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 4801 to 4825 of 4999 results
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... with an upbeat rhythm that goes by the title “Pumped up Kicks.” But when you decipher the lyrics, it’s all about a school shooting. In the early 1960’s Stanley Milgram conducted the now famous behavioral experiment that sought to make some kind of sense out of the horror of the holocaust. How, Milgram wanted to know, could ordinary people, like the German citizens of Nazi Germany, condone and participate in such horrific behavior as was found in the concentration camps? To find out, Milgram enlisted ...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
... , scoffers, and cynics. He liked to tell the story of a young man who, many years earlier, stood outside the cathedral and almost on a daily basis would shout derogatory slogans at people entering the church to worship. He would call them fools and all kinds of names. The people tried to ignore him but it was quite difficult. One day, the cathedral's rector went outside to confront the young man. The young man ranted and raved against everything the priest told him. After some time the rector addressed the ...
Sermon
Ken Lentz
... . Closing prayers are long and detailed and cover those facing surgery to those who are worried about the kids to those who are about to go on a trip. The "refreshments" after the service include cakes, sandwiches, hot dishes, meatballs, gelatin dishes, and several kinds of beverages. In other words, it's a Sunday lunch and it's time to visit with one another and catch up on the latest happenings within the community. If someone should mention that they resemble the community described in Acts 4, they would ...
Sermon
Ken Lentz
... as inspiringly as Peter but perhaps, on the other hand, today's seekers do not see the love of the community that can transform them. Their eyes are not open; their hearts are turning to leather. Perhaps they are looking for the wrong kind of miracles. They may go to the temple but they are looking for the wrong kind of miracles. Too bad. They are dragging their feet when they could be dancing for joy. It's three o'clock. It's time to go to the temple. Anytime is a good time to go to the temple to see what ...
4805. Who Am I?
Acts 8:26-40
Sermon
Ken Lentz
... was Philip. Philip saw the light of an angel. "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." Philip obeyed. On the road to Gaza, he ran into the eunuch, reading aloud some scripture while riding in his chariot (the kind with a seat). Philip wiggled his way into an invitation to join the eunuch in order to interpret a troublesome passage from Isaiah. "Who's this sheep that was led to the slaughter?" asked the VIP from the south. "Is Isaiah talking about himself or is he ...
Sermon
William J. Carl, III
... . I also usually add, "Remember to be nice to your friends and family and also your pastor or priest because they will have the last word!" Not that it matters much once you're deceased, but you'd like to think they could find a few kind words to say about you no matter what kind of life you lived. After all the word eulogy itself comes from two Greek words that, when translated, mean "good word." That's what we say about people in eulogies — good words. But, what do you do when they weren't so good? It's ...
Sermon
William J. Carl, III
... that I felt right at home since my Grandmother Correy was a lifelong Methodist and that my mother grew up a Methodist. After the kind compliments about the sermon after the service, the pastor said in front of a group of parishioners, "We can forgive you for the ... King of Judah, he now created a union between the two nations by virtue of his new office. Thankfully, we see these kinds of unions occurring around the world — in India with the Church of South India, in Canada and in England with the United ...
Sermon
William J. Carl, III
... must have thought. Now here's a king who has his priorities straight. What a great boss I have! Not some atheistic ingrate, you know the kind — a self-made man who worships his maker. No, David knows he's a servant of the Lord. It's almost as if David and Nathan ... made it clear in his famous speech when he quotes the prophet saying, "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these ...
Sermon
Donna Schaper
... plowed up and replanted." Serial renovators of the world unite! Many of us are in need of constant plowing up and replanting. We need focus if we are people spread too thin. And we may need to spread ourselves more thinly if we have become too much of a rut kind of person. Balance is the key — as well as constantly being willing to plow up and replant. That way we don't get stuck in wanting toxic things. Joseph Campbell said it well: We have to give up the life we know if we are to receive the life being ...
4810. Small Sin, Large Grace
2 Samuel 11:26-27, 12:1-13a
Sermon
Donna Schaper
... his dear friend Nathan. Then he receives the judgment of his God. In that judgment he loses the coveted son of the beautiful woman for whom he has been willing to commit murder. While I find it impossible to imagine that every child that dies early is a kind of punishment from a cruel God, this particular punishment seems quite well connected. It does seem that it would be way too cruel to Uriah if his wife were to bear David a son. Is there any hope for David? After his sin and his retribution? Of course ...
4811. Job Is for Real
Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Sermon
Donna Schaper
... . Scientific agreement on global warming is widespread. Only fools stick with the conventional wisdom that nothing big is happening and if it is, those who don't sign Kyoto and those who make no plans to avoid islands slipping away will manage it. Job is a kind of visit to the frame shop. Like the reframing that happened for many when space ships pictured earth suspended, all of it, before our very eyes, we are in need of a reframing, that is Copernican in size and Hubble-ian in method. The Hubble telescope ...
Sermon
Robert A. Hausman
... and arrogant evangelists assuring us that they talk regularly to God. Job suggests that when God speaks, you had better run for cover. Job had demanded answers, God comes with questions. "Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you!" (v. 3). With a kind of repetitive excess, the questions come with machine-gun rapidity. Where were you when? Can you? Do you know? Who but me has? In chapters 38 and 39 (seventy verses — we burdened you with only fourteen in our text), we are regaled with a poetic ...
