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 2097 results

1. Freedom to Set Free

Galatians 4:21-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... was greeted each Sunday morning by a man whose life s an alcoholic had been turned around by God. He had been freed from those binding chains that led from the preacher’s study to the Chancel of the Sanctuary. Each week the alcoholic who had been set free by Christ would stop the preacher and take his hand and say these words, “Tell the congregation that they can!” That’s what I have been doing - telling you that you can - that you can be free - free to be, free to be responsible, free to become ...

2. Set Free

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... son who was still living. Why? Because he was determined to hold on to the bones of the past. Our message today is also a challenge: "Set Free in ˜93." That’s my prayer for each of us. This is the first Sunday of a new year ” a great day for letting go ... ” free from the bones of the past. How does such freedom come? The Apostle Paul tells us. First of all, we are set free when we realize that we have been chosen! Paul writes to the Ephesians, reminding them God has blessed them "with every spiritual ...

3. Being Set Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Today’s Gospel promises us freedom, if we will truly be disciples of Christ. In fact, Jesus promises that if we will learn, know, and follow the truth, we will be set free. Remember, however, first we must become disciples. Jesus tells us that to be a real disciple is to accept what he says about how great God is and how terrible sin is, and what the real meaning of life is. When we do this, we are starting to take the ...

4. To Be Set Free

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... will swim alongside of us. And it will make all the difference! What is weighing you down? What lies heavily upon your spirit, keeping you from being all you were mean to be? Do you have it in your mind? Now ask yourself, do you want to be set free from your captivity, from this bondage that keeps you from reaching your best potential? If your answer is yes, take a moment and ask Jesus to heal you, truly heal you. Pray that he heal all that has crippled and desecrated your heart and soul. Now…close your ...

5. Set Free Through Forgiveness!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

Just a few years back, a man in Hardeeville, South Carolina went down to the Jasper County Courthouse. There he filed a deed restriction. The restriction barred the sale of any part of his 1,688 acre plantation to anyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line and anyone named Sherman. It seems that more than a century before, General William T. Sherman's troops burned every building on this man's property and Mr. Ingram vowed never to let his plantation fall into Yankee hands again. (1) Now there's a man who knows ...

6. Set Free for Life

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Lee Griess

... is there is life. Isn't that what he says? "I am the resurrection and the life." Where Jesus is present, there is life. Where Jesus is present, we are set free. The keys to the prison are in Jesus' hand. Where Jesus is present, there is no need to fear. For death has no power over us. Through faith in Christ Jesus, we are set free. Don Webb, the former President Emeritus of Centenary College, was born in Wales and served in the British navy before coming to America to begin his ministry. In the British ...

7. Pop Verses: John 3:16

John 3:16

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” –John 8:31-32 I don’t know what you need to be set free from today but I do know that Jesus can set you free from it. Maybe it is shame. Maybe it’s guilt. Maybe it’s resentment ... idea into you and it is hard to break free from it. Nicodemus was tired of religion as rule following and wanted to be set free too. He heard Jesus teach and preach and his heart was warmed. He sensed something different about Jesus. He was unlike any other rabbi ...

8. No More Pain!

John 8:31-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... pain. If you look closely, you see it in their faces, you hear it in their voices, you sense it in the stoop of their shoulders, the sadness in their eyes, the weariness in their walk. Some people live hard, despairing lives. They long to be set free. It reminds me of something I once read about the great missionary doctor, Albert Schweitzer. Schweitzer left a lucrative medical practice to set up a medical clinic in Africa. He said, when a native would come to the clinic with a painful condition that would ...

9. True Freedom

John 8:31-41

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... does not by itself have any positive content. God supplies that. "Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free." There is no liberty without loyalty. God sets us free because he is the one supremely worthy object for our loyalty. In loving him we are set free from loving the cheap, the petty, the trivial, the foolish, the sinful. We are freed from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In the life of a nation, as well as in the life of an individual, true freedom is ...

10. Living Free

Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... And that is precisely the point of our First Lesson. It and the whole book of Haggai teach that this worldly political action, freedom, and divine intervention go together.2 God sets us free, delivers his people, but we still have responsibilities to those set free with us. As the great American Reformed theologian of the mid-twentieth century, Richard Niebuhr, put it: “Responsibility affirms that God is acting in all actions upon you. So respond to all actions upon you as to respond to His action.”3 Do ...

11. For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... man whose life as an alcoholic had been turned around by God. He had been free from those burdensome chains. They met in the narrow corridor that led from the preacher’s study to the chancel of the sanctuary. Each week the alcoholic who had been set free by Christ would stop the preacher and take his hand and say, “Tell the congregation that they can!” That’s what I’ve been doing telling you that you can if you realize that your freedom requires discipline and love, then that freedom will set the ...

12. Freedom Calling

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... his readers: "It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!" Galatians 3:13 adds, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." As a result, Paul's readers and all who believe have been set free — free from slavery to sin, free from the law. Yet for all their very real freedom, they are not free to do whatever they please. Instead, they have entered a kind of "voluntary slavery" where they are to use their new freedom to love and care for ...

13. On Taking Candy from a Stranger

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... set people free. Helping people is what the Sabbath is all about. And one thing more: praising God is honoring the Sabbath. After Jesus reached out and touched this woman, instantly she straightened up and began praising God. This woman knew that she had been set free. She knew this was something only God could do for her. And so without hesitation she began praising God. This woman’s healing had freed her. But even if we are never physically healed, even if we are still hurting and burdened and looking ...

