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 776 to 800 of 1185 results
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... Sons stayed to work the land with their own families, daughters became part of their husband’s family world. In his book The Prodigal God (2011), Timothy Keller portrays the two brothers as symbolizing the two basic ways people try to make life work. The younger son pursues "self‑discovery" — he's on a quest to find and fulfill himself, even if a few people have to get hurt along the way. The older brother is trying to fit in to the respectable path of social and moral conformity. He’s trying to be ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... in this quest despite the fact that, not only did he fail time after time after time, but meanwhile he repeatedly plummeted from high cliffs, was blown up, and was continually getting flattened by numerous large, heavy falling objects. On one occasion the coyote pursued the roadrunner into a long, dark tunnel, so dark that all that was visible of him were his eyes, shining in the blackness. Unable to see the roadrunner, the coyote paused, uncertain. Then he would see a light at the end of the tunnel ...
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
... the old saw about the first question of heaven: “Where’s so-and-so, and what are YOU doing here?” The first to be praised for their faith in v.29 is no less than all the Hebrews who, as they fled from Pharaoh’s pursuing army, followed Moses’ lead right into the Red Sea. Despite the fact that the faithlessness of that same group will cost them forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Hebrews’ author chooses to highlight their one united exhibition of faith — their plunge into the waters ...
779. Lean on the Cloud
Hebrews 11:1-40
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... the old saw about the first question of heaven: “Where’s so-and-so, and what are YOU doing here?” The first to be praised for their faith in v.29 is no less than all the Hebrews who, as they fled from Pharaoh’s pursuing army, followed Moses’ lead right into the Red Sea. Despite the fact that the faithlessness of that same group will cost them forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Hebrews’ author chooses to highlight their one united exhibition of faith — their plunge into the waters ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... who go beyond being nice. He needs people who work like the devil to bring his kingdom into being. Jesus was not commending this manager for his deceit. He was commending him for his concern about the future and his dedication and energy. The manager was sold out to pursuing a goal, and that’s what Christ needs from us. He needs us to be sold out to righteousness and justice and love and peace. He needs us to be sold out to changing the world. It’s a strange little parable. Maybe it is a call to radical ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... we should all relentlessly pester God in order to manipulate God into giving us what we want. It is simply showing two portraits of ways to live our lives, and then confronting us with the question: how can you have so much relentless drive to pursue human means of persuasion, how can you have so much faith in your own power of manipulating human justice, and have so little faith in a God who loves you and is never arbitrary but grants mercy lovingly nurturing His children? The question before us this ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... with an automatic transmission. His problems stemmed from an inability to distinguish between the clutch and the brake while driving a car with a standard transmission. (2) We admire people who refuse to give up, who refuse to cut their losses even when they are pursuing such mundane tasks as passing a driver’s test. Of course, there are some people we wish would give up. I was reading about a woman in Doylestown, PA, who didn’t want to buy any magazines but couldn’t get a magazine salesman to leave ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... . Jesus looks upon them as a lost brother or sister who needs help. Some of you may remember the well known British actor Michael Caine. Caine wrote a book several years ago in which he described how he fought his way out of a poor South London neighborhood to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. In the ’60s and ’70s, Caine became a major star in Great Britain and the U.S. But on a visit back home in London, Caine was saddened by the news that his younger brother, Stanley, had not been heard from in ...
Sermon
Tony Everett
... and blaming Moses about the miserable times they were experiencing here in the wilderness. For example, even before they left Egypt, the Hebrew slaves blamed Moses when Pharaoh forced them to make bricks without straw (Exodus 5:15-20). Then when they saw the Egyptians pursuing them, the Hebrews complained and blamed Moses for bringing them out of Egypt. You can almost hear their whining “I-told-you-so.” What have you done to us bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The perfection that Christ asks us to pursue is perfection in love. This is a critical teaching, and it is one we often ignore. Yet it distinguishes us from every faith and every philosophy in the human family. It is the concept of agape love, the love of God. It is a love that is vastly ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will. We are being persecuted and pursued by those who hate us. 80% of the religious persecution in the world today is directed against Christians. 80%. Not only is Christianity the most persecuted religion in the world today, but more Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all ...
787. God Is Not Dead
Exodus 20:1-21
Sermon
James Merritt
... for thy food to the creatures and plants that nourish thee. V. Thou shalt limit thy offspring as multitudes of people are burdened unto the earth. VI. Thou shalt not kill nor waste earth’s riches upon weapons of war. VII. Thou shalt not pursue profit at the earth’s expense, but strive to restore its damaged majesty. VIII. Thou shalt not hide from thyself for others the consequences of thy actions upon the earth. IX. Thou shalt not steal from future generations by impoverishing or poisoning the earth ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... “vacations.” His “vacations” were not to some scenic getaways or luxurious resorts. Instead Jesus took his “vacations” by going to “deserted places” (Greek “eremos”), out-of-the-way locations, far-away destinations, intentionally distant from the pressing crowds that pursued him and the paparazzi types that even back then asserted themselves into his personal space each and every day. In both the Old Testament stories of Elisha (2 Kings 4:42-44) and Isaiah (25:6ff), there are similar ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... of resources, but of resolve. So it is in our situation. If we as a people were sincere in seeking to meet our community’s needs, resources ultimately would not be the problem. Commitment is always the determining factor in God’s work. If we are pursuing God’s will, God will provide. And that brings us to the final thing we need to see about this text: Christ provided what was needed and more besides. I’ve always been fascinated by the statement, “They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples ...
