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 3801 to 3825 of 4999 results
3801. Remember!
Deuteronomy 31:30--32:47
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... of technology may well be in the "more harm than good" category. Good! Such an attitude is much more in keeping with the responsibility given us in creation. To be sure, there is much yet to be done, but at least, a start has been made. But that kind of intelligent management demands more of us than simply the preservation of what happens to be there. It also calls us to take some of those technological advances and build on them for the betterment of all. We do it in medicine as research continues for the ...
3802. A Mother's Gift
1 Samuel 1:1-20
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... conversation for a moment or two. Then Hannah told him she had brought a present. Over the past weeks, her fingers had flown as she weaved the cloth and cut and stitched to provide something for her boy - a long tunic to be worn over his liturgical garments, the kind worn by men of position. She had decided that she would make him a new one each year. Just as the pilgrimage was the nation's annual tradition, this would be their own. Mother and son had a wonderful visit. It would go all too quickly as such ...
3803. When God Is Gone
Job 23:1--24:25
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... something or someone near and dear had to have done something for him to deserve his pain. We understand that thinking. Some kinds of suffering CAN be explained. Life-long smokers get lung cancer; people who drink to excess get cirrhosis of the liver; folks ... ten years she had been praying for just one thing, a baby - she and her husband wanted a baby. She wondered about this strange kind of God who was always there for the silly requests of one person but who was never around for the really serious deeply- ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... not lose our faith in the face of them, not to begin foolishly blaming God for earthquakes or tsunamis or plane crashes or whatever is not to our satisfaction in this world. As Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him."(2) It was that same kind of trust that sent Jesus to the cross. The Gospels make clear that Jesus had no desire to be tortured or to die - no sane person would. But he endured it...and the tragedy of Good Friday turned into the triumph of Easter. How could that have happened? I ...
3805. "Wow!"
Mark 9:2-13
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... never had the time nor money nor opportunity to be a pilot. Hang gliding was out because there was no good place for gliding near his home. So he spent a lot of summer afternoons sitting in his backyard in his ordinary old aluminum chair - the kind with the webbing and the rivets, the kind most of us have. One day Larry hooked 45 helium-filled surplus weather balloons to his chair, put a CB radio in his lap, tied a paper bag full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to his leg, and slung a BB-gun over his ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... off his lip. He is a slob, and he is sporting wings such as might have been grafted from a giant soot-smudged pigeon. Dorothy speaks for all of us when she gingerly tells Michael, "I thought angels were...cleaner." Michael responds, "I'm not that kind of angel." No, he is not. He is the beer-swilling, bawdy-mouthed, barroom-brawling, bull-baiting, sex-starved antithesis of everything anyone ever thought about angels. But, at heart, there is something very sweet about Michael. And if we need a visual aid to ...
3807. Salvation
Psalm 118:1-29
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... At least 10 men fell into it and were saved. But an interesting sidelight is the fact that 25% more work was accomplished when the men were assured of their safety.(5) That holds for Christian workers as well. You and I can accomplish more in making this world the kind of place God would have it if we KNOW that, no matter what happens, we are SAFE. That can give us the courage and confidence we need to face any of the slings and arrows that life might throw our way. That is good news...news that ought to be ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... That's really helpful, and I appreciate it, but can you be more specific? How do I make right decisions?" The wise old man simply responded, "Experience." The young man said, "Well, that's just the point of my being here. I don't have the kind of experience I need. How do I get it?" Came the terse reply, "Wrong decisions!"(5) Years ago, in my job-hunting days, I remember being offended at all the employment being offered to EXPERIENCED people. How could someone WITHOUT experience GET ANY experience if the ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... They contribute their effort without expecting to win a blue ribbon. They give of their beauty without begrudging the demands of others. They cause no trouble, create no commotion. Like the petunias, they just keep blooming the best they can. It takes all kinds of people to make this world. Every pastor knows that some varieties will always need special attention to help them bloom. We expect that. There are always those who need extra encouragement and those who want to be recognized for every deed. There ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... God; you say your God is worthy of your worship...and then you leave your God's house a dump...a wreck...a ruin. What kind of religion is that? Put your money where your mouth is. Fix the place. You would not want to call a house like that your ... one-tenth of their income. Haggai's challenge was to go even beyond that for the accomplishment of a monumental task. Here in this church, that kind of challenge is not presented to us right now. All we really need to do is be faithful with the tithe. It is up to ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... , we loved them. Now, you know there is nothing unusual about that. Any of you who have ever had a baby have experienced the same thing. Why? There is no reason!!! You love that little baby just because it is yours...no other reason. And that kind of parental love is the only kind of love I can think of that is truly unselfish. Do you love your husband? Do you love your wife? Of course! But you love them because of something they can offer you. Do you love your mother? Do you love your father? Sure, you do ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... believed that God consigns certain people to eternal damnation before they are ever born. Is that worthy of God? I don't think so. On the other side, there have been some who have believed that God is some kindly old grandfather smiling down from a cloud somewhere who lets people get away with anything. Is that kind of thinking worthy of a righteous God? I think not. There have been times when God has been presented as being on the side of one nation or another in time of war - we have done it ourselves ...
