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 954 results

1. Are You a Leg-Grabbing Christian?

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... table to celebrate Thanksgiving. The centerpiece of that table, in most cases, will be a large, golden-roasted turkey. Although it takes the skills of a gifted surgeon to dissect most of the big bird, there is one easily accessible portion (and the one that is often grabbed up first): the leg. Those big, juicy, easy-to-pull-off turkey legs are especially tantalizing to kids. After all, the leg comes with its own handle. The leg doesn't require a knife and fork. And the leg leftovers fit in just one zip-lock ...

2. Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Luke 9:11b-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... invited the crowd to sit down and he blessed the bread and fish, he was teaching his disciples a new perspective on ministry. Jesus was teaching them to always be ready to seize a God moment when it presents itself. If God presents you with a challenge, grab hold and run with it. The disciples were ready to send the crowd home. “We’re tired. They’re hungry. Let’s close up shop and start again tomorrow.” But people are fickle. We are easily distracted by the next shiny thing. Jesus knew he needed ...

3. How Much of an Honor?

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... . I shall not want." In other words, as long as he has the Lord, he doesn't need anything else. There is no need to grab anything if you have to run, because with God on your side you don't need anything. David was a king. By the time he ... article! Have you thanked Jesus recently? Do you realize how lucky you are? If you are asked the question, "What is the one thing you'd grab in the event of a fire?" (assuming once more that everyone else is safe and has left the building), can you now answer with ...

4. As Good As God

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... the water. Later, both the bird and fish were found dead. Apparently the fish was too heavy for the eagle, but it could not let go, for its talons were embedded in the flesh of the fish. The truth is that what we grab, grabs us. When we grab alcohol, drugs, or sex, it grabs us and brings us down to death. Jeremiah tells about the people of Judah who "went after worthlessness and became worthless." In a recent cartoon, there was an empty garbage truck, but the cab of the truck was packed with garbage. They ...

5. Wrestling for a Blessing

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

James McCormick

... on himself, but it was a struggle! From the very beginning Jacob was a man of deceit and cunning. Even in the womb, the story says, he grabbed Esau’s heel, trying to keep him from being born first. His name, Jacob, means “supplanter”. One commentator nicknamed him “grabber” - he grabbed his brother’s heel; he grabbed his brother’s birthright; he grabbed some property from Laban. Early in his life, he was not a very nice person, this Jacob. Not the sort of person you would want for a neighbor ...

6. Climbing the Right Ladder

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... ladder all of his life. The problem is, the ladder is one of his own making. Jacob’s ladder is a ladder of greed. Grab what you can while you can. Success for Jacob, like for many of us, meant getting the better of the other person before they ... the presence of the One who comes in the night. That night Jacob moved from power to presence. That night Jacob moved from getting and grabbing, to giving. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and give ...

7. Falling Into Faith

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... we must provide intellectual assent to everything we can discover about God in order to have faith presupposes that we are able to figure everything out. What a ridiculous notion! We are not capable of grabbing God by our own efforts or mental gymnastics. We are only capable of allowing God to grab us. When we begin to understand faith in this manner, Abraham’s “change of heart” becomes clear. Abraham attained righteousness through faith not because of what he did but what he refused to do. Instead ...

8. It's Not Over When The Fat Lady Sings

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

... a branch wedged in some rocks and worked his way through the current, hand over hand. Halfway through the current, the branch broke free from its anchor and followed the current, taking the boy with it. The brother on the safe side tried to grab him, but the branch knocked him in the chest and pushed him back. We can rely on things that look secure. We can rely on people who appear strong. But unless we trust in God, everything we have lived for will be swept away. I don't want to die ...

9. The TV Audience

Sermon

Michael Rogness

... but a lengthy, logically developed string of thoughts puts them to sleep. The message of salvation in Jesus Christ can be as powerfully conveyed with sound theology today as in the past, but it must be done by bytes, the key paragraphs or elements which will grab the listener's mind and stick in the memory. Without them, people will think back on the sermon and reflect, "The pastor said a lot of interesting things, but I really don't know what the sermon was about." That person is really saying, "During the ...

