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 876 to 900 of 1409 results
Sermon
Richard Gribble
When we were children our parents often quoted us the expression, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." Generally this was a welcome comment that brought significant comfort, especially after the callous and thoughtless words of one of our friends or classmates hurt us. As children this expression works well and alleviates many problems, but as we mature we begin to see that this catchy phrase really does not help, for it simply does not apply. The reality is that words can ...
Sermon
Richard Gribble
"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." When we were children we were taught this little rhyme as a way to remember one of the most momentous events in modern history. Columbus was a trailblazer who dared to believe that it was possible to reach the East Indies by sailing west across a vast uncharted ocean. By its very nature the voyage was dangerous and the sailors who braved the challenge were filled with fear. People are instinctively afraid of what they do not know. Yet, even with the odds stacked ...
Sermon
David T. Ball
When visiting another church one time, a thought occurred to me as I waited in my pew for communion to be served. It was during the Advent season, and the service had warmed us with words of hope and light. It was also the first Sunday of the month, which in that church meant communion Sunday. As the service shifted from Advent to communion, it struck me that, you know, we do this fairly often. Celebrate communion, that is. Once a month. We celebrate Christmas and Easter only once a year. Advent and Lent ...
Sermon
George Reed
The Gospel of Mark is filled with action. From the beginning Jesus is teaching, healing, and casting out demons. By the time we get to chapter 6, we have witnessed many miracles which Jesus has done. Then he comes home to Nazareth. Nazareth, that little backwater town that is despised and looked down on by the rest of Israel. Here is their big chance to show that something good can come out of Nazareth. We would expect that the Nazareth Gazette would run the headline, "Local Boy Makes Good" or that there ...
Sermon
Schuyler Rhodes
We live in a crazy time. There is, in the air we breathe, a sense of freneticism that buzzes around us all the time. People are busy. Too busy. It can be seen in the life of the church, where people who once gave of time and energy, now curtail their efforts because "work" demands so much. Many churches, ours included, now offer dinner at Bible studies and church meetings because people work so late they don't have time to squeeze a meal in if they are planning on coming to church that evening. Each one of ...
Sermon
Mary S. Lautensleger
If I were to ask you to complete the sentence, "You know it is going to be a bad day when ..." how would you respond? Let me give you a few examples. You know it is going to be a bad day when your car horn sticks on Interstate 75 and you are behind 32 Hell's Angels. You know it is going to be a bad day when you arrive at work and find a Sixty Minutes news team waiting in your office. You know it is going to be a bad day when your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles. You know it is going ...
Sermon
King Duncan
One of the most remarkable Christian witnesses in the world today is a man named Charles Colson. Many of you remember him as the political hatchet man for President Richard Nixon. While he was serving as special counsel to the President, Colson seemed to be a dispicable man, seemingly without a conscience. Then, quite remarkably, Chuck Colson had a thorough and complete conversion experience. It was in 1973 during the height of the Watergate proceedings. Please don’t be suspicious. This conversion ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
As a society, we are obsessed with our external images. As Christians we should recognize that our energies need to focus on how we can allow Christ to shape and mold us into new beings. The two texts focused on for this week approach the question of self image from two different but related perspectives. The text from Mark tells the story of an exorcism, a dramatic but not unbelievable or unheard of event in the first century A.D. Today we think that the type of demon exorcism Jesus practiced in Capernaum ...
884. The Ultimate Athlete
Ephesians 6:10-20
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Vince Lombardi is often remembered for saying, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!" Today, however, it might be more appropriate to declare with Madison Avenue that "Image isn't everything, it's the only thing." This week we try both to rehabilitate an old image and simultaneously deepen that image by excavating it for new depths. The tragedy of the outbreak of organized violence (read:"war") in the Persian Gulf has exposed a new sensibility among many Americans. Many who recall Vietnam shudder ...
885. A Lovehope Faith
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
A nuclear explosion is the result of a high-speed collision between atomic particles. The resulting blast can erase the landscape. But these technologically orchestrated smash-ups are a pale imitation of what happens when God brings together the most powerful entities that exist and allows them to explode within our lives. This sermon arranges and argues for a collision between your people and the greatest forces in the universe: faith, hope and love. At his retirement, a college professor was asked what ...
886. Home Alone
Revelation 21:10, 22-27
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
To refer to a group of people as "homeless" one must believe in "home." Might that be part of our problem? Have we lost our concept of "home," if not our "home" itself? It is time to go home again and find that our home is in God. The runaway smash movie of the 1990-91 holiday season was a farcical comedy entitled Home Alone. The plot of the movie whirled around the adventures of a young boy who is accidentally left home alone when his family flies off for a European vacation. While his frantic parents ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Celebrate the keepers of wisdom in your midst. How many times have you slammed the car door only to notice your keys hanging uselessly in the ignition? The entire vehicle, all its horsepower, comfort, gadgetry and security is suddenly completely inaccessible to you. Your dependence on that skinny little slip of metal is depressingly clear; your plans for at least the next hour or two are radically changed. Without keys, the familiar old family car suddenly becomes a menacing obstacle daring you to breach ...
