Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: captured, trapped, catch, took, arrested, grabbed, taken, seized, stuck, apprehended, picked up, entangled, nabbed, jammed, abducted, acquired, got, bagged, gotten, netted, cornered, appropriated, tangled, snared, ensnared

Antonyms: free, freed, unconfined, loose, unrestrained, set free, uncuffed, emancipated, enfranchised, released, ambiguous, flaccid, let go, discharged, unbound, uncaged, unchained, unfettered, unleashed, unshackled, untied, avoided, discounted, disregarded, missed

Showing 126 to 150 of 2233 results

126. Good to Great

Ezekiel 45:3-5

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... private jet before so he said, “Why not?” They got set up on a charter and went way out into the ocean. Before long Bill had caught one big tarpon. He was feisty thing and Bill held on to it as long as he could. Finally, the captain had to help him reel ... let down the nets for a catch.” –Luke 5:4 When they went into deeper waters for a catch here was the result: They caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help ...

127. Before You Start Ripping Your Clothing

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... of blood and brought it back. God said, “The courage of one who gives his life is precious, but not the most precious thing in the world.” The angel resumed his quest. Wearily he roamed the earth until he came upon a nurse dying of a disease she caught nursing a child back to health. God said, “The selfless devotion of one who saved the life of a child is very precious, but it also is not the most precious thing on earth.” The downcast angel continued to wander. One day he saw a farmer prepared to ...

128. The Gathering at Cana

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... eaten yet! And we do that as well, don’t we? It’s called, we can’t see the forest for the trees! We get caught up in the midst of our troubles, and our problems, and we see all of our lives as one big responsibility. We need to work; ... time; we need to save face with our friends by doing and saying all of the right things. And even in our churches, we can get caught up can’t we with doing the programs we think we should, finishing worship on time, preparing for the next Men’s Breakfast, laying out ...

129. The Catch

John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25, Acts 10:1-8, Acts 10:9-23a, Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... from National Geographic***: The net would be cast over the side (it would take several men to do it), and the catch would be caught in the net and then hauled back into the boat. Once at dock, the fish would be sorted, prepped, and then sold. In John’s ... fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so ...

130. God Has Not Forgotten You

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the Diaspora” are looked down upon by the later Jerusalem purity seekers, God continues to recognize that the “True Israel” consists of many more of God’s people than only those in David’s original ancestral city. We in the church can also get caught up in a kind of “purity” seeking, a kind of “frozen chosenness.” Many of us look back to a time once heralded in the church as “good or better,” lamenting for what we believe we have lost. We mourn what we think culture has “taken ...

131. Yes, You Can Work Yourself to Death

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... to being tired and ready to go home, he’s probably frustrated that his hard work didn’t pay off. He was tired and ready to quit. And now Jesus is telling him how to do his job. Simon answers, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” And in this story, Jesus gives us a gift. He shows us how to heal a tired spirit. For example, one thing we learn from this story is that doing meaningful work can heal a tired spirit. A ...

132. Christ’s Call to Discipleship

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... because it came from where they lived daily. Love, sympathy, and concern pour freely as the wine from the large open containers at the wedding of Cana. His truth was like a sharp two-edged sword that cut deep into their hearts and soul. Certainly that caught the attention of the people to want to know and experience God! When Christ spoke, people listened! As God speaks we must make a conscious effort to hear what is being said. Don’t let other sounds drown out his voice. What competes for our listening ...

133. Ordinary Tragedy

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon

Will Willimon

... church is built, trembles before her accusing word and blurts out, not once but thrice, "I never really knew the man." It may not be much as high drama goes, the scene we witness tonight, but it is drama. Our tragedy. Ordinary, everyday people like Peter, like us, caught up in a vast pageant, where good and evil clash, lock in mortal combat, in words exchanged by a fisherman and a maid in the night. We know this play well. We have acted our part in it, dozens of times with a midnight dormitory room, a board ...

134. Redeem the Time

Matthew 24:36-44 · Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... would be swept out of the library in the deluge, do you think they would have allowed their lives to be caught in such triviality? No! They would have forsaken their trivial pursuit and done something significant, like working in a water conservation ... will be dropped and we won't have done anything to stop it, but that God will sweep in among us and we will be caught wasting our time doing that which is insignificant to God. The flood we fear, the thief for whom we await, the night visitor whose advent ...

135. Dynamic Preaching January 2024 Sermons

Sermon

King Duncan

... was older and bigger, the sister was able to climb the nearest tree, but Johnny ran for the fence. Perched on a limb, the sister screamed out her advice, "Run, Johnny! Run!" As he neared the fence, she yelled, "Slide, Johnny! Slide!" He did, but his pants became caught in the barbed wire. Her last bit of advice was, "Pray, Johnny! Pray!" The only prayer Johnny had ever heard was his father repeating grace at mealtime, but the old cow was closing in fast and he needed to do something so he used his dad’s ...

136. Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

John 10:11-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the weak sheep with your horns. You push until you have forced them away, so I will save my flock. They will not be caught by wild animals anymore. I will judge between one sheep and another. Then I will put one shepherd over them, my servant David. He ... save them from the power of the people who made them slaves. Then they will know that I am the LORD. They will not be caught like an animal by the nations anymore. Those animals will not eat them anymore. No, they will live safely. No one will make them afraid ...

137. Allowing God To Do A New Thing

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... Church. It is good when the focus is on preserving biblical values and the faith of the New Testament Church. It becomes a negative, though, when the focus shifts to the method and the practice of ministry in the local church. Too often churches get caught up in trying to do things the way they have always been done. This leaves the Church out of step with the majority of society. Even worse, it leaves many contemporary people to wonder if the Church has anything relevant to say to them. Tragically, when ...

