Radical Mercy

When I played football in high school, I realized that my size and ability would limit my chances of earning a "letter", so I decided to try out for ...

Forgiving Others

In this series called "Journey Into Holiness" we're learning that holiness is primarily expressed in how we treat others: treating others with humility, ...

A Guarantee for the Future

Do you know what I don't like about paying for some types of insurance? You don't know if you'll ever use it. It's possible to spend thousands and thousands ...

A Lesson in Forgiveness

In New Testament times, the Pharisees were a strict group of fundamentalists who believed in keeping the letter of the law in minute detail. Generally ...

Right From the Start

Do you know what a "mulligan" is? It's a term used in golfing. It means "Do over." When a golfer makes a bad shot and wants to redo it without adding ...

It Matters Who You Know

There are certain clichés you hear all through your life that, upon closer inspection, prove to be false. They are so ingrained in our consciousness ...

What to Do When Your Life Is a Mess

Maybe I hang out with a rough crowd, but everyone that I know well enough to know the details of their life has, at some point, found themselves in ...

Say Goodbye to Guilt

I saw a day-time TV talk show a while back that featured the theme "Miracle Makeovers." The host of the show (I think it was Sally something) took some ...

Freedom From the Past

I suppose most every one here today has heard of Alice Cooper. For those of you who are saying, "Oh yes. Alice Cooper. She's one of my favorites," well—you're ...

Winning the War On Sin

Today we are beginning a new series called "How Can I Be Good?" Now, if you were to ask yourself that question, which word would you emphasize? I ask ...

It Doesn't Matter Who You Used to Be

Earlier this year many proponents of the death penalty stepped out of character momentarily to plead for mercy on behalf of Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted ...

Dealing with Anger

I had the world's worst buckteeth. In fact, my orthodontist won an award for fixing my mouth. Now impressions are painless, they just put some gook in ...

How to Handle Anger

My thesis this morning is this: That in Jesus Christ there is available all the necessary resources to bring about complete reconciliation. May I say ...

Living a Life of Integrity

Some years ago I was invited to a home in our community to talk with a father about his son, who was into drugs. As I sat in his living room that evening, ...

Repentance

I am not wholly comfortable admitting this in many places, but since I trust you so completely, I will publicly confess that in my earlier days I was ...

New Beginnings

Paul and Barnabas experienced a theological victory at Jerusalem when the Christian church gathered for the first international conference of Christians ...

Down the Up Staircase

Retelling the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

The man owed a whole lot of money. Surely he wasn't surprised when he was summoned to the inner chambers ...

Freedom

by John Stott

There are two reasons why I have chosen the topic of freedom. The first is that everybody is thinking and talking about freedom today, and ...

Friendship

In this passage our Lord calls us his friends and gives us four tests or proofs, or signs of the friendship. Two signs or proofs are on his side and ...

Repentance

John comes charging out of the wilderness to expose the coming Christ and to prepare hearts and souls to respond when Christ makes his first appearance ...

Why Christ Had to Die

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said that preaching is like throwing a bucket of water at a row of bottles. Some of the water goes in some of the bottles. But ...

Back from Failure

The cartoon was "Dennis the Menace. The scene is bedtime prayers. He's kneeling. He has his hands folded. He's looking heavenward. He has on his pajamas, ...

The Kingdom That Never Happened

Introduction: The kingdom never happened for Absalom because of his mistakes.

The story of Absalom builds from the beginning with high promise. The very ...

Coming Clean

 

On September 17, the sovereign timing of God and the simple trust of a man converged. That Sunday I met a man who came forward after the service. ...

But Christ Has Been Raised

The blood of Jesus covers all our sin and satisfies the Father. The death of Jesus is what enables us to fly, because it's the death of Jesus that forgives ...

Your Greatest Victory

 

It's an exciting thing to be loved by God. And 1 Corinthians 15 is an exciting part of God's Word because it tells how God loves us and how ...

What to Do While Your Life Is Happening

People in California were going about their lives this week, and then the earthquake came. It just happened. Just as men went to work this week and were ...

Thanksgiving and Faith

In a yard near us, a sign recently appeared with these words on it: MOM ON STRIKE. Michelle had "moved" into her children's tree house and vowed she wasn't ...

Wisdom for the Divorced Part 2/2

An oxymoron is a phrase that contradicts itself, like jumbo shrimp, brief preacher, or easy payment. But here is one of the most flagrant oxymorons ever: ...

The Goat Has Left the Building

Leviticus 16 deals with the Day of Atonement. In the Jewish feast calendar there are seven major feasts—four in the spring, three in the fall. The ...

Hung Up in Bitterness

The family of King David is in horrible disarray. Among other problems, David's third son Absalom launches a rebellion against his dad. David is forced ...

Battling the Unbelief of Bitterness

One pastor confided in me that he gets angry very easily and he often feels a lot of anger inside that his people don't recognize because of his ability ...