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 1541 results

1. Catch the Fever

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

James Caldwell III

... put women on the same social level as men. Women of honorable families were expected to protect their modesty by remaining in a private area of the home. For a male outsider to touch her violated conventional behavior. And didn't Jesus know that he might catch the fever, which would slow down his ministry? Remember, this healing takes place in private, and is only witnessed by a few people. Why not heal her publicly, so the healing can be a witness for God's power, mercy, and glory? This healing happened at ...

2. Catch of the Day

Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... wishes he had caught onto the dream of those two young men. Just like the IBM official who told a young Bill Gates, "Why would anyone want to have a computer on their desk?" We have to have dreams don't we. We may even need dreams before we can catch a Vision. Because I believe that the Vision coalesces out of the substance of the dreams. Dreams are sort of ethereal and nondescript but a vision has solidity. But you have dream first. Walt Disney said, "If you can dream it, you can do it." I agree, it's just ...

3. Is It Better To Catch Or Be Caught?

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... affirmation than they do by bread. I close with this. Seldom will a minister ever quote from Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous burlesque queen, and perhaps this will be my only time. She declared once, "God is love. But get it in writing." Those of us who once sought to "catch the spirit" and now are "caught by the spirit" are those who can say something differently. In looking back, we can say, "God is love and we got it in writing. It is written in ink. Red ink. And it is not ink." May God help us to be caught ...

4. The Good Catch

Matthew 17:24-27

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . But like most of the stories in scripture, this one told by Matthew the tax collector incidentally, this may be more than a literal pulling of coins from the jaws of a muscht! Peter is a fisherman. He makes his living hauling in fish. Most of what he catches is probably tilapia –St. Peter’s fish we call it—which is abundant in the Sea of Galilee off the coasts of Capernaum. The tilapia is a unique fish. It carries its eggs in its mouth to deposit them into the sand. But as it typically scoops from ...

5. Let Your Soul Catch Up

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Shelby, “His Journey and Ours: Space and Silence”) I cite this to make the point that not only do we need margins of space around our bodies, we need inner space and silence around our souls. We need a place, and we need time, to allow our souls to catch up with our bodies. Stress is one of the number one killers in the world today. I don’t need to cite all the figures — you know them already. The data is clear. There is no killer-disease that is not either caused by or intensified by our levels of ...

6. 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

... prepped, and then sold. In John’s tale, 153 kinds of fish were hauled on board. The net is not discerning. It doesn’t just catch one kind of fish. But the fishermen needed to be prepared to deal with (sell, eat, use) whatever came into their nets. It was a ... ! It’s not about the food! It’s not literally about eating pork in addition to lamb, any more than Peter’s catch of fish was about choosing tilapia over trout or herring. Jesus is using a metaphor, a powerful one, that Peter can understand, to ...

7. The Catch

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the area around Capernaum. The local town of Magdala was a fish processing town. In fact, the Greek word for Magdala, Tarichaeae means, “where fish are salted.”[1] The Sea of Galilee was filled with Tilapia (also known as Muscht), Carp, and Sardines. The best way to catch a multitude of fish was to use what’s called a “seine” net. We call it a “drag net.” Like the detective show by that name, the drag net was used to “sweet” the floor of the sea close by to shore. Once the net filled with ...

8. "Catch-able" But Not "Fetch-able"

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... . "But no one knows how God looks," someone says to her. "They will when I've finished," she proclaims. Who's to say she is wrong? Her guess is as good as anyone else's if all we have to go on is human intuition. Truly God is neither catch-able nor fetch-able. Can clay describe its potter? Can fish do justice to the one who changes the water in their aquarium? How can tiny human brains that cannot understand electricity or produce a cure for the common cold ever hope to comprehend the wonder of the eternal ...

9. Act Quickly - Catch It Early

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... gap. He moved in behind them and nailed the last board into place. The animals were trapped inside the corral. He then proceeded to choose the animals he wanted to take back to his zoo. He let the others go. When he was asked how he knew how to catch them, he said: “I treat animals the same way I treat people: I give them what they want. I give them food and shelter. In exchange, they give me their beauty and their freedom.” (3) This is the way temptation works. We are drawn in little by little until ...

10. Catching The Thanksgiving Spirit

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... an afterthought, "What about the turkey mentioned in the commercial?" The salesman's eyes twinkled. He motioned for them to follow. They went outside, around back, to a shed on the rear of the property. He opened the door with a flourish as he said, "If you can catch one, you can have him!" Inside were ten full-grown live turkeys! Palmer does not say what he did at this point. Maybe he and his bride had a turkey for thanksgiving. Maybe the turkey sat on the right. BUT IT MADE ME THINK THAT THANKSGIVING IS ...

11. The Dark Didn't Catch Me!

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Remember how it was in grade school when your class went out on the playground during recess? Doug and Sam, the two big guys, started choosing up sides to play kickball. And the rest of us just sort of stood around and hoped one of them would pick us for their team. And how affirming, how exciting it was to hear your name called and know that you were wanted. And it's the same in this big lonesome world that doesn't seem to need us very much. It's easy to feel left out, unchosen. But the Good News of the ...

12. To Catch a Thief

Exodus 20:15

Sermon

James Merritt

I have to admit it and I can't hide it. One of my favorite characters in fiction and one of my all time favorite movies is Robin Hood. Whether it is the version with Errol Flynn (who you baby-boomers will remember) or the version with Kevin Costner (who some of the younger generation will remember), I really loved the action, the swashbuckling fights, the romance, and the legendary archery skill that is displayed. Let's face it - they are fun movies and Robin Hood is a fun character. When you think of ...

