Equipped to Face the Two Biggest Fears...

Introduction

I would like to ask you a question this morning: What are the two biggest fears in your life? If I get boring, where will your mind wander? ...

The Up-to-the-Minute Relevance of the Resurrection

Introduction

The most fantastic claim Christians make is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It strains our credulity to the utmost. But Christians have ...

The Truth about the Resurrection

Who would you guess is the most successful trial attorney in the entire world? The Guinness Book of World Records says, "Most successful attorney: ...

The World's Greatest Step

The story behind the sermon (from John Ortberg):

For Easter I wanted to present some of N. T. Wright's material on the Resurrection. I love his work on ...

Divine Revelation

Introduction

We've been in a series called "Can Smart People Believe in God?" Last week we had Dallas Willard with us to answer some tough questions, and ...

Death Is Life

From the editor:

Easter draws closer and closer (April 4), and we're here to help out with sermon ideas to inspire you in your own preaching. This week ...

Worth Your Attention

From the editor

More helpful resources for Easter! This week we're featuring a message from Mike Woodruff, pastor of Christ Church Lake Forest in Lake ...

The Last Enemy

From the editor:

This week we continue to roll out great Easter resources to help inspire ideas for your own preaching. Below is a sermon by Donald Sunukjian ...

Easter: The Benefits Package

From the editor:

This week we are featuring Leith Anderson's Easter sermon from 2009 to help inspire ideas for your own sermon for Easter 2010. As you ...

If God Is Great, Where Is He in World of Suffering?

Introduction

Of all the reasons for rejecting the claims of Christianity, the one most frequently offered comes in the form of a question: "If God is so ...

If God Is Great, Where Is He in a World of Suffering?

Text: Matthew 27:27-46
Topic: Dealing with the reality of suffering

From the editor

Easter really isn't that far away—April 4, 2010—so we'll ...

Life After Victory

Introduction

Early in his career, the great American playwright Eugene O'Neill wrote an imaginative play called "Lazarus Laughed" about Lazarus's life ...

It Doesn't Sting Anymore

Introduction

Tony Campolo, at the end of a sermon titled, "The Year of Jubilee," tells this story:

I went to my first black funeral when I was 16 years ...

When the Seeds Come Up

Introduction

Someone hearing for the first time that the dead will be raised—physically—from the grave could easily picture something from ...

Life Line

Introduction

The great American writer, John Updike, died recently. All his life he vacillated between Christian faith and doubt. However, quite early ...

It All Comes Down to This

Introduction

Bodies are a pain. I know a body can be beautiful. I saw Baryshnikov dance once. And I have held babies. And I agree with the psalmist: "I ...

Not in Vain

Introduction

I was talking to a friend the other day. "I know you aren't much of a churchgoer," I said, "but I'd like to invite you to church this Sunday ...

The Long Tomorrow

Introduction

An 85-year-old couple died in a car crash after having been married almost 60 years. They had been in good health the last ten years mainly ...

A Brand New You

Introduction

I've got hundreds of things around the house that I would like to see made new—sofa cushions that have begun to sag, kitchen cabinets ...

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? ...

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 ...

God in Our Sorrow

Text: Isaiah 53; John 11
Topic: How God meets us even in our sorrow

From the editor:

You can be so enraptured by the sights, sounds, and smells of the Christmas ...

It's No Mistake

From the editor:

One of the more important things you can do for your listeners—both believers and nonbelievers alike—is to find an appropriate ...

Heaven: How Do We Get There?

From the Editor:

In a recent interview with PreachingToday.com, Haddon Robinson said, "We want to reach people, but the clear terms of the gospel ...

The House of Love

Introduction

This message concludes our series on the four best places to live. We've looked at the House of Worship, the House of Prayer, and the House ...

The Trumpet Call of God

From the editor

Eschatological issues have always been intriguing, but the interest has both widened and deepened in the last 25 years or so. Bestselling ...

Doubters Anonymous

Text: John 20:19–29
Topic: Dealing with doubt

Introduction

"He is risen": it's the heartbeat of the message of the Christian church. These three English ...

Drop Your Agenda

Introduction

By the end of Luke's narrative of Jesus' life, opposition from the religious leaders is mounting, and Jesus' popularity among the people is ...

Facing Off Without Falling Apart

Introduction

In Acts 4 we witness an epic battle between a David-like underdog and a behemoth giant. In one corner you have two unschooled, unimpressive ...

All I Really Need to Know I Learned by Suffering Triumphantly Until I Died

Introduction

In All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert L. Fulghum writes:

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do ...

Down the Ladder to the Highest Place

Introduction

Editorial note: Sunukjian uses a six-foot stepladder as a prop throughout this sermon. References to the prop will be noted in the text in ...

A Win-Win Situation

Introduction

Every so often we find ourselves in a win-win situation. No matter which way it goes, we come out ahead.

For example, at school we decide to ...

Jesus Wept

Introduction

I have a friend, a businessman, who sat in a hotel room in the Midwest watching early news reports of an airliner hitting the World Trade ...

The Agony of Victory

Introduction

Some years ago a 14-foot bronze crucifix was stolen from Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. It had stood at the entrance to that cemetery ...

Wasted on Jesus

Sermon One

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I'm jittery. I love my sweetheart—no doubt about that—but I confess that Valentine's Day gives me ...

The Dinner Guests of God

Sermon Two

Mary Poplin, professor of education and Dean of the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University, attended a Methodist church ...

Where the Battle Is Fought

Sermon Three

Here's a surprise: Most incompetent people don't know they are incompetent. In fact, researcher Dr. David A. Dunning of Cornell University ...

Blasphemy!

Sermon Four

Years ago Bill Hybels told about seeing a newscast of a big Vietnam veterans parade in Chicago. Part of the commemoration was a mobile Vietnam ...

The Faces of Failure

Sermon Five

There was a clip on the sports last night that was painful to watch. College basketball between Memphis and Louisville, championship game—the ...

The Agony of Victory

Which Watchers?

Sermon Seven

Robert Russell, pastor of Southeastern Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, told about sitting behind a 5-year-old boy at their church's ...

After Easter: The Kingdom

It was a seminar and I would have given anything to have been there. As a teacher there are a lot of educational experiences that I would like to have ...

The Sleepy Invasion

The stage was set. It was finally the fullness of time. The world had long been in prison, caught in a web of sin and death, controlled by a network of ...

Message From an Empty Tomb

I'm not quite sure how to say this. We have always said in the church that our faith was based upon facts. It was a faith built upon evidence that led ...

Equipped to Face the Two Biggest Fears in the World

I would like to ask you a question this morning: What are the two biggest fears in your life? If I get boring, where will your mind wander? That's one ...

Good News for a Weeping World

Do you hear the crying? If we would listen, especially with our imagination, we would hear the weeping from all parts of our world—from Nicaragua, ...

He Lives, As He Said He Would

There's one long sentence in Mark 16 that caught my imagination. It's the angel's words to the women: "Go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ...