Practicing Grateful Rest

Introduction

As we come to the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we often think about what we are thankful for. We think about how the year has gone ...

A Better Blessing

Introduction

The theme of the Book of Hebrews is that we are to keep moving forward, we can't turn back. That we're to move forward in faith, constantly ...

Christians and Politics

Introduction

This past July most of us missed an anniversary celebration. Thirty years ago, our government passed a law that has helped millions of Americans. ...

Count Your Blessings

Introduction

The Chamber of Commerce invited a pastor to offer the blessing at a banquet honoring elected officials. The master of ceremonies forgot to ...

Praise

Introduction

These Psalms of Ascent remind us that we are on a journey through our lives with God. These 15 psalms, from 120 through 134, were sung and ...

Blessed In Order To Be A Blessing

Introduction

I want to tell you a story about my uncle. My uncle is a missionary kid in Pakistan and like myself he was a bit of a troublemaker. So, as ...

Me and My Big Mouth

Introduction

“Pad kid poured curd pulled cod." Researchers from MIT say this is the world's most difficult tongue twister. Have a go. If ...

Why has the Lord Done this for Us?

Introduction

There are portions of the Scripture that teach truth propositionally. They directly state truth claims. You'll find that, for instance, ...

For the Sake of Others

Introduction

One of the hardest-to-get, most-difficult-to-live-into, toughest-to-hold-onto ideas of the truly Jesus-like life is this: A Christian lives ...

A Heart of Gratitude

Introduction

Stone Mountain is a very large, naked hill of solid granite that is located about 15 miles northeast of Atlanta. If you've been there, you ...

The Most Shocking Madonna Song Ever

Introduction

Flipping through the radio dial you hear all kinds of Christmas music right now, and one of the songs that seems to be on the loop for most ...

Round Yon Violence

Introduction

I've learned in my life that there are some people who will say just about anything to a pregnant woman. When my wife Maria was pregnant, ...

Stand in the River of Grace

Introduction

The Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea for a reason: it's dead. This is because of its salt content. It is the saltiest body of water on ...

The Gravity of Greed

Introduction

Do you remember watching your very first NASA rocket launch? I remember as a boy sitting on the edge of the family room sofa and listening ...

The Motivation for Generosity

Introduction

Stephen King is the author of 49 suspense and horror novels that have sold over 350 million copies. Some of his novels have been made into ...

The Great Gratitude Experiment

Introduction

There's a theme in the Bible that appears in several different places. Paul says to the church in Thessalonica, "Rejoice always, pray continually, ...

Why Can't You Be Like Your Brother?

Introduction

Today, I want to bring to you a word from the end of Genesis. The final chapters of Genesis focus on the life of Joseph. But tucked inside ...

Believe the Blessing

Introduction

Ten years ago I had an experience that changed my life in a profound way. I was working at a Christian camp in the mountains of L.A. I lived ...

The Power of a Blessing

Introduction

Nancy and I had gotten married and were celebrating our first Christmas together. I was in grad school. We had no money at all. There was ...

What's With All These Names?

When we were first married, my wife Susan worked for a bank in Deerfield. You could get your license plates there at the time. The bank was issued a stack ...

Danger! Worship in Progress

My hometown, Britton, South Dakota, celebrated its 125th anniversary last weekend on the 4th of July. The population sign on the edge of town says 1,328, ...

The Assurance of Blessing

Story behind the sermon (David Shelley)

My challenge: This was the final sermon in a series on the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy 4-6. I wanted to explain ...

Heart Worm

Over these past weeks we've been looking together at some conditions of the human heart that obviously need help. When we meet somebody whose life is ...

Looking in the Mirror

From the editor

Mother's Day is this Sunday (May 10), and should you decide to offer a message for the occasion, you might get a few general ideas from ...

Loss, Loyalty, & Lament

Introduction

I've never been one to read romance novels, but lately I've been reading one. It's been a good one, too. Believe it or not, it's a book I ...

