Historical Sermons

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." —John 1:1 I WANT to present to you, as best I may, the grounds upon which Christians receive Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh. Beyond all question, Christianity as a religion is committed to that proposition. Whatever it may call itself, anything less than that is not Christianity. Eliminate that and there is left a marvelous story, indeed, but like a box of wonderful gems to which the key is missing; there is left a wonderful ethic but without adequate authority; there is left the promise of a great spiritual kingdom, but the kingdom is without a king. Christianity stands or falls by the proposition that Jesus of Nazareth

"For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." —Romans 14:7 TODAY we are to ask the Bible to answer the deep question, "What is the true meaning of life?" I shall not insult your intelligence by one word of argument as to the importance of that question. You and I are conscious that we are living. We know that the mysterious and wonderful thing which we call life is passing rapidly away. What a mystery life is and one which science has not in the least helped us to solve. It is today the same inscrutable mystery it was centuries ago. That its issues are tremendously important, we know, and we ask what is the meaning, the true meaning, including, of course,

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” “Take therefore no thought for the morrow:” —Matt. 6:31, 34 Some of the things that Jesus Christ found in the world seem to have caused Him surprise. We are told that He marveled because of unbelief. That any one should doubt God caused the Son of God not indignation so much as astonishment. He felt, in the face of distrust of divine veracity or of the divine goodness, an emotion of simple amazement. And another fact of the life men live on the earth appears to have struck Him as foolish and unreasonable — the fact that the race of men is an anxious, a worried race. In

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" —John 1:17 The most obvious and striking division of the Word of truth is that between law and grace. Indeed, these contrasting principles characterize the two most important dispensations: the Jewish and Christian. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). It is not, of course, meant that there was no law before Moses, any more than that there was no grace and truth before Jesus Christ. The forbidding to Adam of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17) was law, and surely grace was most sweetly manifested in the Lord God seeking His sinning creatures and

Rev. Dr. William (Bill) Shilady is the Executive Director of the United Methodist City Society in New York City.  He has an undergraduate degree in Religion and Business Administration from Lebanon Valley College and a Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School.  Previously he was the senior pastor at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Manhattan.  He was Hillary Clinton's pastor during her failed run against Donald Trump for President in 2016. On the morning of November 9, 2016, Rev. Bill Shillady, sent her Hillary Clinton this letter the day after she lost the presidential election to Donald Trump. Sunday is Coming November 9, 2016 It is Friday, but Sunday is coming. This is not the devotional I had hoped to write. This is not the devotional you

"If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities."  - I Cor. 11-30 The Sanhedrin was the governing body of Israel. It embraced within itself legislative, executive and judicial functions. It made the laws and enforced them and it was the court of last appeal. It consisted of seventy-two members. The highest honor in Jewry was to be elected to this august body. Seven years after the ascension of our Lord there was among the illustrious gray-beards of the Sanhedrin a young man of remarkable gifts and culture. He was not above thirty-three years of age, but, having distinguished himself for learning at Gamaliel's school, he had already been made a Rabbi. Since his election to membership in this venerable body

"Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor." - I Samuel 28:7 It is said, "There is no character in a photograph, because it is a portrait taken at a single sitting." The "composite photograph" gives the best impression of the real man. We want therefore to view Saul at different periods of his life. Our first glimpse of him is out upon the mountains where he seeks his father's asses. He is "a choice young man and a goodly, and among the children of Israel there is not a goodlier person

"....the precious blood of Christ." Peter 1:19 I am preaching tonight on what I believe to be the most important subject in the Bible. Of course, anything that has to do with Jesus Christ is of vast importance. My text is found in the First Epistle of Peter 1:19— "The precious blood of Christ." The Apostle Peter, as we all know, was a fisherman in his earlier days. It is wonderful that he became the leader and writer that he was, and, strange to say, the word that he uses many times is this word — precious. He speaks of precious promises. He says of Jesus: "Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious." It is just about the last word that you would expect a fisherman

"Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?" -Job 38:22 I am sorry for city people who never have known the delights of rural life. "God made the country, man made the town." What do they know about the singing birds and flowing brooks, the blooming fields and golden harvests? What do they know about the joys of winter; the glassy river, the tinkling bells, the merry shout of children issuing from the school-house door into the pleasures of the falling snow? To us in the great metropolis a snow-storm means naught but unsightly heaps at the street corners waiting to be carted off: it suggests no more than a question of health and possibly another of honesty in the administration of municipal affairs. Let us

I am bringing to you what I think is a very solemn subject. I have no apology for speaking on solemn themes, for we are living in a day when many people seem to be turning to light and trifling things. We have reached a time when men regard God lightly. In fact, many seem to have put Him out of their thoughts. It used to be, in olden days, that men were afraid when they sinned. When they transgressed God's law they thought of judgment, and their minds went forward to the thought of final punishment. Now men sin with impunity. They brush God aside. They appear to think that if there be a God at all, they can escape His judgment. They are