4813. Living to Please God
1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
Sermon
King Duncan
... back on. The reporter asked, “What do I owe you?” “I’m not gonna charge you anything,” Fred replied. “I didn’t have to fix anything; I just reattached the wire.” The writer then told Fred what he was doing and that he had been charged all kinds of money by mechanics looking at that same wire. He asked Fred, “Why didn’t you charge me anything?” Fred said, “Are you sure you want to know? I happen to be a Christian and believe that everything we do should be done to glorify God. I’m ...
4814. If Your Father Was….
Illustration
H. Norman Wright
... , you are more likely to see God as patient and available for you. You feel that you are worth God's time and concern. You feel important to God and that He is personally involved in every aspect of your life. If your father was kind, you probably see God acting kindly and graciously on your behalf. You feel that you are worth God's help and intervention. You feel God's love for you deeply and you're convinced that He wants to relate to you personally. If your father was a giving man, you may perceive ...
4815. A Caddie Worth Having
Illustration
Two golfers stepped up to the first tee on the St. Andrews course at Ardsley, New York, one of America's oldest courses. The elder one was a kindly man who played a thoughtful, deliberate game. The younger man was full of pride and impatience. On the first hole he sliced, lost his ball in the tall grass, shot another one, and had a score of eight instead of four or five. On the second tee he began to ...
4816. "As If" You Love
Luke 4:14-21
Illustration
J. Allan Petersen
... , I want to hurt him as much as he has me." Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you're getting a divorce. That will ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... young man named Marty. Marty was a bright, lively eight-year-old who suffered from a minor disability he was deaf in one ear. He lived in a rural community of farms and fences. Marty’s mom, Diane, was proud of her son. She knew he had a kind and loving heart. Several weeks before Christmas one year, Marty shared a secret with his mother. He had been doing extra chores and saving up his allowance in order to buy a Christmas present, a pocket compass, for his best friend, Kenny. Kenny was being raised by a ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... .” Charlie Brown asks, “Why does it just have to be ‘this time of the season’? Why can’t it be all year long?” Lucy looks at him and exclaims, “What are you, some kind of fanatic?” That, of course, is the challenge of Christmas . . . and the dream. Why can’t we preserve feelings of peace and goodwill all through the year? Maybe if we fully grasped what happened at Christmas, it would make a difference. The writer of Hebrews tried to express the true ...
4819. I'll Take the Nickle
Humor Illustration
... dime and offer him a choice of one of the two coins. Joey, being the dummy that he was, would always pick the nickel. One day a kindly lady who had heard about Joey decided to see if he was really as dumb as everyone said he was. She took a dime and a ... bigger and shinier, and it has a picture of an Indian on it, which I think is really neat, so I'll take the nickel." The kindly lady said, "Poor boy, don't you know that a dime is worth more than a nickel?" "Well, of course I know that," Joey answered. "Well ...
4820. I Saw the Face of God
Matthew 25:31-46
Illustration
Johnny Dean
... God, often appear to know so much, to have such clear and firm ideas about exactly what's right and exactly what's wrong, who's going to Heaven and who's going to Hell, isn't it refreshing to hear of those whose sole motivation for acts of loving kindness is compassion? And isn't it refreshing to meet those righteous sheep who are genuinely baffled by the words of Jesus that, in their loving acts of ...
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... is done according to divine directive. What this new “gospel” era is offering is a way to “prepare” for the arrival of “the Lord” through repentance. This “metanoia” is a “turning away,” a definitive “change of mind,” a “returning” to the kind of right relationship with God that was once crafted in the wilderness. It is under the auspices of a divinely ordered proclamation that John the Baptizer can offer a promise as profound as the “forgiveness of sins.” Mark attests to the ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... that the light is coming. “Decking the halls,” Christmas concerts, cookie baking marathons, shopping sprees, fulfilling cherished family traditions of all kinds — these are all wonderful, but they are not the focus of Advent. They are not the source of the light. What we ... and seasonal specialties, we worry about those extra layers of padding we are putting on. But there is one kind of extra puffery, extra padding most of us have willingly participated in at some time or another — “padding” our ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... in Matthew’s gospel perfectly embody the hopes and dreams of a truly “new” year. They strike out on a new path, to new lands, with no defined expectations. Why? Because they believe in the reality of a new future, a new promise, a new kind of “king.” Like newlyweds and new parents and new homeowners and new employees, these magi are sincere, committed . . . and mercifully clueless. These guys from the East head West until they reach Jerusalem, where they have no idea what lies ahead. But they knew ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... and back-to-front to simulate the infant being held and walked and rocked. This enables new Moms and Dads to catch some desperately needed shut-eye. For babies old enough to sit up there is a Swing’N’Sway rocker — an infant seat secured in a kind of swing-set stand that allows the child to happily rock back and forth while parents keep an eye out, but keeps their hands free to accomplish other tasks. Both these “Swing’N’Sway gadgets satisfy the baby by giving the child the illusion that they are ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... don’t want to drive this point into the ground. But this is what the book of Jonah is about. God loves everybody: Jews and gentiles, Arabs and Africans, the people of Nineveh and the people of Israel. There is no place in the kingdom of God for any kind of hatred racial, religious, or national. We all belong to one great family, and Christ died for everyone’s sins. Your sins, my sins, but also the sins of our worst enemies. Robert W. Youngs tells of having lunch at a small inn. Across the bottom of the ...
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