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 626 to 650 of 2561 results
Sermon
King Duncan
In a Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown goes into his wind up on the pitcher's mound. In order to fortify his confidence he quotes scripture, "Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the pestilence that walketh in darkness . . ." In the next frame, WHAM! the ball comes zooming back from the batter, catapulting Charlie head over heels. Then in the last frame we see him lying face down on the ground with stars dancing around his head. He concludes, "But those line drives will kill you!" This is ...
Sermon
Donald B. Strobe
Some years ago I had a friend who was on a 300-calorie-a-day diet under a doctor’s supervision. 300 calories! That boggles the mind! I inhale 300 calories just smelling the aroma of a good pizza. But my friend on the three-hundred-calorie-a-day diet lost sixty pounds, and as a result reached his near-ideal weight in a very short time. But one cannot subsist indefinitely on a 300-calorie-a-day- diet. Sooner or later there must come and end to the dieting, for starving oneself in this manner is highly ...
Sermon
Eric Ritz
Luke 2:10--And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Dr. Bryant Kirkland, former pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, tells of traveling to the West Coast one winter to preach in another congregation: "I needed the time on that three-hour flight to study and prepare," he said, "so I buckled down and let everyone ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Jesus was a very gentle man. Right? We sing “Fairest Lord Jesus . . .” Or “Gentle Savior Meek and Mild . . .” Jesus was Mr. Nice Guy, the prototype sensitive male. Respectful of women. Loved little children. Kind to his mother. What is he doing, then, in the temple courts during the holiest season of the Jewish year, overturning tables and scattering coins and using a whip, of all things, to drive both people and cattle out of the courtyard? Imagine if someone came into our church and disturbed our service ...
Sermon
Stephen M. Crotts
There is a certain rock known as a geode. From the outside it is but a dull-looking stone. Yet crack it open and one discovers a breathtaking array of crystals in a hollow core. I feel like I'm holding an uncracked geode in my hands when I look at a Bible text. I know there is a powerful blessing in the passage. It must simply be opened to the light by preaching. So to the text, the story of the feeding of the multitudes, we now turn. There Was a Need! Our text begins with a human need. Jesus had been ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Now hear the word of the Lord. From the first apostle of John, the first three verses of that apostle. “See what love the father has bestowed upon us in allowing us to be called children of God. And that’s not just what we’re called, but who we actually are. The reason the world does not know us, is that it did not know Christ. Beloved, we are God’s children. It doesn’t appear what we shall be in the future, we only know that when we reality breaks through, we will reflect his likeness, for we will see him ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
No shout in Scripture is more familiar than the shout of the prophet Isaiah. "Get ready!", he is saying, "The Messiah is coming. Prepare the Way of the Lord." Isaiah 40 is one of the most familiar passages in the Old Testament, made so in large part by Handel's MESSIAH. It's the call of Advent: "Prepare the way of the Lord." Now I know that the coming of Christ is always gift, always grace. So we need to think a little about how the spontaneous working of God's grace, unearned, unexpected, undeserved how ...
Sermon
Michael Milton
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3 ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’ 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have ...
Sermon
Mark Trotter
We were all attracted to the story of Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France last weekend, that grueling bicycle race. It is one of the great endurance races in the world today. Lance Armstrong won it in record time, two years after undergoing surgery and then chemotherapy for cancer that spread throughout his body, including to his brain. It is a testimony first of all to the wonderful advances that medicine has made in curing cancers, but everyone recognizes as well that it is a terrific testimony to ...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
Pastor David Johnson was all ready, he thought, for his Easter sermon. Having only graduated from the seminary three months prior to taking his present position at the Maple Street Community Church, he possessed all the latest and most interesting theology. He made the final touches to his sermon on Holy Saturday morning and outlined its content to his wife. He told her that his sermon was based on theology of Paul Tillich and spoke of the resurrection as a symbol that the estrangement from our authentic ...
Sermon
Stephen M. Crotts
The key idea in this passage in the Fourth Gospel is truth. Jesus says, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Truth has taken a beating in the past century. We have come to a supposedly post-modern era in which a lot of people think that there isn't any real truth that's true for you just as much as it's true for me. We're told that there are no grand narratives about reality that are true for everybody - just "whatever ...
637. Four Cornerstones
Ephesians 2:11-22
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Both Elizabeth and I hail from paper-mill towns. A few years ago the blue collar-redneck-good-old-boy logging town Elizabeth grew up in (Springfield, Oregon) found itself very interested all of a sudden in building sushi bars and trendy, high-tech fitness centers. Why? Sony Corporation seriously considered the town as a new factory headquarters site. Like every other economically struggling small town, the prospect of a large employer coming to town with deep pockets and wide wants encouraged the community ...
