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 426 to 450 of 2332 results
Sermon
J. Ellsworth Kalas
... one of the finest scholars of his time and learned in both Judaism and Greek philosophy. So what happened after he was converted to Christianity? "I went away into Arabia," he said.4 With all of his training, all of his ability, he went out into the desert. As he tells it, he spent a total of some three years in essential isolation before he embarked on his full ministry. Those were the Nazareth years, the hidden years, the time to grow. It is not surprising, then, that when Paul, or someone influenced by ...
427. The Remnant Year
Jeremiah 30:1--31:40
Sermon
Thomas D. Peterson
... a great company, returning to Israel. God would console them and lead them as though by brooks of water. In a straight path he would bring them back, and they would not stumble. We have to remind ourselves how important a straight road in the desert would be, how valuable a highway without rocks and obstacles, valleys and cliffs. They would also journey in safety, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock." God remembered his covenant of love when he first ...
428. The Baptism of Our Lord
Genesis 1:1-2:3, Acts 19:1-22, Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
... , the descent of the Spirit, and the voice of God as a private, inner experience of Jesus alone, rather than a public event observable by the baptizer or onlookers. Call to Worship Leader: As John the Baptizer left the desert for the refreshing waters of the Jordan, People: LET US LIKEWISE LEAVE THE DESERT PLACES OF OUR LIVES FOR THE REFRESHING WORSHIP OF GOD. Leader: And as Jesus came up out of the waters to behold a heavenly vision, receive a spiritual blessing, and hear a divine voice, People: SO MAY WE ...
429. Proper 13
2 Samuel 12:1-31, Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:25-59
Bulletin Aid
Paul A. Laughlin
... . When asked what task (or "work") they might perform to earn such bread, Jesus asserts simply "belief in" himself, for God has given the "true" Bread from above. Call to Worship Leader: As God gave the children of Israel manna to satisfy their hunger in the desert, People: SO GOD HAS GIVEN US BREAD FROM HEAVEN THAT IS LIFE TO THE WORLD. Leader: Jesus called himself the bread of heaven that satisfies the hunger of all who come to him. People: LET US GIVE THANKS AND PRAISE TO GOD FOR THE SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE ...
Sermon
E. Jerry Walker
... people who always seemed able to find some sickening pleasure in the tortures of others, a reaction heightened by the sight of pain, was repugnant to him. As they crossed the bridge of earth fill in the Tyroppean valley, he noted that the desert wind had started again in small, dust-chasing gusts, and the sky overhead was turning an ominous grey-black through which the sun became a molten disk, emanating heat as a cymbal crashes sound. Already the disgusting crowds were there, lining the streets, shouting ...
Sermon
George Bass
... have strayed far from the kingdom at times, and we can’t make our way back without Christ. We are really lost in the wilderness, and Satan and temptation are too much for us. Lent reminds us again that we are dying, and will surely die in the desert, without the help of Jesus Christ. "Repent of your sins and return to me," are his words to us today. And, he adds, "believe in the gospel." You and I know - or should - that those are gifts of grace: repentance and faith. They come to us through the gracious ...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... 35. God said, “Because you are unwilling to wage war when I tell you to wage war, not one of you over twenty years of age (except Caleb and Joseph) will enter the Promised Land.” The entire nation wandered around for forty years in the desert until all of that generation died. But some may be thinking, “Preacher, you’re quoting from the Old Testament. Surely the New Testament is different. Didn’t Jesus condemn war? Let’s look at the New Testament. In Luke 14:31 Jesus started an illustration ...
Sermon
Robert G. Tuttle
... t believe in God." After having spent three weeks visiting all over Russia, experiencing nearly all areas of Russian life, we found ourselves on our last Sunday in Tashkent, near the border of China. It was a dry, near-desert, country. We told our guides we wanted to go out into the desert to worship. They replied: "This is em-poss-ible." We insisted. They took us. When one lives three weeks in an officially atheistic culture, faith takes on new meaning. We deeply felt our faith and sensed its reality. One ...
Sermon
Warren Thomas Smith
... prompted the poet Shelly to write his famous "Ozymandias." (It would be quite fitting, and more to the point, to substitute the name of Rameses.) I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that the sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart ...
435. The Heart of The Gospel
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Sermon
Alton F. Wedel
... because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many." If Jesus Christ had won his case, he would have lost the world. He lost his case, and won the world. You remember how it was when in the desert place, our Lord for forty days prepared to take those steadfast steps toward Calvary. And the devil took him to the mountain to show him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and the devil said to him, (Fourth voice) "All these I will give ...
436. The Word of the Cross
1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5
Sermon
T. A. Kantonen
... bigoted when a flood of lies is turned loose or when the chance to make quick profit is presented. Are we free from the same spinelessness, the same ingratitude, the same treason? Even the disciples of Jesus are involved. Peter denies him, Judas betrays him, the others desert him. When Jesus told them the preceding evening, "One of you will betray me," they had reason to examine their hearts and ask, one after another, "Is it I?" (Mark 14:18-19). Let this question be our response too, for each of us is a ...
437. Stop Following Your Shadow
Mark 8:27-38
Illustration
Robert Salzgeber
... following his shadow. Instead, "Follow the sun," the voice challenged, "And you will experience life as you have never dreamed it could be." The man thought for many days about his vision of God while he continued to walk around in circles in the desert. But one day he mustered up enough courage to break away from his shadow. Little by little, step-by-step, the man began to follow the sun. And he discovered a kingdom that was, heretofore, way beyond his wildest dreams and imagination. Ultimately, he became ...
