Comparison: The Thief of Joy

Introduction

Whenever I have preached on John 21 I have tended to speak about the kindness of God shown through how gently the Lord restores Peter, ...

A Song of Contentment

Introduction

One of my favorite films of all time is Chariots of Fire. Chariots of Fire is based on the true story of two runners named Harold ...

Filthy Rich

Introduction

A few years ago the luxury watchmaker Romain Jerome introduced a crocodile skin strapped watch which they called the Titanic DNA night and ...

'In Any and Every Circumstance'

Introduction

Our lives are changing rapidly. Our plans and schedules and some of our most basic routines all feel like they’re changing on us by ...

A Feast Without End

Introduction

This morning as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday, I wanted to talk about the importance of contentment. And who better to ...

Greed and Envy: The Twin Terrors

Introduction

Let's begin with a story I read in The New York Times. It's a story told by a young Wall Street trader who found himself addicted to money—not ...

When Is Enough, Enough?

Introduction

Sometimes it's not just a practice but a word—just one word—that God uses in our minds and our hearts to transform us.

When ...

God's Eraser

Introduction

I have a friend who has a great saying. He says, "Make your plans in pencil because God has a big eraser." That's great wisdom. I used to ...

To Live Is Christ, and to Die Is Gain

Introduction

I don't like it when people take Bible verses out of context and slap them on coffee mugs, put them on bookmarks, put them on bumper stickers. ...

A Journey of Hope

Introduction

Today I'd like to look at Psalm 84. Someone once called the book of Psalms "the soul's medicine chest," and I think that's a good description. ...

Punctuating Our Lives with Thanksgiving

Introduction

We recently looked together through the lens of the story of Job at the great question marks that fill our lives: Why do bad things ...

The Joy You've Always Wanted

The topic today is joy. And the chief question is: how do we get it? How do we have more joy more often? How can we be happy?

We are looking at Paul's ...

The One That Got Me

Introduction

Let me begin this final sermon in our series with our Scripture text:

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, ...

I'll Take What You Have

Introduction

We're continuing our series on the Ten Commandments, and this morning we come to the eighth one: "You shall not steal." It's amazing how creative ...

A Christian's Happiness

Introduction

If you're a Christian, you know that Christianity is supposed to be about joy. You probably also know that you're supposed to experience ...

In the House of the Lord

Introduction

The start of the Christmas season seems like an inappropriate time to talk about Psalm 23, sheep, and shepherds. But when you open the Bible, ...

What Do You Need to Be Happy?

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The story behind the sermon (from Francis Chan)

This message is about being content. It comes out of Philippians ...

Happiness

Introduction

Peggy Noonan currently writes for the Wall Street Journal. She was at one time the speechwriter for Dan Rather for his radio program, as well ...

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 ...

Our Hungry Hearts

Introduction

Have you ever used an image to help motivate you? To help you clarify what and who you want to become? An image can be an object or can come ...

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 ...

Praying the Savior's Way

From the editor:

The Lord's Prayer is one of the more popular passages in all of the New Testament—believers and non-believers alike have even taken ...

Secrets of Financial Contentment

Introduction

When I was a kid, my dad told me two stories all the time.

In the first one, a couple goes to Harvard University and asks to see the president, ...

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 ...

Don’t You Believe It! The Myth of Greener Grass

Introduction:

This morning we’re looking at the last of the Ten Commandments, which deals with desiring something that someone else has, but which we do ...

Humble and Proud of It

Introduction

Bob Hope tells this story: "I got a call from a fellow who said I'd been named Man of the Year by his organization because I was an ...

Stop Worrying and Start Living

Introduction

The average American is in a bad mood 110 days out of the year, according to Harper's Index. That means that for about 30 percent of the ...

Happiness Is Not the Goal

Introduction:

We're in the second of a series of messages on the Ten Commandments. We started last Sunday with a look at what is, in the Hebrew mindset, ...

Insights from the Valley

Voices are being raised more and more that tell us our attitude, our state of mind, has a great effect on our health. Our attitude toward ourselves, ...

Happy New Year!

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how many seconds in this year you'll be unhappy? Have you ever thought how much can happen in a second? When you say, ...

Perils of Money

Our lives revolve to a certain degree around money. In fact, I dare say there was probably not a day this past week when you didn't engage in some money ...

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 ...

I Can Do All Things Through Christ

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

I'm thinking the apostle Paul is not imagining we're going to defy the gene pool, thinking lumpy, ...