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 676 to 700 of 2561 results
Sermon
King Duncan
You’ve seen her--the lady with the blindfold, a balance, and a sword. She is Lady Justice. She is supposed to represent our judicial system. Since the 15th century the blindfold has represented the idea that justice should be meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of identity, money, power, or weakness. At least that’s what the lady with the blindfold is supposed to represent. For some of us that blindfold may represent the imperfection of some of those who make our laws. After all, there ...
Sermon
King Duncan
A few years ago, a brother and a sister in west London found an old vase while cleaning out their parents’ home. They thought it might have some value. Subsequently they hired Bainbridge, an auction house, to sell it. They discovered it was valued at nearly $2 million. But, get this: after 30 minutes of spirited bidding at the auction, this vase, which turned out to be an 18th century Qing [pron. cheeng] Dynasty vase went to a buyer from China for more than 69 million dollars, the most ever paid at auction ...
Sermon
King Duncan
If you ever read stories or watch movies about spies and espionage, then you know that spies live in constant tension of being found out. Because spies are hiding their true identity and purpose, even the tiniest false move could blow their cover and put them in danger. That kind of premise guarantees that a spy story or movie will be filled with tension and excitement. One of the most famous true spies of modern times was a Spanish man by the name of Juan Pujol Garcia. At the start of World War II, Garcia ...
679. Fever Pitch
Mark 1:29-39
Sermon
Lori Wagner
In this time of Covid, we all hope and pray that we avoid the virus that has killed to date more than 2,240,000 (million) people around the world, 441,000 in the US alone. As the virus mutates and infections again rise in the middle of our coldest months of winter, many are flocking to get the newly released vaccines. We feel an urgency to protect ourselves from the raging death toll and from even mildly infecting ourselves and others with an illness that seems to have no bounds as to the type of havoc it ...
680. Go!
Acts 9:10-19
Sermon
Will Willimon
About a year after he graduated from Duke, he left an excited message on our telephone answering machine. "I've got my big break! I got hired for a TV show! I'm going to be on 'Friends,' tonight, Eastern Standard Time, 8:00 p.m. Watch for me." I was surprised, but pleased for him. I had advised him, just before graduation, that attempting to go into acting was the dumbest thing I had ever heard of ''Nobody gets hired for TV," I said. "It's mostly about being a waiter for the rest of your life," I had said ...
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
There are not ten commandments; there are only nine. That other one, the one about resting and not working on the Sabbath, that’s really just a suggestion. No one, not even the most observant Christians — with the possible exception of Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-a — take it all that seriously, and even they simply close their businesses. Whether or not they actually rest and remember, as the commandment requires, is anyone’s guess. Business Insider lists In-and-Out Burger, Marriott, and Forever 21 as three ...
682. For The Love of God Is Contagious
Mark 7:31-36 · Luke 5:12-15 · 2 Corinthians 5:16-20
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
A number of years ago, the computer magazine, PC World did a review of a book entitled The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed, (Warner Books, New York, 1984). It is a book that was written by a computer program called Racter (short for Raconteur) from Mindscape. The software was developed to help people do brainstorming. The book is filled with essays, poems, limericks, stories and conversations, all of which were written by the computer using this software. Here's a couple of examples which Racter came ...
683. Ordinary Tragedy
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Sermon
Will Willimon
Eric Auerbach (Mimesis) notes that, in the whole of Greek literature there is nothing to compare with this scene--Simon Peter's confrontation with the maid in the courtyard tonight. In Greek literature, ordinary people--like fisherfolk and servants--are always low­ life, comic, buffoons. Tragedy is for kings, queens, for who cares deeply for the souls of common people? The power of great tragedy occurs when a great king, like Lear, falls a great way down, when the once proud monarch is turned out into the ...
Sermon
Will Willimon
“Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly;...” (Isaiah 58:1-9a) In the beginning of Romans, Chapter I, Paul makes a rather remarkable statement after his notorious inventory of the world's moral chaos,-envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, idolatry, sexual perversion. Why this bad behavior? Because people don't follow the law? Because we don't lead our lives in accordance with the Bible? Because affluence and immorality go hand-in-hand? Although any of these ...
Sermon
Paul W. Kummer
Can you see the young boys running through the city of Jerusalem yelling, "Blow the trumpets!" and the people of that city yelling back, "What?" "Blow the trumpets! Grab the shofar! We need to let everyone know!" And the people still scream back, "Why? What's going on?" The adults know that the blowing of the trumpets in Jewish tradition can only mean one of three things: 1) It's time to move camp (but wait, we haven't lived in tents for decades!); 2) We need to get ready for war (but I didn't know there ...
686. Proper 13
Colossians 3:1-17, Hosea 11:1-11, Luke 12:13-21
Sermon Aid
John R. Brokhoff
COMMENTARY Old Testament: Hosea 11:1-11 Yahweh so loves his disobedient people that he cannot give them up to destruction. In one of the most moving passages in the Old Testament (Lesson 1), Israel is pictured as Yahweh's prodigal son. Hosea sees God and the nation as a loving father and his rebellious son. As a loving father Yahweh loves Israel when a child, brought him out of slavery in Egypt, and cared for him in the wilderness. He took his child in his arms, taught him to walk, and nurtured him. In ...
Sermon
Brett Blair
What would you think if I told you that on your tombstone would be inscribed a four-word epitaph? Well, you might respond, it would depend on who would write this epitaph--an enemy or a loved one. It might also depend, you might say, on how well this person knew and understood you. If a newspaper critic wrote of a concert pianist the four words: He was a failure, you could always say: That was his opinion. But if one of the world's great musicians wrote, “He was a genius,” then you are apt to take the ...