Help! The Prayer that Calms

Maybe you have heard about the book called The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life. It is extremely popular, breaking all kinds of records ...

The Muchness of God

Introduction

In this very moment, God is ready to pour out upon you—from the lavish abundance and overflow of his reserves—blessings that will ...

The World's Greatest Step

The story behind the sermon (from John Ortberg):

For Easter I wanted to present some of N. T. Wright's material on the Resurrection. I love his work on ...

Life Together

Introduction

The first week we moved into the small town where I served as pastor, my wife Jane and I decided to take a walk down Main Street. We immediately ...

Death Is Life

From the editor:

Easter draws closer and closer (April 4), and we're here to help out with sermon ideas to inspire you in your own preaching. This week ...

Worth Your Attention

From the editor

More helpful resources for Easter! This week we're featuring a message from Mike Woodruff, pastor of Christ Church Lake Forest in Lake ...

The Last Enemy

From the editor:

This week we continue to roll out great Easter resources to help inspire ideas for your own preaching. Below is a sermon by Donald Sunukjian ...

Easter: The Benefits Package

From the editor:

This week we are featuring Leith Anderson's Easter sermon from 2009 to help inspire ideas for your own sermon for Easter 2010. As you ...

If God Is Great, Where Is He in World of Suffering?

Introduction

Of all the reasons for rejecting the claims of Christianity, the one most frequently offered comes in the form of a question: "If God is so ...

If God Is Great, Where Is He in a World of Suffering?

Text: Matthew 27:27-46
Topic: Dealing with the reality of suffering

From the editor

Easter really isn't that far away—April 4, 2010—so we'll ...

And Grace Will Lead Me Home

Introduction

What would you say if you knew you were going to die and had a chance to sum up everything that was most important to you? That's how the ...

Let's Get This Straight

Introduction

The first thing I noticed about our story today was the stories on either side of it. When we last saw Jacob, he finally had been reconciled ...

The Blessed Limp

Introduction

A blessing is a mysterious thing. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gilead, Marilynne Robinson's narrator is an elderly pastor named John ...

Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God

Introduction

Jacob was facing the biggest crisis of his life. Esau, the twin brother he had conned out of both birthright and blessing, was coming his ...

Journey Mercies

Introduction

Unless you go to the theater regularly, you may not be used to thinking of stories in terms of acts. But most of the stories you read, or ...

Happy Trails

Introduction

The prospect of wrestling with God is not all that pleasant. Consider the man who knows God is calling him out on his abrupt and unfeeling ...

Good Riddance

Introduction

"Isn't there somewhere else you're supposed to be?" Has God ever said that to you? God seems to be saying that a lot around here lately. He ...

The Really Good Shepherd

Introduction

According to the United States Social Security Administration, Jacob was the number one male baby name for the year 2007. In the Bible the ...

The Messy Family of God

Introduction

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." So reads the first line of Leo Tolstoy's famous novel, Anna ...

A Fine Mess

Introduction

What a great promise from God: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go." We talked about this great promise in the last sermon—a ...

The Voice from the Top of the Stairs

Introduction

There's a story oft-told on the Internet—true or not, I don't know—about Susan, a 34-year-old woman who lost her sight due to ...

Odd Man Out

Introduction

Some wedding requests pose a dilemma for pastors. Most of us will not officiate at a wedding between a believer and an unbeliever, believing ...

The Strange Blessing of God

Introduction

Do you live a blessed life? I did a Google search on the phrase, "I live a blessed life." I stumbled upon one guy who wrote, "I live a blessed ...

The Stew Is Divine

Introduction

Jacob, at 130 years of age, stood before Pharaoh, the great ruler of Egypt. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac. He was ...

How to Be Blessed in the New Year

From the editor

Your listeners will have to make a number of choices in the new year, but no choice is more important than the choice between living within ...