Sermon and Worship Resources

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John 11:17-37

Sermon

David O. Bales

... us. Jesus, however, loves us no matter what — no matter how much money or how much faith we have. And most of the time love is enough. John Templeton died July 8, 2008. He started the Templeton Growth Fund and gave his money to The Templeton Prize for religion, which grants a winner every year over a million dollars. “The Templeton Prize honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.”[4 ...

2. Seeking Joy

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... him for all he has done.” Could you do that—thank God every day for everything He has done? Best-selling author and speaker Tony Robbins tells of interviewing the billionaire investor Sir John Templeton. Tony asked Templeton, “What’s the secret to wealth?” Robbins is a very wealthy man himself, of course. Templeton said, “Tony, it’s what you teach . . . Gratitude! You know, Tony, we’ve both met people who have a billion dollars and they’re miserable. So they’re truly poor. And we both ...

3. Gratitude: A Matter of Perspective

Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... what life would be like without them.” (2) Think about some of the blessings you enjoy. Now imagine they were taken from you. Then they were restored. Can you imagine how grateful you would be? Sir John Templeton, the billionaire investor, was once asked, “What is the secret of wealth.” Without hesitation Templeton said, “Gratitude.” He went on to say, “If you’re not grateful, you’re not rich-‑no matter how much you have.” This is to say that gratitude is a matter of perspective. “When ...

4. Heaven: One Way And One Way Only

John 14:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... in the key verse that we are going to be studying today. "I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." (John 14:6, NASB) That one statement raises more blood pressures and makes more people's blood boil than any other statement you can make about any other subject. Charles Templeton, who used to preach with Billy Graham, until he rejected Christianity and became an agnostic, put the argument this way. "Christians are a small minority in the world. Approximately 4 of ...

5. Pentecost

Psalm 104:1-35, Joel 2:28-32, John 20:19-23, Acts 2:1-21

Sermon Aid

... to the church to shape, empower, and send it into the world on its mission for the Lord. SERMON APPROACHES A sermon on the Gospel, John 20:19-23 - "A New Act of Creation." This Gospel takes us back beyond Easter Sunday, all the way to Ash Wednesday with its ... he should have chosen one of the novels about finding the bones of Jesus, such as the former evangelist, Chuck Templeton, wrote over a decade ago. That would have attacked the central doctrine of the faith, Jesus' death and resurrection. Scorsese ...

6. What Would Jesus Really Do?

1 Peter 2:13-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... be? "When it rains, it pours." (2) Not only does life sometimes send us raindrops of adversity, but when the raindrops come, they often come in mighty deluges. One of the great determinants in how successfully we live our lives is how we handle adversity. John Marks Templeton tells about a middle-aged man who attended a men's therapy support group one evening when he felt he was at his lowest ebb. His wife was leaving him. His business was teetering near bankruptcy. He had gained weight over the last few ...

7. Enemies of Promise

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Enemy of Pride: Why do so few child geniuses live up to their hype? Why do so few intellectual prodigies become Nobel/Pulitzer/Templeton prize recipients? Why is the world run by C students? My mother thought she knew the answer. She had a favorite saying that ... the life of Jesus testifies to the possibility of an adult life made rich with the fulfillment of those promises. John the Baptist ridiculed the Pharisees and Sadducees as they approached him for baptism because he perceived the hypocrisy and saw ...

8. A New Command

Sermon

Lee Griess

John 13:1-17, 31b-35 In his book Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton remarks how ironic it is that the course of human history has been affected so positively and ... there in the words of Jesus in that upper room. Hear the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples that evening as he gathered them together for the Last Supper. From the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, Jesus says: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are ...

9. Love's Redeeming Work Is Done: The Sixth Word

John 19:17-27

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... not pay the debt, so someone had to pay it for us. Someone else had to serve the sentence. Or, as Scottish Biblical scholar John Eadie puts it: "On the cross was the purchase made, and on the cross was the victory gained. The blood which wipes out ... was there shed, and the death which was the death-blow of Satan''s kingdom was there endured." When Chuck Colson received the Templeton Prize for Religion at Rockefeller Chapel in Chicago, he told the story of visiting a prison in San Jose dos Campos, Brazil. He ...

10. When What You Signed Up For...

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... s leading to an unexpected place and an unexpected opportunity. Many years ago, Pastor John Cochran was called to lead Trinity Lutheran Church, Northside, in Pittsburgh, PA. When God first called him to this congregation, John thought there had been some kind of mistake. He didn’t think he would ... bible-commentary/acts-16/. 4. “Called from the Badge to The Book,” June 26, 2012, Templeton Editor, originally published in the book Make Your Job Your Calling, https://makeyourjobacalling.com/category/stories ...

11. Uncovering Cover-Ups

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... .I. But recent books and articles have uncovered a variety of behaviors and improprieties which would have greatly offended my dad. John F. Kennedy lauded Thomas Jefferson when, at an assemblage of artists, actors, authors and musicians in the East Room of the ... you pleasure or makes you happy, it's okay. Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and recipient of the coveted 1993 Templeton Prize in Religion, will be remembered by many as President Nixon's rough and tough "hatchet man." Now a remarkable born- ...

