Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing all results

1. Faith On Your Terms

Illustration

Charles Colson

A poll sheds light on the paradox of increased religiosity and decreased morality. According to sociologist Robert Bellah, 81 percent of the American people also say they agree that "an individual should arrive at his or her own religious belief independent of any church or synagogue." Thus the key to the paradox is the fact that those who claim to be Christians are arriving at faith on their own ...

2. Handling Failure

Illustration

Charles Colson

The real legacy of my life was my biggest failure — that I was an ex-convict. My greatest humiliation – being sent to prison – was the beginning of God’s greatest use of my life. Only when I lost everything I thought made Chuck Colson a great guy had I found the true self God intended me to be and the true purpose of my life.

3. Human Government

Illustration

Charles Colson

Though it is hard to pen scripture down on exactly what role government has in the Christian's life, the following is offered as a starting point: The general function of human government, as instituted by God, may be said to be threefold: to protect, punish, and promote. The Function of Protection: The moment Adam sinned it was obvious that civilizations would need some form of restraint and rul...

4. Lonely in Moscow

Illustration

Charles Colson

Clayton Longtree was lonely in Moscow. The weather was dreary, the Marine barracks were dirty, old, and cold, and he didn't get much mail. Though guard duty at the U.S. embassy was a trusted position of honor, his work was often dull and exhausting; it was a ceremonial job with little action. In letters home he doodled U.S. planes dropping bombs on Red Square; he tried writing to an old girlfriend...

5. Morally Handicapped

Illustration

Charles Colson

Meanwhile, decadence and despair haunt many of America's youth. Perhaps fourteen-year-old Rod Matthews represents the most horrible extreme. Uninterested in baseball or books, Rod found one thing that did stimulate him: Death. His curiosity was intensely aroused by a rental video, Faces of Death, a collage of film clips of people dying violently. He wanted to see death happen in real life. So one ...

6. Personal Interests

Illustration

Charles Colson

Many years ago at a meeting of college educators at Harvard University, the Cornell president, Frank Rhodes, rose to address the issue of reforms, suggesting that it was time for universities to pay "real and sustained attention to student's intellectual and moral well-being." Immediately there were gasps, even catcalls. One indignant student stood to demand of Rhodes, "Who is going to do the ins...

7. Simple Courage to Raise a Family

Illustration

Charles Colson

Consider Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote in 1762 the classic treatise on freedom, The Social Contract, with its familiar opening line: "Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains." But the liberty Rousseau envisioned wasn't freedom from state tyranny; it was freedom from personal obligations. In his mind, the threat of tyranny came from smaller social groupings family, church, workplace, a...

Long before the advent of television, long before Johnny Carson and David Letterman, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: "Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land...I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used."

Charles Colson

Modern thinkers have rejected the very idea of objective morality: Darwin reduced morals to an extension of animal instincts; Freud regarded repression of impulses as the source of neurosis; and, Marx disdained morality as an expression of self-interest.

Charles Colson

Showing 1 to 9 of 9all results

Showing all results

1. Faith On Your Terms

Illustration

Charles Colson

2. Handling Failure

Illustration

Charles Colson

3. Human Government

Illustration

Charles Colson

4. Lonely in Moscow

Illustration

Charles Colson

5. Morally Handicapped

Illustration

Charles Colson

6. Personal Interests

Illustration

Charles Colson

7. Simple Courage to Raise a Family

Illustration

Charles Colson

Showing 1 to 9 of 9all results