Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 27 results

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

James L. Killen

... hospital shack to care for him. One was a Roman Catholic named Denny Moore. The other was a Methodist, the son of an English gardener. His name was Dusty Miller. They rubbed his legs to restore circulation. They talked to him about things intended to restore his hope. Ernest Gordon didn't know it at the time, but the two men were part of a little group of prisoners who decided to "have another go at the Christian faith" not as a way of trying to bribe God to rescue them but simply in an effort to recover ...

2. Our Helper

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. It is the Helper that unites us with others who have experienced that same gift of amazing grace. One of the most remarkable testimonies to this aspect of the Spirit's work was given by the Rev. Ernest Gordon, former Dean of the Chapel at Princeton University in his memorable book Through The Valley Of The Kwai.3 He tells in a moving way about British soldiers imprisoned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. The reader recoils at ...

3. Terms Of Endearment

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... why Jesus said we would remember her. Wherever the gospel is proclaimed, she is us, and we are her. When the transforming love of Jesus gives us the courage to express our appreciation, the world changes. Transformational Love Take, for instance, the story of Ernest Gordon’s survival. Ernest Gordon’s book To End All Wars (Zondervan, 2002) is the true tale of what took place in the Japanese prison-of-war camp made famous by the movie The Bridge over the River Kwai. The camp stood at the end of the Bataan ...

4. An Announcement in Song

Psalm 98:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... was selected as one of the 100 great films of the 20th century. It is the story of some British prisoners of war during World War II who were held by the Japanese in northern Burma under very difficult circumstances. The movie won an Academy Award. Ernest Gordon, later to become chaplain at Yale, was among those prisoners. He wrote a book called Through the River of the Kwai, which told how these P.O.W.s dealt with the degradation and desolation of this camp. When these young soldiers realized that they ...

5. A Happy Ending

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Brett Blair

... resources to cope with future events. The Holy Spirit was about to come into their lives. This meant that Christ would be no longer limited by time and space as he was on earth. In his penetrating book Through the Valley of the Kwai Dr. Ernest Gordon who later became Chaplin of Yale University, tells of his experiences as a POW in a Japanese concentration camp in Burma in WWII. One day, while being marched through the town of Paisley, he noticed a group of old weavers making very colorful intricate shawls ...

6. God's Plan For His World

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the church?' `Never,' he answered. "`There's that horse,' I said to myself. `Nothing but style.'" (1) Sometimes you and I don't act like a very special people. And because we don't always act like a special people, the work of Christ is delayed. Ernest Gordon found God in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. He wrote of his experience in a book called THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE KWAI. How did he find God? He found him through the witness of loving Christians, fellow prisoners, who were willing to ...

7. A Voice in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... prisoners of war during World War II held by the Japanese in northern Burma in very difficult circumstances. Ernest Gordon, at one time chaplain at Yale University, wrote a book called Through the River of the Kwai, which shared his experience as a ... began to sing, and those who could, those who were ambulatory, came to the parade field and sat there in a great circle. Gordon said, “God touched us that day.” He called it the most sacred event that he had ever been involved with. No preaching, ...

8. Touched by God

Lk 2:1-20

Illustration

King Duncan

... prisoners of war during World War II held by the Japanese in northern Burma in very difficult circumstances. Ernest Gordon, at one time chaplain at Yale University, wrote a book called Through the River of the Kwai, which shared his experience as a ... began to sing, and those who could, those who were ambulatory, came to the parade field and sat there in a great circle. Gordon said, "God touched us that day." He called it the most sacred event that he had ever been involved with. No preaching, nothing ...

9. Make Way For Poets Of The Heart

Sermon

James Angell

... and music to my faith: Loren Eiseley, Thomas Merton, Halford Luccock, Reinhold Niebuhr, Frederick Buechner, Walter Brueggemann, C. S. Lewis, Robert McAfee Brown, Ernest Fremont Tittle, John Sutherland Bonnell, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Howard Thurman, Samuel Miller, David H. C. Read, Joseph Ford Newton, Ernest Campbell, William Sloane Coffin, John Henry Jouette, Ernest Gordon, and Abraham Heschel. I wish these lists included the Afro-American preachers (whom we know are among the best preachers in the world ...