Sermon
So soon we forget! The next time you complain of having to do the laundry - at home or at the local laundromat - where you have plenty of hot and cold water, a spin-dry machine, and a dryer to do the whole job remarkably easily, before you complain about how tough it is (like breaking a fingernail opening the package of new, blue, all-temperature Cheer or having to fold the clothes as they come out of the dryer), stop and remember it was not always so simple. Here is a "receipt" of an old grandmother in ...
689. Chapter VI
Exodus 20:1-21
Sermon
Frank H. Seilhamer
When I discussed the third Commandment, "Remember the Sabbath," I said that it was perhaps the most ignored and least thought about "Word" in the lot. In sharp contrast to it this guide for living, along with the one that follows it, is among the most thought about, discussed, and argued over of our time. For killing is going on around us continually, or so it seems. Just look at the newspapers, the television screen, or listen to the radio any day, and there killing is front and center. Who isn’t aware of ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Have you ever noticed that men like to make jokes about marriage? For example, there's a story about a man sitting at the bar in his local tavern, furiously imbibing shots of whiskey. One of his friends happens to come into the bar and sees him. "Lou," says the shocked friend, "what are you doing? I've known you for over fifteen years, and I've never seen you take a drink before. What's going on?" Without even taking his eyes off his newly filled shot glass, the man replies, "My wife just ran off with my ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
A couple of years ago I was smitten in my heart by a word I heard in the ordination service of the Free Methodist Church. It was verses 4 and 5 of Ezekiel 2. Listen to it: “The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them. ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’ And whether they listen – for they are a rebellious house – they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (NIV) Get the setting in mind. Ezekiel is sharing his personal story of God coming to him in a vision, and ...
Sermon
Phil Thrailkill
“Thus you will know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:20 In his novel A Painted House, John Grisham describes a pious Sunday school teacher eulogizing a character named Jerry Sisco. He was a mean guy who’d been killed just the night before in a back alley fight after picking on one person too many. In the words of the little boy who’d seen the fight with his friend Dewayne: "She made Jerry sound like a Christian, an innocent victim. I glanced at Dewayne, who had an eye on me. There was something odd about ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Retired seminary professor Fred B. Craddock was preaching on the parable of the prodigal son. After the service a man said, “I really didn’t care much for that, frankly.” Craddock asked, “Why?” The man said. “Well, I guess it’s not your sermon, I just don’t like that story.” Craddock asked, “What is it you don’t like about it?” He said. “It’s not morally responsible.” Craddock asked, “What do you mean by that?” “Forgiving that boy,” said the man. Craddock asked, “Well, what would you have done?” The man ...
694. Worry Not
Matthew 6:25-34
Sermon
King Duncan
Do you have a worrier in your family? Kais Rayes writes that he and his wife found their whole life turned upside down when their first child was born. Every night, the baby seemed to be fussy, and many nights, it seemed that their baby cried far more than he slept. Says Rayes, “My wife would wake me up, saying, ‘Get up, honey! Go see why the baby is crying!’” As a result, Rayes found himself suffering from severe sleep deprivation. While complaining to his coworkers about his problem one day, one of his ...
695. Who's Your Master?
Philippians 2:1-11
Sermon
King Duncan
Bradford Robinson tells about a minister in Texas who used a very creative visual aid to start his message. He brought on to the stage a beautiful Golden Irish Setter that belonged to his youth minister. The youth minister loved this dog so much that when the dog had been sick and had to be in the vet kennel overnight, he stayed all night with him. Needless to say this dog also loved his master. The senior minister brought the dog on to the stage and he rolled a ball across the platform and said, “Fetch, ...
Sermon
King Duncan
The Week magazine often contains quirky news items collected from periodicals around the world. Back in 2005 they carried a story about a Romanian man who was recovering in the hospital after trying to escape from his wife by swinging from tree to tree on a vine like Tarzan. Stefan Trisca a 66-year old man, of all things - -had wanted to join his friends for a night of drinking, but his wife locked him in his bedroom. This did not stop Stefan. He was on a mission. He climbed through the bedroom window and ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is nothing like a major hurricane or a flurry of tornadoes to remind us how powerful wind can sometimes be. Ask survivors of Hurricane Harvey or Hurricane Irma last summer. Ask survivors of recent tornadoes in the South and Midwest. Wind is capable of an amazing amount of damage. A book titled Blame It on the Weather tells about some extraordinary events that occurred in tornadoes, especially with regard to animals. It tells about a tornado that churned through a dog boarding kennel in Michigan. ...
698. Sparkle
Luke 4:31-37
Sermon
Lori Wagner
But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.…Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. (James 14-15; 21) “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy.” (Deuteronomy ...
699. Reveille
Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Prop: video of the introduction to “Star Trek” (you may want to put a space / stars backdrop up during the sermon) We recently saw the return to theatres yet another “Star Trek” movie. Trekkies are everywhere. There are trekkie conferences, and trekkie clubs. And still millions flock to the movies to see the new generation of “Jim” and “Spock,” “Bones,” and “Scotty” venture into unknown space. Star Trek was one of the first shows to have a diverse cast and to ask questions about what it means to love, to ...
700. Shepherd Dreams
Jeremiah 23:1-8, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 80:1-19, Psalm 23:1-6, John 10:22-42, John 10:1-21
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Prop: shepherd’s staff (invisible cloak / rock of salvation / living water / sling and staff) We all have dreams for our children! We set them free to make their own decisions in the world, but at the same time we take care to guide them, pray for them, dream for them, envision a future for them in which we play a relational part. We so want them to live fulfilling and satisfying lives, filled with life, love, and happiness. Anyone want to dispute that? Being a parent is a kind of higher calling, in which ...
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