God Takes Sin Seriously

Introduction

Has it taken you a long time to get where you are today? Maybe you’re in a good place in life right now, but it was a long road getting ...

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, ...

God's Love Language

Introduction

Why does it take so long to learn how to love the important people in our life? Am I the only slow learner in this crowd? When our kids were ...

Looking Otherward

Introduction

Many years ago, I had dinner at a place called Windows on the World. The restaurant sat atop a skyscraper so high that the wait staff literally ...

I Am Ascending

Introduction

In September 2013, the headline on the cover of Time read: "Can Google Solve Death?" Google's CEO announced a new division of Google known ...

God's Anger and Mercy Toward Sin

Introduction

If you want to know the three points that I'm going to walk through this morning, they are very simple. I want to talk about God's heaviness ...

Beyond Sympathy to Solidarity

Introduction

In the immediate aftermath of the tragic shooting of nine persons at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, the sympathy of ...

R-Rated: Genocide and Jericho

Introduction

I think if you're at all human, there are tensions that come up. The idea of genocide, or of this powerful people massacring innocents, ...

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 Surprise God's Mercy

Introduction

Imagine that you wake up at 2:00 in the morning, and you think to yourself, Is my life really pleasing to God? What would help you determine ...

The Grace of Being Tender-Hearted

Introduction

I just read the story of a Pennsylvania legislator, newly elected to the Pennsylvania legislature. He said of his legislative agenda, "I want ...

The Guest List

Introduction

We're in part two of a series called The Heart of Christ, and I want to begin this week with a question: Do you remember the first Christian ...

Lost and Found

Introduction

Some of you may have heard of Anthony Bourdain. He has a reality show on The Travel Channel called "No Reservations." He's a chef who travels ...

God Is Good

Introduction

Can you recall the first prayer you learned by heart? Was it for you, as it was for me, the one still prayed by children around dinner tables ...

The Price of Pride

Introduction

You've probably heard the expression, "Into every life, a little rain must fall." I was reading an article about a movie star who was having ...

Deep Clean

Whatever became of sin?

Some years ago a Harvard psychiatrist wrote a provocative book entitled Whatever Became of Sin? In it he expressed his fear that ...

What Makes You Happy?

In John's first letter of correspondence to the churches, there are some troublesome verses. First John 4:9-10 is not difficult: "This is how God showed ...

Making Parents Weighty

Introduction

We've been working through the Ten Commandments and today we come to the fifth one: "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God ...

Rediscovering the Sabbath

Introduction

While I was leading some pastor training in the Philippines, I broke the pastors up into small groups and had them share various things ...

The Greatest of These

The story behind the sermon (from Mark Buchanan)

This was the second-to-last sermon of one of the longest series we've ever done at our church—20 ...

Encounter on Golgotha Road

From the editor:

We recently posted an Easter message by John Ortberg, because the themes like atonement, the Cross, resurrection, etc. are never out of ...

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 ...

The Eyes of a Doctor

From the editor:

Here's a sermon from Donald Sunukjian on what we ought to do when we encounter someone who has yet to know God. We've mentioned before ...

The Sermon That Inspired Murder

From the editor:

We feel that this featured sermon from regular contributor Kevin Miller can inspire ideas for two different sermons: a sermon on the divinity ...

Why It's Hard to Worship

Introduction

A few years ago, songwriter Michael Card wrote a book and recorded an album focusing on the subject of lament. The project grew out of a series ...

Radical Intimacy

Introduction

In this series, we're going to wrestle with very difficult story—the story of David. But I promise that as we allow this story to tell ...

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 ...

Blessed Are the Merciful

Introduction

Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg entered the diplomatic service and was appointed foreign minister of Austria in November 1848. After the Hungarian ...

Desperate for God

Introductory remarks from John Ortberg:

I remember reading that when baseball great Ty Cobb was in a slump, he would battle it by resorting to bunting. ...

What if it's true?

Introduction

Several friends were talking in a restaurant when the conversation came around to dying. They asked each other what they would like to have ...

On the Cross

Introduction

A.D. abbreviates the Latin words "Anno Domini," which means "Year of Our Lord." Our calendars are all dated by the birth ...

Crown of thorns for the King of Kings

Introduction

It's almost Easter, but do you remember Christmas? We heard the joyous story that starts on the first page of the New Testament. Matthew ...

The Greatest Trial Ever Held

Introduction

It was a long and difficult night. Jesus' best friends abandoned him. One of his closest colleagues committed suicide. Police arrested ...

Moving Towards Reconciliation

Introduction

Victor Hugo's novel, Les Miserables, is a story about Jean Valjean, who was sentenced to a nineteen-year prison term for stealing a loaf of ...

Painting by Numbers

From the editor

If you've read or heard a sermon by Peter Hiett, chances are you've not forgotten it. Consider "Redneck Christmas"—a featured sermon ...

A Better Peace Prize

Introduction

At the turn of the 20th century, a man named Alfred was one of the preeminent scientists and entrepreneurs of his day. He made his fortune ...

A Bleeding Hearts Club?

Introduction

Suppose someone were to describe you as "a bleeding heart?" How would you feel about that? That expression is often attached to ...

Long Live the King!

Introduction

According to ancient custom, the death of a ruler is greeted with the following words: "The king is dead; long live the king!" This may seem ...

Annihilate the Amalekites

From the editor:

One of the chief hang-ups people have with God is the wrath he pours out in the Old Testament. How can a loving God call for the slaying ...

Loss, Loyalty, and Lament

Text: Ruth 1:1–22
Topic: Learning to make the right choices in difficult times

From the editor:

Perhaps you're looking for a unique way to approach ...

Cross Bow

Introduction

I recently turned on the news and found myself confronted with another one of those stories that have become so common; my great fear is that ...

Cross Over

Introduction

It was an ordinary day of commuting Cameron Hollopeter. The 20-year-old film student made his way down the steps into a New York City subway ...

It's About the People

Introduction

Recently our church softball thoroughly trounced our opponents. The game ended with what's called the mercy rule: when one team is ahead ...

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 ...

Redneck Christmas

Editor's note: The following monologue is delivered in character by a shepherd named Larry. There was a live nativity scene on stage for the Children's ...

The Grieving Heart of God

Introduction

On the first day teaching his class for 250 college freshmen, R. C. Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers. Each paper ...

The Forgiveness of God

Introduction

"God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." He came in flesh to forgive us—to run down the road from heaven to earth and say ...

Pledging Love

Introduction

We have been learning how to deal with difficult people from the story of Saul and David. Today we come to the central theme of the whole ...

Giving Thanks for God's Enduring Love

Introduction

I want you to imagine a special, highly festive event. Psalm 118 was written for such an occasion. It began with a blare of trumpets, the ...

Wholesome Thinking

Introduction

2 Peter is a manual for transformation, a how-to guide for holy living. It begins with the promise that in Christ we have all we need ...