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 1 to 25 of 304 results

1. Acquired Taste

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... was not a “spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power, and of love, and of self discipline”(v.7). Timothy was called to give up a notion of faith that earned him universal approval and unqualified triumphs wherever he went. Timothy had to acquire a taste for a faith that saw suffering and rejection, even imprisonment and death, as expressions of his “holy calling” and in full accordance with God’s “own purpose and grace.” If you do the right thing and in return are offered praise and ...

2. Greed - Putting Things In Their Proper Perspective

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

... guess is he would say, "It's all wrong. It's a terrible lie." Greed. Greed is never satisfied with "that's enough." No, greed says more is always better, because you can never have enough. Greed sees life not as a gift from God, but as a race to acquire, to get more, to have a bigger house, a bigger bank account, a fancier car, a bigger career position. Greed means we have to accumulate as much as we can, have more exciting vacations, more luxurious clothing. But with greed, as Mr. Atwater learned, "You can ...

3. Who is That Crouching at Your Door?

Genesis 4:1-26

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . Whenever reading the Hebrew scriptures, it’s so important to look up key words, and also names. In the case of this story, the names Kayin and Hevel have much to tell. Kayin means acquisition/possession. And his character in the story reflects this name. He wants to “acquire” (kanah) God’s grace and love and favorable “gaze.” As a tiller of the soil, he is also attached to the land in a way that his brother is now. He is a creature of the earth, the ground. And he is closer to his human-like ...

4. Moving At The Speed Of Light: At The Jordan

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

... Willie Horton against Dukakis on the crime issue and suggested that Bush's opponent, riding in a tank with that small odd helmet, "looked like a squirrel." In the Life article, Atwater reminds us what the 1980s were about -- acquiring wealth, prestige, and power. "I acquired more than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty." Toward the end, Lee Atwater discovered something: "My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart and a lot ...

5. From Rejection To Redemption

Ruth 3:1-18

Sermon

Zan W. Holmes

... the African-American church tradition that "the Lord can make a way out of no way!" Another witness comes to mind. Mary McCloud Bethune was born on a farm July 10, 1875, near Mayesville, South Carolina. She was the fifteenth child of former slaves, yet she acquired a passion for education that would help redeem the lives of poor and oppressed blacks. In 1904 she moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, and took $1.50 and opened a school, which at its inception had four little black girls and her son as its student ...

6. Chapter X

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... . We get to loving something someone else has, something other than we have, and we want more, and more and more. And it is amazing how much we will sacrifice to try to fill our lives full of these things we crave. Men will give up almost anything to acquire what they think they want. We will work at jobs we hate because they pay higher wages. We will moonlight at two, maybe three jobs to make payments on houses we can’t afford and are miserable living in while we are doing it! We often keep our nerves ...

7. Be Careful How You Live

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Brett Blair

... , friends, church, and neighbors. Paul then offers three admonitions. I The first? Be wise. Paul says, be careful how you live not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity. Wisdom. It is a virtue that has gone out of our vocabulary. Wisdom, to acquire it, takes too much time, too many failures, too many hard knocks, too much listening, too much being still and watching. You cannot download wisdom from some third party vendor, so we prefer to move and do without. But Paul warns that if we are ...

8. God, The Venture Capitalist?

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... God's The text reminds us that all true ownership belongs to God. Psalm 24:1 puts it bluntly, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." A lawyer in Louisiana in the years past was asked to do a title search for a piece of land being acquired by a U.S. Army base. He ran the search back to 1803 and sent the title in. The base commander was not satisfied and asked the lawyer to run the title search back still further. In complying, the attorney wrote, "Said parcel of land was purchased in 1803 by ...

9. What If You Truly Were Born Again?

John 3:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:48-50). When you experience a new birth, you acquire a new family. St. Paul describes that new family. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). It sounds to me like every child of God is our ...

10. Fulfilled, Or Just Full?

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... 've found it impossible to use my sports car, my golf cart, my swimming pool, my hot-tub, my RV, my speedboat, and my vacation home all at once! And often, just when we're really enjoying one thing, something else is wearing out or breaking down! Does acquiring more and more things fill the emptiness inside? I wonder. It seems to me that often all it creates is a temporary satisfaction, followed by a hunger for "more." That reminds me of the question once put to a class of college students by a professor of ...

11. What "They" Say

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Larry Powell

... , "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" We take notice of the fact that the young man did not inquire about how to get closer to God or how to be saved, or how to honor Christ. He was interested in eternal life, something else he could acquire. It is ironic that if he had asked how to embrace the will of God in his life, Jesus could have spoken to him of peace and security. Instead, Jesus' reply caused him great distress; "... sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have ...

12. Black Preaching: A Four-Cornered Universe

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... lives of African-Americans has been progress, the discovery and cultivation of those human and material resources which improve the economic and spiritual condition of our people. An underlying theme of much black sermonizing is the need for change and acquiring the courage to change with God's help. The elements of transfiguration and transformation are not only manifested in how black people proactively change their lives and communities after hearing the sermon, but how they respond to the message while ...

13. Redrawing The Landscape

Multiple Scriptures

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... rooms in hospitals on Saturday night are victims of either domestic violence or violence among friends. All of us compete with one another for honors and recognition, and if we do not get them we become angry. We compete for power, and if we do not acquire it, more anger is generated. Fathers and sons compete with one another, and daughters and mothers compete with each other. We live in a competitive democracy. And should people my age tend to get smug and say "we're past that state," let me also turn ...

