The Unseen Footprints

From the editor:

Timothy George packs a lot into this sermon. Besides showing us an effective way to preach an individual psalm—paying careful attention ...

Loss, Loyalty, and Lament

Text: Ruth 1:1–22
Topic: Learning to make the right choices in difficult times

From the editor:

Perhaps you're looking for a unique way to approach ...

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

From the editor

Simply put: it's easy to mess up a difficult passage like Luke 21. You may find yourself applying something regarding Jerusalem's ...

Why Is the World So Messed Up?

Text: Romans 5:12–17
Topic: How the world is broken and what that means for us

Introduction

Not everything in the world is good. Not everything in the ...

Cross Here

Introduction

One of the great ironies of history is that those who took Jesus to Calvary believed they were forcing him to his dead-end; in reality, Jesus ...

Cross Bow

Introduction

I recently turned on the news and found myself confronted with another one of those stories that have become so common; my great fear is that ...

Cross at God

Introduction

For the longest time, I hoped that my brother, Jeffrey, would return to the Christian faith. He once was an active Christian, but something ...

Cross Over

Introduction

It was an ordinary day of commuting Cameron Hollopeter. The 20-year-old film student made his way down the steps into a New York City subway ...

Cross Out

Introduction

In August of 2003, the Church of the Holy Cross in New York City was broken into twice. In the first break-in, thieves made away with a metal ...

It's About the People

Introduction

Recently our church softball thoroughly trounced our opponents. The game ended with what's called the mercy rule: when one team is ahead ...

Comfort for the Troubled Heart

Introduction

The Allies had planned Operation Overlord for years, amassing vast armies, an incredible navy, and enough arms to release Europe from the ...

A Strange Résumé

Introduction

It's the most dreaded question of the job interview, and when the time comes, you can't seem to push the words out of your mouth. "Tell me," ...

Beyond Comfort

Introduction

Where do you turn for comfort when you encounter loss, pain, or disappointment? Some people turn to food. For some reason, certain foods—like ...

Unbreakable?

Introduction

M. Night Shyamalan's film Unbreakable begins with a train wreck. Everyone on board is killed—over a hundred people—except for ...

When Life Crowds You Out

Introduction

On the wall of a subway in New York City was an advertising poster that depicted a dignified older gentleman recommending a particular product. ...

Sense Out of Nonsense

Text: Luke 24:1–11
Topic: How to make sense of chaos and suffering

Introduction

Ancient sailors puzzled over why some of their colleagues who sailed ...

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 ...

Battered into Submission

Introduction

Not long ago, someone said to me, "I've never heard a sermon about violence in the home. I've never heard the preacher pray about it. I've ...

Where's the "Gift Return" Receipt?

Introduction

Let's suppose there's a small town on the edge of Iraq, near the Saudi border. Let's call the town Mosel. It's a small community with no other ...

It's All About You, Lord

Introduction

A poet once complained to a friend, "Life's not fair. A banker can write a bad poem, and nobody says anything about it. But if a poet writes ...

The Glory and the Muck

Introduction

A few months ago, I officiated my father-in-law's funeral. We arrived in Fresno and prepared for the first official gathering—the viewing. ...

Understanding Providence

Introduction

A loyal person understands providence. In order to understand this, by way of contrast, consider our culture today. If there's one word that ...

God's Noninterventions

Introduction

When I was a boy, my sister left our home in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, and traveled to Central Bible College. She had a lifelong problem with ...

Embarrassed by God

Introduction

I want to tell you about my Aunt Julie, because everybody has an Aunt Julie in their family or an Uncle Harry or a cousin Jessica—someone ...

The Man Born Blind

Introduction

A few years ago, I realized I was going blind. Now, long before my sight began to be radically diminished, a medical doctor told me there ...

Those Who Rise

Introduction

The story is told of a farmer's donkey who stumbled into an old, dry well. For hours the animal cried piteously as the farmer tried to sort ...

Don't Waste Your Cancer

Text: Various
Topic: How to respond to life-threatening circumstances

Editor's note: The richness of John Piper's theological reflection as it relates to ...

Why Is There So Much Suffering and Evil in the World?

Introduction

Here are two photos, both showing scenes from two earthquakes of similar magnitude that happened within just days of each other just last ...

Triumphing Over Trials

Introduction

Connie Wertenberger is facing a major trial. Connie is a 30-year-old mother of two boys, a woman of faith who is excited about the birth of ...

Endurance

Introduction

Let's begin with some audience participation. I know it's been a long weekend. Some of you are tired from traveling or cooking or shopping. ...

When You've Been Good and Life Goes Bad

Introduction

God's Word teaches us there are three sources of trouble in our lives. Number one is the most general and most often experienced: You and ...

The Girl Nobody Wanted

I'm going to read you a passage out of the Old Testament: Genesis 29. And one of the things we're struck with immediately is that the Bible is ...

Getting In the Last Word

Introduction:

When we began this series, I mentioned that First Peter deals with some topics that Americans don't always immediately relate to. Peter ...

Get Ready for a Rough Ride

Introduction:

This is the sixth message in our series on First Peter: Living Bold in Tough Times. Peter wrote this letter to encourage believers to live a ...

Hope For Those Who Hurt

Bum Phillips, former coach of the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) once made the comment, "There are two types of coaches in the NFL: them ...

Harassed but Hopeful

Introduction

On November 14, 1999, thousands of churches around the world observed the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This day ...

The Supremacy of Christ in an Age of Terror

The supremacy of God in all things—no exceptions One of the truths of the Bible that we embrace with trembling joy is the truth of God's supremacy ...

Becoming Like Him in His Death

The previous message in this series was deceptively titled "Getting Out Of Matthew 27." It referred (as you may remember) to relinquishing the roles ...

What Good Is Suffering?

A young lady, about 16 years old, gave her testimony at church one evening. Her life had been dramatically changed by Christ, and she was overflowing ...

You're A Privileged Character

1 Peter deals with some topics that may not immediately grab the attention of some believers. In fact, since 1 Peter was written for disenfranchised ...

Rejoicing in Our Suffering

If you make the ultimate goal in your life to become successful in business, what do you do when you reach a certain level of success? If you make a goal ...

Practice of Patience

Someone handed me a little clipping this past week. A couple of young men from Chicago decided they were tired of the hustle and bustle of city life. ...

God of Our Losses

All of us go through suffering and times of loss in our lives. There are suffering people here tonight, troubled people, worried people, uncertain people. ...

A Time to Weep

Some years ago, there was a Presbyterian student who went away to college and made himself obnoxious to his fraternity brothers by always talking about ...

Is There Any Comfort?

Is there any comfort when there are no answers? I would like to argue that the deepest comforts you will ever receive come to you from the hand of God ...

Treasure in a Brown Bag

I get all kinds of things in the mail, and sometimes I think it's a conspiracy of "Yuppiedom." A while back I got a catalog, and inside were all kinds ...

Pain is the Name of the Game

Paul said that he not only wanted to know the power of Jesus' resurrection but the fellowship of his sufferings. Paul was making a expression of his desire ...

Rejoicing in Our Suffering

Rejoicing in Our Suffering

by Ron Lee Davis

If you make the ultimate goal in your life to become successful in business, what do you do when you reach a ...

Practice of Patience

Someone handed me a little clipping this past week. A couple of young men from Chicago decided they were tired of the hustle and bustle of city life. ...

Rising to the Occasion

We have come today assembled by a great tragedy, yet in the midst of life's most difficult moments the gracious and merciful hand of God is still ...