Advent: Joy

Introduction

Christian Wiman, the celebrated poet, professor of literature at Yale and Christian intellectual, in his book Joy, which is a collection ...

Reasons to Be Thankful

Introduction

As a little boy I recall thumbing through an old church hymnal. I came across a piece that has become one of my favorite Thanksgiving songs. ...

A Heart of Gratitude

Introduction

Stone Mountain is a very large, naked hill of solid granite that is located about 15 miles northeast of Atlanta. If you've been there, you ...

Becoming a 'Thanksgiver' at Thanksgiving

Introduction

"Don't forget to say 'thank you.'" If you are like me, then you probably heard this phrase often when you were a child. If you are a parent, ...

A Thankful Life

Introduction

We're going to be thinking about Thanksgiving Day today. You may be thinking to yourselves, Why? Because Thanksgiving Day is important. ...

An Unthankful Life

Introduction

I want to begin by actually playing a little game. It's called the Opposite Game, and the way it works is I'm going to say a word and then ...

The Family Silver

Introduction

When I was twenty-six, a package arrived at my home accompanied by a note from my grandmother that simply read, "Take good care of this. It's ...

A Psalm for Giving Thanks

Introduction

Psalm 100 reads:

A psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence ...

The Great Gratitude Experiment

Introduction

There's a theme in the Bible that appears in several different places. Paul says to the church in Thessalonica, "Rejoice always, pray continually, ...

Why Worry?

Introduction

We're probably all familiar with the story of Howard Hughes. Hughes was a big-time businessman who dabbled in oil, entertainment, and ...

Lessons from Lepers

Introduction

We often look at thanksgiving backwards. We think of thanksgiving as thanking God for something that has happened to us already. The real ...

Fear of God

Introduction

A few summers ago, my family took a family trip to Toronto. We'd never been there before, so we didn't know what to see. But all the guidebooks ...

How Should a Pastor Think About His People's Giving?

Introduction

When I mentioned the title of this sermon to a group of pastors at our monthly denominational meeting, it elicited considerable response. ...

We Don't Have Men Like That

Introduction

[Editorial comment: Sunukjian delivers this sermon as a first-person narrative. References to props or stage directions will appear in italics.] ...

Worship or Worry?

Introduction

There's an old Greek proverb that says, "The bow that is always bent will soon break." What that proverb seems to be implying is that the ...

An Attitude of Gratitude

Introduction

Not long ago, as I was talking with one of my teenage sons, he recounted an experience he had on a commuter train outside of New York City. ...

How God works his plan for your life

Introduction

Psalm 138 contains a verse that absolutely thrilled me the first time I heard it. And today, all these years later, I'm still enthusiastic ...

Cultivating a Thankful Heart

Introduction:

My wife and I watched a sitcom the other evening, where the plot revolved around the old standby device called “the flashback.” The show’s ...

A Life Worth Saving

Introduction:

There’s a story of a man who risked his life to save a boy trapped in a burning building. The doorway was blocked, the room was filled with ...

What Do I Have To Be Thankful For?

Do you know what I like about Thanksgiving? It's the least commercialized of all the national holidays. The stores cash in on Halloween, Christmas, ...

Reflections on Psalm 23

Introduction

When most people think of the Bible, they usually think of its numerous rules and restrictions—the "Thou shalts" and the "Thou shalt ...

Only the Grateful Believe

Thankfulness is difficult for most of us. An elementary school teacher was trying to teach thankfulness to her students, so she asked them to write down ...

Thinking Right (Gratitude)

Monday afternoon I went to a Veteran's Day assembly at the high school (My daughter had won first place in a speech contest, and was asked to deliver ...

Living Expectantly

I'm sure that you hear it sometimes on the elevator. At other times if you're waiting in a doctor's office, you hear it. If you're shopping in the mall, ...

The Praise of an Old Man

Shortly after David came to power, he brought the ark to Zion. The ark was a box about the size of a piano bench, and in it were some famous artifacts. ...

How to Behave in a Worship Service

When I was a boy, I grew up in a war zone. I lived halfway between Chicago and St. Louis, in the heart of baseball country. I remember many playground ...

Overcoming Disappointment

There once lived a little girl who really liked Beanie Babies. In fact, one day when she and her parents were at the store, she saw the newest Beanie ...