Sermons from October 2021 (Page 4)
Galatians 5:19-21
Sinnerama! Turn with me please to one of the most discouraging passages in the entire Bible, but also one of the most realistic and relevant, Galatians 5:19-21: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; {20} idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions {21} and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom…
Galatians 5:13-18
And Now for the Rest of the Story . . . Paul Harvey had a wonderful way of telling stories. He led you along thinking you knew exactly where he was headed, and then before you knew what hit you he would introduce a surprise ending with the phrase, “And now for the rest of the story . . .” In a sense that’s what the Apostle Paul does here in Galatians. For five chapters he has been denouncing legalism and pressing…
Galatians 5:22-25
In Pursuit of the Fruit If over the past five months our study of Galatians has succeeded in getting you to identify aspects of legalism in your own life, convinced you that God hates it, and opened your heart to the freedom that is available in Christ, then we have accomplished something very important. If last week’s message helped you identify some of the desires of the sinful nature in your life, convinced you that these acts and attitudes are…
Galatians 5:26-6:5
Walking the Walk My sermon in a sentence is this: The principal evidence as to whether the Holy Spirit is controlling a believer’s life is seen in how he treats his brothers and sisters in Christ, which in turn is often determined by how he thinks about himself. That is the conclusion I have come to after the study we have done of the fruit of the Spirit and Spirit‑filled living as found in Galatians 5. Did you notice that the fruit…
Galatians 6:6-10
The Law of the Harvest 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 concerning farm policy in the U.S. of A., I would…
Galatians 6:11-18
The Heart of Our Faith 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, no one can get right with God or stay right…
James 1:1-12
When Troubles Pile Up Note: Most of this series was preached in Wichita; this sermon, however, was delivered in St. Louis. 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…
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…