Sermons found for the topic Evangelism

Unfading Glory - 2 Corinthians 3:7-11

You can have the fading glory of the law and all you’ll get for it is death and condemnation. Or you can come to Christ and you will have the unfading glory of life and righteousness forever. More

Now I See - 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:6

We can preach the gospel and we can pray. Satan will do all he can to keep the lost blind and confused so they cannot “see” the gospel. Only God can lift the veil and speak the words that will bring light to those who walk in darkness. More

Water, Wine, Wind, Fire - Four Pictures of the Holy Spirit

These four pictures of the Holy Spirit reveal different aspects of his ministry to us. We pray to know the Holy Spirit more deeply for he is Living Water, New Wine, Refreshing Wind, and Blazing Fire from Heaven. More

Korazin: Knowing Too Much and Believing Too Little - Matthew 11:20-24

Don’t make the mistake of Korazin and take Jesus for granted. The day of grace comes to an end sooner or later. What will you say in the day of judgment if you have neglected the Son of God? More

How Do You Measure Success? - 2 Corinthians 3:1-3

God measures our success in terms of lives changed. He’s evidently not that impressed by the size of our budget or by the stained glass in our sanctuary. The One who hung the stars in space doesn’t really care how many books we’ve written or how much money we make or whether or not we see our name in lights. More

On the Victory Side - 2 Corinthians 2:12-17

We are still the aroma of Christ to the saved and to the lost. Some believe and are saved. Others reject and are lost. That was true 2000 years ago, and it is still true today. More

The Midway

If only a few people will be saved, how can there be a vast multitude in heaven? And why do so many people miss the narrow gate while many others find it? Life on the midway helps us answer those questions. More

Yet

What is it that you are waiting for from the Lord? What are you hoping for that you do not yet have? While you are waiting, don’t let go of that little word “yet.” It’s the difference between hope and despair because God is not finished yet. More

Worthy is the Lamb - Revelation 5

The glory of heaven is the Lamb—Jesus Christ, whose victory is celebrated without end. Jesus is the focal point of heaven and the center of all attention. Without Jesus there would be no heaven at all. And without him none of us would ever have a chance to go there. More

Strength for the Journey - 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

In this message Pastor Ray reminds us everything we believe rests on the sovereignty of God. Salvation starts with God, not with us. Because he has chosen us, we can stand firm amid the trials of life. By standing firm we prove to ourselves and to the watching world what we truly believe. 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

Great Joy in the City - Acts 8:4-8

Throughout history, God has grown and moved his church as his people scattered to diverse locations geographically. This pattern has not changed and believers are still called to grow and expand as a church today, whether we move across national boundaries, ethnic and cultural boundaries, or do church planting in our immediate communities. Beginning with the first generation of believers in the book of Acts, we hear of Phillip, who was emboldened and changed by the power of God as he moved out in obedience to spread the Gospel. Despite severe persecution, great joy descended on those who received the truth that came with power. In this present age, we have the account of the phenomenal growth of the church in China. In 1949 all Christian missionaries were evicted leaving less than one million indigenous believers behind. They faced relentless bloodbaths and eradication. Yet the church grew in the midst of that persecution when determined believers scattered and went underground. The challenge to believers today remains the same—to be willing to be moved out of our personal comfort zones, to walk in faith, to make personal sacrifices, and most importantly, to trust God for our personal well-being and needs. More

What Happens to Those Who Never Heard About Jesus? - Romans 2:12

No question is more central to the missionary enterprise than the state of those without Christ. Are they really lost? Are those who never hear also lost? And that raises an important question. How can God send people to hell for not believing in Jesus, if they never even heard of him in the first place? 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

Wanted: Bold Believers! - Colossians 4:2-4

Learning how to pray effectively is essential for spiritual growth. Based on the prayers of Paul, we can learn to pray boldly for the commitment of those on the front lines of spiritual conflict, for open doors of opportunity for evangelism, for courage despite difficult circumstances and persecution, and for clarity in presentation of the Gospel – especially encouraging pastors. More

Joy in the Trenches - Philippians 1:27-30

Dr. Ray Pritchard issues a stirring call to live worthy of the gospel. We can make an impact for Christ in our world if we will stand without division, strive without compromise, speak without fear, and sacrifice without shame. More

Acts of the Apostates - Jude 1-25

I’d like to begin my message with a word we don’t often use. Though it has been around for many generations, this particular word unfamiliar to most of us. Few of us use it in ordinary conversationsand som More

Let's Go Fishing - Matthew 4:19

Somewhere in my past I heard the story about a man who was a phenomenal fisherman. He was so good that his fame spread far and wide. When everyone else was catching two or three fish a day he would come back with tw More

First Century Patterns For 21st-Century Churches - Various

How closely should local churches follow the patterns of the New Testament? The answer is, as closely as possible, understanding that no one is 100% consistent and that outward forms will change over time. That means we need to focus on the key functions of the church, giving freedom to differ on how those functions are expressed. More

Praying for the Lost - I Timothy 2:1-6

"Prayer is the lifeline of New Testament evangelism, the oxygen for its holy fire. The New Testament was born in prayer. It knows no evangelism without prayer, and no prayer which does not lead to evangelism.” T 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

The Value of a Broken Heart - Romans 9:1-5

This week we are beginning a new series called “Understanding God’s Plan” from Romans 9-11. This is one of the most overlooked passages in the New Testament. It is certainly the most overlooked secti More

Is Evangelism a Hate Crime?

