Sermons found for the topic James

The Mother of Twins: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Misguided Ambition - Matthew 20:20-28

This is the story of a mother who wanted only the best for her twin boys. Because she loved them and was proud of them and because she had great dreams for them, she came to Jesus one day with an audacious request. Sh More

Praying For the Sick - James 5:13-16

If you have read the title, you know exactly what this sermon is about. Praying for the sick is something we are all asked to do from time to time. It is certainly something that all pastors do every week. That fact a More

The James Ossuary

THE JAMES OSSUARY BY RAY PRITCHARD The recent discovery of the “James ossuary” has given the world a close encounter with Jesus and his family. An ossuary was a small limestone box in which the bones of a deceased loved one were placed. This sort of burial was very common among the Jews of the first century. What … More

What Was That I Never Heard You Say? - James 1:19

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 More

The Sixth Law: There is No Growth Without Struggle - James 1:2-4

Life is hard. Does anyone reading these words have any question about that? I didn't think so. Because we live in a fallen world, nothing works the way it's supposed to. Sin has stained every part of the physical univ More

The Church on its Knees: Unleashing the Power of United Prayer - Acts 1:12-14

"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 More

Risky Business: The Other Side of Christian Freedom - Galatians 5:13-15

"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 defi 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

Bad Manners at the Dinner Table: A Powerful Lesson in Biblical Confrontation - Galatians 2:11-14

This is a sermon about conflict in the church—where it comes from and how to handle it. As a place to begin, I'd like to start with the observation that most church conflicts fall into one of two categories. Let More

Come Before Winter - 2 Timothy 4:21

Procrastination destroys many good intentions. Some things must be done “before winter” or they will not be done at all. There are doors of opportunity that open before us today, but if we do not take advantage of them, tomorrow they will be forever shut. More

God's Mountain Man - 1 Kings 17:1

Last December right after the tsunami disaster, my friend Ramesh Richard, a professor at Dallas Seminary, sent an email that contained a simple, one-sentence prayer. He called it a "dangerous prayer." The moment I saw More

Forward-Leaning Defense

"There is no victory at bargain basement prices." General Dwight Eisenhower"World War IV began in a long string of terrorist attacks, whose real nature went unrecognized until on September 11, 2001, huge billows of bl More

Repent! The Forgotten Doctrine of Salvation - Acts 17:30

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, 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

Why Love Has a Bad Memory - I Corinthians 13:4-6

A Peanuts cartoon shows Lucy standing with her arms folded and a stern expression on her face. Charlie Brown pleads, "Lucy, you must be more loving. This world really needs love. You have to let yourself love to make 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

If God is Sovereign, Why Pray? - Matthew 6:8

When we surveyed the congregation last year several people asked this question. I would suppose that most Christians have wondered about it at one time or another. Certainly skeptics have thrown it in our faces to dis More

Lessons From the Master Teacher - Luke 6:40

Teachers deserve special honor because they help shape the next generation. By their words and by their deeds, teachers mold the leaders of tomorrow. Henry Brooks Adams said, "A teacher affects eternity. He can never More

Integrity: The Ultimate Virtue - Various

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 k More

The Frustrated Fisherman: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Limited Vision - Luke 5:1-11

Occasionally I am asked how I ended up in the ministry. My close friends know that I come from a family with a background in medicine. My father was a surgeon and my three brothers are all medical doctors. There are n More

Faithful to the Tempted - I Corinthians 10:13; Genesis 39

We begin with two quotations. The first comes from British playwright Oscar Wilde who said, “I can resist anything except temptation.” We smile when we read those words because they speak an important truth More

Nothing Shall Offend Them: A Message for Unhappy, Irritated, and Bent-Out-of-Shape Christians - Psalm 119:165

For our final message in this short series from Psalm 119, I want to look at a verse I first learned in Mrs. Sandberg's British Literature class 30 years ago. As she began class one day, she read a verse of Scripture More

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

Resurrection Hospital - 1 Kings 17:17-24

Of all the episodes in the life of Elijah, this is probably the most troublesome. There really isn't anything else like it in the Old Testament. In our text Elijah lays himself out over the body of a dead child and th More

Behind Closed Doors - Hebrews 13:4

There are times when a writer knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he doesn't have to worry about getting the reader's attention. Certain subjects require no gimmicks, tricks or elaborate introductions. Some subje More

When God Prays for You - Romans 8:26-27

With this message we come to the final installment in the series called Adventures in Prayer. When we started I said that I wanted to encourage you about the boundless possibilities of prayer. It's easy to feel guilty More

Repent! The Forgotten Doctrine of Salvation - Acts 17:30

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-on More

Christmas Joy - Luke 2:8-11

If there is a single word that describes what Christmas is all about, it's the little word "joy." Several of our favorite carols mention it: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come," "O come all ye faithful, joyful and tr More

