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butch88
A Warning to Wine-Drinkers (Romans 14:13-23) from the The Transformed Life (Romans 12-16) sermon series
Thursday @ 12:21 AM
John Gregory
God's Freedom (Romans 9:6-18)
Tuesday @ 2:29 PM
L_Skyla
What About Those Who Never Hear The Gospel? (Romans 1:18-20) from the World Missions sermon series
Tuesday @ 8:44 AM
praise
Elijah and the Ravens (1 Kings 17:2-7) from the Elijah: God's Mountain Man sermon series
Friday @ 4:38 AM
stephan
A Warning to Wine-Drinkers (Romans 14:13-23) from the The Transformed Life (Romans 12-16) sermon series
Thursday @ 4:33 PM
noemz
Why Love Has a Bad Memory (I Corinthians 13:4-6) from the Love (I Corinthians 13) sermon series
Friday @ 9:26 PM
SPEARSTUPELO
The Church Christ Prefers (Revelation 3:7-13) from the Email from Jesus sermon series
Saturday @ 10:52 PM
Christopher
Can I Lose My Salvation? (Philippians 1:6) from the Sermons I Always Wanted To Hear sermon series
Thursday @ 7:36 PM
hdashee
Taking The Plunge from the Critical Issues sermon series
Saturday @ 12:15 PM
chloie
Lord, Please Change Me! (Romans 12:2) from the Lord, Please Change Me! sermon series
Sunday @ 11:04 PM
2000 Articles by Ray Pritchard
November in Jerusalem
December 31, 2000
Someone recently asked me why we are traveling to the Holy Land in November. The answer is two-fold. First, the weather in Israel can be unbearably hot during the summer months. During November the days will be warm and the nights cool, thus making for an excellent traveling environment. Second, tour prices are lower in Nov…
Sermon 44 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Is This Really Christmas Eve?
December 24, 2000
Today is December 24. This is Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas. But is this really the day before Jesus was born in Bethlehem? Each year the question comes up and each year the answer is the same: We can't be sure. The Bible does not clearly answer this question. Evidently the first Christians didn't make a point of …
Sermon 43 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Steve and Liz
December 10, 2000
I’ve known Steve and Liz Massey for almost 17 years. Steve was an elder of the church I pastored in Texas and Liz often sang solos during our worship services. Their children attended Awana with our children. We lost touch when we moved to Oak Park in 1989. About eight years ago Steve came through Chicago on business a…
Sermon 42 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Laughing Your Way to Heaven
December 03, 2000
A blurb in USA Today reports that children laugh an average of 400 times a day while adults laugh 15 times a day. If anything, that latter number seems high to me. I know a few folks who apparently haven’t laughed since the Truman administration. But then again life is hard and no one gets a free ride and perhaps some …
Sermon 41 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Winning and Losing
November 19, 2000
Once again I am writing this column with the results of the presidential election still undecided. It occurs to me that although a week has passed, we don’t seem to be any closer to a solution-though of course the whole matter may be settled by the time you read this, but I’m not hopeful in that regard. Despite th…
Sermon 40 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
What Is At Stake
October 22, 2000
On November 7 the American people will elect a new president and vice president, 435 members of the House of Representatives, and one-third of the Senate. In addition, there are thousands of statewide and local races that will be decided on that day. How should Christians approach their responsibilities in the coming electi…
Sermon 39 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Things I've Learned
September 27, 2000
This week my cousin Barbara sent me an e·mail containing a list of aphorisms called "Things I've Learned." She got it from a friend in Florida who got it from somewhere else. I've taken a few from the list I received and I've added a few of my own. I've learned that ·You can do something in an instant that will give you…
Sermon 38 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
What Billy Graham Told Barbara Bush
September 22, 2000
Not long ago I was asked what happens to the people who either follow other religions or who die without ever hearing about Jesus Christ. It's an important issue because even if you take the most optimistic numbers possible, that is, if you add up all the people who might be remotely related to any group related to Christia…
Sermon 37 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
If Archimedes Came to Oak Park
September 13, 2000
Many years ago (almost 20, to be exact) I took a night course called "Advanced Apologetics" from Dr. John Warwick Montgomery at a place called Melodyland School of Theology. I'm not making up that name. The school met in a big church building located right across the street from Disneyland. At that time I was pastoring a sm…
Sermon 36 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Visitors at the Door
September 07, 2000
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14). Two nicely dressed people knocked on our door, a man and a woman who said they were from the local Kingdom Hal…
Sermon 35 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Senator Lieberman Gets It Right
August 31, 2000
A few days ago Senator Joseph Lieberman came to Chicago to meet with a group of local religious leaders. A day earlier he was in Detroit speaking at an inner city church called Fellowship Chapel. During his remarks in both places he made headline news with his emphasis on the important role religious faith plays in the Amer…