Sermon
Craig MacCreary
... . And being found in human form, he humbled himself....” So far so good, for in the face of this text I feel all too human. Perhaps that is the choice that I have not considered all along. Swept up in the culture I find it all too easy to pursue the super human rather than the fully human. I find it all too easy to evaluate myself in terms of my ability to be everywhere rather than fully there. I measure myself too often in terms of being able to fix things rather than be genuinely present even when I ...
791. Welcome Home
Luke 15:11-32
Sermon
James Merritt
... where most everyone ends the story, but remember there is a second son. This first part of the story is good news for the bad guys, but the second part of the story is bad news for the good guys, because they need to come home too. III. The Father Pursues Us When We Reject Him “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... different being the King and Queen of Sweden and being, say, the Queen of England. The job obviously comes with fewer perks. How about your job? Are you at the place you had hoped to be at this stage of your life? We spend our whole lives pursuing dreams and goals. The aim is to go higher, to become greater. To have more perks, as it were. That is the mark of success. It even affects our families. We want our children to become doctors and lawyers and engineers. Nobody tries to persuade their children ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... stranger takes a fancy to her when she is a small child and befriends her. But he does not reveal his identity. Year after year the favors flow in from her unknown friend. She passes through her childhood years and all the way through college, pursuing opportunities provided to her by a friend whose name she does not know. One day she happens to encounter her unknown benefactor, but she does not recognize him. He does not look like she had imagined he would look. But she finally learns his true identity ...
Sermon
R. Robert Cueni
... of "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). "And that truth will set you free." This freedom of which Jesus speaks is not the current understanding of doing whatever you please, whenever you want. In fact, those who pursue that understanding of freedom become little more than slaves to any present whim or passion. The truth of the gospel sets us free from fear, greed, selfishness, crushing problems, or troubling circumstance to love one another and to live confidently. The years 1527 until ...
Sermon
Maurice A. Fetty
... a second glance. Did the customs of the time call upon a young man to leave father and mother behind to serve in the army? Indeed they did. Patriotic loyalty then, as now, often superseded family loyalty. From time to time did young men leave home to pursue a successful career in places other than their hometown and native land? Indeed they did. The promise of success, fame, and fortune then, as now, led many a man to leave the burial of his father to others. Something greater than career or patriotism is ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... around a mountain, or north across a river, but our direction will always be west.” (1) That is how they will reach their destination, by moving forever westward. One of the secrets to a successful life is to have your eyes fixed upon a goal and to pursue that goal with all your heart. Just as the early pioneers were determined to go westward, every person who makes a difference in our world has his or her eyes fixed on a worthy goal. St. Paul was one of the most influential people who ever lived. One ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... . The message of Christ’s test in the wilderness is that temptation can be resisted. At times it must be resisted. How? By making our primary allegiance to God and serving Him alone. It can be resisted by refusing to take the easy way, but seeking to pursue the honorable way. Today is the beginning of a Lenten pilgrimage that we are calling Growing Stronger in the Season of Lent. Just as facing temptation was not intended to weaken us by giving in to temptation, but to make us stronger as we resist the ...
798. Child-rearing and Discipline
Illustration
Rebecca Lamar Harmon
... . (She’s wrong.) No child has ever resented punishment he knew he had coming. Discipline is “proof” of love, … Children “know” this. I wish more parents did.113 Susanna Wesley, mother of Charles and John Wesley, is perhaps the classic illustration of one who pursued discipline early in a child’s life. She believed the assertive self-will of a child must be broken at a young age by the parent. One of her rules in her “plan of education” was: “When turned a year old (and some before), they ...
799. A Familiar Voice
John 10:4
Illustration
Michael P. Green
... it again, they turned and rushed down one side of the ravine and up the other toward their shepherd. It was quite impossible for the soldiers to stop the animals. The shepherd was away with them to a place of safety before the soldiers could make up their minds to pursue them—and all because his sheep knew their master’s voice.
800. Conquering the Highest Peak
Illustration
Robert Jastrow
... To which St. Augustine added, “Who can understand this mystery or explain it to others?” The development is unexpected because science has had such extraordinary success in tracing the chain of cause and effect backward in time.… Now we would like to pursue that inquiry farther back in time, but the barrier to further progress seems insurmountable. It is not a matter of another year, another decade of work, another measurement, or another theory; at this moment it seems as though science will never be ...
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