Blessed to Rest

Introduction

What if one of the most important things you could possibly do to live the blessed life, to have life in all fullness as Jesus promised, ...

What’s Your Eau De Toilette?: An Extravagant Example for an Extraordinary God

Introduction

If you had one opportunity to show Jesus how much you loved him, what would you do? What might you say? What offering might you bring? ...

You Have the Words of Eternal Life

Introduction

One of the great joys of my life to officiate weddings. Sure, there is a lot of pressure to get things right, but one aspect I love ...

Life, Liberty, and Happiness

Introduction

A few years ago, I participated in a ceremony held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Following a mic-check before the ...

How to Get Dialed into God’s Plan for Your Life

Introduction

In the summer of 1994, I had a most unusual job. I served as an assistant at a funeral home in northeast Tennessee.

My responsibilities were ...

Stand Firm

Introduction

There are days when I open my eyes and wish I awoke to a simpler world. Pandemics, politics, gender issues, racial injustice, loss, ...

Learning from Ecclesiastes

Introduction

You are going to die. And no one is going to remember you. The stuff you’re working hard on is going to be completely undone. As if ...

An Event That Changes Everything

Introduction

Philippians is Paul's final letter to a church. He writes it from his imprisonment in Rome. In Philippians 2:6-11, we listened to St. ...

The Great Interruption

Introduction

Some of the most significant spiritual lessons are learned from the most unlikely people. Such is the case with the story of Simon of Cyrene. ...

Our Journey with God

Introduction

“Life’s a journey, not a destination,” Steven Tyler sang in the rock band Aerosmith’s 1993 song, “Amazing.” ...

The Giant of Disappointment

In the musical version of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, the character Fantine sings a sorrowful song about disappointment called “I ...

The Counterintuitive Life

Introduction

I'm going to say something you can't argue with, and in fact, if you try to argue with it, you will simply prove my point. You ...

Enjoy Your Life Now

Introduction

Age is becoming a bigger and bigger issue in our society because more and more Americans are living longer and longer. 10,000 Americans turn ...

God is the Center of Reality

Introduction

Back in the 1960s the mayor of the city of Chicago was Richard Daley. He was famous for a number of things, most notably for being the last ...

The Satanic Strategy

Introduction

I am going to read to you from Genesis Chapter 3, verses 1 to 7. It says,

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals ...

Fully Human, Fully Alive

Introduction

I want to read to you from Genesis 2. Verse 4 says,

"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

"When the LORD ...

The Making of Marriage

Introduction

If you have your Bible, I am going to read from Genesis Chapter 2. Verse 18, then Verse 21 to 25. Verse 18 says, "The LORD God said, 'It is ...

In the Beginning

Introduction

Let me read to you from Genesis Chapter 1. I'm going to read part of the chapter—beginning in verse 1:

In the beginning God created the ...

The Life Was Made Manifest

Introduction

Christmas is definitely a wonderful time of year. But it's also a bit of a production, right? On average there will be $800 spent for every ...

Treasury Notes in Heaven

Introduction

Our son-in-law, Keith, works on the trading floor of the commodities market exchange in Chicago. I've been there to watch him. You stand in ...

I Am the Light of the World

Introduction

John 8:12-30:

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will ...

Created with a Purpose

Introduction

This is the first of a six sessions in our Living Free series. We're going to cover some foundational truths about God's purpose for ...

Deep Joy

Story behind the sermon series (Bryan Wilkerson)

This fall series was prompted by some listening sessions with congregation members the previous spring. ...

Heart Burn

The man's name was Toby. He was the youngest son of a lawyer from Cleveland who'd struck it rich and moved his family to the upscale community of Rancho ...

Heart Attack

If I asked you to take your finger and point to yourself, where would you point? Most of us, I imagine, would not point to our heads. That's interesting ...

Heart Scan

I'm going to talk today about the most important thing there is about you or me or anyone else we are ever going to meet. To get there, I want to take ...