Sermon 34 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Dallas Willard on Humility
July 02, 2000
Last week David Steinhart, pastor of Forest Park Baptist Church, shared some insights on humility from a tape on leadership by Dallas Willard. Humility is a quality that is hard to define and even harder to develop. Very few people would admit to praying for humility even though the Bible instructs us to humble ourselves un…
Sermon 27 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
A Short Self-Interview
June 25, 2000
Q: Name a good book you’ve read recently. A: Stonewall by John Dwyer. Q: Name two more. A: All the Best by George Bush; The Gold of Exodus by Howard Blum. Q: Do you read lots of books? A: I read parts of lots of books. I don’t read very many books all the way to the end. Q: Why is that? A: It must be a character f…
Sermon 26 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Can Good People be Gay?
June 18, 2000
In a recent interview, Christopher Matthews asked Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush a thought-provoking question: “Can good people be gay?” The answer came back without hesitation: “Sure, absolutely.” Case closed, at least for a politician seeking the White House who wants to round up as m…
Sermon 25 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
A Good Walk Spoiled?
June 11, 2000
Mark Twain once said golf was “a good walk spoiled.” I had a chance to put that to the test this week when I played nine holes at Columbus Park with Fred Most, Glen Gale, and Vern Henrikson. I should admit right up front that I won the match handily in the sense that I had a much higher score than anyone else. Fre…
Sermon 24 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Notes to the Class of 2000
June 04, 2000
Hello and congratulations. You are the first graduating class of the new millennium. There won’t be another class like yours for a thousand years. That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? You might as well celebrate the occasion because what we used to call “real life” is about to hit you in the face. A f…
Sermon 23 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
The Chess Master
May 28, 2000
A recent article by Philip Yancey contains one of the best illustrations of the free will-predestination problem I have ever read. The “problem” simply stated is this: How can God be in charge of everything that happens and still give humans the power to make free moral choices? It’s easy for us to go to extr…
Sermon 22 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
No Such Thing as a Bad Day
May 21, 2000
I happened to catch a few minutes of an interview Tim Russert did with Hamilton Jordan, Chief of Staff under President Jimmy Carter. He has written a book with the intriguing title, No Such Thing as a Bad Day. It’s his own story about being diagnosed with cancer on three separate occasions before the age of 50. “W…
Sermon 21 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
“I Want to be Like Jesus”
May 14, 2000
A few days ago I received an e-mail from a friend writing to another friend with a carbon copy sent to me. These words from a new Christian contain enormous spiritual insight: “When you said, ‘Let Jesus fill you up with Joy,’ I re-read that line about 100 times. I would love that. I will do it. I say now ‘Jesu…
Sermon 20 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Twenty-five Affirmations Regarding God’s Will
May 07, 2000
Like most pastors I spend a fair amount of time talking with people who are trying to discover God’s will for their lives. It’s been my experience that most people I talk to are sincere and truly want to do God’s will if only they could figure out what it is. And most people realize there is no easy answer to…
Sermon 19 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Bob & Amber's Excellent Adventure
April 30, 2000
A few days ago Bob & Amber Leland stopped by to see me one final time before leaving this area. In a few weeks they will return to Irian Jaya for another term of missionary service. In case you don’t know, Irian Jaya is a part of the multi-island nation of Indonesia. It is on the other side of the world and the best th…
Sermon 18 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
A Conversation with Jesus
April 23, 2000
Someone asked me recently where Jesus’ spirit went between the crucifixion and the resurrection. I replied that Christians have debated that issue for 2000 years since the Bible doesn’t answer the question with total clarity. Then came a second question. What is the meaning of John 20:16-17, which tells us about a…
Sermon 17 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
A Visit to the Funeral Home
April 16, 2000
This week a friend visited a funeral home and then sent me a few thoughts afterwards: “I think I may have mentioned to you how much I have struggled with the fears of losing loved ones. Now God is showing me that He can be with me as I face those fears. I am developing a different time perspective. Life seems very shor…
Sermon 16 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Happy Birthday, OPCA
April 02, 2000
When did it all begin? Some things are blurry in my mind and others are crystal-clear. The vision to start a Christian school in Oak Park was planted in my heart the day I arrived in the village in 1989. At first no one (except my wife) took me seriously when I said that someday, somehow, it was going to happen. Looking bac…
Sermon 14 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Is Jesus the Only Way?
