Sermons found for the topic Compassion

Midnight Miracle - Luke 22:49-51

When Jesus is betrayed and arrested, Peter impulsively strikes with his sword to try to protect Him. Jesus rebukes Peter, heals Malchus’ ear and quietly submits, knowing that in the end, God’s will must be done. What should Peter have done? How does a follower of Christ react when all is lost? More

How to Kill a New Christian - Part 1 - Romans 14:1-12

Part 1. There are many ways to kill the faith of a new Christian, but the easiest way - and the quickest - is through criticism and a lack of acceptance. We all have a tendency to criticize people who don’t do or say things the way we think they ought to be said or done. Terrible things can happen when we are too quick to offer personal judgments on believers who don’t meet our personal standards. How can we overcome the impulse to criticize our brothers and sisters in Christ? More

How to Kill a New Christian - Part 2 - Romans 14:1-12

Christians have always disagreed - a lot! And it’s not a bad thing. But there is always a danger that our own personal preferences will grow so important that we no longer accept our brothers and sisters in the Lord who disagree with us. The great unifying factor for the people of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has broken down the wall that separated us from God and from one another. In Him we are joined together in the body of Christ. If we truly believe in Him, we can let Him deal with those who disagree with us. In the meantime, don’t forget to treat those who disagree as brothers and sisters in the Lord. More

God’s Medicine for a Sick World - Romans 13:8-10

Love is the medicine for a sick and fallen world. We need to see love and feel love and experience it in our lives. And we need to know how to pass it along to others. This is the fulfillment of all that God asks of us. More

The Lawyer Who Wanted a Loophole: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Religious Hypocrisy - Luke 10:25-37

It was just after 3:00 a.m. when the young woman pulled her red Fiat into a parking space near her apartment. She got out of the car, locked it, and began the 100-foot walk to her front door. She never made it. Spotti More

The Gift that Never Grows Old - Romans 12:8

Some of you have heard this story, but it bears repeating. About 16 years ago some researchers decided to find out if seminarians really were Good Samaritans. In order to conduct their experiment, they enlisted 40 v More

Do Not Grieve the Spirit - Ephesians 4:29-32

"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 More

Faithful to the Defeated - Lamentations 3:22-23

The year was 1866, and in a log cabin in the little town of Franklin, Kentucky, Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was born. Although he never went to high school or college, he became an elementary school teacher at age 16. Fiv More

God's Freedom - Romans 9:6-18

While studying Romans 9, I was struck by Paul's question in verse 14: "Is God unjust?" In our hearts we already know the answer. God is not unjust. But oftentimes he seems inconsistent. The very examples Paul chooses More

REACHING PEOPLE WITH GOD'S LOVE - Various

Friday morning I did something I had not done since becoming pastor of this church. I took a few minutes and sat on the steps in front of the sanctuary. It was a typical March day in Chicago–clear and cool wit More

What We Saw In India - Matthew 5:7

About 12 hours ago our plane finally landed at O'Hare Airport. I do not think I have ever been happier to come home than I was last night. During the last 19 days our team traveled 42,000 miles, took eight different More

This Must Be the Place: - Various

Seven times in nine years I have given a State of the Church address to Calvary Memorial Church. In my first message I quoted the famous words of Daniel Burnham, architect and author of The Chicago City Plan: "Make no More

How to Inherit a Blessing - I Peter 3:8-12

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were cal More

Diary of a Wise Old Man - Various

We are beginning a new sermon series. In order to get it off on the right foot, I’d like to ask you to take your Bible and turn with me to Proverbs 1:1-7. The title of this series is Street Smarts, a Handy Guide More

Ballistic Christianity - Matthew 9:35-38

“Then He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…’ What did Jesus mean? He meant there were many people ready to be harvested for the Kingdom. All around us there are broken, bleeding, hurting people, ripped apart and left to die, they are ready to be reached if only someone will go to the harvest fields. If only someone will tell them about Jesus. Where are the harvest fields today? Let me name a few …. More

God's Word Has Not Failed - Romans 9:6-18

For many people no question seems as puzzling as the problem of unanswered prayer. Why is it that some things we pray about are never answered? We could all spend hours remembering times when we prayed and prayed, o More

God Unchanging - Romans 11:28-29

When I was a teenager in Alabama, I spent a week at a Methodist church camp. This was during the revolutionary days of the 60s when the talk was of LSD, the Beatles, hippies, the Vietnam War and protest in the street More

Peace, Be Still!A Short Sermon from the Sea of Galilee - Mark 4:35-41

Lord, don’t you care - that my child is sick, my marriage is falling apart, I have no money, I feel so alone? All of us have moments when life tumbles in around us, when we feel utterly alone and forgotten by God. In those moments we have a choice to make. More

The Cost of Compassion

THE COST OF COMPASSION by Ray Pritchard “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me” (Luke 8:46). These strange words mean at least this much: Jesus knew God's power had flowed from him into the body of the woman who touched his garment. Power that had been his passed from him to her. It resulted i… More

"Should I Not be Concerned about that Great City?" Why We are Staying in Oak Park - Jonah 4:11

It was an exciting time to be alive.The year was 1915, and change was in the air. So many things were happening all at once. Armies marched across Europe, meeting in the deadly combat of World War I. America was about More

Judge Not! - Matthew 7:1-5

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not n More

Why God Dries Our Tears - II Corinthians 1:3-7

The call came about 10:30 P.M.. Someone had died. Would I please call the family? Before I could pick up the phone, the mother had called me. Her son had taken drugs and had died earlier that evening at St. Franci More

The Dubious Disciples: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Limited Faith - Mark 6:32-44