3813. Are You the One?
Matthew 11:1-19
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... You are in this too. You have a part to play in making these hopes real. Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners and one of the true prophets of hope in today's world, has a wonderful way of illustrating this. Politicians, he says, are all of a kind. A politician holds up his finger in the wind, checks which way the wind is blowing, and then votes that way. It generally doesn't help, Wallis says, to change the politicians because those who replace them do exactly the same thing. They too make their decisions ...
3814. Hang in There!
Matthew 15:21-28
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... helping me see. As I said a moment ago, until I learned this new lesson, I was content to admit not having a clue about dealing with the conversation. I simply wanted to note the wonderful demonstration of faith that this woman had. Here was a lady - the kind of mother we wish every youngster had - who would go to any lengths on behalf of her child. She had enough chutzpah to go up to someone she had never met, through his whole entourage, and everyone of them of a nationality that despised hers - it was as ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... one Sunday and was mortified to hear some of the worst theology he had ever encountered coming from a Presbyterian pulpit. As he sat and listened and heard this wrong, that wrong, and the other wrong, he began to wonder how in the world God could ever use this kind of drivel. Then he realized that God had indeed used it; God had spoken to him that morning by forcing him to reflect on his faith. The result: he got something out of it. He might not have gotten what the preacher had intended, but God did speak ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... in the driver's seat of a vehicle that most people will never have the opportunity to ride let alone own and you cannot go anywhere. Not only that, you are blocking someone else's way. People walk by and look at you wondering what kind of person you are who would get this kind of vehicle but fail to give it what it needs to make it go. So here you are stuck looking good in this fine Cadillac but going nowhere, just sitting there blocking the way. My friend continues, "The fuel that drives the Church that ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... children, self-interest should be. After all, this is the generation to whom we will turn over the leadership of our cities, our counties, our states and our nation. These are the ones who will manage our Social Security system, our Medicare and Medicaid. That scares me. What kind of future will we have if it is in the hands of men and women who have grown up so miserably? I shudder to imagine. A report a few years ago from the Department of Health and Human Services says that at least one in five children ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... . There is a concentration of effort. Focus. All the resources are drawn together in a common cause. It is the kind of discipline that sees that Sunday morning has arrived and has no question concerning what is in store - CHURCH...and any alternative ... would be unthinkable. That prayer time among our Pentecostal friends requires that kind of attention - all hands in the air, everyone praying aloud and with FEELING. No way anyone's mind could be wandering ...
3819. A Christmas Envelope
Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, the better-equipped team ended up walloping their poorer opponents. Every weight class. But as each of the inner city boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that could not acknowledge defeat. Mike shook his head sadly and said to his wife, "I wish just one of them could have won. They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... totally free among us. But then her final sickness. She was at home, the church gathered, we were sitting around, praying, looking in on her, singing a little bit. And then one of the men got up and opened the door to let old Death in. We all kind of felt sorry for it. He looked so pitiful and awkward. We didn't know what he was doing there, really. One of the men said, "Where are your friends?" because death always brought two friends with him: Pain and Fear. "Where are your friends?" And old Death said ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... Junior just because he had a couple of years on him. But somehow, that never mattered. When it came to getting any kind of notice, it was always Junior, the personality kid. Aunts and Uncles would come to visit and say, "Hi Sonny, where's Junior ... were fattening up to enter into the competition at the county fair. But good, old hard-working Sonny, the one who never gives any trouble, what kind of party does he get? None, that's what! Good old Sonny not only does not get the fatted calf, he doesn't even get ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... . Let’s bring it down to our particular situation. What has all this to do with you and me? Pentecost says that you and I are to go from this room to make a difference in the lives of people we meet daily. That is how we will build the kind of world God desires--one person at a time. A few years back, Matthew Woodley, a pastor in Minnesota, decided to leave the ministry. Over the years, a negative attitude had taken hold in his heart. He had lost any zeal for the ministry. He was tired of difficult people ...
3823. The Gift of Fire
Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:1-13
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... The folks who heard him did not, especially when they heard the message of the disciples in the languages of their own homelands. That kind of power is beyond human comprehension. But, understand it or not, the power...the fire...was THERE that day, and the fire has ... we would have!" And it is true - we would be given such power that things would never be the same again. Do we want that kind of power here? Or are we too afraid of it? Do we want the fire of Pentecost to burn in Greensboro? Or are we worried ...
3824. Rejoice
Philippians 4:2-9
Sermon
King Duncan
... and had written a book about the urgency for justice in that hate-filled country. Kumalo then goes to the elder Jarvis, the lawyer's father, to apologize for his son's crime. Instead of refusing to see him or berating him for Jonathan's deed, Jarvis receives him kindly. He has been reading the manuscript of his son's book, and it has spoken to him of what must be done. Learning that Kumalo's little church in the village of Ndotsheni needs a new house of worship, Jarvis vows to build it for them. He also ...
3825. Broken Hydrants
Jeremiah 17:19-27
Sermon
King Duncan
... drought." What a vivid picture of the life of faith. A strong, healthy tree. Strong and healthy because it is planted next to a stream. From that stream it draws what it needs to prosper even when times are hard. Michelle Janis knows about that kind of faith. Michelle admits that she really didn't think very seriously about God and religion until she went to college. There she joined a sorority ” a sorority that was unlike most sororities. Michelle was surprised to discover that over half of the girls in ...
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