2001 Articles by Ray Pritchard

Read It Through in 2002

December 30, 2001

READ IT THROUGH IN 2002 by Ray Pritchard When was the last time you read through the whole Bible? Before you answer, let me be right up front with my answer and say that it’s been a long, long time. It’s been longer than ten years and probably longer than 20 years since I read through the entire Bible, cover to co…

Sermon 51 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Christmas in Eden

December 23, 2001

CHRISTMAS IN EDEN by Ray Pritchard “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This is the first promise given after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. It is also the first gos…

Sermon 50 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Doubt and Faith at Christmastime

December 16, 2001

DOUBT AND FAITH AT CHRISTMASTIME By Ray Pritchard An e-mail arrived a few days ago from someone who wanted to know how to deal with doubt. I wrote back and said not to worry, we all doubt from time to time and doubt can actually be good for the soul. A second message arrived a day later: “I wanted to tell you that I ve…

Sermon 49 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Do Christians and Muslims Pray to the Same God?

December 09, 2001

DO CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS PRAY TO THE SAME GOD? by Ray Pritchard Many times in the last few months we have heard it said that Christians and Muslims pray to the same God. We pray to Jesus, Muslims pray to Allah. It’s all the same, or so we are told. I heard about a deacon who prayed, “Lord, Yahweh, Allah, or by wh…

Sermon 48 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

The Jesus Prayer

December 02, 2001

THE JESUS PRAYER by Ray Pritchard Recently I read Elisabeth Elliott’s fine book, Keep a Quiet Heart. One of her chapters describes the “Jesus Prayer.” It is a prayer that arose in the Orthodox tradition over 1,000 years ago. Though the prayer appears in various wordings, its most basic form goes like this: &#…

Sermon 47 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Ground Zero

November 20, 2001

Sermon 10 of 13 from the Articles and Public Letters series

Repaying an Old Debt

November 18, 2001

REPAYING AN OLD DEBT By Ray Pritchard February, 1865. The Union army, led by General William Tecumseh Sherman, stands poised at the outskirts of Columbia, South Carolina. For months the army has burned its way across Georgia, cutting a wide destructive swath through the heart of the Confederacy. Now at last they have come t…

Sermon 45 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

The Preacher and the Muslim Leaders

November 11, 2001

THE PREACHER AND THE MUSLIM LEADERS by Ray Pritchard Last week a noted television preacher came to Chicago for an interfaith meeting with several African-American Muslim leaders. I have chosen not to mention his name because I don’t wish to make this a personal issue and also because I am quoting from a Chicago Tribune…

Sermon 44 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

The Changing Seasons of Life

November 04, 2001

THE CHANGING SEASONS OF LIFE by Ray Pritchard I received a letter from a friend who detailed some of the challenges facing her family right now. The specifics are personal and private but it can be said that the trials are real and not likely to go away any time soon. She added this PS to her letter: “I was listening t…

Sermon 43 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

What We Saw in Chuck Colson's Office

October 28, 2001

WHAT WE SAW IN CHUCK COLSON’S OFFICE by Ray Pritchard During our recent trip to Washington, DC and New York City, the Calvary “Anchor” Team spent the night at Prison Fellowship headquarters in Reston, Virginia. The next morning we were given a tour of the facilities, including a brief visit to Chuck Colson
…

Sermon 42 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Saved on I-88

October 21, 2001

SAVED ON I-88 by Ray Pritchard I don't know all the details of her story, but I do know that she was raised in the South and her family moved around quite a bit. When I asked about her spiritual background, she surprised me by saying, “None.” She's the only person I've ever met from the South who didn't have a rel…

Sermon 41 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

The Last Days According to Jesus

October 14, 2001

THE LAST DAYS ACCORDING TO JESUS by Ray Pritchard Not long after the terrorist attacks on September 11, Christians (and many non-Christians) began asking how the current world crisis relates to Bible prophecy and the Second Coming of Christ. The early answer goes like this: “We don’t know yet.” I am not aware…

Sermon 40 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Shattered Innocence

October 07, 2001

SHATTERED INNOCENCE by Ray Pritchard I met Bill last Tuesday morning when he picked me up at the Pittsburgh airport. As he drove me to the television studio, I noticed that his right arm was limp. Almost as an aside, he mentioned that he had injured it in a motorcycle accident about 16 years ago. Coming around a curve too f…

Sermon 39 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

A Hard Question

September 23, 2001

A HARD QUESTION by Ray Pritchard We were just a few seconds away from a station break during a live radio interview two days after the terrorist attacks on September 11. The host, wanting to keep his audience tuned in, announced that he had a hard question for me, and that he would ask it before the break and let me answer …

Sermon 37 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

What is Saving Faith?

September 05, 2001

Sermon 9 of 13 from the Articles and Public Letters series

Calvary in the Park: Faith/Hope/Love

September 02, 2001

Sermon 23 of 33 from the Miscellaneous series

WMBI Commentaries

August 23, 2001

Sermon 22 of 33 from the Miscellaneous series

What About the Ecumenical Movement?