638. Promises to Keep
Hebrews 8:1-13
Sermon
James McCormick
Do you know the name Tom Dooley? Not the folk song Tom Dooley, but Dr. Tom Dooley? You need to know his story, because Dr. Tom Dooley was a Twentieth Century saint. While serving in the Navy, he saw the physical suffering of the people of Southeast Asia - so much illness and suffering, so few doctors to deal with it. When his tour of duty was over, he resigned his commission and went to Indochina, now Laos, to serve as a medical missionary. There he poured out his life on behalf of the people. He saw ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Before every “feast day” on the calendar—-Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc—-the local newspaper runs a reminder to its readers: Don’t include your pets in your over-indulgence! For Thanksgiving and Christmas the cautions are against letting Fido chow down on rich turkey skin, ham fat, giblets, gravies, and other greasy goodies. Your vet will tell you that there is always a huge spike in pets needing treatment for painful pancreatitis as a result of gobbling down all those rich human handouts. The ...
Sermon
James W. Moore
A man once came to a farmer and asked to be taken on as a hired hand. “What can you do?” the farmer asked him. The man replied: “I can sleep when the wind blows.” The farmer thought that was a strange answer, but he needed a worker so he hired him. Soon after, the farmer went away on a trip. A couple of weeks later, the farmer returned home one night and went to bed. But, a storm came up. Winds were blowing and lashing. The farmer woke and heard the winds and he remembered – the broken barn door – the weak ...
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
Anyone here this morning NOT ever had the experience of “getting up on the wrong side of the bed”? So, we have no superior beings here this morning. Good, I can feel right at home. But there is something even worse than “getting up on the wrong side of the bed.” It’s eating breakfast across from someone who “got up on the wrong side of the bed.” Nothing starts the day off on a more sour note than a crabby crash encounter with a wrong-side-of-bed person while you are both still in your pajamas. These days ...
Sermon
James Merritt
OK, let's see how you do on this question: Who would be considered the most evil dictator of the last century? a. Saddam Hussein b. Adolph Hitler c. Ivan the Terrible d. Joseph Stalin And the answer is…d) Joseph Stalin Many people would think Adolph Hitler to be the answer with the horrific actions committed against Jews, but the truth is Joseph Stalin was responsible for over 30 million deaths beginning in the 1930's as the Soviet Union massacred 8 million in the Ukrainian Holocaust and then proceeded to ...
643. The Climb
Joshua 14:6-15
Sermon
James Merritt
A Ph.D. - a Doctor of Philosophy degree is the highest degree awarded in academics. Three to four years of seminars, literacy required in three to five different languages, and three years of continuous research on a dissertation that must be totally original in its subject, meaning that no one has ever written on it before. This dissertation must then be presented in written form and passed by three professors with three different fields of expertise all of which you must study and include in your ...
Sermon
James Merritt
The year was 1995. It was called "Global Mission with Billy Graham." It took over a year to pull off and by the end of the event it would be the largest single evangelistic effort in the history of Christianity. Bob Williams, Director of International Ministries for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, had set an incredible goal: Through the medium of satellite technology, he wanted to reach the largest audience ever to hear a series of messages by Billy Graham. In order to appreciate the size and ...
Sermon
Donna Schaper
The Holy Spirit gives us our inheritance. It does not come from our parents or grandparents, our nation or our race. Our inheritance is a gift from God. We have it as a dominion and domination. Domination — when we get first things absolutely first — is not a bad thing! Once we know the source of our inheritance, no other gods can rule us. Saints are the people who know this. Saints know who gave them what they have — and they don't imagine that they are like the used car dealer who, having inherited the ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
How do you like it when people criticize you? The person who first said “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me” either lived as a hermit or was an out-and-out liar. Words can hurt. Words do hurt. Words can hurt a lot. Words can hurt a lot more and do a lot more long-term damage than any puny stick or stone. Studies have shown how lasting an impression, how lifetime an impact, words can have on children. Children who receive constant criticisms about their looks, or their brains ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Not everybody who takes up a life of crime is all that smart. Sometimes movies or television glorify criminals. They make them appear sophisticated, even cool. Most criminals do not fall in that category. Like the guy who walked into a little corner store in England with a shotgun and demanded all the cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the ...
Sermon
King Duncan
One of my favorite Peanuts comic strips is the one that came out some years ago just a few days before Thanksgiving. Lucy’s feeling sorry for herself and she laments, “My life is a drag. I’m completely fed up. I’ve never felt so low in my life.” Her little brother Linus tries to console her and he says, “Lucy, when you’re in a mood like this, you should try to think of things you have to be thankful for; in other words, count your blessings.” To that, Lucy says, “Ha! That’s a good one! I could count my ...
649. Save Me, Lord
Matthew 14:22-36
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace was without peer in the 19th century except for one name: Charles Darwin. One of Wallace’s most astute observations about nature has gotten totally forgotten in the whole debate over the “survival of the fittest.” Wallace made a surprising discovery about the saving nature of struggle. One day Wallace was observing moths struggling to hatch out from their cocoons. One of the larger insects seemed to be having a particularly hard time getting out. After hours of ...
Sermon
William J. Carl, III
Having trouble sleeping through the night? You're not alone. Samuel did, too. Sometimes you hear a haunting phrase that sticks with you years later. I heard one like that from Gardner Taylor, that great African-American preacher who once held forth in the pulpit of Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn. I don't even remember the sermon, which is all right — we're not supposed to remember sermons anymore than we should remember meals; we're supposed to be fed and challenged by them at the moment. I don't ...
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