IS EVANGELISM A HATE CRIME? by Ray Pritchard A recent editorial in Christianity Today raises a question that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable. Is sharing Christ with others a “hate crime” that deserves punishment? In the changing religious landscape in America and around the world, the answer from … 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

Be a Link This Week

Let's talk about evangelism for a moment. Sometimes Christians are afraid to share their faith because they feel totally inadequate to lead another person to Jesus Christ. They worry that they can't answer questions, they fear they won't say the right words, and when you get right down to it, they aren't certain enough of t… More

Our Mutual Covenant - Acts 2:41-47

Down in Texas they say that football is a religion. But I ran across something the other day that made me think that the same thing might be true in Chicago. It happened while we were browsing through a shopping mal More

Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gifts - Various

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 So More

Lessons for Modern-Day Sowers of the Word - Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

The last few days I have been meditating on the famous parable of the seed and the sower. It is obviously important because is found in three different places in the gospels (with Jesus’ explanation in parenthes More

Straight Talk About Predestination - Romans 9:19-29

In the history of the Christian church, few doctrines have been so hotly debated as the doctrine of predestination. Since predestination is a biblical concept, we must face this doctrine squarely whether we like it or not. It’s in the Bible, therefore we must first seek to understand it and then to ask what difference it makes. More

What is the Gospel and Why Does It Matter? - Galatians 1:6-10

We begin with these strong words from the Apostle Paul to the churches of Galatia: I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel& More

Babbling for Jesus: Speaking Truth to Highly Intelligent People - Acts 17:18-21

I’d like to begin by telling you about a new mission statement that has just been approved by the elders of the church. Several months ago the pastoral staff and the elders began working together to write a new More

A Time to Disobey - Daniel 3

Is it ever right for a Christian to disobey the law? Or are we always obligated to obey the law under all circumstances? What do you say? What does the Bible say?More and more we are faced with this question—not 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

The Woman at the Well : Christ Speaks to the Problem of a Guilty Past - John 4:1-30

Two strangers met beside a well on a hot afternoon in Samaria. One was a woman. The other was a man. We don’t know the woman’s name. The man was Jesus. Their brief conversation changed her life.Today we ar More

Kingdoms in Conflict - Matthew 6:10

“Your kingdom come” is not a passive prayer. If you ever decide to make the kingdom of God the first priority in your life, you may not become a missionary, but you will become fundamentally different from the world around you. More

Why Good People Won't Go to Heaven - Romans 10:1-4

I’d like to talk to you about who goes to heaven. We all know that the Bible teaches the reality of heaven and the reality of hell. Jesus himself spoke of both places many times. All of us, I’m sure, wo More

Make No Small Plans - Various

Before we moved to Oak Park last August, someone gave us a copy of the Chicago Magazine’s Guide to Chicago. Nestled between the Title Page and the Table of Contents is this quote from Daniel Hudson Burnham, au 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: “M More

The Great Divide - I Corinthians 2:14-16

This is the final sermon in the series from I Corinthians 1-2 called, “The Cross, the Church and the World.” We can summarize the main things we have learned in five key statements:1) The people of the wor More

The Life God Blesses - II Timothy 2:14-26

Almost five years ago we started sending free copies of my books to prisoners across America. Through a partnership with Prison Fellowship, we have distributed tens of thousands of copies of Keep Believing, What a Chr More

How a Terrorist Became an Evangelist: The Amazing Story of Paul's Conversion - Galatians 1:11-24

Christianity is supremely a religion of conversion. Everything we say and everything we believe is built upon one fundamental and revolutionary premise: You don’t have to stay the way you are. Your life can be r More

Martin Luther’s Advice

Many years ago I took a course on Advanced Apologetics taught by Dr. John Warwick Montgomery. One day he talked to us about Martin Luther’s theology, which Dr. Montgomery summed up as law and grace. All the details of that discussion have long been forgotten–all save one. I remember this point because our teacher brought it home with great, repeated force: Preach law to the proud; preach grace to the humble. More

The Southern Baptists are Coming!

I never thought I'd live to see the day when the Southern Baptists would make the front page of the Chicago Tribune. In this part of the world we generally have more important things to worry about, such as will any of us live long enough to see the Bulls win the NBA Championship again, but that's a topic for another day. T… More

From Athens to Oak Park: Why God Put Us Here - Acts 17:16-17

Let me imagine a situation for a moment and ask how you would respond. Let’s suppose that you are a missionary arriving for service in a country you have never visited. Although you didn’t plan to visit th More

To an Unknown God: How to Find Common Ground - Acts 17:22-23

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 hom More

He Doesn't Need Your Help: The Truth You Must Understand - Acts. 17:24-25

Those who listen to me preach on a regular basis know that whenever I find a good idea, I like to repeat it over and over again. Last year I happened to stumble across a spiritual truth so profound that I titled it th More

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands - Daniel 4

The sovereignty of God is a mysterious doctrine because it brings us face to face with the problem of evil and free will. If God is sovereign, why is there evil in the universe? If man has free will, how can God be sovereign? Christians have debated these questions for centuries. Suffice it to say that God is sovereign and you are truly responsible for all the choices you make. Often we won’t understand how they work together, but they do. When we embrace this truth, we have the true freedom—and peace that comes with it—to stop trying to be God and let Him direct our lives. More

Keep Your Eye on the Donut and Not on the Hole - Philippians 1:12-18

In the 20 years I have been a pastor, a good portion of my time each week has been spent talking with people going through hard times. I suppose it just comes with the territory. When things go well, the pastor rarely More

Reaching, Teaching, Caring, Worshiping

REACHING, TEACHING, CARING, WORSHIPING by Ray Pritchard At the Biannual Business Meeting in March, I announced to the membership that we are reorganizing the staff and all the ministries of the church around four great biblical priorities–reaching, teaching, caring, and worshiping. The idea came to me as I read Rick Warre… 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