Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 45 results

1. Truth Or Duty?

Illustration

Klyne Snodgrass

... witnesses aggressively. At the beginning of the second day of the trial, however, Courvoisier confessed privately to his lawyer that he had committed the murder. When asked if he were going to plead guilty, he replied to Charles Phillips, "No, sir, I expect you to defend me to the utmost." Phillips was faced with a dilemma. Should he declare to the court that the man was guilty, or should he defend Courvoisier as best he could? Should he break the confidentiality of the client-lawyer relationship, or should ...

2. The Conversion of Chuck Colson

John 20:1-18; 21:15-25

Illustration

Ray Pritchard

... Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Ask for the office of the Special Counsel to the President. The name on the desk reads Charles W. Colson. They called him the "Hatchet Man" because he specialized in doing the dirty work of politics. Need to pull a dirty ... divinely inspired. But why would anyone "accept" Him or "commit one's life to Him?" as if he were around today.'" Tom Phillips gave Chuck Colson a book to read, a book by C.S. Lewis entitled Mere Christianity. In that book, Lewis talks about what ...

3. By Whose Standards?

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... goes but it misses the fact that we are talking about under-rowers. The image is not that of a lightweight shell skimming the Charles River near Harvard, but a large galley, perhaps outfitted for war. It is not a crew of equals. And the huperetes is at the ... of a man whose biography carried the same title as one of Nouwen's most famous works: The Wounded Healer. He was J. B. Phillips, most well known for his modern-language translation of scripture and the short book, Your God is Too Small, which has had a ...

4. A Mountain Too High To Climb

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... in Appalachia. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the world, took his bride, the daughter of millionaire Sen. Charles Percy, to Emmons, West Virginia (population, two hundred), as a Peace Corps worker. "I took slides with me," Rockefeller ... to God, God came to us. Advent means to "come to." God came to our world. We live on a God-invaded planet, as J. B. Phillips once put it. But there is a second amazing claim Christians make about Advent: GOD IDENTIFIES WITH OUR NEEDS AND OUR CONCERNS. God is no ...

5. An All-Night Wrestling Match

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... politics. But one night in July, 1973, he found himself in desperate need. So, he visited his friend Tom Phillips at his home in suburban Boston. Tom was a new Christian. That night Tom shared his faith with Colson and gave him a copy of C.S. Lewis’s classic ... will become “more than a conqueror through him who loved us.” (Rom. 8:37) (1) Colson, Charles W., A Life Redeemed, (Doubleday: New York, 2005), pp. 201-211. (2) Campolo, Tony, Carpe Diem, (Thomas Nelson: Nashville, 1994), p. 124.

6. Titles, Credentials, or Resurrection Power

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The distinguished preacher, Phillip Brooks, once shared, "There are two things to be aware of in life: A timid surgeon and a timid preacher of ... four through seven, Paul shows how foolishly he tried to earn his salvation by human confidence and credentials. If anyone had the proper pedigree, it was Saul of Tarsus. As Dr. Charles R. Swindoll shares in today''s terms, that proud Pharisee known as Saul of Tarsus won all the marbles--The Pulitzer, The Congressional Medal of Honor, The Most Valuable Player, The ...

7. On Staying Awake

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... Among those who had delivered papers to this society during the year were Alfred Russell Wallace and Charles Darwin! Both of them outlined their revolutionary theories on biological evolution. The intellectual history of mankind took a ... worst place to find God. "... It seems," says Paul, "that your church meetings do you more harm than good!" (1 Corinthians 11:11b, Phillip’s translation) Most of us have our own chapter and verse on this. The church has never ceased devising ways to anaesthesize us against ...

8. Congratulations, Joseph, It's A God!

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... Marjorie Holmes once said that each New Year is like opening an intriguing mystery story. What's going to happen? Where will it lead? Charles Lamb once contended that New Year's Day is every person's birthday. He was more accurate than he realized. A news release ... in Bethlehem of Judea, something beyond the comprehension of human minds. "Congratulations, Joseph, it's a God!" J.B. Phillips once put it this way: "Christianity begins with a historical fact, indeed its starting point is the most important event ...