March 26, 2000
The following e-mail arrived a few days ago: There is one fundamental thing I still have such a problem with. That is that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. What about the people who just don’t get it? I can’t seem to reconcile Jesus Christ and God with not giving good people another chance. Is there a loophole…
Sermon 13 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
The Real Reason We Pray
March 19, 2000
This week the Associated Press carried a moving story about Kaia Jorgensen, a basketball player at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Just before the season started she became critically ill with a form of bacterial meningitis. As her condition worsened, her family asked for prayer and students at the Christ…
Sermon 12 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Letter to a Young Man
March 05, 2000
Recently I was asked to write a letter to a young man on the occasion of his 13th birthday. The father asked a number of men to offer advice, counsel, and wisdom that his son could use as he navigated through the challenging teenage years. After considering the matter I felt that I should address the topic of Christian cour…
Sermon 10 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Hard Times at Bob Jones
February 27, 2000
Until recently most Americans had never heard of Bob Jones University. It is a large (5,000 students) fundamentalist Christian school in South Carolina well-known for its academic standards, cultural emphasis, and very strict rules. Bob Jones is so strict that students may not attend movies, watch TV, date without a chapero…
Sermon 9 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
The Blind Beggar at the Bus Stop
February 20, 2000
Early in January I received an e-mail from Aletta Bell, our longtime missionary to India. Four years ago this month I was part of a team from Calvary that visited Dr. Bell to see firsthand her work at Duncan Hospital in a city called Raxaul, on the border between India and Nepal. Day after day we watched as Dr. Bell and her…
Sermon 8 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Be a Link This Week
February 06, 2000
Let's talk about evangelism for a moment. Sometimes Christians are afraid to share their faith because they feel totally inadequate to lead another person to Jesus Christ. They worry that they can't answer questions, they fear they won't say the right words, and when you get right down to it, they aren't certain enough of t…
Sermon 6 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Can We Talk?
January 30, 2000
Did you know that Calvary has an online discussion board where you can trade thoughts with people from around the world? Over the last few months more and more people are dropping by to offer an opinion, ask a question, or join in an ongoing discussion. The discussion board contains a number of sections, such as Community B…
Sermon 5 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Year of the Stump
January 16, 2000
Last Sunday I preached on the story of Nebuchadnezzar losing his mind and becoming like a beast of the field for seven years (Daniel 4). It all started when the king had a dream of a vast tree with branches stretching out in all directions and birds of every kind coming to nest in the branches. Suddenly the tree was cut dow…
Sermon 3 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
Dear Abby
January 09, 2000
The phone rang and the voice on the other end came from a high school student. "Pastor Ray, could I talk to you for a moment?" It was a "Dear Abby" sort of question. She wanted my advice on how to speak up when she is the only Christian in a class of 30. Actually, there may be other Christians but she is the only one who da…
Sermon 2 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
More Self-Evident Truths for the New Year
January 02, 2000
Several weeks ago I put forth a modest collection of “self-evident truths.” Here are a few more that seem appropriate for the beginning of a new year. 1. If it’s truly important, you will find time to do it. How many times have we made excuses for not doing something when in the end, we know we didn’t do it because it just …
Sermon 1 of 44 from the Ponder This - 2000 series
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