13. Fish Bait

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the ice, cut a hole in the ice next to him. The lad dropped his fishing line and minutes later he hooked a Largemouth Bass. The old man could not believe his eyes but chalked it up to plain luck. Shortly thereafter, the young boy pulled in another large catch. He kept catching fish after fish. Finally, the old man could take it no longer. "Son," he said, "I have been here for over an hour without even a nibble. You have been here only a few minutes and have caught a half dozen fish! How do you do it?" The ...

14. The Journey Begins

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... Peter, but He is going to ask Peter to join Him. “And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’” (Luke 5:10, ESV) Seven times in the Gospel of Luke Jesus will say these words, “do not be afraid.” What Jesus said ... count – not just blowing your life on silver and stuff, but being willing as a once missing person to find other missing persons and to catch others the way you were caught. Is it scary? Yes, it is. Is it costly? Yes, it is. It is a risk to start a ...

15. Talents and Trust

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

... rule works: The doctor can ground Orr if Orr claims he’s unstable and asks to be grounded. But if Orr asks to be grounded, then that’s proof he’s not unstable, and he has to fly more missions. Or, as Heller puts it: "There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; but as soon as he did ...

16. They Are Biting

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the ice, cut a hole in the ice next to him. The lad dropped his fishing line and minutes later he hooked a largemouth bass. The old man could not believe his eyes but chalked it up to plain luck. Shortly thereafter, the young boy pulled in another large catch. He kept catching fish after fish. Finally, the old man could take it no longer. "Son," he said, "I have been here for over an hour without even a nibble. You have been here only a few minutes and have caught a half dozen fish! How do you do it?" The ...

17. Peter’s Net

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... a change in the way we think, the way we love, the way we give, the way we live, and the way we pray. We don’t catch faith as we do fish. The rod and reel and the lure are the wrong tools. Faith comes when we are in the deep, over our ... to swim for it. Faith comes when the shallowness of our life’s goals are revealed as too small for one chosen by God, too narrow to catch a broad glimpse of his work, and too selfish to have any value for others. Faith comes when we risk our necks to do foolish things ...

18. When The Fish Won't Bite

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Frank Lyman

... and surely, the last thing he wanted to do was fish some more. When one is pounding one's head against a brick wall, one doesn't relish more pain! If I'd been Simon I might have responded to Jesus' invitation by turning him down with one of the catch phrases of our time: "Been there. Done that. Bought the T-shirt." But Simon has more character than most people. He says yes to Jesus: "At your word I will let down the nets." (Luke 5:5b) Simon had the courage to try again. Good things did happen. Simon wanted ...

19. Show Me The Fish!

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... AT WHAT CHRIST HAD DONE IN THEIR LIVES. Simon Peter falls to his knees and cries out to Jesus and says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Luke tells us this, and then says, "Peter was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken." Here again humility is a key factor. Humility cannot live in a closed mind or a closed heart. People who are full of themselves cannot open themselves up to the leading of God's Holy Spirit. Peter's reaction was one of humility ...

20. The Fishing Business

Mark 1:16-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... understand this. The church exists for the fish who have not yet been caught. It is our job to go out and find those fish and to catch those fish and to bring those fish into the Kingdom of God. I do not know very much about fishing. I've not done a lot of ... The boy said, "Mom, it wasn't the noise, she ate all my bait!" Let me share with you two reasons why most of us are not catching fish. First of all, most of us are not looking for fish and secondly, when we find them we don't fish. We never bait a hook. ...

21. The Power of Appreciation

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... me.”[1] So often we try to grab onto God. We think that if we read enough books and go to enough Bible studies, we can catch God. We think if we do enough mental gymnastics or enough fanciful praying, we can catch God. It’s not our job to catch God. God catches us. This is what Christmas is all about. God catches our hearts through Jesus Christ. In Christ we also find a love worth sharing. First John 4:11-12 says, “Beloved, since God loves us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ...

22. P.S. I Love You

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a sign. At Jesus’ directive they cast their net off the starboard side of their boat and, after a night of fishing futility, they suddenly are faced with a net full to bursting. It is at Jesus’ word, with Jesus’ specific directive, that the disciple’s catch goes from nada to not-to-be-believed. The full-to-bursting, not-to-be-believed net holds 153 fish — a specific number that has given biblical scholars way too much fun trying to figure out and pin down. Basically, though, this is a bunch of ...

23. Yes, You Can Work Yourself to Death

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... our family for this short period of time.” (4) These men found meaning in stressful, exhausting work by thinking of the residents as family. Doing meaningful work is one of the best ways possible to heal a tired spirit. Another way to heal a tired spirit is to catch God’s vision for your life. You’ve heard me say several times before, God has a plan for your life. In no way is your life meaningless. You are here for a reason. To invigorate your life, pray that God will show you that reason. That’s ...

24. Into the Deep

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , and carp come into the shallows at night to feed on smaller fish. Additionally, their trammel nets could not be seen as well by the fish at night. Yet at dawn, when Jesus told his soon-to-be disciples to push out further into the deeper water, the catch was overwhelming! Practically speaking…one could say that 1) if the fish were not swimming in the shallow water, they were likely in the deeper water 2) the fish they caught at dawn in the deeper water would be larger and more hearty bringing in a fuller ...

25. Tears And Ointment

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Larry Powell

... forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?' Simon answered, 'The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.' And he said to him, 'You have judged rightly' (Luke7:40-43)." Having set up the lesson in the same manner which Nathan used with David, Jesus now catches Simon flat-footed: "Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss ...

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