Sermons on Sovereignty of God
2 Samuel 15, 16, 19
SERIES: David: A Person After God’s Heart Letting God Be God When Facing Injustice SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Think back to the last time you were treated unfairly or suffered unjustly. Maybe it was a long time ago; more likely, it happened just this past week. Either way, the memories are undoubtedly painful, because most of us have a very strong sense of fairness. I think the thing I have had the most difficulty teaching my two boys over the years is that…
2 Samuel 24
SERIES: David: A Person After God’s Heart David’s Greatest Sin SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I regret that my sermon this morning is not a Mother’s Day sermon, but I also remind you that this is not a biblical holiday (though respect for mothers is certainly biblical–and not just the 2nd Sunday in May but every day). Mother’s Day originated in 1908 when a spinster named Anna Jarvis started a letter-writing campaign to set aside a special day to honor mothers, her own…
Job 1:6-2:10
SERIES: The Book of Job God in the Dock SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: The Court of Heaven has just been called to order. The Judge sits on His throne and listens as His various messengers and assistants report on their recent activities. Suddenly an intruder makes an entrance. A hush falls upon the entire proceedings. The others recognize this intruder because there was a time when he was a welcome Advocate at the Court. But he has long since abandoned the Judge and has established his…
Job 15-21
SERIES: The Book of Job Round Two of the Garbage Dump Debate: What About the Prosperity of the Wicked? SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Note to David: Check to see how the two parallel lists halfway through this sermon come out with the formatting. Introduction: Two of the major philosophical questions believers of all ages have had to wrestle with are, “Why do the righteous suffer?” and “Why do the wicked prosper?” As we look around we see apparent evidence of both. Most of us could name…
Job 28
SERIES: The Book of Job The Quest for Wisdom SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction to Scripture reading: I am a spelunker at heart. Nothing causes the adrenalin in my body to flow like a cave. I guess it all began when I was about 9. We were visiting the Mark Andrews family, who lived way out in the country in western Kirkwood on N. Signal Hills Dr. off Marshall Rd., and their two boys took my brother and me to an old abandoned quarry near…
Job 34, 35
SERIES: The Book of Job When Theology Goes to Seed SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: What is God like? An ancient legend tells us that the richest man in the world, Croesus, once asked the wisest man in the world, Thales, “What is God?” The philosopher asked for a day in which to deliberate, and then for another, and then another, and another, and another. At length confessed that he was not able to answer and that the longer he deliberated, the more difficult…
Job 36, 37
SERIES: The Book of Job Weather Report SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: This morning we conclude the speeches of the principal human characters in the book of Job. From chapter 3 through chapter 37 we have seen the largest single portion of “uninspired,” but occasionally “inspiring,” human wisdom in the Bible. But lest I be misunderstood when I call these speeches uninspired, I hasten to explain. The record of these speeches is an inspired record, but the speeches themselves are not. You see, neither Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, or…
Matthew 2:13-23
When God Doesn’t Make Sense Note: This sermon was preached by Associate Pastor Jeff Schultz at First Free St. Louis. Introduction: How are things going for you? Is life working out the way you planned? Maybe things are going well, but you still fear that if you don’t keep it together, things will fall apart? We follow a God who doesn’t always (or often!) do things the way we would – what makes sense to us is often not the way God…
ecclesiates 3:1-22
The Tyranny of Time and Eternity Two of the most incomprehensible terms in the English language are “time” and “eternity.” Have you ever tried to define these words? Years ago I conducted a rather thorough search for a workable definition of time. About the best I could come up with was the following: “Time is the mere abstract possibility of events in durational sequence.” Now if you take pains to examine that definition and to digest each part of it very carefully, you will probably be forced to admit you don’t understand what time is…
Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained Note: This sermon was preached at First Free Wichita by Associate Pastor Phil Thengvall. Introduction: Today’s global economic uncertainty has a way of paralyzing nations, corporations, small business owners, families, and individuals. Yesterday, The Washington Post said that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner confirmed that Aug. 2 remained the deadline for raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit. On that date the United States will begin to default on its obligations without additional borrowing authority, setting in motion the “catastrophic…
Esther 2
Introducing the Hero and the Heroine Introduction: Last Lord’s Day we launched a summer series on the book of Esther. It’s rare that I urge you to go to our website to read sermons, but if you missed last week’s, I hope you will go back and read it (or listen to it) because we offered a lot of background information that is important in order to put the rest of the story in context. In the first chapter…