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 4551 to 4575 of 4939 results
4551. Saint Who?
Luke 6:27-36, Luke 19:1-10
Sermon
Scott Bryte
He gets shorter every time we tell the story. Sunday school children sing about the "wee little man." Illustrated Bibles and everything from stained-glass windows to coloring books depict a tiny elf of a man, perched bird-like in a tree. "Poor little Zacchaeus." Or maybe "rich little Zacchaeus." Either way we've got a short story about a short man who had to climb a tree to get a good view of the parade. So, how short was he? Was he fantastically tiny? Spectacularly diminutive? Would his picture have made ...
4552. Mugwumpers
1 Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39
Sermon
Stephen P. McCutchan
In certain streams of Christianity, it is common to speak of people being "born again." The phrase comes from an exchange between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus in the third chap­ter of John. In that exchange, Jesus contrasts being born of the flesh with being born of the Spirit. To be born of the flesh is to be shaped by the genes of your parents and their background. You come into this world with a heritage as a given. Because you live according to the demands of the flesh, you also possess the ...
Sermon
R. Kevin Mohr
In law I believe there is a basic legal principle that goes something to the effect that "possession is nine-tenths of the law." In other words, in a property or land dispute, the onus is really on the person who claims the other has his or her possession. It is a corollary, I suppose, to "innocent until proven guilty." Therefore, the person who has possession of the disputed property does not have to prove ownership, the plaintiff does. It seems to me that the first reading for Thanksgiving Day suggests a ...
Sermon
King Duncan
I want to begin with a love story. It’s a wonderful story. Even more enchanting is the fact that it really happened. The story begins with a real life prince, Sao Kya Seng, from an independent collection of states in northeastern Burma. In the 1950s Seng came to Denver, Colorado, to study agriculture. Since he wanted to experience what it was like to be a student in the US, he kept his identity secret. Not even his professors knew who he really was. One of his fellow students was Inge Sargent. Inge was ...
Sermon
King Duncan
A little girl lost her front teeth and it caused her to talk with a lisp. One day her grandmother was reading to her from the King James Version of the Bible. She read such words as ‘sayeth’ and ‘hath’ and ‘doth’ and so on. After a while, the little girl exclaimed, “So God had his teeth out, too!” I always wondered why the King James Version read like that . . . A family moved from a little apartment to a big house in the country. A friend asked the eight‑year‑old‑son, “How do you like your new house?” He ...
Sermon
James Merritt
If you travel by air with any frequence, it has likely happened to you. A bar-coded tag is placed on your checked bag at their airport counter and you watch it wisk away down a conveyor belt, presumably to be loaded onto the same plane on which you are about to fly. Some hours later, you arrive at your destination, and make your way to baggage claim. There, you stand with 200 other passengers, waiting as the carousel went round and round almost magically spitting out piece after piece of luggage. One by ...
Sermon
Wayne Brouwer
Advent reminds us of the flow of time. We are all bound by time. Time is our teacher, our boss, our constant companion. Time locks us into the march of life and forces us to wake up each morning in a place we’ve never been before, in a place we can never return to again. All our lives we struggle with time. When will we ever have enough time? When will I be old enough? When will time stop long enough for me to love you? One woman went through a great period of depres­sion when her husband died. The grief ...
Sermon
Wayne Brouwer
When Vince Lombardi was hired as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1958, the team was in dismal shape. A single win in season play the year before had socked the club solidly into the basement of the NFL, and sportscasters everywhere used it as the butt of loser jokes. But Lombardi picked and pulled and prodded and trained and disciplined the players into becoming a winning team. They were NFL cham­pions in three consecutive seasons, and took the game honors for the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi was ...
4559. Freedom In Christ
Galatians 5:1-15, Galatians 5:16-26
Understanding Series
L. Ann Jervis
Paul’s Direct Warning: To Become Circumcised Is to Be Divorced from Christ 5:2 Now Paul turns up the heat with a direct address—Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you. No longer using Scripture, Paul states forthrightly: if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. The options are clearly laid out: either circumcision without Christ or Christ without circumcision. While Paul has referred to the “circumcision group” (2:12) as those who are opposed to the “truth of the gospel” ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
The notation of time and place in verses 22–23 is intended to set the stage for a new encounter between Jesus and the Jerusalem authorities, not to locate the events of 9:1–10:19. The time frame of Jesus’ ministry, especially in Jerusalem, is provided by the Jewish religious festivals. The last of these to be mentioned was the autumn Feast of Tabernacles (7:2), the setting of chapters 7–8. Now it is winter and time for the Feast of Dedication (known today as Hanukkah); the events of 9:1–10:19 are assumed ...
Teach the Text
J. Scott Duvall
Big Idea: Because God will condemn Babylon for its demonic character, prideful self-indulgence, and adulterous influence, God’s people are called to separate from Babylon, lest they too suffer judgment. Understanding the Text The destruction of Babylon the Great continues (17:1–19:5). The angel’s promise to reveal the punishment of the prostitute in 17:1 is expanded in chapter 18 (cf. earlier allusions in 14:8; 16:19; 17:16), especially as it relates to her economic downfall. Babylon’s coming judgment ...
4562. Eliphaz
Job 4:1-5:27
Teach the Text
Daniel J. Estes
How Eliphaz Explains Job’s Adversity Big Idea: Eliphaz explains Job’s adversity as a standard case of God’s retribution for sin. Understanding the Text Job’s three friends, who arrived on the scene in 2:11–13, wait until after Job’s opening lament in chapter 3 before they speak. From chapter 4 through chapter 27, the friends and Job speak alternately, as they all try to explain Job’s adversity. Eliphaz is the lead speaker in each of the three cycles of speeches, and his words introduce the key points that ...