Here's a letter I recently received from a prisoner in the Cook County jail. Just before Christmas we donated 500 copies of the book An Anchor for the Soul to the "Am I My Brother's Keeper?" ministry to be given out t More

Sheep on the Right, Goats on the Left: The Final Separation of the Saved and the Lost - Matthew 25:31-46

My text describes an awesome event, the Judgment of the Nations, which takes place when Jesus returns to the earth to set up his kingdom. There are three reasons why this judgment must take place:1) Evil must be expos More

What the Bible Says About Homosexuality - Various

Perhaps the place to begin this morning is with the simple confession that I did not want to preach this message. It was not part of my preaching calendar and I did not make the final decision until two and a half wee More

A FIVE-YEAR PLAN FOR CALVARY MEMORIAL CHURCH - Various

First Draft: January 15, 1991(Version 2.30) Submitted by: Ray Pritchard, Brian Bill, Bill Miller, Bob Boerman, Terry Strandt More

A Place to Serve - Acts 6:1-7

"Anyone can be great because anyone can serve." Those are the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They remind us of the words of Jesus who declared that he did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his lif More

How Can I Learn to Forgive? - Matthew 18:21-35

Here are some of the questions people asked about forgiveness: • What really is forgiveness? • How can one do it? • What does it do for the forgiver? • How do you find it in yourself to forg More

Do You Know What Time It Is? - Romans 13:11-14

Christians, do you know what time it is? The Apostle Paul tells us it’s time to wake up, put off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. In light of the return of Christ, and the lateness of the hour, how should we then live? More

Is Total Forgiveness Realistic? - Ephesians 4:29-32

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 ‘enj More

The Sensitivity of Jesus - Luke 8:42-48

This is how Luke tells the story: As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and More

How to Be a Leader People Want to Follow

Recently I was asked to speak to a group of youth leaders on becoming a credible, authentic leader. In preparing my first message, I decided to focus on two key words. According to the dictionary, the word credible co More

The Church in Many Places - Acts 8:1-4

God uses catastrophe and disasters to scatter the church so that His word can be spread to all parts of the world. We can become comfortable and content in our lives, but God in His sovergn nature does things we are not used to. More

Death is Not Natural

Death is Not Natural by Ray Pritchard Joe Carter of The Evangelical Outpost has written a fine article called Still in the World: A Pro-Life View of Death and Dying. While discussing his mother's death, he comes to this bottom line: Until the cancer made her unable to work, my mother had been a hospice nurse. She had been w… More

First We Pray

A bright yellow banner we purchased in Beijing hangs in my office at the church. We found the banner at a Christian scroll shop tucked away in the “arts district” of Beijing. When we got there, the door was locked but we knocked and the owners let us in. The shop is so narrow that … More

Take Me to Your Leaders - I Peter 5:1-4

In early March I preached on "Are You Prepared to Suffer for Christ?" from I Peter 3:13-17. After the final service that morning, a first-time visitor came up and thanked me for my sermon. In the course of the convers More

The Wind Blows Wherever It Wills - John 3:8

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 m More

God Will Do What Needs to Be Done - Hebrews 13:20-21

A long time ago in the history of our church, long before I became the pastor, someone wrote a document that became our Church Covenant. It is probably the most forgotten document in the history of this church. If you More

Our Coming to You Was Not in Vain - I Thessalonians 2:1

When Paul wrote to the new Christians in Thessalonica, he summarized his brief visit with them this way: "You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure" (I Thessalonians 2:1). The English Standard Versio More

90 Years Young — And Lookin' Good!

90 YEARS YOUNG AND LOOKIN’ GOOD! by Ray Pritchard This is just a reminder for those who may have forgotten. Or maybe you never heard the news. Someone you know and love has just turned 90. Her official birthday was several weeks ago, and her official party won’t happen until November, but I don’t thi… More

Sinners in the Hands of a Merciful God - Romans 11:30-32

Earlier this week I received a copy of John Ensor's book The Great Work of the Gospel. In the first chapter, he examines the question, What motivates God to make the astonishing offer to forgive all our sins? Taking h More

Forever and Ever, Amen! - Matthew 19:6

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 y More

Dear Sarah: A Letter About Forgiveness at Christmastime

(A few days ago I received a letter that took over a month to finally reach me. It came from someone I have never met. Because of the unusual nature of the letter, I began to think about the question, "What does forgi More

Father, Forgive Them

Here is part of an email from a friend:Do you have any suggestions for getting rid of bitterness? What do you do when you are dealing with a situation where you cannot go to the person and discuss the issue with them? More

Grumblers Anonymous - Matthew 20:1-16

This parable is not just teaching us about final rewards. It is also probing at the level of our motives. Why are we doing what we do? If it’s a straight reward you want, fine, you’ll get it. God will never cheat you. But that’s all you’ll get. And you’ll go to heaven grumbling all the way, always checking to see how you are doing compared with someone else - overestimating your own importance and underestimating the grace of God. But if you decide to do your work for the Lord’s sake alone, you will never be disappointed. More

When You Pray, Never Give Up - Luke 18:1-8

My goal in this sermon is very simple. I hope to convince you of the importance of persistence in prayer. I want you to see that God is greatly glorified when we continue in prayer over a long period of time. Or to sa More

No Hopeless Cases - Romans 11:11-16

I first met Jacob Gartenhaus about forty years ago. When I was a teenager growing up in a small town in Alabama, our pastor invited Dr. Gartenhaus to speak to us on the subject of Jewish evangelism. It was the first t More

Why We Pray - Romans 15:30-33

A quarter-century ago, when we were living in the Los Angeles area, I attended an all-day seminar on prayer led by Warren Wiersbe. Those who know Dr. Wiersbe will not be surprised when I say that it was an extremely p More

Trouble in the Church! - Romans 16:17-20

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 word More