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 1 to 25 of 2331 results
1. Desert Springs
Isaiah 35:1-10
Sermon
... in front of you, as the sun drew the water into the air. On the far side of this dwindling lake, cattle sought shelter in caves. Only the flamingos feeding on pink larvae in the water stood untouched by the burning heat of the day. Being in that desert was really a life threatening situation. I could not stay in that sunlight very long. Like the cattle, I too had to seek a cave for shelter or the shade of a divi-divi tree. As I drove through that wilderness, wild parrots and rubytopaz hummingbirds flew in ...
Sermon
John N. Brittain
... to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem. -- Galatians 1:16b-18a How much of that three year period was spent in the desert of Arabia is a matter of conjecture, but Paul is making it clear that he had issues to clarify, not by talking with authority figures in the church, but by consulting with God in solitude. In Paul's case, he has just told us what his problem was ...
Sermon
James Merritt
... , I don't care what kind of religious experience you had in your life, if you are happy being away from God, you are lost and need to be saved. Now notice what took place in this stage of his life: a. He Loved The World Paul says, "Demas has deserted me…having loved this present world." Now the word world here does not refer to the world of nature. We ought to love that world. God created this world and said it was good. "There are sermons in stones and books and brooks and good in everything." There is a ...
Drama
Arley K. Fadness
... lasts, will yah? What's with him? (Points to athletic-type person who is very morose and has been sitting at the bar.) Bartender: He just came in before you. Said he's thirsty, too. Travis: Hey, how ya doin'? Chad: Who, me? Travis: Yeah. Been in the desert? Chad: Yep. Just came back from the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Travis: How'd you do? Chad: Won a medal. 200 meter dash. Worked for ten years for that goal. (Brightens up) Wow! Was that something great! (Gets excited; jumps up) I ran. I ran with everything ...
5. Dessert in the Desert
Deut 32:10-12 · Ez 37
Sermon
Robert Noblett
... diminishing. When they come, they mean more than they ever did before. Maybe fewer kisses make them dearer; maybe fewer hugs make them even more special; maybe God is never more real than when God brings his living water to our parched lips as we traverse the desert attendant to the "dark night of the soul." Never is kindness more real than when we have known cruelty; never is faith more real than when we have known doubt; never is peace more real than when we have known anxiety; and never is God more real ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... moment on Laura began attending church; her search was over. (5) Nothing is more appealing than a life that has been authentically touched by the Master’s hand. Some of the Athenians saw that in Paul. Do they see that in you? In me? Crossing the desert or just protecting our vehicle? Only we can decide. 1. Lift Your Sails. Vincent Dwyer, O.C.S.O. New York: Doubleday, 1987, p. 177. 2. Eric S. Ritz, Easton, Pa. 3. Dorothy Pryse. The Upper Room. September/October 1992, p. 23. 4. The Presence. Bruce Larsen ...
7. A Dance in the Desert
Philippians 4:4-7
Sermon
Wayne Brouwer
... bonfire. The mother reaches for her child, desperately trying to draw him to safety. But the child stands and laughs. He opens his arms wide to the lion. The lion lifts his front paws and hops around on his hind legs. He's dancing! Then, from the desert, come running several little mice, two donkeys, a snake, and a couple of clumsy ostriches. Three great eagles swoop in from the purple skies and from the other side of the camp a unicorn emerges, a pelican, and even two dragons. They all bow before the child ...
Understanding Series
Craig C. Broyles
... the psalm, especially verses 1, 4–31, may have been sung at the first temple in the preexilic period. 107:1–32 After the opening invitations to praise (vv. 1–3), there follow four narratives of different groups (vv. 4–32). Thirsty travelers in the desert had cried to Yahweh, and he led them . . . to a city and “satisfied” them (vv. 4–9). Rebellious prisoners, whom Yahweh had punished, cried to him, and he brought them out (vv. 10–16). Next, the sick, ailing because of their iniquities, cried ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” This is a man who thinks he’s the last Coca Cola in the desert. There’s an old joke about a psychiatrist who is seeing a new patient for the first time. The psychiatrist says, “I’m not aware of your issue, so maybe you should start at the beginning.” The patient rolls his eyes and sighs, “Alright. In the beginning, I ...
Understanding Series
Tremper Longman III
... refers to “the city,” so there is no secret concerning the identity of the city among Judeans. This once bustling place (a city “closely compacted together” [Ps. 122:3]) is now eerily deserted. The poet engages the readers by using an exclamation to get them to picture the scene of the deserted city in their imagination (How deserted lies the city once so full of people!). We feel the poet’s sadness right from the start as he compares the formerly populated city to the nearly empty one now. He ...
11. Flowers In Your Desert
Illustration
Maxie Dunnam
... and miles. There’s no sign of life there at all. And yet, some years ago it began raining in Death Valley and it rained for nineteen consecutive days. And do you know what happened? The desert began to bloom. Poppies and larkspur, little buttercups began popping out all over the place. They filled the desert and clothed it with fantastic colors. When the rain was over, people went out and were able to collect in no more than a 50-yard radius over 100 different kinds of beautiful flowers. Listen, though ...
12. Text Message in the Desert
Matthew 2:13-23
Illustration
Angela Akers
... offered to add her name to a text prayer chain so other women in their small town could pray for her race. On race day as Beth and her team gathered near the starting line, Beth’s phone suddenly pinged. Her teammates stared at her. They were in a remote desert region that had no cell phone service. The ping was a text from the neighborhood prayer chain back in North Carolina. Beth read it aloud to her team. It was Isaiah 41:10, a promise from God to the nation of Israel, “So do not fear, for I am with ...
