Sermon series
From Athens to Oak Park (Acts 17)
Some Sneered, Others Questioned, A Few Believed: Lessons on the Amazing Power of the Gospel
Acts 17:32-34 – August 30, 1998It is not often that a preacher has his sermon interrupted by the congregation. In the 29 years that I have been preaching, it has only happened to me a handful of times. Once in my first church in Downey, California a woman stood up during my sermon and began making comments. She wasn’t arguing, […]
Here Comes the Judge: Bad News for Modern Man
Acts 17:31 – August 23, 1998“Now this matter is between me, the two people I love most—my wife and our daughter—and our God.” Those are the words of President Bill Clinton as he addressed the nation last Monday night. Roger Simon is a veteran reporter and columnist. In his weekly column for America Online, he offered the following analysis of […]
Repent! The Forgotten Doctrine of Salvation
Acts 17:30 – August 9, 1998In 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 authors entered the contest hoping to […]
Homemade Gods: A Warning Against Modern-Day Baal Worship
Acts 17:29 – July 19, 1998“Idols? You must be kidding.” “That’s what they have in Africa, right?” “Me? An idol-worshiper? What do you take me for? A pagan?” “The only thing I worship is my brand-new car.” What is an idol anyway? The dictionary offers this definition: “an image used as an object of worship.” That sounds like those pictures […]
Empty on the Inside: How God Reveals Himself to Us
Acts 17:26-28 – June 28, 1998If you don’t know God, it’s not God’s fault. God has already done everything necessary for you to have a relationship with him. He created the world and then left his fingerprints everywhere. He even placed you where you are so that you would seek him.
He Doesn’t Need Your Help: The Truth You Must Understand
Acts. 17:24-25 – June 21, 1998Those 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 the First Rule of the Spiritual Life. Even though I’ve mentioned it […]
To an Unknown God: How to Find Common Ground
Acts 17:22-23 – June 14, 1998If 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 homiletics. In the first one they taught us the rudiments of public speaking, in the second one we […]
Babbling for Jesus: Speaking Truth to Highly Intelligent People
Acts 17:18-21 – June 7, 1998I’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 mission statement for our church. Although we’ve done this several times in the past, we felt […]
From Athens to Oak Park: Why God Put Us Here
Acts 17:16-17 – May 31, 1998Let 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 the capital city, your itinerary was suddenly changed and now you find yourself alone in a place filled […]
