Jewish Messiah to be specific, was widespread in Jesus’ time and long before that. Prophecies and signs would point to the time and date of the messiah’s arrival. Specifics such as ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... to earth as a baby in the first place. How could that happen anyway!? “The Sour Puss” smirks, with sarcasm dripping from their lips like acid, as the smiles of everyone around them start to sag. “The Blabber” and “The Sour Puss” are the original “grinches” of Christmas! And their doubts and dashes cut through everyone else’s joy like ice. Don’t you just want to say “No” to all that negativity?” “Cut it out!” Just “shut up!!” I’m against your against. Your negativity is SO ...
3563. Beautiful
John 20:19-23, Song of Songs 4:1-16
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... . The metaphors of garden, the plethora of trees, the fruit, orchard, fragrances of oils and spices, the “living” waters, and the hidden metaphors of “roots” and rootedness, seal, and lock all connect love with God and with God’s original garden of Eden. The Hebrew stories, always visual, always metaphorical, always ridden with depths of meaning, like a garden story –are also Jesus’ preferred method of reading and understanding scripture, and his own method of teaching. Unlike the Greeks ...
3564. The Good Husband
Isaiah 54:1-17, Isaiah 55:1-13, Isaiah 56:1-8
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... , who has promised with the arrabon of the “rainbow” never to desert His people (His bride), but to ensure the “fertility” of His people with His eternal presence and eternal promise. Husbandry, or the art of agriculture including herding of animals meant originally a “Head of Household,” much like the parables Jesus told about the Head of the House, the Vineyard Owner, or the Rich Landholder. God honors His oath to care for those loyal and working in His holy vineyard, His “house of prayer ...
3565. Third Day
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... messianic belief in early Jewish history, and a concept that distinctly predates Jesus. The references to Jesus as the Light and the Life ---the Way, Truth, and Life—all point to his identity as God’s messiah of the Third Day, the holy bridegroom, the original Creator with the power to give new life and restoration, to pour out “new wine” upon the people of Israel –ALL of God’s people. The wedding feast at Cana has many similarities to the Creation Story found already in Genesis 1 in respect to ...
3566. House of God
Ephesians 2:1-10, Ephesians 2:11-22
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... in many of his letters to the early churches, tried to teach people that we are not “citizens” of God, or children of God due to our biology, or our history, nor do we have an “easy in” just because we are descended from God’s “original” Jewish people. We don’t “earn” our way into God’s household through mere deeds, or following a set of prescribed duties, or by coming from the “right” family, or by being a “pastor” or a “priest.” We belong to the household of God simply by ...
3567. Rain of Grace
Hosea 6:1--7:16
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... s prophecy, God speaks against Gilead and its evildoers. But God always longs to redeem them. That redemption would happen in Jesus. Jesus is the balm of Gilead, with which God brings healing from destruction and salvation from sin. The “balm” of Gilead refers originally to a kind of medicinal ointment made of olive oil and balsam (oil of fir tree). Refreshing, it was used as a healing ointment, but it was also used metaphorically for the “healing” of seals. In fact, balsam itself was used in actual ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... they were in fact –dragons! Seraph were creatures of heavenly fire, those who stoked the fires of the altar in the Name of the Lord. As would be their purpose, one of these dragon-like seraphs would pluck a live burning stone (some translations say coal but the original is a heated red-hot stone –the fiery Word of God) from the fire of the altar of God and would touch it to Isaiah’s lips, purifying his speech, his lips, his tongue, and preparing him for his call as the “spokesman” of the Lord! In ...
3569. The Mustard and the Cedar
Ezekiel 17:1-24, Matthew 13:31-35
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... (tilled and kept), so that it grows, takes root, and flourishes. And our command is to “be fruitful and multiply” that covenant between us and God throughout the land and throughout all generations. Jesus felt that people had lost sight of God’s original image in Genesis, and he therefore took Ezekiel’s parable, and “reframed” it for people in an even more succinct and image-rich way. Now, it’s the “seed” that is planted within the hearts (seared upon the hearts) that when planted takes ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... , with the “mark” God puts upon him, that literally saves his life from being taken, even while he must atone for his deed throughout his life. Some translations of Genesis 4 say, “If you do what is pleasing, you will be exalted.” However, the original Hebrew suggests, that a better rendition would be, “If you are pleasing (in attitude), if you are good, if you are sweet natured, you will be exalted.”** On the other hand, to covet God’s pleasure, God’s gaze of pleasure, is the most dangerous ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“Over the River and Through the Wood” is mostly associated with Christmas. But it was originally a Thanksgiving poem written in 1844 by one of the strongest abolitionist advocates and women’s rights supporters of the 19th century, Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880). Her grandparents' house made famous in this song was restored by Tufts University in 1976 and stands near the Mystic River on South ...
3572. Formed by the Potter's Loving Hand
Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, John 8:48-59, John 9:1-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... the Holy Spirit upon our birth, and re-signed each and every time we pray. When our lives start becoming dull and dry and dead, God revives us again, molding us, kneading us, re-forming us into that beautiful image, all the while releasing the sweetness of God’s original breath. For when we are formed by God, when we allow God to mold us and remake us, we exude the sweetness of God’s holy spirit within us. What does that kind of sweet, sweet spirit look like? Sound like? You. And you. And you. And you ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... , or cradle of papyrus in the story of Moses is one of the beautiful metaphors of scripture. In French the word is “couffin” and indeed the word used for Moses’ basket lined with pitch is “tebah” –a rare and ancient word of foreign origin only used twice in scripture, once for Moses’ basket, and another time for Noah’s ark. Both times, the translation really means –“saving vessel.” For us, Jesus is our saving vessel…..our faith in Jesus, our relationship in Jesus, our identity bound ...
3574. Dorcas, Dinah, or Delilah (Who are You?)
Genesis 34:1-31, Judges 16:1-22, Acts 9:32-43
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... . Or ours. In The Story, names have that same importance. In the Hebrew scriptures, many times place names and the names of people in the stories are enmeshed and create greater levels of meaning. Names like “Canaan” invoke connotations of an original tribal interaction and what “baggage” Canaan will bring to its future relationships due to “his” rebellious nature. Names like “Babylon” will invoke the story of the Tower of Babel and everything that this story brings to the table with it. The ...
3575. Clear to Enter
John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18, John 20:19-23, Matthew 28:1-10, Luke 24:1-12, Hebrews 10:1-18, Hebrews 10:19-39, Genesis 3:1-24
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... hope of the Garden before us! We were permitted a glimpse to a world beyond so fantastic and wonderful, that it could barely be believed. Jesus invites us in with His resurrection promise! When we commune with Him in this world, He promises us entry to God’s original Garden free of charge in the next! Once the veil is torn, once the rock is rolled away, the “door” is opened from this world to the next, from our humanness to God’s divine Kingdom. Jacob’s Ladder is revealed for all to see. And the ...
Showing results