Search for sermons - Luke 15
Christ-Like Love in a World of Hate - Luke 15:1-7 - Oct 10, 2004 - 263
This is the final message in the God Speaks Today series. As I look back on all that has happened, I am amazed at what God has done. In ways we could not have imagined, God opened doors for us to speak to millions of people across Chicagoland. And as a result, we have seen an enormous influx of new ... More
Trapped On a Dead-End Street - Luke 15:11-32 - Nov 14, 1993 - 389
I begin with a very simple observation: It is possible to know God and yet be far away from him. Most Christians know what that is like. Perhaps you have had the experience of drifting away from God. You never meant it to happen. You didn’t start intending to drift away from the Lord. Bu ... More
Is It Becoming Easier to Say "I Was Wrong?" - Luke 15:21 - Sep 15, 1991 - 789
The eyes of the nation focused on Milwaukee for one brief moment this week. Inside a hushed courtroom Jeffrey Dahmer entered a formal plea to the charges against him. First the reading of the charges. Then the question: “How do you plead?” His lawyer answered for him. “Not g ... More
God Our Father - Matthew 6:9 - Oct 4, 2009 - 1217
“Our Father in Heaven.” Matthew 6:9 Before we begin: What words describe your earthly father? Do you feel comfortable addressing God as “Father?” Why or why not? “Who is God?” The interviewer looked at me expectantly while I fumbled to find an answer. Since the ca ... More
Let's Bring Back the Holy Kiss: Rediscovering Real Love in the Family of God - Romans 16:1-16 - Sep 7, 2007 - 745
“Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16).In some ways Romans 16 appears to be one of the least-interesting chapters of the New Testament. It consists mostly of Paul’s greetings to a long list of people in Rome. At first glance that doesn’t seem to offer much that w ... More
Repent! The Forgotten Doctrine of Salvation - Acts 17:30 - Oct 6, 2006 - 510
In 1937 the American Tract Society sponsored a contest in which they offered a prize of $1,000 for the best new book written on one of the “essential evangelical doctrines of the Christian faith.” Sixty-one years ago, $1,000 was a lot of money and a great many well-known Christian author ... More
How God Pursues Prodigals, Part 1 - Jonah 1:4-17 - Jun 12, 2011 - 1287
Several years ago I ran across the work of a Canadian poet named Ethelwyn Wetherald who lived in the early part of the 20th century. While doing some research on her writings, I found a little-known poem she wrote about what it’s like to be a prodigal on the way back home but with your heart n ... More
Do Not Take Your Holy Spirit From Me! - Psalms 51:11 - Jun 19, 2005 - 203
"Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalms 51:11). It is sometimes said that no Christian should ever pray this prayer, but I wonder if that is correct. Clearly David feared being cast away by God and losing the Holy Spirit. The big question is not, &l ... More
Famine in the Promised Land - Genesis 12:10-20 - Mar 31, 1996 - 15
"Smart people sometimes do some very stupid things.” A few years ago Jim Warren shared a statement with me that a friend had shared with him. It goes like this. “When hard times come, we always have two choices. We can be a student or we can be a victim.” A moment’s thou ... More
What Angels Wish They Knew - 1 Peter 1:10-12 - Aug 29, 2004 - 610
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories th ... More
The Year of Good Riddance - 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 - Dec 30, 2009 - 1234
Did you hear about Good Riddance Day? Probably not unless you happen to live in New York City. Last Monday (December 28) was Good Riddance Day in Times Square. Organizers encouraged people to write their grievances down and then throw the lists into shredders symbolizing the act of letting go ... More
A Desperate Man’s Desperate Prayer - Jonah 2 - Jun 30, 2011 - 1289
When last we left Jonah, he was in the belly of the great fish. He was in a bad fix and a bad way. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, “Nothing clears the mind like the certain knowledge that you will be shot in the morning." That’s obviously true. If a man knows he is going to be shot ... More
Repent! The Forgotten Doctrine of Salvation - Acts 17:30 - Aug 9, 1998 - 246
In 1937 the American Tract Society sponsored a contest in which they offered a prize of $1,000 for the best new book written on one of the “essential evangelical doctrines of the Christian faith.” Sixty-one years ago, $1,000 was a lot of money and a great many well-known Christian author ... More