10. Paul the Apostle of the New Covenant to the Gentiles

Romans 15:14-22

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... God, all things are possible.” Michael’s adoption and transformed life resulted from the power of God through the effective ministry of the Tuohy family. Book: To End All Wars, by Ernest Gordon. This book, rereleased in conjunction with the film of the same name (2001), is a reprint of Through the Valley of the Kwai (1963), Gordon’s narrative of his time in a Japanese POW camp during World War II. Fellow captives practicing John 15:13 began a chain reaction among the POWs forced to build the Burma ...

11. Have I Got News For You!

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

William L. Self

... prisoners of war during the Second World War. They were held by the Japanese in northern Burma in very difficult circumstances. It was made into a motion picture and won an Academy Award. Most of us know of it from that standpoint. But Ernest Gordon, theologian and preacher, later to become chaplain at Yale, wrote a book called Through the River of the Kwai, which told another side of the story of degradation and desolation experienced by those impoverished prisoners. This book tells how those in the camp ...

12. In Debt Forever!

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... been justified by faith through grace (or love), Luther had a good and healthy opinion of himself. "I want to be none other than I am," he once told his wife Katie. "I am Martin Luther, a man in whom Christ lives!" In his book, Through the Valley of Kwai, Ernest Gordon tells of a group of British soldiers held in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. One day after a work detail, it was discovered that a shovel was missing. The Japanese guard began to rage, because he was sure one of them had stolen it ...

13. The Lord's Prayer: Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... hatred and resentment in our own soul that we will never hear the Lord Jesus Christ speaking the words of forgiveness to us. If hatred is the driving force in our lives, we will waste ourselves going over the wrong bridge. Donald Shelby, in Ernest Gordon''s THROUGH THE VALLEY OF KWAI, describes what he and his fellow prisoners of war went through as they worked on the infamous Railway of Death. They were starving and disease-ridden and endured all kinds of gross brutality from their captors. But something ...

14. A Choice for Righteousness and Not Evil

Matthew 10:40-42; John 15:12-13

Illustration

Wayne Peterson

During the Second World War Dr. Ernest Gordon, later Chaplain of Princeton University, was a prisoner of war in Thailand. In his book, Through the Valley of the ... study. When they began to know Christ as Lord the entire atmosphere in the camp changed from despair and desperation to hope and compassion. When Christmas of 1943 arrived, Dr. Gordon said, 2000 prisoners assembled for worship. They sang carols and someone read the story of the birth of Jesus from a Gospel account. Much more was different. In spite ...

15. Yielding to Spiritual Maturity

Matthew 7:15-23, James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... likely to die during the course of the five-year study, compared to unhelpful people. Peter Gomes, minister of Memorial Church at Harvard University, has told the story of Ernest Gordon, the former dean of the chapel at Princeton, who was captured on the River Kwai during World War II. While in a Japanese prison camp, Gordon and his fellow British captives were initially very religious, reading Bibles, praying, singing, expecting God would reward them and fortify them for their faith by freeing them or at ...

16. More Than A Mannequin; Not Quite A Masterpiece

Acts 4:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... , and from him we draw the power to be his disciples. In other words, we don't wait until we experience the resurrected Christ to become his disciples. We become disciples and then the experience follows. In his book, THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE KWAI, Ernest Gordon tells about his imprisonment during the Second World War with a group of men who were charged with the responsibility for building a bridge over the River Kwai. The camp had become a den of thieves and betrayal was everywhere. Each man was out for ...

17. Taking the Fall

Illustration

Staff

In Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai, Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, degenerated into barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The Japanese officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When ...

18. The Buddy System

John 15:12

Illustration

Tim Hansel

In Ernest Gordon's true account of life in a World War II Japanese prison camp, Through the Valley of the Kwai, there is a story that never fails to move me. It is about a man who through giving it all away literally transformed a whole camp of soldiers. The man's ...

19. Adam, the Law, and the Curse of the Covenant

Romans 5:12-21

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... of sinners, while the last Adam has created a race of righteous people. Illustrating the Text While Adam’s offense brought death to all, Christ’s obedience brought life. Film: To End All Wars. This film (2001) is based on the true story of Ernest Gordon, former dean of the chapel at Princeton University who, as a Scottish soldier during World War II, spent three years in a Japanese POW camp. In the account, four Allied prisoners of war are treated brutally by their Japanese captors while being forced to ...

