Sermons on Persecution
John 18, et al
SERIES: The Gospel of John The Amazing Transformation of Rocky Johnson SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I would like to preach another biographical message today—this one about a character named Rocky Johnson. Of all the characters in the NT, other than Jesus, he is probably the best known. His Jewish name was Simon Barjona. That last name simply means “son of John,” for “bar” means “son” as in “Bar mitzvah” (Son of the Law). If he were Scandinavian, his last name would have been John’s…
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…
Romans 8:18-25
The Agony and the Ecstasy[i] Introduction: One of the most distinguishing features of biblical Christianity is its philosophy of suffering. Some religions deny the reality of pain and suffering altogether, calling it an illusion. Others attribute suffering to the fact that God is finite and thus unable to eliminate it. There is a view held by some evangelicals that suffering is never God’s will and is simply the result of weak faith. Jesus and His Apostles, however, took a very balanced approach toward suffering. They acknowledged…
Romans 12:9-21
Love Without Wax Introduction: Ray Stedman shares the story of a man who was passing a used bookstore when he spotted a volume in the window which caught his attention. The book was entitled, How to Hug. Feeling kind of lonely, he stepped inside to purchase the book. To his chagrin he discovered that it was Vol. 13 of a set of encyclopedias and covered the alphabet from H-O-W to H-U-G, “How to Hug.”[i] Could it be there’s an analogy to the Church in that…
1 Peter 1:1-12
Don’t Just Hang in There; Stand Firm! Introduction: Persecution of the church in our country does not usually consist ot direct attacks on our places of worship or our teachings but rather indirect attacks on the moral and social issues that are inherent to our faith. Ten days ago the city of Philadelphia joined four states (Mass., Illinois, Calif, and I believe Connecticut) in denying Catholic Social Services (and any other adoption agency, like the evangelical Bethany Christian Services) from placing children…
1 Cor. 4:8‑13
Has God Promised Health and Wealth to the King’s Kids? Introduction: One of my favorite theologians is Dave Barry, syndicated comic in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Back in 1984 he wrote a column entitled, “Rev. Al: A Blessing in Disguise.” It’s a bit lengthy, but I think you will understand why I include it this morning. “When I tell you about Rev. Al, you’re going to think I’m making him up, but I’m not. There really is a Rev. Al. He runs the…
1 Corinthians 15:12‑34
The Logic of the Resurrection SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 15:12‑34 Introduction: How many of you here today have changed careers at some point? Believe it or not, I also had a former life before I became a pastor. After finishing graduate school at Southern Methodist University in 1969, I taught philosophy and logic for five years on the college level. I often used the Scripture passage before us this morning, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, as a textbook example of logical reasoning. You see, the Apostle Paul…
Acts 4:1-35
No Other Name Introduction: We have a hard time relating to persecution, don’t we? Most of us have never known significant opposition to our faith in Christ. The worst we can claim is that we were once the butt of a religious joke or that a relative thinks we’re fanatical, or maybe a door was slammed in our face while canvassing our neighborhood on behalf of a Sunday School contest. Not everyone is so fortunate. This Wednesday, I understand, a verdict will be handed…
Acts 8
Spreading the Flame Introduction: The Scripture text before us today, Acts chapter 8, can be studied biographically or geographically. If we take a biographical focus we discover there are 4 main characters—two positive and two negative: there is Saul the Persecutor, Philip the Evangelist, Simon the Magician, and the Ethiopian eunuch. But there is also a strong geographical focus in the chapter, as it describes the spread of the Gospel beyond Jerusalem and Judea to two unlikely places—Samaria and Africa. The importance of this is…
Acts 22:30-24:27
Caught in the Crucible Note: This sermon was preached at First Free in Wichita in 2019. Introduction: I’ve entitled my sermon, Caught in the Crucible. When a craftsman wants to make a piece of gold jewelry from a mold, he first melts a bar of gold and burns all the impurities out of it. To do this he uses a crucible, which is a vessel for melting substances that require a high degree of heat. The term crucible has symbolically come to refer to a severe…
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
The Rebellion of Antichrist Introduction: There is probably no more mysterious and fascinating figure spoken of in the Bible than Antichrist. He has been the focus of a great deal of speculation among students of prophecy and the subject of countless books. Over the centuries I suppose everyone has wondered at one time or another whether some current evil leader in the world might morph into that tragic figure. While we’re going to examine carefully what our Scripture passage says about Antichrist, it is…
Daniel 1, 2, 3, 6
Daniel and the Three Hebrew Young Men: Courage and Character Come Before Career In our series on The Ministry of the Market Place, we come today to perhaps the most familiar of all the biblical characters we will examine–Belteshazzar, better known by his Hebrew name, Daniel, along with his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah–better known, strangely, by their Babylonian names –Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you know any Bible stories at all, you probably know about these men, but familiarity must…
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