12. A New Command

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Lee Griess

In his book Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton remarks how ironic it is that the course of human history has been affected so positively and negatively by ... was there in the words of Jesus in that upper room. Hear the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples that evening as he gathered them together for the Last Supper. From the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, Jesus says: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my ...

13. Tasting the Gruel of Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... given the royalties from all his speeches, books and awards to the Prison Fellowship Ministry. This includes the prestigious $1 million Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion as well as the royalties from the sale of five million copies of his twenty-three ... his car, but he knew some of it by heart; so from memory he recited the twenty-third Psalm and a passage from the Gospel of John. And he said this: ‘Mrs. Oswald tells me that her son, Lee Harvey, was a good boy and that she loved him. And today, Lord, ...

14. Uncovering Cover-Ups

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... books and articles on Hoover have uncovered a variety of behavior and improprieties that would have greatly offended my dad. President John F. Kennedy lauded Thomas Jefferson when, at an assemblage of artists, actors, authors, and musicians in the East Room of the ... or makes you happy, it's okay. The late Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and recipient of the coveted 1993 Templeton Prize in Religion, will be remembered by many as President Nixon's rough and tough "hatchet man." Now a remarkable "born ...

15. Commanded By Example

John 13:31-38

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

In a book titled, Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton said the history of this world has been changed by events which took place in two small upper rooms. These ... in that "Upper Room" on the last night of his earthly life. His instructions were so important that all four Gospels report them at some length. One-fourth of the Gospel of John is devoted to that eventful night in the Upper Room. You can read it in chapters 13 through 17. Among the first words Jesus said to his disciples that night were these: " ...

16. Good and Bad "Magical Thinking"

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... big corporations hire specialists to organize the “feng shui” in their work spaces. Musician George Michael bought the Steinway piano that John Lennon composed his best know work on: “Imagine.” Michael ships this piano off to places that are in need of ... a slim volume based on his dialogues with students and seekers which he calls The New Flatlanders (Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press, 2002). In his discussions, Middleton recalls and revives a nineteenth century work called Flatland: A Romance ...

17. A Matter of Trust

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... who did not trust him, even after twenty years of ministry. Pastor Scott Hoezee tells about an interesting study on forgiveness conducted by the Templeton Foundation in cooperation with the University of Michigan and the National Institute for Mental Health. According to this study, 75% of Americans are “very ... About Religion (Kindle version). 5. http://www.calvincrc.org/sermons/2002/matthew18.html. 6. From a sermon by Rev. John C. Fitzgerald, https://booneumcevents.org/uploads/Sermon2009_07_12.pdf.

18. How to Forgive

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... to ourselves. Pastor Scott Hoezee tells about some research on the subject of forgiveness by the well-respected Templeton Foundation. The foundation recently funded a major nationwide study on people’s attitudes toward forgiveness. Co‑sponsored by ... -of-forgiveness-where-forgiveness-begins-michael-luke-sermon-on-forgiveness-for-others-122581.asp. 2. Guideposts. 3. Dr. John Vertefeuille, http://www.cedarpark.org/thechapel/services/2010/0110/notes.pdf. 4. Henri J. M. Nouwen, Gracias! (San Francisco ...

19. Read the Directions

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Late in the evening before his little son’s birthday, a father was trying to put together a complicated toy as a birthday present. He was not making very good progress. There were a lot of parts in that shipping carton. He realized that he should have begun this days ago, but he had left it until the last hour. Yet he had confidence that he could complete the job with his mechanical knowledge. In his haste, he cut his hand badly on a sharp corner, and it bled profusely until bandaged. When he had finished ...

20. God Forgotten

Illustration

John Wilson

In his 1983 acceptance speech for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn] recalled the words he heard as a child, when his elders sought to explain the ruinous upheavals in Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." He added, "If I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: 'men have forgotten God.'"

21. Blessing or Curse?

Matthew 13:44-46

Illustration

John Marks Templeton

The story is told of old King Midas who loved the sight and sound and the feel of gold. The king was convinced that enough gold would bring meaning to his life and was delighted when he was granted his wish that everything he touched would be changed into gold. Yet his golden world came to have a hollow ring to it. He discovered he couldn't eat because his food would turn to gold as it touched his lips. He couldn't embrace his young daughter because that would turn her to gold. As long as he had the Midas ...

22. Lowered Expectation

Matthew 14:13-21; John 6:1-21

Illustration

John Marks Templeton

Would it surprise you to learn that everything in your life right now is pretty much the way you made it? That from hundreds of options you chose your responses to whatever situations presented themselves? Would you agree that you have exercised the capacity to choose what you have received? If so, doesn't it stand to reason that if you made the choice in the first place, you can change it? What a powerful notion! Whatever happens to you, you can say, "I am the master of my life." But just as the good that ...

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