9. Honestly, Are You Worried about Tomorrow?

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... about how they were going to pay their bills and how they were going to live. In fact, she fully expected to go to the poor house. Phillips Brooks wrote in his diary that his father looked up from the dinner table and said to his wife, "My dear, I have trusted God for 40 ... That same choice is ours today. Let me close with the following story. On one occasion the famous English preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, was greatly worried about his ministry in the city of London and if there were necessary resources to ...

10. The Secret: Christ In You

Colossians 1:24--2:5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Listen now to our Scripture lesson -- one of the most exciting words in the Bible – Colossians 1: 23 - 29, and I read from the Phillips translation: "I myself have been made a minister of the same Gospel, and though it is true at this moment that I am suffering ... high point of that program was the service of commemoration held in St. Mary's Church, the university church, commemorating John and Charles Wesley. There was only one man alive at that time who was the right man to preach on such an occasion. He ...

11. Taking the Shape of Christ

Galatians 4:8-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... for him, and stretched out his hand and placed in on the leper, saying, “Of course I want you to be clean!” (Mark 1: 41) (Phillips). That tells it all. Let’s stay with that encounter for a moment to get the full impact of it. By law the leper had no ... in the Courier, I wrote an article on living life with gloves. I quoted a poem by Frances Cornford. She was the granddaughter of Charles Darwin. Listen to her: Oh why do you walk through the fields in gloves missing so much and so much? Oh fat white woman ...

12. Behold The Man Who Turned Toward Jerusalem

Mark 10:32-34

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... replied, "Now I suffer what I suffer; then another will be in me who will suffer for me, as I shall suffer for him."3 In one of his sermons Phillips Brooks said, "O, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks ... God, Summit Books, New York, 1989, p. 28. 2. Charles L. Wallis, Editor, A Treasury Of Sermon Illustrations, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, New York-Nashville, 1950, p. 165. 3. Carl Michalson, Faith For Personal Crises ...

13. When God Is Silent

Psalm 35:1-28

Sermon

Erskine White

... , whether it is intelligent or not! But this woman wasn't like that. She waited through Jesus' silence for Him to speak. Charles Allen tells how some engineers were faced with the problem of lifting a very heavy section of a bridge which crossed an ... ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin;Where meek souls will receive Him still,the dear Christ enters in.(Rev. Phillips Brooks) Amen Pastoral Prayer: O God, who speaks in the thunder of great events and the lightning of the signs of the times and ...

14. Shepherding One Another in a Collapsing World

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... back to Washington scared, wondering how he could handle his new faith in the daily struggle of Washington life. Tom Phillips had Doug Coe look up Colson. Doug introduced Colson to other Christians. For example, "Chuck, you’ll want to meet ... smile ... and the look of caring in his eyes." Do you see what I see? The world of Paul, the world of Charles Colson, touched by another world - made beautiful by Christ. "Men of opposing political philosophy were experiencing the camaraderie of their common commitment ...

15. The Shy Member of the Trinity

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... The Revised Standard Version used the word “Counselor,” and the New Revised Standard Version uses the term “Advocate.” J. B. Phillips translated the word “Someone to stand by you.” William Barclay said that the word really means “Someone who is called ... related an experience he had in Princeton Seminary when he was invited to the home of the then 90-year old Dr. Charles Erdman, who was a very popular Bible lecturer of his day. Erdman had written an exhaustive commentary on the New Testament. ...

16. Joy to the World

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Curtis Lewis

... ? Don't you think maybe it is time to put the carols away for another year?" It's time to sing a Christmas carol. What carol should we sing? Shall we sing Phillips Brooks' "O Little Town Of Bethlehem," or Joseph Mohr's "Silent Night, Holy Night"? Maybe Edmund Hamilton Sears' "It Came Upon The Midnight Clear" would be appropriate. Perhaps Charles Wesley's "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" is the Christmas carol we should be singing. The Christmas carol that we need to sing on this Lord's Day is by Isaac Watts ...

