Synonyms: replica, copy, representation, mock-up, dummy, imitation, double, duplicate, lookalike, reproduction, prototype, stereotype, archetype, type, version, style, ideal, paragon, perfect example, specimen, perfect specimen, fashion model, supermodel, mannequin, sitter, poser, subject, artist's model, photographic model, design, mark, configuration, variety, kind, sort, original, original design, exclusive, toy, miniature, facsimile, prototypical, prototypal, archetypal, illustrative, perfect, exemplary, classic, flawless, faultless, consummate, impeccable
Antonyms: deficient, imperfect
Showing 1651 to 1675 of 3160 results
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... fear economic setback and loss. Reflect upon the conversations you've had this past week. I would be surprised if any one of you did not have some occasion to express or hear someone else express fear about the economic situation. We fear the future. This is a sort of floating fear that we can't always name or specify. Many times it's vague, but it stirs within leaving us unsettled and uncertain. It has to do with the core issue of being human and thus being vulnerable to hazards, some of which threaten our ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... but we did, and so we were soon on our way -- the 3 of us driving to Chicago. As I settled into the back seat – John driving, and our German guest beside him in the front -- I was almost instantly confronted with the thought that I needed to share some sort of Christian witness, especially to the German guy who was so depressed. How would I do it? I didn't want to come off as a preacher. I wanted to be natural, and I wanted to communicate authentic caring. While I was mulling it over in my mind, trying to ...
1653. If I Have Not Love
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... less than human. Back in August, I was preaching at the Western North Carolina Laity Conference in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. We had over two thousand people, and they were a great audience. After my first sermon, people were in a line greeting me. I saw a woman sort of hanging back. She wanted a bit more time than the usual greeting and thank you. I gave it to her. She was not from North Carolina, but was from another state – 500 miles away. She had heard about the Conference and that I was one of ...
1654. Loving The Jesus Way
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... the sexual promiscuity and manipulations leveled at Dr. Herenton. And I have an idea that there was delight for some in the conviction of black councilman, Ricky Peete, for bribery. And would you believe -- there are some folks who have gotten a bizarre sort of satisfaction out of the financial problems of Aavron Fogelman. James Moffitt translated a part of verse 6 in this fashion, "Love is not glad when things go wrong for others." I hope you are really paying attention to these different translations that ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... woman well enough to know something of the raw nerve that his sermon had struck. She, too, had a son -- a son who had been in and out of school -- in and out of trouble -- in an out of the house -- in and out of jobs -- in and out of sorts -- in and out of the state. The family had taken him back over and over again, had gone to bat for him, gone with him to counseling, loaned him money, found him a job -- only to have their home disrupted by his sullen silences or sudden outbursts. "Now, as it ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... temple -- functioning there at the altar day in and day out as his tour of duty arose. Did he not expect God to be present there -- or, did he expect God to be present there -- but not to do anything, not to say anything, not to break in with any sort of startling interruption to life, or startling news about life? In his novel, The Clowns of God, Morris West has Jean-Marie, a former pope, say, "The biggest mistake we have made through the ages is to try to explain the ways of God to men. We shouldn't do ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... at the threshold of Christmas, the morning star points to both an end and a beginning. The morning star appears on a clear night in the East just before sunrise. It signals the end of the night and the dawn of the new day. (D. Wayne Burkett, "What Sort of Greeting," Pulpit Digest, November - December, 1987, page 74). So we gather on this Morning Star Sunday -- this eve of the birth of our Lord. We've been looking at the nine stories Jesus used to tell of the arrival of the Morning Star. We've looked at ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... that have been it? Abel offered a humble token of gratitude -- the very best out of his flock of sheep. But Cain offered a gift in the proud spirit of who he was -- proving his skills, his superiority, the quality of his works. We need to learn from this. What sort of gift is acceptable to God? In the way of money, it's not the _amount_, but the spirit in which you give. And it also has something to do with _proportion_. How much of what you earn -- or how much of what you have are you giving to God ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... , but I cannot do it. (7:18) There's no question about it -- Wesley was a Christian, yet he was not a Christian. Hold on Preacher, I can hear you say. Stop the double talk. How can you say Wesley was a Christian and he was not a Christian. What sort of talk is that? Have you heard the story of the young man who began his work in a grocery store? About the second day that he was there, a rather elderly woman, very proper, and very insistent on her own way, came into the store and went to the ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... make that final movement of faith -- the sacrifice of his only son. But God called out -- God stopped his hand, and told him to look around because he had provided an alternative sacrifice. I like what Abraham did -- in fact I like how this sort of thing happened over and over again, especially in the Old Testament. When people had an experience with God, they named that experience and they named the place of the experience. So, Abraham called the place "Jehovah - Jireh," which means "the Lord will provide ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... we use our money tells so much about who we are — but the more important thing is that it tells whose we are. Our response to “Claiming the Promise” will be a part of that story — the story of whose we are, told by how we use our money. What sort of witness are you going to share? The world is seeing too few stories of persons who with all they are, with all they have are saying, “I belong to God. Life for me is a gift. I am called to be rich — rich in good deeds, rich in generosity ...
1662. God's Hello People
1 John 1:5--2:14
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... and the one with which we began the sermon. Unlike the first teacher, Miss Williams became God's Hello Person. That's our call -- to walk in hospitality -- to keep the welcome mat out at the door of our hearts, to learn to entertain those angels that appear in all sorts of guise.
