A Rebuild in the Ruins

Introduction

(Read Amos 9:8, 11-15)

When I came to Wheaton, 45 years ago, downtown Wheaton was just one more struggling downtown in the Rust Belt. Carlson’s ...

Behold the Lamb of God

Introduction

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Now we flip the page and enter the season on the church calendar known as Advent. Advent is different ...

The Marks of a Renewed Church

Introduction

Good morning, friends. Our topic this morning is "The Marks of a Renewed Church." In the New Testament, church means "people," ...

The Christian's First Love

Introduction

This message is a fitting introduction to a series on the nature of the church. In these verses, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to the ...

Heart Burn

The man's name was Toby. He was the youngest son of a lawyer from Cleveland who'd struck it rich and moved his family to the upscale community of Rancho ...

Heart Attack

If I asked you to take your finger and point to yourself, where would you point? Most of us, I imagine, would not point to our heads. That's interesting ...

Heart Scan

I'm going to talk today about the most important thing there is about you or me or anyone else we are ever going to meet. To get there, I want to take ...

Heart Ache

More than 3,000 years ago, near the city of Shechem, in the land we know today as Israel, an unknown seeker began digging a hole in the crusty soil where ...

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 ...

When Good Snakes Become Bad Snakes

Introduction

At the risk of ruining your political correctness, I wonder if you are prejudiced. Are you prejudiced against snakes? If a group of snakes ...

It's All in Your Head

Story behind the sermon (from Mark Buchanan)

When I first came to New Life Church, I established the practice that every January I would preach a month-long ...

God's Protection and Delight

The Refining Love of God

Introduction

In this Advent season, we are looking at the theme of God's promise of better days for our lives. That is the hope of Advent and Christmas, ...

Jesus Face to Face

Introduction

If you had the opportunity, who would you like to meet face to face? Is it someone living? Someone who has already died? A celebrity? Nobility? ...

Lent: Preparing Our Garden for Growth

From the editor

Despite its rich history in the church, many of us don't observe Lent. Maybe it's time to reconsider. As Skye points out in his ...

Summer

Introduction

I grew up in a small mining town in northern Canada, a place memorable for its hard, cruel winters. But on the first day of summer in 1975, ...

Spring

Introduction

I spent many early years in a northern mill town—a town with a heavy reputation. It's a place that made ice in winter and mud in summer, ...

Prepare for God's Visitation

Introduction

I have a friend named John who is a medical doctor. He was once making a commercial flight across the Atlantic Ocean, when a teenage boy who ...

Expect God's Visitation

Introduction

In Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge lies down on Christmas Eve hoping to enjoy a good night's rest. In the course ...

How To Avoid Burnout

Exodus 20:9-11

A study was done a few years ago by the army where they observed several soldiers in various conditions to determine at what stage these ...

Stay In the Game

Anyone who has heard me preach more than a few times knows that I love a good comeback story. I love to read stories or watch movies or witness real-life ...

A Half Time Talk

Several years ago, my sons and I were watching the Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers in the playoffs. At halftime the Bills were down 35-3 and their ...

Getting Focused

For the past two weeks I've talked about the change that occurred in Peter's life. He went from being failure prone, impulsive, and brash to ministering ...

A Trip to the Valley

In the literature of my forebears is a delightful spiritual called, "Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Dry Bones"—the ankle bone connected ...

Many Happy Returns

Focus: Though we break our promises to God, he offers forgiveness if we repent.

James Robert Carlton was a fairly successful businessman. His father had ...