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 1501 results
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... therapy or a deeply seated grief or loss? How can anyone expect us to show grace to someone who has harmed us or someone we love? Indignantly, we harbor even more resentment, we keep fueling our anger, we resolve never to let this go. In this case, however, avoidance is the worst thing we can do –for the truth about the “F” word is this: forgiveness is not about giving others a pass, but about caring for ourselves. The “F” word is a way of helping us in the process of letting go. Why would we want ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Have you ever noticed how some people are lazy? Oops ” how many people have work-avoidance syndrome? I heard about two men who were talking about going to Australia. One of them said, "Did you hear? The news says there's a diamond mine in the Outback where diamonds lay all over the ground. All you have to do is bend down and pick them up." ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... have an enormous impact. As someone has said, "If you dance with the devil, you always end up with burn marks on your suit." Avoid sin. MORE IMPORTANTLY, IF YOU ARE TEMPTING SOMEONE ELSE TO SIN, IT IS EVEN MORE IMPERATIVE THAT YOU STOP. It's one thing to ... for giving to the Lord. I am so glad you gave." (5) This is who we are as followers of Jesus Christ. We are people who avoid sin. Not because we are party-poopers or spoil sports. But there are people who love us, people who rely on us, people who look up ...
4. Uplifted By The Blues
Lamentations 1:1-22
Sermon
Thomas G. Rogers
... he knew that it was happening -- he was being drawn into the poem. Raymond knew that he was not a widow. He knew that the poem was not talking about him. Nonetheless, the grief that this widow felt spoke to his own grief. As someone who had always avoided poetry, Raymond did not know that authentic poetry could bring a unique human feeling to life in the heart of the reader. Raymond read on, "She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her." Deep ...
Sermon
Michael J. Anton
... God or not is tested by one question only: ‘How deeply have we loved? For he who does not love does not know God. God is love.’ " Christian faith must have these two dimensions to be real: my personal relationship with God which aims at avoiding those attitudes and that behavior that hinders God’s cause and my compassion for my human brothers and sisters. There is one other dimension that is hidden in James’ words. The dimension of power, where I receive the power to execute the other two dimensions ...
6. The Hedge
Matthew 5:21-37
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... that you apply differently to yourself and others, or even lack of authenticity toward God, Jesus calls for us to commit to loving in a way that is authentic, true to God, self, and others, and honest in practice. In our world today, often we can avoid committing our hearts to God, as well as to our fellow neighbors. We can “loosely” define our faith to mean simply showing up when convenient, doing the minimum, or applying one standard on Sundays and another the rest of the week. We can be friendly ...
7. A Protecting Grace
Matthew 18:15-20
Sermon
Glenn L. Borreson
... happen: people surprise us with a rare and wonderful spirit of grace. Yet, just as often, this very community can hurt and disappoint us deeply, even in our greatest moment of need. What pain that causes! To be "treated like dirt," to be laughed at, to be avoided, to be blamed unfairly - all of that hurts at any time, but especially when this is the people of Jesus Christ, the Lord of love. Still it happens, and it happens often enough to reveal the depth of our need to be rescued from sin by Jesus Christ ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... fast for our faith means that we are criticized--if being faithful in our service means we have to go to some inconvenience--if in being coworkers with God, we are required to sacrifice--then those things fall under the heading of trouble we must not avoid. If we can only be sunshine Christians in the same way that Thomas Paine described sunshine patriots, our level of commitment is inadequate. Stephen was willing to suffer. He did not seek it out. He merely sought to be faithful. Nevertheless, when he was ...
Sermon
David Busic
... , something wider that must motivate the human spirit to do good, at least in Plato’s estimation, if it is to be truly good. Let’s use our own language. I think it is fair to say that holiness is not holiness if our motivation is simply to avoid punishment. I also think it is fair to say that holiness is not holiness if our motivation is to gain a reward, even dare I say, an eternal reward. There must be something higher, something deeper, something wider within our spirit that must motivate us to holy ...
10. No Freudian Slip!
Matthew 6:25-34
Sermon
Steven E. Albertin
... being around people who are different and who have less than we do and who may be carefully planning some way to get some of that stuff away from us? Did God send us Ronald Reed that night? I don't know. But I do know one thing. Our avoidance of someone like Ronald Reed was very revealing. It was a Fredudian slip. It exposed the fear and worry still lurking in the hearts of all of us, despite our songs of praise and thanksgiving which had sounded just moments before. Keeping our distance from the one whose ...
Sermon
Charles R. Leary
... on-the-job trainees can take instructions and make them work. In this Gospel we see him giving them a lesson on some very basic matters. I will use three key words to highlight his work plan: Excess, Time and Respond. In the simplest terms, the basics are: avoid Excesses, use Time wisely, and Respond, don’t react, to each new challenge. I suggest that these basics will work for you too, any time and any place: at work, in the classroom, on a hike or vacation or fishing trip. They will work when you are at ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... friends. Ask the person whose carelessness with his company's funds has cost him his job. A little leads to a lot and the end is a tragedy for all concerned. THIS IS ALL TO SAY THAT THE ONLY EFFECTIVE WAY FOR MOST OF US TO DEAL WITH TEMPTATION IS AVOID IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. You see, we are not Jesus. He could take on the Tempter and win. Every day there are many Christians who think they, too, are strong, but find themselves, too late, weaker than they ever imagined. I say this as your pastor and friend ...