The Winds Of War - Matthew 24:6

(Date: January 20, 1991)What a week it's been for all of us! This has been one of those rare moments when time, which had been rolling smoothly along, suddenly came to a total halt. Do you remember where you were when More

The Most Sought After Things in the World - Romans 5:1-5

A number of years ago a major American magazine published the results of a most fascinating survey. The editors had asked 16 prominent Americans what they did in order to find peace of mind in the midst of our stressf More

What is Heaven Like? - Philippians 3:20-21

"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 More

Five Words on a Tombstone - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-6

Several years ago my older brother took me to visit a cemetery outside Florence, Alabama, near the remains of an ante-bellum mansion called Forks of Cypress. The mansion was built in the 1820s by James Jackson, an ea More

From Temptation to Triumph

Playwright Oscar Wilde once jokingly remarked, "I can resist everything except temptation." We smile when we read those words because they speak an important truth about the human condition. Temptation pays a visit More

If I Should Die Before I Wake - Hebrews 11:20-22

The stories of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph show us what faith looks like at the end of life. Here is one mark of genuine Christianity. When you come to the end of your earthly journey, you still hold on to what you believe. Because Jesus died and rose again, we can face our own death with confidence, knowing that the Lord will not abandon us when we need him most. More

Angry Man Alert

In this message, Ray Pritchard talks about the five character qualities that relate to a man and his anger. When our power is not under God’s control, we hurt ourselves and those closest to us. We need God’s help so that we might become like Jesus who was both gentle and strong, a true “gentle man.” More

The Great Refusal - Hebrews 11:24-28

Because Moses said no to the riches of Egypt, he suffered greatly with the people of God. He shows us what it means—and what it costs—to say no to the world and yes to Jesus. More

The Positive Power of Prayer - Daniel 9:1-23

I suppose that most of us know the final words of James 5:16, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." This oft-quoted promise reminds us that when righteous people call out to God, their prayers act 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

Come Before Winter - II Timothy 4:9-22

Three things—apparently unrelated—have come together in my mind as I have prepared this message.First, in just a few days we will come to the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on More

Servanthood: The Mark of Authentic Leadership - Various

Warren Bennis is an educator, a philosopher, an author, a scholar and a keen observer of the American scene. These are his words. "Leadership is a word that is on everyone's lips. The young fight against it. Police se More

The Man Who Killed Jesus: "Suffered Under Pontius Pilate" - Isaiah 53

This has been a week unlike any other in my lifetime. Last Wednesday the new movie by Mel Gibson, "The Passion of the Christ," premiered around the country. For various reasons the film has stirred up enormous controv More

The Eyes of God Are Upon You - Various

Our story begins in 1833 when a man named Joseph Kettlestrings, an Englishman from Yorkshire, arrived in the Chicago area. He settled first along the Des Plaines River where he worked at a saw mill. Two years later More

The Tongue: Life and Death Are In Your Mouth! - Various

Proverbs has a lot to say about what we say. In fact, the subject of the tongue and how we use our words is perhaps the preeminent theme of this book. Over 150 times in this book alone, Proverbs refers to our lips, ou More

Darwin's Delusion: Why I Believe in Creation - Various

To many modern thinkers this sermon would seem incredible, like a relic of the Dark Ages, a living fossil, a sermon that might have been preached during the Colonial Era but not at the end fo the twentieth century.. More

The Apostle Who Would Not Believe: Christ Speaks to the Problem of Broken Dreams - John 20:24-29

Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned acts of God? That's a good question to ask on Easter Sunday. Most of us, I suppose, would immediately answer, "Yes, I believe in miracles More

"We Did Not Give in to Them:" Why Unity Must be Based on Truth - Galatians 2:1-10

I want to begin by calling your attention to the most important verse in our passage—verse 5, which reads, "We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you." If you More

That's Incredible! - Romans 5:6-11

Certain passages of Scripture stand out in God's Word as mountain peaks. By virtue of their theme, their content, their exalted message, certain passages seem to rise above the ordinary landscape of the Bible. Psalm 2 More

Restoring the Fallen, Helping the Hurting: Two Ways You Can Serve the Lord - Galatians 6:1-5

We begin with a famous story from the early days of the Salvation Army. As the eyes of the nation have focused on the rescue and recovery efforts in New York City, the work of the Salvation Army has been easy to spot. More

The Law of the Harvest: God's Plan for Spiritual Prosperity - Galatians 6:6-10

Over lunch this week, a friend and I discussed the spiritual implications of the terrorist attacks on America. My friend commented that this ought to be a wake-up call to every Christian to seek first the kingdom of G More

Forever Settled in Heaven: Building on the Unshakable Foundation - Psalm 119:89

Our church theme for 2002 is "God's Word: Our Unshakable Foundation." Considering the events of the last few months, it seems like a theme perfectly suited for these perilous times. We need a foundation that cannot be More