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 39 results

1. First Class Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Here's a clip that is not actually in the movie but gives both a flavor of the movie and illustrates the whole idea of Becoming Ensnared. (Watch: Up Clip) If you haven't seen it, The basic story is about the adventures of Carl and Russell. Carl Fredricksen is a 78- ... who gave His life for us so we don't have to bear the weight of our burdens, so we don't have to be ensnared, bound, imprisoned, slaves to, whatever it is that is holding us. So we can be Free and live a life of Mutual Responsibility. And today ...

2. Do It For the Joy of It!

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

... , embracing love. The Psalmist says it time and time again when giving thanks: "God’s steadfast love endures forever." That is the heart of the text selected for today. Those who wanted to ensnare Jesus (and, according to the texts we’ve been examining the past several weeks, who had been trying to ensnare him time and time again) asked Jesus to identify the first and greatest law. Like asking him to choose between God and Caesar, this challenge was a trap: The Chosen people had a complicated ...

3. No Longer Spectators - But Participants!

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... say that! The church should never say it. We are witnesses, as was Mary Magdalene, to the fact that we once were possessed by devils we could not rid ourselves of. Sometimes we let circumstances enslave us; other times, it was things that we did that ensnared us; sometimes our weak wills kept us from doing what was right - we’ve struggled with nearly every known sin in the book and were losing the battle until the mighty, risen Christ burst our bonds and set us free! In a textile factory where threads ...

4. If Your Eye Offends You

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... always took place in dull periods, when nothing much was going on." The reason sin can take root in our lives is that there is not much going on. The anecdote to death is an abundant life. The anecdote to sin is a consciousness of salvation. The anecdote to becoming ensnared by the tempter is to put your life into the hands of the Savior. The sins which we commit are a symptom of the condition of the inner man or the inner woman. We are left, then, with a decision that only we can make. What is it that you ...

5. Focus on the Finish

Hebrews 12:1-2

Sermon

James Merritt

... a stumbling block to someone else who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the "weight test" and if it‘s weighing you down, you must lay it beside you. II. Leave Behind Whatever Tires You Out We are also to "lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares us..." (12:1c) Now it is one thing to be slowed down, but it is disastrous to be either tripped up or tired out. It's one thing to run with suitcases under each arm, but imagine running with chains around your ankles. That is exactly what sin does to ...

6. Scandal

Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 26:1-5

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... peered with his flashlight into the pit, he saw his own daughter lying upon the snare. She had tripped the trap and fallen in. He hadn’t even remembered, she was due home to visit from college that day. With his trap, he had ensnared the only one he loved. And his life was thereby ensnared forever in sorrow. In the church, in our lives, no matter what the fear, we must depend upon Jesus. We must learn to build and to be the Temple of God that builds people up, not a Trap that pulls people down. In order ...

7. Never on Sunday

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... being done in two ways represented by the two stories that the gospel writer, Mark, placed before us this morning. An Illegal Nosh In the first story, the law had been perverted into a club for beating people into submission and a trap for ensnaring heterodoxy (unorthodox ideas). Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of grain on the Sabbath and as they walked some of the disciples absentmindedly stripped some grains off of the stalks, rolled them in their hands to remove the chaff, and popped ...

8. Deep Depression Or High Hope?

1 Kings 9:1-9

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... , so afflicted with depression that she slashed her wrists a number of times, trying to kill herself; the girl who jumped off a bridge with her baby in her arms, depressed because she feared she was not a good mother; a brilliant White House aide, ensnared by his own perfection, who took his own life; the student whose wife divorced him, who then went into depression, and managed to hang himself with the bed sheets in the maximum security ward of the hospital where he had been hospitalized. The cases are ...

9. How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... , may you ever be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife? For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. -- Proverbs 5:15-23"

10. Walking Through A Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... cross is lifted to the dark sky, it is Jesus' faith that God's good care is there. It is a conscious shift of emphasis from self to God. I have known that in my own life. There have been times when things were dark, when it appeared I was ensnared, and when there was no tunnel to the light. Then, in the darkness, came a sense that God would see me through. I did not know how. I could not imagine how! But faith in that care has not let me down. For some here, that is your story, too ...

11. Lovers Never Ask, 'What's the Least I Can Do?'

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Alvin Rueter

... , than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. (Luke 17:1-2) The word translated, temptation to sin, refers to the trigger on a trap, the bar on which the bait is placed. Woe to the one who trips somebody up, who causes them to be ensnared by sin! You may have seen millstones in museums. The ancients put their grain between two of them to grind it into flour. The bottom one was stationary. The top one had a handle on it on which two men would tug and shove. That gives you some idea of ...

12. A Glory Revealed by Abiding

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... somehow make it to the end of the road before we run out of gas. No, even for we who believe, the powers of sin, death, and the devil are an ever-present danger. They are defeated, but will try to press their lost cause on us, and, if possible, ensnare us anew and try to put their tyranny and lies over us again. We cannot resist their pressure on our own, any more than withered leaves in the fall can resist a cold north wind. Let us abide in Christ’s Word, and remain freeborn children. Jesus said, "If you ...

13. Salvation: Authentic and Powerful

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... said, in many different ways, salvation - authentic and powerful - can only be God’s terms. Christian unity reiterates this insight as it does its work in the wake of discouragement and in the sunshine of success. Self-salvation continues to tempt and ensnare, ecumenically and denominationally. Personality cults, which seem to know no limits, would rob the Body of Christ of what rightfully belongs to it. Even in the context of a compassionate humanism, some have had to learn, the hard way, the quality of ...