Bulletin Aid
Frank Ramirez
Call To Worship Slow down. Slow ... down. Hear ... the ... Lord. Collect Deserted. Desert. Arrested. Arid. Spare. Bare. Stranger. Danger. Strife. Life Life? Life in deserted places and spaces. Retreat! And stay. Pray. In the midst of God's mission and the cares of the world we carve out a niche, kneel with our Lord, and pray. Amen. Prayer Of Confession We gather together as sisters and brothers, Lord of all life, to pray for your ...
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
... . For in prayer you have direct contact with the source of our power. No wonder Jesus spent as much time in prayer as He did. Peter and the disciples didn't understand that, that's why they seemed so put out and disturbed when they found Jesus in the deserted place, praying. Peter didn't say, "Lord, what are you doing out here praying? What are you wasting time doing that for, when there's so much to do and so many people to see." Peter didn't say that but his attitude sure implied it. Peter eventually came ...
15. God Does Not Desert Us
Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 31:8
Illustration
I find it strange that God has never deserted me. I don't understand that kind of grace frankly. I do not deserve his eternal presence, nor do you. Yet, God has forever identified with ... her story years later, she said: "How could I possibly leave them. I was a part of them." Our God is a good God. He does not desert us in our hour of need. He hears the cries of Israel. He hears the cries of the church. He hears the cries of His children. Christmas is about God's eternal identification with the human ...
16. A Forty-Year Desert Tour
Illustration
... in the spiritual life, God seems to allow us to be detoured. One of the longest detours of all time happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness. What should have taken them eleven days to enter the Promised Land turned into a forty-year detour in the desert. That detour was due to their deplorable lack of faith in God's conquering power. On the other hand, there were those who may have thought they were being detoured by God, but who later found they were on God's perfect road of blessing all along ...
17. Desert Pete's Well of Water
Illustration
Keith Miller and Bruce Larson
The following letter was found in a baking-powder can wired to the handle of an old pump that offered the only hope of drinking water on a very long and seldom-used trail across Nevada's Amargosa Desert: "This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the ...
18. Betrayal and Desertion
Matthew 26:1-5, Matthew 26:6-13, Matthew 26:14-16
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... s execution by Rome and resurrection/vindication by God: In 26:1–28:20, Matthew narrates Jesus’s final days and hours as he willingly suffers and goes to his execution to restore his people and usher in God’s reign. Though the disciples desert him and Rome and the Jerusalem leaders crucify him as a criminal, God vindicates Jesus as Messiah and Lord at his resurrection. 26:1–16 · Matthew signals the conclusion of the fifth discourse with the familiar formula, “When Jesus had finished [saying these ...
Humor
We can use a sense of humor in our churches to poke fun at our most serious shortcomings and to smooth out tensions between the various factions in the church. There's an old story about two Jews, two Catholics and two Baptists being cast away on a desert island. When they were found some years later, the Catholics had started the Church of St. Christopher. The Jews had started Temple Emanuel. And the two Baptists had started the First Baptist Church and the Second Baptist Church.
20. Desert Story
Genesis 21:8-21, Psalm 86:16-17
Bulletin Aid
Frank Ramirez
Call To Worship One: Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl. All: Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. Collect Gather the nations, Lord, into your temple. Let us be light to shine as a beacon. Amen. (Psalm 86:16-17) Prayer Of Confession You are God of all nations and all faiths, Lord. Before we talk about other churches, other faiths, ...
21. Through Desert and Sea to Make History
Exodus 13:17--14:31, Psalm 114:1-8
Bulletin Aid
Frank Ramirez
Call To Worship When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judad became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
If the real theme of the bread of life discourse is discipleship, it is not surprising that the real (though hidden) audience turns out to be Jesus’ disciples, not mentioned since 6:22. What is surprising is that their reaction to the discourse corresponds closely to that of “the Jews” who grumbled about Jesus (v. 41) and argued among themselves over his claims (v. 52). It is not self-evident that Jesus’ disciples in this passage are a well-defined group firmly committed to following him—except for the ...
23. Wanderings in the Desert
Deuteronomy 3:21-29
Understanding Series
Christopher J. H. Wright
Reminder of Past Victories: The first three chapters of Deuteronomy not only warn the people from past failures but also encourage them from past victories. The words to Joshua near the end of the section (3:21f.) give the point of the whole: God can do again what they had seen God do before, even for other nations. Their God did not lack experience! The structure of the section can be presented as follows: 2:1–8 – Encounter with Edom 2:9–18 – Encounter with Moab 2:19–23 – Encounter with Ammon 2:24–37 – ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
Traveling at the command of the Lord, the Israelites journey to Rephidim, find no water, and quarrel with Moses to the point where he fears for his life. God promises Moses, “I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out” (17:6). In Paul’s recital of the lessons to be learned from the wilderness events, he states that the people drank “from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4 NRSV). Unpacking the symbolic connections, ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
But if the descent of Christ gives difficulty to the crowds (6:41–42), this deeper teaching causes the disciples to stumble (6:60). They too murmur (6:61). Jesus breaks the impasse by showing that literal flesh is not the key; rather, it is the Spirit who conveys life (6:63). If the Eucharist is still at issue, the message is clear: its physical element “counts for nothing” if the Spirit’s power is not present. But to understand this fully takes more than human minds can grasp (6:64, 66). Jesus repeats the ...
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