Sermons by Michael Andrus (Page 40)
Revelation 3:1-6
To Sardis: Do You Worship in a Mausoleum? How many of you have traveled outside the U.S.? If you ever get the opportunity to go on a tour or on one of the short-term mission trips our church sponsors, I encourage you to go. It really broadens your horizons and can have a tremendous spiritual impact. I have been privileged to do a lot of foreign travel, some of it for pleasure and some for ministry. I have actually been to thirty countries on…
Revelation 3:7-13
To Philadelphia: The Church of the Faithful Witness In our series on Revelation 2 & 3, we come today to the sixth letter Jesus wrote, the one to the church at Philadelphia. This is the only one of the seven churches whose name we recognize immediately. Maybe some of you are wondering why Jesus would write a letter to Philadelphia and not to Boston or New York or Kansas City. Well, this Philadelphia is not in Pennsylvania but in Turkey. It is the second-to-last…
Revelation 3:14-22
To Laodicea: The Lukewarm Church Think back with me over the last few times you’ve entertained someone at your home. As a gesture of hospitality, you undoubtedly asked your guests, “What would you like to drink? Iced tea or hot tea? Coffee? Cold cider (or maybe if it was winter, hot cider)? Coke? Ice water?” I’m willing to wager that no one has responded, “Just give me a lukewarm Pepsi,” or even “How about a glass of tap water at room temperature?” Most red-blooded Americans don’t like anything…
Revelation
The Eighth Letter: To First Evangelical Free Church of Wichita Have you enjoyed our study of the letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor this summer? Maybe “enjoy” is the wrong word to use. Have you “profited” from it? I know I have. For the sake of those who may be visiting with us this morning, for the past two months we have been reading someone else’s mail. We have been reading and studying seven letters dictated by Jesus Christ to the Apostle John…
2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
Money–Godly and Ungodly Ways of Getting It We are launching a new sermon series this morning, entitled “Finding Financial Freedom.” Please note that I didn’t say, “Finding Financial Security.” Biblically the phrase “financial security” is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. By the way, I collect oxymorons, and I have literally hundreds of them in my file. Maybe you’d like to hear a few, or maybe not, but here are some of my favorites anyway: Amtrak schedule California expressway Civil War Country music (please no…
Various Passages
Money–Godly and Ungodly Ways of Spending It John Wesley advised his followers concerning the use of wealth: “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can!” I think most Christians would offer a hearty amen! to Wesley’s words, but many live a slightly different version: “Make all you can, spend all you can, and hope that Social Security is solvent when you hit 65.” I am personally convinced that most Christians would like to be more frugal in their saving and…
Various Passages
Money–Godly and Ungodly Ways of Saving It A few weeks ago you all received a bookmark with our church’s new mission on it. It’s really not a new mission–just a restatement of what our mission has always been: “To glorify God through honoring His name, teaching His word, loving His people, and expanding His kingdom.” One of the values under “expanding His kingdom” is this: “We value generous stewardship over all of the resources God has entrusted to us.” We value that because God commands it and because God…
Acts 4:36-5:11
Money–Ungodly Ways of Giving It Please turn with me to the book of Acts 4 and let’s read together the Word of the Lord, beginning in verse 36. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he…
Luke 16:1-9
Money–Godly Ways of Giving It: A Bad Man’s Good Example Every one of us in this room this morning has a set of priorities, a ranking, if you will, of those things that we consider the most important in the world. I’m sure if asked to put these priorities on paper, most of us would probably list God first, family second, then work, church, friends, and country in some order, followed by eating, golf, TV, sleeping, and other common pursuits. But I am…
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
How the Gospel Impacts the Pastor It’s no secret to any of you that the media loves bad news. Bad news sells. Bad news titillates the public. Bad news can be used as a tool to further personal agendas, as we saw in the recent tragedy in Tuscon, Arizona. The media particularly likes bad news when it focuses on a politician they don’t like. The conviction of Tom Delay and the fall of John Edwards received a lot of attention because both men had already…
1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13
How the Church Suffers for the Gospel The Apostle Paul and his two missionary companions, Silas and Timothy, came to Thessalonica and planted a church during Paul’s second missionary journey, but within weeks their success in winning converts stirred up tremendous opposition. In fact, a riot was generated, and they had to flee the city during the night. Paul’s detractors apparently used that fact against him, claiming he had used and abused his new converts and then abandoned them to handle persecution…
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
How the Gospel Gives Hope to the Church : Josh had a tough passage of Scripture last Sunday, but he did a great job with it. You could hear a pin drop as he talked about the need for sexual purity. If you weren’t able to be here last Lord’s Day I would strongly encourage you to go to the website, and either read it or listen to it. I have a real advantage this morning–my sermon text is a very familiar passage…