14. Let’s Face It

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... it happens, we are forced to lay our lives down, we are answering an invitation to have dinner with the Great King. Certainly for those of us who suffer with excruciating pain, death can be seen as a release, a blessed ending to a journey which at last ensnared us in too much pain. God can use even the Devil’s blackest weapon to bring us into his presence. 2. We Can Prepare for Death Just as the virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom, waiting eagerly for his arrival, we cannot be certain when our end ...

15. Leah

Genesis 49:29--50:14

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... weary. She was the older girl, rapidly approaching spinsterhood. Leah is not beautiful; she never was. Unattractive in physical appearance, she also has little personal charm. Lacking so much, this poor woman faces a loveless life. Her father probably desired to ensnare a husband lest he be responsible for a hopeless old maid. What would become of her at Laban’s death? This situation has been duplicated thousands of times: the embarrassing problem of the unwed daughter. Caught in the net of social custom ...

16. The First Murder - 1940

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... and sought to seduce them, they wouldn’t even be intrigued. There are others who have such a vitality and interest in all phases of life, such a robustness and eagerness to live, that every phase of life quite captivates them and they find themselves ensnared before they recognize that they are caught. These passionate creatures, who are driven by great forces, have an enormous amount to overcome. They are easily overcome. I suppose Abel was a sincere and good man and I like him and he did great good, but ...

17. Wheel Within The Wheel

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

... in the beginning, else why would he follow a leader who paid no salaries and owned not a place to lay his own head. But money can and does exert a subtle and demonic power. In many instances its power grows slowly but inexorably until one is ensnared in its bondage. This seems to have been the case with Judas. Though he heard about "the imperishable treasure that thieves cannot take or moths and rust cannot destroy," yet the desire for more money grew. Though he saw signs and wonders that Jesus did and was ...

18. Dual Citizenship I - What Do We Owe To Our Country?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... dual citizenship. Simultaneously, we are citizens of America and also citizens of the Kingdom of God. Jesus himself mandated such an arrangement. During that last tension-filled week before he was executed, his "religious" enemies devised a tough question with which to ensnare him. "Should we pay taxes to Rome or not?" If he said no, his death sentence was sealed. The Roman Empire, which was the occupying power in Palestine, allowed no dissent. It stamped out revolutionaries like snakes. But on the other ...

19. Will Names Never Hurt Us?

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... or gold!" Christ did the same thing over and over again for people whom he met. Recall, for example, the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and dragged before Christ by scribes and Pharisees who wanted to use this abused woman as a trap to ensnare our Lord. When Christ saw the bystanders weighing the stones in their hands, the stones with which to kill this lawbreaker, he said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (John 8:7, NKJV). The crowd of accusers ...

20. Sight for Blind Eyes

John 9:1-12, John 9:13-34, John 9:35-41

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... ...Jesus HAD to be a prophet of Yahweh. By now, the skeptical Pharisees were beginning to see another possibility...you had never really been blind at all. You were just a disciple of Jesus who SAID you were blind and now were healed to get the faithful ensnared by this false prophet. AHA! So they sent you into another chamber and called your parents back in to see what they had to say. Your poor parents! They had heard that the leaders of the temple were out to get Jesus and had threatened anyone who ...

21. Preparing The Way

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... overgrown clutter that overtakes our lives, preventing us from being the people Jesus wants us to be. Clearing our lives is not a once and done task but is something we must do continually to prepare for Christ's coming. John's call is to cut back that which is ensnaring, to straighten that which is crooked, to smooth out that which is rough ” to prepare the way for His coming.

22. Caught Between God And Caesar

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... existed. Let's get real. This IS the best Babylon on Earth, as Campolo says, but it IS still Babylon. And our calling as followers of Jesus IS to defeat terrorism, not with bullets and bombs, but with love and justice. The Pharisees were trying to find a way to ensnare Jesus. So they sent a delegation to try to trip him up. They began with flattery. "Teacher, we know that what you say is true. We know you speak for God and tell it like it is. Tell us then, should we pay our taxes to Caesar, or not?" Jesus ...

23. The Rest Of The Story

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... alcohol industry has charmed us into lethargy about this evil. Our scripture lesson says "the serpent was the most clever beast God had made." Cleverness is certainly part of the stock and trade of organized forces which make exciting promises, and ensnare us in those promises. Have you noticed the cleverness of the alcohol industry -- charming us -- using glamorous sports figures to sell the good life that requires drinking. How clever they are. Knowing the death toll of drink (insert figures from Courier ...

24. Can a Rich Person Go to Heaven?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... plasma television? How many women wouldn’t like to replace slightly-worn living room furniture with something much more attractive? We like nice things, and in order to have nice things we’ve got to have money. But Jesus is warning us that money can ensnare us and separate us from God. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick once said something quite profound. “Our grandparents were reared to say ‘What shall I do to be saved?’” said Dr. Fosdick. “This generation has been reared to say, ‘What shall I do to ...

25. All This and Heaven Too

Luke 18:18-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... supported by people you trusted—but now and again it comes back to pierce your heart with pain. a sexual relationship that you have ended, but the guilt and separation it caused have not yet been confessed and dealt with. the pornographic bondage in which you were ensnared, but now have freedom from. the cheating in college studies that now and then haunts you. I could go on and on. We don’t need to carry that kind of burden of guilt. There is pardon for our past. Scripture is clear about that, I John ...

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