10. The Boy Who Ran Away

Mark 14:43-52

Sermon

Erskine White

... Jerusalem. One by one, the disciples woke up, and everyone began shouting. There was mass confusion and panic, but there was nowhere to go because the soldiers had the whole place surrounded. Judas stepped forward out of the shadows and kissed Jesus on the cheek. Then the soldiers grabbed Jesus, and I knew why Judas had run out of my mother's house a few hours earlier.Peter jumped out from the crowd and struck a soldier, but Jesus told him to put away his sword: "Those who live by the sword shall die by the ...

11. Nervous Hands

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

... are very comfortable. When the light is off, nothing in that room is changed, but all of a sudden you're afraid. You're afraid, because you don't know what else has been introduced into that room since the lights have gone out. Maybe something will reach out and grab you. The darkness makes us afraid because we don't know what is lurking there. We don't know what's to come. We don't know what's around the corner. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. Those unknowns make us nervous because we're afraid of ...

12. How to Stay Humble in a Haughty World

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Brett Blair

... being knocked down--the poor, crippled, the lame, the blind. But these are the very people, as we shall soon see, that we are encouraged to associate with. Look with me as we examine Jesus' story about a party. As the guest arrive they are quickly grabbing the front row seats--the places of honor. Assuming they are the most important guest, they will soon be embarrassed, Jesus says, by someone more distinguished. They will be asked to get up and move to the end of the table. They will be dishonored before ...

13. Learning to Be Graceful

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... a 98-year-old man and blurted out that his sons were dead and that the most precious thing in the world to him was forever gone. God help me, I hope I would be a little more graceful than that. Yes, the young man in this story grabs me. He grabs me because I see him living today in the lives of countless men and women. I never cease to be amazed at how crude and insensitive human beings can be to other human beings. The New Testament, of course, constantly emphasizes that we are to do things with gentleness ...

14. The Art of Living Until

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... something out yonder. This engenders a kind of "interim psychology," a syndrome of the temporary. And this can be dangerous. The result for most of us most of the time is a kind of carpe diem complex. We want to sieze the day, the present day, to grasp it, to grab it. But what for? with what in view? to what purpose? to what end? I suppose there are, in general, two ways to use the day. One is mentioned in Isaiah 22:13 where a group of people are described as slaying oxen and killing sheep and eating flesh ...

15. Simon of Cyrene - Reluctant Reliever or Submissive Servant?

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... I didn’t want any delay then. Before I could think about it, however, one of the soldiers looked in my direction. He pointed at me with his sword and ordered me to pick up that timber. I started to run, trying to get away, but another soldier anticipated that, grabbed my arm, and shoved me down next to Jesus. What could I do? I was shocked, and furious with anger. I felt that God himself was deserting me. Didn’t God know that I had come all that way to Jerusalem to honor him? Didn’t he care that these ...

16. Further on Up the Road

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Sermon

Rick Brand

... a shame. Those devout and beloved members of the fellowship were going to miss it. It seemed like such a pity that they had been so eager and excited about the kingdom of God, and now they had died and would not get to share in that joy. Death had grabbed them. Death had done its work. Death had destroyed them. They had been captured by the power of death and they were gone. When Jesus came to claim his own, he would take those who were living and waiting, and those who had died in the Lord would simply be ...

17. The King Who Died

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... in a hospital bed, his body riddled with cuts and bruises. His friend asked to hear his story. The lad had been swimming in a local lake, when an alligator surfaced a few feet away. The boy’s mother spotted the alligator first. She ran for the lake and grabbed hold of her son’s arms just as the alligator wrapped its mouth around his leg. The mother won this crucial tug-of-war. The boy’s friend stared in gruesome fascination at the stitches in his legs. But the boy was more proud of the injuries to his ...

