The gospel message says: "You don't live in a mechanistic world ruled by necessity; you don't live in a random world ruled by chance; you live in a world ruled by the God of Exodus and Easter. He will do things in you that neither you nor your friends would have supposed possible."

Texts: Assorted texts from the Passion accounts of the Gospels and Isaiah 52:13–53:12

Principle: The weight of the sins we have committed and the sins committed against us have been placed on Christ.

Objects: Multiple bricks, multiple notecards, a copy of Frank Warren's Post Secret, a wheelbarrow, and a tall wooden or metal cross

Experience: A number of bricks are piled on one side of the stage. ...

What one sees depends on where one sets up one's shop. Mine is at the entrance of the empty tomb.

—W. Paul Jones, Roman Catholic priest

Many years ago, my wife and I were having a marital "moral discourse," and I was becoming increasingly agitated. In my fury, I yelled at her and aimed my fist at a section of the dining room wall. Unfortunately, the Holy Spirit failed to guide my hand between the studs, as he usually had done, and instead I hit a stud right on. I broke a knuckle.

A deathly silence settled in the room. While I came ...

Someone dear to me once gave me a little cross adorned with roses. It bears the inscription, "Hope raises no dust." I looked at that phrase and tried my best to penetrate its mystery. I didn't want to look stupid, so I didn't say anything. After pondering it for a little while, I just had to get to the bottom of what it meant. It had been written on a cross, so it had to mean something! When I typed ...

Years ago, Bill Hybels shared how he had seen a newscast about a big Vietnam veterans parade in Chicago. Part of the commemoration was a mobile version of the Vietnam Wall. Like the original, it bore the names of all the soldiers who had died in Vietnam. Hybels said one newscaster asked a vet why he had come all the way to Chicago to visit this memorial and to participate in the parade. The soldier ...

What do you need in a pinch? What do you rely on in a disaster, when things are falling apart in your world? What do you trust in when your survival is at stake?

When Hurricane Gustav was bearing down on New Orleans in the Fall of 2008 and city officials had ordered residents to evacuate, one woman named Hattie decided to stay put. She told reporters that she had what she needed to ride out the storm, ...

In the Preaching Today illustration Mark Buchanan on Real Community, pastor and author Mark Buchanan shares the conversion story of an alcoholic named Wanda. In a 2008 article for Leadership journal, Mark was able to tell the rest of her story:

Wanda did well for about eight months—got into Alpha and a 12-step group, got her kids back. Then she didn't do well, in and out—mostly out—of ...

As a teacher, I've overheard a lot of interesting things from my students. For instance, when Andrew—age 5 and very much into computers—was saying the Lord's Prayer, he did well till near the end when he said, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from e-mail."

In her book Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit, author and speaker Beth Moore recalls a particularly insightful moment in her life:

I will never forget watching an evening talk show featuring the story of the parents and killer of a young college student. The killer was his best friend. The weapon was high alcohol content inside a speeding automobile. …

What made this ...