When God "Doesn't Come Through"

When I'm in trouble and I ask specifically for God to relieve me of that trouble, most of the time he doesn't. I wonder why that is. Is it because God ...

Victory for Us

Introduction

There are two things we discover at Easter. They both have to do with the victory of Jesus Christ, the victory he won on this the first day ...

How Does God Keep His Promises?

Introduction

Several years ago, my father passed away at 88 years of age. During his last adult years, my father lived with us in Texas. Before that he ...

Captured by the Word

Introduction

I knew I would be changing this message when just last week twelve jurors in the state of Michigan decided that Jack Kevorkian did not break ...

Suffering

Introduction

One summer Stuart and I had a ministry experience that took us literally around God's world. I learned many significant lessons. First, I ...

Songs of Our Tears

Illustration: A couple of weeks ago, I attended a worship conference. One of the classes focused on the different purposes and styles of worship. A music ...

Heaven, Our Real Home

Why don't we talk much about heaven? Maybe it's because all the biblical imagery sounds a bit off—streets of gold, gates of pearl, rainbow thrones, ...

The Whys Have No Answer

Introduction

In these last few days, most of us have witnessed what we have never seen before. I never could have imagined the fury of the most devastating ...

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 ...

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 ...

Let's Get This Straight

Introduction

The first thing I noticed about our story today was the stories on either side of it. When we last saw Jacob, he finally had been reconciled ...

The Blessed Limp

Introduction

A blessing is a mysterious thing. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gilead, Marilynne Robinson's narrator is an elderly pastor named John ...

Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God

Introduction

Jacob was facing the biggest crisis of his life. Esau, the twin brother he had conned out of both birthright and blessing, was coming his ...

Journey Mercies

Introduction

Unless you go to the theater regularly, you may not be used to thinking of stories in terms of acts. But most of the stories you read, or ...

I Pray the Lord My Soul to Keep

From the editor:

Here's another great sermon from one of our featured preachers, Bryan Wilkerson—an in-depth look at the last few lines of the Lord's ...

Good Riddance

Introduction

"Isn't there somewhere else you're supposed to be?" Has God ever said that to you? God seems to be saying that a lot around here lately. He ...

The Really Good Shepherd

Introduction

According to the United States Social Security Administration, Jacob was the number one male baby name for the year 2007. In the Bible the ...

The Messy Family of God

Introduction

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." So reads the first line of Leo Tolstoy's famous novel, Anna ...

A Fine Mess

Introduction

What a great promise from God: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go." We talked about this great promise in the last sermon—a ...

The Voice from the Top of the Stairs

Introduction

There's a story oft-told on the Internet—true or not, I don't know—about Susan, a 34-year-old woman who lost her sight due to ...

Odd Man Out

Introduction

Some wedding requests pose a dilemma for pastors. Most of us will not officiate at a wedding between a believer and an unbeliever, believing ...

The Strange Blessing of God

Introduction

Do you live a blessed life? I did a Google search on the phrase, "I live a blessed life." I stumbled upon one guy who wrote, "I live a blessed ...

The Stew Is Divine

Introduction

Jacob, at 130 years of age, stood before Pharaoh, the great ruler of Egypt. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac. He was ...

God Is Strong—Am I?

From the editor:

Here's another great sermon from one of our featured preachers, Francis Chan. A few noteworthy items: Just below this editor's ...

Courage

Introductory remarks from Mark Buchanan:

"Courage" was the third week in a 10-week series on Philippians entitled I Can Do Everything: Paul, Jesus, the ...

Facing North When the Market Goes South

Text: 1 Kings 17:7–16
Topic: Claiming God's promises in the midst of hard times

From the editor:

Though many experts believe we've entered an economic ...

Blessed Are the Persecuted

Introduction

Imagine you are in the market for a new car. You visit the dealer and the salesman who is showing you the latest model takes you for a test ...

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Introduction

"No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear." That is how C. S. Lewis begins his book A Grief Observed, a compelling account of ...

Rebuilding the Walls

Introduction

In the countryside near Leicester, England, there stands an ancient church whose walls are inscribed with an eloquent memorial. The inscription ...

Living with Jesus

From the editor:

Just below, you'll find a few introductory remarks from Francis Chan about his sermon. We want to encourage you to go ahead and watch ...

Desperate for God

Introductory remarks from John Ortberg:

I remember reading that when baseball great Ty Cobb was in a slump, he would battle it by resorting to bunting. ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

When You Really Want to Quit

From the editor

We all struggle with the reality that sometimes bad things happen to good people. Adding to our inner turmoil is the reality that sometimes ...

God Is Big Enough to Comfort My Suffering

In the Father's Arms

Text: Job 36, 38
Topic: How a Christian should respond to suffering

From the editor

As you read Jill Briscoe's sermon, notice how she takes a classic story-story-story ...

How Do We Handle Dangerous People?

From the editor

When people gather for worship on a Saturday night or Sunday morning, they bring with them their questions. The questions vary, but it's ...

Asleep at the Wheel

From the editor

Chances are, you've probably preached the story of Jesus calming the storm. The account is recorded in three of the four Gospels (Matthew, ...

Wait for the Morning

Introduction

Right after the Virginia Tech University massacre, the worship leader at a community worship service turned to this text. On behalf of those ...

The Christian's Happiness

Text: Romans 8:28–30
Topic: Our joy can be constant no matter our life circumstances.

From the editor

Romans 8 is such a beloved, oft-quoted section ...

The Strangest Gift

Introduction

In her book Tramp for the Lord, Corrie ten Boom tells the story of an old woman she met in Russia in the time of the Communist persecution ...