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 1076 to 1100 of 4946 results
Sermon
William G. Carter
During the 1960s, Sherwood Schwartz wrote and produced a number of hit television shows. One of the most popular shows was Gilligan's Island, a comedy about a handful of pleasure cruise passengers who found themselves shipwrecked on a desert island. Every episode featured the castaways of the S.S. Minnow facing a wacky new adventure. The show was an immediate hit of the 1964 season. Each week, a lot of otherwise thoughtful, intelligent television viewers tuned in to hear the Skipper say, "Gilligan, drop ...
1077. Easter 5
John 15:1-17, Acts 8:26-40, Acts 9:19b-31, 1 John 4:7-21
Sermon Aid
Russell F. Anderson
Theme: The life of faith, begun in baptism, remains alive if we stay close to Christ. Christ is the vine and we are the branches. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 8:26-40 Philip is instructed by an angel to go to the road that leads from Jerusalem past Gaza down to Egypt. On the road he encounters an Ethiopian official, the steward of the queen's treasury. He is traveling along in a chariot and reading the Old Testament, Isaiah 53. He was either a proselyte of the Jewish faith, one who was circumcised and accepted ...
Sermon
Carlyle Fielding Stewart
The Gospel of John makes one of the most powerful observations in all scripture: "In the beginning was The Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life and that life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." (KJV) The Moffatt translation of the Bible says, "And the light shines in the darkness and the ...
1079. Gentiles 'R Us
Matthew 18:15-20
Sermon
Johnny Dean
(Note: perhaps I should preface this sermon with a brief explanation for Web page readers of the events which occurred in the week preceding the writing – specifically, on one particular day of that week. A long-time church member – a dear, sweet lady in her late 70’s – had been hospitalized with a severe infection. While in the intensive care ward of the local hospital, she suffered cardiac arrest. The attending physician was able to get her heart restarted, but only after a delay of several minutes. ...
Sermon
Johnny Dean
Back during the Christmas shopping season I was at the Wal-Mart Super store over in Martinsville, trying to weave my way from one side of the store to the other, from the automotive center where I had been checking out tire prices to the food section to pick up something for dinner (a modern-day marvel, those superstores). I had gone about half a mile when I passed through the sporting goods department. They had a TV hooked up to a VCR and they were showing a demo tape on deer hunting. A child had gotten ...
Sermon
Brett Blair
In 1977 two teenagers walked into a movie theatre in Memphis to watch a movie that was then virtually unknown. The name of the movie was Star Wars. The characters were unknown to my brother Todd and I. In fact, the movie was virtually unknown to many. Star Wars was not expected by anyone to be a smash hit let alone the biggest grossing movie of all times. We did know it was science-fiction. That’s the reason we went to see it; having grown up on a steady diet of comic books and Star Trek, we were a ready ...
1082. Proper 22
Lk 17:5-10 · 2 Tim 1:1-14 · Am 5:6-7, 10-15
Sermon Aid
John R. Brokhoff
COMMENTARY Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Though Israel is guilty of social injustices, Yahweh will be gracious to her if she seeks the Lord and loves good. Amos urges Israel to seek life by seeking the Lord, hating evil, loving good, and establishing justice. Because of their sins, they will experience the fire of judgment. Their sins are of a social nature: the wealthy oppress the poor, afflict the righteous, and accept bribes. Amos calls upon the nation to repent by turning from evil and turning to Yahweh. Then it ...
1083. The Call to Obedience
Luke 22:42 · Romans 1:17 · John 15:10
Sermon
Robert G. Tuttle
In the last chapter we talked about the door of faith which opens upon the whole expanding Christian experience. In this chapter we want to look at the obedience to God in our inner nature and lifestyle that comes from and grows out of the experience of faith. The problem of disobedience began with the dawn of time and has been repeated in every generation. It is known to me in my own acts of rebellion against God. The original sin is probably my own natural bent to put myself at the center of the universe ...
