Sermons by Michael Andrus (Page 3)
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…
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…
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…
What Will We Be Doing in Eternity?
SERIES: Heaven and Hell What Will We Be Doing in Eternity? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: This is Advent season, and when people come to church the Sunday before Christmas, they generally expect to hear a Christmas sermon. Our current series on heaven and hell has not exactly been seasonal. However, before we are done this morning, I hope you will see there is a connection between today’s message and Advent, but it won’t start out that way. Throughout this series I have tried…
Here Comes the Judge!
SERIES: Heaven and Hell Here Comes the Judge! SCRIPTURE: 1 Cor. 3:10-15, 2 Cor. 5:1-10, et al SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: As we resume our series on heaven and hell this morning, I want us to wrestle with one of the toughest questions in Christian theology–and that is the issue of future judgment. To many in our pluralistic, tolerant, subjective, and relativistic culture, judgment seems crude, self-righteous, hateful, and proud. But that is only because such a society rejects the notion of moral…
The Divine Bookkeeper and the Great White Throne Judgment
SERIES: Heaven and Hell The Divine Bookkeeper and the Great White Throne Judgment SCRIPTURE: Revelation 20:11-15, et al SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: The House prosecutors came to the Senate this week with 60,000 pages of evidentiary material which they believe justifies conviction of the President and removal from office. Most of this evidence has been pried from reluctant witnesses, and it involves just a dozen or so days in one man’s life. Some of it may be hearsay; some may be judged circumstantial. There…