Global Thing Locally

Introduction

The gospel of Jesus’ grace leads us into mission. It leads us out into others’ lives and into the world. To begin there, ...

The Point of the Power

Introduction

I want to talk about the whole point of power here in Mark 4. What does Jesus’ power over the world, which comes from the fact that ...

Taken Up Into Glory

Introduction

In this series we have been walking in the footsteps of Jesus during his final days on earth. I have sought to employ the metaphor of being ...

Sent to Sacrifice

Introduction

I was gathered around a huge bonfire many years ago in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was part of a larger Christian camp and I had students ...

Christmas Stories: A Mission Story

This sermon is part of the “Christmas Stories” sermon series. See the whole series here.

Introduction

(Read Jonah 3:1-4:1)

It was a dark, stormy ...

Running to the Lost

Introduction

Should God have any enemies?

The popular answer these days is basically this: "No, God shouldn't have any enemies … if there is a God, ...

"You, Moses!"

A long beginning

Try to look at this thing from Moses' point of view: it was all just so, well, implausible. Oh, yes, there had been the dramatic circumstances ...

Guidelines for a Constructive Church

Note from PreachingToday.com: We asked a handful of preachers the following question: What aspect of Dr. King's life and work has had the greatest ...

The Gift of Celibacy

The Story behind the sermon (an interview with Stewart Ruch III)

Preaching Today.com: Why did you choose to preach on "celibacy" and not "singleness"?

Stewart ...

The Harvest

Introduction

In the stories of Jesus' ministry, he's giving us a preview of the kingdom of God. What would it look like on this broken planet full of broken ...

Good Music

A few years ago I read a story in the Chicago Tribune with the headline, "City Tries to Pump Up Its Crews Down Under." There was a new guy in charge of ...

Hungry World

Story behind the sermon (from Mark Buchanan)

"Hungry World" is part of series our church's preaching team did in the fall of 2010. The series was called ...

Brother, Interrupted

Introduction: A tale of two brothers

In 1989, two brothers from Boston started a T-shirt business. For five years Bert and John traveled the East Coast, ...

Consequential Strangers

Introduction: Everyday people

So who have you bumped into lately? Think for a minute about the multitude of people—strangers or acquaintances—whose ...

A Hard Saying

Introduction: A hard saying

This morning we come to one of the hard sayings of Jesus. There are quite a few of them, actually. I have a book on my shelf ...

No Strings Attached

Introduction

For the last several weeks, we've been sowing the seeds of a revolution around here. Being in Massachusetts, this area is familiar with ...

What Can One Person Do?

Introduction: What now?

For five weeks we have been teaching ourselves to see what Jesus sees and feel what Jesus feels, as we make our way through our ...

WWJS?

Introduction: Shouldn't we be saying something?

There are certain words or phrases that are almost guaranteed to make people really uncomfortable: root ...

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 ...

A Heart for Service

Introduction

Once upon a time there was a wonderful church that suddenly found itself in trouble. After an exciting season of growth, things just didn't ...

The Shared Life

Introduction

For the last few weeks, we've been turning to the Book of Acts, the place where we hear about the stories of the early church, to learn something ...

Right on the Money

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." That thought from Psalm 24:1 captures the core of our thinking on ...

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 ...

Brothers, Interrupted

The story behind the sermon (from Bryan Wilkerson):

This sermon was preached early in September to launch our ministry focus for the year, which we're ...

Purpose

Introduction

What would you do if you suddenly won $34.5 million? It happened to a family from Hauppauge, New York, this week. Dad spent $5 on a winning ...

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, ...

Stop Witnessing, Start Working

Introduction

A few months ago, I came across an article in The Boston Globe about religion in the workplace. The columnist, who is one of the few Jewish ...

Good to Great

Introduction

Suppose someone were to show up at your workplace tomorrow, shove a microphone in your face, and ask, "How do you think your work affects ...

The Job

Introduction

One of the most talked-about shows on television today is called, The Office. The Office gives us a glimpse into the cubicles and consciousness ...

What Do Christians Think About the Holy Spirit?

From the editor

Tim Peck acknowledges that any discussion of the Holy Spirit has a certain mystery to it. After all, Jesus himself compared the Spirit ...

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 ...

Fighting Well

Introduction

The movie Cinderella Man is based on the true story of a boxer named James J. Braddock. Braddock was a good boxer who lost his passion and ...

A Crop Is A Crop

Introduction

We've been considering what it means to be jars of clay—ordinary, fragile people living in a difficult and dangerous world. The message ...

Don't Go To Church!

Introduction

D. L. Moody was visiting a prominent Chicago citizen when the idea of church membership and involvement came up.

"I believe I can be just as ...

Costly, Messy, Beautiful Obedience

Introduction

The key word in the title of this message is "obedience." When I did a Google search on obedience, the most popular sites fell into two categories: ...

Jesus Uncensored

Introduction

I want you to replay a video in your head about coming to chapel this morning. You leave your room, checking your watch to make sure you have ...

My Favorite Heroes: Esther

Introduction

Some time ago I went on a retreat, and one of the topics at this retreat was how we're all created for a mission; everybody was made for a ...

Don't Ask Me, I'm Only Visiting This Planet

Introduction

Have you ever put down the newspaper—after reading about genocide in Sudan and beheadings in Iraq and shootings in Dorchester and sexual ...

The Church in a Non-Christian Culture

A significant event takes place in Acts 7, marking a trend in church history that unfortunately continues to this day: persecution. In this text, Stephen, ...

What Makes a Great Church

Three pastors were having lunch together and learned that all had been facing the same problem: all three churches had bats in the attic. One pastor tried ...

How to Avoid Becoming Obsolete

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks were frequent, a group of concerned citizens decided to build a rescue station. The building was just a hut, ...

How We Can Be a Holy Church

In response to the religious leaders challenging Jesus' authority, he told them three parables. Last time we looked at the parable of the two sons; ...

Keeping the Right Company

It is often said that you can tell what a person is like by the company he keeps. Look at his friends, and from them you can deduce what his character ...

Because

It was his first day on the job. He was a new clerk in the green goods department of a supermarket. A lady came up to him and said she wanted to buy half ...