The Great Interruption

Introduction

Some of the most significant spiritual lessons are learned from the most unlikely people. Such is the case with the story of Simon of Cyrene. ...

The Glory of the Groan

Introduction

God started a revival with the preaching of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The people came to hear the preacher in the church instead of the preacher ...

God Pleasers

Introduction

Eddie Chapman was a British citizen in the early 1900s. He lived a life of low-level crime. During one of his stints in prison, he met two ...

Authentic Faith

Introduction

In this series, we're going to be looking at 1 and 2 Thessalonians. These letters will emphasize two perspectives: They put a laser focus ...

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. ...

Loving Enough to Speak Truth

The story behind the sermon (from John Ortberg)

I preached this sermon right after I preached the sermon on giving God blessings to others. It was part ...

Falling Madly in Love with God

We'll be looking at Ephesians 3:14-19 today. Paul says, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and ...

Why the Biggest Loser Wins

Introduction

In Mark 10:17-27, we meet a man who is a lot like us. For one thing, he has clearly been through the part of the spiritual journey where a ...

Spiritual Growth - My Job or God's?

Whose job is spiritual growth? Psychologists say one of the primary causes of conflict in households involves dispute over what's generally called division ...

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 ...

Welcome to the Pearly-Gated Community

Introduction

In the first sermon in our series, I talked about the primary person we will get to see in heaven: Jesus, face to face. Now I want to talk ...

Faith in Tough Times

From the editor

I'm confident we all would agree that 2008 was a tough year: war, a tumbling stock market, natural disasters, the continued threat of terrorism, ...

Winter

Introduction

Confession: I've lived nearly 50 years and, for most of them, have never heeded the truth of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. For everything there is a ...

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 ...

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 Shadow of Jesus

Introduction

Well over a hundred years ago, Robert Robinson wrote a hymn that resonates with many of us. One line reads like this: "Prone to wander, ...

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 ...

The Prime Principle

Introduction

Abiding in Christ is simply staying near a friend who loves you. But what happens to a person who abides in Christ? If I really walk with ...

Cravings and Conflicts

Text: James 4:1–2
Topic: Identifying and addressing the source of conflict

Introduction

There is a relational conflict in your immediate future. You ...

Life on Wings

Introduction

The biblical image of the kind of life Christians are called to live is, "The way of an eagle in the air." I have lots of experience with ...

How to Live Beyond Yourself

Introduction

I don't know if you are like me, but I imagine you are. I imagine there are times in which you feel boxed in by life; not only by what others ...

The Christian Subculture: Righteous or Rubbish?

Introduction

As believers, we sometimes feel pressured to act in certain ways, fit in with certain norms, or participate in certain activities. The pressure ...

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 ...

You Don't Have to Be Good to Come to Christ

Introduction

The description of the early church that is found in the opening chapters of the Book of Acts almost sounds like paradise revisited. Two events ...

Come Die with Me

Introduction

Matthew's gospel says that, toward the end of his three years of public ministry, "Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go ...

The Process of Transformation

Text: 1 John 3:1–10
Topic: How to attain holiness

Introduction

Imagine that you've been asked to write a book on marriage. Your publisher says, "We ...

We Need a Downpour

Text: Hosea 6:1
Topic: Why we need revival

Where would we be without the Lord? Where would we be individually; where would we be in our family? Where would ...

Knowing Jesus

Today we're beginning a new series on the book of 2 Peter called Transformed by Truth. I began the series on 1 Peter with the comment that not many ...

Putting God's Promises To Work

Peter used a phrase that many of us have heard before. In the King James it is written:

(v. 4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious ...

A House on Hope Street

For many years John Cox and his wife, Wendy, did their best to provide a home for themselves and their three daughters. He was an itinerant youth minister, ...

Anakin's Choice

The TV makeover craze began a few years ago with a couple of shows that promised to transform ordinary looking people into beauty queens and chick-magnets. ...

Setting Sail

You know, I really don't understand myself sometimes. I want to do what's right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly ...

The Great Reveal

It's the most dramatic moment in any makeover show. It's the reason the participants endure 3 months of surgery, workouts, coaching, and separation from ...

A Spirit-Filled Church

Introduction:

The text before us is one of the most fascinating passages in the New Testament, because it interweaves the mystery of Christ and his body—his ...

A Spirit-Filled Marriage

Introduction:

John Maxwell gave his congregation an article entitled "The Ideal Wife." Under the subtitle "What Every Man Expects," it said: "Always beautiful ...

Plan BE

Last week we examined the seemingly impossible command to "imitate God"—and we saw that we imitate God by walking in love: showing forgiveness, ...

How to Keep It Going

This morning one of the daily news telecasts mentioned the New York marathon. I thought of the Boston Marathon and a woman by the name of Ruiz. You might ...

Spiritual Growth—My Job or God's?

Whose job is spiritual growth? Psychologists say one of the primary causes of conflict in households involves dispute over what's generally called division ...

The Rocky Soil

Luke 8:4—15 contains one of the most remarkable, unforgettable, and important parables our Lord ever taught: the parable of the soils.

The good news ...

The Goat Has Left the Building

Leviticus 16 deals with the Day of Atonement. In the Jewish feast calendar there are seven major feasts—four in the spring, three in the fall. The ...