Sermons by Michael Andrus (Page 58)
Galatians 6:6-10
The Law of the Harvest TO HEAR THE ENTIRE SERMON CLICK THE LISTEN BUTTON ABOVE One of the sorriest areas of American politics for the past century or so has been our government’s farm policy. More often than not, it is a system that rewards non-production, favors corporate farms over family farms, and makes sure those who make the mistake of planting in a flood plain are generously rewarded for their folly. Now having treated you to about all I know…
Galatians 6:11-18
The Heart of Our Faith TO HEAR THE FULL SERMON CLICK THE LISTEN BUTTON ABOVE Introduction: It’s been a long and somewhat methodical journey through the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. Six chapters in six months! But it’s been an exciting trip. The topic of God’s grace is dealt with so forcefully and effectively in this book that one cannot escape the overwhelming truth that no matter how great and noble one’s effort, no matter how carefully one observes religious rules and regulations,…
James 1:1-12
When Troubles Pile Up TO HEAR THE ENTIRE SERMON CLICK THE LISTEN BUTTON ABOVE Introduction: For the next several months, Lord willing, we will be mining one of the mother lodes of practical Christianity, the Epistle of James. Some in the early church questioned whether this book was up to par with the rest of Scripture, and Martin Luther was quite sure it wasn’t, but the dominant view of the church has always been that while the Epistle of James has a…
James 1:13-18
When Temptation Overpowers You Last Lord’s Day we took the first step in our summer journey through the Epistle of James, introducing the book and sharing some practical and encouraging answers about what to do when troubles pile up. Today we are going to examine a closely related topic–what to do when temptation overpowers you. I can’t think of any area in which we need to “walk the talk” more than in regard to temptation. Let’s read James 1:13-18: When tempted, no one…
James 1:19-27
When Religion Is Worthless (or, I Believe in Christian Living) I have given two titles to my sermon today. The first is When Religion Is Worthless, the reason for which title will become clear as we go through the text. The second is I Believe in Christian Living. I want to explain where the second comes from. As you will recall, we did a two-month series in April and May on our proposed new EFCA Statement of Faith, called This We Believe. I took the eight major topics…
James 2:1-13
When Favoritism and Prejudice Come to Church Racism in the church today is not as bad as it used to be. Forty years ago Jan and I were members of a Bible Church in Arlington, Texas, pastored by a graduate of Dallas Seminary, where blacks were unwelcome and the whites in the church made no bones about it. They would literally get up and move if an African American sat down next to them. Needless to say, there weren’t many who visited, and…
James 2:14-26
Faith Without Works Doesn’t Work! This is such a special Sunday that I purposely limited my preaching time to 25 minutes. Some of you don’t think I can do it. You’re probably right, but I’ll try. It has been so good to honor Trudy Burkholder this morning on the occasion of her retirement after forty years as our choir director. Pastor Tom Macy, Steve Blasdel and I have had the privilege of working with Trudy for a combined 42 years (some overlap there, of…
James 3:1-12
Tongue in Check Introduction: When I was a kid and my mom took me to the doctor, the first thing he would say, no matter what the problem, was “Stick out your tongue!” Then he would gag me with a little stick. I believe Dr. James would say the same thing if we went to him concerning some problem with our spiritual health—stick out your tongue! According to a recent study the average person speaks 18,000 words a day. That is the equivalent of…
James 4:11-17
When Christians Play God It’s great to have our families all together in one service today. I applaud the decision to give our children’s workers, youth leaders, and adult ABF teachers a break for the month before school starts. But even more importantly, I think it’s wonderful to have our families worshiping together. We have a tendency to split families up when we come to church, and there are some good educational benefits to that. But it’s also great for children to sit with…
James 5:7-12
Lord, Give me Patience–Now! Last Sunday James offered us a “word to the wealthy,” rebuking the wicked who misuse riches in flagrant disregard of godly principles of stewardship. Pastor Phil did a really good job sharing that theme with us. Today our Scripture passage considers the other side of the coin: what about those who get the short end of the stick–the poor, the downtrodden and the suffering? There is a theological movement that has developed in many liberal denominations over the past…
James 5:13-20
Handle With Prayer Today we will conclude our study of the Book of James as we turn our attention to chapter 5:13-20. Good, decent, and godly scholars differ greatly in their interpretation of these verses, and that always makes it a bit disconcerting when one tries to deliver a clear and unambiguous message from God. But let’s study it together and see what we can learn. Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing…
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
The Bottom Side of the Rug TO HEAR THE ENTIRE SERMON CLICK THE LISTEN BUTTON ABOVE My homiletics professor in seminary taught us that the introduction is the most important part of a sermon because in the first two minutes you will either convince people they should listen to the rest of it or allow them to drift. I’m going to use as my introduction today the reading of the Scripture text itself because I believe this passage will convince…