138. Topsy-turvy Christianity

Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... a minute! Here is my shirt. Take that too?" Am I supposed to give something to every beggar who shakes a tin cup under my nose? When someone robs my house, am I not allowed to call the police to see if the burglar can be caught and my stuff recovered? Retaliation, getting even, standing up for our "rights," protecting what is ours -- these are the standards by which most of us live. Jesus' radical precepts make us extremely uncomfortable, but they set forth the principles by which life in the kingdom of ...

139. Easter Jogging

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... disciples even remotely suspected that Jesus was risen from the dead. Death Is The Spoiler We do not find it difficult to understand why the disciples did not recognize the significance of the empty tomb. All of us are so oriented to the world of death we are all caught in its cold grip. Mary wanted to hold on to a corpse. The Hebrews considered it a great tragedy if a person's remains were disturbed in any way. To have the grave robbed was a dreadful violation of one's person who should rest in peace with ...

140. The Open Hand

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... kill it?' But they remained silent. He looked round on them with anger, for he was grieved at the obtuseness of their hearts" (Mark 3:5).2 The opposite of an obtuse heart is an open heart. The opposite of closed minds is the mind which is caught up in self-forgetfulness which is what worship means. The opposite of a clenched fist is an open hand. The problem of the Pharisees was closed minds, hard hearts, and clenched fists. Jesus told the man with a withered hand to stretch out his hand. Indirectly, Jesus ...

141. Just What The Doctor Ordered

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32). This account is the last recorded complaint of the wandering Israelites. Perhaps they learned much from this event. Have you? You don't have a big boat? You've never caught your limit of fish? Everyone else seems to have more than you do? Your hat was lost at sea? You never even knew your grandma? You feel like life is one monotonous day after another? Let this still your disquieted heart: someone is praying for you that you ...

142. To Be Continued

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... . And hey, get that cloud out of the way; we want to see Jesus as long as we can. This time Jesus not only vanished (like many times before), but he also ascended, never to be seen by these men again on earth. The disciples were caught in a movie theatre that was showing a horror flick. The protagonist, the good guy, had just gotten in trouble and was killed. "Is he really dead -- forever?" the movie watchers wonder. Or will he be supernaturally (and unrealistically) resurrected before the end of the movie ...

143. So Much To Say, So Little Time

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

... to listen. We are determined to be faithful followers. But the moment we hear his voice, we begin to get anxious. His words pour down upon us like a shower, and we worry about getting wet rather than seeking to understand. He speaks about eternal things and we are caught up in the present. We still need someone to speak to us in a different manner, someone who will help us hear and believe in spite of our disbelief. We need the Spirit to be there, to help us to hear. But the Spirit does more than help us ...

144. The Demons Within

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

... with them, but Jesus sent him away, telling him to go back home and tell what God had done for him. The last we hear of the man is that he is doing just that. Now you see, the problem we have with this story is that we get caught up with the demons that appear in it. We start conjuring up all sorts of possibilities to explain the demons. Maybe they are these little supernatural creatures that look like gargoyles on the tops of medieval buildings. Maybe the man was suffering from seizures from some sort of ...

145. The Gift of Wisdom

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... Lord. May the gifts of our new life be so abundant in us that we may triumph through both the sorrows and the joys of our years, even beneath our scars. And may we be witnesses too, in our own ways and in our own time, as we too are caught in the Acts, the Acts of the Apostles -- the acts of those who belong to a living Lord.

146. God's A Catcher

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... flyers, suspended in the air, reaching by faith, then know that God is the unfailing Catcher. And if it sometimes seems we are flying through life's air without support, by faith we know that, invisible to the world and more often than not also to us, God has already caught us in his arms.

147. Down A Garden Path

Genesis 2:4-25, Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... Thhe Lord says, "You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." How hard could it be? All those trees, boughs lush with so many succulent and delicious choices. How could you get caught with your mouth full of the forbidden fruit! The subtle pressure of a smooth-talking snake doesn't seem sufficient to explain such audacity or stupidity. Put us in a garden and perhaps we could handle it! Or how about a desert? Jesus is in a swirl of sand ...

148. Pentecost -- A Wild, Weird, Wonderful Day

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... at the head of the line was a man he had invited to church often, but who never came. He said to him, "John, this is the first time you have ever been to church." The man was quick to reply, "This is the first time the church ever caught on fire." Fire creates its own attraction. The Miracle Of Pentecost There were many things that took place at Pentecost. There was the strange speaking in tongues, the rush of a mighty wind, and the spectacle of tongues as of fire. The miracle of Pentecost was that they ...

149. God's Power Over Death

Exodus 1:1-22, 2:1-10

Sermon

Steve Burt

... the miraculous joy of the moment of Gary's baptism, when hope sprang forth. But they didn't. They, too, caught a glimpse of God's awesome power, power even over Death. They understood the experience through the eyes of faith. Mary Magdalene, at the tomb on Easter ... morn, saw with the eyes of faith, too. She caught a vision of God's power over Death, and it changed her life in such a way that she then went forth and changed ...

150. Meeting Our Needs, Not Our Greeds

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

Steve Burt

... one summer a problem arose. It seemed that a fox had found a way to sneak into the pen where the chickens were kept, and it carried off a chicken every night. The farmer tried setting traps, but the fox was too smart to take the bait and get caught in the trap. The farmer tried staying awake and watching over the chicken pen, but he never did spot where it was that fox got in. No matter what the farmer tried, each morning when he checked, another chicken would be gone. One morning he noticed one chicken was ...

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