It's Not Thinking Less of Yourself; It's Thinking of Yourself Less

Introduction

A few years ago, one of my students was speaking to our class about his denominational background. He told the class that the average church ...

The Blazing Fastball That Gives Us Confidence

Introduction

On July 15, 1986, Roger Clemens came to bat in his first Major League Baseball All-Star game. Roger was the sizzling right-handed pitcher ...

Come to the Banquet

Introduction

One day last December, an invitation to a Christmas party arrived in our mailbox. Inside the card were a festive holiday greeting, a time ...

You Don't Know, Do You?

Introduction

A member of this congregation experienced a tragedy when her father was suddenly killed in an accident. He was driving home one Wednesday ...

Things I'm Glad I Don't Know

Introduction

I once heard R. C. Sproul conduct a question-and-answer session during which he gave a delightful answer to a very complicated question: "The ...

The Cry of Mystery

Text: Matthew 27:39–49
Topic: The meaning of the fourth word of Jesus from the cross, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Introduction

The ...

Check Your Bags

Introduction

In his best-selling book Halftime, Bob Buford tells a story that is reminiscent of the encounter we read about in our text from Matthew's ...

Get off the Fence

Introduction

Of all the people admired in the world today, Jesus of Nazareth continually ranks at the top of the list. Even those who don't call themselves ...

The Bad News About Jesus ...

Introduction

Charles Swindoll has written a rather telling poem about what many feel on the day after Christmas:

'Twas the day after Christmas, When all ...

Christmas Through Heaven's Eyes

Introduction

Jesus did not deserve to be hung on a wooden cross to suffer for the sins of the human race. While that's exactly what the Christmas story ...

Christmas Through Mary's Eyes

Introduction

December 21st is the shortest day of the year. On that day, something happens that makes human beings look out at the world—and particularly ...

The Neglected Joseph Davidson

Text: Matthew 1:18–25
Topic: The Christmas story from Joseph's perspective

Who was Joseph?

I think I had better introduce myself. My name is Joseph ...

Good Guys, Bad Guys, or Us Guys?

Introduction

Anybody here grow up in a legalistic, fundamentalist type of church? The emphasis in those kinds of churches is on keeping the rules, lots ...

Getting to Know Your God

Introduction

Well, here it is, a Sunday morning in the lazy heat of summer, and you could be sleeping in, working on your golf game, biking on the Prairie ...

How Does the Trinity Work?

Introduction

I want to begin our discussion of this difficult question about the Trinity not with intellectual speculation about how God is three and yet ...

Why Jesus and No One Else

Introduction

In 1936, an advertising executive from Philadelphia, Philip Klein, founded the Friday the 13th Club. Its members are committed to defying ...

"Trinity": The Christian Name for God

Sermon One

Introduction

Over the next few Sundays we'll explore a concept of God unique to Christian spirituality called the Trinity. It's ...

The Art of "Hanging Out"

Introduction

One of my favorite movie scenes occurs in City Slickers, when Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner have a heart-to-heart conversation. Reiner tells ...

Jesus and the Da Vinci Code

Text: Colossians 2:9; Matthew 16:15-17; John 1:1–14; Luke 8:1-3; Galatians 3:28Topic: What are the answers to the questions raised by The Da Vinci ...

Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad?

Text: John 1:1–18
Topic: The commonalities and irreducible differences between Christianity and Islam

In 1995 there was a book published by Professor ...

The Coming of the King

Sermon One

Introduction

Jesus and his disciples were on the Jericho road. They had already climbed most of the treacherous pathway that twisted and turned ...

Enter the King of Glory

Introduction

First they heard the noise of the crowd, the cheering and shouting. As they drew closer they could hear what everyone was saying: "The ...

My Redeemer Lives

Sermon Three

Introduction

At Westminster Abbey in London there is an impressive monument to G. F. Handel, sculpted by the Frenchman Louis-Francois Roubiliac. ...

At the Last Trumpet

Sermon Four

Introduction

Nearly everyone believes in the crucifixion of the body. Even historians who deny the deity of Jesus Christ nevertheless accept ...

