The Beginning of Courage

Introduction

What gives you courage? What gives you courage to do hard things, unthinkable things?

If you grew up watching sports on television, you probably ...

Be Strong and Courageous

Introduction

Can one person make a difference? Can one person change the direction of an entire family tree? Can one person stand up in the face of fear, ...

'A Politician, a Lawyer, and a Jew'

Introduction

James Emery White tells a story about his visit to The Eagle and Child pub in Great Britain, the place where C. S. Lewis and his friends used ...

Take Courage

Introduction

Football referees are unbiased, right? They would never be influenced by fans or football players, right? Well, according to a recent study, ...

Sent to Sacrifice

Introduction

I was gathered around a huge bonfire many years ago in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was part of a larger Christian camp and I had students ...

Courage to Sacrifice

Introduction

I have to say on a Sunday when I get to kick off a new study, it does feel a little bit like Christmas morning and I finally get to open that ...

The One the King Delights to Honor

Introduction

Don't you love hearing a behind-the-scenes story? Like from a movie, or a famous historical event, or how a couple you know got together. ...

How Easter Turned the World

Introduction

When my dad was a young man in his thirties, he was working for an import/export trading company in Tokyo, Japan. One day he happened to be ...

Changed People, Changing Lives

Introduction

Read Acts 5:12, 17, 19, 21, 29-31

The holy city of Jerusalem has had a wonderful event. They had tried their best to say no to what Jesus Christ ...

Experiencing the Holy Spirit

Introduction

My name is Francis, and I was a pastor in Southern California for about sixteen years at a church that I planted. About a year ago, I moved ...

Can You Do Any Better?

The story behind the sermon (by Claude Alexander)

This sermon is a part of a series on the Book of Daniel entitled "A Challenged and Challenging Faith." ...

Mediation

Introduction

There was once a couple who had been married for 60 years. Throughout their life they had shared everything. They loved each other deeply. ...

Running with Endurance

Introduction

Hebrew chapter 12, verses 1, 2, and 3 is the focus today. Let's read the Word of the Lord:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses ...

The Song of a Broom

Sunday school pictures of a ruddy faced lad in a lions' den have scant resemblance to the actual situation described in this sixth and last chapter of ...

Satan Strikes Out

From the editor:

In the second half of Mark's sermon, he shares that C. S. Lewis once wrote that we often fall prey to two equal yet opposite errors concerning ...

An Unstoppable Force

Introduction

Last week we learned that the Church was meant to be a life-changing community, where people are transformed by their encounters with God ...

Strong Grace, Hard Word, Good Memories

Introduction

Be strong. Suffer hardship. Remember Jesus Christ. These are Paul's words of counsel to Timothy in a fallen world and imperfect church. Timothy ...

Life After Victory

Introduction

Early in his career, the great American playwright Eugene O'Neill wrote an imaginative play called "Lazarus Laughed" about Lazarus's life ...

Avoiding Foolishness

Introduction

In the early 1980s a very wealthy Swiss couple started acting like mutual fools. It all began when the husband cancelled a vacation. The wife ...

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 ...

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 the Peacemakers

Introduction

The troops the United Nations deployed to the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan look like they could be soldiers from just about any nation. ...

Blessed Are the Meek

Introduction

Suppose the company you work for were to write a description of the ideal person to be its new CEO. Do you think meekness would be on the ...

Lent: Preparing Our Garden for Growth

From the editor

Despite its rich history in the church, many of us don't observe Lent. Maybe it's time to reconsider. As Skye points out in his ...

Trusting in God's Process

Introduction

Coco was a pit bull mix, just barely one year old. As a puppy she was dumped on the freeway and rescued by a teenager who handed her off to ...

Freedom

Introduction

In the summer of my 11th year of life, I learned the power and joy of surrender. It happened in Minnesota at the Edina community swimming ...

Openness

Introduction

I don't know many people who want to come to the end of their lives and say, "I never made an impact on anything or anyone?but I'm okay with ...

Big God/Little God

Introduction

When our first child was quite small, we used to ask her, "Laura, how big are you?" She wasn't even a year old—couldn't even hardly ...

Jesus Uncensored

From the editor:

Here's a sermon Michael Quicke preached at Wheaton College that tenders the meek and mild Jesus with the mean and wild Jesus. Few passages ...

Strong Grace, Hard Work, Good Memories

Text: 2 Timothy 2:1–9
Topic: A sobering look at what the Christian life entails

From the editor:

Every once in a while a sermon comes along that is ...

Cross Talk

Introduction

There are times when the greatest power to change the world proceeds not from an act of forceful self-assertion, but from an act of gracious ...

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 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 ...

Finding God in Desperate Places

Introduction

I'd like to write a book someday called Desperate Places: How God Shines Through Our Weakness. These desperate places are places of weakness, ...

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 ...

Fighting Well

Introduction

The movie Cinderella Man is based on the true story of a boxer named James J. Braddock. Braddock was a good boxer who lost his passion and ...

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 ...

Above All Earthly Powers

Introduction

Martin Luther's famous Reformation hymn, "A Mighty Fortress," is about the triumph of God over all the attacks of Satan, including his attack ...

Facing Off Without Falling Apart

Introduction

In Acts 4 we witness an epic battle between a David-like underdog and a behemoth giant. In one corner you have two unschooled, unimpressive ...

Warriors on Their Couches

Introduction

The account of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 begins this way:

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David ...

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 ...

The Blazing Fastball That Gives Us Confidence

Introduction

On July 15, 1986, Roger Clemens came to bat in his first Major League Baseball All-Star game. Roger was the sizzling right-handed pitcher ...

Costly, Messy, Beautiful Obedience

Introduction

The key word in the title of this message is "obedience." When I did a Google search on obedience, the most popular sites fell into two categories: ...

The Second Extreme: Contempt for the Lost

Introduction

I've got good news, bad news, and hard news.

The good news: The best argument for God is the church. Everyday, God becomes accessible to a ...

Reactions to Evil

Introduction

John Roth tells what happened to him late one night on a commuter train in Hamburg, Germany. John says:

The train car was completely empty ...

My Favorite Heroes: Esther

Introduction

Some time ago I went on a retreat, and one of the topics at this retreat was how we're all created for a mission; everybody was made for a ...

My Favorite Heroes: Nehemiah

Introduction

The hero that we are going to look at today is a man named Nehemiah. I want to say just a couple of things as we get ready to walk into his ...

A Mind-Expanding Faith

Introduction

Some time ago, my wife got me a unique birthday present: a ride in a hot-air balloon. We went together to the field where all of the hot-air ...