Search for sermons - Ephesians 4
Do Not Grieve the Spirit - Ephesians 4:29-32 - Jun 5, 2005 - 204
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” That’s Ephesians 4:29 in the New International Version. Whenever I read that verse, my mind goes back to a spee ... More
Is Total Forgiveness Realistic? - Ephesians 4:29-32 - Jun 1, 2003 - 758
A few days ago I received an e-mail with a comment about these sermons on forgiveness:Since you started this series, I have made some important discoveries in my life, but am enjoying it all the same. Maybe ‘enjoying’ is not the right word, but I hope you know what I mean. It’s lik ... More
The Shepherd's Gift - Ephesians 4:11 - Jun 24, 1990 - 576
About the time I graduated from seminary in 1978, a leading Christian magazine published an article entitled, “Things They Didn’t Tell You at Your Seminary Graduation.” It is subtitled, “Some aphorisms for the brand-new pastor.” I cut it out and saved it because at th ... More
What Was That I Never Heard You Say? - James 1:19 - Apr 8, 2006 - 539
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the woman who went to see a lawyer about getting a divorce. The lawyer decided it would be helpful if he could get a little background so he asked the woman if she had grounds for a divorce. “Yes,” she said, “as a matter of fact, about an ac ... More
The God We Hardly Know - Sep 22, 2006
David Mains caught me off guard with his question. “If you had to grade your congregation on their knowledge of the Holy Spirit, what grade would you give them?”Up until that moment, the interview had gone well. David and his daughter Melissa had thrown me fast pitches right over the cen ... More
My Favorite Teacher - Romans 12:7; I Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11 - Apr 22, 1990 - 568
It’s not hard for me to remember my favorite teacher. I first met her on a bright September morning in 1962. Her name was Mrs. Witt. We were her new fifth-grade class. She was a big, strong woman, which meant she could take care of us without any trouble. To me she looked like she had bee ... More
Self-Control: The Fine Art of Keeping Your Cool - Proverbs 16:32 - Jan 29, 1995 - 616
Prosecutor Christopher Darden set the tone in his opening statement in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Everyone knows about O.J. the athlete and O.J. the celebrity. And by now most of us know far more about his personal life than we care to know. But Mr. Darden was not speaking to us, but to the twel ... More
The God We Hardly Know: Why I Believe in the Holy Spirit - Various - Oct 29, 1995 - 793
David Mains caught me off guard with his question. “If you had to grade your congregation on their knowledge of the Holy Spirit, what grade would you give them?” The interview, broadcast nationally on the program You Need to Know, centered around my book Names of the Holy Spirit. I g ... More
Overcoming a Judgmental Spirit - Romans 14:1-12 - Nov 3, 2002 - 705
Christians love to fight over our deeply-held beliefs. Unfortunately, sometimes we fight for things that don’t matter very much.Once upon a time a man took a walk and came to a bridge. When he got to the middle of the bridge, he saw a man standing on the rail, obviously about to jump. The man ... More
THE HOLY SPIRIT - Various - Apr 13, 1988 - 422
Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gifts - Various - Apr 1, 1990 - 567
The name Peter Drucker will be familiar to you if you are a student of business or economics. To put it simply, he is one of the great minds of the 20th century. His writings include Managing for Results, The New Society, The Effective Executive, and America’s Next Twenty Years. For over a ... More
Forever and Ever, Amen! - Matthew 19:6 - Nov 12, 2006 - 538
Let’s begin with a little quiz. What well-known television actor said the following? “To me the greatest Latin lover in the world was may Dad, who married my mother and was faithful to her until the day he died 55 years later. Now, that’s a great lover–a man who’s int ... More
Harambee! - Romans 15:5-7 - Apr 13, 2003 - 506
With this sermon, we are almost to the end of the “Praying with Paul” series. There is one more sermon after this and then we are done. The prayer we are looking at in this sermon is different from any of the others in this series. All the other prayers could be answered individually. &l ... More
Risky Business: The Other Side of Christian Freedom - Galatians 5:13-15 - Aug 12, 2001 - 258
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1a). What exactly is this Christian freedom that Paul talks so much about in Galatians? In order to help us understand the answer, I’d like to borrow a definition and an illustration used by Pastor John Piper of Bethlehem Bapti ... More
Portrait of a Godly Leader - I Timothy 3; Titus 1 - Mar 17, 1993 - 418
We begin with the words of Robert Cook: “There is no substitute for character. You can buy brains, but you can’t buy character.” When it comes to selecting leaders, nothing is more important than godly character. You can buy talent … or brains … or knowledge &helli ... More
The Curse on Canaan And the Problem of Racism - Genesis 9:18-29 - Sep 8, 2002 - 237
It has been a long time since I addressed the topic of racism from the pulpit. The last time I devoted an entire sermon to this issue was in March, 1994. I am returning to that topic today because it is impossible to talk about Genesis 9:18-29 without considering the problem of racism. However, if y ... More
Unless You Forgive - Matthew 6:12 - Oct 9, 2009 - 1222
“Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12 Before we begin: Which is more difficult for you: asking God to forgive you or forgiving a person who has sinned against you. The fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer seems simple enough, but simple things ca ... More
Inside the Wedding Ring - Romans 15:5-7 - Apr 20, 2007 - 738
I was twenty-five years old and fresh out of seminary when I became the pastor of a small church in Downey, California. I stayed there almost five years and then moved to Garland, Texas to pastor another church for five-and-a-half years. Then we moved to Oak Park, IL where I served as pastor for jus ... More