Sermon
Robert G. Tuttle
"I don’t want to be perfect" - but I do want to be better than am. I do want to be as good as I can be. I will never be mathematically perfect, everything just right, fixed. But as long as I live, I am going to be yearning after something that I have not yet achieved, and I am going to be responding to a pull that ever tugs me to a higher level of life. I don’t want to be a semi-Christian. I don’t want to be a "born again" Christian whose "conversion turns him around ninety degrees instead of one hundred ...
Sermon
Leonard Mann
There’s always mystery on Main Street, and one day the miracle occurred. You look into the mirror. You don’t say, "Who am I?" No, a Voice asks, "Who are you?" You don’t say, "I needn’t be here." No, the Voice says, "It is inevitable that you are here." Try it, and see. You are meant to be here. Then trouble begins. Who meant your life? "My parents," you say. Oh no, parents don’t create life: they only transmit life. We shouldn’t speak about "my children." They are not ours: they are God’s, every one of ...
Sermon
Carl E. Zahrte
Were you there? Is that what you were singing? Yes, I was there, all right. I had no choice in the matter. I was locked up in that lousy, stinking hole that they called a prison. I didn’t think that there was any chance that I would ever get out of there alive. The Romans had been after me for some time. Once they got their hands on me and threw me down into that dungeon, I thought for sure that my days were numbered. Those stone walls were mighty thick, and the guards kept a close watch on me. They liked ...
Children's Sermon
Wesley T. Runk
Object: small bell Good morning, boys and girls and a happy Advent to you! Do you know what Advent means? (Allow time for them to respond.) What does the word "Advent" make you think of when you hear it? For a lot of boys and girls it means getting ready for Jesus to come into our world and be the way He has promised us He would be. Advent is a time of preparing, getting ready, and that is what we want you to do. This Sunday and every day this week and the next three weeks will be spent getting ready for ...
Sermon
Robert G. Tuttle
A. E. Housman, in a brief verse, uncovers the awfulness of hate: I see In many an eye that measures me The mortal sickness of a mind Too unhappy to be kind. Undone with misery, all they can Is to hate their fellow man; And till they drop need must still they Look at you and wish you ill. That is a plague I would hope to escape. E. Stanley Jones shares his keen insight into the self-destruction of hate. He reminds us that "a rattlesnake, if cornered, will sometimes become so angry it will bite itself. That ...
1089. Marriages That Last
Ephesians 5:22-33
Sermon
King Duncan
Liz was sure her boyfriend Martin would make a great husband, especially when she met Martin's parents. "They're so nice to each other," Liz remarked. "It's great how your dad brings your mom coffee in bed every morning." Eventually, Martin and Liz got married. As they were heading for their honeymoon destination, Liz spoke of the loving home they would have, and mentioned once again Martin's father's habit of bringing his wife coffee in bed each morning. Liz asked jokingly, "And does this trait run in the ...
Sermon
King Duncan
To begin this morning, I want to take you back to your school days and start this sermon with some of the worst words a student could hear: "POP QUIZ." (Ask the congregation questions about the Bible and allow them time to answer.) 1. Where in the Bible does it tell how a man wipes dishes? Answer: II KINGS 21:13 "AND I WILL WIPE JERUSALEM AS MAN WIPETH A DISH, WIPING IT AND TURNING IT UPSIDE DOWN." 2. Who took off his shoe to bind a contract? Answer: BOAZ, RUTH 4:7-9. "THIS WAS THE MANNER IN FORMER TIME IN ...
Children's Sermon
King Duncan
Object: a jar of honey Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever tasted honey? It's good, isn't it? All sweet and sticky. Honey was an important food back in Jesus' day, too. That was the only thing people could use to sweeten their food, because they didn't have sugar back then. Did you know that honey is a very special food? There is something about honey that makes it different from every other food on earth. You see, honey never spoils. If honey is stored in a tight container, it never goes bad. ...