1663. A Fragrant Offering
Ephesians 4:17--5:21
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... repetition?" His love was tough, and his remark opened the door to an incredible career for that woman. So, because it hangs tough, love sometimes has to do the painful thing. Yet, we need to remember this: when love doesn't hang tough, all sorts of destructive things happen. Marriage vows are trivialized and made the brunt of humor. Respect for individual worth and strength of character that Jesus honored are quickly traded for the fast buck, for the limelight or the next pleasure. Persons who have great ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... , but it sounds like a squirrel to me." Isn't it funny -- how we program our children for proper responses. If a preacher is talking, he must be talking about Jesus. Inside all of us there is a subconscious mind...a storage box into which we put all sorts of things. Well, I've been storing some things, and this summer I'm calling them out. During the remaining Sundays of this summer, I'm going to preach on some random texts from scripture. Some of them are my favorite texts. Some of them are obscure ones ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... and call his name Emmanuel." "The Lord shaves with a borrowed razor" -- He uses what he will and He acts how He will to achieve His purpose. God is sovereign King of the universe -- in control -- his eternal purpose is going to be accomplished, and he uses all sorts of persons and events and circumstances to accomplish his will. What is being said in the text is that God is going to use the pagan king Cyrus to accomplish his will. He's going to shave with this borrowed razor. I think it's marvelous, the way ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... admonished to use the "kiss principle": "Keep it simple, stupid." There is a sense in which the Epistle of James is a "how to" book, and any bookstore has a large section of such books, from How To Build a Patio to How to Repair Your Motorcycle. We are a sort of "do it yourself" people. Many who can afford to have anything and everything done by others like to do it themselves. The Epistle of James is a kind of "How to" manual for the Christian life. That's appealing, isn't it? We hear a lot in church about ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." That was a surprise to both the righteous and the unrighteous, because neither of them knew when they did that sort of thing to Jesus. "When," they asked, "when did we see you hungry?" His response to their question is unforgettable: "As you did it or did it not unto the least of these, you did it or you did it not unto me." Nothing about belief -- nothing about right ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... a conversation. The woman looked across at her husband, then looked ahead to the young couple, and she asked her husband, "why don't we sit together like that anymore?" Quick as a flash he responded, "I haven't moved". The story stimulates all sorts of suggestive thoughts. Relationships may grow cold over the years. There may be someone you love -- husband, wife, child, parent -- someone with whom your relationship has grown cold. You may be the blame. They may be. In either case, you can do something about ...
1669. The Trance Of Non-renewal
Zechariah 9:9-13, Matthew 24:36-44
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... , and to see how God works in our individual lives. I wonder how many of us live in a "trance of non-renewal", not expecting that anything good is ever going to happen in our lives, saying, "Nothing has happened so far." And we get into a sort of trance -- living with no expectancy that things might be different. I've heard people say this: "Nothing like that has happened in my life so far." So with an awe-inspiring application of logic, they conclude: "Therefore, nothing is going to happen in the future ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... asset in those days, so it was not a little matter what was going on here. So, yes, we can imagine that he was flabbergasted. It would have been natural for him to protest. It certainly would have been natural for him to want to negotiate and find out what sort of guarantees were being made and when they would return his donkey. As is true with so much of scripture, a lot of what went on is not told. But enough is told for us to get the impact of what happened. When Jesus' disciples told the man, "The Lord ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... of the rooster. III. And now this final word: A passion to follow Jesus is still our primary need. Despite his denial, he was fundamentally loyal. H. G. Wells once said, "A man may be a bad musician and yet be passionately in love with music." That's sort of the way it was with Peter. Though he did fail terribly -- though he did become the victim of over-confidence, he was still passionately devoted to Jesus. I like the way William Barclay puts it. There is hope for the man, who even when he is sinning ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... next time please don't send it by the Methodists because they kept half of it!" (Dr. Joe Harding, "We are Building -- Glad and Generous Disciples", June 14, 1981). Now Jesus is not supporting the notion of calculated giving or manipulative behavior. He's not calling us to the sort of studied behavior that asks: "What's in it for me?" There's too much of that kind of selfishness built into us. In fact, that may be a part of our original sin, always asking, "What's in it for me?" Jesus is talking about a way ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... and hard and your brains are in it and your hair is on it. Your face is in the front of your head where you eat and make faces. Your neck is what keeps your head out of your collar, and it's hard to keep clean. Your shoulders are sort of shelves where you hook on your suspenders and your stomach is something that if you don't eat often enough it hurts, and spinach don't help none. Your spine is a long bone in your back that is always behind you no matter how quick you turn around ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... Thomas sent me an Andy Capp cartoon after I had preached that sermon. Andy Capp slips out of his house in the dark and heads down to the neighborhood bar. When he comes in he sees a woman there -- and he says to himself, "Oh.....Flo," and then he sort of turns his back and walks away. Then he says in the next frame, "You mustn't tempt me, Miss, I'm a married man." Then he addresses the bartender, "Right, Jack." "Right, Andy," the bartender responds. Then he says to the bartender, "Tell her I'll be in ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
... hot-bed and they felt governmental pressure would be oppressive. So they prayed, and prayed, and prayed, persistently and expectantly. It became clear they should go. But here is the clincher. Because of past experience, they expected God to affirm their decision with some sort of confirming sign. A couple of weeks later, they were in Destin, Florida on vacation. On Sunday, they intended going to one church, but ended up going to a 7:30 a.m. service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. A layman, probably ...
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