18. The Bloodline of Christ

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that the young boys were stealing oil lamps and icons off the wall of Jesus’ tomb and stuffing them into their backpacks. They were reaching right across the slab on which Jesus’ body had been laid. I saw the nun grab one boy and slap him! And then she grabbed his backpack as he fled. The priest grabbed the other two boys as they tried to escape out the door of Jesus’ tomb. I remember the priest and the nun shaking their heads and putting the oil lamps back on the wall. Looking back, I should have ...

19. Team Work is Dream Work

Psalm 133:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

... it into the boat, he fell overboard. He cried out, "Save me, I cannot swim!" Well, the captain of the boat very calmly reached out, grabbed the man by the arm, and gave a big pull; but he didn't know it was an artificial arm, and the arm came off! Well, the man continued to ... a wooden leg. The man in the water went under again and he came up yelling for help. The captain, still calm, this time grabbed the man by the hair of his head and gave a gigantic pull. But the man was wearing a toupee and it came off. At ...

20. God Loses, So We Can Win

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... he decides to go home and reconcile with Esau. The conniver, trickster, supplanter, and heel-grabber goes home to face the music. Music he can’t compose or direct. What Jacob needs is forgiveness, and only Esau can give it. What we need most we can’t grab. But the heel-grabber remains true to his modus operandi. He divides his wives, children, slaves, and flocks in half. One half will be offered to Esau as a peace offering. That is, if Esau doesn’t destroy them once he finds out they belong to Jacob ...

21. A Shepherd's Love

John 10:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... into a hole in the twisted steel and rubble, extending his arm even farther to shine his flashlight into the darkness, when out of the dusty blackness a hand reached up and grabbed his! He was so startled he almost dropped his flashlight and let go of the hand! But instead, he reached back for someone to grab his hand, then someone grabbed that person’s hand, until a human chain was formed and the man trapped in the pile of debris was pulled to safety.” (1) It’s wonderful when human beings reach out ...

22. In God We Trust – Or Do We?

John 4:46-54

Sermon

James Merritt

... aerial awareness. He once described what it was like to be suspended in air, hurtling through space, waiting for the right split second to grab his partner so he would not fall to his death. He said, "When I fly to my partner I have simply to stretch out my ... the catch bar.... You see the worst thing a flyer can do is to try and catch the catcher.... Don't try to grab him; he will grab you. Just stretch out your arms and hands and trust, trust, trust." No matter where you are in your life right now, there is ...

23. The Prodigal Father

Romans 8:14-17

Sermon

John Jamison

... knew as well. The law was quite clear on this kind of thing. He really had no choice in the matter. The older brother, the one who had stayed home and minded his p's and q's, also knew the law, and on his way out of the house grabbed the big bullwhip hanging by the door, clearly in his eagerness his father had forgotten it. According to the law, if and when the runaway boy returned home he had to be punished for the insult to his father and the community. The appropriate punishment was a sound public ...

24. Seeing God In The Ordinary: Family

Luke 4:16-30

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... tire. So when he got home he decided to jump in the shower. He was just stepping out of the shower one when his wife called and asked him to run down to the basement and turn off the iron she had accidentally left on. Without bothering to grab a towel or robe, Frank headed down to the basement. Just as he reached the bottom stair, the lights came on and about two dozen friends, family and colleagues jumped out and shouted, "Surprise!" His wife had planned a surprise party for his 40th birthday. (1) As much ...

25. The Gift of Purpose

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... God not only reached out to us, God became flesh and blood and reached out to us. And in the reaching out, in that grasping of our hand, God in Christ rescued us from the chasm of sin. But not only that, but the minute we reached out and grabbed Christ's outstretched hand, we were given a gift like no other. Once we connected with Him we were given the Gift of Purpose and the Power to Practice it. can face any and all obstacles. Discover Your Purpose this Christmas; and if you already know your Purpose then ...

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