Sermons from 2024
Philippians 1:1-11
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell A Joyful Servant of Christ SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: For a number of months now I have been using a New International Version called The Student Bible. I have enjoyed the pithy notes and comments by Phil Yancey and Tim Stafford, the editors; they are quite different from the notes found in most study Bibles. I have borrowed their title for Philippians as the title for this summer series: “Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell.” I like…
Philippians 1:12-18
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell A Christian Perspective on Trouble and Troublemakers SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: In our new series on Philippians entitled, “Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell,” we come today to Philippians 1:12-18 and the subject of “A Christian Perspective on Trouble and Troublemakers.” No doubt some of you will recall that only six weeks ago I preached a message from 1 Samuel on trouble. In that sermon we indicated that if ever a person deserved…
Philippians 1:20-26
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell The Christian Perspective on Life and Death SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Today is not only Father’s Day. It is also Juneteenth. How many of you have heard of Juneteenth? Not too many apparently. I know one thing about those who didn’t raise their hands—you’ve never lived in Texas. Juneteenth is what African Americans in the Deep South, particularly Texas, call June the 19th. That is the day Union Troops arrived in Galveston in 1865, officially freeing Texas’ black…
Philippians 2:1-11
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell The Great Exchange SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: A number of years ago the Chicago Daily News reported an unusual incident. It happened in the comfortable first-class compartment of a crowded London-bound train when a tall young man rose from his seat and pushed his way into the corridor and through the door into the next compartment. There he spoke to an obviously weary woman whom he had seen standing and swaying to the motion…
Philippians 2:1-11
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell The Great Exchange Applied SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Wasn’t it Charlie Brown who said, “I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand”? I think so. He put his finger on a problem for a lot of us, didn’t he? There are some other versions of his profound insight that we might want to consider: “I love the family; it’s my wife and kids I can’t stand.” “I love the Church; it’s the pastor, the elders and the other…
Philippians 2:12-18
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell The Ins and Outs of Practical Christian Living [i] SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Note: This sermon was preached in Wichita in 2019 as part of another series on Philippians and is being substituted for the earlier sermon. Introduction: Josh called yesterday and whispered the news that he had a bad case of laryngitis and asked if I could substitute for him this morning. I didn’t exactly freak out because I was already on the schedule to…
Philippians 2:19-30
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell Shopping for Heroes SPEAKER: Brad Harpe Introduction: It seems that often in our search for heroes, we look for flash, glamour, and notoriety. In today’s passage Paul presents us with two heroes of a different kind—heroes whose names were not common household words in their time but who are nevertheless worthy of honor, esteem, and emulation by believers of all ages. Examining the options I asked my wife, “Robin, who are some of…
Philippians 3:1-8
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell The Bankruptcy of Human Religion SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: Philippians chapter 3 is one of the most profound and most loved passages in the Bible. Please listen carefully to the reading of verses 1-8: Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For…
Philippians 3:9-14
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell Winning the Race SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: The Olympic Games begin in Seoul, Korea in a few weeks. Once again, as is true every four years, one hundred million Americans in desperate need of exercise will spend countless hours in front of a television watching a few hundred athletes in desperate need of rest, who are nevertheless pressing on with every last ounce of effort they can coax out of their tired bodies. …
Philippians 3:15-4:1
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell Sound Advice for Resident Aliens SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I have never lived in a foreign country, but I have had the privilege of traveling extensively throughout North America, and also to Central America, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Visiting a foreign country for a few weeks is certainly not the same as living there for an extended period of time, but even my relatively brief visits have taught me some…
Philippians 4:2-9
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell Removing Obstacles; Releasing Power (or Godly Mulch for a Church Plant) SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: My mind thrives on structure. Perhaps as a result of a graduate degree in logic, I have a difficult time dealing with things that don’t seem to fit. I’m working on a remodeling project at home, and my wife will tell you that I drive her nuts because everything has to fit perfectly. It may take me three times as long…
Philippians 4:8-9
SERIES: Philippians: Cheerful Sounds from a Jail Cell GIGO: Reprogramming Our Minds SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus Introduction: I am more or less computer illiterate. That’s OK, because I have a Macintosh (that’s a friendly little dig at all the PC friends I have in the church). At any rate, there is an awful lot of computer terminology I don’t understand. But one of the first terms I learned when I got my first computer was GIGO. Do you know what it means? Many of you know: garbage in,…