Sandy Stout Funeral
Sandy Stout Funeral September 18, 2021 (died September 10, 2021) Note: Sandy Stout and her husband Joe came to our church in the late 1970’s and became dear friends of ours. Joe owned the Jeep dealership in Wichita and generously provided me with new Jeeps on several occasions to take to Colorado on vacation. Sandy was one of the few in our church family who succumbed to the Covid epidemic. Obituary: Sandra K. “Sandy” Stout, 82, loving & devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and…
Stan Nelson Funeral
Stan Nelson Funeral July 16, 2010 (died July 13) Note: Stan Nelson and his wife Margaret came to First Free Wichita during my first pastorate here during the late 70’s. He was the owner of Joyland, the lone amusement park in the area, and he gave us free tickets to bring our son Eddie to the park. Needless to say, Eddie really liked Stan. He passed away a year before I retired. Obituary: Stanley Roger Nelson was born on June 24, 1923 in Mr. Vernon,…
Timothy Meddings Funeral
Timothy Meddings Funeral April 29, 1994 Prayer: Our Father and our God, we come to you today as needy people. Our hearts have been made very tender this week as a precious child of yours has left us and entered your presence. Teach us once again that “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Help us to say with Job, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Dear Savior and Master, who…
Wink Nolte Service
Wink Nolte Service March 7, 2020 (died on March 3) Note: Wink Nolte was a very special friend of mine. He was a member of First Evangelical Free Church of Wichita for nearly 40 years, and his daughter Susan has been a valued staff member for many years. Obituary: Winthrop H. Nolte was born on June 8, 1933 at Milwaukee Hospital, Milwaukee Wisconsin, to Clifford Simpson Nolte and Katherine Morton Nolte, he was the middle child of three. He had two sisters Susan…
MY STORY – GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
My Faith Story Is the Story of God’s Faithfulness SCRIPTURE: Various SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus DATE: December 7, 2003 This is going to be an unusual Sunday as far as the sermon is concerned. A few days after announcing my resignation on November 9, I met with our whole staff to share with them something about my spiritual journey over the past 30 years. Several encouraged me to share the same story with the whole congregation. They said it helped them see that our…
Exodus 1:1-22
The Gathering Storm SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Kitty Kelley has raised our consciousness level regarding the private lives of famous people of our day, and she has focused attention upon a curious fact—the more you learn about them, the less you like them, even given the fact that half of what is written may be false or exaggerated. And that’s not just true of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Consider Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Dwight Eisenhower. The…
Exodus 2
The Development of a Deliverer SPEAKER: Brad Harper Introduction: Please turn in your Bibles to the second chapter of the Book of Exodus and listen carefully to the Word of the Lord: Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with…
Exodus 4:18-6:12
A Long Obedience SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Friedrich Nietzsche was not the kind of philosopher with whom Christians find much in common, but even radical unbelievers sometimes have good things to say. In his book, Beyond Good and Evil he wrote, “The essential thing in heaven and earth is that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.” Eugene H. Peterson borrowed Nietzsche’s phrase for…
Exodus 3:1-4:20
All Excuses Set Apart SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Queen Elizabeth visited the colonies this week. She was treated with respect and enthusiasm, but the fact is Americans don’t respond to royalty quite like the British do. The few among us old enough to recall the Queen’s coronation nearly forty years ago will remember the pomp, pageantry and ceremony that accompanied that incredible event from start to finish. Just prior to the coronation invitations were sent to friends and celebrities…
Exodus 7-11
God’s Megaphone SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world…. No doubt Pain as God’s megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment.”[i] Thus wrote C.S. Lewis, and I suspect there are a number of individuals here who could testify that God’s megaphone of pain…
Exodus 11-12
The Night Nobody Slept[i] SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Imagine you’re an Egyptian mother living about 1400 years before Christ. You retire one night not too long after the sun goes down, as Middle Eastern families generally do, but you’re awakened suddenly in the middle of the night by the sound of your ten-year-old son struggling for breath. It’s not hard to hear since your house has only one room, and you rush to his side only to hear a gut-wrenching last gasp…
Exodus 13:17-14:31
Divine Deliverance: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire SPEAKER: Brad Harper Note: The manuscript of this sermon is unavailable. However, the outline is below. Introduction: Deliverance from: Slavery Hopelessness An old identity Deliverance through: The reassuring guidance of God Confusion Faith Enemy attack An overwhelming obstacle Deliverance to: A place of insecurity and trouble A place for faith A place for God’s glory The road to the promised land Timeless truths to ponder: Our deliverance is based on a fact…