20. Three Men Changed by God

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-13, Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... , and only then, will we become the kind of people God has created us to become. 1. “South Korean pastor is also a trained killer,” CNN Religion. Cited by Pastor Barry L. Davis, 52 Sermons From the Book of Acts (Pulpit Outlines 4) (p. 173). GodSpeed Publishing. Kindle Edition. 2. Ernest Gordon & Peter Funk, Guidebook for the New Christian (New York: Harper & Row).

21. Guidance for a Time of Chaos

John 16:5-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... to the first way I said. Go down . . . Oh, what the heck. Look, I’ll take you there. Just follow me, and stick close!” Gordon MacDonald writes, “I followed him and stuck close. And it occurred to me along the way that that is the invitation of Christ to someone ... Scribner’s Publishing Company for some years. He served as personal editor for F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), Ernest Hemingway (For Whom The Bell Tolls), Thomas Wolfe (Look Homeward, Angel), as well as for less famous authors such ...

22. Bezaleel

Exodus 35:30--36:7

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... He delighted in his labor, and he transformed the ordinary into the exquisite. Toil is transformed into worship. CARE AND SKILL George A. Gordon had a sermon, "Lilies on the Temple." He pointed out the delicately carved flowers at the top of Solomon’s Temple, flowers ... object of grace, yet more, in the eyes of One who sees his children given bread, it is incalculably beautiful. Ernest Hartsock took an ordinary event, breakfast, and wrote a sonnet about it. John Ciardi, the poet, has remarked that an ulcer ...

23. A Mountain Too High To Climb

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... sit on the end of it and lift the world. God has loved us enough that God has lifted the world; but instead of a lever, He sent a Lover! (7) 1. Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham, THE SPIRITUALITY OF IMPERFECTION, (New York: Bantam Books, 1992), pp. 126-127. 2. Joe Gordon, SPEAKER'S LIBRARY OF BUSINESS. 3. Jamie Buckingham, LOOK OUT, WORLD, (Altamonte Springs, FL: Strang Communications Company, 1993). 4. Larry Dinkins, HELP!, (Singapore: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1990), p. 136. 5. John Timmer, GOD ...

24. Trusting the Truth

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... -solving, but we are reluctant to try the truth, or to trust the truth of God''s will and way. In a recent Frank and Ernest comic strip, one of the characters was pictured with one of those "List of Things To Do Today" forms. The first item listed was "Make ... without consulting God--and God''s guidance in this book. Let me explain it in a helpful way in a story told by Gordon MacDonald, an evangelical pastor near Boston, Mass. He shares: "Once a foolish man built a boat. His intention was that it would be ...

25. Do Not Grow Weary in Well-Doing

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in heaven. In sum, the church is called to be at the same time a rest stop and a rescue shop. There is a Frank and Ernest cartoon that has the two of them riding a road that is marked by an arrow "Road to Success." But up ahead is another sign: "Be ... thread ... all these ties that make up your life, and when it breaks ... that's it ... that's it. (As quoted in Gordon MacDonald, Christ Followers in the Real World [Nashville: Oliver Nelson, 1991], 177.) Joseph Campbell and Tom Wolfe are right: It doesn't ...

Showing results

Showing 1 to 25 of 27 results

1. A New Possibility

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

James L. Killen

2. Our Helper

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Robert Beringer

3. Terms Of Endearment

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

4. An Announcement in Song

Psalm 98:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

5. A Happy Ending

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Brett Blair

6. God's Plan For His World

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

7. A Voice in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

8. Touched by God

Lk 2:1-20

Illustration

King Duncan

... prisoners of war during World War II held by the Japanese in northern Burma in very difficult circumstances. Ernest Gordon, at one time chaplain at Yale University, wrote a book called Through the River of the Kwai, which shared his experience as a ... began to sing, and those who could, those who were ambulatory, came to the parade field and sat there in a great circle. Gordon said, "God touched us that day." He called it the most sacred event that he had ever been involved with. No preaching, nothing ...

9. Make Way For Poets Of The Heart

Sermon

James Angell

10. Paul the Apostle of the New Covenant to the Gentiles

Romans 15:14-22

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

11. Have I Got News For You!

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

William L. Self

12. In Debt Forever!