Heart Ache

More than 3,000 years ago, near the city of Shechem, in the land we know today as Israel, an unknown seeker began digging a hole in the crusty soil where ...

Murderers and the Murdered One

Introduction

We're in our sixth week in our series on the Ten Commandments and today we're talking about the sixth commandment, Deuteronomy 5:17: "You ...

The Dark Side of Grace

Introduction

In the structure of John's gospel, John 11 serves as a hinge between two halves. The first 10 chapters are concerned with the ministry of ...

Strong Grace, Hard Word, Good Memories

Introduction

Be strong. Suffer hardship. Remember Jesus Christ. These are Paul's words of counsel to Timothy in a fallen world and imperfect church. Timothy ...

God in Our Sorrows

The Advent is where God meets us in our sorrow.

The word advent means an arriving or an appearing. It's the arrival of something we hoped for, something ...

Choose Life

Today I want to show you arguments from Scripture against abortion. They are not primarily rooted in biology; for example, when is life viable. That's ...

A Little Lower Than the Angels

There are times when the church of Jesus Christ needs to confront straightforwardly a supreme national tragedy. On Wednesday of this week we will mark ...

Victory for Us

Introduction

There are two things we discover at Easter. They both have to do with the victory of Jesus Christ, the victory he won on this the first day ...

The Good News Is the Bad News Is Wrong

Introduction

I'd like you to use your imagination this morning and picture our world, your world, as a terrarium. You know what a terrarium is. My version ...

The Journey to Integrity

Introduction

If I had just one gift to give you, I think it would be the gift of integrity—such a gift that when you come to the last chapter of ...

Knowing the God Who Knows You

Introduction

Have you ever asked yourself how many times you are photographed in a day? When you walk into the bank or return your cart to the corral in ...

When the Seeds Come Up

Introduction

Someone hearing for the first time that the dead will be raised—physically—from the grave could easily picture something from ...

The Abundant Life Commitment

From the editor:

The debate over embryonic stem cell research rages on and on. It was a center-stage issue in the last presidential election, and probably ...

God in Our Sorrow

Text: Isaiah 53; John 11
Topic: How God meets us even in our sorrow

From the editor:

You can be so enraptured by the sights, sounds, and smells of the Christmas ...

It's No Mistake

From the editor:

One of the more important things you can do for your listeners—both believers and nonbelievers alike—is to find an appropriate ...

Strong Grace, Hard Work, Good Memories

Text: 2 Timothy 2:1–9
Topic: A sobering look at what the Christian life entails

From the editor:

Every once in a while a sermon comes along that is ...

To Live Is Christ

From the editor

In this sermon Ed Rowell looks to tackle the tricky issue of joy and happiness. Most would agree that the two words have become synonymous, ...

Gone Fishin'

From the editor

John 21 is a powerful story of a fallen disciple, Peter, being restored by Christ. Many a sermon has been preached on the varying uses ...

John the Baptist's Story

From the editor

Very early in his sermon, Kevin Miller says, "I have the hard job of telling you a hard truth." Indeed he does. The hard truth is that ...

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

From the editor

Simply put: it's easy to mess up a difficult passage like Luke 21. You may find yourself applying something regarding Jerusalem's ...

Cross at God

Introduction

For the longest time, I hoped that my brother, Jeffrey, would return to the Christian faith. He once was an active Christian, but something ...

Your Whole Life Matters to God

Introduction

I once read an article in the New York Times entitled "How the Worm Turns." The article focused on a group of scientists who spend ...

It's Not How You Start; It's How You Finish

Introduction

I once read an article that listed some of the greatest comebacks in sports history. The list included the 2004 American League Championship ...

Taming the Beast

Text: Genesis 4:1–16
Topic: How to battle envy

Introduction

A few years ago, two high school girls in California—well liked, talented and ambitious—attended ...