438. The Star Thrower
Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
... or low in the world, this Star of Bethlehem, this Jesus, has placed high and lofty ideals before us and above us to inspire us. Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring men on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny, said Carl Scharz, in an address in Faneuil Hall in Boston, 1859. To all those trapped in circumstance and landlocked in blame, the Star of Bethlehem inspires adventure with ...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
... husband left her and the three children for another woman. Over there is a man whose business of ten years failed in an economic downturn. Over here is a mother whose little six-year-old girl has incurable cancer. Does Jesus come only to homeless shelters and deserted truckstops on Christmas Eve? "No," says the angel. "I bring good news of great joy to all people." And it is the news of a love that never gives up, news of a love that transforms inner galaxies and causes a generous outpouring of money and ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... a break." This commandment was one of the most gracious gifts that a loving God could have ever provided. It was as if Yahweh had created an oasis for Israel in the midst of a week-long desert. Then a fence was put around it and a sign on the gate that said, "Use this oasis freely, but leave the desert outside." For Christians, by tradition Sunday is our little oasis... our place apart in the noisy din of a hectic week. What will make the day "holy" for you? Worship? Prayer? Praise? Study? Cannot go wrong ...
441. The God of the Unlikely
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... region, in the process learning the terrain of a country that, as events would come to show, he would one day need to know. Still, an unbelievably unlikely switch! Almost forty more years go by. Moses is out in the desert tending the family flocks. Over yonder, he notices something - a bush on fire but not burning up.(5) He approaches to investigate and, from the midst of the bush hears his name called out. "Moses...Moses." It is God's call to another career change. God says, "I have observed ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... agree. One would wish, though, that whomever the Pentagon chooses to come up with names for any future operations might be old enough for the job, or at least be enough of a student of history to do it right. Operation Desert Fox? Erwin Rommel was the Desert Fox. Erwin Rommel was a Nazi General! Another bizarre note to the nightmare. Now add one more surreal element into this pageant - the sights and sounds, the lights, the laughter...of Christmas. Along with the bombshells and bombast, we hear, "Peace ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... . Perhaps we will understand that more fully when we think of the words we use. We begin with GIVE. "GIVE us this day..." What do we mean? Are we asking that God drop our food magically from heaven like he did with the children of Israel in the desert? Of course not. If we WERE, I suspect our disappointment at not finding any manna on the ground would have long since destroyed what little faith we have. Our request is for God to make sure that provisions are available for us. When we ask God to "GIVE us ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... contemplating the meaning of life. Then we switch back to Charlie reading to Snoopy: "So by the time you get this letter I'll be living in paradise." Then Spike is pictured again on the desert floor among the cactus, cape draped over his shoulders, saying, "Then again, maybe I've been had." Too many people have been had. There are no magic capes. There is no one key that will guarantee happiness. In fact, that old aphorism about death and taxes being the only things ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... and beard uncut, somewhat unkempt. Fierce, burning eyes. His message was a call to repentance and righteous living before God. His was the voice that the prophet Isaiah said would be crying in the wilderness, saying "Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it ...
446. The View from the Mountaintop
Mark 9:14-32, Mark 9:2-13
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... last day in office came as a result of what might be called the "final shot" of the Civil War - the one fired by John Wilkes Booth. The lines between Lincoln and his Confederate counterpart, Jefferson Davis, were as clearly drawn as the line in the desert between George Bush and Osama bin Laden. Lincoln wrote words which sound as if they could have been written for President Bush's speech to the nation after September 11th: "Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple, and inflexible. It is an issue ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... are in the season of Advent, that time during the church year when we are uniquely called to GET READY. We hear again the call of John the Baptist - As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" GET READY! That is indeed a word for us to take seriously. But, depending upon your perspective, the word can be taken in two diametrically opposite ways. It can be a word of warning, if that is what ...
448. Role Models
Mark 14:12-26
Sermon
King Duncan
... bounce a basketball or have a hit record. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf tells an amusing story on himself. Deep in the Arabian desert, during the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict, he was faced with a situation he knew would test his skills to the utmost: eating dinner. Saudi ... Arabian tribesmen had invited him to a banquet. "You're out in the desert," he said. They bring forth these huge communal plates of food. You reach into the plate and wad the food into a ball. " ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... he was more than ready to go home. At 4:00 A.M. he was roused by a nurse checking his temperature and blood pressure. Unable to get back to sleep, he decided to take a walk. So, tethered to an I.V. pole, he made his way along the deserted corridor, his aluminum caddy rattling beside him on its tiny wheels, his Birkenstock sandals flopping on the floor. At the nurses' desk was a young woman at her computer. On his earlier walks she had not even glanced up, but now she turned from the screen and smiled. "Here ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... him to leave his job. His marriage had failed. He was worn out and sick, lonely and depressed. At the young age of fifty, Cal Samra had no more hope left. He decided to take his own life. Cal bought a length of rope and drove around in the desert looking for a sturdy tree. But most of the growing structures in the area were either palm trees, which are too tall to hang from, or cacti, which are pretty impossible to hang from. Next, Cal decided to throw himself into a river and drown. No luck there. It ...
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