Teach the Text
C. Hassell Bullock
Big Idea: God’s covenant of grace with Abraham, far from being exclusive, is an implicit call to the people of the whole world to become members of this covenant. Understanding the Text Psalm 47 is a good example of what Gunkel calls a hymn, and he includes it in a subcategory of Zion songs. Mowinckel has followed Gunkel’s study by proposing a new classification, the enthronement psalms,1postulating that ancient Israel celebrated a fall festival at which they reelevated Yahweh to his throne, or at least ...
Sermon
Robert Leslie Holmes
This world's kingdoms have never been presented in a more Machiavellian fashion or more compellingly. And never before and never again have they been nor will they be targeted to one with more reason to succumb. Surely one of the great strengthening comforts of taking Jesus Christ as our Lord is that he, more than anyone else, understands our temptations. Scripture tells us, "He himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested" (Hebrews 2:18). So we can say with ...
Sermon
Charley Reeb
It is amazing how sounds will stir the mind and heart. For instance, music has a marvelous way of igniting an array of emotions. Someone can listen to a song, close their eyes, and feel once again the exhilaration of their first kiss or the bittersweet memory of love that was lost. A note or two of music can resonate a deep chord within. Movie makers know this well and use it to their advantage. Ever tried to watch a movie with your television muted? The drama of the movie is removed. The screeches, ...
Sermon
Charley Reeb
To me the best thing about Christmas is the surprises. Who does not enjoy the look of wondrous surprise on a child’s face on Christmas morning? Who among us does not remember the rush of excitement we experienced when we were surprised on Christmas day with the best gift ever? I will always remember the surprise I experienced the Christmas of 1984. That Christmas I received one of the best gifts an American boy could receive. In the months leading up to Christmas I had begged my parents for it, but they ...
Sermon
King Duncan
It was one of those terrible summertime scenarios you read about from time to time. It was early September in San Antonio, Texas. The thermometer stood at 99 degrees. A woman accidentally locked her 10-month-old niece inside a parked car. Quite frantically she and her sister, the baby’s mother, ran around the auto in near hysteria. A by-stander tried to help. He attempted to unlock the car with a clothes hanger. Soon the infant was turning purple and had foam on her mouth. It was becoming a life-or-death ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There was a best-selling book in 1995 by Daniel Goleman called Emotional Intelligence. This book provided us with many examples of the effects that our emotions can have on our rational brain. The book begins with the story of Gary and Mary Jean Chauncey, who were in an Amtrak train that crashed into a river after a barge hit and weakened a railroad bridge in Louisiana. Gary and Mary Jean were trapped in their compartment as they tried desperately to save their eleven year-old wheelchair ridden daughter ...
Sermon
Rick McCracken-Bennett
There are a couple of Sundays I'd just as soon not preach. One is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday immediately following Pentecost. I've heard more than one priest say that the reason most of us want an assistant or a deacon is so that we can assign them the task of trying to explain how it is we believe in one God, in three persons, and so on. Clergy dislike of preaching on Trinity Sunday is pretty widespread. So-called, Stewardship Sunday is another. It feels to me like I'm singing for my supper. After all, ...
Sermon
King Duncan
An intriguing story appeared sometime back in USA Today. It seems that a Miss Candy Postlethwaite received a sizeable check from the Veteran’s Administration. That’s not the strange part. The strange part is that the check was not made out to her, nor did she know the person to whom the check was made out, nor had she ever been in the military. She put an envelope containing the check back outside for the postman to pick up on his next round. Five days later she got it back in a different envelope. She ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Many people today spend their lives in a desperate search for happiness, for pleasure, for fun. Many people in our society are simply bored. They mope around, fantasizing about some secret joy that lies out there somewhere. “I’m looking for adventure, excitement, and beautiful women,” said the young man to his father as he was leaving home. “And don’t try to stop me!” “Who wants to stop you?” said his father. “I’m going with you!” The ironic thing about seeking such pleasure, however, is how little joy it ...
Sermon
King Duncan
A man named Charley Boswell was blinded in World War II while rescuing a buddy from a burning tank. Charley had always been a great athlete so, after the war, he took up golf. And he was astoundingly good at it. In short, Charley Boswell won the National Blind Golf Championship 16 times, once shooting a score of 81. In 1958 Charley went to Ft. Worth, Texas to receive the coveted Ben Hogan Award in honor of one of the greatest professional golfers in history. Mr. Hogan agreed to play a round of golf with ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Paul Grobman in his book Vital Statistics tells about incident that occurred on January 21, 1996. This incident--which might be every child’s fantasy and every parent’s nightmare--involved two brothers, Antony and Jerome who live in Quebec, Canada. It seems that the two boys wandered off from their backyard and went to a nearby Toys R Us, the now defunct toy store chain. While amusing themselves in the gigantic toy store Antony and Jerome slipped into a playhouse where they promptly fell asleep. When they ...
4574. Deep Faith
Genesis 6:1-8:22, Genesis 5:1-32
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“If we were logical, the future would be bleak, indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope.” (Jacques Cousteau) “Deep waters call out to what is deeper still; at the roar of your waterfalls all your breakers and your waves swirl over me.” (Psalm 42:7) "For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.” (Jonah 2:3) “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Now ...
Sermon
King Duncan
We’re just ten days past April Fools’ Day, and I wanted to run a little poll this morning. Raise your hand if you fall into one of these camps: How many of you love to pull pranks on April Fools’ Day? How many of you have ever fallen for an April Fools’ prank? It’s hard to admit it, but some of us are just a little more trusting than others. And that can get us into trouble sometimes. There’s an old story of a man who walked into a local pub and introduced himself to the guy at the next table. The man said ...
Showing results