What Are You Preaching This Week?

The church began on the day of Pentecost, just a few weeks after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Jesus had said to his followers:

"Do not ...

The I Am: Serve Him or Stone Him

Every now and then someone comes along and captures our attention with an outrageous claim. I'm thinking of Muhammad Ali, once known as Cassius Clay, ...

The Good Shepherd: Counting Sheep

A couple of years ago an article in the Sunday paper caught my eye. I found it so interesting that I shared it with some small group leaders at the time, ...

The Bread of Life

Most of Christ's claims are outrageous because they are so grand and compelling: "Before Abraham was, I AM." "I am the Light of the World." "I am in the ...

The Resurrection and the Life: Tears at the Wall

Introduction

They call it, "The Wall," a great, v-shaped slab of black granite, set into the grassy expanse between the Capitol Building and the Lincoln ...

One Wonderful Way

This morning we are concluding our series on "The Outrageous Claims of Christ." We began three weeks ago with the most intriguing claim—"Before Abraham ...

What's So Special About this Child

Isaiah 7:14

One of the best known prophecies about Jesus is found in the seventh chapter of Isaiah.

(v. 14) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a ...

How to Keep UP in a DOWN Economy

Introduction

Recent downturns in the economy and corporate crime have resulted in lower pay raises, loss of jobs, loss of stocks, and nationwide hiring ...

What's So Special About This Little Child?

One of the best known prophecies about Jesus is found in the seventh chapter of Isaiah.

(v. 14) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin ...

How to Know God

In the gospel of John, one of the disciples of Jesus—his name was Philip—said,

"Lord, show us the father and that will be enough for us." Jesus ...

What's So Great About Easter?

As we have been engaged in the war with Iraq over the past several weeks, one thing that our leaders have said again and again is that our purpose in ...

What Christmas Is All About

Every year I tell myself that I should keep a list of all the things people say Christmas is supposed to be about—because every year it seems the ...

God Is with Us

When Jesus came into the world 2,000 years ago, he changed history. Not just because he taught a new ethic to live by—though he certainly did that. ...

Lessons From the Past

When I took my first preaching class in college, our professor told us that our final exam would be to write a sermon during class on a passage of Scripture ...

The Power of the Name of Jesus

These days, when it comes to naming our children, different people approach it different ways. In my family, our children's first names are traditional, ...

What Jesus Came to Do for You

In the third chapter of Matthew, Matthew fast forwards in Jesus' life about 30 years, to the very beginning of his ministry. He doesn't mention a great ...

The Way of the Cross

In the first century, Rome executed criminals by crucifixion. It was intended to be a humiliating and agonizing experience. There was no concept of ...

The Gift of Jesus

For the last three weeks we've been talking about the gifts that God has given us. Today, we're going to talk about the greatest gift of all—the ...

Why I Believe in Jesus

"Jesus was a great moral teacher, and certainly a good man, but he was not the Son of God."

Have you ever heard anyone say that? I have—more times ...

Getting Connected

For the follower of Jesus, the first step in understanding who you are is understanding who Christ is. You cannot experience a powerful, dynamic walk ...

The Greatest Teacher Who Ever Lived

Recently Michael J. Fox was the guest on a late night news-talk show on ABC. Every night the guest is asked a special question. Michael's question was ...

He Understands Your Weakness

I once had a boss who was impossible to work for. That's not just my opinion; it's the opinion of everyone I know who has worked for him. The most frustrating ...

What Jesus Came to Do for You

In the third chapter of Matthew, Matthew fast forwards in Jesus' life about 30 years, to the very beginning of his ministry. He doesn't mention ...

A Day of Surprises

I remember the day that John Kennedy died. I remember the day when Martin Luther King, Jr. died. I remember the day when Robert Kennedy died. I remember ...

Martin Luther's Christmas Sermon

Praise to the Lamb

And now the drama unfolds. We will follow the drama most easily if we break it down into a series of scenes.

The first scene: The scroll of God's purposes ...