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
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4926. Chapter I
Exodus 20:1-21
Sermon
Frank H. Seilhamer
"I am the Lord your God ..." Exodus 20:2 A few years ago I had the opportunity to return to the homestead where I spent some of the happiest days of my youth. It is a farm situated in the midst of the wheatgrowing country of Pennsylvania, where my grandparents once lived. Shortly after I arrived, I walked out to a little knoll that overlooks the fields and sat down beneath the huge old walnut tree that has stood there for over a hundred years. From there I looked out over the fields. The wheat at the time ...
4927. Blessed among Women
Luke 1:39-45, 1 Samuel 2:1-11
Sermon
Erskine White
"And Elizabeth ... exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’ " (Luke 1:42) No one knows what she looked like. European artists have made her look European. African artists have made her look African. Native American artists have drawn her in their image, as have artists from South America, the Far East and nearly every other part of the world as well. In a sense, she has become the universal woman, adapted in every generation to every race and culture ...
Drama
Curt M. Joseph
Characters: Caiaphas - the High Priest; insistent, thinks he has Pilate where he wants him. Pilate - governor of Judea; an ambitious man, a just man, who struggles between his sense of justice and his political ambitions. Guard - typical Roman soldier. Claudia Procula - wife of Pilate; sensitive, caring, and very supportive of her husband. Ruth - a Jewess who serves as the handmaid of Claudia Procula. The scene opens with Caiaphas standing outside the communion rail, symbolic of his refusal to enter into a ...
Drama
Marge Passamaneck
CHARACTERS NARRATOR TONY - elementary-school-age youngster DAVID - elementary-school-age youngster SUSAN - elementary-school-age youngster MR. STEIN - David’s father MRS. STEIN - David’s mother MR. JACKSON - Tony and Susan’s father MRS. JACKSON - Tony and Susan’s mother PLAYING TIME 30 minutes NOTE: Historically, the menorah was a candlestick having seven branches and was used in the ancient temple at Jerusalem. As used during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, the menorah is a candlestick with eight ...
4930. Scandal!
1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5
Sermon
This sermon uses reversal, surprise, the unexpected as it takes a well-worn term "scandal," launders it, hands it back to us in a way we never anticipated. Scandal, a respectable, redoubtable term for the Christian? Well, says this sermon, "It had better be!" Perhaps the pugency of the Christic enterprise could be recovered if scandal, as this sermon sees it (not to mention the Good Book’s point of view), were more genuinely at the center of things. The halls of the United States Senate were cheerless this ...
Sermon
James W. Moore
A business executive became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life. After several nights of this, one evening his daughter took her little hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father’s lap, wrapped her arms around ...
4932. Nicodemus
John 3:1-21
Sermon
David E. Leininger
They say, "There is no fool like an old fool." And I am afraid that is exactly what I have been. I have been so busy protecting our religion that I have been missing our God. I should explain. My name is Nicodemus. I am a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the seventy men charged with the oversight and defense of our historic and honorable faith, the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the faith of our fathers for hundreds and hundreds of years. Our task - one handed down from generation to generation since ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
I heard a story once. A Mr. Jones picked up the wrong umbrella in a hotel, and the umbrella's rightful owner called his attention to it. Embarrassed, Mr. Jones offered his apologies, picked up the right one, and went on his way. But the incident served to remind Mr. Jones that he had promised to buy umbrellas for his wife and daughter, so he went across the street to a store and purchased one for each of them. As he came out from the store and began to get in his car - THREE umbrellas on his arm now - the ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
A little flight of fancy here.(1) You are stacking dishes in the kitchen of the restaurant where you work the evening shift when a well-dressed courier arrives at the back door. "The owner won't be back until tomorrow," you tell him. "I am not looking for the owner, I am looking for you." "Huh?" "I am from the White House," he says, which explains the dark suit and briefcase. "I came to deliver this letter." "Huh?" Part of you wonders what you have done wrong. Another part of you wonders if this isn't a ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
A little girl came home from school and asked her mother if she knew Christopher Columbus was Italian. "Yes," said Mom. And the girl continued, "Did you know that Queen Isabella furnished the money to buy his ships?" "Yes, dear, I had heard that." The little girl thought for a moment and then said reflectively, "Well, really, Mother, if you already know the things I come home and tell you, I don't see any use in going to school." By the time we get done here this morning, you may feel the same about coming ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Three pastors got together for coffee one morning. Much to their surprise they discovered that all their churches had problems with bats infesting their belfries. The bats were making a terrible mess. "I got so mad," said one pastor, "I took a shotgun and fired at them. It made holes in the ceiling, but did nothing to the bats." "I tried trapping them alive," said the second. "Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church." "I haven't had any more problems," said the ...
Sermon
King Duncan
According to Victor Borge, the composer Bizet was the original hard-luck man. He stayed up nights to finish an opera by the deadline, only to find out afterwards that the production had been postponed for a year. He wrote a symphony and misplaced the manuscript before anybody could play it. He entered a composing contest with only one other entrant, and ended up with second prize. Once he went to visit his girl friend and tapped on her window at the precise moment her mother was emptying a chamberpot from ...
Sermon
King Duncan
One of the favorite television commercials of many of us, for the past few years, has been John Houseman's commercials for a banking investment firm. You remember his famous words in that commercial. In a beautiful British accent he would say, "We make money the old fashioned way. We earn it." Houseman expresses the deeply held belief of many people that what resources one has should be earned. Expecting to get something for nothing is wrong. Gains that come too easily or too quickly or as the result of ...
4939. Walk In Love
Ephesians 4:1-16
Sermon
King Duncan
An insurance agent filed this claim on behalf of one of his clients: The Insured operates a dude ranch and we insure all of his ranch buildings and his pickup truck. He had been having trouble with coyotes and had rigged up an ingenious sapling cage trap to catch the animals, after which he would shoot them. This time he decided to try something different, and instead of shooting the coyote, he tied a stick of dynamite to its neck and lit the fuse, opening the cage door at the same time. The coyote ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Have you ever been accused of being a little absent-minded? Some of us have. We can take comfort in the fact that somewhere in Norway there is a young man named Jermund Skogstad who is worse off than we. Last year Jermund moved from the country to the city and rented an apartment. Thirty minutes after moving into his apartment, he stepped out for a bite to eat. By the time he found a cafe, he was hopelessly lost and had no idea how to get home. Further, he had forgotten the address of his new apartment. ...
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