Forgiveness: Healing the Hurt We Never Deserved - Matthew 18:21-35 - May 4, 2003 - 757
This is the first sermon in a series I never planned to preach. The story of how it came to be starts in February when I spent a week preaching at Word of Life Florida. One day I ate lunch with George Theis, former executive director of Word of Life. He told me about a book called Total Forgiveness ... More
When Christians Disagree - Acts 16:36-41 - Mar 12, 2007 - 776
Christians disagree about almost everything. And when we disagree, we usually start a new church. Which reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago. A Scottish Presbyterian is rescued after many years of living alone on a desert island. When he is picked up, the captain says to him, “I thoug ... More
Changing Your Mind - Romans 12:2 - Oct 20, 2006 - 727
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).We would all like to make some changes, wouldn’t we? Suppose you could change anything ... More
The Wind Blows Wherever It Wills - John 3:8 - May 15, 2005 - 200
This is the first in a six-part series on the Holy Spirit called Experiencing God Today. Two months ago I had no idea that I would be preaching on the Holy Spirit once we finished I Peter. But as I thought about the matter, I felt impressed by the Lord that this is the direction we should go. There ... More
Real Hope for Lasting Change - I Corinthians 6:9-11 - Oct 3, 2004 - 264
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of Go ... More
Sense and Nonsense About God's Love - 1 John 4:8 - Apr 27, 1997 - 475
I’d like to begin my message with a simple observation. No attribute of God is so widely believed as the love of God. This observation is quite easily testable. Take a microphone to the streets of Chicago and ask them to tell you what God is like. I will assert without fear of contradiction th ... More
To an Unknown God: How to Find Common Ground - Acts 17:22-23 - Jun 14, 1998 - 239
If you ever attend seminary, you will study a subject called homiletics. That’s a course where you learn how to prepare and preach a sermon. During my days at Dallas Seminary we actually had three courses in homiletics. In the first one they taught us the rudiments of public speaking, in the s ... More
Life-Changing, Heart-Moving, World-Shaking Prayer - 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 - Sep 29, 1996 - 323
"Prayer is not everything but everything is by prayer.” So said Ray Ortlund. All Christians would agree with that statement. No matter what our background, instinctively we know that prayer is central to the Christian life. Most of you are familiar with Corrie Ten Boom whose family hid Jew ... More
Curing the Itch Mites - Oct 28, 2007
Ray: How many of you know what itch mites are? We had never heard of them until two months ago. Marlene: We learned all about itch mites when we hosted a wedding reception in Chicago for Mark and Vanessa who had gotten married in California two weeks earlier. Some friends offered to let us have the ... More
Integrity: The Ultimate Virtue - Various - Jan 1, 1995 - 613
I want to begin this sermon by giving you a verse of Scripture that is hard to know where it fits. It is Proverbs 24:26. It seems to fit well on the first Sunday of the new year. It says, “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.” What does that mean? What is the relationship between ... More
Are We a Non-Prophet Ministry? - I Corinthians 14:29-33 - Jun 17, 1990 - 575
What image comes into your mind when you hear the word prophet? If you are like most people, several images may flash across your mental screen. You may think of a white haired old man in a prison cell on an island in the middle of the ocean. With wrinkled face and a long white beard, he ponders ... More
He Ascended Into Heaven: Why It Still Matters Today - Acts 1:9 - Mar 29, 1998 - 634
"After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight." Acts 1:9This is one of the most remarkable statements in Holy Scripture. We call it the ascension of Christ into heaven. All the major creeds mention it and every Christian group believes it. There ... More
Stop, Thief! - Exodus 20:15 - Jul 19, 1992 - 720
Although it is not a matter of any particular importance, this is not the first time I have preached on the Ten Commandments. About 12 years ago I preached through the Ten Commandments at the church I pastored in Downey, California. After I finished that series of messages, I put my sermon notes i ... More
The Holy Spirit and the Gift of Tongues - Article C: The Holy Spirit - Various - Feb 23, 1992 - 749
There are two problems a pastor faces whenever he comes to speak on a topic as controversial as speaking in tongues. The first is that the subject is so vast that he cannot hope to cover it completely. It would take a book to fully consider all the pertinent issues, and if I wrote such a book, I d ... More
The Church on its Knees: Unleashing the Power of United Prayer - Acts 1:12-14 - Apr 19, 1998 - 636
"Prayer is that slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence." Charles SpurgeonI don’t often begin a sermon with a confession but this week it seems the appropriate thing to do. Over the years whenever I have prepared to preach on prayer, I have always approached my task with a b ... More
God Has a Big Family—Part 2 “I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church” - Ephesians 4:1-6 - May 30, 2004 - 657
“I believe in the holy catholic church.” The Apostles’ Creed Let’s begin at the most basic point. What does the word “church” mean? In the New Testament the word “church” translates the Greek word ekklesia, which itself comes from two other Greek ... More
"One Little Word Shall Fell Him": What the Cross Meant to Satan - Colossians 2:1 - Mar 14, 1999 - 673
By 6:00 p.m. the party had started in earnest. It was Friday evening and that meant the party would probably last all night and perhaps even into the next day. Everyone who heard the news could hardly believe it, but they knew that if it were true, this would be the party to end all parties. So they ... More