888. The Four R's
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed is a basic lesson in key survival skills for the 21st century: Roots, Rituals, Relationships, Realities. In the so-called 'good old days' wherever and whenever those were public schools used to boast that they taught the '3-Rs' 'reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic all to the tune of a hickory stick.' In the West Virginia holler from whence my family hails, there were '4-R's' taught reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic and the road to Roanoke (That is the fastest way out of West ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
NOTE: This sermon, written in the 90s, read the way it's written below, could be a good introduction on how rapidly things have changed. Think about how to rerwork it as an illustration using the original lanuage or completely adapt it by updating the items. How to cruise on the new-century superhighway. People who work at or own a computer should be aware of these two things: First, they have more processing power at their fingertips at home and at the office than the sum of NASA computers that got the ...
890. Easter Dreams
Luke 24:1-12
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
In a world of Good Friday nightmares, it is time for Easter Dreams. After the completion of Disney World, someone remarked, "Isn't it too bad that Walt Disney didn't live to see this!" Mike Vance, creative director of Disney Studios replied, "He did see it that's why it's here." (Ministry Advantage, July/August 1994, 3). Everything in life that we use or hold, eat or watch, wear, sit in or listen to in other words, everything that is a creation of human ingenuity started out as a dream. Before anything can ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Unlike "fingerprints," which everyone is born with, we die with soulprints. How deep those soulprints go depends on the depth of our moral character and virtue. Do you know who your patron saint is? Maybe you didn't even know that you were born on the "feast day" of Saint Somebody-or-other. "Feast Day" refers to the death date, not the birth date, of a designated saint. Death dates, rather than birthdays, were celebrated as "feast days" because it was assumed that the saint's birthday into eternity was on ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
In a world of rapid change, the elementary becomes the elemental. What exactly is a "Christian?" What does that word really mean? It is time to make Christianity Christian again. Bruce Larson tells of the guide who was hired by some hunters to take them into the backwoods of Maine. After some days, they became hopelessly lost and quite naturally began to doubt the competence of their guide. "You said you were the best guide in Maine," they reminded him. "I am," he said, "but I think we're in Canada now." ...
893. Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:26-38
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
Good poker players know to watch closely the other players at their table in order to decipher each ones’ tell. The “tell” is an unconscious movement or mannerism displayed by an individual whenever they are bluffing. Or confidant, or perhaps confused. A “tell” is a tug on the lip, drumming fingertips, scratching the nose, something that “tells” what is on the mind of the player. Each gospel writer revels their own “tell” at the beginning of each of their unique renditions of the story of Jesus. The birth ...
894. Luke 2:22-40
Luke 2:21-40
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
If you grew up in the middle of the “baby boom,” you remember how every classroom was overflowing with kids. But teachers didn’t have to memorize fifty new names for every class, because certain names were so popular there would always be at least two or three in every room. If a teacher guessed Steve, Dave, Mike, or Jeff for a boy or Kathy, Pam, Lisa, or Cheryl for a girl, chances were good that the teacher would be right. One name never present in those classrooms was “Jesus.” Although Latino culture is ...
Sermon
King Duncan
There is always a letdown the week after Christmas. How could it be otherwise? Christmas demands so much of us. Now it’s back to the humdrum of ordinary living. Plus a few extra bills to pay and a few extra pounds to work off. Some unknown author spoke for many of us: Twas the month after Christmas and all through the house Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse. The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I'd taste. All the holiday parties had gone to my waist. When I got on the scales there arose such a number ...
896. Mark 8:31-38
Mark 8:31-38
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
Mark's gospel begins by focusing on Jesus' power and authority. It is full of wonder-working displays of God's vital presence in the midst of Jesus' early "hometown" work in Galilee. This week's gospel text changes both the direction and the message of Mark's record. Jesus turns himself and his disciples away from Galilee and faces them towards Jerusalem. As the first leg of their travels takes them to Caesarea Philippi, Mark's portrayal of Jesus also shifts. Three different times on this trip (recorded in ...
897. Matthew 3:1-12
Matthew 3:1-12
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
For the second week of Advent, the gospel text is once again one that urges preparation in the hearts and souls of the faithful for the imminent arrival of the Messiah. Whereas the living Jesus proclaimed this counsel in last week's text, this week, the gospel reading focuses on the message John the Baptist preached before Jesus entered into his public ministry. All four gospels are unanimous in their presentation of John the Baptist as the recognized precursor to and herald for Jesus the Christ. The ...
898. Mark 8:31-38
Mark 8:31-38
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
Mark's gospel begins by focusing on Jesus' power and authority. It is full of wonder-working displays of God's vital presence in the midst of Jesus' early "hometown" work in Galilee. This week's gospel text changes both the direction and the message of Mark's record. Jesus turns himself and his disciples away from Galilee and faces them towards Jerusalem. As the first leg of their travels takes them to Caesarea Philippi, Mark's portrayal of Jesus also shifts. Three different times on this trip (recorded in ...
899. Exodus 34:29-35
Exodus 34:29-35
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
The Old Testament is packed with fantastic tales of triumph and strength and honor. It also unhesitatingly records events of shame, deceit and loss with equal candor. Perhaps no other book so aptly demonstrates this unique compulsion towards almost painful straightforwardness than does Exodus. Here the Hebrews risk everything: They bravely go for broke, experience unheard of deliverances, obediently follow miraculous leadership and finally taste sweet freedom. Yet here also are the records of a whiny- ...
900. 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Sweet
Leonard Sweet
This week's text tells the familiar, moving story of a boy's call by the Lord. In some ways this text is almost too rich and deep in detail, tempting interpreters to read layers of meaning into words and images that might not have been intended by the author. We need to remember that if we would "listen in" on Samuel's call into a life of active service, we had better listen carefully. Only after keeping in mind that the divisions between chapters and verses were much later additions to the biblical text ...
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