Sermon
Eric Ritz
... whole parade. He saw the "big picture" and knew everything was in order. (1) James knew that without this "big picture" perspective toward life, our tendency would be to count our problems, rather than to count it all joy. As Christians we are called not to try to avoid our problems, but to face them, learn from them, and turn the rest over to Christ. The old spiritual sums it up: Nobody knows the troubles I've seen; Nobody knows but Jesus; If Jesus knows, that is what matters most of all. He knows where to ...
Sermon
Jeff Wedge
... , each with a unique relationship to God, and thus, each following our own instructions. It is, as Paul reminds us, not for us to judge the relationship of others to God. A third problem with judgment is the natural tendency of all people to avoid the consequences of their actions. Consider the story of a college student whose father had high expectations, perhaps too high. When the student found out he had failed all his subjects, he sent his mother a quick e-mail: "Failed everything. Prepare Papa." Later ...
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... him to the end.” As a matter of fact, both husband and wife get in millions of words in the course of a marriage. The cumulative impact of all those words has much to do with marital success or failure. Our first challenge is to avoid sending hurtful messages. We must avoid saying the wrong things. And, we can also cause a marital mess if we fail to say what we should. One day a wife was in an automobile accident. She reached her husband by cell phone. Now you know the first thing he should have asked ...
Sermon
Robert Leslie Holmes
... in the item we made. Moreover, there are some people in the workplace who will expect moral compromise and truth-twisting from us. Avoid them! There are jobs where sexual modesty and purity of thought are compromised. Stay away from those jobs! They may promise us a ... of credibility he had worked hard to rebuild with his wife and children. It will cost him his soul if Ray does not choose to avoid his old paths. Ray's is a foot sin. We are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with ...
Sermon
Carl Jech
... 26) "Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger." Clearly, the question seems to be not how we can avoid being angry, but how we can properly express our anger. We might say that the main way in which anger casts a shadow over our lives is ... was not able to undo the consequences of the man's actions, but for his own part at least the Pope was able to avoid letting what had happened to him become a permanent hangup that could sour the rest of his life. There are many situations in which ...
Sermon
Thomas G. Rogers
... with different customs than their own. The young may resist the old ways as strongly as the old shy away from the young. Physically challenged persons may seek to avoid people who seem "too perfect" while they are themselves avoided by many. Some may be uncomfortable with those of a different race or sexual orientation. Many people may wish to avoid those who would hurt them -- not only physically, but with words or by rejection or by simply ignoring them. At this point you might be wondering where this ...
Sermon
Harold Warlick
... to be oxymorons. Who would want to hire a guide that is blind? Who would be foolish enough to pay money to study under a professor who is ignorant? Romans 2:17-24 is not a good scripture for preachers and teachers. We would do well to avoid it. But the scripture is there. It must be articulated. Not only is it there but it has a ring of contemporary relevance even though it comes from an ancient setting. The church has always had problems with the moral blindness and intellectual foolishness of its priests ...
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
... Hebrew religion, but were mixing Judaism with vestiges of their earlier roots in pagan religions. Such religious practices made them (ritually) impure in the eyes of a Jew of Jesus' day. When it came to religious and social matters it was better for a Jew to avoid them. Yet through Samaria on their way to Galilee, Jesus and his followers went. Perhaps his followers, people like you and I, wondered why the Lord would lead them into such a seedy section. Would not most of us rather just minister to people who ...
Sermon
Larry Powell
... who leads his flock beyond irritations to lie down and be rested. It is a good thing not to strain a gnat while swallowing a camel; it is also good to know the difference between the two. Some pests in our lives can be eliminated, others must simply be avoided. The sheep which trusts the shepherd is made to lie down in green pastures; all others swat gnats even in their sleep. (d) Free from hunger. It is tough to do anything on an empty stomach. We don't know much about that in this country. Our six percent ...
Sermon
Harold Warlick
... in the cemetery beside the road outside a little one-horse town which later was given the name of Bethlehem. And the one who was born there of her lineage placed his followers in the midst of ambiguity. But he said, "Look for me. I will be there. Do not avoid the complexity of life. I will be revealed and present in it." A little child stands in front of a gumball machine. It is filled with gum. There are at least seven different colors. He has the dime it takes to operate the machine. He wants a green ball ...
Sermon
Brett Blair
... must be placed within. When we have done this, we are ready to take the second step into the Kingdom: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Again, in the eyes of the world, this seems most ridiculous. We usually handle those who mourn by avoiding them. Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone. Isn’t that how it goes. We handle those who mourn by attempting to get them out of their mourning state--to cheer them up. Yet, here is Jesus saying: Blessed are those who mourn ...
24. Adultery, Cure and Prevention
Proverbs 7:1-27, John 8:1-11
Sermon
Bill Bouknight
... and husband needs to be looked at with eyes that say, "You are very special," and wants to be treated accordingly. When that is missing in a relationship, adultery becomes a dangerous temptation. A third suggestion for the prevention of adultery is this: Avoid opportunities for lust. Jesus said, "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." Of course, he was speaking figuratively rather than literally. One could lust even if one were blind. Jesus was saying, "Don't fool around with lust. Remove yourself ...
Sermon
David E. Leininger
... Julie put hers in, but I wanted to give mine to you." When the pastor inquired as to why, she responded, "I wanted to help you; my daddy said you are the POOREST preacher we have ever had!"(1) Uh-huh. For what it is worth, I have always avoided excusing my inability to afford something by saying, "I am just a poor preacher," because I have never wanted anyone to be able to reply, "I know; I have heard you." When it comes to poor preaching, some of the poorest is about money. Not because preachers find the ...
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