Search for sermons - Philippians 3
What is Heaven Like? - Philippians 3:20-21 - Jan 18, 1998 - 521
"Heaven is a place, just as much a place as is New York or Chicago.” Charles Ferguson Ball I begin this sermon with two statements that I believe to be almost universally true: Everyone wants to know about heaven and everyone wants to go there. Recent polls suggest that nearly 80% of all Ameri ... More
Go for the Gold - Philippians 3:12-21 - Dec 6, 1998 - 369
Students of the New Testament agree that Paul must have been a sports fan. Over and over again—many times in many places—he uses illustrations from sports to make his point. He speaks of wrestling, boxing, running, winning the race, winning the prize, and winning crowns. He talks about t ... More
From Rubbish to Jesus - Philippians 3:1-11 - Nov 29, 1998 - 367
To me the most arresting part of this passage is verse 8. I am struck by one word Paul uses to describe his own life. Listen to what he says, “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. ... More
This Same Jesus: The Blessed Hope of the Church - Acts 1:10-11 - Apr 5, 1998 - 638
"They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way ... More
Looking for a Second Chance: What About Purgatory and Postmortem Salvation? - Hebrews 1:3 - Jun 11, 2000 - 213
Most people think that Catholics believe in purgatory and Protestants don’t. That statement needs qualification in two ways. First, the various Orthodox churches also believe in purgatory, though we don’t often hear about it. Second, there is a sense in which Protestants in general and e ... More
Trouble in the Church! - Romans 16:17-20 - Sep 15, 2007 - 744
Greet one another with a holy kiss … but don’t go kissing everyone.That will serve as a useful summary of our text. Sometimes it’s not what you say but when you say it that matters. Paul writes these stern words immediately after a long paragraph extending personal greetings to va ... More
God's Altar Call - Romans 12:1 - Oct 5, 2006 - 728
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).I must have been about eight or nine years old when I first responded to an altar call. For those who don& ... More
How God Saves Sinners: Coming to Grips with Justification by Faith - Galatians 2:15-21 - Jun 10, 2001 - 252
I’d like to begin this message with a statement of the problem we all face. When I use the phrase “we all,” I’m referring to the entire human race. There is a problem so fundamental that it is at the root of all the other problems we have. Stated in one sentence, it goes like ... More
Branded for Christ: A Solemn Call to Glory in the Cross - Galatians 6:11-18 - Oct 14, 2001 - 247
Six months after we started, we come at last to the end of our journey through the book of Galatians. It has been an exciting trip! Time and again we have been brought face to face with the grace of God as the only hope of our salvation. Along the way we have seen a side of Paul that is rarely found ... More
How to be a Godly Rebel - Romans 13:1-7 - Dec 8, 2006 - 732
Winston Churchill once remarked that “democracy is the worst form of government until you consider the alternatives.” How true. Democracy is messy and difficult and maddeningly slow because it depends on the will of the people. But who among us would prefer to live under a dictatorship ... More
Press On! - Philippians 3:12-14 - Jan 5, 2012 - 1301
“In America, worry has become part of our national culture. You could write on countless American gravestones the epitaph: ‘Hurried, Worried, Buried.’" I first read those words by John Haggai 15 years ago, but they seem uniquely suited to our current Age of Anxiety. An articl ... More
Why Are We Here? The First Question of the Catechism - Jeremiah 24:7; John 17:3; Ephesians 1:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:8 - Jan 5, 1997 - 466
As this is the first Sunday of a new year, it is an appropriate moment to begin a new sermon series. Beginning today, and continuing into May, we will be considering the attributes of God in a series called “Our Awesome God.” In particular, this sermon series will focus on the person of ... More
What We Owe The Past, What We Owe The Future - Psalm 145 - Mar 25, 1990 - 419
75th Anniversary Sermon For my remarks this morning I would like to take one verse of scripture as my beginning point: Romans 13:7. “Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”In this passag ... More
How to Spot Counterfeit Christianity - I Corinthians 12:10 - May 27, 1990 - 573
I’d like to begin by quoting from an article published in 1988 in Celebrity magazine. The article is entitled, “The Cult Rage Possesses the Stars,” and is subtitled “Shirley Maclaine, Linda Evans and Sharon Gless believe in spirits beyond the grave—Do you?” In t ... More
Who Is Jesus Christ? Article D: The Person and Work of Jesus Christ - Various - Mar 15, 1992 - 751
Tonight we are coming to the most critical doctrine in the Articles of Faith. Other doctrines are important as establishing foundational truth (the inerrancy of the Bible, the Trinity) or as explaining what we believe in a particular area (eternal security, the premillennial return of Christ), but ... More
I’m Coming To Rome Someday, I Hope: Seven Reflections on Knowing the Will of God - Romans 15:22-29 - Aug 25, 2007 - 742
Romans 15:22-29 offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of the Apostle Paul. Essentially it is Paul’s answer to the question, “Why haven’t you visited Rome yet?” We know from Romans 1:11-13 that though he longed to visit the church at Rome, he had been prevented by his dut ... More
The God-Dependent Life - 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 - Jan 30, 2010 - 1237
Do you know why God put you where you are right now? That’s a tough question for some of us to answer. Have you wondered about that? Why has God put you right where you are right now? Do you think it happened by chance that you are single (or married), with children at home (or long since mov ... More
