801 messages in the archive.
Will It Be Legalism or Gospel? Introduction: Every year since I have been back in Wichita we have done an Advent series in December, but having preached almost every Christmas text I know in previous years, I decided we would continue in our series on the Life
There Is Hope for Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks Introduction: People are hurting, the church is a hospital, and Jesus is the chief physician. That’s my message in a sentence this morning. There are scads of bruised and broken people out in the world who h
The Only Sin that Cannot Be Forgiven Introduction: I trust every one of you had a delightful Christmas. We were in Oklahoma last weekend to visit my mom and to attend a funeral on Saturday afternoon, and because of the snow we couldn’t get back until just befo
Are You Looking for Miracles, Reformation, or a Relationship? Introduction: Few people would argue with the assertion that we live in a thoroughly messed-up culture and society. Even the church is full of confused people. Recently religious market researcher a
The Parable of the Sower Introduction: Spirituality is much in vogue today. I Googled the term on Wednesday and discovered there were 82,100,000 entries. After checking each one I am convinced that the term “spirituality” can mean just about anything you want
Don’t Be a Weed Puller! Introduction: My sermon title this morning is taken from the first of three parables in the middle of Matthew 13, all of which provide us clues about the Kingdom of Heaven. One of the parables talks about weeds, another about mustard se
The Feeding of the Nine Thousand (or Food Stamps and Faith) Introduction: We come this morning to two of the best known and best loved stories in the Bible–the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000, found in two successive chapters of Matthew. Thus
Truly You Are the Son of God! Introduction: In our journey through the Gospel of Matthew we come today to another of those amazing miracles which are so well-known to Bible students and even children–Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee. Sometimes these stories
Hand Washing Can Get Out of Hand Note: This sermon was preached at First Free Wichita in 2021. Introduction: It was ten years ago today, August 1, 2011, that I retired as Lead Pastor here at First Free. Which also means that today is Pastor Josh’s tenth annive
Shocking Words from the Lips of Jesus Introduction: I doubt if anyone will argue with my sermon title this morning after we read our Scripture text from Matthew 15:21-28: Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman fro
Who’s Got the Keys to the Kingdom? Introduction: We are skipping several portions of Matthew as we come this morning to chapter 16, verse 13. Each of the sections we are passing over from 15:29 to 16:12 has a close parallel with one of the passages we have rec
The Transfiguration of Christ: Preview of the Resurrection Introduction: On this beautiful Easter morning I want to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 17:1-8, or you can follow along on the screen as I read aloud: After six days Jesus took with him Pete