John 7:1-52
SERIES: The Gospel of John What Do You Think of Jesus? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: About six months have passed since Jesus fed the 5,000, walked on water, and then delivered His great discourse on the Bread of Life. It is now the middle of October, just six months before He is to be crucified. For the most part He has stayed away from Jerusalem to avoid a premature confrontation with the religious leadership of the nation. Instead, His primary ministry has…
John 7:53-8:11
SERIES: The Gospel of John Portrait of a Prodigal Daughter SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: “How I wish that there was some wonderful place Called the Land of Beginning Again, Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches And all our poor selfish grief Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door And never put on again.” The poet who wrote those words, Louisa Fletcher, was expressing a forlorn dream, but I believe there is a place called the…
John 8:31-47
SERIES: The Gospel of John A Word to the Gospel-Hardened SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: There are some terms that have fallen out of the Christian vocabulary over the years, for better or worse. When I was a boy one of those terms was “backslidden.” A backslidden person was one who didn’t come to church as often as he used to or started smoking again or was spotted buying a six-pack out of the liquor store. While the term has pretty much fallen into…
John 8:12-30
SERIES: The Gospel of John Light for a Dark World SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I appreciated Alan Groh’s excellent song this morning, entitled “I Am.” In the Gospel of John seven great “I am” statements come from the lips of Jesus, each involving an implicit claim to deity. We have already examined “I am the Bread of Life;” today we come to “I am the Light of the World.” If ever there was a time when this world needed light, it is today. Let’s readJohn 8:12-30: When…
John 9
SERIES: The Gospel of John Light for Blind Eyes SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I’ll never forget Leo. Back in the early ‘50s he attended the church my father pastored in Webster Groves, MO. He carried a great big, thick Bible and he always brought his dog with him to church. Leo was born totally blind. He could read braille and even sang solos from braille song sheets. I was so fascinated by Leo that I used to close my eyes and walk around trying to…
John 10:1-30
SERIES: The Gospel of John A Shepherd and His Sheep SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: There are over 160 different animals mentioned in the Bible—from mountain goats to wild donkeys, from the ostrich to the hawk, from the hippopotamus to the crocodile. Many of the animals are used to illustrate human characteristics. But the animal imagery God uses more often than any other to describe His people is that of the sheep, and that is because people and sheep bear many similarities. Both are…
John 11:1-53
SERIES: The Gospel of John Does Jesus Care? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Dr. James Montgomery Boice, well-known evangelical scholar and pastor, preached nineteen 45-minute sermons on the 11th chapter of John. I plan to do it in one 35-minute sermon. Now I don’t know if that makes you feel cheated or greatly blessed, but I have decided to look at the whole rather than the parts, asking the simple question, “Does Jesus Care?” He told us He does; in fact, just last week in chapter…
John 11
SERIES: The Gospel of John Easter 2002: There IS Life After Death (and No Need for Fear) SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Todd Beamer’s now-immortal words still echo through our minds: “Are you ready? Let’s roll.” The 32-year-old Wheaton College graduate and software salesman led other brave passengers in subduing the hijackers of United Flight 93, destined for who-know-what government building in Washington, D.C., with the tragic result that it crashed into a Pennsylvania field killing all aboard but saving countless lives on the…
John 12:20-36
SERIES: The Gospel of John The Hour Has Come SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: On this wonderful Easter Sunday, will you please turn in your Bibles to the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John? It is Passover. As Jesus enters the Holy City on Palm Sunday, great crowds hail Him as King of Israel, and His enemies are driven to despair, as verse 19 indicates: “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” We pick up the story in verse 20 and read…
John 12:1-11
SERIES: The Gospel of John Unbounded Love SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: One of America’s finest short stories, written by one of the great masters of the art, O Henry, was a moving story called, “The Gift of the Magi.” A young couple, Della and Jim, were very poor, but very much in love. Each had one unique possession. Della’s was her hair, which served almost as a robe when she let it down. Jim, on the other hand, had a pocket watch, given…
John 12:37-50
SERIES: The Gospel of John SERMON: Believing Is More than Seeing SCRIPTURE: John 12:37-50 SPEAKER: Brad Harper DATE: April 18, 1993 Introduction: In the mid-1920’s, America seemed to be on the way to its greatest hour. There had been some tough times during the First World War, but spirits were soaring as the economy seemed impervious to decline. For many, there was hope for a bright future as the stock market soared and the conventional investment wisdom seemed to prove that you really could get…
John 13:18-38
SERIES: The Gospel of John And It Was Night SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: The Apostle John was a relatively simply man. A fisherman by trade, he was not well-educated. His writing employs simple grammar, short sentences, and elementary vocabulary. But simple though he was, John was not ignorant. The concepts he conveyed were profound and he knew how to use subtle literary devices to impress upon his reader the pathos of a particular moment. Nowhere is this done more skillfully than in John 13, where…