June 17, 2001

HOT TOPICS #4: WHAT ABOUT THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT? by Ray Pritchard The following question comes from Shawn in Houston, Texas. He posted it on the “Ask Pastor Ray” question board on Calvary’s website. “Do you believe that the ecumenical movement is a good thing?” Here is an abbreviated version of my…

Sermon 24 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Church of the Pathetic Losers

June 10, 2001

CHURCH OF THE PATHETIC LOSERS by Ray Pritchard It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten as much response to a sermon as I received since last Sunday’s message. I mentioned Alistair Begg’s comment at the Pastor’s Conference that we are all “pathetic losers” who don’t have the power an…

Sermon 23 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

What the Cross Means to Me

June 03, 2001

WHAT THE CROSS MEANS TO ME by Ray Pritchard “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.” Romans 5:7 Here's a good question for you to discuss over lunch today. How many people are you willing to die for? If the chips were down, the moment came, and in…

Sermon 22 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

The Bulldog and the Skunk

May 27, 2001

THE BULLDOG AND THE SKUNK by Ray Pritchard In last Sunday's sermon I mentioned that my friend Dennis Baker had told me years ago that not all hills are worth dying on. Sometimes we fight over things that don’t really matter and end up wasting lots of time and emotional energy with very little to show for it. One of the…

Sermon 21 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

TO HIS OWN MASTER HE STANDS OR FALLS

May 20, 2001

Once there was a man who became unhappy in his church and so he left it in search of something better. He told his friends that he was searching for the perfect church. Finally, he found a church that met his exacting criteria. In his eyes, it was perfect in every way-a perfect pastor, a perfect staff, a perfect building, p…

Sermon 20 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

What David Hebert Told Me

May 13, 2001

Many years ago, in another time and another place, the church I then served as a pastor was preparing to go through a major building campaign. Our program was similar in some respects to what we are attempting to do here at Calvary. In one major aspect things were quite different because that church met in rented facilities…

Sermon 19 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

One Step at a Time

May 06, 2001

Several people have asked about my personal future as pastor in light of the proposed expansion program. Put bluntly, they want to know, Am I planning to stay or to leave or what am I planning to do? Let me say frankly that my staying as your pastor has nothing to do with the expansion program. I won't stay longer if we bui…

Sermon 18 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

The Golden Chain of Prayer

April 29, 2001

Five weeks from today our church members will meet to decide on the proposed expansion program. Within the next few days you will receive a brochure in the mail that explains the proposal in great detail. Then we will have a series of open forums where you can ask questions and get more detailed information. Eventually the …

Sermon 17 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Shall We Stay in Oak Park?

April 22, 2001

It may interest you to know that our church has just celebrated its 86th birthday. We may not look or feel 86 years old, but that's how old we really are. Our congregation was born in the early months of 1915 when a handful of men and women met together to consider the possibility of starting an independent church in Oak Pa…

Sermon 16 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?

April 15, 2001

On this Easter Sunday we join with Christians around the world to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. But how do we know that 2,000 years ago a man named Jesus actually died and came back from the dead? The only way to answer that question is to examine the original documents-the four gospels of the New Testa…

Sermon 15 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

WMBI Easter Week Devotionals

April 12, 2001

Sermon 21 of 33 from the Miscellaneous series

Should Timothy McVeigh Die?

April 08, 2001

Next month Timothy McVeigh is scheduled to be put to death for his part in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed over 160 people. In a recently-published book he has freely admitted his own guilt and even defends what he did. This would appear to be a good test case for the debate over capi…

Sermon 14 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Can Homosexuals Go to Heaven?

April 01, 2001

For the next few weeks I want to use this space to discuss some "hot topics." The first one is indicated by the title, although no one ever puts the question in precisely this way. Let's begin with the words of I Corinthians 6:9-10, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Ne…

Sermon 13 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Keep Hope Alive

March 25, 2001

An old man and an old woman, childless for decades, are promised by God that someday they would have a baby. Abraham responds with total honesty. He laughs out loud at the Almighty. When Sarah hears the news, she laughs, too. How could such a thing happen? Twenty-five long years pass while they wait for God to keep his prom…

Sermon 12 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Overcommitters Anonymous

March 18, 2001

Several weeks ago I flew to New York to teach the book of Galatians to 500 students at Word of Life Bible Institute. The young man who picked me up at the Albany airport asked a question I've heard more than once lately: "How do you get everything done that you have to do?" The question seems to assume that I am busier than…

Sermon 11 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

Full Speed Ahead, One Step at a Time

February 25, 2001

A few days ago, Bruce Thorn called to see how thing were going. Bruce and I go back about 35 years or so to the days when we grew up together in a small town in northwest Alabama. Among other things, Bruce seems to have an uncanny ability (almost like a prophet) to call me up about once a year and say something that I find …

Sermon 8 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

God Bless the Boy Scouts

February 18, 2001

Once again Oak Park is in the news, and this time the news isn't good. A front page story in the Chicago Sun-Times informs us that the various Boy Scout troops in Oak Park have decided to sever their ties with the national organization because here in Oak Park we don't like to discriminate against gays and lesbians and we d…

Sermon 7 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series

WMBI Commentaries

February 14, 2001

Sermon 20 of 33 from the Miscellaneous series

The God of My Future Problems

January 07, 2001

What will 2001 bring? No one knows but God. Eight years ago I wrote the following column and called it “My Most Important Spiritual Discovery of 1992.” It seems worth repeating as we stand on the brink of a new year. It happened not long after I returned from Belize in October. While rummaging through an accumulated mountai…

Sermon 1 of 51 from the Ponder This - 2001 series