17. Faith Working In Love

James 2:14-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... unto me." Nothing about belief -- nothing about right doctrine -- nothing about proper churchmanship. I think of Linus and his sister, Lucy, in Charles Schulz's PEANUTS cartoons. Linus says to Lucy in the first frame: "You think you are smart just because you are older ... 5: 6: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love." Phillips translates this: "Faith which expresses itself in love." The NEB says: "Faith active in love." Paul is saying that ...

18. The Call of God

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... , music ... whatever expect God to bless your effort for the church and his kingdom! * Talents — God-given abilities for God's glory. Phillips Brooks told the story of some illiterate tribesmen to whom a sundial was given. They desired to honor it and keep it ... the name of Christ. Amen.[6] 1. Andrew W. Blackwood Jr., Commentary on Jeremiah (Waco:Word Books, 1977), p. 37. 2. Charles Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1998), p. 613. 3. C. Neil Strait, Strait Lines (Kansas City ...

19. What's in Your Wheelhouse...That You Can Offer Jesus?

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... for which he was praying was running up and down those stairs, in the persons of his own small boys, John and Charles Wesley, who would one day become key figures in that awakening. (3) E. T. Sullivan has written, “When God wants a great work ... God’s help. St. Paul writes in I Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let people look down on you because you are young . . .” (Phillips Translation) We are thankful for our children and our youth, but our potential for service to the Master does not decrease with age. ...

20. With All The Saints

Isaiah 25:1-12

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... to carry the ball forward. Take a stethoscope and listen to the heartbeat of the early church. What do you discover? J.B. Phillips in his introduction to his book, The Young Church in Action, states: Here we see Christianity, the real thing, in action for ... the town of Worms in order to deal with this iconoclastic young priest. Assembled in this small German town were Emperor Charles V, representatives of the papacy in Rome, and the brilliant John Eck, the papal legate who sought to interrogate Luther. Eck ...

21. Five Thousand For Lunch In Galilee

Luke 9:10-17

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... a miracle to feed 5,000 for lunch anywhere, let alone in the wilderness. In response to Jesus' request for food, John's gospel says that Phillip the pessimist said it would take $40 to $50 worth of bread to feed the multitude even if he could find a place to buy it ... the succumbing to despair, that creates a people resigned to eating, drinking, and being merry for tomorrow they die. Philosopher Charles Pierce has said that faith, hope and love "are the gifts that work together to free mankind from the bondage ...

22. What Do You Expect Your Religion To Do?

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Clement E. Lewis

Instrumental Meditation (The people reverently quiet) Words Of Preparation: The English clergyman and novelist, Charles Kingsley, is reported to have said, "What I want is not to possess religion ... helpful interpretation of what it means to be alive. It should afford us a means of spiritual control over the inner and external forces that influence and motivate people. Phillip Brooks told a story about some savages who were given a sun dial, in order that by the casting of the sun's light and shadow on it ...

23. Beating Babel

Acts 2:1-13, Genesis 11:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... would have had guests in from out of town for the member-guest tournament at the club and would not be there; Phillip and his family would have been up late the night before and overslept; Andrew would have had a business conference about a ... and mistake it for a drunken party. In far too many instances, we make Christianity, not only confusing, but downright boring. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great evangelist of the last century, once commented about another minister he happened to hear, "He would make ...

24. Waiting On God

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... things you have to work for, and there are the things you have to wait for." Claypool is right. But we don't want to wait. That prince of preachers, Phillips Brooks was pacing back and forth one day in a terrible fit of agitation. A friend asked him what was wrong. "I'm in a hurry," he said. "But God ... Quotes on Mather, Wilberforce and Taylor taken from: LOVING GOD by Charles Colson, Judith Markham Books, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. 2nd printing 1987, p. 36. 4. Patt Barnes in GUIDEPOSTS

25. Opening Up Heaven

Luke 3:21-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... never let that happen. After he was baptized he was praying and what happened? The heaven opened. What an exciting statement. Charles L. Allen in his book, GOD'S SEVEN WONDERS FOR YOU, recounts Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's story of three awful weeks on ... the darkness of the sea. The gold coin within us is the knowledge that we are God's own children. This is what Wendell Phillips meant when, after hearing a moving sermon by Lyman Beecher, "You Belong to God," he went home and in the quiet of his room said, " ...

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