Because He Loved Us

Introduction

About 25 years ago I almost became a hero for the cause of justice and compassion. For my first job after college, every morning ...

The Healing Power of No

Introduction

What is a two-letter word that we often don’t like to hear? It is a word you have probably used on your kids, maybe a word ...

A Better Trust

Introduction

Hebrews 7 has this great theme of Jesus as a high priest, not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. It is ...

How to Live When You Learn You Aren’t a Super-Hero

Introduction

I’ve been a pastor for over 27 years, but during that time I’ve always worked as a low-level, volunteer superhero. This is true. ...

Growing Together

Introduction

Today, we're going to continue with our series called "Forever Luke." I know that for some of you, it feels like we've been ...

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 ...

The Love Reaction

Introduction

(Read 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10)

A single mother struggles to pay for a college education for her only child. She hates her job but knows she ...

The Love Expression

Introduction

(Read 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5)

God is the source of love, Jesus is the proof of love, and believers must be the agents of love in this world.

The Love Connection

Introduction

Dick Purnell, in his 2003 publication Finding a Lasting Love, makes the following statement: "We all need to love and accept the love of other ...

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 ...

The Way of Embrace

Introduction

A few months ago something strange happened on an airplane bound for Los Angeles. The actress Amy Adams was shooting a new film in Detroit ...

Sturdy Grace

Introduction

For a community like ours, in the place of promise that we're in, we have a fork in the road that's coming down the pike. There's a fork in ...

Humble Leadership

Introduction

The goal for this series, "Four Pillars of a Healthy Community," is for us to look at the vision that Jesus was putting on display when he ...

A Church Full of Characters

Introduction

I'm sure you'd agree with the fact that the church is full of characters. When we say someone is a "character" we usually mean in some way ...

Two Inseparables: Truth and Love

Introduction

Thanksgiving and Christmas are a time when we like to open our home to family and friends. However, in the ancient Mediterranean world it ...

Brand New Image of God

Introduction

Go with me to Matthew chapter 7. We are going to look at the last three warnings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7, verse 13 ...

The Heart of a Pastor

The Story Behind the Sermon

This message represents an unusual approach to sermon prep and delivery. Jim Singleton and Matthew Kim, both professors at ...

True Relationships

Introduction

As we wrap up our series on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we are going to continue our focus on Christ's second coming.

I am a member at Sam's Club ...

Party of Three

Introduction

Oprah recently interviewed Diane Nyad, the 64yr old who completed a 53 hour solo swim from Cuba to Florida. In the interview Nyad said that ...

The Goodness of Sabbath Rest

Introduction

Let me read to you from Genesis Chapter 2. We have spent a number of weeks looking into Genesis Chapter 1, which gives to us the record of ...

Humanity's Mission Statement

Introduction

If you have your Bible I'm going to read Genesis1:26-31. I want to read the events of the sixth day of creation as it is recorded for us here. ...

Passing Judgment

Introduction

There is a new John 3:16. The old John 3:16 was John 3:16. That was the verse that everyone knew, the verse that was familiar to all, the ...

A Tale of Two Women

Introduction

In the days when the judges ruled over the land of Judah there came a famine to the land. So a man from Bethlehem together with his wife and ...

Drafting Buddies

Introduction

Sam and Frodo find themselves on the final leg of their journey on the slopes of Mordor, but Frodo is losing heart. He's just about out of ...

Testing the Limits

Introduction

For the past couple of weeks we've been talking about friendship. And what we're learning is that our friendships play an important role in ...

BFFs

Introduction

There's a famous speech in Shakespeare's play Henry V. It's the night before the battle of Agincourt. As a young king, Henry prepares to lead ...

Beyond Friends

Introduction

Where are you on your spiritual journey? And what would help you take the next step?

A couple of years ago we joined hundreds of churches across ...

True Friends

Introduction

Last week I tossed out a question and invited you to respond: is it possible to be spiritual friends with a non-believer? For the past six ...

Decision

Introduction

For the last couple of weeks we have opened the front door wide open to the topic of reconciliation. Each week we've gone to the foot of the ...

Hanging on When You Feel Like Giving Up

Introduction

Helen Hayes, a stage actress of another decade, was talking about charm when she said, "Charm is that thing which, if you have it, you don't ...

When Your Heroes Fall

Introduction

When I was in the seventh grade, my family moved from a large town to a small village with only 2,000 people. In that town just about everyone ...

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 ...

Yes, Yes and No, No

Introduction

I read a story about a woman of wealth and social prominence. She wanted to have a book written about her genealogy, her history. She got ...

Renouncing 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Love Does Not Boast

From the editor:

Over the next few months, PreachingToday.com is going to run an entire transcript series from Haddon Robinson on 1 Corinthians 13. The ...

Wisdom for Work

From the editor:

One of the more popular shows on TV right now is NBC's The Office. Though its comedy is often over-the-top, the audience still feels ...

Two Bad Examples

Click here to listen to the audio.

The story behind the sermon (from Mark Buchanan)

This sermon came near the end of a 10-week series on the letter to the ...

A Lesson Wise Moms and Other Influential People Can Teach the Next Generation

From the editor:

Mother's Day is just around the corner (May 9), and should you decide to offer a message for the occasion, Steve Mathewson's look ...

The Joy Network

Introduction

Several years ago a German researcher studied a thousand churches of every size and denomination all over the world. His goal was to identify ...

Softening the World's Harshness

Introduction

Let's look at John 15:1-17 together. These are likely very familiar words. They're the words of Jesus on the last night of his time ...

Brokers of Truth and Love

From the editor

We would probably all agree that conflict resolution is necessary, but incredibly tricky. Emotions trump reason, stubborn loyalties trump ...

Unprovoked Love

From the editor

Mark Buchanan offers a few twists on a theme we've all preached one time or another: agape love. Perhaps you've preached about fostering ...

Balcony People

From the editor

John Ortberg points out that we are surrounded by basement people—folks who drain the life from us. This reality makes it all the ...

The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov
By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

About the Book

The Brothers Karamazov is the story of a father, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, and his three ...

Till We Have Faces

Till We Have Faces
By C. S. Lewis

About the Book

Lewis's Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of ...

King Lear

King Lear
By William Shakespeare

About This Book

King Lear is arguably Shakespeare's most poignant piece on familial relationships. In it we see the contrast ...

Relationships

Relationships: An Open and Honest Guide to Making Bad Relationships Better and Good Relationships Great By Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott Zondervan (1998); ...