14. A Sign Of Divine Protection

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... the nation would validate that there are legitimate grounds for the fear. So, families invest additional dollars seeking to protect their investment. All that they do and all that they spend seem inadequate in eliminating the fear of losing all of their acquired goods. There is no divine protection plan that works without fail. Even in our prosperity, we are the oppressed. Obviously, there is a lesson to be learned from the text. James Cone insists that, “throughout the entire history of Israel, to know ...

15. If You Had But One Request

1 Kings 3:1-15

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... mind of Christ and wisdom will be yours. He is wisdom because he is the personification of truth and the very Son of God. To have truth is to have wisdom. Daily we should pray, "Come into my mind, Lord Jesus. Come into my mind to stay." Another way to acquire wisdom is to receive the Holy Spirit. He is God who abides in us. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit will guide us into truth. He is the one who will enlighten us so that we will have good judgment and common sense. Stupidity is being in the dark ...

16. The Circus and My Faith

Ps 139 · Mt 22:37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... to life beyond the grave. Years ago Carl Jung sounded a note of chronic tentativeness that is wholly appropriate to the pilgrimage of faith. Declared Jung, I have often made mistakes and have often had to wipe the slate clean of previous knowledge in order to acquire what is most pertinent.3 I am glad our faith is farflung in its concerns, wideranging in its impact. The circus reminded me of this. But there is more. There was a particular person in the circus family who impressed me greatly and that person ...

17. In The Nick of Time

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

Jon L. Joyce

... the New York firm wrote him that he hadn’t gone back far enough. In due time they received this letter: Gentlemen: Please be advised that in the year 1803 the United States of America acquired the territory of Louisiana from the Republic of France by purchase. The Republic of France in turn acquired title from the Spanish Crown by Conquest; the Spanish Crown having obtained it by the virtue of one Christopher Columbus, a Genoese Sailor, who had been authorized to embark by Isabella, Queen of Spain, who ...

18. The Ultimate Christmas Gift

Psalm 85:1-13, Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Erskine White

... the things that make for peace" still a mystery to us? "Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). Do not "oppress the poor" (Amos 4:1) or "answer roughly the entreaties of the needy," (Proverbs 18:23) and do not let some acquire so much of God’s earth for themselves that others are left without (cf. Isaiah 5:8), for this brings not peace and prosperity, but resentment and rebellion. Jesus put it in words so simple they have never been tried! Let people and nations make friends of ...

19. What Must I DO to Receive Life?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

... his curiosity, and he finally blurted out, "Father, what are you doing?" "I'm trying to make a mirror," said the head priest. "But that's impossible!" said the young monk. "You can't make a mirror from brick." "True," replied the head priest. "Just as it is impossible to acquire grace by a chant." Another young man by the name of Martin Luther was just as confused as our rich young ruler. He had no peace in his life. He was a monk who wanted to please God but he felt like an awful sinner. On a trip to Rome ...

20. The Ten Commandments: One God, Only One

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... are OK. Of course, you are not OK if Mammon becomes pre-eminent over God. The Bible says, "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil."(7) Lying, cheating, stealing, killing...the list could go on and on (and we love our lists)...all to acquire money, possessions, things. But the worst evil of all is when they become the objects of our real worship. One of the saddest stories in the New Testament is that one which recounts the meeting between Jesus and the rich young ruler.(8) The young man came to ...

21. Wrestling In A Title Bout

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Mark Clark

... evil spirit who wishes to carry away her offspring. He will then not think it worthwhile to steal her child. (2) People in business know the power of a name. When George Tate acquired a little-known software called Vulcan, his advertising consultant suggested that Tate consider another name for his newly acquired product ” dBase II. Although there was no dBase I preceding it, the name implied an upgrade and improvements. The new name also sounded technical and descriptive and helped the product become an ...

22. Victory on a Broken Knee

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Once there was a man who acquired a claim to a gold field in California. The claim was in a lonely spot in the mountains. When the man started to ... merely toyed with the fascinating idea of writing. I cared like blazes! It is this caring like the blazes that counts.” Few things in life of real value are acquired without momentous effort and consecrated determination. Dr. Kenneth Taylor understood that. It was Dr. Taylor’s dream to convert the New Testament into a format that nearly everyone could read ...

23. Playing The Comparison Game

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... a phrase for it, don't we? Keeping up with the Jones. There are many faulty misconceptions that people who play this game are under, of course. Time will permit us to mention only a couple. THE FIRST MISCONCEPTION IS THAT HAPPINESS ON ANY SCALE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN ACQUIRE. If I could just have a nicer car, or a nicer house, or a European vacation like the Joneses have, then I would be happy. That is an illusion. If you doubt that, you need only consider the story of Maya Angelou's Aunt Tee, a woman who ...

24. Look Carefully How You Walk

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... job or profession -- sometimes we even include going to the right church. Isn't that the appeal of the whole advertising industry? The ad world preaches a gospel that life is found by acquiring style. They would make style the religion that satisfies. Notice the sacrifices that people are willing to make in order to acquire style. And have you ever thought that that really is the test of religion -- in fact that determines what your religion is -- what you are willing to sacrifice for. That's what Buechner ...

25. Getting Our Lives Out Of Hock

Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ailments. Much of this is rooted in fear and anxiety.These facts are even more startling when we realize that a baby is born with only two normal fears: the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. All other anxieties are acquired, and most of us have acquired a goodly number. (Myron Taylor, "Facing the Anxieties of Life", Pulpit Digest, November, 1970, p.44) Have you heard the story of the woman who shook her husband awake in the middle of the night, and whispered that she'd heard a burglar downstairs ...

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