1 Corinthians 1:10-17
SERIES: Great Church Fights Divisive Politics in the Church SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: The old proverb says, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” The meaning, of course, is that when people find themselves without proper supervision, they often conduct themselves without proper decorum. This is exactly what was happening in the church at Corinth. The Apostle Paul founded the church there while on his second of three missionary journeys, and he remained their pastor for approximately 18 months. But other cities needed…
Galatians 2:11-14
SERIES: Great Church Fights Heavyweight Bout Over Doctrine and Practice SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Two weeks ago, we learned that there are three major kinds of conflict in the church: positive, negative, and neutral. Then last Sunday we examined a case of negative conflict–one stirred up by divisive politics in the Church. Today we turn our attention to a case of positive conflict—one in which the motive of the person who stirred it up was good, his method of tackling the problem was correct, and…
Acts 15:36-41; Phil. 4:2-3
SERIES: Great Church Fights When Personality and Perspective Clash SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Is there anyone here this morning who likes everyone you work with, everyone at school, and everyone in your neighborhood? I didn’t think so. If anyone did raise his hand, I would be inclined to ask, “Do you lie about other things, too?” I don’t think it’s possible to like everybody. Some people have personalities so different from ours that it takes a yeoman’s effort just to be pleasant to them,…
Nehemiah 6:1-19
SERIES: Great Church Fights Operation Intimidation: Dealing with the Hard-Core Antagonist SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: A stunning article appeared in the St. Louis Post Dispatch several years ago, following up on the story of 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, a young man in Springfield, Oregon. Kinkel killed both of his parents and then shot up his school cafeteria, killing two students and wounding 22 others. The 4-column headline read, “‘Evil exists,’ experts say of school shootings.” As if he had just made a startling discovery but could…
Gal. 4:12-20
SERIES: Great Church Fights When Pastor and Parishioner Clash SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I’m not sure there’s any more conflict in the average church than in the average business or political party or social organization, but it certainly gets more publicity. When a pastor is fired, or a church splits wide open, or a church member sues the Elder Board, it usually gets front page coverage. We all know how the news media thrived on the conflict between Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell, the…
James 3:13-18
SERIES: Great Church Fights Are We Willing to Become a Peacemaking Church? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: For the past two and a half months we have been studying conflict and peacemaking here at First Free. We have examined negative conflicts, positive conflicts, and neutral conflicts. We have carefully studied more than a half dozen conflicts described in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. We have gleaned all the principles we could find about the sources of conflict, the kinds of conflict, and,…
Reformation Day, 1999
Reformation Day, 1999 SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Today is a holiday for many Americans, but it is a Holy Day for Christians. This is Reformation Day, the 482nd anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517, a 34-year-old monk named Martin Luther nailed a treatise containing 95 spiritual concerns on the door of the University Cathedral in Wittenberg, Germany, to protest corruption in the church of his day. That set off a reform movement which produced the Protestant church, a movement to…
Heaven and Hell?
SERIES: Heaven and Hell Whatever Happened to Heaven and Hell? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I have chosen to preach for the next two months about heaven and hell. As you know, most of the time I preach through books of the Bible, and frankly I think that’s the best way to maintain a balanced diet–God chooses the topics for us and it’s amazing how often a topic comes up during a series just when we need it. Nevertheless, I believe…
A Place Like No Other
SERIES: Heaven and Hell A Place Like No Other SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I think I stirred up a few hornets’ nests last Sunday. Several of you talked to me this week and asked some hard questions. I’m going to try to deal with most of them during this series, but I want to say up front that I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I stated last week that the Bible speaks unambiguously and clearly about heaven and hell. And it does–about…
Who Are the Inhabitants of Heaven and Hell?
SERIES: Heaven and Hell Who Are the Inhabitants of Heaven and Hell? SCRIPTURE: Various SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Two Sundays ago we asked, “Whatever Happened to Heaven and Hell?” Last Sunday the question was, “What Are Heaven and Hell Like?” Today I want us to focus on a third question, “Who Are the Inhabitants of Heaven and Hell?” I think we are in for a few surprises. I want to begin by saying to you today that I believe there are going to…
Heaven for Those Who Cannot Believe?
SERIES: Heaven and Hell SERMON: Heaven for Those Who Cannot Believe? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: This Sunday and next I want to address two related and yet very different topics by means of two questions: “Heaven for those who cannot believe?” and “Hell for those who have never heard?” We can avoid the second question, and many of us do, simply by selfishly refusing to worry about the teeming millions who have never heard the Gospel. But we can hardly avoid the first,…
Hell for Those Who Have Never Heard?
SERIES: Heaven and Hell Hell for Those Who Have Never Heard? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Acts 8, Acts 10, et al Introduction: Last Sunday’s message engendered a lot of response, most of it encouraging, but some of it challenging. One question several of you asked was essentially this, “Pastor, how can you be so sure all infants who die in infancy will go to heaven since the primary passage, 2 Samuel 12, dealt only with the death of the child of a believer?” Let me say it…