1092. Sacred Memories
Deuteronomy 26:1-15
Sermon
King Duncan
A new doctor--a young woman--came to a small town. Only one member of the community wasn't impressed with her. Old Jim Jones was the town grouch, and he was determined to show everyone that the new doctor wasn't all that great. So, he made an appointment with her. "Doctor," he said, "I have lost my sense of taste." The female doctor said, "What you need is my special concoction, #3." She brought out this concoction and gave a dose to Jim Jones to taste. After tasting it he immediately spit it out, "That's ...
Sermon
King Duncan
A man went to a psychiatrist. "I've got trouble," he said. "Every time I get into bed, I think there's somebody under it. I get under the bed, I think there's somebody on top of it. All night long, I'm looking under the bed or I'm on the floor peering at the bottom of the bed. It's awful. You gotta help me, I'm going crazy!" "Just put yourself in my hands for two years," said the psychiatrist. "Come to me three times a week, and I'll cure your fears." "How much do you charge?" the man asked. "A hundred ...
1094. Proper 5
Matthew 9:18-26, Matthew 9:9-13, Hosea 6:1--7:16, Hosea 5:1-15, Romans 4:1-25, Genesis 12:1-8
Sermon Aid
John R. Brokhoff
COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 12:1-9 Yahweh calls Abraham to go to Canaan and promises to make of him a great nation. Today we learn how Jews and Christians came into existence through one man, Abraham. Yahweh commanded him to leave his family, friends, culture, and vocation to go to a strange land. With his barren wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot, Abraham obeys the command and accepts the promise that he will become a great nation. His obedience and trust will result in his being a blessing to the ...
Sermon
James Merritt
"When anger enters the mind, wisdom departs." Thomas a Kempis(1) Respiration deepens; the heart beats more rapidly; the arterial pressure rises; the blood is shifted from the stomach and intestines to the heart, central nervous system and the muscles; the processes of the alimentary canal cease; sugar is freed from the reserves in the liver; the spleen contracts and discharges its contents of concentrated cor­puscles, and adrenaline is secreted. What does this describe? It is the physiological ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Even if you’re not Irish, and the most Irish thing you’ve ever done is eat Lucky Charms, you know all about leprechauns. The thing everyone knows about leprechauns is they love gold. The thing everyone knows about gold is that in Irish tradition pots of it languish at the “end of the rainbow.” At the end of every rainbow, guarded by a leprechaun, is a legendary “pot of gold.” Sounds like easy pickings, no? Except for one teeny, tiny flaw in that equation no one can ever FIND the end of a rainbow. Ever try ...
Sermon
James Merritt
I will never forget the first time I was able to actually go to see the Master's golf tournament in person. I wanted to follow a young phenom by the name of Tiger Woods. I was right behind him on the seventeenth tee box to see him rip one of those majestic drives. In the split second that he hit the ball, one man in the crowd yelled at the top of his lungs - "You 'Da Man." Every time you go to a tournament you are going to hear someone yell that at Tiger Woods. I don't know how that phrase got its origin, ...
Sermon
James Merritt
There are always two sources of conflict any leader or any organization faces - external and internal. Believe it or not, by far and away the most dangerous type of conflict is internal. We have already seen how the enemy tries to attack from the outside and one of his primary weapons is criticism, but when he attacks from the inside, he uses an even more powerful weapon – selfishness. In the first four chapters of Nehemiah we saw how the enemy tried several things to stop the rebuilding of the wall. First ...
Sermon
James Merritt
I want to read one-half of one verse in the Bible from which we are going to base two months worth of messages. It is a verse that is packed with unbelievable implications for you, your life, your family, your future and particularly our church. "The Lord has made everything for His own purposes." (Proverbs 16:4, NLT) I believe everything means everything and I believe purpose means purpose. Behind everything and everyone that has been created on this earth there is a purpose - specifically God's purpose. ...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
One of the words we use a lot in the United Methodist church is the word Connection. Generally, when we use the word Connection we are talking about the connection between the local church to the District, the Annual Conference, the Jurisdictional Conference, the General Conference all United Methodist Churches around the world. Our founder John Wesley realized there was power in this idea of connection. John Wesley understood the communal nature of the church and of faith. He planned and designed ways for ...
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