14. Barabbas - People’s Choice or Chance of Providence?

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... free, free from the guilt and from the power of sin, so that you can and will live for him now? Remember, I was there. I, Barabbas, whose name means "Son of the Father"? At that point I certainly had not been living as his child. But then, I was set free. Jesus took your place to set you free, too, free from sin’s power, free from the fear of God’s judgment. You have taken the name "Christian." What does that mean for you? May your life be such a joyful witness to the Savior that when others see you ...

15. The Blessing Of Bondage

Genesis 2:4-25, Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... confinement of a job we don’t like. Airplane companies claim to set us free, and Datsun says the same. There are deodorant companies which promise to set us free from the worry of underarm wetness and odor; a certain toothpaste declares we can be set free from dull teeth. Then we are promised freedom from pain by Tylenol, Excedrin, Bayer, and others. Other products play on our desperation for freedom by telling us we can be free from "ring-around-the-collar," and Lysol sets us free from germs. Our songs ...

16. He Commanded Us to Preach

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... , productive, and spirit-filled lives. We have too much baggage, too much anger, too many painful memories of the past that dash our hope for the future. Too many things bind us and choke off the life of the spirit in us. We need to be set free from our sins of me-ism, racism, sexism, ageism, and other isms that bind and destroy our sense of community. Parents carry emotional, spiritual, and psychological baggage and pass that baggage on to their children who pass it on to their children. The spiral of ...

17. The Truth about Truth

John 8:31-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... a block of marble which the owner said had no value. Michael Angelo said, "It is valuable to me. There is an angel imprisoned in that block of marble and I must set it free." Inside of every sinner there is a saint that Jesus Christ wants to set free. When you know Him, who is the truth, the truth will set you free. 1. D. James Kennedy, Character and Destiny, Zondervan, p. 158. 2. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), p. 25. 3. George Barna, The Barta Report: What ...

18. Free From What? For What?

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

... , none of the routines had changed, but they looked at their hard life differently. They sang, waved at the guards, and laughed at the dogs. When the guards found out about the surrender, they fled, leaving the gates open. Now, when were the prisoners really set free? That’s right — when they heard that they were to be delivered from their captivity. This is the state we live in. We are seemingly held prisoner by many things: bodies that let us down, habits we can’t break, debts we can’t shake ...

19. Unwrapping Presents ... and People

Sermon

James Bjorge

... send in the sod, I will heartily lay me a hold on the greatness of God." The second wrapping from which I need to be set free is guilt. The Gospel at Christmas tells it clearly, "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save ... mortals by God. Without question this has caused the birth of cell groups and group therapy. The third wrapping from which I need to be set free is the fear of death. Death seems so final and so futile. I was made for life and therefore death is an alien, an ...

20. Don't Believe the Lie about the Truth

John 8:32

Sermon

James Merritt

... went on to say, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." I have been talking about absolutes. Did you know that the word absolute comes from two Latin words: the word ab meaning "from" and the word solvere meaning "to set free." So the word "absolute" literally means, "to set free from." That is the purpose of truth—to set us free. There are many of you listening to this message right now in chains and shackles, but you don't want to admit it. Some of you are in bondage to booze and ...

21. Scrubbing Our Social Media Accounts

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... How would you feel if you were one of those students? One graduate who had approximately $90,000 in student loan debt said, “If I could do a backflip, I would.” We would all feel that way, wouldn’t we, if we had suddenly been set free from an overwhelming debt? The joy and gratitude would be unimaginable. I think the Roman church must have felt even greater joy and gratitude than those Morehouse graduates when they finally understood what Paul was telling them in today’s Bible passage. They had been ...

22. Scandalous News

Luke 4:16-30

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... is from the Book of Leviticus, which says every fifty years all land is to be returned to its original owner. It was a reference to land held as collateral. All prisoners, especially those in debtors prison, are to be released. All indentured slaves are to be set free. In the Year of Jubilee, all of creation is to be restored. Life is to be put back the way it is supposed to be, and everybody is allowed to begin their lives over again. What it meant, really, was mass forgiveness. "Forgive us our debts as ...

23. The Struggle for Freedom

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... trapped and confined him. And then one day, some bullies chase Forrest and he has to run away but the braces slow him down. As the bullies get closer and closer and Forrest struggles to run faster, the braces finally break, fall off his legs, and suddenly he is set free to run fast. The point is this, Forrest never knew what it felt to be free or how fast he could run until he took that step or, in a better sense, was forced to break out of braces, and live differently, to live beyond himself. He never went ...

24. Moving Heaven and Earth

Acts 16:16-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... Your inadequacy, your helplessness, offered up in faith and love, still have the power to bring hope and light and life to others who are in the same prison you are in. And that brings us to the final question from our lesson today: Who needs to be set free by your example? When Paul and Silas were faithful to God in their weakest and worst moment, when they prayed and sang praises to God from inside a prison cell, they proved that freedom is found in knowing God. And their prayers and praise didn’t just ...

25. What's a Human Book?

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... beautiful? “. . . they leave walking upright, beaming and proud.” Don’t you think the crippled woman left the synagogue exactly like that? It’s sad to me that we don’t know any more of her story. We saw the moment when she came to Jesus and was set free. But we don’t know the rest of her story. Because the most important moment in a person’s life occurs when they come to Jesus. But the second most important moment is when they decide what to do with their transformed life. In fact, that’s ...

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